Just Peachy

Canning Peaches Aug. 2009

While it is true, local peaches cannot be found in Wisconsin, our good friends Mike and Jan Bauer were kind enough to bring a box of delicious organic peaches back from Colorado and I can now say that I’ve canned peaches.  It’s not too difficult a project, just plan to have about 4 -5 hours of completely dedicated time to get it done properly.  The Betty Crocker cookbook gave all the directions.

Betty Crocker Peach Canning Instructions

Peaches Quartered 2009

I saved a few and added them to fresh salsa – a yummy sweet ingredient.  This is obviously one of our exceptions to our commitment to eating local.  But hey –  my three blueberry bushes produced ZERO fruit this year, I planned, but it didn’t turn out like I planned.

Reeling from last weeks success at canning peaches, I am emboldened to try canning pears tonight.  If I ever stay home on a weekend, I will fire up the dehydrator (when our electricity is a lot cheaper – off peak) and dry some sliced fruit too.

Over the weekend at the Great River Green Gathering, my potluck contributions were all local items.  I prepared a tasty yet simple  patty-pan squash with carmelized onions one night and julienned zuchinni (yellow and green – very pretty!) with a local spaghetti sauce the other night.  My stop at the Trempleau Farmers Market en route to Wyalusing State Park provided many healthy, local treats for the weekend.  Viva les Farmer’s Markets!

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Fresh local watermelon and cantaloupe for breakfast, blueberries and strawberries for lunch.  It’s the best time of year to eat local.  While enjoying the bounties of this season, I’m preparing for the “other” season.  My new dehydrator arrived last week and I’ve yet to get it out of the box.  It weighs about 40 pounds! 

Yesterday I visited the Amery Farmer’s Market and was pleased to recognize several vendors.  The Keppers and DeLynn Toews were there as well as Mary Moore from Moore and More farm.  I got a basket of Mary’s fresh pears and will can them as soon as they are perfectly ripe.  They will be a winter treat.

Our nephew and niece were here this weekend and helped pick blackberries from our woods.  Clare even spotted a tree with tiny little plums!  We are truly blessed.  Here’s Sean picking the last raspberries.

Sean and I got a pint of berries

Local Business Support

In the St. Croix River valley we are so fortunate to have people dedicated to supporting the local food (and economy) movements.  In addition to the great things St. Croix Falls is doing with their Buy Local Initiatives http://www.scfbuylocal.org/ we have the wonderful Cafe Wren in Luck http://www.cafewren.com/  

OnJuly 24th, owners Stephanie Lundeen and Brook Waalen together with local CSA farmer Mike Noreen from Burning River Farm http://www.burningriverfarm.com/ and Gary Ehrich from Smokey Meadows http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M21851 sponsored a dine local picnic with live music.  We ate and drank local which I am finding is my NUMBER ONE problem, that is eating out and getting local foods at the same time. 

If I can get a local meal out once a week, I think I can survive this year.  I also need to mention the new Farm to Community Alliance (FTC) http://www.farmtocommunity.com/ coordinated by Arianne Peterson, the St. Croix Falls Buy Local Initiative VISTA volunteer.  Ari organized a delicious three course, sit down dinner on the new deck overlooking the river at Grecco’s on the St. Croix http://www.greccos.com/on July 15 featuring veggies from Kepper’s Produce (Turtle Lake, WI 715-986-4322).  It too was a taste of what eating local could mean on a regular basis.

The Fat of the Land – Part 3

“The Fat of the Land” – Part 3

“The Wild, Wild West – Berry 2”

While “The Strawberry Saga” (see “The Fat of the Land” – Part 2) was gratifying, we little realized the treasure trove of berries available to us until we started our eat local campaign.

Since our first exploration of our 40 acres a decade ago, we were aware of the wild berries here and there.  And through the years, we would occasionally go out and pick a handful.  But the heat and the bugs were usually enough to limit our foray into the wild berry thickets.  

