Serendipity

Not once did I consider it an April Fools joke but we have no idea how the photo showed up on Graham’s Facebook feed last night.  Kentucky State University has a mobile fruit and vegetable processing truck that visits farms in season to help them preserve their harvest.

Finding no info to take me specifically to the person in charge, I emailed the head of the agricultural school at KSU, dropping The Wild Ramp market experience to give me local “street” cred (more like farm cred).  And now we are setting up an appointment for me to go look-see!

Why the excitement? Two factors. In case you missed it, I am setting up a business here in Oregon to help small farmers preserve their surplus fruits and vegetables. AND we will be in Kentucky for Graham to do some forensic business in May, less than an hour from where the KSU research farm is located in Frankfurt!!

WOW! Life is good!  Now, who can I get to help me write a grant application?

 

A Bit/e of Heritage

So, for those of you not quite up on the smaller books of the Tanakh (Old Testament to many of you), there is one that comes into play this time of year. The Book of Esther tells the story of how the Jews, once again, were doomed to be exterminated, this time by a King’s advisor in ancient Persia. Esther, is the hero, saving her people. We celebrate by reciting the Megillah, the WHOLE MEGILLA (for you language buffs who like to know the derivation of slang) and drowning out the villain’s name, Haman, each time it is mentioned with noisemakers called gragers.  In Israel this day is also one for dress-up in costumes. It is a wonderful light-hearted festival, following a solemn day of fasting.

The food related to this festival (there ALWAYS is a food) is the hamantaschen, a triangular filled cookie in the shape of Haman’s hat. (Think those tri-cornered hats always shown with pictures of Revolutionary War clothing, and you’ll be close.)

So, while I was preparing and baking the hamantaschen I got to thinking. (Uh oh, there I go again.) Here are some of my random thoughts:

• Just like Christianity incorporated social customs in the scheduling of some holidays (i.e, Christmas for the winter solstice) some people took this Jewish holiday of celebrating how one woman was so very important to developing a International Women’s Day just about the same date. Check it out.
• There are differences in the cookie dough depending on your family’s region of origin. My mom’s recipe is a light cookie dough. I’ve eaten others that are thick and chewy, almost a sweet bread.
• One of the fillings I enjoy is poppyseed. I use a can of the prepared Solo fillings but would like to make it from scratch….as soon as I find a local poppy grower…uh huh. 
• A second filling is made typically with stewed prunes and raisins, sweetened with honey and chopped nuts added. This year I used a spicy (flavorful, not hot) plum preserves I made from fruit I gleaned last summer at the historic Hoover Minthorn House in nearby Newberg. As a child President Hoover often stayed with his uncle there and wrote about eating so many plums that he suffered….hmmmm….a level of distress. Anyway, my plum preserves just got an addition of local hazelnuts and it was ready. Just don’t eat too many and you’ll be fine!
  

  Hoover Plum Preserves with hazelnuts

• Graham’s favorite is made from apricots, sweetened a bit with honey. A nod to the Mediterranean origin of the holiday, it adds a bright color.
• I remember Sam does not like one of these fillings so much, but since I can’t remember which, I will mail him a box with all…he can share with his friends

and finally: food brings us together, crosses lines of current knowledge between peoples. Keep your mind…and your tastebuds…open to new experiences.

 

We’re Closer Than You Think

THEY want us to be fragmented. THEY don’t want us to realize that we have so much in common that we join against them so they continuously feed us news about how we are fighting each other.

It’s time to stop listening to THEM and start listening to each other.

For example, I know you love your guns and I know you have the right to own them. I also know that since Obama became President the NRA and gun manufacturers have had a massive campaign telling you that your guns would be taken away from you.  Hasn’t happened, has it?  So, take a deep breath and join in the discussion the concerned people are having about all these damn killings. We non-gun owners don’t want you to lose your gun. We want the guns that are “out there” kept out of the hands of 3-year-olds (and 8-year-olds offered inappropriate experiences at gun ranges) and we do want a control on the guns getting into the hands of people who use them to express their anger, like estranged spouses or stalkers with restraining orders.  I think you want the same thing. You want this to be a safer place. Join the discussion. We’re closer than you think.

