We talk about eating local, but when you live in the Midwest, sometimes that can be frustrating. We would rather eat food grown in California than here, but we don’t live there. And the food grown in California – by the time it would get here – isn’t as good as it would be in California.
What if you could bring back freshly grown food in California picked at the right time for the ideal freshness?
This would be way too impractical and, of course, too expensive. But as long as you are in California, why not bring back a little slice of the Golden State back home.
So on my recent trip to San Francisco, I enjoyed eating local, fresh, and flavorful. But when it was time to get back on the plane, I decided to take a little bit of San Francisco local flavor back with me – literally.
I flew out Tuesday afternoon, so I made sure to stop by the farmers market at the Ferry Building to pick up a few last things.
I really wanted to bring back a case of organic strawberries, cheese, butter, vegetables, pickled and baked goods. But I had to be realistic. I had one suitcase, this food had to travel 2,000 miles well, and I didn’t want to be greedy.
There were some easy things to bring back. Having garlic in your suitcase is almost required, and this batch that I brought back has been incredibly flavorful.
I planned some of my fare for dinner on the plane. Eating an organic orange and a sourdough loaf on the flight back was the best meal I’ve ever had on a plane.
Another sourdough loaf and a tomato were earmarked for my first lunch back in Chicago. Mmmmm. And I bought 1.5 pounds of mushrooms that is going really well with the fresh garlic I brought back.
So this isn’t very practical. But if you are out visiting someone, or have to go on a business trip, don’t be afraid to bring back a little of this on the ride home. If nothing else, the person sitting next to you on the plane will be a little envious, and might learn the wonders of buying directly from the farmers.
The roll-out of outdoor summer farmers market begins in earnest this week. Okay, Grayslake and Frankfort got a jump on May with April starts, and Geneva Community Market has three more indoor Saturday markets, and most if not all of the French markets have begun. Still, May 1 offers such a natural start to the season that I will unilaterally declare the season open for business.
That said, it’s a pretty slow roll-out. The season isn’t in full swing until late June. As the manager of Tomato Mountain’s Chicago area market presence, I’m thankful for that. We’re planning to participate in over 30 Chicago area markets this season, and the smattering of markets in May gives us an opportunity to get the kinks out, train a few new market sellers, and generally get our bearings.
Yet, each week will offer several markets added to the schedule. If you have a favorite neighborhood market that hasn’t started yet, check out some of these earlier opportunities. Be a little adventurous, take a drive or ride your bike, get outside your comfort zone—whether that means heading to the South Side or the suburbs. And challenge yourself to look for seasonality in the offerings. In these earliest weeks, you can expect to see bedding plants, asparagus, rhubarb, cut flowers and hanging baskets, radishes, early greens….and of course, value-added items like dried fruits, salsas, preserves. If you see peaches or watermelon, you might want to keep walking.
Although I pride myself on keeping the most complete list of farmers markets in the state, I’m not proactively compiling it; I just add markets as they come to my attention. So please use the comments to add new markets you’ve started or heard about, share your experiences about early markets, add to the list of produce to expect at markets.
These are the markets rolling out this week in and around Chicago (with those already in progress in italics):
And here are some of the markets* that roll out the following week:
*I lost some data collected about these start dates, so I’ll fill in next week if I missed some.
Hope to see you out and about!
Most of us recall the summer of 2009 as the summer that never was. With cool temperatures and lots of rain, it seemed more like an extended spring than a balmy summer. Many predicted that the unusually cold and rainy conditions would be catastrophic for the grape crop. In the upper Midwest, grapes need as much typical summer weather as possible to properly ripen (one of the many reasons why some think making wine in the Midwest is a futile endeavor best left to the insane). According to Tom Zabadal, grape specialist with Michigan State University Extension, Michigan’s wine grape crop endured the lowest number of “growing degree days” (days where the temperature is above a minimum threshold) in 14 years. Doug Welsch, winemaker for Fenn Valley Vineyards, described 2009 as “one of the most difficult years to grow wine . . .” Luckily for growers in Southwest Michigan and below, a warm fall extended the season and allowed growers to delay harvest as long as possible to take advantage of this additional unexpected heat.
