Local Food - Common Sense Homesteading

Strawberry Picking

Jul 182011

Last week I started posting strawberry recipes, but I didn’t say a whole lot about where we got our strawberries. I figured this week I’d do a couple more strawberry posts, first sharing a bit about our strawberry picking adventures, and then wrapping up with another “how-to” post on preserving berries.

Strawberry season ran late in our area due to an awfully cold spring. The boys and I first went picking on July 8th, weeks later than the season would normally start. Our first stop for berries was Kraynik’s Berry Farm, just north of Hwy 29 and less than ten minutes from our home. If you’re heading east on 29 between Green Bay and Kewaunee, just look for the big red berries.

Kraynik’s also has U-pick peas and raspberries, which should be starting up shortly, if they haven’t started already. Normally the peas are ready much earlier, but the owners said that when they would have normally been planting, the field was under a foot of snow, and went they went to plant a second time, it was under standing water. I know the feeling…

Here are boys, all fired up and ready to get picking (well, maybe not so much, but they know it’s their job).

I wish you could have smelled the air in the berry patch. The sun was shining and the berries were sweet and juicy due to the heat and rain. The only downside was that it had been a little too wet, and there were quite a few rotten berries as well.

Here’s Todd, the owner, weighing up our berries. Pretty reasonably priced, IMO.

Here he is posing with the truck where they store the berry boxes. Kraynik’s moves the stand to the field where the berries are currently being picked.

After a couple of hours in the hot sun, the boys and I went out for custard, just like my mom and I used to do when I was a kid.

Our second round of picking was at Wilfert’s, just south of Mishicot. I like to visit Wilfert’s later in the season, as their berries tend to be larger than Kraynik’s as the season progresses.

The local growers don’t spray much, maybe because the cold kills off a lot of the bugs. These folks only spray once during blossom set, unlike many commercial growers. Apparently 50 different pesticides are used on strawberries, making them one of most sprayed fruit crops. We ran into more rotten strawberries here, too, and the boys had a tough time picking. You can see the berries were very soft, and my hands got quite stained.

Wilfert farm sells out of a large building where they also sell other produce, and they post regular updates on their site and to their Facebook page. I picked up some peas, cauliflower and kohlrabi.

Like I told the boys, it’s more work to pick your own, but it a good way to help support your local farmers. I’m sure local growers have struggled with the weather just like I have, and their incomes are probably lagging well behind where they ought to be by this time of year. You’ll never beat the freshness of something you’ve picked yourself. PickYourOwn.org lists dozens of farms throughout the United States, and some from around the world. If you can’t grow it yourself, pick your own is the next best thing.

If you have fresh strawberries available, check out my recipes for Gluten Free Strawberry Shortcake made with Almond Flour, Low Sugar Honey Sweetened Strawberry and Strawberry Banana Jam, Old Fashioned Strawberry-Banana and Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam, and Gluten Free Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumble.

This post has been added to Simple Lives Thursday at a Sustainable Eats and the
Homestead Barn Hop #21 at Homestead Revival.

Can Your Soup Do This?

Local Food 7 Responses »

Jun 052011

Can your soup do this? I just had to share this photo. This is not soup concentrate, this is my standard homemade chicken soup. As you can see, when chilled, it sets up to a gelatinous state that is firm enough to stay in the bowl when tipped on its side.

When heated, it reverts to a standard (if a bit chunky) soup consistency.

The broth is cloudy, not clear, because it is loaded with gelatin, calcium and other nutrients.

What to know the secret for making a nourishing, healing soup? Check out all the details in the post Beautiful Broth. Once you have your broth, you can also use it for cooking other dishes, such as fried rice. You can make up your broth in a crock pot, too, to avoid heating up the kitchen. My goal for the summer is to try some cold soups, although I may have to water the broth down a bit so I don’t end up with savory jelly.

Anyone have a favorite chilled summer soup recipe they’d like to share?

This post has been added to Barn Hop #15.

Food Madness – Four Films about the Dangers in our Food Supply

environmentalism, Local Food 2 Responses »

Mar 052010

Free and open to the public. Documentaries about our food system that are worth watching.

Where: Duck Creek Coffee Company, 2667 W. Mason Street Ste. 4, Green Bay, WI

When: 10am – Noon, Saturdays, March 6 through April 3rd

Sponsored by the Oneida Community Integrated Food Systems (OCIFS)

For more information please contact Jill at 920.405.6900 or Bill at 920.869.4530 or Wvervoor@oneidanation.org

March 6 – THE FUTURE OF FOOD offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled patented genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade. The Future of Food examines the complex web of market and political forces that are changing what we eat as huge multinational corporations seek to control the world’s food system. The film also explores alternatives to large-scale industrial agriculture placing organic and sustainable agriculture as real solutions to the farm crisis today. 88 minutes, 2004