Another example: we hear the unemployment rate is way down, and I suppose that the way the government collects that data, it is. But here on the street we feel something otherwise. My own search for a job in the 18 months we have been in Oregon is a pretty good example.  I have a pretty diverse background and years (and years and years) of experience so I have applied to about 50 positions. I have had four interviews. Yup…and the rest? Some never even acknowledged receipt of the application.  Few sent a message about thanks but no thanks. So, I have stopped looking and am starting my own business. I guess that means I am not counted as unemployed any more. But the reality, of course, is that there is still no income generation flowing into our household budget yet.  So, what’s the problem? Well, in my case it may be ageism, the last bastion of discrimination. They can’t ask birthdate any longer but they do ask date of high school graduation. Duh. let’s see, estimate 18 years old at graduation and age 40-some years. Uh huh. Old…into the trash. Or, “too” experienced. One person actually told me I was overqualified and would be bored. No, damnit! It would be easy! I could do it with one hand tied behind my back, letting me shine for you. (okay, bitch bitch moan moan….deep breath move on)  The point is that current government policies (some good, some bad, some indifferent) have resulted in corporations moving their workforce out of the United States (without any consideration other than their profits to what that does to the local or national economy).  Some places have become so automated human personnel have dropped tremendously in the past few decades. And small business owners hire part-time workers at low wages in order to avoid taxes/fees/whatever. Some places have an amazing revolving door with their new hires but still have not caught on if they just raise the salary and be more discriminating in the expertise of the people they hire they could get someone who could do the job.  Pay a bit more so the worker can have ONE job to help the family manage and have energy to come to work refreshed and eager each day.  Offer decent time off for illness/vacation/personal time so the worker can actually get some things done to maintain their own health, for example, thereby being able and willing to be at work with full attention to the job. I know you feel the same way. We’re closer than you think.

Technology and Unemployment: The Future of the Labor Market and … pennpoliticalreview.org

Just about everyone I know has grave disappointment in the education our kids are getting. Schools are testing like crazy and scores are supposedly showing improvement but many people can not read (even this chatty kind of writing) and most can’t do simple math. Life skills? I heard recently from a friend who is the director of a social service program at a local church that she is starting a cooking class for very young kids because in many families there are three generations who do not know how to cook and the household has no cooking equipment. How about being able to present and listen to both sides of an argument? By teaching kids how to debate both sides of an issue you help teach them to listen to two sides of an issue.  You know it is hard to listen to people who rant and rave , but a calm presentation of the “other” viewpoint can be a mind opener. You know I listen to you and I know you feel the same way. We’re closer than you think.

I volunteered to help with a state legislative campaign this past fall after meeting the candidate and listening to his position on the issues. I offered to make phone calls to ask people what they thought was the biggest issue facing the state and here was my experience. Each evening I worked I made 200 calls. I reached 20 people. I spoke with five. The other 15 told me things like they “don’t discuss politics” (wait a second–this is the time to do it-I promise NO argument!), “it’s meaningless what I think” (only if you don’t share it), “I always vote the straight party line” (and how has that worked for you in the past?).  I understand that with the Koch brothers buying candidates who will support their agenda, many people feel that national politics no longer is representative of what they think. (Suggestion: don’t vote for those candidate and yes, you CAN find out who has contributed to their campaign.)  I understand that even on a state level the massive amount of money that is now allowed to pour in influences the decision making. On a local level, we still may have time to grab and hold on to our government…but only if you move now.  There is a lot a grassroots movement can do, but you have to move now. There is a groundswell demanding that state legislatures call for an amendment to the Constitution that will overturn the Supreme Court’s Citizen United decision. Your voice is needed now. I know you feel the same way. We’re closer than you think.

THEY want us to be fragmented. THEY don’t want us to realize that we have so much in common that we join against them so they continuously feed us news about how we are fighting each other.

It’s time to stop listening to THEM and start listening to each other.

 

 

Is this Creative or just Crazy?