Bottling wine at Chateau Grand Traverse/Photo by Steve Sadler
Now that many wineries have begun bottling their 2009 white wines, it is a good time to assess the effect of not-so-optimal weather on the 2009 vintage. Many wineries claim that the end-of-summer warm-up helped to edge these grapes to near-perfect ripening. A common word used to describe the 2009 vintage is “acidity” or “crispness, “ as many believe that cold conditions contributed to making a crisper, more acidic wine. Here is a round-up of wineries that have released their 2009 white wines and the reports on the effect of the growing season on these wines:
Fenn Valley Vineyards & Wine Cellar (Fennville, MI) reports that colder-than-normal conditions were a challenge in 2009. Winemaker Doug Welsch said that one bright spot to 2009 was the sunny and warm weather in late August and most of September, which allowed Pinots, Chardonnay and Riesling grape varieties to ripen in near perfect conditions. These warm ripening conditions developed the fruit character to its full potential, resulting in wines with robust varietal fruit character and slightly higher acidity. Despite the cool growing season, Fenn Valley, located in relatively warmer Southwest Michigan, is optimistic about their red wines. The extended warm weather throughout the fall allowed them to delay harvesting many red varietals until early November. As a result, Fenn Valley believes that their red wines have more color and complexity than those of the last two vintages. It has released its Edelzwicker, a white blend of 60% Traminette and 40% Riesling, “True” Chardonnay, which is entirely fermented in stainless steel and has seen no oak, and Pinot Grigio.
2 Lads (Traverse City, MI) released its ‘09 Riesling, Pinot Grigio and Rosé of Cabernet Franc. 2 Lads echoes Fenn Valley, noting that their 2009 season white wines offer crisp, fresh acidity with lovely fruit and floral notes.
Chateau Chantal (Traverse City, MI) has bottled its 2009 Select Harvest Gewurztraminer, and completed its Riesling trials (the process by which they blend Riesling from different vineyards to create the Riesling that they believe best characterizes their wine). The Detroit News has reviewed Chateau Chantal’s 2009 Pinot Grigio, and noted that it is “crisp and dry and packed with fruit,” and “breathed a sigh of relief that the infamous, cold 2009 vintage was not a total bust for Michigan.”
Left Foot Charley (Traverse City, MI) released its 2009 Pinot Grigio, Murmur (semi-dry blend of Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Grigio, and Traminette) & Rosé wines.
The 2009 Pinot Grigio bottled by Bowers Harbor (Traverse City, MI) was recently named “Wine of the Week” by Detroit News. Despite the “trying” “cold and rainy” 2009 growing season, it was reviewed as tasting deliciously crisp, showing mandarin orange, grapefruit, lime and pineapple on the mid-palate. It was recommended that the wine be paired with seafood.
Black Star Farms (Suttons Bay, MI) just finished bottling its 2009 Sur Lie Chardonnay. Black Star describes 2009 as a “good growing” season, and say that this non-oaked chardonnay is medium-bodied with lots of ripe pear, apple and citrus.
Despite early angst that the 2009 growing season would produce less and lesser wine, it appears that it will be a great vintage for zippy whites. Some wineries, like Fenn Valley, have held pre-release tastings of the 2009 wines. Have you tried the 2009 vintage yet? Have you spotted any of these wines in Chicago? If so, please post here!
It’s not that we need validation from New Yorkers: We don’t. But when word of our local wine gets the attention of someone as far away and elite as New York Times’ wine critic, Eric Asimov, I’m intrigued. Earlier, I shared Asimov’s NY Times blog entry about his interest in Michigan riesling. Now, he’s passed on a highly positive review of Michigan wine, which the reviewer labels as “The Next Great White Wine Frontier.”
