Eat Local Right Now

It is my conviction that it is possible to eat local in some way "right now" no matter what time of year it is. I had this great idea for that post in late March, early April. It felt a little too early, and now after a whirlwind summer it feels a little too late. I suppose that is the point, though, it is truly neither and I might as well begin.

I am Susan, I am a wife, mom to a nine year old and custodial step-mom to a 17 year old and 3 young adults, 2 of which at the moment are still living at home. Your guess is as good as mine about who might show up for dinner tonight. My husband and I enjoy the self-reliance and sustainability of eating local, both in growing our own food and from buying from growers and producers in our community. I love the nourishment of local food, as well as the connection and reassurance of knowing who grew it and how it was grown. We really find the whole endeavor fun.

I am also co-founder of the CORV Eat Local Guide. When the project began 4 years ago I remember saying, "this listing is important but it isn't everything. I have this list of farms on my computer and I'm still not eating local as much as I'd like." And that still holds true for me. In these posts I'm going to explore some of the various aspects of eating locally, hoping to continue to remove barriers for myself and inspire you as well.

I intend to post monthly about Eating Local, Right Now, and the posts will be a collection of what is possible for this time of year and what my family is actually doing. I honestly didn't do so great this year in getting to market regularly and in putting things up for the winter so it should be fun to see what we can accomplish a bit "after the fact" but then again this is about now.

It is now November, what does that mean for folks striving to eat local, right now, all year long?

In the Garden
We have carrots still in the ground I hope to harvest this week. This weekend we planted our garlic which will should ready in June.

At Market
Last night my husband, Ken, and I went to Northside Market. The Market is now indoors for the season and a great resource for local eating year round. We purchased carrots, potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, eggs, apples and some local Hopi Blue Corn Polenta. There was lots more available onions, greens, beets, sprouts and microgreens, sweet potatoes, squash, and that is before the breads, preserves and specialty items.

In the Kitchen
November is still a good time to go to the Farmers' Market before you finalize your meal plans and grocery lists for the week. There is still lots of fresh veggies, apples, eggs, poultry, meats and cheeses. It's great to have a rough idea of what you'd like to serve in the week, but not so planned out that you can't utilize those great beets you didn't expect to see.

In the next week we'll have local ham (we purchase a side of pork about every 6 months) and local broccoli; local chicken, with local potatoes, carrots and onions; butternut squash soup with onions and squash from our garden; and the polenta I bought last night.

For the Root Cellar
We do have a root cellar set up in our garage, it is a small room with lots of shelves, a cabinet ventilated outside for squash, apples and such, and then hooks in the main room for garlic and onions. Here also lives our freezer. So for my purposes the root cellar really just means put away for later use regardless of preservation and storage method.

Our root cellar is as of yet pretty bare. In the spring I went crazy with strawberries and lost a lot of my enthusiasm for taking anything like that on with all the busyness of our home. I am realizing I might be more successful doing a little at a time. Last night after market and before the 9 year old got home from his dad's, I cleaned, steamed and froze carrots, broccoli and cauliflower. I'm definitely excited to try this little bit at a time method for the next couple of weeks to see if I can't stock up a bit better going into winter.

We also individually wrapped half of the basket of apples we bought and put them in a bin in the cabinet downstairs. That cabinet has several butternut squash from both my backyard and the farmers' market but otherwise is empty.

I'm thrilled to be sharing our story with you as we head into the holidays and winter. What does eating local right now mean for you?

Pumpkin Pie Baking Class : November 13th

Using winter squash, eggs and other ingredients from Turner Farm, participants will leave with an unbaked crust and filling for one fresh pumpkin pie to bake at home. The basics of pie crust making will be demonstrated and then experienced hands on. One pie will be baked and shared with the participants. The class will be held at the Meshewa kitchen (adjacent to Turner Farm) on November 13th from 9:30AM to noon. The cost is $30 per person. Reservations are needed by November 10th. To reserve your spot, email (turnerfarm@zoomtown.com) or call (513 561-7400). This class is co-sponsored by Turner Farm and Slow Food Cincinnati and will be taught by Sarah Anthony.