So, remember back when I was working as a farm hand for 3 months this past summer?  There was a LOT of time spent weeding which meant my mind was working, dreaming dreams, solving problems, making others.

Did you know that 30% of the food we have here goes to waste? Think about your own kitchen. How much food gets stashed in the frig, only to turn some dark green color, dripping with slime?  I’m guilty. We cook too much, put the leftovers in containers and usually remember to eat as lunch the next day, but if we are out and about, they tend to migrate to the back of the shelf and then, when I realize I am low on storage containers, I look and there they are…..needing to be sterilized!

Well, on the farm there was waste also. Michelle Burger of Bethel Springs Farms has exacting standards for her customers, and rightly so. When we picked green beans only those that were perfectly straight and of course without blemishes made it into their bags. The rest were trashed! Well, not exactly. As we were picking, the curved beans got left on the ground. In the cleaning process, anything imperfect went into the compost. It all eventually gets returned to the soil as green fertilizer, but it got me thinking that much of it was edible. 

I started taking the imperfect produce home. Lots of it. I got paid minimum wage but boy oh boy, I was bringing home tons more in food than I was earning in dinero. And so, I started canning. And canning. And canning. Buying more jars. Canning some more. Some recipes, like the blueberry barbecue sauce, were keepers. Others like the zucchini marmalade, not so much.

Meanwhile, back at the farm, I was also thinking about the Bethel Springs business model. When Michelle hired me she took a gamble with a 60-year-old arthritic chubbette, but she saw I could (almost all the time) keep up and what she also gained was all the insights I had learned from years of farm visits.  Seeing the many different ways small farmers tried to make their work as income effective as possible.

So, I suggested to her that I could provide her another income stream. I can take those cast off green beans, not ordered zucchinis, tons and tons of excess tomatoes and can can can can can for her. She’s intrigued. So are a couple of other farmers and one other approached me. 

I have to draw the line there for this coming season. I need to stretch my wings and keep it manageable.

Meanwhile, as the fields are slumbering, I am doing all the groundwork. I went to a wonderfully timed convention this week sponsored by the Northwest Food Processors Association. Walking through the exhibition hall made me realize very quickly just how “small potatoes” this business concept is. When I talked to one vendor about a dehydrator I learned his best option for me costs $100,000.  Graham suggested a Kickstarter; I’ll wait a bit.  The family just pitched in to buy me a $250 Excalibur. That should last a year…maybe two. Next is the Better Processing School, and a whole bunch of legal things like state and federal licenses and certifications, including business filing. Amd Curt Chiarelli, a friend who is a graphic artist, is designing my logo, bless him!

Now, I COULD do all this from home if I was selling it all myself at a farmers’ market. Perfectly legal within a certain dollar amount. But by offering this service  to farmers who have no time to process their product this way and packaging it for their own label means I need to step up one notch to a commercial endeavor.

So, new venture and lots of excitement! If you want to share a scrumptious recipe you use, please do!!!

 

Breaking the Model

Unless we make an effort, we do what we have seen as kids. It’s one reason I took parenting classes, but that’s another story.  I did not want to be the kind of host my mother patterned. She was so nervous that things would not be perfect enough that life was a bit intolerable in our house the day of a dinner party.

In my prior marriage with Sam’s daddy, his best way to pitch in was to help clean the house and then take the kiddos out for a couple of hours so I could do the food prep without any “Mommy, I need you” kind of distractions. That worked for us.

With Graham, we split the tasks nicely.  We clean first, often to music.  The house is straightened and cleaned, altho perhaps not to my mother’s standard. It is clean enough that our guests will not contract any disease or illness eating at our table. He is a pretty darn good cook, so he tends to do the entree and side while I prepare another side and the dessert. Today I am also preparing the appetizer.

The ham is in the oven. The sides (baked tomatoes and a corn strata) and appetizer (baked brie with smoked blueberry jam I canned) are prepped and ready to pop into the oven at the right time. The dessert (strawberry-rhubarb pie with strawberry ice cream) was prepared yesterday.