These sort of accolades take the notion of “eating local” to a new level. For example, we know that peaches grown nearby and brought fresh to market will taste better than those shipped across the world. Our local wine producers are taking the process of growing something that’s distinctly Midwestern one step farther. First, they brave potentially difficult conditions to grow climate-appropriate grapes. Then, through the magic of adept winemaking skills, they turn what is essentially a local crop — grapes — into something that is a unique representation of the Midwest.
My general belief is that if Asimov is interested in Michigan, then that’s one more reason to take advantage of the best-kept secret of our local bounty, and drink some local wine today. (Stay tuned to The Local Beet for a mini-guide to the 2009 releases of white wine.)
It’s been a long time since this Local Family went the locavore route. We followed the path to outstanding tasting food; food with meaning and food that positively effects all around the road. Since the fortiest passing of Earth Day, I hope more and more of you are taking the local way. Not only can you easily eat local like my family, you can be better locavores than us. And no, please, I am not asking you to be more strict; to eat within a 100 mile barrier, to forsake olive oil for lard (not that a we are against lard) and make sandwiches from slices of turnip when the supplies of local wheat wanes. Be prudent in your approach. Wake up and smell the coffee. Still, there are all kinds of ways you can do better than me, and maybe, by next Earth Day, I’ll have done better too.
Offer up more ways you will out local the Local Family this year.
My birthday is coming up and I’ve been dropping hints to my loved ones about getting me a cheese press. I can start making hard cheeses, but until then, we will continue our journey through soft, fresh cheeses.
And I wanted to take a moment to tell you about a cheese disaster I had earlier this week. My friend Lisa told me about her mom’s “Pillowcase Cheese” – a Jordanian specialty that I’m sure is not really called “Pillowcase Cheese”. We had a conference call between Lisa, her mom, and myself that did not translate well. Maybe it was the confusion in terminology; Lisa’s mom said add 4 “pills”. Maybe that means rennet tablets, but that’s a lot of rennet. Then she said add 16 oz of yogurt instead, and though she told me to use a pillowcase (make sure it’s clean), I was not so sure since I did not have a clean one and thought that I could use butter muslin instead. Whatever happened it was a soupy mess of goat’s milk and yogurt. I did taste it though…it was awful. I’m going to talk to Lisa’s mom again and try to figure out what I did wrong. I will make “Pillowcase Cheese” for you soon!
I just wanted to share that to let you know that cheese making is a learning process, and while I don’t recommend getting your cheese recipes over the phone from a really nice lady with a thick accent, I do recommend that you try to make all kinds of cheese. You may find a new favorite!
Now onto a successful story.
Cream cheese is one of those common cheeses that we all think you just buy at the store. It’s not quite as exotic as Mozzarella and not as fancy as Lemon Sage Cheese, but it is an essential ingredient in cheesecake and that’s enough for me.
For this cheese you’ll need:
1 packet of mesophilic starter
1 gallon of cow’s milk (not ultra pasteurized)
Pour the milk in your favorite cheese making pot and bring it up to room temperature (72 degrees). Stir in the starter and cover. Put on the top of your ‘fridge or on a high shelf. It’s usually warmest up there. If you have drafty windows like me the wind won’t affect the temperature way up there. Leave up there for 12 hours. After the wait, scoop out the cheese into a butter muslin lined colander. Gather the ends of the cloth and tie a knot. Hang the cheese, using your favorite method and let drain for another 12 hours. At the end of 12 hours, scrape out the cheese and store in an airtight container. Enjoy!
And now for a ‘not just for cheesecake’ cream cheese recipe!
Using the ratio 1:1.5 (cream cheese: frozen and slightly thawed fruit) mix some of your cream cheese and your choice of fruit in a food processor. If you making a lot you may have to do it batches. Sprinkle in some sugar to sweeten if you desire. Process until it’s the consistency you want.
