You Can Take Control of the Food System Right Now

Food corporations aren't in business to help us eat healthier - they're in business to make money, since they are ultimately accountable to their shareholders. So when big food reassures us that they care about what's in our best interests - namely reducing lifestyle diseases like obesity and diabetes that stem from over-consumption of their products - that's really only a partial truth. It's a truth only in the sense that they care about how our interests will affect whether or not we purchase their products.  The idea that big food has any moral obligation to care about whether or not we get sick from their products is false, regardless of how their advertising might spin it. (Remember this ad by coke?  That's what I'm talking about.) And even that supposed "truth" that we as consumers are powerful enough to sway product development with our concerns could be considered a stretch.  Really, psychology is king in this industry, trumping public opinion and moral outrage, and the only thing we can do about it is to eat critically and move toward greater government regulation.

I was recently sent this article by a colleague that explains what I mean.  The article is long, but I'm glad I read the whole thing because it really gets into the nuts and bolts of how the food industry operates.  The fact that big food tries to create and optimize products for maximum addictiveness isn't all that surprising, but it does speak to the need for each of us as individuals to take control of our own health by making informed food choices, and to push for greater government oversight in order to regulate the production and marketing of these products.  Again, the industry isn't interested in pleasing the consumer; it's interested in pleasing its shareholders by selling product.  If the best way to sell product is to placate consumers with hollow reassurances while at the same time marketing them highly addictive and nutritionally poor goods, so be it.  There is no ethical compass here. In this system, the vast complexity of a human being is reduced to a set of psychological impulses.  If a company can capitalize on those impulses to make more money, all the better for them, but not necessarily all the better for you.

The point is, it's not about big food being good or evil.  Morally corrupt or not, they're looking after their best interests, and so should you.  It's easy to slip into eating unhealthy foods because we perceive them to be cheaper, tastier, and more convenient than their healthful wholesome cousins (I've fallen into that trap more than I'd like to admit) but when you're about to go for that prepared meal or snack because you think it's less expensive and less time consuming than making a real meal, consider whether or not that perception is really true, or if it's just the result of effective corporate marketing.  More and more I'm finding that I can make meals that are easily prepared and more delicious and satisfying than anything processed, despite what any food commercials tell me. There are thousands of variations on the sandwich, for instance, many of which are very quick and easy to make with local healthy ingredients, and are much cheaper and more delicious than fast food versions of the sandwich like burgers.  And if I really have no time for a full meal, or are just bored with the meal options I've been preparing for myself, I'll go the snack route, but not in the conventional chips and cookies way.  A combination of fruit, nuts, veggies, and cheeses makes a great on the go snack, and if you focus more heavily on the fruits and veggies it can be very affordable.

Regardless of your approach, buying locally produced food and preparing your meals yourself is a great way to feel empowered about your place in the food system.  On a larger scale, that empowerment means communities can work more effectively together to make lasting changes in government policy at all levels of the system, which translates into a better standard of living for everyone.  But it all starts with how we as individuals respond to the current food system, and who we choose to support with the one thing that big food cares about the most.  Money talks - how will you spend your opinion?

Have a great afternoon,
Melissa

Have a Healthy Halloween!

Today is Halloween, and even though the first word that comes to mind for many of us when we think about Halloween is "candy", the holiday doesn't have to revolve around sweet treats in order to be fun.  You can have a more healthy lower sugar Halloween experience by using some of the following tips:

From Snack Girl, comes ten tips for a healthy Halloween. I especially like numbers 6 and 7:

6. If your children are young, tell them about the CANDY FAIRY. My six year old bought the idea that she could put her candy out and a fairy would replace it with a toy. She is truly excited about giving away her candy - magic, no?

7. If your children are old enough to understand, try making a care package of candy for a soldier in Afghanistan. There are a bunch of different organizations that can help you find a way to cheer up a soldier. One example is Any Soldier. They seem to always be looking for snack food.

