Yes, I missed week five due to the craziness that is my life these days.  A medical test that ran over 3 days took it out of me, as did a hectic week at work.  But here I am, reporting in with week six of the Dark Days Challenge.

I was away from home visiting family during most of the week.  These past weeks filled with events that skew the normal schedule got me thinking.   I don’t want to let the ‘local food’ lifestyle get in the way of my time with those I love.  And yet I am committed to the practices that go into local eating.  So I wanted to share a decision I’ve made to combine the two.  In these situations, I’ll source out local items when possible, but won’t let it get in the way of enjoying the time with my family and the meals that were prepared by us all, regardless of the exact place the ingredients came from.   Sometimes who is around the table is just as important as what is on it, and the sustainability of our relationships matters just as much as the sustainability of the food we eat.  One doesn’t have to be sacrificed for the other, and some flexibility can go a long way.

It turned out that many of my meals stayed local by happenstance, but my Dark Days spotlight meal for the week is a classically comforting one for me: roasted sweet potatoes, fresh corn muffins, and baked apples and cider drizzled with a bit of honey.   A perfect choice on a windy, rainy, and generally raw winter evening. 

Sources: sweet potatoes from George Hall Farm, apples from my storage that were picked from Easy Pickin’s Orchard this fall, apple cider from Carlson Orchards, honey from Andrew’s Local Honey, The muffins used cornmeal from Gray’s Grist Mill, and applesauce that I made from Easy Pickin’s apples.

Several bloggers have posted thoughts on seeds, and I wanted to share those posts, and my thoughts, here.

Susy (at Chiots Run) shared an incredibly insightful post about genetically modified seeds that made me realize how much people (myself included) don’t know – simply because the information is not transparent or even readily ‘learn-able’.   Upon reading her post, I had this reaction: 

I ordered my seed catalog from Bakers Creek this morning, and plan to get one from Sustainable Seed Co. as well. Last year I got seeds from Sustainable Seed Co. and from Johnnys. I’d like to use Bakers and Sustainable this year, as I learn more about the issues surrounding seeds and control of the varieties of crops we grow.

One of my biggest complaints is that much of this information is relatively hidden from the average consumer. I certainly didn’t realize it until I started doing more research and reading the information from you and other bloggers. Whatever a consumer’s decision, it should at least be made with all the information at hand. I make choices that are right for me, and those calculations may be different from others – and that’s fine. But hiding the ball and forcing us to make decisions that we might not make had we more information is just unfair.

Adding to that, I don’t know if I’ll only use non-GM seeds, or if I want to have “company allegiance”, or… I’m not sure what.  I’m fairly new at this, and sorting things out for myself.  But as I posted to Susy, I believe that information shouldn’t be hidden from people - or made so that people have to dig it out.

I’ve also been thinking about the winter ahead, and how things tend to slow in terms of active growing.  I also remember the longing when looking through seed catalogs last year, thinking of all that I’d want to grow had I more space.  So this year, I’ve decided to try an imaginary garden during the winter months.  Basically, I’ll identify some seeds that I’d plant had I no space limitations (sticking to my climate zone though).  From there, I’ll track and learn about the planting timeline, care and feeding, possible pests, effects of unexpected weather, and harvesting.  By doing this in somewhat of real-time as it would be were I to plant for real (with some adjustments to finish the project by the time things actually do start to pick up outside in reality), I hope to get a tiny taste of what it might be like to grow these plants and understand more about their needs.

Aside from being educationally interesting, the imaginary garden should (I hope!) provide some motivation through the winter when staring out the window at a heap of snow.  Something to think about and focus on…. and something fun.  Thoughts? What would you plant if you had no space restrictions and fairly sizable care-feeding time to spend?

From Savingourseeds.org

Yes, strawberries.  In the middle of December.  I was out in my garden yesterday doing some clean-up work (i.e. those neglected eggplant plants that should have been handled over 2 months ago….) when I noticed my strawberries were still setting out green leaves in new “plants” from the old runners.  The old brown leaves were mostly covering them, but there they were, bright green shoots on a 30*F day.  Take a look:

So the question is: how do I handle them? I know strawberries continue to grow year to year.  I’ve cut out the old dead runners and the other stems aside from the shoots that have stuck themselves into the ground.  Yesterday I cleared away a lot of the brown leaves that had been covering the green plants.  Should I have done that? Last night I started thinking that maybe that cover of leaves was protecting the small green shoots?   I’ve heard about “mulching” and plant cover for those that come back in the next growing season, but am not sure how to do that – or if that’s what’s appropriate in this case.  I do want strawberries next spring/summer….   Help!