Tada! A not quite sorbet! This sort-of ice cream is super refreshing and really delicious. The creaminess of the cheese and the sweetness of the fruit make it a wonderful after dinner scoop without a lot of effort.
If you’re starting with whole fruit just cut it up into small chunks, spread out on a sheet pan and freeze overnight. Let it sit out for 10 minutes before starting.
I have made an orange-lemon combo and I made it with pomegranates. With the pomegranates, the taste was delicious, I couldn’t get over the seeds, although my husband didn’t even notice.
I can eat ice cream in any weather, some people only like it when it’s hot outside…don’t worry, it’s getting warmer soon so you won’t have to wait long to try this!
Love,
Keighty
Are you a regular farmer’s market shopper? Do you get a CSA box weekly? Do you regular forage for mushrooms or other foods. The Local Beet wants you. We want to publish your reports and updates. We are especially interested in the following:
We especially want people that can provide regular updates, weekly, but we are not asking for all of that. If you can just check in periodically, we are fine with that. You can do it with words, with pictures or with both, and you do not need a lot of either. Just help us widen the knowledgebase here on the Local Beet.
Contact me at Rob at thelocal Beet.com if interested. Also feel free to respond via the comments–you can leave contact info in there that we will not publish.
We know that Earth Day inspired many people to do more for the world around them, and we know that one of the best things they can do for the world is change the way they get their foods.
Five Ways Eating Local is Green:
We also know that eating local produces the best tasting foods. The time to eat to eat local is now. Our weekly Local Calendar gives you what you need to be on the locavore path. We tell you what local foods to buy now, and we tell you where to buy them.
Besides what is on the Local Calendar below, how ’bout starting a garden this weekend. Brad provides five tips to get you going. Or go check out the local beer at Lunar Brewing. Tom thinks highly of it. It’s not just beer, Wendy makes the Case for Local Wine. And what goes better with wine than cheese, follow Keighty’s suggestions to make a local cheeseboard. Robin’s Market Watch covers several Earth Day activities coming after Earth Day itself. When you finally get back home, use our Spring recipe collection for kitchen inspiration.
WHAT TO BUY NOW
Yes! The local food is starting to arrive. Ramps have been spotted around town. Even better, the warm weather has asparagus arriving awfully soon this year. You should be able to find sorrel, cilantro, watercress and green garlic. The warming weather has hoophouses more productive and area farmers are getting lettuces, spinach, chard, rocket and micro-greens from them. You may also find turnips, beets and similar root vegetables from the h-houses. There are also over-wintered carrots or parsnips still.
As stuff is coming, a bit remains: apples and potatoes also a bit of cabbage, celery root and sunchokes.
Continue to use quality preserved items. Tomato Mountain and River Valley Ranch are good sources for canned goods, and Freshpicks has frozen fruits and vegetables from Michigan. You might find dried fruits.
Local foods also include our great cheeses, meats, grains, beans, nuts, milk, eggs, etc. There’s even local tofu at some markets.
Let us know what other local goods you are still seeing for sale.
WHERE TO FIND LOCAL FOODS
These stores specialize in local foods:
WHAT TO DO
MARKETS AND EVENTS THIS WEEK
Friday – April 23
Earth Day Dinner, Heritage Prairie Farm – Menu – 2N308 Brundige Road, Elburn – 6 PM
Saturday – April 24
Chicago Green City Market at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, 8:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m (Directions) – The theme is Cheese.
Portage Park – Irving Park and Central, Chicago - 10 – 2 PM
Community Winter Market – 11 North 5th Street, Geneva 9 AM – 1 PM
Grayslake Farmer’s Market – Downtown Grayslake; Vendors are located on Center Street and Centennial Park – 10 AM – 2 PM
Sunday – April 25
Find a lot of our favorite vendors like Jim Vitalo’s Herbally Yours vinegars and Joe Burn’s Brunkow cheeses at the Frankfort Country Market - The Frankfort Country Market is located at the intersection of Oak & Kansas Street, adjacent to Breidert Green in historic downtown – 10 AM – 2 PM
Let’s Retake Our Plates – Earth Month Film Series – Food Inc, – Whole Foods Market, Sauganash (6020 N. Cicero, Chicago) – 5m PM – Entrance donation is $10 and all proceeds will be donated to The Talking Farm!
