Trying To Be A Locavore

Turnips

2011-11-06T11:35:00.001-08:00

My coworker brought me some turnips that her husband had grown. Aren't they beautiful? I told her they were and she looked at me strangely, but there is nothing as beautiful as produce. :-) She also brought me some small bell peppers and a couple banana peppers. My feller brought me the other banana peppers from a friend's garden. I roasted up a turnip and some peppers last night and they were delicious.

Vacation Goodies

2011-11-06T11:31:00.000-08:00

I normally get my eggs from my parents who free range their chickens. The yolks are always so rich and nearly orange they are just amazing. Unfortunately they were gone for two weeks for vacation and I didn't get any eggs from them. I bought a carton of organic, free ranged eggs from the grocery store. They were so pale and bland, ick. It's going to be really hard eating them.

The good thing about my parents going on vacation is that they always go to the same place and they ALWAYS hit up some amazing farmer's and fish markets on their way back. They brought me back a spaghetti squash, three small butternut squash, some tiny plums, local honey(!), and brussel sprouts from the farmer's markets. They also got me a tube of fish sausage (love that stuff) and locally made colby cheese from a fish market. Love goodies.

Walnuts

2011-10-25T07:43:00.000-07:00

This year my mom suggested I pick up some walnuts from her good friend's yard. After church on a Sunday we headed over to her house and filled up a Lowe's bag with walnuts. I'd never shelled walnuts before and wasn't quite sure how difficult it would be, especially from the viewpoint of I would be doing this from an apartment, so I only gathered one bag. They are curing on my boyfriend's porch and I can't wait to get into them. Getting the outer part of the walnut (the hull, I assume) off was not too difficult, I suspect the inner part will be more difficult.

I eat a lot of nuts and feel badly over doing so. I love peanuts, almonds, and cashews. Next year I think I will definitely gather more walnuts as I got the tail end of the nuts dropping this year, and most were wormy. It will be nice to replace the almonds and cashews with something local and free.

Who's A Bad Locavore?

2011-08-31T11:51:00.000-07:00

I'm a bad locavore.

It's amazing how naive I was about the whole thing. I thought it would be so easy. And it should be. Years ago it was easier to get a tomato from your neighbor. Now it is easier (and cheaper) to get a tomato from Mexico! Aside from vegetables, dairy and meat is really hard to procure, as well as grains. I've eliminated all meat, that isn't hunted or wild-caught fish, from my diet anyway, so that's not an issue anymore. But I just focus on organic everything else, when I can afford it and when it's available.

I haven't been to the farmer's market once this year. My parents had a garden so I've been getting stuff from that and from people who stop in my work and bring the extras from their garden. I love it when that happens. Obviously I haven't been able to can or freeze anything.

I am lucky in that my county's main grocery store sources produce whenever possible from VA, which is obviously close to Kentucky. Isn't it funny how poorer countries can support themselves food wise, and yet we can't?

One of these days I'll be fortunate enough have my own land and be more self-sufficient. Right now, however, I am stuck with what I can get. Less than perfect, less than ideal. What other choice is there?

Ketchup Chronicles

2010-10-17T09:56:00.000-07:00

My feller was gifted a bunch of tomatoes. So what does one do with a bunch of gifted tomatoes? You make ketchup of course. It was fun. It was hard. It was perplexing. I had a package of ketchup mix (I'm not a complete masochist), so I really just had to cut up tomatoes, cook them down, and mix all that together. What was so difficult about that? My range is about two by two foot. I have one of those miniature stoves.

It can't hold my regular water bath canner, it takes up one whole burner and touches the others. So, I had to improvise and use a big pot. Which meant that I then needed something to line the bottom of the pot. Which meant I used a white towel that hadn't gotten all the laundry detergent out of it when it was washed. Which meant I had bubbles spewing from my pot for about twenty minutes. And I had to sterilize my jars in the oven because I didn't have a pot big enough for them, or a burner big enough for a big pot, or a stove big enough to fit four pots. Nor did I have a food mill to make getting the juice out easy. Which meant pushing a ladleful at a time of tomato mash through a tiny wire strainer. I perservered though, and after about ten calls to my mother throughout the entire process, I ended up with four and a half pints of very tasty ketchup.

There was another bag of these.

I love cutting things up.

I always realize how dirty my house is when I take pictures. This wall has since been scrubbed. Ahem.

