A Day Of Win

Today was another rainy, windy day but it did not stop the hoards of people from attending our towns Fall Harvest Fest.  We would of walked since it is only four or five streets over, but we drove due to the weather.  The cars were lined up and down the entire street, both parking lots full, no where to park!  Wow, this was pretty amazing!  I eventually found a spot and we headed in.

By the front door was a man with a hand cranked cider press.  It was kind of crowded so we decided to check it out later.  A nice lady at the door told me where everything was going on and we chatted a little bit.  Then we headed into the fray.  Wow, wall to wall vendors.  So much locally produced goodies as far as the eye could see.  The canteen was serving up yummy local fare, there were booths talking about topics of interest such as community gardens, school edible gardens, composting and more.

A lady announced the class was starting for edible wild greens soon so I made a quick run through the market to get some things I wanted then we headed over.  There was a children's activity room right next door.  After we wrangled them in there, we went to the class, which was just starting.

The class was being presented by Tony Papadogiorgakis, a local man who originally came from the Isle of Crete in Greece.  He had pretty extensive knowledge of edible wild greens and was very descriptive.  I scribbled lots of notes in the booklet they gave us.  We didn't stay for the whole class (about 45 minutes) because we could see it would take a long time, but I really learned a lot.  I will not look at weeds the same again!

We tried to get the kids out of the activity room but they were having too much fun!  They made tons of play dough sculptures, they played games, dug for potatoes, painted, read and so on.  They were having a blast so Mark and I ended up browsing the market a little more. We saw some people we knew and picked up some more fruits and vegetables.  I noticed a fellow local blogger was there, but I was too shy to introduce myself (I am an extremely shy, insecure person in real life.  Plus I didn't want to feel like a stalker :) ).

Most exciting of all is I signed up to be part of the Tri-Country Local Food Network!  I talked to someone there about it, telling them I don't grow or produce anything but I want to support local food as much as possible.  She said that was great!  They need people who are willing to give input, to give support and to help the network grow.  I am really excited about it :).  I figure if I am going to talk the talk, I better be ready to walk the walk.  Food security and the future of local foods depends on communities for support.

So then we tried some apple cider and the kids got to take turns turning the apple cider press, which they thought was a blast.

We all left happy, having had a great time.  I love the sense of community that I feel when we go to the farmers market.  I love knowing where my food comes from and being able to talk to the people who grow it.  They have more invested in the food they sell than the grocery store does and it is worth supporting.

The local food economy - News - The Vanguard

Link: The local food economy - News - The Vanguard

I had to share this link because it shows that even in small towns, the food dynamic can change if there are people who are passionate enough about it. I wholly support what they are doing. It is great that there is a place in the market now for small farms to start out and grow.  This article is part of a series that will be run in our local newspaper and I really hope it gains lots of exposure!  If a small area like I live in can support 4-5 farmer run markets, it shows that the demand is there.

This is the market I usually visit in my little town.  I love it!  The kids and I have been getting to know the people there and it is such a positive atmosphere (just a side note, Brian Noble, the fellow in that picture, was one of my teachers when I was in school.  Now I buy my Jacobs Cattle beans from him!).  Some know what I want when they see me coming :) (especially the lady who the kids always buy a muffin and a doughnut from, lol!  Her son is the one who cut our meat).  It is a place where it is about more than just the food but it is a place of community.

On Saturday they are having workshops and I am planning on taking some.  I am very interested in the edible wild greens course.  I love greens and would love them even more if I foraged for them.

I keep posting these things on my facebook page hoping to spread the news to my local friends.  I would love to see my local food network grow and I will do what I can to support it.

Part of GNOWFGLINS Simple Lives Thursday

Whole Foods 365 Organic: Made in China. An ABC Expos�. | elephant journal

Link: Whole Foods 365 Organic: Made in China. An ABC Expos�. | elephant journal

We don't have Whole Foods here but it brings to light the fact that we need to be aware of what we eat. Always read labels, even if it is something that you have bought a hundred times before!

There was a veggie blend I used to love that was made in Canada. I knew it was so I stopped reading the label. One day I was putting the packages in the freezer and noticed it said "Product of China". What??? I had another bag already in the freezer and that too was from China. This was about a year ago. I think I passed the bags of veggies along because I couldn't bring myself to eat them.