Wednesday – April 28
Bell’s Beer Dinner – Branch 27 – 1371 W. Chicago Ave, Chicago – 730 PM
Earth Day was yesterday, but the festivities have only begun. The weekend is the best time for many of the events to attract a crowd, and the events are spread out over several weekends. The list below is NOT exhaustive, so please add in the comments any other events for this weekend or the next few weeks that you’re aware of . Start off with a couple of regularly scheduled winter farmers markets:
And here are some great one-time events, some annual, some first time tries. Check them out!
No doubt this list just scratches the surface. Please add other events in the comments below. Hope to see you out and about this spring!
We’ve said this before, but at Local Beet World HQ, every day is Earth Day. We believe in eating local for all sorts of reasons, not the least, it tastes better to eat local. Eat local also impacts the earth in plenty of positive ways. Moreover, as Michael Pollin is quick to say, there is probably no greater way to impact the earth than through our food choices.
Five Ways Eating Local is Green:
The time to Eat Local is now.
The Local Family has been doing it for a long time, even as it has often been a struggle.
Keighty helps you find make a local cheese board.
Tom finds yet another way to drink well locally, and Wendy has made the Case for Local Wine.
By this Earth Day, Vera’s got a lot done on her farm. She has green garlic, sorrel, mint and baby fennel for sale already.
Brad wants you to go out and grow your own food already, and provides some quick tips on making it happen.
It’s been a long time since this Local Family decided to get the majority of its food from area farmers, a foodshed we call the Big Ten Conference. Has there ever been a time when we did not struggle to achieve this goal?
Eating local means working your schedule around farmer’s markets. It means that even as you reduce the majority of food miles, you often have to travel around to meet your dietary needs. It means spending time in the summer canning and setting aside for dark days, maintaining a root cellar in the sky. Food comes nearly always in its rawest state, meaning plenty of struggle to peel and clean and deal with all of those carrot tops that should be a lot more edible than they are. There are a lot of struggles involved in eating local.
Do we feel deprived. Restricted. Our struggles have never been about boundaries or limitations. We have no line in the map that demarcates where we can and cannot get our food. About the craziest thing we do is eat endless supplies of apples, as they are the one local fruit around from January until at least some time in May. Of course we also eat citrus, some bananas, even bought mango’s this week. We eat those fruits when they are in season during the winter and spring. Sure, sometimes it seems like a struggle to eat rutabagas, kohlrabi, they hyper-intense version that is local celery, but we find it rewarding to have such variety in our diets. Celery aside, these things all end up tasting good. We do not struggle with what we can eat when we eat local.
I admitted recently that we are struggling with the costs of eating local. We did not get a CSA this spring to save money. As I noted yesterday, we are making sure we use up every last bit of usable food in the Bungalow. We benefit from actions taken when times were better. Our freezer contains parts from sides of beef, lamb and hog already purchased, and over the winter we got a bunch of meats from a CSA from Mint Creek Farm. Still, as tight as times can be, we continue to use the good milk from local companies like Farmer’s All Natural Creamery or Organic Valley. We get Amish Farm eggs at our neighborhood Polish market. The few dollars more per we spend here, we just make up in some other way.
