Thursday, January 24, 2008
Friday, January 11, 2008
growing a garden..
M & V and I are starting to work seriously on plants and soil. 18 free trees have been delivered by Parkway Partners and 7 more are still coming for all of the property owners who asked for one on the front of their property. Marilyn at NOFFN has offered volunteers to put the trees in the ground; that should happen next Tuesday.
We are about to plant some rye grass on the farm site and on the front of my property (see picture below) to reduce the run off of water off the front onto St. Peter. I am researching bamboo for the front of the wooden yurt and will be picking out a type that does not take over the front of the property.
Trying to find soil in the city is problematic; the person at the place that Macon recommended was incredibly hostile and told them they were closing next week. Went to Grant's place (Laughing Buddha on Cleary), and he was gracious and helpful.
All of the AgCenter literature is out, as we read and puzzle about which type of fig trees and citrus trees we want to have on the farm and in our yards.
Next, is the vetiver for soil erosion; stay tuned!
We are about to plant some rye grass on the farm site and on the front of my property (see picture below) to reduce the run off of water off the front onto St. Peter. I am researching bamboo for the front of the wooden yurt and will be picking out a type that does not take over the front of the property.
Trying to find soil in the city is problematic; the person at the place that Macon recommended was incredibly hostile and told them they were closing next week. Went to Grant's place (Laughing Buddha on Cleary), and he was gracious and helpful.
All of the AgCenter literature is out, as we read and puzzle about which type of fig trees and citrus trees we want to have on the farm and in our yards.
Next, is the vetiver for soil erosion; stay tuned!
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
West African Peanut Soup
Recipe from Jennifer, who makes it in cold months, whch is a bunch in Cincinnati!
This peanut soup is rich and spicy. The chopped scallions or chives are an integral element, not just a garnish.
SERVES 6 TO 8
2 cups chopped onions
1 tablespoon peanut or vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon cayenne or other dried ground chiles (or to taste -- I used 1-1/2 teaspoons, I wouldn't use more than that but it was just about right)
1 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger root
1 cup chopped carrots
2 cups chopped sweet potatoes (up to 1 cup white potatoes may be substituted)
4 cups vegetable stock or water
2 cups tomato juice
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 tablespoon sugar (optional)
1 cup chopped scallions or chives
Saute the onions in the oil until just translucent. Stir in the cayenne and fresh ginger. Add the carrots and saute a couple more minutes. Mix in the potatoes and stock or water, bring the soup to a boil, and then simmer for about 15 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.
In a blender or food processor, puree the vegetables with the cooking liquid and the tomato juice. Return the puree to a soup pot. Stir in the peanut butter until smooth. Taste the soup. Its sweetness willl depend upon the sweetness of the carrots and sweet potatoes. If it's not there naturally, add just a little sugar to enhance the other flavors.
Reheat the soup gently, using a heat diffuser if needed to prevent scorching. Add more water, stock, or tomato juice for a thinner soup.
Serve topped with plenty of chopped scallions or chives.
This peanut soup is rich and spicy. The chopped scallions or chives are an integral element, not just a garnish.
SERVES 6 TO 8
2 cups chopped onions
1 tablespoon peanut or vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon cayenne or other dried ground chiles (or to taste -- I used 1-1/2 teaspoons, I wouldn't use more than that but it was just about right)
1 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger root
1 cup chopped carrots
2 cups chopped sweet potatoes (up to 1 cup white potatoes may be substituted)
4 cups vegetable stock or water
2 cups tomato juice
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 tablespoon sugar (optional)
1 cup chopped scallions or chives
Saute the onions in the oil until just translucent. Stir in the cayenne and fresh ginger. Add the carrots and saute a couple more minutes. Mix in the potatoes and stock or water, bring the soup to a boil, and then simmer for about 15 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.
In a blender or food processor, puree the vegetables with the cooking liquid and the tomato juice. Return the puree to a soup pot. Stir in the peanut butter until smooth. Taste the soup. Its sweetness willl depend upon the sweetness of the carrots and sweet potatoes. If it's not there naturally, add just a little sugar to enhance the other flavors.
Reheat the soup gently, using a heat diffuser if needed to prevent scorching. Add more water, stock, or tomato juice for a thinner soup.
Serve topped with plenty of chopped scallions or chives.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Xmas Day
Two days a year, Robert and Elizabeth of Fair Grinds Coffeehouse give their staff the day off and pour free coffee on behalf of a non-profit, and that non-profit's volunteers or staff help with making more coffee and maybe bringing treats for folks to eat.
This year, New Orleans Food and Farm Network is the helper and the beneficiary. Marilyn Yank (and visiting friend Miriam) were on hand to grind beans, hit the start button on the coffeemaker and keep the cups and tops available.
The looks on peoples faces as they come in and see food, coffee and calm faces with no consumer transactions (unless you feel like donating) is wonderful and worthwhile on any day, but especially on this day.