However, as locavores, we now enjoy a fresh awareness of the wild berry potential on our land and 2009 has been much cooler and less buggy, so we’re spending more time in the bushes.

Wild raspberries - yum

Since we built our house on the eastern side of our property, the woods and the trails are all west of the house.  The farther west we go, the wilder the terrain and the flora and the fauna.  Because of the activity needs of our frisky black lab, Oberon, we take at least daily strolls around our land.  For the last two weeks, we have paused on these adventures to pick wild berries.  Oberon has taken to helping himself of nature’s delights too, see photo of him eating the raspberries. 

Oberon enjoys raspberries after a light rain July 2009

Almost every day we can go out and pick a pint or two of what we think are red raspberries.  We also have noticed some darker, smaller berries ripening.  We think they might be wild blackberries or black raspberries.  And then there’s an enormous number of bushes sporting a larger berry which are still green.  We have no idea what they are.  Anybody out there a wild berry expert?

At any rate, while the berries are small and require a certain amount of time and patience to collect, we’ve enjoyed gathering them and, of course, eating them.  Cindy has also made a batch of jam from them.  We expect to continue collecting for at least a few more weeks.

We also know that we have some wild strawberries growing out of the seams of some traprock.  But there’s not many and they are tiny – about the size of a wart.

Next up on “The Fat of the Land” – “Mapling”

The Strawberry Saga

The Fat of the Land – Part 2

“The Strawberry Saga”

About seven or eight years ago, Cindy decided to try to grow some Everest strawberries.  She put the plants in a self-watering container – about 20” x 30” – and placed the container in our sunspace. 

A word about our sunspace:  Our solar log home is designed as an “envelope system.”  We have two walls on the north and south sides of the building.  On the north the walls are twelve inches apart.  On the south the walls are six feet apart.  This is the “sunspace.”  The gap between the walls extends all the way around the house, so that air can circulate from the basement to the attic and from the north side to the south side.  The main part of the house is inside this “envelope.”  The south side is filled with windows on the main floor and the walkout basement to take advantage of the winter sun. 

As a passive solar system, the sun will pass through the windows on the south side and heat the sunspace – on below zero days, the sunspace will be 75 to 80 degrees with no other source of heat except the sun.  Then the logs of the inside wall will absorb and retain that heat to distribute after the sun goes down.  Of course, the sun doesn’t shine every day so we have back up systems for heat. 

But the point is – we have a year round growing season in our sunspace.  So we had a few strawberries those first few years.  Then in the spring, we’d move the container outside and we’d get a few more berries. 

After a couple of years Cindy decided to move the strawberry plants out into a flower garden she had developed.  They liked it there.  We got a few more strawberries.

As the years went by, the strawberries flourished until that flower garden is now a strawberry patch with a few rogue flowers.  This spring we pulled about five quarts of strawberries out of that patch.  Cindy made some strawberry sauce for later this year to remind us of our spring bounty.

The Fat of the Land

The Fat of the Land

John Steinbeck’s winsome main characters, George and Lenny, from Of Mice and Men, were often inclined to day-dreaming about their future when they would get a little stake together, buy a parcel of property and become independent farmers in the post depression Southwest.

Their conversation would always end up with the mentally challenged Lenny declaring, “. . . and we’d live off the fat ‘a the land. . .”

Since becoming “locavores” we’ve taken an enhanced interest in the abundance we find on our 40 acre parcel near Dresser.  The land was largely undeveloped when we bought it in 1999.  We built a solar/geothermal log home in 2000 and since then, we’ve developed several small garden plots for vegetables and flowers.  And we’ve found numerous other sources that have contributed to our “eat local” quest.

In the next few days, we’ll be recounting some of the ways we’ve learned to “live off the fat ‘a the land.”  Today’s episode is . . .