It is a truly wonderful thing to break bread with friends. Try it sometime. Pizza works just as well as this home-cooked meal. Do not let your concern over your cooking skills keep you from entertaining your friends at home. It is a lovely gift of friendship.

Quality Versus Cost

How do you shop for food? Is it for quality, looking for the best in produce and protein and getting to know their source?  Or is it based on price, trying to make your grocery budget go the farthest?  Are the two incompatible?

There have been a few times when my food shopping budget was lower than low and I was thankful that there was an Aldi nearby. A Midwestern chain with the parent company in Germany, Aldi is a small grocery store that has no-name store brand canned and packaged goods, produce and and meats. Sometimes there are name brand items on deep discount. Sometimes there are nonfood items for your home or usable as gifts, also with deep discounts.  It also has stollen in December.

You need a quarter to release the grocery cart from the corral and you need to bring your own bags or boxes. Expect a long check-out line because there are only a couple of employees, but hey! the cost is low because of that also.  So be prepared and be patient.

Prices are low because things are not always equivalent to name brand quality. I had an issue with the canned green beans personally. When I served them as a side dish they were “woody”…..a bit too thick and chewy. Now that I am working on a farm picking green beans I know how that happens. When a bean is not picked at the right time and allowed to get over-mature, the fibers get tougher. When I used the canned beans in a stew, the extra cooking time seemed to help break down that toughness and the beans had better texture.  But back at the factory, farmers bringing over mature beans for processing do not get as much money for their product as beans in prime condition. This is one way Aldi keeps their prices low.

While they don’t have the best mouth texture, however, they are still nutritious.  Cooking from scratch always provides better nutritional value than microwaving a frozen something in a cardboard box.  So, even if your food budget is tight, you can have a quality meal when you take the time to cook.

Also check out the farmers’ market in season. You will be surprised how much food you can purchase with the same amount of money.

Playing with Food

It’s so much fun trying a new recipe. Of course, that statement first starts with the understanding that I enjoy most foods. There are very few I dislike. (Liver will NEVER cross the threshold of this house.) And being a fairly decent cook and baker I can read a recipe and imagine how the flavors will mix, thereby getting intrigued to try something new.

Many people are not like that, though.  Years ago I worked in an office with 17 men. I was already 50-years-old so it was no big deal; I could handle them. All except the boss, who I generally refer to as a challenged individual.  Because of the way he tyrannized the work environment, I went out of my way to make things nice. For example, when it was someone’s birthday I asked them what kind of cake they would like and baked one for all to enjoy during the day.

One of the older men had had a heart attack, so I made everything low fat and no one complained. But one time when that man ask me if he could eat the cake, another guy overheard me tell him it had eggbeaters and margarine. (Yikes, have I come a long way with food since then!!)  The second guy, when he requested a cheese cake for his birthday said I better not make it low fat. Of course I did and of course he loved it.

But it was the request for a chocolate cake that was the best. It was end of the summer and the zucchini had been growing well. So, to make something fun, I made a chocolate zucchini cake. The guys chowed down quickly, stuffing it in. Until one guy said, “Hey! What’s the green stuff?”

Funny how people are. Once they know that something different is in the yummy dish they were enjoying, they suddenly have second thoughts. Do you?

Zucchini Fudge Bundt Cake with Chocolate Glaze

Ingredients

For the cake:
1 pound zucchini
2 tablespoons sugar
2 (1-ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup applesauce
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon flour

For the glaze:
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon light corn syrup (I use liquid tapioca)
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Directions