Now, some of Snack Girl's candy tips might not be up your alley, but if you are okay with the idea of handing out an inedible item to Trick or Treaters, the American Dental Association has teamed up with Pop Cap Games to offer free downloads of its wildly popular game Plants -vs- Zombies.  You can download coupons to hand out here.  The ADA's colleagues at the Center for Science in the Public Interest have also come up with this comprehensive handout detailing healthy Halloween ideas that you can use at parties and for trick or treaters. There are many recipes and craft ideas that will entertain groups of all ages without consuming large amounts of sugar.

Whatever your plans for this holiday, I hope it's safe, delicious and fun!
-Melissa

Get Ready for Food Day!

Yesterday was World Food Day, and Food Day in the US is less than a week away!  Food Day's priorities include promoting safer, healthier diets, supporting sustainable and organic farms, reducing hunger, reforming factory farms to protect the environment and animals, and supporting fair working conditions for food and farm workers. To reach these goals, organizations across the country are holding events to raise awareness about food in the United States and foster excitement about affecting change for the better.  Below are just a few of the upcoming Food Day events going on in Connecticut.  If you want to learn more about events in your area, check out Food Day's Find an Event page.

Food Day in New Britain
October 24, 2012 at 12pm - 9pm
Urban Oaks Organic Farm
225 Oak St
New Britain, CT 06051
A celebration of fresh, organic, and local!

Barnum School holds Food Day Event in Bridgeport, Connecticut 
October 24, 2012 at 3pm - 6pm
Barnum School
945 Waterview Ave
Bridgeport, CT 06608
An event to celebrate local farms supporting the Bridgeport community. There will be booths set-up for nutrition workshops for students and parents, a Cooking Matters booth doing tastings, local pumpkins and apples for applesauce to talk about a healthy halloween, local eggs for omlette station, produce from the the school gardens around Bridgeport for tastings and much more!

Food Day at the Rowayton Library
October 24, 2012, all day
Rowayton Library
33 Highland Avenue, Rowayton, CT
The Rowayton library is holding three events in celebration of Food Day: The French Twist: Twelve Secrets of Decadent Dining and Natural Weight Management, Design Your Own Smoothies - For Kids, and Guilty Pleasures – Healthier Choices: Sports Night REDO! – for Adults.

Since the purpose of Food Day is as much to facilitate discussion about the past, present, and future of our food system as it is about celebrating healthy, affordable, and sustainable food, why not use Food Day as an excuse to have a diner party?  To help make the process of planning such a Food Day party relaxing and fun, Food Day has developed a Dinner Party Kit that includes Food Day recipes from Mario Batali, Dan Barber, Ellie Krieger, and other celebrity chefs; conversation cards; and a pumpkin stencil so that even your jack-o’-lantern can eat real!  What a great way to enjoy the company of friends, family, and coworkers while enjoying a great meal and becoming more well-versed on that state of food in America.

Have a deliciously thoughtful day!
-Melissa

Peak Fall Foliage is Coming Up!

Within the next few weeks, peak foliage in Connecticut will roll through the state from north to south, (check out CT DEEP's interactive foliage map here) and that means cold weather is on its way.  In fact, that cold weather is closer than you might think.  According to the National Weather Service, the first freeze of the season is happening overnight tonight.  I know I'm going to go out and pick the last of my peppers before the sun sets, but what I haven't decided yet is what I'm going to do with them.  Sounds like I'm in need of either some food preservation techniques, or a good recipe, right?

For the last year or so we have been sharing guidelines for winter food storage, recipes for cooking fall and winter foods, and farming and gardening tips for the off-season in the Winter Food Project section of our Gleanings eNewsletter.  With winter literally on our doorstep, now's a perfect time to start reviewing our enewsletter archive and our Winter Food Project webpage to refresh your memory about all the information that's available.

Below are some of the recipes we've featured in Gleanings.  Try making one this weekend with some of your harvest, or from food you purchased at a local fall event.