Participants should bring their own:
Pie pan (glass or metal will do)
Storage container to take the filling home in
Rolling pin
Mixing bowl
Mixing spoon

Optional:
Pastry cutter
Pastry cloth
Measuring spoons and cups
Sharp knife

Emergency Preparedness: Grow a Little of Your Own Food

An online acquaintance in New Zealand, who runs the Locavore 365 site, wrote to me about the importance of growing a little of your own food as part of your emergency preparedness plan:

I’m not sure if you saw on the news, Christchurch New Zealand, (the city where I live and the birthplace of Locavore365) recently suffered a big earthquake (7.1). My family and I are all well, but it has been very difficult for a lot of other people who lost their homes.

Since the earthquake, we had an interesting experience with our local locavore community and our Locavore365.org website, I though it may be an interesting idea for a blog if you were interested...

The earthquake really changed a lot of peoples attitude to being locavores. We learned how fragile modern food chain systems can be, and how important it is to have a strong local food chain in place. After the quake, many people were without power for up to several days, and clean running water for over a week. Basically people had to live on what food and water they had stored. Supermarkets were initially all closed for a day or two and when they open, they did not take deliveries for some days, so food staples such as bread, milk, bottled water etc were quickly sold out. The day after the quake there were reports of fighting in stores that were selling whatever they had.

Incredibly though, during the week after the quake, we found that visitors to locavore365.org actually increased from the Christchurch area (despite many people being without power even). We believe that people realised that in a disaster you can’t count on complex modern food supply chain systems, the best thing was to find locally produced food.

There were some good stories. We found that some people who had water on at their house added listings to the site for fresh water, this enabled people who didn’t have any to find some. Many people around Christchurch have chickens, chickens kept laying eggs, so many people where adding listings for eggs to swap or sell, eggs are great as you can easily make a fried egg and they don’t require water to cook (even vegetables need washing, and if they water is not clean this is difficult). There were good examples of local food chains springing up that didn’t previously exist; a farmer who had potatoes stacked in large wooden crates ready for delivery to market found that the boxes had fallen down in the quake and were damaged. The farmer advertised their slightly blemished produce (which modern supermarkets would not accept) on Locavore365.org.

Of course it is not much use hoping that when disaster strikes you will luckily find a local food chain system in your own area. Like the day of a power cut everyone realises they should have checked the batteries in the torch beforehand – it’s too late. Developing and strengthening local communities and food produce infrastructure needs to be something that individuals consciously encourage and support in their own areas every day. In this way the local food chain will be in place when you most need it. So get out there support your local farmers, head down to the local farmers market, plant even a few veggies of your own, and get to know your neighbours.

People attitudes have changed from thinking eating locally produced food is “cool/fun/nice” to it being necessary, and the only option during a disaster.

Cheers, Simon.

Will Allen at Xavier Sunday Sept 26

Will Allen, recipient of a MacArthur Genius Award for his activism in demonstrating the connection between obesity and diabetes among urban populations and the lack of access to fresh fruits and vegetables among the urban poor and co-founder of the nonprofit Growing Power, which advocates urban farming, will speak on Growing Power and the Urban Farming Revolution at Cintas Center as part of Xavier University's 2010/2011 Ethics/Religion in Society lecture series.  The event is co-sponsored by the Center for Closing the Health Gap in Greater Cincinnati, the Civic Garden Center and the Central Ohio River Valley Local Foods Initiative.

Sunday September 26
7:00 pm
Cintas Center
Xavier University
Free and Open to the Public
For more information, contact The Center for Closing the Health Gap at 513-585-9872.