This took a LONG time.

I wondered if I took this picture to Lowe's or Home Depot, if they could mix up paint to match that color. I love it.

Running out of space.

Jars in the stove.

Bubble, ketchup, bubble.

Blue Moon Garlic

2010-10-17T09:19:00.000-07:00

I did recieve my garlic from Blue Moon. I made a mistake when I ordered a pound, I should have ordered two! It is seriously amazing. Worth every penny. I hope I NEVER have to buy garlic from the store again. Actually, I don't know that I would now that I know how awesome garlic from "real people" is. It was seriously like eating the first grocery store tomato after eating two month's worth of REAL tomatoes. One of those epiphany moments. I think I WILL now wait for Blue Moon Garlic like I wait for the first ripe tomato of the season.

I think there was more than a pound here, but I'm not complaining. :) This was what was sent to me (minus four heads, yum).

The cloves are very large. Supermarket garlic I was buying was about half that size.

AND, in case you hadn't noticed, it's fall. :)

The End of A Season

2010-10-17T08:29:00.000-07:00

Roasted Farmer's Market Eggplant and Tomato Panini, YUM

It's been a long time. Stuff has been going on: new (a month early) addition to the family, an ill family member, late spring cleaning, poor budgeting, and other things. Therefore, the farmer's market was a disaster this year. I had major plans in the way of stocking up and preservation but it all fell to the wayside. Meaning I only ended up with a few things stored.

I do have enough green bell pepper to get me through until next year. I have three quart bags, is that a lot? No. But I don't eat peppers much, so it's plenty.

Corn. Only five quart bags. Due to lack of availibility at the farmer's market and price, thats all I could manage. For some bizarre reason every vendor at the market has to charge the same price for same items. No one is allowed to have corn even a quarter cheaper on the dozen than anyone else (even though obviously some people's corn is higher quality). The price agreed upon after the initial five dollars a dozen was four dollars a dozen. I am not in such a bad position to where I couldn't buy a little more corn than I did at that price and store it, but my frugal-ness won out. There was no way I could buy corn as zealously as I did last year. Of course that doesn't mean I will be buying any from the store. I have a good canned stockpile that I need to get through, but I'll just need to wait until next year's market to buy corn again.

I meant also to buy plenty of green beans to can. $3.50 a pound? Nope.
Didn't can tomatoes either (except for ketchup, 4 and a half pints), but that wasn't due to price, merely laziness. Yeah, you heard me.

Those were the three main things I wanted to buy up but didn't. I don't know why the market was so different this year. From all accounts it was a GREAT GARDENING year, but everything was double the price of last year. Add in my infrequent patronage this summer and the little amount of time (July 1 to the second week of September), you have a recipe for a food preservation disaster. There wasn't even any winter squash this year. Last year, butternut's were 50 cents a piece!

I guess I could complain more about money, length of the market, lack of availability, and my splotchy attendance but my real problem is being naive. I wanted everything to come together super easily so I could say BAM!, no more grocery story produce at least for a year! But it's not that simple. And not attainable in a town where a farmer's market is not an absolute necessity. And I can't just live off of green beans and corn, there's got to be variety, which is a little lacking.

I live in a pretty much rural county, nearly everyone you talk to has their own garden. Our main grocery store has a pretty good produce department, and you can get much there that you can't at the market like broccoli and brussel sprouts and carrots. It seems the farmer's market is a luxury, and it really is, here. Not many people seem to go there with the aim of preseriving or buying a year's worth of food in three months, but rather as a change, a chance to buy super fresh from people they know. There is nothing wrong with that, of course.

I am not slamming the farmer's market, by the way. I am extremely grateful for it.

I am very disappointed in the way it worked out this year, but I can do better. I can buy organic at the grocery store. And a lot of the produce at my grocery store comes from Tennessee. It's not Kentucky, but it's better than California or South America. I still will buy fruit, because we all need fruit in our diet. I'll just concentrate on CLOSER and limit certain items like banana's, kiwi's, and pineapples. I've not been eating much meat lately which means I've spared a few animals, my health, and the environment the effects of shoddy factory farming. And due to a sudden influx of cash and finally getting through my flour stockpile, I can now order flour from Weisenberger.