For the cake:
Adjust rack to center position of oven and preheat to 350°F. Generously coat a 9- to 10-inch (12 cup) Bundt pan with baking spray (the kind that includes flour).
Using a box grater or food processor, grate the zucchini (you should end up with approximately 3 cups). Stir in 2 tablespoons sugar and place in a large colander set over a bowl. As you prepare the rest of the batter ingredients, the sugar will draw the moisture out of the zucchini. Occasionally press down on it to squeeze more water into the bowl.
Finely chop unsweetened chocolate, place in a bowl, and heat in the microwave for 30 seconds; stir. Heat in additional 15-second increments, stirring after each one, until chocolate is completely melted and smooth. Allow to cool.
In a medium bowl, whisk together whole wheat pastry flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to blend together eggs, sugar, melted chocolate, melted butter, applesauce, and vanilla until smooth. Mix in drained zucchini. Turn mixer down to low and stir in half of the flour mixture, followed by all of the sour cream and then the remaining flour mixture. In a small bowl, toss mini chocolate chips with tablespoon of flour. Add to batter and mix until just incorporated, taking care not to overbeat.
Evenly pour/spread batter into prepared pan, place in preheated oven, and bake for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove cake from the oven and allow it to rest on a cooling rack for 10 minutes before turning it out onto the rack to finish cooling.
For the glaze:
In a small pot, melt butter over low heat. Remove pot from heat and add chocolate chips, stirring until they are melted and combined with butter. Stir in corn syrup and vanilla until smooth. Immediately pour glaze over warm cake, gently spreading it so that it trickles down sides. Allow cake and glaze to cool completely before slicing.

 

Recipe from FiveHEARThome

http://www.fivehearthome.com/2014/07/12/zucchini-fudge-bundt-cake-chocolate-glaze-or-chocolate-zucchini-bread/

Find Balance With Abundance Through Exploration

How much is too much? Well, this time of year if you are growing zucchini, live near someone who grows zucchini, or belong to a CSA (Consumer Supported Agriculture), the abundance of zucchini is borderline glut. There is a joke about never leaving your car unlocked this time of year or you will return to find the back seat loaded with zucchini.

So, knowing this inundation was coming I have been searching the web for interesting ways to preserve the vegetable. My best one, I think, has been zucchini ice cream. Before you scoff, other than the green you never would know. It was vanilla with cinnamon and nutmeg and I said it WAS because it is long gone and so is the second batch. Yum.

The latest new recipe came from one of the many cookbooks I have.  A vegetarian cookbook, it is superb for finding new ways to prepare veggies.  Try this and you, too, will enjoy zucchini, like my son Dan who popped in tonight in time for supper.

Zucchini and Fresh Herb Fritters

From Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison, adapted by Beth Rankin
Reminded me of latkes, so you KNOW it’s going to be great!

Serves 4-6

2 pounds zucchini or yellow summer squash, coarsely grated
2 eggs, beaten
1 bunch scallions or equivalent amount of anything oniony
1 cup dried bread crumbs
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
½ cup chopped parsley
1 tablespoon chopped marjoram or basil
1 teaspoon chopped mint
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Olive oil

• Lightly salt the grated squash and set aside in a colander to drain for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, mix the other ingredients together except for the pepper and oil.
• Rinse the squash and squeeze out excess liquid, then stir into batter.
• Taste for salt (it had more than enough for me) and add pepper
• Heat a thin layer of olive oil in skillet.
• When hot drop in the batter. A ¼ cup makes a 3-3.5 inch fritter.
• Cook until golden brown, then flip and cook the other side
• Serve hot.

BE BRAVE….TRY A NEW RECIPE!!!

 

Local Food

Waking up to eating local food as much as possible happened when I read Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. She tells the story of a year in her family’s life when they moved from Arizona to a family farm that had long been abandoned in southern Appalachia.   The family decided they would eat only what they raised or what could be traded with another local farmer, with the exception of only a few things, coffee and French wine among them.

This got me thinking and I asked Graham to read the book also. The idea of eating locally, in season, was a brand new concept compared to the way we grew up with supermarkets stocking all kinds of foods all the year. Yes, we could buy strawberries in time for my sister’s January birthday cake. Yes, we could get a can of pumpkin to make a pie in the summer.  But might they be more appreciated when they came into season right near where we lived?

This book and then continued reading and discussing with others made us realize how our eating habits were adding to increased use of fuel for transporting food from the southern hemisphere to us, and more important, we realized we really had never thought about who was raising the food we were relying on for nutrition.

