Fundraiser at Happy Heart Farm

9 07 2010

When you join a CSA, you join a community.

Without sounding too “mother earthy,” I’d like to say that I believe this community extends past the specific farm where your produce is grown to the broader community of CSA members everywhere. After all, aren’t we all like-minded souls who believe in eating locally, seasonally, organically? That’s why I’m helping spread the news about an event happening at Happy Heart Farm in Fort Collins.

This Saturday night they’re having a special fundraiser called “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” The event kicks off at 6 p.m. and guests are invited to come in costume. Money raised will go toward Happy Heart’s Feeding the Families program, which provides local, seasonal, organic vegetable shares to low-income families in Fort Collins. The goal is to raise enough money to cover three additional families. Click here for more information on Happy Heart Farm’s Feeding the Families program. To RSVP, contact Claudia at 970-988-3464.

Incidentally, I’ve interviewed Bailey Stenson of Happy Heart Farm before and have always come away inspired. Her farm was the first CSA in Colorado and it continues to be a model for an organic, community-oriented way of living. A profile of her farm is available on my site; click here to be taken to it.


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New Report on ADHD and Pesticides

17 05 2010

When people find out what I do, they always ask why. Why buy organic? Why pay more for food? Why cook so much and shun the convenience of so many packaged foods?

The short answer is this: I switched to organic when my daughter was born eight years ago. No one could say for sure what level of contaminants was safe for her little body, so I decided to be safe and minimize her exposure. Now an alarming article in today’s paper supports my choice.

In “Research Links Pesticides with ADHD in Children“, Carla Johnson reports on a study in Pediatrics suggesting a link between high pesticide levels and ADHD in children. Pesticide levels can be measured in urine, and it seems that the higher the pesticide level, the higher the risk of having ADHD. Even children who don’t live on farms are exposed to pesticides from the foods they eat. Pesticide residue remains on fruits and vegetables even after they’re washed and peeled, and some produce is more contaminated than others. The good news is that after switching to organic, pesticide levels in urine drop to near zero, according to other studies.

Not sure what’s safe and what’s not? The Environmental Working Group puts out a list of the so-called Dirty Dozen, the 12 most contaminated foods. Click here for a link to a downloadable Shopper’s Guide of the Dirty Dozen and Clean 15. Whenever possible, if you want a fruit or vegetable on the “dirty” list, buy organic.

Please pass the word to friends — especially parents — who still need convincing why the cost of organics is worth it.


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CSA Alternative

19 04 2010

For years I’ve struggled with the concept of Door to Door Organics, a home-delivery service for organic produce, because it wasn’t entirely local. Bananas? Avocados? Definitely not from here.

But I just got wind of a new subscription option called “Local Farm Box,” which offers 100% local Colorado produce from June to October. Door to Door Organics is promising to deliver sourcing information and farm news along with the weekly box of goods. And, as always, they let you customize what’s in your box.

I still prefer cutting out the middleman and supporting the farmer directly, but for those of you along the Front Range who are on a waitlist for a CSA, this might be something to consider.


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Free BPA-Free Water Bottle

15 04 2010

Here’s a little heads-up…

To promote the need for free, clean drinking water, the makers of Tapped (a documentary about the plastic water bottle industry) are driving across the country exchanging plastic water bottles for Klean Kanteens, a stainless steel water bottle that I first bought as a BPA-free alternative for my kids several years ago. They’ll be in Bloomington, IN, today, with stops in Chicago, DC, and NY later this month. (Click here for the schedule.)

They’re also collecting pledges from people to reduce their usage of plastic water bottles. According to Stephanie Soechtig, the movie’s director, about “1,500 bottles of water end up in landfills every second — that’s 30 million bottles of water a day.” Clearly, something needs to be done.

In a funny coincidence, my daughter’s brownie troop is spending the year looking at ways to save water. At their meeting this week, they brainstormed ways to remind people to stop using plastic water bottles. What else are you or your kids doing?