Monday, December 24, 2007
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Lunch on wheels
Musa, Veda and I biked to the French Quarter this week (me on my amazing 1970 folding bike bought last week from Recycle Bicycles at the Festivus Market), Musa on his recumbent, and Veda on her favored pink cruiser. Rolled past the silent and shuttered Lafitte Projects (a federal crime to see them closed for over 2 years while low-income housing needs rise), then did the Yooey (Uturn to peds) from Basin to get to Toulouse to enter the Quarter.
We stopped at Matassa's grocery, and let Veda go in to check the hot food counter out; She will find out if the food was made by the woman who has worked there 25 years or if it was pre-made, I guarantee you. Musa and I sit outside chatting with the regulars who hang out, discuss a new cell phone tower disguised as a round thing, and look at the rooftops, discussing the pitch of each, and whether dormer windows are a good or bad idea.
Veda finally comes out with a wrapped plate of black-eye peas with ham and 4 pieces of sausage, 3 pieces of French Bread and 3 beers. We ride to the river, find a bench and open the beers and the container, marveling at the taste and the amount of food that we got for 5.95. Really, 3 meals easily.
The beer is the new Abita IPA; quite excellent.
Veda reports details of the conversation that she had had with the Matassa's staff while we eat and drink; she asked them about each and every dish, ferreting out what was freshest and localest. There is a openness in New Orleans on these matters; food staff understand why we ask when the food was made (and who made it), if the seafood is local, or for a taste of everything before we buy it.
Because we care.
The local palate is sophisticated and sure of itself, so best to be upfront about the information brother, or they will come back to see ya after they eat...
After we ate and drank as much as we could (and packed the rest up), we got back on the bikes and rolled a bit more and then headed home, pleased with the choices we had made, and glad that we stopped at the smallest yet best food counter in the Quarter on that day.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
I don't always find time to be healthy...
Talking to my friend Jennifer who lives in Cincinnati Ohio, about food and shopping on the phone on Sunday morning, I visualize a blog entry.
And even though it's outside my bioregion, it illuminates the work to build local food awareness...
As is our normal pattern, we veer from subject to subject and talk over each other whenever we want to get a point across, as only 2 friends for over 15 years can do.
As she squeezes her organic Valencia oranges with her hand cranking squeezer, we talked about her wonderful nearby small food store, Madison's and how she is back to (happily) using it for her shopping.
Madison's is a well known, well-respected Findlay Market outlet, and opened this second location in Northside (Norside to locals) within the last 3 years. The Findlay Market is an old shed market that has been rehabbed in the last few years. To see what it looked like before, find the Johnny Cash movie called "The Pride of Jesse Hellam", where Cash plays an illiterate miner moving to the city, and gets a job working for Eli Wallach's produce distribution company at the market. Fascinating.
The Over-The-Rhine neighborhood where the Findlay Market located is a neigborhood near downtown, about 3-5 miles from Northside, and is full of beautiful Italianate style brick buildings (actually the largest concentration of this style in the country Jennifer told me), but is also known as a very high crime area with appalling pockets of poverty, which has had its effect on the Market. The market does good business on the weekends, but has not been able to add as many weekday shoppers, which comes as no surprise to market managers around the country.
The Northside Madison's is only about 800 square feet, but attractively designed with a large window and great signs. The sandwich board sign marketing is ubiquitous in Northside, so you can drive down and see right away those who are open by the wooden signs near the street. Madison's adheres to the tradition with a nice version. They have won reader's choice for Best Buy Local store among others, and are known for amazing homemade gelato. (Don't get Jennifer started about the pink grapefruit sorbet...)
Jennifer works at a downtown law firm til 6:00, so doesn't get home til 6:30, which is tricky because Madison's is only open til 7 p.m. She can just make it to Madison's if she is not too tired, or if remembers to take a different exit off the highway on her way home. She tells me she got out of the habit of going to Madison's until recently because she was not buying fruits and vegetables on a regular basis, and instead eating takeout (albeit relatively healthy takeout) foods instead.
When I pressed her on a more specific reason as to why she stopped going, she first puts the blame on herself, labeling herself "lazy". She also mentions that she feels guilty not going to the farmers market on Saturday mornings, although Madison's carries much of the same local produce at this location.
Then she points out some simple customer service issues:
"I used to go to Madison's for the gourmet to go, but when they stopped carrying the soups I liked, I stopped going." she says. "Now, the guy they had working there has left, and now when I ask for stuff they get it in right away. I asked for the soups, and they brought them back."
Later she mentions:
"They also changed their hours; they used to be open til 8 p.m."
Jennifer is a good cook when she has time, and keeps routines for her week and her weekend that allows good shopping to be a part of it, if all the stars align. The more I talk to her about food, the more I see a regular person who wants to eat healthy, but thinks she must buy it in its raw form, or do it all the time to benefit. In other words, all or nothing.
When she gets out of the habit of cooking or has a quasi-junk food bender, it stops the trips to Madison's or Findlay completely for a while, instead of her continuing to supplement with some good food items among some not so great food items.
