This year, last year and next year

During the gathering of 60 or so vendors and others last month, farmers repeatedly referred to 2009 as “last year.” That was a bit of a surprise for me, considering the market at that stage was going to be open three more Saturdays. That view, though, is a testimonial to the planning that is an inherent part of farming. Most people show up for their jobs and do what they do. Farmers have to decide what to do long before they do it.

In any event,  I was pleased to hear Tom Buller, the market coordinator, report that most vendors had reported better sales in 2009 than in 2008. Not hugely better, but better. That was good news after early scuttlebutt that there were plenty of shoppers but not so many sales—in addition to the fact that 2009 has heralded a surge in home food gardens, a development that’s good for people’s diets but not necessarily good for market farmers.

Farmers Market members have one more shot at making some hay this year: the annual Lawrence Farmers Market Holiday Market. It’s 8 a.m.-3 p.m. this Saturday, Dec. 12, at the Knights of Columbus hall on East 23rd Street. Stop in and see the pickles, jams, woolens, baked goods and, unlike during the season, other handmade crafts.

West-Side Market?

Nothing is final (is anything?), but odds are that the market will have its Thursday weekday market next year in a west-side location off Sixth Street. Keep your fingers crossed that the stars align to allow it to happen. Buller has been doing a good job running the information down.

A west-side market would be a great opportunity for people who rarely get downtown to have another option for buying fresh, local produce from our market. Most vendors seemed excited by the prospect.

My season overview

As a customer but nonfarmer tuned in to the challenges of growing things, I’d have to rate the season as a definite “pretty good.” Many growers are learning better to manage our fickle weather with season-extending tricks such as hoophouses, which means we had fine greens in spring and fall despite unusually cold and occasionally damp conditions.

Some summer crops were disappointing, though. After last year’s flood of fruit, the crops were more modest this year, and the strangely mild summer meant tomatoes just didn’t perform as they usually do in these parts. Peppers seemed less plentiful too.

Still, between the market and the Rolling Prairie Farmers Alliance, with occasional supplements from Hilary’s Moon on the Meadow CSA and Lynn & Dan’s Wild Onion Farm, I had all the local produce I could eat. Happily, I’m still enjoying some of the goods, thanks to my freezer. My first pot of post-Thanksgiving turkey soup, for instance, featured the rutabaga I blanched last summer, and it was wonderful! And I say that as someone who isn’t crazy about turnips and rutabagas.

How about you?

Was the season a success on your farm, or for your farmers? It’s so last year for the farmers, even if many of us are still enjoying the bounty. I can hardly wait for “this” year.

Kansans have raised turkeys for a long time, says the K-State Research & Extension News. If you act now, you can get one of those birds for your Thanksgiving feast. Among producers within shouting distance of Lawrence are:

• Clark Family Farm. They were taking orders on Saturday at the Lawrence Farmers Market for fresh pastured turkeys, which you can pick up at the Pendletons on Saturday before Thanksgiving, or they will deliver. Call to see if they have more: Fred & Margaret Clark, and Lydia & Eddie Clark, (785) 842-0385.
• Homespun Hill Farm. Their web site says they have pastured turkeys. Debbie Yarnell, (785) 594-7111.
• Brantley Family Farm. Their listing on Localharvest.org says they are taking orders for pastured turkeys. Kelly Brantley, (913)583-9950.
• Vesecky Family Farms. They too are taking orders for  pastured turkeys, both heritage breeds and white broadbreasted. Call 785-594-2493 or 785-594-3477.
• The Community Mercantile. They’re offering turkeys from three local producers. Reserve yours at 785-843-8544.

In addition, at Localharvest.org you can find lists of turkey producers in Kansas and Missouri, or search for other locations. See also Eat Well Guide and Eatwild.

Plucky cover girls. A few of Lawrence’s urban chicken keepers and their birds get the cover-girl treatment in the current edition of Lawrence magazine. The link goes to the magazine cover; the story starts on page 76, which is easy to find if you locate the index at the top of the screen or type the page number in the box at the top of the screen. (Lawrence Magazine)

Plowing up zoning restrictions. As urban farming grows, so do conflicts between city zoning laws and farmers. The Kansas City, Mo., City Council is looking to ease some restrictions, while other cities in the area stand firm. Issues involve where these farmers can farm and sell produce as well as all manner of livestock questions. The matters pit neighborhood ambiance against the interests of farmers and their customers. (Kansas City Star)

My second challenge: Same time frame, narrower focus. This time, it was grassfed beef and pastured chicken and pork.