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New Rules for Organic Dairy

28 03 2010

Not long ago I was in the car listening to an interview on Colorado Matters, a broadcast of Colorado Public Radio. The author had just written a book about how paralysis comes from knowing too much. Too much information, he explained, can make our lives harder because it makes decisions more complicated. What led to his own admission of this problem? The day he spent 30 minutes in the grocery store trying to choose a box of cereal.

If you’re paying attention to what you eat, it does take time to shop. We know pastured is better, but where to buy it? We know certified humanely raised is better, but how to afford it all the time? We know organic is better, but where to draw the line when it comes to a budget? Do onions have to be organic? Does broccoli? What do terms mean like free-range, all-natural, etc?

This summer, new federal regulations will take effect that should eliminate some of the paralysis over milk. The rules stipulate that cows producing certified organic milk will have to get 120 days on pasture, a big difference from the “access to pasture” that is currently required.

For more information on this development, follow this link to the USDA’s website.


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Today’s Tips: Kitchen Safety

13 02 2010

Several months ago, a SeedtoSpoon reader wondered if she should rinse raw chicken prior to cooking. I was taught to do so, and so was she. But we both wondered if we weren’t, in fact, spreading around possible contamination. I didn’t have a definitive answer for her, until now.

In characteristically exhaustive form, Cook’s Illustrated tackles this issue and many others in “Keeping a Cleaner, Safer Kitchen” in the February issue. Their advice? Don’t wash raw meat or poultry. The exception is when the meat has been brined, in which case it does need a bath. If you rinse, make sure to clean the sink and counter with hot soapy water. I use a paper towel to do this, so I can throw it away and prevent cross-contamination.

In addition, at least twice a month I disinfect my sponge — whether or not I’ve used it to clean up raw meat — by boiling it for 10 minutes. Cook’s Illustrated says 5 minutes is fine, but in Denver water boils at a lower temperature due to the altitude, so I add the extra minutes for good measure.

If you’re curious about the science behind this, here are two good links: the USDA’s sheet on High Altitude Cooking and Food Safety and High Altitude Cooking, with a helpful chart listing the boiling point of water at various altitudes.


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Food Storage and Freezing Tips

26 01 2010

A friend is reading the Young Readers Edition of Omnivore’s Dilemma with her daughter and just wrote in asking for advice on what freezes well and what doesn’t. A city dweller, she doesn’t have the luxury of extra space for a stand-alone freezer and is also wondering how to use the precious space she does have.

Questions like this make my day. If I can help her on this journey, she’ll affect others (her daughters, her friends, etc.) and they’ll affect others, until there’s a butterfly effect on the way that food in our country is produced, packaged and consumed. We’re part of a community, after all, and we all succeed when one person succeeds.

To answer her first question, I recommend a paper by the National Center for Home Food Preservation called Foods that Don’t Freeze Well. Potatoes, celery and sour cream are listed, along with other items that come out of the freezer worse for the wear. Many foods that do freeze well (corn, green beans) should be blanched, cooled and dried before freezing. Others, like diced tomatoes or onions, can be put in raw. Berries should be frozen, unwashed, in a single layer on a cookie sheet, then transferred to another container; this prevents them from clumping together. Just remember to wash them when you take them out. Always mark the date on the container or bag, and use all produce within a year.

For more info, check out a post I wrote earlier this month called Summer in January, aka Freezing 101. There’s also a link to a helpful article in The Washington Post on the do’s and don’ts of freezing.

When you talk about freezing, you can’t help but talk about what to freeze in. Last year, SeedtoSpoon readers debated the problems of freezing in plastic bags, given the potential hazards of the plastic. I still use Ziploc bags, but I put the contents in after they’re cool and don’t thaw them in the microwave or in hot water. If you take the plastic bag route, remember to double bag your food and squeeze out the excess air. To find this string of posts and comments, click here.

Her second question — what to devote your small freezer to — deserves an answer all its own. More on that later this week. In the meantime, any advice for my friend? Has anyone frozen something that didn’t come out well?


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Liquid vs. Dry Measuring Cups

24 01 2010

While we were away for Christmas, my oldest daughter turned 8. She asked for her favorite homemade white cake with buttercream frosting, and despite the fact that we had a less-than-fully stocked condo kitchen, I said yes. How hard could it be? I’ve been baking since I was her age.