Week 4 of the Dark Days Challenge, and its a quick post.  This one was based simply on what needed to be used (i.e. what was about to go bad!) in my kitchen.  I had several lovely Delicata squash that I didn’t want to lose, as they were the only ones I’ve gotten my hands on this season.  Paired with a vast overflow of red and green kale, I decided to stuff the roasted squash with slow- cooked kale and red onion, seasoned with some fresh rosemary – I can’t believe the herbs I left outside are still producing, despite the cold temperatures.  I’ve never had kale and squash together, but I think I’ll repeat the performance.  Pictures, I still can’t find my camera cord.  This is getting more than a little frustrating!

Sources: kale and red onion from George Hall Farm, Delicata squash from a local farmer whose name I wrote down this time – but now can’t find – and herbs from my summer garden.  My apologies to that local farmer who gave me my only Delicatas this year and who didn’t get proper acknowledgment for the fact.

On Thursday, I heard a segment on NPR (transcript here) about what the story calls a “Dairy Evangelist”.  This dairy farmer feeds his cows on grass and hay, chooses not to homogenize the  milk (but does pasturize) and sells within 48 hours of milking.  Essentially, he is trying to launch a campaign to transform the industry in a world where, in the farmer’s view, most milk is mass produced and focused only on delivering as much milk as possible as cheeply as possible.

I don’t know much about the dairy industry, and I wonder if there are small farms selling milk to their communities with even more desirable practices, or if the trend of “big milk” is one that will eventually push out the smaller dairies.  Trinity Dairy is a organic dairy that’s local to me.  It pasture-feeds its cows and uses hay in the wintertime, and chooses not to use antibodies or growth hormones.   I know many people go to farmers’ markets specifically for Trinity Dairy, and wonder if the issue of the nation’s milk is due in part to the lack of producers – would more people choose to patronize dairies such as Trinity and Beltane Farm if they were more widely available? But then, these kinds of places are *not* widely available, and the practices are often more expensive, so the dairies are run out of business by the larger commercial operations.   And people consequently turn back to commerical groups, which makes them even stronger? A kind of vicious cycle?

And there is always the cost – no matter how much a person may want to, at this point milk from the sources I mentioned above is often at least 50% more expensive.  For a person who is struggling even to get by on bare minimum needs, it is almost instinctual to get the lowest priced goods, simply to put food on the table.  Is this realistic/fair? Can it be avoided?

So what about you? If you drink milk, where do you get it? Are local dairies available? What kind of practices do they use (since of course local doesn’t necessarily equate to sustainable/humane practices)? What do you think of the story above – realistic? Missing something in the equation? And of course, if you have experience raising animals for dairy (either home or to sell), do share!

I’ll share both weeks 2 and 3 of the Dark Days Challenge in this post, since I didn’t put one up for week 2.  It’s odd in a way to try to pick a meal to spotlight, since most days my standard cooking is pretty simple – even though its local and meets DDC’s overall philosophy, the meals seem somewhat dull in terms of sharing with the group…But as always, I look forward to reading about others and thinking about what I want to share with the community, and I hope these challenges will push me to break out of the norm.  They’ve worked in the past!  Note that there are no pictures for this one, as I can’t find my camera cord (blush).  When I hunt it down, I’ll add them.

Week 2 Spotlight Meal:

I know last week brought Thanksgiving (in part why I didn’t get up a blog post!) but my Spotlight meal for the DDC is not part of my Thanksgiving celebrations.  Instead, I’ll choose one that I always love to make, and makes me feel good about eating.  I made polenta, cooked with apples and apple cider as well as cinnamon and a very tiny bit of black pepper and paprika (it works!).  Alongside, I had some brussels sprouts roasted in the oven with salt and pepper.  Brussels sprouts are something that I met only in the past couple of years, and have come to wait for as the weather turns colder.

Sources: Cornmeal for polenta from Grays Grist Mill; apples from Dondero Orchard; apple cider from Carlson Orchards; brussels sprouts from a local source unknown – I forgot to write down the vendor.  Cinnamon and paprika, as well as black pepper from elsewhere.

Week 3 Spotlight Meal:

This week was a bit scattered, spending the first half traveling to another office for work and the other half here at home.  But I still managed to find a meal that I wanted to spotlight!  This was a simple but comforting meal of two large orange-sweet potatoes, roasted in the oven and topped with some well-cooked black beans and a bit of tomato/veg salsa.  For some reason, I enjoy the combination of the black beans with any kind of winter “orange” veg like winter squash, sweet potatoes, etc.  The sweet potatoes that I get from George Hall Farm are the sweetest I’ve even tasted, and the salsa complements it well with the contrasting heat.

Sources: Sweet potatoes from George Hall Farm; salsa that I made myself from peppers and herbs from my summer garden, and onions and tomatoes from George Hall Farm; black beans from Caygula Organics.