March 13 – SUPERSIZE ME under extensive medical supervision, Spurlock subjects himself to a steady diet of McDonald’s cuisine for 30 days just to see what happens. In less than a week, his ordinarily fit body and equilibrium undergo dark and ugly changes: Spurlock grows fat, his cholesterol rockets north, his organs take a beating, and he becomes subject to headaches, mood swings, symptoms of addiction, and lessened sexual energy. French fries never looked more nauseating. 96 minutes, 2004

March 20 – FAST FOOD NATION guides a topnotch ensemble cast through a peek behind the veil of how that Big Mac is born. Greg Kinnear delivers a spot-on performance as a fastfood chain marketing manager, trying frantically to discover the source of stomach-turning contamination in the company’s meat. Stories are woven in unexpected ways, and cameos by the likes of Kris Kristofferson, Patricia Arquette, and especially Bruce Willis keep the narrative fresh. As Willis’s character slyly says, “Most people don’t like to be told what’s best for them.” Agreed, yet Fast Food Nation likely will help the viewer be more conscious of what’s on the end of that fork. 114 minutes, 2007

March 27 – KING CORN is a fun and crusading journey into the digestive tract of our fast food nation where one ultra-industrial, pesticide-laden, heavily-subsidized commodity dominates the food pyramid from top to bottom – corn. Fueled by curiosity and a dash of naiveté‚, college buddies Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis return to their ancestral home of Greene, Iowa to figure out how a modest kernel conquered America. Along the way, they unlock the hilarious absurdities and scary but hidden truths about America’s modern food system. 90 minutes, 2008

April 3 – FOOD, INC. lifts the veil on our nation’s food industry, exposing how our nation’s food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. Food, Inc. reveals surprising and often shocking truths about what we eat, how it’s produced and who we have become as a nation. 90 minutes, 2008

Say Cheese! – More Local Food Finds

Local Food 4 Responses »

Feb 152010

To those who regularly stop by Green Sense, my apologies for dropping off the radar for a while. Our family has been going through some transitions (new job for my husband and my mom passing away). I think we’re finally settling into our new schedule, so I should be back here more regularly with more earth-friendly bits.

One of my own New Year’s resolutions is to eat more fat. Yep, you read it right; eat more fat, not less. After reading the book “Eat Fat, Lose Fat” and learning about the importance of fat in our bodies, I’ve added more traditional saturated fats to our diet. Along these same lines, I’m rereading the book Nourishing Traditions and considering joining the Weston A. Price Foundation. I think Hippocrates had it right when he said “Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food.” To that end, I’m continuing to source more of my family’s food locally and prepare it traditionally.

One of the foods strongly recommended in traditional diets is raw dairy products. Although raw milk is very difficult to obtain, there are still few local dairies that produce raw cheeses. One of these is Saxon Homestead Creamery in Cleveland, Wisconsin. Saxon Creamery produces raw, artisan cheeses from their own herd of grass-fed cattle. Raw cheese, or cheese that is unpasteurized, contains the naturally occurring enzymes that allow it to be digested more fully, plus it retains the nutrients that are typically lost through pasteurization. You can purchase the Saxon Creamery cheeses from 8am until noon on Tuesdays and Thursdays at their office at 855 Hickory Street, or you can find them like I did at Nala’s Fromagerie in Green Bay.

Nala’s is a lovely little store, and the staff is very friendly and helpful. They have a wonderful selection of cheeses from around the world, and a variety of other products I haven’t seen anywhere else in the area.

I was able to sample several cheeses before I decided on my favorites.

I purchased three different cheeses – Big Ed’s, Saxony, and Buttermilk Blue.

Big Ed’s (upright piece with small holes) is a smooth, buttery cheese with a velvety texture. Saxony (laying down, front) is a bit more pungent, more like parmesan. It has an interesting nutty texture, a bit crunchy, and has become my favorite thus far. The Buttermilk Blue is full-flavored and silky, a welcome addition on salads or with crackers and fruit. A word of warning – these are not Velveeta. The flavors are clear and strong, and may take a bit of getting used to for those who’ve never eaten much real cheese. Once you do get nibbling, they can be addictive, and taste great with some local beer, wine or kombucha. Like my grandmother always said, “Try it, you might like it.”

Oh, Nala’s gives you a 5% discount the next time you use their bag, so don’t forget to bring it with when you come back for more cheese.

Links

In Defense of Bacon – Evidence suggests bacon may not be as evil as we’ve been led to believe.

Cherry Season

Food Storage, Local Food, Recipes Comments Off

Aug 062009

Once again cherry season has come to Door County, Wisconsin, one of the nation’s leading cherry growing areas. Lucky us, we’re just half an hour from our favorite orchard, Cherry Lane near Forestville. We headed up on Sunday to replenish our stash in the freezer. Last year the crop was decimated by a late frost, so there were no “you-pick” cherries to be had.