Turns out, it was quite a challenge. No cake pans. A mix of granulated and superfine sugar. An oven that seemed to run hot. And the worst? No dry measuring cups.

The only measuring cup I could find was a 32-ounce liquid measuring cup. I’m a big believer in substitutions, like using thyme instead of sage because you like it better, or green beans instead of zucchini in a soup because that’s what you have on hand. But you just can’t substitute a liquid measuring cup for a dry one.

As I baked, the kids and their cousins kept asking about the cake. “It’s a science project,” I finally told them. In the end, the cake tasted normal. But it was oddly-shaped from the assortment of glass baking dishes I had to use, and didn’t rise much, no doubt from old baking powder.

Back home, I experimented to see just how off I’d probably been on the flour. Here’s what I discovered: 1 cup (dry cup) = 1 1/8 cup (liquid cup). While I was at it, I decided to test the different ways to fill a measuring cup, too. One method is to dip the measuring cup inside the bag of flour, fill it up and scrape it off. Another is to spoon flour into the measuring cup and level it off with a knife. Chefs do neither, preferring to use a scale. Do these different methods really matter? Here’s what I found:

- 1 cup of flour by “dip and scrape” = 5 ounces of organic all-purpose flour
- 1 cup of flour by “spoon and level” = 2 T less than 5 ounces

Now imagine if you were making bread calling for 4 cups of flour! This might be why a friend’s favorite recipe never tastes the same when you make it yourself. Some cookbooks tell you what method the authors used in their ingredient lists. In cooking school, I was taught the “spoon and level” method; Gourmet used to suggest this as well. When in doubt, that’s what I’d recommend.

Of course, none of this helps if you’re baking from scratch in a condo. If you find yourself in that position, just wing it. Then make sure you’ve got a great frosting.


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Food, Inc. Fallout

17 01 2010

If you haven’t seen Food, Inc., you should.

The film powerfully brings together voices like Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser to give us a behind-the-scenes peek at the nation’s industrial food complex. (Or as behind-the-scenes as you can get when company after company refuses to comment.) No stone is left unturned, from seed to supermarket, as they say in the movie. Or, more disturbingly, from farmer to feedlot, lobbyist to lab.

If you’ve already read books along these lines, much of the content won’t be new. But it will still be as poignant. And it will still change your life in surprising ways, some big, some small. Much of my blog is devoted to the big ways it’s changed our family. This is about one of the small.

This weekend a friend came to dinner. It was Friday, on the heels of an ice-skating birthday party across town, and I knew our guest might arrive at the house before us. So that afternoon I made Sara Foster’s chunky minestrone (from Fresh Every Day) and spinach salad with dried cherries and toasted pecans. I set the table and bought the sourdough baguette.

But I didn’t buy the ice cream for dessert, as planned, because at the last minute I thought about industrial, non-organic dairies and how they treat their cows. I thought about all the corn derivatives that would likely be flavoring the ice cream. And I walked past the dessert aisle, knowing that I’d be in the kitchen an hour longer by doing so but feeling good about the choice because at least then I knew what I’d be feeding my family and guest.

How has the movie changed the way you think about food, big or small?


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Why do YOU eat locally, seasonally, humanely?

9 12 2009

I spent yesterday morning with a few friends who have, like me, made changes in the way they shop for and prepare food. I expected the discussion to be thought-provoking. What I did not expect was how different all of our reasons are for stepping off the conventional industrial path.

I’m assuming that since you’re reading this, you also have an interest in eating locally, seasonally, organic, or humanely-raised. (Or all of the above). But why? It’s easier and often cheaper to shop by price only in mainstream stores. What prompted your change?

Did you watch Food, Inc.?
Did you read The Omnivore’s Dilemma?
Did you read an article about pesticide contamination?
Do you care about the fair treatment of laborers? The fair treatment of animals?

What are your reasons for paying attention to your food and where it comes from?
And just as important, since we all have limited budgets, what areas do you focus on?


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