And I will remind myself that change does not happen overnight or in two growing seasons, no matter how much we want it to. And it wasn't all disappointing as is evidenced below:

A really good thing about the market? "You can have this cantaloupe for a dollar, its a got a bad spot in it." Normally it was $2.50.

Tomato tart: O, how I adored thee!

Yeah, it was as good as it looks, I remember.

A Day At The Bakery

2010-07-31T15:47:00.000-07:00

Spent all day baking so I could use up my flour. I made buns/rolls whatever you want to call them. And a loaf of wheat bread with my local molasses. I can now order flour from Weisenberger. wee.

I think the molasses gave it a beautiful color.

Doubled bun dough.

The best thing about making bread: punching the dough down. The poof of yeasty air. Yum.

Happiness.

Supper was tomato "pizzas" with roasted garlic. I need to start making my own tortillas, for sure. And cheese. But I think cheese is a little too ambitious for me right now. One day, though. Also on my list, my own brown sugar, since I can get local molasses. I know the white sugar still comes from far away BUT, at least I won't be buying two different sugars.

FM and Supper

2010-07-27T16:59:00.000-07:00

I made it to the Farmer's Market on time today. Got lots of yummy stuff.

Cantaloupe-$2
Watermelon-$5
Gold (Yellow?) Raspberries-$4
5 Red Tomatoes-$4
6 Yellow Tomatoes-$4
Yellow Cherry Tomatoes-$3
2 (Giant) Zucchini-$1
2 Summer Squash-$1
5 Cucumbers-$1
2 Green Bell Peppers-$1
Total-$26

I also put in my order for that pound of local garlic. I'll get it sometime Mid-August.

These zucchini are monstrous.

I forget what this variety is called. But isn't it pretty?

The picture obviously doesn't do the color justice.

Tomatoes!

And for supper:

Tomato sandwich and

fried zucchini.

I also had cole slaw made from FM cabbage but didn't take a picture of that. Tomorrow I make zucchini bread with the monster zucchini and my nephew, can't wait.

Disappointment

2010-07-23T14:31:00.000-07:00

I had to stay after work late yesterday because of a malfunction so I missed the first hour of the Farmer's Market. By the time I got there only two sellers were left. They'd sold out of corn already, ripe tomatoes, and beans. So I only got six zucchini (I'll have to cut the skins of the light skinned variety, they're bruised and scratched from being on the bottom), two bell peppers, new potatoes, and two eggplants. I asked the lady I usually by from how much the zucchini was, and she said, "Two for a dollar, but for you, three for a dollar." Haha, yippee.

I was talking today to someone who comes into work regularly about my disappointment yesterday and about how I don't have the first thing canned yet. He told me he always plants more cucumbers than he needed and stopped harvesting after he and his wife had enough pickles and gave the rest away. He invited me up to "pick as many as you want, for free." I told him I couldn't take them for free and he said if he wanted to sell his vegetables he'd sell them. So, I'm thinking if I do go I'll bake him a pie or something. Anyway, I'm jazzed about that. Cucumbers for 25 cents a piece really adds up when you're pickling.

Local Loyd Loot

2010-07-20T16:01:00.000-07:00

I hit Save-A-Lot after work yesterday for some more of that great honey I got awhile ago. I bought a jar of it, molasses, and Loyd Roe's BBQ sauce. I'm happy. I intend to make some splendid bread with that 45-mile away molasses. The honey is so great, too, I can hardly walk by the jar without getting a little dip of the goodness. I've not tried the BBQ sauce yet. I'll wait until I cook with it since there are no preservatives and I don't want it to go bad.

I've not made it back to the farmer's market yet. It's open Tuesdays and Thursdays, so this Thursday I will buy an oodle of corn to freeze. I'll wait for cucumbers and tomatoes when I can make it to the parents' to can. There is an Amish farm in my parents' county so we could hit that too for cannables.

I found a great farm about 117 miles away that sells garlic. I definitely want some of their garlic. It gets repeated rousing endorsements from Savoring Kentucky. The hitch? $14 a pound and $9 shipping. About 15 heads a pound for California Early. Wow. Of course, it's a small price to pay for local and better tasting than the last garlic I bought from CA that wasn't that great. I'll buy it though, I'm sure. I can pickle some of it, eat the rest, and do without garlic until next year. I hope.

I'm thinking of hitting the Lexington Farmer's Market, which has some awesome stuff and vendors. More diverse foods than I can get from here. And of course, I could get the garlic I want from there. But it is a longish and (overnight) trip, so I don't know. But I'm dying to go.