The Asparagus Project

Several years ago Cindy ordered materials and instructions to construct an asparagus patch.  The materials consisted of 50 crowns of Jersey Supreme asparagus roots and the instructions consisted of a number of back-breaking exercises we undertook with trepidation.

In essence, we were required to take a sun-soaked 15’ x 30’ area, dig deep into the soil (“stop just before you get to China”), plant the 50 crowns, water abundantly, wait until shoots appear and add more soil, fill the furrows when the fern grows through the soil, weed meticulously, fertilize, keep the deer away, watch for asparagus beetles, then wait three years.  This is our third year and we had a decent harvest this spring – probably 20 to 30 servings.

In the process of preparing the asparagus bed, we ran into several problems, not the least of which was the discovery of traprock boulders just below the surface of the ground.  This wasn’t a particular surprise since the topography of our land features large expanses of the beautiful grey/blue basalt rock known locally as traprock.  Apparently the traprock is a result of the volcanos that roamed the land eons ago.  In this area, the traprock is most spectacularly evident on the banks of the St. Croix River.  But it can extend down four miles below the surface. 

Side note:  We became painfully aware of the depth of the rock when we dug our well.  The well-drillers went down 13 feet before they hit traprock.  Then 380 feet later they declared our well was finished.  Since there are faults and seams in the traprock, water seeps into our well and we have what is essentially a 600 gallon reservoir when it fills – which it does slowly but surely.  By the way, the water is delicious.  Must be the filtering effect of the traprock.

Back to the asparagus patch.  After working around the traprock boulders, we eventually tilled the soil to a depth of one foot, laid down the plants and then built a little fence around the patch to discourage the varmints.

The actual maintenance of the patch is relatively simple – control the weeds with mulch and provide water when nature refuses to.

One interesting note:  During the peak of the spring harvesting season, I went into the patch and picked every spear that was 8” or longer.  Thirty-six hours later, I went back and found some spears which were almost 20” long – 12” of growth in 36 hours.

 

Next episode on “The Fat of the Land” – “The Strawberry Saga”

Setting the Parameters

Setting the parameters

Once we committed to eating local for a year, we were faced with some decisions regarding the parameters of what we would consider “local.”

The first question centered around distance. How will we limit the distance the food travels before it reaches our table. We considered a radius of 100 miles would be appropriate for most of our major food items. We decided to expand it to the five state area for some more difficult to obtain items.

When making this decision, another question arose: With regard to processed food, will we insist that the ingredients be local as well. Many foods which are processed locally obtain their ingredients from farther away. For instance, locally produced bread products may get their raw grain from other states. We decided that we would make the effort to insure that the processed foods we chose would have locally grown ingredients.

The next parameter we dealt with concerned percentages. It would be extremely difficult to insist that all of the food we consumed be produced locally. Some of the food items we’re used to consuming simply are not available locally, Salt, coffee, chocolate. A more practical approach would be to set a percentage. We determined that we would try to insist that 80% of our food would come to us locally.

It should be noted that those who have adopted a more restrictive limitation – in other words, having 100% of their food produced locally – end up discovering exactly what gaps exist in their local production process. That way they can facilitate a way to fill those gaps. Obviously this has long range benefits for the local scene.

Getting back to the percentage idea, we discovered that setting the 80% rule wasn’t the end of our discussion. We needed to address how the percentage would be calculated. Would it be 80% of the food we consumed by volume or by weight or would it be 80% of our food budget would be spent on local food, or would it be that 80% of our meals would be totally local. We decided to use the cost of food concept.

Where does the time go?

It’s been three and a half months since we started this eat local diet and it’s going really well, except one thing… I have to spend a lot of time in the kitchen.Realigning my cooking and preparation habits has been a challenge. Our springs in western Wisconsin are so treasured with so much to do, being in the kitchen hasn’t always ranked very high!  More and more I’m preparing double or triple the recipes so that we can defrost a meal in a jiffy. It saves time, energy and headaches deciding what to make for meals. We’ve also made a practice of preparing pizza for dinner on Fridays a la Barbara Kingsolver, such a great idea after a busy week at work.