Nectar Dinner benefiting Slow Food Cincinnati

Join Slow Food Cincinnati for a private dinner at Nectar in Mt. Lookout on Sunday, October 10th at 6:30PM. Chef/Owner Julie Francis embodies Slow Food ideals year-round, serving local, seasonal, and organic ingredients whenever possible. Dinner will include a fall salad course with wine pairing, a main course with wine pairing, and a dessert course, all served family-style. A vegetarian option will be available.

Tickets, which include three courses with beverages, tax, and gratuity, cost $55 for members or $60 for non-members, and can be purchased online: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/126287.

Members, please contact Krishna at volunteer@slowfoodcincinnati.org to receive your discounted pricing.

Nectar Dinner Club: Green Tomatoes

Nectar in Mount Lookout continues its Dinner Club, which focuses on a single ingredient from a local farmer or artisan food producer, with a dinner featuring green tomatoes from Walnut Ridge Acres.

Menu:

• Green Tomato Soup with Cumin Gouda, Rye Croutons, and Bacon
• Cornmeal Crusted Fried Green Tomatos with Saffron Shrimp and Scallop Remoulade, Corn Sage Sauce
• Green Tomato BLT with Chile Aioli, Fried Farm Egg
• Niman Ranch Pork Shoulder with Summer Bean and Chard Gratin, Green Tomato Relish
• Green Tomato Tart Tatin with Local Plum and Black Walnut Ice Cream

Thursday, September 9 and Thursday, September 16
7:00PM
Nectar Restaurant
1000 Delta Ave
513-929-0525

Kinkead Ridge Vineyard Tour/2008 Red Wine Release

Kinkead Ridge Estate Winery in Ripley, which has produced internationally-recognized wines from their vineyard east of Cincinnati, will open on September 4 and 6 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. for the release of four 2008 red wines (Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Syrah, and Petit Verdot); and will host the annual vineyard tour.  Meet winegrower Ron in the vineyard and taste the grapes on the vine. Maps available to the vineyard at the winery, 904 Hamburg Street. The vineyard is located three miles away at 4288 Kinkead Road. Sorry no restrooms at the vineyard. Dogs on a leash please. Children welcome.

The winery will open on September 11 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; this is the last opening before the winery closes for harvest.

Make a day of it and visit your local southern Ohio wineries! For more information call 937-392-6077 or see www.KinkeadRidge.com

Ed Begley at Farmers' Fair this weekend

Ed Begley, who is keynoting at Farmers' Fair this Saturday, was interviewed by local blogger Amy's Table.

Farm Dinner & Art Celebration : September 25th

Blue Sky Farm and Bethany Kramer are teaming up for a locally inspired night to celebrate food and art. There will be a four-course meal prepared with produce grown organically and sustainably by Blue Sky Farm in Villa Hills, KY. Each serving is paired with its own uniquely designed dish made by local ceramicists Bethany Kramer and Tony Bove. When the meal is finished, the dishes are cleaned, and the same set you ate from, valued at $75, is packed up and ready for you to take home that night. Tickets are $100 with part of the proceeds benefiting Slow Food Cincinnati. The event will be held rain or shine on the evening of September 25th at Sunrock Farm in Wilder, KY. For more information, directions and tickets, please visit: http://www.autumnblossombanquet.com/

Turner Farm & Slow Food Cincinnati Canning Class

Please join Slow Food Cincinnati and Turner Farm in collaboration with Lydia Hirsh to extend the summer bounty through a hands-on tomato canning class. The class will be held at Turner Farm on August 7th from 9:00AM - 1:00PM. We will begin by picking organic tomatoes straight from the vine; we will then peel, dice, process and pack the tomatoes together. You are welcome to tour the farm and bring snacks or a picnic lunch (or a dish to share) to enjoy afterwards while the cans are cooling. The cost of the class is $35. We will provide all necessary equipment along with step by step instructions. You will leave with 3 wide mouth pint jars of chopped tomatoes to enjoy well past the summer season. Turner Farm is located at 7400 Given Road - Cincinnati, Ohio 45243. To sign up, please follow this link: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/121644