I'm still working through all my old flour so I can get some Weisenberger flour. I hope to bake a lot this weekend to use it up.

First Farmer's Market of 2010

2010-07-14T14:37:00.000-07:00

The farmer's market finally opened July 1. I didn't know and I missed last week because I was on vacation, but I made it yesterday in the pouring rain. The extension office built a nice shelter for the sellers. I'll get a picture next time. All three people I bought from last year were there. They remembered me, which was nice.

I bought (for fresh eating, not preserving):
Eight cucumbers- $2.00
Cabbage- $1.00
Dozen of supersweet corn- $4.00
Cherry Tomatoes- $3.00
Two Eggplants- $1.00
Three Bellpeppers- $1.00

I'm sure I'll get more tomorrow. I need to dig out my giant cloth market bags they gave out last year. It's time to pickle and freeze! I can't wait, I'm planning a canning weekend at my parent's house. My stove doesn't hold my waterbath canner as it's a small stove and I smooshed by feller's burner last year with it. But Mom has a gas stove with a grate thing that holds it quite well.

My mom went to the Amish bulk store a few days ago with her friend and brought me dehydrated soybeans, steel cut oats, and wheat berries. Yippy skippy! I don't know the point of origin, but hopefully it's nearby.

Also, I got the last tomatoes from my Aerogarden awhile ago. The red cherry plants never produced. I ended up with eight from the yellow cherry plant before it pooped out. I'll definitely try again, I wasn't good at the pruning and such, but now I know how it works.

Foraged Blackberries

2010-07-14T14:05:00.000-07:00

I've been eyeing the blackberry bushes on the hill behind where I work for quite a while now. I picked a bunch July 3 before I went on vacation. I ended up with two gallon freezer bags full. I could have gotten more but I didn't need more and there are plenty left for the birds. I'm not a jam person but my mom and I will make some, seedless (for me), because I hate seeds. :)

There were bushes all over the hill.

Found one!

Purty.

Found a hummingbird nest in the bushes.

Lotsa berries.

Had a fun vacation camping and fishing.

:)

Buns and Mayo

2010-05-22T16:35:00.000-07:00

I decided earlier this week I was going to make wheat buns this weekend because I found some mini portobello's on sale at the grocery. (Very unlocal, California, of course, but it least it was from the states.) I haven't had a chance to order flour from that place I found yet. I bought some wheat flour at the store, got it home, and noticed that it expired January 2010. *eye roll* I brought it back to exchange and the manager actually asked me what wheat flour was used for. I told her bread. She said, "You make your own bread??" I told her it was a work in progress. She asked what I else I made and I told her I made butter and she looked at me like I was from Mars or something. Anyway, they didn't have any wheat flour that wasn't expired so I picked up another five pound bag of all-purpose white.

It's very satisfying to watch dough go from small to big in just a little amount of time.

Some were big, some small. haha.

When I was in high school we ate at this little cafe in a book store on a weekend trip. I had a portobello sandwich there with this spectacular rosemary mayo. I already knew I wanted to make mayo this weekend to go with it and mix in some rosemary that Mom bought me while she and Dad went on a trout fishing trip earlier this month.

I have a tendency to procrastinate but I said I'd participate in a challenge at another blog. J. over at 365 dollar year challenged us to make something completely from scratch that we'd never made before for under $5. And thus, I made buns and mayo!

Next time I'll make some adjustments, olive oil instead of vegetable, less salt, and white wine vinegar instead of plain white.

The portobello- I had roasted a head of garlic earlier in the week so I smeared two cloves each into the spaces left from the gills I scraped out. Then I drizzled in a little olive oil, baked for 10 mins at 350 degrees, took them out and put swiss cheese into the caps and put them back in the oven for ten mins. I practically melted at the first bite of homemade bun, mayo, and snazzy portobello.

It was a fun day.

Edit: Mayo Recipe

I used a recipe from the Joy of Cooking.

Yield: 1 cup. (Unless you are going to use a lot, halve this recipe. It makes alot and you have to eat it within two days.)