This year, the trees were loaded. We picked seven buckets full, filling an entire cooler. This worked out to 24 quarts of frozen cherries, more than enough for us and our extended family. The “you-pick” cherries are generally tart, or pie, cherries. Montmorency is the preferred variety in our area. You can also buy ready picked cherries, both sweet and tart, and a wide variety of other cherry products .

Picking cherries is a great way to spend an afternoon. We saw a great mix of people in the orchard, grandparents with their grandchildren, young couples, individuals – even a large family group with the ladies all in lovely saris. I hope they made the men climb the ladders.
So why should you take the time to go cherry picking when it’s much easier to buy them at the store? Last year, cherry farmers received an average of 39.1 cents per pound when they sold their cherries wholesale. We paid $8 for a “nine pound” bucket (although I’m pretty sure we crammed more than nine pounds in – those buckets were full). This equals around 89 cents a pound for us, still a great deal, and more than doubles the income to the farmer. After last year’s losses (the crop was estimated at only 5% of average), I figure that buying local cherries at the farm is the least we can do to help support small family farms, plus we reduce our food miles and carbon footprint. When I asked about crop status, they said they’re hoping to be picking through the middle of August, so you still have time to enjoy this wonderful treat.

Related Links:
Wisconsin Cherry Growers – Full listing of where to buy cherries and cherry products in Door County, plus recipes and health information about tart cherries.
U.S. tart cherry production spikes – After an almost total crop loss last year, Wisconsin — one of the nation’s largest tart cherry growers — is expected to produce more than 8 million pounds of cherries this year.
Millions of Cherries – More detailed coverage of our cherry picking expedition at Common Sense Homesteading.

Recipes From the Wisconsin Cherry Growers Website:

Cherry Slush

Quench your thirst with an icy sparkler.
Makes 16 servings

Ingredients:
2 cups cherry juice blend or water
1 cup granulated sugar
2 cups frozen unsweetened tart cherries
1 can (6 ounces) frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed, undiluted
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 bottle (2 liters) lemon-lime carbonated beverage, chilled

Directions:
In a medium saucepan, combine cherry juice blend and sugar. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until sugar dissolves and mixture boils. Reduce heat; simmer 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
In electric blender or food processor container, combine cherries, orange juice concentrate and lemon juice. Blend 1 minute, or until cherries are pureed. In a 6-cup freezer container, combine cherry mixture and sugar mixture; mix well. Cover tightly; freeze 5 hours or overnight.

Remove cherry mixture from freezer 30 minutes before serving. Put 1/4 cup slush in each glass; add 1/2 cup carbonated beverage to each glass. Serve immediately. Freeze remaining slush for later use.
Note: 1 can (16 ounces) unsweetened tart cherries, drained, can be substituted for frozen cherries.

Asian Spinach Salad

Spinach and cherries are a healthy duo that adds significant Vitamin A and antioxidants to your diet.
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1/2 medium jalapeno pepper, finely chopped (2 teaspoons)
1 tablespoon grated gingerroot
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 ounces dried rice noodles or rice sticks
4 cups torn fresh spinach
1/4 cup dried tart cherries
1/3 cup chopped fresh mint leaves (or other fresh herbs)
2 medium carrots, shredded
1 medium cucumber, seeded and cut into 1 1/2 inch slivers
1/3 cup unsalted dry roasted peanuts

Directions:
For the dressing, stir together orange juice, vinegar, jalapeno pepper, gingerroot, garlic, orange peel and black pepper. Set aside

Cook rice noodles or rice sticks in a large pot of boiling water for 2 to 6 minutes or until tender. Drain. Immediately rinse with cold water. Drain. Fluff with a fork. use kitchen scissors to cut up. Rinse again with cold water. Drain and fluff with a fork.

Toss together drained noodles, spinach, dried cherries, mint, carrots and cucumber. Drizzle with dressing. Toss to coat all ingredients with dressing. Sprinkle with peanuts. Serve immediately.

Zesty Cherry Stuffed Burgers

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:
1 cup (4 ounces) crumbled Blue cheese
1/4 cup dried tart cherries
2 tablespoons honey mustard
1 tablespoon chopped green onion
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano OR 1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
Onion rolls, if desired

Directions:
Prepare charcoal or gas grill for direct cooking. Cook over medium coals or heat.
Combine Blue cheese, cherries, honey mustard, green onion and oregano; mix well. Divide ground beef into 4 even portions. Shape each into a ball. Make a deep indentation with thumb into one of the portions. Fill with 2 tablespoons Blue cheese mixture. Close the beef over the filling and shape into a patty about 1/2 inch thick. Repeat with remaining beef.

Grill over medium direct heat approximately 5 to 6 minutes per side. Top each burger with 1 tablespoon Blue cheese mixture during last minute of cooking. Serve on sliced onion rolls.

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