As promised, here’s a look at those two cooking classes, each attended by ten persons. (You can read the course descriptions and reader suggestions here.)

Cooking 101

What went right:  Class participants unanimously liked the hands-on aspect of the class. There were few enough in class that they each took a turn at the counter or burner trying and demonstrating cooking techniques. That allowed them to be involved and allowed me to make suggestions on how to do things better. We covered measuring, differences in baking (relatively exact) vs. general cooking (relatively forgiving), a general discussion of cookware, the benefits of mis en place (getting everything ready in advance), and general encouragement. I prepared great handouts, if I do say so. And the food tasted good.

What went wrong: Created a small-scale explosion (of the FOOMP! variety) in trying to use a portable propane burner; had to restart omelet-cooking after burning (or very nearly burning) butter in a too-hot pan on that very-hot-burning burner; took too long to get food samples on the tables, and took too long in general to prepare the food, at least partly because the students were doing the prep work. As a result, the last part of the class was rushed, and I didn’t get to discuss meal planning or most of the handouts.

Next time: I don’t know whether I’d try this one again. My pedagogical goals were too ambitious for the 2-hour time slot. A series would probably be better.

Grass-fed & pastured meats

What went right:  Participants asked good questions, and samples were ready in a reasonably timely fashion. The hamburger was excellent.

What went wrong: Chicken took longer to cook than expected. Top round steak (instead of chuck steak as I’d used in the past) cooked faster than expected and as a result was a little tough. Too much down time because I was overprepared. After having to rush the end of the previous class, I got darned near everything ready in advance and then had to stand around and talk while waiting for dishes to finish.

Next time: I’d prepare the sauces during class, and I’d ask the butcher to cut the chicken into parts for faster cooking and easier serving.

Will I do it again?

I need to ponder whether I’ll do classes again. They are a lot of work, and the best teachers of these kinds of classes are entertainers, which has not been my forte. I doubt I’ll develop the perfect timing of the professional chefs who also give these classes.

At the same time, both these classes are on topics that I think are important and that I really wish more people would learn about. I’d be interested in your thoughts.

In the meantime, here are some of the handouts (PDFs) if you are interested:

• Conversions
• Glossary for beginning cooks
• Grain-cooking guide
• Menu planning grid
• Substitutions

In the meantime, several likely prospects attended the Oct. 10-13 Community Food Security Coalition’s annual conference in Des Moines. They were Scott Allegrucci of Local Burger, Jeanette Collier of the ECKAN Community Center in Douglas County, county administration intern Emily Jackson,  Lori McMinn of Payless Shoesource, Dan Nagengast of the the Kansas Rural Center, Americorp volunteer Nicole Tichenor,  Bill Wood of the county extension office, John Wilson of the Clinton Foundation, and Rita York of the Community Mercantile.

The conference included a session on local food policy councils. If you are interested, the coalition has posted presentation information from the conference. Check out the conference handouts.

It will be interesting to see where the county goes with its food policy council. Sending residents to Des Moines seems like a propitious start.

Food Fight on tap. The movie Food Fight is coming to Lawrence at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 12, at Liberty Hall. It hits some of the same material as Food Inc., but emphasizes “the community building aspects of our food system” and “brings [our] awareness to the personal level,” according to Alan Rhodes, who is promoting the screening. Kansas Rural Center director Dan Nagengast and filmmaker Chris Taylor will take questions after the film. Taylor said his goal with the movie was to “address the problems of our current food supply in a way that is entertaining and enlightening. And I wanted to show an alternative that is a positive, active choice that the audience can take away.”

Planting the seed. The state cooperative extension service  is offering basic gardening classes in Wyandotte County through Dec. 3. I didn’t call for details, but here’s the phone number: 913- 299-9300. (K-State Research & Extension)

Community garden plan. The Lawrence Sustainability Network announcements say that the Faith Community Garden invites new and returning gardeners to a planning meeting for next year at 6 p.m. on Saturday Nov. 7 at Faith Church, 1020 Kasold Drive.  Questions to hberciunas /at\ sbcglobal dot net.

Greening up the food trash. Kansas City entrepreneur Jerame Gray has cooked up a consultancy that directs restaurant food scraps to the compost heap and recyclables to recyclers. (Pitch)

I’m back, at least a little bit. I finished the manuscript I was working on and took a wee breather. I also presented the two classes I’d signed up for at the Community Mercantile, and signed on as a new member of the Lawrence Farmers Market board of directors. (This post’s photos are from the market this past Saturday.)