2 egg yolks room temp.
1 or 2 tbls lemon juice or white wine vinegar
1/4 tsp salt
pinch of pepper

Whisk all the above ingredients until smooth. Add by drops 1 cup vegetable oil (I will use olive oil next time, I didn't want to waste it in case it didn't work) until it starts to thicken and stiffen. Once about 1/3 of the oil has been added start adding a little more oil, making sure to completely combine the oil and yolks before adding more. If the oil stops absorbing stop adding and whisk until completely blended. Add up to 1 1/2 teaspoons dijon or regular mustard and salt and pepper to taste. Add as much or little rosemary as you want, I ran my knife through it for more flavor. I used dried so of course fresh would be a lot better.

Be ready to whisk like mad. I whisked for almost twenty minutes. You can use a food processor or blender but I have neither. I'm going to try using my hand mixer next time.

Strawberries and Honey

2010-05-22T15:57:00.000-07:00

Every year the lady I work with grows a big garden. And every year she sells some strawberries. Yummy! So, I bought four pints/quarts, I'm not really sure what they were. $2.25 a piece. The boyfriend and I ate a bunch and I froze the rest. I was able to freeze a gallon bag full. I usually don't eat alot of fruit and I don't eat much jam or jelly so preserving them that way was out.

It was nice to cut them up and not see white inside like the insipid store bought variety.

You'd never see a strawberry like this from the store. It's not "perfect", but it was tasty.

I usually don't buy honey. I actually haven't in years. But last week I was searching for a natural remedy to heartburn so I don't have to pop heartburn pills every day. I found out that apple cider vinegar works. I was skeptical at first but I went ahead and bought some. The website I found said that mixing it with honey makes it more palatable, because who wants to swallow vinegary water, right? So, I headed to the jelly/jam aisle for honey. And, talk about surprise, they had local honey! From only 54 miles away according to yahoo! maps. Very big surprise. I bought some of it and it was awesome.

I called the guy who makes it and told him how great I thought it was. He also makes molasses and barbecue sauce and he said he dropped it off to another grocery store in my town. I'll be buying some molasses for breads and such which is great. I might buy the barbecue sauce. When the boyfriend eats with me he eats a lot of barbecue sauce on some things so I'll think I'll get that so we can try it out. (And yes, the vinegar totally helps my heartburn, a week and I've only had to take two pills.)

As far as my plants go: major failure. A combo of not enough light, nutrients (forgot to some organic food), then I put them out on the porch one Saturday, forgot about them, and they burned up. :*( My mom had bought me some beet and radish seeds and I planted those and they succumbed to sun as well. Then, one of the tomato plants was hanging on but while they were outside a bug laid eggs in them or something like that. Two days after I brought them in my containers were CRAWLING with thousands of gnats. I couldn't leave them on the porch because that is not allowed here and I can't keep a gnat house in my apartment, so bye-bye plants. Really broke my heart, you have no idea.

But I did harvest my first tomato from my Aerogarden. So far I've harvested three and two are waiting to be eaten.

They are slightly smaller than a beer lid.

Making Butter

2010-05-12T14:08:00.000-07:00

I decided earlier this week to try and make butter. I'm notorious for messing up anything food related soo, I was a little apprehensive. But it worked out! I bought a half-pint of heavy whipping cream yesterday. Next time I'll buy organic but I didn't want to waste money on organic cream when I didn't know if I would be successful or not.

I couldn't find a lid for my jar that I had used, so I stole the lid from a jar of dill spears I made last summer that I had in the fridge.

Pouring!

I read that the shaking took a while, so I settled in on the couch while watching Desperate Housewives. I was focused on the TV and within four minutes the jar felt different; it was no longer sloshing but thudding. I looked and my jaw dropped.

Then I strained through a cheesecloth lined strainer.

And after rinsing with my straight from the fridge filtered tapwater, I have butter! On the left in my glass is the buttermilk. I didn't save it. It wasn't enough to bake with and I don't like it straight. If my mom were here, I'd give it to her. She loves it.

Mom bought me a gallon of organic milk yesterday. It was my first ever. It makes me happy. :) I don't have a local milk source, so this is the best I am going to get. (Pretend my fridge isn't gross.)

After making the butter, I feel more self sufficient already. I love it.

