challenge, Connecticut, Eat Local Challenge, locavore, rules

5th Annual Dark Days Eat Local Challenge

November 27, 2011 sophie Leave a comment

Laura over at (not so) Urban Hennery is continuing the Dark Days Eat Local Challenge tradition. The rules are to cook one meal each week featuring SOLE (sustainable, organic, local, ethical) ingredients and write about it on your blog. We set our own food zones and exceptions.Weekly recaps by group are posted over at (not so) Urban Hennery or maybe at Not Dabbling in Normal (I’ll have to get back to you on that).

The challenge starts today and is on until Saturday, March 31st, 2012.

My local food zone is about 100 miles. For a few ingredients, I may reach beyond the local and tap the regional food shed (the rest of New England and upstate NY). My general rule all the time is if it grows in my food shed, I’ll get it in my food shed. If it doesn’t grow here, I’ll get it from the nearest, most responsible source. My specific exceptions are oils, coffee, chocolate, spices, baking ingredients like baking powder, baking soda, and yeast, and tropical and citrus fruits.

I am really looking forward to this year. After all these years of eating locally all the time, finding the food is not the most challenging aspect. There are far more winter farmers markets and open farm stands than there used to be. (I like to think it’s thanks to us!) My biggest challenge is time. My favorite winter meals require hours of slow and low cooking. When that can’t happen, I default to frittatas. In the end, local is local!

After all these years, it is still fun and interesting. I like learning from other folks and their ideas help me avoid repetitive food syndrome. I’m excited about the new people. As people give this a try, they realize that putting together one local meal a week is supremely achievable.

Good luck to all the participants!

If you’re still thinking about it, you have until December 4 to join!

farms, locavore, recipes

Thanksgiving 2011

November 25, 2011 sophie 14 Comments

This was an interesting year for agriculture, to say the least. Still, our farmers and producers were able to pull it off. Here’s our Thanksgiving 2011 feast:

Appetizers:

Chilled Roasted Golden Beets from Fort Hill Farm
Spicy Icebox Pickled Carrots from my 2010 canning adventure
Roasted Red Peppers Maple Bank Farm
Assorted Cheeses: Pleasant Cow, Pleasant Valley, & Fresh Cheese from Sankow’s Beaver Brook, Goat’s milk Ricotta Salade from Beltane Farm, Provolone from Italy
Crudites: Carrots from Holbrook Farm, fennel from Migliorelli Farm, broccoli from Stone Gardens Farm
Vegetable Dip. Yogurt from Arethusa Farm Dairy seasoned with Zukay cucumber mint salad dressing
Three Sisters Salad/Dip. Cranberry beans from Don Taylor Farms, Danbury, CT, corn niblets and butternut squash from Sport Hill Farm
Table Crackers and Cornmeal Crackers from Wild Hive Farm and Micro Mill
Other Crackers & Bread. Not local

Soup

Chicken soup with bowtie pasta or brown rice. Broth made from chickens from Stone Gardens Farm, Stuarts Family Farm, and Laurel Ridge Farm. Onions and carrots from Holbrook Farm, celeriac from Yale Farm, parsnips from Don Taylor Farm, Danbury, CT and Migliorelli Farm, and my own garlic. Pasta and rice: not local.

Main Course

Roasted Turkey from Quattro Game Farm
Pan Gravy from the natural juices of the bird, flour from Wild Hive
Cornbread Stuffing. Butter and heavy cream from Smyth’s Trinity Farm, onions from Holbrook Farm, and my own sage and chicken stock. Cornbread made from Wheat flour and corn meal from Wild Hive, maple syrup from Bluestone Farm (the last of the 2010 vintage), eggs from Greyledge Farm, milk from Stone Wall Dairy, Cornwall Bridge, CT. Baking powder, salt, safflower oil: not local
Whole-Berry Cranberry Sauce. Cranberries brought by a friend from a farm stand in Cape Cod, MA, maple syrup from McLaughlin Vineyards, apple cider from Lyman Orchards. Cinnamon stick: not local
Applesauce made from assorted apples from Maple Bank Farm, Waldingfield Farm, and Rogers Orchards.
Mashed Potatoes made from potatoes from Riverbank Farm, butter from Smith’s Trinity Farm, sour cream from Hudson Valley Fresh, Poughkeepsie, NY
Baked Sweet Potatoes from Sport Hill Farm
Roasted Butternut Squash. Squash from Sport Hill Farm. Olive oil and cinnamon: not local
Roasted Brussels Sprouts from Stone Gardens Farm
Sautéed Swiss Chard from Waldingfield Farm

Dessert

Apple Pie: Northern Spy apples from Maple Bank Farm, pastry flour from Wild Hive, butter from Smyth’s Trinity Farm. Sugar and other spices: not local
Pumpkin Pie: Kuri Squash from Maple Bank Farm, eggs from Greyledge Farm, pastry flour from Wild Hive, butter and heavy cream from Smyth’s Trinity Farm, maple syrup from McLaughlin Vineyards
spices: not local.
Fresh Whipped Cream: Heavy cream from Smyth’s Trinity Farm Vanilla and sugar: not local
Campfire, Black Raspberry, and Vanilla Ice Cream Ferris Acres Creamery
Lemon Sorbet: Homemade from non-local ingredients
Fresh Fruit Basket: Not local
Mixed Nuts: Not local
Figs: Not local
Roasted Chestnuts: Woodbury, CT via New Morning
Coffee, Tea: Not local

Beverages

Apple Cider: Lyman Orchards
Egg Nog: Smith’s Trinity Farm
Soda: Assorted flavors from Foxon Park. Pellegrino: not local
Red Wine: Cabernet Franc from Hopkins Vineyard
Beer: XLimited from Cavalry Brewing Company and Vixen from Sam Adams

Thank you to my family for their help in making this a fabulous day!

Hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving.

farms, foraging, locavore

Foraging for Thanksgiving

November 23, 2011 sophie 2 Comments

I was wondering if my Thanksgiving foraging wasn’t a bit like the retail Black Friday games. I mean, I got up early so I could get to the New Haven Wooster Market before Trinity Dairy ran out of butter and cream. (Because I have pies, mashed potatoes, and whipped cream to think about!) Though the market was crowded with the usual bustle this market gets, it didn’t get down to a street fight over the last celeriac from Yale Farm.

So what’s different from the retail experience? For the most part, the cashiers at the farmers markets ARE the farmers or had some participation in the growing and harvesting of these products. I don’t think many clerks at Walmart worked in China, making the merchandise they ring up for you.

It’s highly likely that the retail shoppers don’t know their producers or the folks staffing the check-out. I don’t get to New Haven often (it’s city driving!) and it was fabulous to catch up with Patrick of Waldingfield, the folks from Stone Gardens Farm, Sankow’s Beaver Brook, and others.

As I’ve said here before, the Thanksgiving holiday is between the grower, the eater, and Provenance. It is very gratifying to thank these folks personally for putting food on my table all year long. And 2011 was an extraordinarily challenging year for us. Between Irene (with a six-day power outage that claimed 2/3 of my food stores), Lee (giving two weeks of on and off rain with no sun or wind), and Alfred (the pre-Halloween snow storm that also brought a six-day power outage), my food stores just weren’t up to their usual peak Autumnal levels.

My Thanksgiving forage took place over several days. In addition to the New Haven Market, Saturday was my day to go to Sport Hill Farm where Patti had several new rows of escarole growing. In fact, Patti has lots of new things growing, safely snuggled under row covers. I also went to New Morning Natural Foods on Saturday to get my milk and yogurt and various other sundries. The place was jamming because it IS a food holiday and they are predominantly a food store. It was great to see a number of produce items from Fort Hill Farm and Riverbank Farm and I scarfed them up. I was glad to get the Woodbury chestnuts, brought by a neighbor with some chestnut trees at this time every year.

On Monday, I set out bright and early for Pleasant Valley, NY to get my turkey from Quattro Game Farm. I was hoping to get one of the heritage breeds like Bourbon Red, but due to my size requirements, I got the broad-breasted white. Still, this baby was pastured and pampered and I love it just the same.

Quattro’s Game Farm is a family farm started by Camilla Quattrociocchi and her mother over 50 years ago. More here. Quattro Game Farm is related to Migliorelli Farm by marriage—how cool is that! (The Migliorelli’s are from Lazio, Italy which is not far from Tivoli, Italy and their farm in America is in Tivoli, NY—coincidence?)

The Quattro farm store is fabulous! Imagine an Italian specialty import shop crossed with a game farm crossed with a fresh produce farm in an area with even more local growers. Italian locavore mecca! I scored in the bounty department big time!

A little ways up the road, is Clinton Corners, NY, home to Wild Hive Farm Cafe, where we can get locally grown grains, among other things. Don’s cafe is an exceptional example of farm to chef, farm to table, and farm to consumer implementations. I stocked up on my grains and some other goodies available in this area.

Finally, no Thanksgiving forage would be complete without a stop at Holbrook Farm in Bethel, CT where John and Lynn (and friends) have been keeping it going for 34 years. John is a community resource. With his famous Rolodex, he pointed me in many good food directions over the years. In fact, it was John who introduced me to Quattro Farm and encouraged me to make the trip because he was certain I would love it. He was right!

Holbrook’s has also been busy with late season planting in an array of hoop houses. He’s brought on Jaqueline as the winter farm manager and expects to be able to provide fresh greens for several months through the winter.

Though I’ve said it many times before, I think it’s okay to be redundant in this regard: To all my farmers and farmers helpers, Thank You.

Happy Thanksgiving!

health, nutrition, politics

Studies show water may not have health benefits

November 22, 2011 sophie Leave a comment

In an attempt to standardize language to describe food and food processing and to protect the consumer from potentially false claims, some bureaucracies don’t know when to call in their logic team. Here’s the latest example:

EU bans claim that water can prevent dehydration.

Yes, you read that right. Since it has not been proven that water actually prevents dehydration, it would be misleading to label the bottle with that claim so such language is now banned in the EU. Really.

Yes, it took them three years of study to negate a previously undisputed fact. That implies that it wasn’t a fact. Am I anti-science if I still believe water is good for me?

As noted, history will not be kind to these folks.

Late Bloomers Farm