The kids had a favorite brand of fruit snack that I didn't feel too bad about buying them. Last year I noticed they had a "Responsibly Made In China" label on the bad. Really? I mean....Really? I just don't feel good about that, especially since they can tag anything with the by-line of "Responsible". Hey, I'm responsibly drinking and driving (not me, since I don't drink period, but you know what I mean).

Almost every brand of pickles in the store are made in India. It's really cheaper to make them there and ship all those heavy bottles over here only to sell them at half the price of Canadian pickles? I can't make a good dill pickle to save my life and now I have to wait until the ones from my country go on sale when I want pickles.

It's disgusting that food from overseas is cheaper and we are blind and oblivious about where our food is coming from, the environmental footprint of what we eat and the safety concerns due to lax safety regulations in other countries.

It really bothers me that we are so removed from our food.

And finally, on a related note, I am writing a NaNoWriMo novel about my struggles with food . It will be taking a lot of my time but I feel it's important. It's called: " Is This Going To Kill Me?"

Synopsis: My life and relationship with food, from growing up being forced to diet and being fat anyway to being OCD and physically unable to eat and what brought me to that point.

Yum Foods!

As I mentioned, we were away this weekend. We spent two nights at the Super 8 Motel in Windsor. Our church was having a stake conference in Halifax but we wanted to stay outside of the city. Bonus was Mark's brother and his family stayed there too so the kids had cousins to play with.

Of course when we travel, I often check out food that is locally made or try to find out where farmers markets are or just interesting things to check out. I was quite pleased to see that Yum Foods! was celebrating their grand opening of their retail outlet in Windsor! Yay! I had seen their products on the shelf but they were a little pricey. I especially wanted to get a bottle of tahini but at $10, it was a luxury I had to pass up.

We decided to go on Saturday and promptly got lost. They had a sign in the downtown area of Windsor so I got Mark to call and the lady there happily gave us directions (hint, if you're driving downtown towards Falmouth, there is a fork in the road and the left side goes up a big hill. Look to your left and you will see the sign down a side street as you are driving up. Yes, the sign below. Oh look, they are the same age that I am!).

As soon as we walked in, she told us they were planning to have a production meeting because they could not keep their products on the shelf! We had fun looking around. It wasn't a big store but there were lots of yummy things! Bakery goods, lots of different nut butters, maple syrup and related products, preserves and other locally made goods.

We ended up buying a bottle of peanut butter ($4, comparable to conventional), tahini ($6), cashew butter ($5), bread (on reduced rack for $1.50) and a tray of super yummy pumpkin muffins ($2.50; even the kids liked these!). All the nut butters had literally just been ground. The tahini bottle was kind of greasy on the outside. They must be whisking them to the shelf as fast as they make them! I was tempted to get two bottles but I restrained myself since it doesn't have the long shelf life the preservative filled kind has. The organic nut butters were tempting too but at $9 for organic and $18 for almond, we had to pass. Next time we'll definitely be getting some regular almond.

So I will definitely be going back some day! It is kind of surprising what you can find produced locally if you take the time to look. I know they do not grow the nuts here (they explain this on their website, yumfoods.ca ), but knowing I can support a local-ish buisness to process and buy from that does not use additives and preservatives, that makes me happy :)

Where's the beef?

It's in ma freezer!

We finally have the quarter beef that I have wanted to get for so long and now I can shut up about it, lol! It took me a while to convince Mark, but after watching Food Inc with me yesterday, I think he is starting to see things my way.

I got a call this morning to put in my cut order. Fortunately Heather walked me through it (but I imagine I'll need to be walked through it next time we order, lol!). Then she told me where to pick it up and that it would be ready at 1pm.

On the way, I got Mark to deposit the money I had been hanging on to which was almost enough to cover it. At the farm where our meat was cut, there was a friendly collie named Sophie and a black cat that eyed us suspiciously. We were a little surprised when we walked in as there was a carcass hanging right in front of the door! We were unsure if we should go in. I still have some of my OCD habits and being in a bloody-ish room with hanging carcasses and that earthy meat smell kind of turns me off. I ended up holding the door for everyone.