Horticultural Updation

2010-04-20T14:57:00.000-07:00

Not doing too good with the local thing right now. Until farmer's market opens or my veggies start to fruit, I really don't have much option when it comes to vegetables. I still haven't run out of grocery store meat or flour so I haven't bought any of that from the local people I found. I still have a bunch of canned crap in my cupboard, too.. I really need to get through it. I have like four cans of corn, but seriously, canned industrial corn after fresh farmer's market corn; ugh, it's difficult to eat. I hate wasting food, so I'm going to have to choke down all the canned fruit and vegetables.
The boyfriend and I went fishing Saturday, but didn't catch anything big enough to eat. I got some asparagus from Mom and Dad Saturday. My Dad came down to work today and a bunch of asparagus hitched a ride right to me. :) That's supper tonight.
I finish with plants two weeks after being planted. Only my yellow cherry tomatoes are flowering and fruiting which is annoying, hopefully soon my red ones will follow. The yellow sprouted first, so I'm just hoping it matures earlier and the red will still flower.

Supper. YUM.

I need to do some serious pruning.

Cluster of four. There is also a tiny one, but it doesn't seem to be growing any.

The biggest tomato.

My tomato sprouts.

Lettuce and Bok Choi. I think I planted them too close. But I can always harvest early. In my apartment I'm not supposed to have anything on the windowsills. This one is in my kitchen, blocked from view by my banister, so hopefully the Gestapo won't notice...

My eggplant sprout. And something else is growing in there, too. I have no idea what it is. It's not a stray eggplant or tomato because their stems aren't red. I bought a premixed bag of dirt stuff, so maybe something got in there? I don't know. It's wierd. I'm going to let it grow and see what happens.
I guess eventually I should get some mulch or something to go on top of the eggplant and tomato. I work at a sawmill so maybe I can get some bark that isn't to dirty. We'll see.

Day of Horticulture

2010-04-06T15:50:00.001-07:00

Made a stop at Lowe's on my way home from work. Here are the fruits of that labor:

Little gem lettuce and toy bok choi are in this one.

A tomato made just for containers is in the green one and mini eggplant is in the garbage can.

I don't know how well any of this will grow, but.... I hope it will. haha.

Also, I had a pleasant surprise when I trimmed up my Aerogarden. Tomatoes!!!

Those are my yellow cherry tomatoes. The red haven't started to bloom yet. I'm excited. Yay!

Milled Items and Supper

2010-03-31T15:01:00.000-07:00

I was fortunate enough to stumble upon a flour mill here in Kentucky. It's only 127 miles away!!! They use Kentucky grains and corn for most of their products. They are also very affordable. I emailed them about their products to make sure it was Kentucky milled and the grains and stuff come from Kentucky. A nice man emailed me back and said if I told him specifically what things I was interested in he could verify their point of origin for me. Also a plus: no preservatives. I emailed him an itemized list of what I was interested in. S/R flour, wheat flour, yellow corn meal, grits, fish fry mix, and corn muffin mix. I'm so excited, I never thought I would find such a place, especially on the internet. The website: www.weisenberger.com

I wanted to use up the hamburger from who-knows-where and from who-knows-how-many-cows I had left in the freezer, so I decided to make meatloaf. I didn't have enough so that I would have leftovers so I added in a half pound of ground venison. For my binder I used a mom and dad egg from the hen Harriet. Which Harriet I don't know as the five hens are all Harriet, lovely Rhode Island Reds. Also on the menu is farmer's market corn from last year. Unfortunately, I'm having mashed potatoes from Idaho with turnips, onions from Georgia in the meatloaf, and Velveeta shells and cheese that could have come from a thousand places. *hangs head in shame* I can't seem to break my boyfriend from the Mac 'n' Cheese habit. I'll have to come up with a better substitute. Maybe local Mennonite noodles and cheese of some sort for $10 a lb, no doubt. But what about butter and milk?

Tomorrow for snacks: venison summer sausage. I got it out of the freezer. It was given to me by the man who recommended the meat place I will more than likely buy meat from. It was his deer and he took it there to get it processed, which turned into a lovely summer sausage.

Lookin' Up

2010-03-30T14:39:00.000-07:00

So I came home and had seven phone numbers for local butcher shops and places that sell meat. I got these numbers from 411.com.

The first I called just processed meat for private buyers, BUT he gave me a number of a local farmer who sells his beef. No answer when I called him.
Second place sells their meat from a meat plant in Cincinnati. Not what I was looking for.
Third place was almost perfect, I'll save that for last.
Fourth and sixth place had no idea where their meat came from.
Fifth place said they get it from North Carolina, Tennesse, and Indiana. I said, "Anything from Kentucky?" "Nope." Yeah, crossed that off my list.
Seventh place was a wrong number.
Might I add that everyone seemed put off by my questions except number three.