What I got from that was that outlets like Madison's must be very responsive to their smaller overworked client base, and find ways to be creative to keep these folks coming.
Maybe things like marketing a full healthy take home dinner for the first really cold night in Cincinnati and staying open a bit later for folks to pick it up that night.
Or, having a small nearby delivery service once a week (Madison's night), or even a call in number or email address to pre-order dinner or to have some groceries bagged and ready to go.
A weekly, informational html email newsletter has been a great marketing tool for markets to remind shoppers weekly about what is in season and available. Our small market has thousands of shoppers who subscribe and they tell us how much they appreciate it. Adding simple recipes is a must, by the way.
Overall, the move to these type of locally owned small footprint shops are the wave of the future, just as they were the only way to shop 50 years ago. What has changed is the pace of life for their customers, as well as their ability to know how to use a large number of fruits and vegetables in cooking. If Madison's is (I hope) to be the vanguard, then they will need to continue to adapt and assist their customers in reasons to show up for the next 50 years.
And even though it's outside my bioregion, it illuminates the work to build local food awareness...
As is our normal pattern, we veer from subject to subject and talk over each other whenever we want to get a point across, as only 2 friends for over 15 years can do.
As she squeezes her organic Valencia oranges with her hand cranking squeezer, we talked about her wonderful nearby small food store, Madison's and how she is back to (happily) using it for her shopping.
Madison's is a well known, well-respected Findlay Market outlet, and opened this second location in Northside (Norside to locals) within the last 3 years. The Findlay Market is an old shed market that has been rehabbed in the last few years. To see what it looked like before, find the Johnny Cash movie called "The Pride of Jesse Hellam", where Cash plays an illiterate miner moving to the city, and gets a job working for Eli Wallach's produce distribution company at the market. Fascinating.
The Over-The-Rhine neighborhood where the Findlay Market located is a neigborhood near downtown, about 3-5 miles from Northside, and is full of beautiful Italianate style brick buildings (actually the largest concentration of this style in the country Jennifer told me), but is also known as a very high crime area with appalling pockets of poverty, which has had its effect on the Market. The market does good business on the weekends, but has not been able to add as many weekday shoppers, which comes as no surprise to market managers around the country.
The Northside Madison's is only about 800 square feet, but attractively designed with a large window and great signs. The sandwich board sign marketing is ubiquitous in Northside, so you can drive down and see right away those who are open by the wooden signs near the street. Madison's adheres to the tradition with a nice version. They have won reader's choice for Best Buy Local store among others, and are known for amazing homemade gelato. (Don't get Jennifer started about the pink grapefruit sorbet...)
Jennifer works at a downtown law firm til 6:00, so doesn't get home til 6:30, which is tricky because Madison's is only open til 7 p.m. She can just make it to Madison's if she is not too tired, or if remembers to take a different exit off the highway on her way home. She tells me she got out of the habit of going to Madison's until recently because she was not buying fruits and vegetables on a regular basis, and instead eating takeout (albeit relatively healthy takeout) foods instead.
When I pressed her on a more specific reason as to why she stopped going, she first puts the blame on herself, labeling herself "lazy". She also mentions that she feels guilty not going to the farmers market on Saturday mornings, although Madison's carries much of the same local produce at this location.
Then she points out some simple customer service issues:
"I used to go to Madison's for the gourmet to go, but when they stopped carrying the soups I liked, I stopped going." she says. "Now, the guy they had working there has left, and now when I ask for stuff they get it in right away. I asked for the soups, and they brought them back."
Later she mentions:
"They also changed their hours; they used to be open til 8 p.m."
Jennifer is a good cook when she has time, and keeps routines for her week and her weekend that allows good shopping to be a part of it, if all the stars align. The more I talk to her about food, the more I see a regular person who wants to eat healthy, but thinks she must buy it in its raw form, or do it all the time to benefit. In other words, all or nothing.
When she gets out of the habit of cooking or has a quasi-junk food bender, it stops the trips to Madison's or Findlay completely for a while, instead of her continuing to supplement with some good food items among some not so great food items.
What I got from that was that outlets like Madison's must be very responsive to their smaller overworked client base, and find ways to be creative to keep these folks coming.
Maybe things like marketing a full healthy take home dinner for the first really cold night in Cincinnati and staying open a bit later for folks to pick it up that night.
Or, having a small nearby delivery service once a week (Madison's night), or even a call in number or email address to pre-order dinner or to have some groceries bagged and ready to go.
A weekly, informational html email newsletter has been a great marketing tool for markets to remind shoppers weekly about what is in season and available. Our small market has thousands of shoppers who subscribe and they tell us how much they appreciate it. Adding simple recipes is a must, by the way.
Overall, the move to these type of locally owned small footprint shops are the wave of the future, just as they were the only way to shop 50 years ago. What has changed is the pace of life for their customers, as well as their ability to know how to use a large number of fruits and vegetables in cooking. If Madison's is (I hope) to be the vanguard, then they will need to continue to adapt and assist their customers in reasons to show up for the next 50 years.
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