Real Fruit. Real Food. Real Fresh.

In the States, we look in the grocery store bins and rarely see a blemish on our produce. Its big and shiny and perfect. If I had to eat out of my garden that way, quite a few of my veggies and fruits would end up in a stew or the compost.

We just came back from two weeks in Germany and France (business and pleasure), and spent a lot of our travels using public transportation. Something I really noticed in our travels were the fresh fruit stands. Not just in the villages or outside, but inside the subway tunnels.

Paris subway fruit stand

And even more, we didn't notice them visually, but by aroma. The wonderful, ripe fruit smell just woke you right up. And it happened again and again.  The fruit was colorful, all sizes and so aromatic, it just made you remember what fruit was supposed to taste like. Wonderful and flavorful.

People walked away with a bag of cherries or a single peach in a napkin, and later you would see people wiping their chins of the juice as they rode on the trains.

I now have a little eight foot square raised bed that we put together in June, and I have a few herbs and veggies coming along, but I need to seek out the good farm stands, and even a favorite grocery store for my shopping. I see that some of the stores are associated with local farms for certain produce, so I will give them a look. Coming from just a few miles away, the food should come in riper and fresher, so we can hope for flavor.

One of the stores wraps up what they consider overripe produce, and sells it at a huge discount. I think its just right and I often see no damage. They are soft and ready to cook.

Actually, one of my favorite pasta "sauces" is more of a veggie stew. I take the blemished odds and ends out of the garden(or now from the discount cart) that won't slice or keep very well because of a crack or stink bug blemish and chop or slice it up into a meaty size.  For me, and my daughter, the texture makes it more of a meal, so while the water comes to a boil and then cooks the pasta, I quickly sauté the onions, garlic and peppers, and then just drop the chunks of ripe tomato on top to simmer and break down till the pasta is ready. There is still a lot of chew and texture to the stew/sauce, and is very satisfying. Of course, we add our favorite herbs and spices, and sometimes we take a small pan to toast a few pine nuts for more "meat". Grate a little cheese. Done.

The fun is in the challenge of the time you have while the pasta cooks and what's available in your garden and pantry. Its summer. Give it a shot. In a half hour you'll be sitting at the table and thinking of the next variation on this theme. Different pasta. Something out of the freezer? I've never made it the same way twice and its always great and satisfying.  And real and fresh!

Bon Appetit!

PS: Send me some new combinations/additions you've tried.

Farm Fresh Breakfast

Homegrown tomatoes.
Today's eggs.
Local melon.
My designer coffee blend in my favorite mug.
Come on over.

Food Reading

A couple of articles caught my interest today.

The first in the NYTimes - Math Lessons for Locavores by STEPHEN BUDIANSKY

"But the local food movement now threatens to devolve into another one of those self-indulgent — and self-defeating — do-gooder dogmas. Arbitrary rules, without any real scientific basis, are repeated as gospel by “locavores,” celebrity chefs and mainstream environmental organizations. Words like “sustainability” and “food-miles” are thrown around without any clear understanding of the larger picture of energy and land use." I have to agree that some trends become a cause, almost religious like, and create an adverse reaction to a simple idea before it is even fully understood. The holier then "thow-ness" can be such a turn off. Looking at all sides really makes for more powerful advocates of anything.The second article about an egg recall, also teaches us how to find out the age of the eggs in the stores. Click the title below.

Massive egg recall: How to check your carton for recalled eggs

Eggs are packed in 6- 12- or 18-egg cartons with Julian dates ranging from 136 to 225 and plant numbers 1026, 1413, and 1946.

Dates and codes can be found stamped on the end of the egg carton. The plant number begins with the letter P and then the number. The Julian date follows the plant number, for example: P-1946 223.

If you look at the dates of the recalled boxes, and look up the dates on the Julian Calendar they refer too, you may (or may not be!) surprised at the age. I hope some of these eggs are no longer in some one's fridge.