Okay the third place. Weeee. I heard about this place from someone who visits my work. It's about twenty or thirty minutes away. He has deer processed there and turned into summer sausage and snack sticks, stuff like that. So, I asked him where his meat came from, and he said, "Our farm, other Kentucky farms, and some from Virginia." So I was like, wow, is any of it pasture fed. "He said unfortunately not, its grain fed. By the way, who I am talking to?" I told him who I was and how I'd heard about him. I told him I was trying my best to keep my food money within 100 miles at best, but if not that than at least within Kentucky. He really let go, he wasn't suspicious(?) anymore. He told me about his meats and that they make their own sausage there. I didn't get to ask him really anything beyond beef. But he was just really enthusiastic and seemed super proud of his business and what he was doing. He said, "We don't even smell like a butcher shop. All the processing is done here but you won't see anything gross. We're really clean, I mean, my family eats this meat." Not like, "Blah, this is my job for some reason." He said he'd really like me to come and talk to him further about his food and he guaranteed I'd love it. I definitely think I'll be visiting him.

I'd really prefer pasture fed or at least forage finished stuff, but I don't think I'm going to get that at a price I can afford within a hundred miles. At least its super local, right? I don't feel quite so depressed about the meat situation now. haha.

Meat Woes

2010-03-30T07:31:00.000-07:00

:If I don't specify, assume I am talking about beef:

I've wanted to do the local pastured meat thing for awhile. It seems so much better for everyone involved: farmer, animal, consumer, earth. Around here it is a problem though. We have two local butchers with meat shops. I've tried to call both today to find out the source of the meat and hopefully what the meat eats, but everytime I dial the other line rings or someone comes in (I'm at work).

I can't find any super close local farms that offer pasture fed beef. The closest I can find is 200 miles away. I could get forty pounds of assorted cuts of beef for $270. Twenty pounds of that is ground. That is $6.75 a lb. There are like four steaks that come in that package. But that is more than one pay check for me. I think the boyfriend and I would be able to live off that for a year... I think. I really should have started tracking our meat consumption to figure everything out better.

I also need to figure out what to do about chicken. We eat alot of chicken breast (boneless skinless) and tenders, which is totally irresponsible. I know a guy from work who raises chickens. He has close to a hundred at any given time. He used to bring us eggs, but once he described his chicken house I wasn't too crazy about them; I might as well be eating industrial eggs. He also offered up a few for slaughter, but eh. The chickens never go outside, they eat a steady diet of just chicken feed. They never have a chance to forage. So: unethical, unhealthy, no way. My parents have six chickens for eggs. They are in a big open pen with laying boxes and a space covered up for roosting at night. They get chicken feed too, but they also get to go outside the pen when the weather is fitting. Mom and Dad also bring them weeds and bugs (when they run across them), leftover vegetables and fruit, and leftover worms from fishing. Still not ideal but alot better than the former chicken option. So I get a dozen of eggs from Mom and Dad about every other week. It's nice to see those speckled, pooped-on, misshapen eggs as compared to something from the store. But, still no chicken meat. *sigh*

Pork is another problem. By word of mouth I heard of a man who sells two pigs by halves once a year for a reasonable price. I mentioned it to a few people here at work and one said he bought a half from him last year. He said the meat was spongey and had an off texture, he said they couldn't eat it because it was so bad. He visited the farmer and found out the farmer fed his pigs dog food. Dog food! So, needless to say, I won't be buying from that guy.

My dad is a taxidermist so he gets a lot deer in in the fall. Alot of people don't eat what they kill (irresponsible) and they just give the whole deer to my dad. Dad will butcher the deer and save the meat for him and Mom. I get some. Enough that I can have venison about three times a month. So, thats responsible eating. I also squirrel hunt. Right now I only have two squirrels in the freezer, but in September when squirrel season opens, I'm going to stock up on squirrel. My boyfriend and I fish quite a bit, so there is fish!

So right now I still don't know what I am going to do about the meat thing. I won't give it up, I will cut back. Now if I could just get in contact with these meat places. I emailed the guy who is in charge of our farmer's market, he was supposed to put me in touch with some local farmers he said forage-finish their beef. I haven't heard back from him.