We have not let any of these struggles stop us. We eat local because the food tastes so much better. We eat local because we know it helps the environment. We eat local to build our economy and community. We find purpose in eating local. On Earth Day, many of you are thinking of ways to make a difference in the year to come. To reduce greenhouse gases, to cut back on solid wastes, to get awful chemicals out of our waters; compost, change your light bulbs, bring your own bag to the store, scrap bottled water, ride your bike. You can make all sorts of meaningful changes this Earth Day. We hope and trust that one your changes is changing how you get your food. That you have started eating more local this Earth Day. We can promise you that you will struggle many a-times. Don’t let the struggles stop you. It has not stopped this Local Family
Editor’s Note: We are pleased to introduce you to our new columnist, Wendy Aeschlimann. Actually, to those knee-deep in the Chicago food world, you probably know Wendy, an active participant in LTHForum and someone who has organized many events with them. Still, did you know that Wendy is also passionate about wine, and especially passionate about local wine. Please follow along today, and in weeks ahead as Wendy makes the Case for Local Wine.
Chateau Chantal – Photo by Jeff Greenberg
Why Not Local Wine?
Even people dedicated to local eating neglect to drink local wine. It’s easy to see why — we live in the upper Midwest, which is not readily associated with winemaking. It might also be because wine is made from grapes that are crushed, fermented, aged and bottled before shipping — thus, the product necessarily does not suffer in shipment as would, say, a peach. These considerations aside, there remains a case for integrating Midwestern wine into our wine-drinking rotation.
A recent article in the New York Times discusses the trend to broaden eating local to drinking local. In this article, California Bay-Area restaurants were charged with not offering enough local wine on their menus, which they claimed could be too high in alcohol and heavy in tannins and, therefore, not food-friendly. However, even those restaurants more motivated by palate than environmental considerations are coming around to recognizing that local wines deserve a place on their menus. This discussion highlights that, although drinking wine allows us to traverse the world via a bottle consumed from our tables, drinking locally allows us to experience more deeply another aspect of our home turf.
This notion of “home turf” is generally reflected in the winemaking term, “terroir,” which loosely stands for the notion that each wine reflects the characteristics of the place from where it came. Put another way, pinot noir made from grapes grown in Oregon will taste different from those grown in Austria simply because they were grown in different climates, soils and topography. While some wine lovers may quibble about which wine is better, the real point is: In a way, it doesn’t matter. That each type of wine is a product of a certain place is a wonderful thing and worth celebrating in its own right.
For the past few years, I’ve been dedicated to exploring the local wineries of the Midwest. In the context of integrating local food into your regimen, it can be very rewarding to visit the wineries in your backyard, drive through vineyard after vineyard, and meet the winemakers. I’ve found that many Midwest winemakers are dead-serious about growing wine grapes and making wine, knowing that they sometimes face difficult conditions (such as unforgiving winters).
Why drink local wine? Many of the reasons for drinking local are the same as eating local. Here are five more reasons:
One. Support your local winemaker. You experience the same sense of pride of place as when buying a local tomato or radish, knowing that it was grown by a nearby farmer.
Two. Environmental considerations. Less fossil fuels are consumed and carbon emitted in getting the wine to your door.
Three. Branching out. Because the Midwest generally plants cold-hardy grapes, you have the chance to try more unusual varieties, such as Norton, Traminette and Vidal. Just like at the farmer’s market, where your curiosity is roused by new varieties of peppers, so can it be with wine.
Four. Support your local economy. The Midwest, like many areas of the country, is an economy in transition. By supporting your local farmers, you may be supporting a growth sector of our local economy.
Five. Help influence the direction of local wine market. As with any business, wine-making is, at bottom, a money-making endeavor. As more wine-making consumers buy local wine, the money will be reinvested into the wineries, and they will only improve over time.
In advocating that Midwest wine (and spirits and hard cider) deserve a place in our drinking habits, I do not suggest that we should give up drinking our favorite wine from other places in the world. Eating and drinking local is not an extreme all-or-nothing proposition — just as you do not always follow a local eating regimen, nor should anyone have to strictly drink local wine. However, if you drink wine and already make the effort to fit in local vegetables and even meat into your diet, why not local wine as well?