Be informed and form your own opinions.
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http://www.nestle-watersna.com/pdf/julian-calendar.pdf
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/20/opinion/20budiansky.html?th&emc=th
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ygreen/20100819/sc_ygreen/massiveeggrecallhowtocheckyourcartonforrecalledeggs

Frozen Eggs: Thawed

Do you remember my Freezing Eggs project last year?
Here is the link: http://onthepondfarm.blogspot.com/search/label/freezing%20eggs

If you recall, I was expecting a slow egg producing month or two in the winter, so I put a few bags of eggs in the freezer for those times. The slow month didn't happen. Even with the awful February where hardly any animal or human got outside, but to shovel snow, we had enough eggs.Right now, the heat seems to be affecting production, and sales have kept the back log down, so I decided this was a good time to pull out a bag and test the product.
Success! I put the bag in the refrigerator last night, and it was still mushy this morning. Mom was ready for her breakfast early, so we scooped a semi frozen spoonful that look like about an eggs worth and popped it in the pan. It slowly melted down into a fine little omelet. Tasted just fine. In all the fun of making the rest into an omelet later, I forgot to take more pictures, but you wouldn't have known these weren't fresh from the barn.I think this method of freezing eggs would work really well for campers and travelers that don't have lots of space, and need to keep things in coolers. Using the semi frozen eggs make it really easy to portion too.
Now that we have lived to tell the tale, I hope you can find use for this successful experiment sometime.

Drug Resistance

In the July 16, 2010 E-News from Congressman Murphy, the following article got my attention.

Committee Examines Public Health Implications of Overuse of Antibiotics on Farms
For the complete article, click the title."Public health doctors and microbiologists testified Wednesday at a House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health hearing that overuse of antibiotics in animal feed is contributing to the mutation of drug-resistant bacteria. The hearing was the third part of an ongoing look at the declining effectiveness of antibiotics." "Several witnesses testified about evidence linking routine, low-level antibiotic use in food for animals and the transfer of antibiotic-resistant bacteria to people, often through the food supply."

If you suggest this is more hocus pocus, I challenge you to read further, and not just here. In September 2007, I attended a most entertaining lecture in State College, PA offered by PASA. The topic was Parasite Control in Small Ruminants and presented by Dr. David Pugh. Entertaining you question? If a person could make parasitic worms and digestion entertaining and educational, Dr. Pugh did it.

When it comes to managing parasites in small ruminants, Dr. David Pugh literally wrote the book, Sheep and Goat Medicine (Saunders, 2001). During the lecture, Dr. Pugh reviewed existing de-wormers and present data on the kinds of problems/solutions we are seeing with each, nutrition for small ruminants with respect to managing parasites, disease prevention, general overview of herd health, and information on rotational grazing or pasture maintenance. One of the greatest concerns was the building resistance to de-wormers in goats and sheep. It was getting to the point where certain farms had run out of effective chemicals to control the intestinal worms in their animals. This problem relates to the article above and its affect on human health. When buying your food, it is important to know where your food comes from and how it is grown, whether animal or vegetable. Chemicals in and on your food are part of what you consume, so be a knowledgeable consumer.

Dark Days Challenge

Through my newest follower (Welcome Irani!), I checked out a few new blogs, and one that got my interest was amysflock. Particularly, the box in her right column that says quite boldly, DARK DAYS CHALLENGE. I had to look.
That will take you to (not so) Urban Hennery where you can read more about it. We are a bit late in the project, but it is a good idea to take a look at and think about, if you haven't already.
Interestingly, I FINALLY finished reading Barbara Kingsolvers's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle last week, and it has LOTS of help in how to deal with the Dark Days (Click on the title and you will see the web site where you can get the recipes and more.). It could also be a book I enjoyed the most in the past year, murder mysteries notwithstanding! I see its one of Amy's favorite books too.