I am on a mailing list for a site called “Local Harvest” that has several links to farms and events in any area the user chooses.  Although I don’t visit it much, an email today did catch my eye.

I learned there is a new documentary called “Localvore: Local Diet, Healthy Planet” that is soon to be released on DVD.  I had never heard of it before, but it seems to be another in the growing trend of movies tracking the increased awareness of local foods and farmers, and the communities they serve.   So far, I’ve not seen any of the films (largely for lack of time, and in small part for a bit of skepticism as to the content), but I admit, it would likely be a good thing to at least have some sense of what is being put out there.

I wonder how this film (and the others like it) influence the mass public’s perception of those who choose to eat locally, or take other so-called unusual actions (gardening, preserving, etc.)   Does it show only one popular angle/prospective on local living?  Would it be a more accurate picture if individuals met individuals and shared their experiences? I don’t know – movies are certainly a way to reach a broader audience, but is the point of a local community lost in some tiny way? I suppose I should see the film before answering, right? 

Have any of you seen these kinds of films? Reactions?

A quick post to give a shout-out to contributing local farmers in Connecticut.  I am on the Foodshare mailing list, and I got an email this week letting me know that its food industry partners – which includes local growers – contributed about 500,000 lbs of food in the month of November.  

Foodshare partners with many such food industry partners – from what I understand, this allows them to work in bulk and get food more cost-effectively than it would with single contributions (though those are also quite welcome and given by many (many) in the community!).  I’ve found local farmers are very much a part of it all: in the summer, for example, one farmer offered the agency a change to glean corn from his fields on multiple days, taking produce to allow a fresh local taste into its food supply.  I went on one of those days to participate, and it was a great experience especially knowing the broader involvement at work.

I think this kind of involvement from local growers is so important, and should be encouraged.  Do local growers participate in other ways in your communities? Are there “spaces” for them to do so?

I really am excited for the start of the 2009-2010 Dark Days Challenge led by Laura at the (not so) Urban Hennery.  This challenge was my first foray last year when I started living in my LocalZone, and it is good to have it come back.  (Though I am not looking forward to the actual darkness outside… summer seems so far away….)

Housekeeping notes for the Dark Days Challenge:

This year will be a bit different than last, since I can’t eat most of the grains grown in my LocalZone.  Although we are lucky to have Wild Hive Farm growing wheat, triticale, and rye, I am gluten-free now, so those are no longer possibilities.  So I’ve moved out of the zone for grains I can eat.  I make my own breads/muffins/snack bars/etc. from the flour, but the flour is from “elsewhere”.  Same for the brown rice I use. I choose to buy from sources that I would with practices and methods that I want to support in general.   There are some local grains still in the picture: I will be using local cornmeal and local buckwheat – both of which are acceptable.  I am not sure if my Spotlight meals will involve the non-local grains I now eat, or the local cornmeal and buckwheat.  Up front though, those other grains might be exceptions.

Other exceptions: salt/pepper, spices.  I don’t include herbs in the exceptions though, since those are dried from the summer’s local yield.

I think that’s it for the exceptions, so on to this week’s Spotlight meal.

I got lots (lots) of turnips in my latest CSA pickup from George Hall Farm, so it seemed natural to do something with them.  I’ve struggled with cooking turnips in the past, so I went with a mix of root veg to make a stew – turnips, carrots, white and orange sweet potatoes, onion, and garlic.  I added in some pre-cooked black beans. Everything was cooked together, with lots of spices: paprika, cumin, turmeric, chili pepper, salt, and black pepper.  Pretty simply done on the stovetop in a cast-iron pot, just cooked in water until very soft with some thick “gravy” left in.

This was a delicious meal in itself – nothing else needed.  I made it on a rainy, raw night this week, and it was just what I needed after a stressful day.  And yes, I think this is a successful way to use turnips! They acted/tasted much as a regular potato would, and I very much enjoyed what they brought to the stew.

Source: All veg from George Hall Farm, black beans from Caygula Organics.  Spices, per exception, from “elsewhere.”

I was doing some clean-up (long overdue) in the garden on Sunday and found these:

I had planned to start some fall peas, so put them in a container to get going.  Except I didn’t.  The seed packet was open, but I guess I got distracted and it never happened.  I’m guessing that the wind knocked over the seed packet, and the peas just took it from there.  There were several shriveled-up peas on the vine too.  I’m sorry that I never got to them, seems it would have been a successful venture.

But it also reinforces to me that things are persistent and will keep growing wherever they have the chance.  Funny, the “volunteer” plants I’ve had in these few short months of gardening do better overall then the ones I tend.  Oh well.