Have a bountiful weekend!
-Melissa

Winter Food Project Gleanings Recipes

• From the 2012 Getting Started in Organic Farming Conference:
  • Holcomb Farm CSA Coleslaw
    If you are longing for some warm weather foods as winter drags on, this is a great way to use winter foods to make a traditional summer favorite. Holcomb Farm's winter CSA provides all the vegetables for the slaw.
    
    -cabbage
    -carrots
    -onion
    -organic oil
    -white wine vinegar
    -salt and pepper to taste
    -lemon
    
    Grate or chop all ingredients and combine in a large bowl.  Serve immediately or refrigerate.

• Hearty Veggie Soup - VEGAN

For a traditional winter dish, you can't go wrong with this one. The version we had at the conference had homegrown organic veggies.

-kale

-tomatoes

-carrots

-peas

-celery

-onions

-edamame

-parsnips

-garlic

-parsley

-kidney beans

Chop up ingredients as finely or coarsely as you want and combine in a large soup pot. Cook on medium heat until all the veggies are tender and have released juice - you can always add some vegetable stock if you want a thinner soup.

• Dutch Kale Dish - From Johan van Achterberg, a longtime farmer and board member from Easton. He wrote that this was the way his mother made kale.

-Peel and boil 4 good size potatoes for mashing with some butter and milk; add salt before cooking.

-Remove the leaf part from the kale stem (about 12 stems) and shred the greens. Cook the greens for about 15 to 20 minutes so it is tender.

-After draining the water add the kale to the mashed potatoes; mix well and season to taste.

-For real flavor fry bacon, cut into small pieces and add the bacon and some fat to the mix.

-Ring Belogna (PA Dutch) or sliced Kilbasa are a great supplement.

-For the best flavor kale should not be used until it has had some frost.

• Kale and Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes - From Wild Carrot Farm LLC, a CT NOFA member organic farm

For this recipe, be sure to wash the kale well - dirt and grit hides in the leaves. Chop the kale finely to avoid floppiness in the potatoes, and avoid over mixing the kale into the potatoes as that will add a green tinge to the dish. You can use either peeled or unpeeled potatoes for this recipe.

-3 lbs potatoes, cut into large chunks

-sea salt

-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

-4 cloves garlic, minced

-1 bunch kale, large stems stripped and discarded, leaves chopped

-1/2+ cup warm milk or cream

-freshly ground black pepper

-5 scallions, white and tender green parts, chopped

-1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan, for garnish (opt)

-fried shallots, for garnish (opt)

Put the potatoes in a large pot and cover with water. Add a pinch of salt. Bring the water to a boil and continue boiling for 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, chopped kale, a big pinch of salt, and saute just until tender - about a minute. Set aside.

Mash the potatoes with a potato masher or fork. Slowly stir in the milk a few big splashes at a time. You are after a thick creamy texture, so if your potatoes are on the dry side keep adding milk until the texture is right. Season with salt and pepper.

Dump the kale on top of the potatoes and give a quick stir. Transfer to a serving bowl, make a well in the center of the potatoes, and pour the remaining olive oil. Sprinkle with the scallions, Parmesan cheese, and shallots.

Serves 6.

• Jerusalem Artichoke & Roasted Garlic Vichyssoise - From CT NOFA board VP John Turenne's Sustainable Food Systems

4 pounds            Jerusalem Artichokes, washes & scrubbed, diced 2 inches

1 pound              Leeks, white and light green part only

8 cloves              Garlic, Roasted

1/4 cup               Olive oil

1 quart               Vegetable stock

2 Tbl.                 Thyme, fresh

2 cups                2% low-fat milk

As needed          Salt, kosher and fresh cracked peppercorns

1. Split the leeks lengthwise and wash well to remove all sand and grit. Slice them thinly.

2. Sweat the leeks in the olive oil without browning them.

3. Add the Jerusalem Artichokes, roasted garlic, thyme and vegetable stock and bring to a simmer.

4. Simmer until the Jerusalem Artichokes are tender, approximately 45 minutes.

5. Purée the soup in a food processor, blender or with an immersion blender; season with salt and pepper.  Add milk and return to low simmer to heat through for 5 minutes.