In The Beginning-Vegetables

2010-03-24T10:24:00.000-07:00

I've always had a love of gardening. When I was young my family (Mom, Dad, and brother) lived on a lovely twenty-some acre farm. Mom and Dad always raised their own cows, rabbits, and chickens for meat and eggs, their own garden as well. Then unfortunately when I was five we had to move as Dad was transferred. Bye bye fertile soil, hello three acres of pretty much ungardenable land. They grew green beans, strawberries, and broccoli for a few years, not enough to can and put back but enough for a treat a few times a week. Then we needed the land to transform into other things, so there went food. :/

I always wanted to grow things and loved doing it. As an eight year old, the last year we grew anything, I relished dropping green beans into the rows that Daddy had created. And then the harvest, sitting on our back deck, all of us with bowls between our legs snapping beans and talking.

I didn't get a chance to grow anything until I was in high school. I somehow got a Burpee seed catalog in the mail and ordered three different varieties of tomatoes to grow, corn, lettuce, carrots, and herbs galore. I begged and begged and Dad created a little planter box thing around the deck so I would have room to grow tomatoes. Which I did: Yellow Pear, Sweet Million, and some kind of hybrid that Mom would make fried green tomatoes from. I bought a bunch of faux terra cotta planters for my herbs and mesclun mix. The tomatoes were what thrived. Gosh, I loved them. Their color, the plant smell (yes, I actually love that), how they grew. I would take pictures upon pictures of my tomatoes. The only problem was that I hated tomatoes at the time. I ended up giving most away to neighbors. Every now and then I would choke some down. Like when Mom made us pizza using the Yellow Pears sliced up instead of sauce, totally amazing.

And then, another gardenless era after high school graduation, until last year. I went through tiny dorm rooms, unsympathetic landlords that wouldn't let me plant so much as one tomato plant or a row of greens, and now my little efficiency apartment with no yard to call my own.

For about a year I had been drooling over an Aerogarden, but couldn't afford one. My parents bought me one for my birthday. So first I grew a salad mix, it was so great. The first non-storebought greens I'd had in forever. I had greens for about two months. I could have had them longer if I'd pruned better, but I'll know next time. Now I am growing cherry tomatoes in my aerogarden (somewhere around my 21st year of life I developed an affinity for tomatoes). Currently they are flowering and I will be pollinating them this weekend. Can't wait!

Last year I read a book that completed changed my way of thinking about food and inspired me to change a lot of things I was eating and to really think about food for the first time: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. I have always loved her fiction books and I happened to see this one at a bookstore and bought it on the spot without reading the back cover. Something about that Christmas Lima on the front just captivated me. So I read it and then fell into a two month stupor of reading food books. The Omnivore's Dilemma, Fast Food Nation, Real Food: What to Eat and Why. I have since bought the documentaries Food, Inc. and Killer at Large. I'm totally hooked I must say.

For the first time last summer I utilized our county's farmer's market (been around for years), which I hadn't even realized existed. I've lived in this county for nineteen years. My boyfriend and I made two trips a week there up until September when things started slacking off. We bought zucchini's, eggplant, tomatoes, melons, berries, squashes, corn, cucumbers, and green beans. I had always wanted to can pickles so I canned about thirty quarts of sweet and dill pickles. I used a premade mix since it was my first time and I wanted to get the hang of it. This year I will try making them completely from scratch. It was a mixture of success and failures. But the pickles are still good, we eat them like crazy.

We also put back quite a bit of corn. We still have two bags left in the freezer. We were only able to can six pints of green beans as I only have a water bath canner. My mom has a pressure canner and I don't get to visit them often so I was only able to can three pounds.

So that was my first foray into eating local. This year I plan to grow some things in containers in my apartment. I'm actually going to go buy some dirt and a couple containers after work today or tomorrow if I can't find something suitable to plant them in at my house. For my dwarf tomato plant I am using a small trash can. I plan on planting some small head lettuces, a miniature eggplant, dwarf tomato, and toy bok choi. I only have two south facing windows so it will be a challenge figuring out where to put things. I'm totally up for it.

Farmer's market won't open until the end of June. :( Until then, I'm subsisting on very limited quanities of fresh organic produce from the grocery store. And a lot of frozen vegetables.
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