We are back to snow and nasty wind chills, but we have a break of sun right now. Its a relief to see.

http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/

Freezing Eggs

These are two bags of frozen eggs that I have started to prepare this month as I saw the hens start to molt. Soon we will not have the excess of eggs that we have all summer. Production is slowing down fast as the days get shorter. The hens need 11 hours of light to produce eggs, and you may notice how terribly short the days are starting to get. We can turn on the light in the barn to keep them going, but we let them have this rest period to let nature work as it does.I had read about freezing eggs, and this year I decided to give it a try. When we get to those bleak days in December and January when there is a deficit of eggs here, and at other farms, and I cannot bring myself to buy any at the grocery store, I am going to dig out one of these bags and have a fine omelet, make a batch of crepes for dinner, or something else yummy.There are several methods to try, using milk and/or salt, or sugar, with the eggs. My first bag I used a splash of milk and salt. Since then I have only used a dash of salt. The most important thing is to start with the freshest, clean eggs.
I cracked four into a bowl. We usually use three for our Sunday omelet, but I am splurging while I can. Perhaps we will have you over for breakfast and have to share!

I beat them with a fork to combine them as well as I could.

Looking pretty good. They say not too much air. Maybe too many bubbles?

Then I added a bit of salt. Just a couple quick shakes. If you know you want sweet eggs for a recipe, you can add sugar here instead. Milk also. Just mark your container each time with the ingredients. I also put on the exact date. Things get moved around in my freezer so much. I want to be able to identify the oldest to use first.
I poured the eggs into a pint freezer bag, and pushed out as much air as I could. I sat the bag flat so it freezes nicely. Then I can stack it better later.

Some methods used ice cube trays, and then transferred them to bags. Its up to you. I'm looking forward to these fresh eggs in the dark days of winter. Maybe you want to run out to your local farm and try this too. Let me know how it goes. I can't wait to see myself.

Here are a couple of sites I checked. There are lots more.

Georgia Egg Commission

How To Freeze Eggs

Summer Salad

Tonight we'll need salad with our burritos, and happy to say, it will all be from our garden, weed haven that it is.

I tried a few mixes of salads and greens with mixed success. One or the other individual plant would bolt, and so I yanked that out of the garden while the rest of the blend was OK. I think part of it was too much at once, and trying to use everything as it came, and maybe waiting a bit too long.

The peppers are sneaking in, and I am in love with the color and smell of this creamy colored one. To me its like jewelry - beautiful and precious.

After my earlier panic, the tomatoes are holding up, and I think have improved since my late blight scare, but we still have yellow shoulders. The chickens are enjoying the trimmings, so no waste as usual.

But no store bought in months now, and much greener, prettier food. Almost a shame not to put it in a vase and admire.

Late Blight

I'm getting a little nervous. One end of my tomato row is looking a bit unwell, but I still have tomatoes on the vine. Perhaps its just the moisture and my bad gardening habits. But with each salad I make, I take time to savor the taste of these tomatoes, just in case the season is tragically short. Even non-gardeners have read enough about late blight to know something bad is happening to tomatoes and potatoes. Today an Op-Ed gave me a lot of food for thought. Interestingly, it was written by a chef who cares about where food comes from. You Say Tomato, I Say Agricultural Disaster .

According to plant pathologists, this killer round of blight began with a widespread infiltration of the disease in tomato starter plants. Large retailers like Home Depot, Kmart, Lowe’s and Wal-Mart bought starter plants from industrial breeding operations in the South and distributed them throughout the Northeast. (Fungal spores, which can travel up to 40 miles, may also have been dispersed in transit.) Once those infected starter plants arrived at the stores, they were purchased and planted, transferring their pathogens like tiny Trojan horses into backyard and community gardens. Perhaps this is why the Northeast was hit so viciously: instead of being spread through large farms, the blight sneaked through lots of little gardens, enabling it to escape the attention of the people who track plant diseases.

In my summary, this article makes another case for Buy Fresh-Buy Local in the case of starter plants. I'm not sure if the information is fact or theory, but it makes some sense. It will make me think more about my source choices

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/opinion/09barber.html?th&emc=th