6. Serve hot or chilled.

Yield: 4 quarts

• Deb's Dried Apples - From the CT NOFA Office Manager Deb Legge
  
  
  Slice your favorite unpeeled apples into 16 slices. (One of those corer/slicer gadgets makes the job go a lot more quickly.) Sprinkle with a small amount of lemon juice, if available. For seasoning, use a mix of mostly cinnamon, with a bit of nutmeg, cardamom, and cloves to your preference. Arrange in a single layer in each dehydrator rack and dry for 20-24 hours. Store in glass jars.

Enjoy the Bounty of Summer All Year!

It's nearly August! The bounty of summer is in full swing, and in Connecticut there is no shortage of delicious, fresh, and varied produce to put in our kitchens. Produce, however, has a pesky habit of going bad over time, especially when you're dealing with highly perishable fruits like berries. This month, when all the tomatoes in your garden are ripening at the same time and you have more access to fresh local produce at the market than you know what to do with, use some of these methods to preserve the harvest so you can enjoy it all year!

Drying: Out of the three major food preservation options, drying is the most economical. It requires the least amount of energy input, and much of the work is done in the background while you're off doing other things. Here's an article by Jean Nick from Rodale that details the process of dehydration, complete with tips and recipes sure to make your mouth water.

Canning: Canning takes some time and skill, but it's the only way wet foods can be preserved without refrigeration. If you want to learn how to can just about anything, peruse this blog by Canning Granny. She provides a wide variety of recipes and tips from her own kitchen and from readers' submissions.

Freezing: Freezing is arguably the easiest food preservation technique, requiring relatively little time or preparation, but it requires a lot of freezer storage space and, therefore, a lot of energy. Good Housekeeping gives a good introduction to freezing, including what not to freeze and how to properly prepare and wrap food for freezing.

And if you want to learn more in depth guidelines and tips, the Cornell Extension has a great webpage about all three food preservation techniques. Check out our webpage as the summer draws to a close to learn about our fall food preservation workshops as they are scheduled.

Have a bountiful day!
-Melissa

A Recipe Finder with Built-In Price Estimator and Nutrition Facts

The SNAP-Ed Connection recently released a new resource that anyone can use to find healthy, affordable recipes, regardless of whether or not they are using the SNAP Program. The new Build a Cookbook feature added to the SNAP-Ed Connection Recipe Finder allows users to create a personalized cookbook from any of the nearly 600 low cost, healthy recipes in the Recipe Finder. You can also choose one of the fixed cookbook options that use pre-selected recipes from categories such as children’s favorites, older adults, or fruit and veggie recipes.

All recipes are nutritious and budget friendly, include cost and nutrition information, and are available in English and Spanish. Users can search for recipes by ingredient, recipe name, menu item and cost, as well as a variety of other search options including audience, cooking equipment required, and nutrition education topic. You can also rate each recipe and view ratings from others.

This is a great resource if you've ever found yourself wanting to cook something but are concerned about what the total cost will be.  If you are cooking for a larger group, cost can be especially important, so this is a good way to estimate your total cost ahead of time and budget accordingly.  This is also a good search engine if you want to see the nutrition facts of what you're cooking.  What a convenient way to keep track of what is in your food!

And if you want to save your recipes in a cookbook, you can enter a cookbook title, choose a cover design, and personalize it with your name and/or organization. Completed cookbooks will be available as a PDF file for viewing and printing. Get started building your new cookbook today at Recipe Finder!