We ended up with two boxes and two bags of meat. It costs $350 and I forget how many cents. It was about 137lbs hanging weight and $2.55 a pound cut and wrapped to our specifications. It took up nearly a third of our freezer, making me very grateful we had been eating it down (although there is still a ton of food in there!).

I feel so blessed that I can have the comfort of having a freezer full of safe, organically raised (but not certified) grass fed pastured beef that was treated kindly during its life.

So for supper I took out a round steak and a t-bone steak, which we'll be eating with potatoes and fried mushrooms and onions. Sounds like a kings feast to me!

A Hearty Lunch

One thing I like about the kids being in school is I can experiment with meals for lunch. I had the idea in my head for today's lunch since last week but I wanted to wait for a day that Mark would be home for lunch. He suggested we go to KFC for lunch. I thought about it, but realized that once again, something made at home would be better. In case you're wondering why every Tuesday we think about KFC, well, it's because it's "Toonie Tuesday" which means a two piece meal is only $2.79 or so (It used to be $2, which is a Canadian "toonie" but the price keeps going up). I really want to stop eating junk food and find healthy fast home alternative meals instead :)

This took hardly any time to make, about half an hour start to finish. What is it?, you may be wondering. It is Potato Leek Soup served with onion cheese cornmeal muffins. This meal is 100% local-ish (within 100 miles) and 90% organic!

I started by making the muffins. I used a Speerville "Cornucopia" mix. These are $4.49 at Sobeys, all organic, no GMO's, stone ground and local. I used the basic recipe on the side, 2 1/2 cups of mix, 1.5 cups of milk, a glug of oil (my usual method), I used two eggs instead of one and mixed without over mixing. I added in a half cup of grated cheese (could of used more) and about a quarter cup of salted green onions. I poured into heart shaped silicone muffin liners and baked about 20 minutes while I prepared the rest of lunch. (I also have "Pharoh's Favorite" mix which I hope to use soon. This was more expensive at $5.49 a box).

For the soup, I thinly sliced 4 peeled and washed potatoes. This went into a large pot then covered with cold water and 2 sliced onions. While this came to a boil, I thoroughly washed then sliced a big bunch of leeks (about 6). When the potatoes were tender, I added the leeks, a hunk of butter, a couple pinches of salt then let it simmer for about 10 minutes. Before serving I added about a cup of milk. It would be better with cream but I didn't have any. I sprinked with dried herbs before serving (it is a salad mix with garlic, onion, shallots, red onions and parsley). Add a pat of butter on top and serve!

I asked Mark if it was better than KFC and he said it kind of was. The soup was very light but delightful and satisfying to eat. It would be very rich and yummy with cream. The muffins were moist and very tasty. They were very hearty and satisfying. I'm glad we stayed home for lunch :)

As an aside, we have one more store egg before we start eating only free range, farmers market eggs. I know the season for them isn't long so we will enjoy it while we can. The funny thing is that many of the store eggs have much darker yolks than the farmers eggs. Hmmmm.

This post is part of Twister Tuesday at http://gnowfglins.com!!

Michael Pollan on Organic Food, Very Good!

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Eat Atlantic Day

If you live in the Maritimes, please consider participating in Eat Atlantic Day challenge on September 2nd. It is a day where you pledge to eat only Atlantic produced foods on that day. It is a great way to think about what you are eating and a jumping point to eating more local food all of the time.

I have been coming up with our menu for the day.

Breakfast: Sunshine Pancakes from Speerville Mill in New Brunswick made with local milk and eggs and NS butter. This will be topped with maple syrup and/or wild blueberry syrup, maybe sprinkled with maple sugar, all from Atlantic Maple.

Lunch: Cavendish french fries from PEI with ketchup I will make from Fred Kingsbury tomatoes with all local ingredients.

Supper: Valley chicken, valley squash, valley carrots with valley honey, mashed potatoes from the valley and baked valley apples (yes, the valley has the best produce, lol!).

Snacks may be Scotsburn ice cream (Pictou county), dulse (Digby co) valley apples or baby carrots from Berwick.

That sounds pretty good to me!