Since my last post, I’ve had the exciting experience of eating homemade pizza with homemade mozerella cheese – and we liked it! I’ve also experimented with asparagus dishes, rhubarb crisps and cakes and ate our first home grown strawberries today. They are so sweet, mmmm. Thank goodness for fresh eggs and milk and cheese from Crystal Ball Farms a few miles away, and Community Homestead’s breads, meats and gluten free/dairy free muffins. I cannot tell they have no gluten, they’re awesome.

At dinner tonight I was describing our diet and the moral complexities involved with balancing the desire for organic foods, local foods and foods I enjoy. For the diet to work, I need to feel that it is not a “nerve-wracking test of my personal belief system” with every bite I take.

We’re into the green season, so the diet should be easier.  I need to gear up for serious food storage and want to get a dehydrator.

Chocolate Melt Down

Yesterday was a diet buster. We ate with 23 members of our family and only our dish was “local”. Our solution to family potlucks is to just eat and not complain. We’re slowly telling everyone about our new diet, but we would never put hosts to extra effort because of our decision to eat local. Okay, in reality, the M&Ms tasted kind of good, for old times sake.

So far we canned two gallons of maple syrup right here from our sugar maples, it’s super sweet and satisfying! Bill’s been the guy at the fire, boiling it off and keeping track of water content. We think two gallons will take the two of us through until next spring….

I had a dream in which I came across a bed of chanterelle mushrooms. I don’t even know if they grow around here, but I’m looking forward to searching for them. I attended a Mushroom workshop last year at WI Interstate Park by Leslie Jo Meyerhoff and am pleased to hear that she is coming back to Interstate on Aug. 29, Sept. 26 and Oct. 10 to present her Edible Mushroom Workshop. It’s a fascinating hour and a half and the classroom addition at the Park may be finished by then, so the space will be new too.

Last week I had lunch with Julie and Ari at Indian Creek Winery and Grill in St. Croix Falls.  They served a yummy (and local!)  pulled elk sandwich with barbecue sauce.  We discussed many local food options including a cheesemaking class they had attended.  Their support in this year-long challenge is essential.  Several local things we’re looking for are;  grains for bread, any local lemon or olive trees and a cranberry connection.

We are so blessed to have many local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farms in the area.  Some offer veggies, fruits, flowers, meat and eggs.  Joining a CSA is a great way to get to know where your food comes from, meet farmers, and be introduced to exciting new veggies.  A complete list can be found at the St. Croix Falls  Buy Local website http://www.scfbuylocal.org/findinglocalfood.htm

We’re getting the hang of this new diet.  Truthfully, we’ve had a fair bit of foods to “clean up” that aren’t really local.  We ate our last bananas this weekend and finished several open packages of “exotic” (read forbidden) foods.  Although we are saving a small space for edibles we cannot get locally, over the past five days, we’ve eaten about 50% local.  Our goal is to eat 80% local, so there’s a bit of a gap yet.

We’re picking up local potatoes, onions, and frozen corn and broccoli this afternoon from our good friend Nadine, who has extras to share from last season.

Wonderful news:  yesterday we canned 1.5 gallons of our own maple syrup.  This is the first year we tapped our trees and it actually tastes pretty darned good!  Bill did the lion’s share of the work on the project, being a marvelous fire-tender and all.  Now we can use the syrup for sweetener around here.

Mike Bauer will be ordering mushroom spawn to replace the plugs we lost to hungry critters last spring.   We’ll re-plug the spawn into the drilled mushroom logs and find a safer place for them to rest outside.  I forget how long we have to wait before forcing the mushrooms, but when we do, we’ll have plenty of yummy home-grown shiitakes.  Mike says the Wisconsin mushroom spawn is the best.