Dieting vs Common Sense

Here in the United States we love to diet, which is ironic considering how high our levels of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease are. With a society so attuned to the fat, calorie, antioxidant, and carbohydrate contents of our food, and so willing to try new, supposedly healthier options, you'd think we'd all be thin and fit.  But as as organicgardening.com notes in a recent post featuring good food guru Michael Pollan, our obsessive dieting culture tends to over-complicate the issue of proper nutrition.  In fact, the very words diet and nutrition conjure up a science experiment more than real food, and thus much of our food has succumbed to that mechanized, over-processed ideal.

"Good and evil foods are constantly changing roles," Denise Gee writes on organicgardening.com. "One month, our nemesis is salt; the next, it’s sugar. Now it’s high-fructose corn syrup. We’re all over the map. 'That should tell us something,' Michael Pollan says. 'We’re either eating the ruinous food and feeling guilty about it or we’re eating healthy food and feeling virtuous about it. But I submit to you that that’s a really bizarre way to think about food.'"

So what do we do when in the thick of this very complicated and confusing dilemma?  Pollan suggests that we take some advice from thousands of years of ancestors the world over:

"Eat food, not too much, mostly plants. And have a relaxed attitude about food. Don’t be a fanatic."

 

That's really all you need to know in order to live a healthy, happy life free of dieting and obsessive attention to nutrition.  If three short sentences isn't enough to live by, however, here is Michael Pollan's expansion on the above statement.

Pollan's Food Rules 
• “Avoid products containing ingredients a third-grader can’t pronounce.”
• “Don’t buy any foods you’ve ever seen advertised on television.”
• “Just imagine your grandmother, or your great-grandmother depending on your age, as you’re rolling down the aisle in the supermarket. If she would not recognize something as a food, it’s not a food.”
• “Shop the perimeter of the store. That’s where the live food lives.”
• “Don’t eat until you’re full. Eat until you’re satisfied. The Japanese have a rule called hara hachi bu, which means, “eat until you’re 80 percent full.” That’s a radically un-American idea. But if we adopted this, and had our children do the same, the positive results would be profound.”
• “If you’re not hungry enough to eat an apple, you’re not really hungry.”
• “Do all your eating at a table. And no, a desk is not a table.”
 
Want to boost your health and have some delicious plants on hand all season?  Sign up for our Organic Gardening Workshop at Common Ground High School on May 5! The workshop is just over a week away, so make sure to call into our office at 203.888.5146 to register.

Why Our Winter Food Project is Important

The winter, more than any other season, is a time when many Americans eat more packaged, processed foods as local farmer's markets dwindle and access to fresh produce is often limited to factory farmed crops shipped in from far away.  It's cold and dark out, and if cooking isn't your strong point, it's easy to get sucked into the convenience of prepackaged, non-local foods.

I recently read a post on Farmer's Market titled Forgotten Food: How We Lost Knowledge of Where Food Comes From, How to Cook It and What It Tastes Like that gives a brief synopsis of Ann Vileisis' Kitchen Literacy.  This book chronicles America's food system, from its beginnings in 1700s agrarian society to the broken and disconnected monstrosity that it is today.  As it turns out, America's transition from a society that had immense accumulated food knowledge to a nation where people often say food comes from "the grocery store" wasn't an easy one.  Our ancestors fought against much of the commercialization and industrialization of food, leaving us a legacy not of complacency, but of activism.  We owe it to ourselves and to our rich heritage to become reacquainted with where our food comes from, how to prepare it, and what it should taste like.

It is in this spirit that we started our Winter Food Project.  After all, if we can develop a more personal relationship with our food in the toughest and leanest of seasons, we can do it at any time of the year.  I encourage you to check out the resources available on our Winter Food Project page, and visit a winter farmer's market in your area.  Access to whole, local food doesn't have to be seasonal, and we don't have to sacrifice flavor and nutrition just because it's wintertime.

A Great Recipe from Mindy Kannon, Prepared by One of Our Members

Nutritionist Mindy Kannon offers a variety of great recipes on her website. The following recipe was given to me by a CT NOFA member who made it for our Annual Meeting potluck lunch, but was unable to attend the event because of the snow.