For the same reason we didn’t particularly eat seafood when living in landlocked West Virginia.  We very much enjoyed eating our fill of fresh fish and seafood when we traveled to either coast.  Some food just tastes so much better when it is fresh.  If you think about it, except for freshly caught trout and fresh water fish, almost all seafood served in the center of the country is fried, the better to mask a bit of age.  In fact, most people will swear they prefer fried fish, and again, that is because most of the ocean fish served in the landlocked states is NOT particularly fresh.

So, speaking of loving fresh fish, when we moved here the first thing I learned to can with a pressure canner was tuna and it is that time of year again! My sister lives on the coast and has a friend whose husband fishes for tuna and she was able to get them at a really good price. Today Graham started early, trimming 40 pounds of tuna.  After sterilizing all the jars we cut the tuna into chunks, packed the half pints and then topped them off with a bit of salt, a spoon of lemon juice and some olive oil.

We put my sister friend Linda to work too!

100 minutes later at 10 pounds of pressure we had our first 48 jars, and a second round brought us up to 99.  Canned outside thanks to my friend Jana who loaned us her propane stove and her much better pressure canner.My sister and one of her friends each took a quarter, with Graham and I keeping the rest.  We finished about six hours after we had started, but again, we had to process two batches, each taking 100 minutes. It was a full day and one we will enjoy all year long, when we savor our canned tuna.

So, you say, you can buy tuna fish. And so, back at you, I tell you that you would never eat your favorite, Bumble Bee or Chicken of the Sea ever again….not after you taste what fresh tuna canned at home tastes like!

Eat local is AMAZING!!!

 

A Good Kind of Tired

Just home from helping at the McMinnville Cooperative Ministries Saturday morning breakfast where we served about 300 people this morning. It feels good to sit down but this is a good kind of tired.

The hungry are are our neighbors, as I wrote yesterday for Yamhill Valley Grown after visiting Heart 2 Heart Farms where farmer Tyler Boggs distributes free produce to anyone who wants it.  Some of the produce is a bit tired and best fed to his animals, but Tyler realized much of the food was in great condition and several hundred people show up each Friday to gather what they want.

I went yesterday to see the activity and took advantage of the offering to bring 4 huge totes of fruit to the church. At 7:00am my first duty, assigned by this week’s head chef and pastor Mark Pederson, was to prepare a fruit salad.  

About 8 volunteers arrived at 7 to help with the prep. They chopped potatoes and onions, broke and beat the eggs, shredded the cheese, prepared the pancake mix, formed sausage patties and all the things that needed to be prepped for the meal.  

Others arrived around 7:30 to prepare the dining room and for some quick training to newbie volunteers.  Then it was 8:00a.m. and the doors were open and I joined the serving line.  Other volunteers arrived to help with the dish washing and others would arrive later to help with the overall cleanup.

At the Coop the people come in and sit at tables covered with cloth and chose their breakfast from the menu. The servers then bring the orders up to the window where several of us load the plates or take-out boxes.  As we dished up the plates the servers would bring them to the appropriate person for their eating pleasure.

The people who come to eat are treated with respect, no questions asked, no prayer service requirement.  Take-out boxes are offered for those at home who could not make it in for the meal.

Today we had a big bang for a start. It seemed, when I looked out at 8:00 that all the seats at all the tables were full, and sure enough the orders came in fast and furious and we soon fell behind. Dishing as quickly as we could, the last of those 8:00 a.m. eaters finally got their plates around 8:20. And the orders kept coming in pretty steadily but at a more manageable pace.

Things slowed down about 9:30, a half hour before the official end of serving at 10. By then the fruit salad was gone, the hash browns were all eaten, but there were plenty of scrambled eggs, sausages, pancakes and a delicious peach and blueberry cobbler Mark had prepared.

I know I enjoyed my breakfast very much!

Helping at the Coop or another soup kitchen is a way to return appreciation to the community. People who enjoy meals can also volunteer, as can people who are not even members of the church.  We get volunteers during the school year from Linfield College but during the vacation breaks everyone who shows up has to work a bit harder because we don’t have enough hands.  If you can help, you are very welcome to join in. Contact Lauri Muller at compassionfund@gmail.com or call 435-890-4214.