As I write this column, I plan to chronicle my travels around the Midwest, exploring its varied wineries and winemakers. I’ll help direct you to worthy wineries, source these wines in Chicago, and taste them with Chicago wine professionals and enthusiasts. I look forward to hearing from people who drink local wines, spirits and hard ciders, and wish to discuss their finds. I hope that you will agree with me that integrating a local wine into your wine-drinking rotation is a satisfying and worthy extension of eating locally and celebrating pride of place.
NEXT: Tasting Local Wines With West Town Tavern’s Wine Director, Drew Goss. What Will We Find?
Oak leaves and cherry blossoms - rarely seen open at the same time: April 18, 2010.
Signs of life came early this spring. Despite another extreme winter I managed to get into the fields a little earlier this year than last, where the ground was still frozen into early April. This past winter had such an early and sustained snowfall that the ground never really froze underneath and I managed to harvest garlic shoots for and Empty Bottle Farmers Market and the last winter indoor market at Logan Square.
My first deadline of the year is always to plant potatoes on Good Friday. Usually I have a few extra weeks as I follow the Julian calendar to observe the holy days but every four years (this year) Easter falls on the same day. I made a run to the local feed mill/seed store and stocked up on Austrian Crescent Fingerlings, ran the tiller through a few rows, and planted them on March 26. Now on April 22 I’m seeing the first dark shoots come out of the sandy soil . . . along with the first few weeds of the season. Last summer’s tomato blight also attacked my late potato crop so I’ll be running to the feed mill soon to look for something to treat the disease, which can linger for a while in the soil.
After I planted the Good Friday potatoes I threw in a double row of sugar peas, spinach, Swiss chard, mustard greens, and kale. Being frugal with space I threw in radish seeds into each row since they’re a 21-28 day crop and will be out of the way by the time the other plants start to take off. The peas are now an inch tall and I ran some recycled old sheep fencing along the row as a trellis.
Trying to meet my second-planting deadline a friend came by with a tractor and larger tiller to break up larger portions of my field:
The larger tiller did break ground deeper than my smaller rototiller but left large chunks of weeds/grass and awkward mounds of soil. Not to complain with the extra help. . . just saying it’s hard to deal with later when I’m weeding. I started my smaller tiller crumbled up the larger soil bits and leveled the soil for about five rows before the engine sputtered, sputtered, and died. My mechanic brother came to take a look and announced the engine was blown. A quick internet search found a replacement – in southern Indiana – for $240 (minus shipping costs). Not wanting to deal with another setback and a setting sun, I went back into the field and planted a few rows of parsley, transplanted lavender and Swiss chard, threw in more potato sets, and seeded the rest of the finely prepared soil with beets (more radishes) and onion sets for scallions.
So on today, Earth Day, I’ll be harvesting for market tomorrow at the University of Chicago’s Earth Fest. In addition to the green garlic and sorrel I’ve been harvesting (and selling through Green Grocer Chicago) now I’ve got some early mint and baby fennel.
The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on a sweeping overhaul of the food safety laws within a few days. As it is currently written, S. 510 will actually make our food less safe. S. 510 will strengthen the forces that have led to the consolidation of our food supply in the hands of a few industrial food producers, while harming small producers who give consumers the choice to buy fresh, healthy, local foods.
Please contact your Senators NOW to urge them to oppose or amend the bill! Contact information and talking points are below.
TAKE ACTION
“Hi, my name is _____ and I live in ______. I’m very concerned that S.510, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, imposes unfair and burdensome regulations on local food sources, which are very important to me. I urge the Senator to support the Tester Amendment to exclude small facilities and direct marketing farms from the most burdensome provisions of the bill. Please call me back at ____________.”
Call both of your Senators. You can find their contact information at www.Senate.gov, or call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 or toll-free at 877-210-5351. Ask to speak with the staffer who handles food safety issues.
Our Senators
Richard Durbin 312-353-4952
Roland Burris 312-886-3506
If Earth Day isn’t enough to encourage you to grow something, then I don’t know what can make you plant some seeds. But if you’re just afraid of failure, here’s a few vegetable gardening tips to help you out.
Now go out and grow some local food already!