Sweet Potato, Walnut and Green Bean Salad on Baby Arugula
Serves 8. Active time 35 minutes, plus 20 minutes for roasting potatoes.

Tangy Yogurt Dressing:
½ cup plain nonfat yogurt
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp chopped sun-dried tomatoes
1 tsp dijon mustard
½ tsp sea salt
¼ tsp ground black pepper
8 cup of baby arugula
sea salt and pepper to taste

Salad:
2 Lbs of sweet potatoes
1 tbsp rosemary
2 cloves garlic
2 cups trimmed and halved green beans
1 cup coarsely-chopped walnuts
¼ cup fresh parsley

Mix the dressing ingredients in the blender until smooth. Set aside.
Scrub sweet potatoes with a vegetable brush. With skins on, dice into ½" cubes.
Toss with olive oil, rosemary and fresh garlic. Put potatoes on a cooking sheet or pizza stone. Place in a 450 degree oven for about 15 minutes. Periodically check the potatoes and flip with a spatula. Remove when golden brown. Cool.
Steam green beans until tender. Immediately rinse under cold water to stop cooking so they remain crisp. Let dry.
In a bowl, toss potatoes, beans, walnuts, and parsley with dressing.
Arrange over baby arugula. Sprinkle with sea salt and pepper to taste.

This delicious and easy salad supplies you with an incredible array of nutrients. Walnuts are high in anti-oxidants and are the richest source of omega-3s. Arugula is a great source of beta-carotene, vitamin C, calcium and vitamin K. Parsley contributes iron, potassium and vitamin C.

Our Annual Meeting was a great event! If you missed it because of the weather, or for any other reason, or if you made it and want to attend more of our events, check out the CT NOFA website, or the Organic Land Care website to learn more about upcoming events, including our OLC Annual Gathering, OLC Accreditation Course, and CT NOFA Winter Conference.

Have a great week!
-Melissa

How to Stop Useless Food Destruction

The Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund is a legal institution in place to defend the rights and broaden the freedoms of family farms and protect consumer access to raw milk and nutrient dense foods.  It's a valuable resource for any farmer or organization that deals with small farms and locally produced whole food, and their 24/7 hotline can help out if you are in a legal pinch.  If you are concerned that government regulators may be putting your rights and your food at risk, they are an organization to contact. 

Here's the story of Monte and Laura Bledso, owners of Quail Hollow Farm in Nevada's Moapa Valley.  On Friday, October 21, they began their farm to fork dinner with paying guests and locally produced food and music.  As their guests were arriving, farm tours were wrapping up, and the final dinner preparation was beginning, the Southern Nevada Health District showed up demanding an inspection.  They declared that the food was unfit for not only human consumption at a public event, but also consumption at a private event or even by animals.  Let me make it clear that there was nothing wrong with the food they prepared, with the sanitation of the facility, or with the farm's legal standing.  Laura and Monte had complied with all regulations up until the event, most of the food preparation was done at a certified facility offsite and a certified food trailer had been rented for the onsite preparation, and they had a special use permit from the US Health Department for the event.  Despite all if their efforts, and regardless of the fact that their food was, indeed, entirely safe for consumption, the inspector gave Laura and Monte no choice but to throw their lovingly prepared dinner that guests had paid for in the garbage.  And to add insult to injury, they were not only required to throw all the food away but were also told to pour bleach on it, thus rendering it completely useless, even for composting.  This story speaks to how out of touch with reality our national food priorities are.  Our government is willing and motivated to crack down on the small farmer who's never had an incident of illness from his or her food, but are unable or unwilling to adequately regulate large-scale factory farms that cause thousands of food recalls, illnesses, and deaths.

Fortunately, Laura and Monte's story has a happy ending.  As the inspector was forcing them to bleach and trash their dinner, they thought to call the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund, that then let them know about their right to demand a search or arrest warrant from the inspector in order for them to continue operating on their property.  When the inspector was unable to provide such a warrant, the Health District had no legal recourse but to leave the premises.  Laura and Monte were able to salvage their event, and the guests felt a greater sense of bonding and motivation to enact change as a result of the incident. 

You can go to the Fund's website to read more about Laura and Monte's experience, and to get involved yourself. 

Have a great Monday!
-Melissa

Connecticut's First Frost

Snow forecast for October 29!

If you haven't already had one, you probably are in for our first frost here in Connecticut!  The snow predictions are a little surprising, but now is the time to winterize your garden (literally, today is probably your day.)

The Tolland, CT Patch just posted this article "Fall is Time to Split" about how fall is the time to divide your plants.  The article, by Alice Blair, focuses on dividing hosta and heuchera (or coral bells).

There are many techniques to protect the crops you planted in August, September and early October for the coming frost.  Here is a pretty comprehensive list of options:

http://www.humeseeds.com/falwint.htm

If you have planted your fall crops: remember back to our "Planning for the Fall and Winter Harvest Workshop" in September. 

If you were thinking about protecting your vegetable garden, now is the time! Shannon demonstrated how to create row covers, using metal or plastic frames and then using plastic or reemay to create a blanket for your plants.  

Our permaculture specialists, Cynthia and Stewart Rabinowitz at the Center for Sustainable Living in Bethlehem showed participants of the Permaculture Workshop all the ways that they insulate their plants from frost and snow through the winter. They used old sliding glass doors to create cold frames and had constructed green houses as well. This picture is of hay bales used to insulate the plants growing in the center of them, and then the plastic you can see to the right will be stretched over the hay bales as the weather gets colder.  

If you have some warm weather plants still in (like tomatoes) you should harvest them now! What to do with all of those warmer weather fall crops? There's always freezing, drying or canning. 

You can also extend the growing season inside your house! Sign up for our Indoor Flower and Food Gardening workshop to learn about making your living room your winter garden!

Happy First Frost everyone! If you want to see some of these winter planting techniques in action you can come by Common Ground High School at 358 Springside Avenue in New Haven tomorrow around noon.  There will be farm tours from 12:00 - 1:00 pm for CT NOFA's Annual (Celebration) Meeting!

Freezing & Drying Workshop and our Canning Workshop

On Saturday, October 15, CT NOFA had two workshops at Common Ground High School! The workshops are meant to teach consumers and farmers about preserving foods to last through the winter and how to use some of the hardier winter crops grown in Connecticut.  The first workshop, held in the morning, was "Freezing and Drying."

 CT NOFA's Office Manager, Deb Legge, was the freezing and drying instructor, along with a CT NOFA Board member and food enthusiast, Janet Heller. Deb is showing her variety of fruit leathers in this photo, made from a variety of fruits includng: apple, pear, rubharb, strawberry and crabapple.  

Some healthy fruit rollup! 

 Deb demonstrating the use of garden sheers to cut fruit leather (she promised to have never used them outside)

We all approved of her work.  For a portion of the workshop we were in Common Ground's kitchen where Deb demonstrated how she prepares fruit for drying and also demonstrated how to blanch kale (you basically submerge kale in boiling water for one minute and then transfer it to ice water so it retains most of its physical properties and its taste, but kills the enzymes that cause it to decompose).

The next workshop "Preserving the Harvest: Canning" was held in the afternoon.  Wyatt Whiteman, who owns a one acre farm in Fairfield and lives in a farmhouse that dates back to 1760, shared a delicious salsa recipe with the participants, who got to work vegetable chopping:

Then Wyatt showed the participants how to mix their chopped vegetables, and transfer them to cans for safe consumption.  Everyone got to bring home a can of salsa for their home! Preparing some foods for canning is more complex while others (like salsa) are a process of cutting and mixing the right ingredients.  There are hundreds of canning sites out there - but this one explains the basics nicely and has an instructional video: http://www.freshpreserving.com/getting-started.aspx

Stay tuned for more ideas on how to eat local even when Connecticut's farms are under frost and snow in the coming months!