You could say I’ve been busy. And now, suddenly, I am not.

I’ve been freelancing 20 years, and these lulls occur. Inevitably, as now, these lulls provoke some deliberation about what I should be doing with my career. The last big lull prompted the beginning of this blog, back in March 2007. I enjoy it immensely, but it hasn’t exactly provoked a surge in income for a number of reasons, including the plethora of food blogs out there and my apparently inherent dislike of self-promotion. (Makes you wonder how I’ve survived as a freelancer all these years, doesn’t it?)

On the other hand, it led me to connect with Ethicurean.com—a great site for anyone interested in sustainable, organic, local and ethical (SOLE) food—and to get the contract for the book that is in production.

In any event, current deliberations include whether to continue this blog and another I started, homecookingrevival.com, which has suffered technical difficulties sufficient that I pretty much abandoned it, except to keep it on line; I haven’t updated in months.

What I think I’ll do for the time being is to aim for posting twice a week at this venue and see how it goes. If you have anything you would particularly like to see, let me know. Otherwise, I guess I’ll continue my mix of recipes, rants and news.

Hope you’ve had a good holiday weekend. I’m going to post these pix from the Lawrence Farmers Market and then pretend I didn’t work today!

Winter squash coming on!

Piles of peppers

Oodles of okra (now about done, I think)

Tons of tomatoes–at least the cherry varieties

Eat and preserve the good stuff while you can get it. Alas, the summer days are numbered. Hope you had a great holiday.

I’m pretty tied up until mid-October, and I miss posting here more often. But I’ll continue to try to slip something in periodically so you don’t think I’ve dried up and blown away.

I’d heard through the grapevine that such a thing was in the offing, and now that it’s sort of semi-official, I wanted to call it to your attention. If you’d seen any of Ken Meter’s presentations here, which local reporters have not, you’d know the potential is huge.

So here’s what I hope a few of you will do: Contact the county commissioners (they’re the three at the top of the page) and let them know you think it’s a great idea. And if you’re really motivated, educate yourself a bit more:

• Read a little on Foodperson.
• And on Ethicurean.
• Or check out the K-State presentation on historical fruit and vegetable production in the Kansas River Valley (PDF). I believe that was put together by Pete Garfinkel.
• Or view Meter’s outline (PDF, from Kansas Rural Center) from his May 2008 presentation, which probably gives more information that you want, let alone his whole presentation last year (also from Kansas Rural Center, 17.4 MB PDF).
• This KRC page also has links to PDFs of Ronda Janke’s and Scott Allegrucci’s presentations the same day.

Lots of facts. Lots of good info if you have time to wade through it all.

If you’re still wondering why the fuss over your food source, you might want to check out the current cover story at Time magazine on the high price of cheap food.

Meanwhile, I’m not sure if you can still sign up for the Lawrence challenge, but those who did (do?) get a button, a menu planning guide and a list of locally produced items available at the Merc. Many of those items are on my Local Sources page, and look there if you want links. (I don’t have time to insert them in this post.) And fresh produce and meats are available at the Lawrence Farmers Market. See the Local Sources for other locally owned markets that offer local foods.

You won’t go hungry if you go totally local. Here are food items that the Merc’s flier lists, in addition to produce and Merc Deli & Bakery items marked with Buy Local stickers. Even if you aren’t in Lawrence, I’ll bet there’s a lot more local food available than you realize. Of course, not all local food is produced in harmony with the environment and ethical treatment of workers and animals, but if your food is local, it’s a lot easier to find out.

Deli area

• Goatsbeard Farm Cheeses
• Alma Cheeses
• Le Petit Garden Fresh Salsas
• Perez Corn Tortillas
• Treehouse Berry Farm Fresh Salsas
• Treehouse Berry Farm Gazpacho

Meat area

• Cedar Valley Farm Chicken, Duck, Lamb
• Creekstone Farm Beef
• Gingerich Farms Ground Turkey
• MJ Ranch Frozen Ground Beef
• New Grass Bison Frozen Buffalo Meat
• New Grass Bison Jerkies & Snacks
• Parthian Foods Pomegranate Walnut Entree Sauce
• Wakarusa Ridge Ranch Beef

Groceries

• Anthony’s Beehive BBQ Sauce
• Arthur Bryant BBQ Sauces
• Cowtown BBQ Sauce
• Daniels BBQ Sauce
• Hillsdale Bank BBQ Sauce
• Jan’s Organic World BBQ Sauces
• Night of Living Dead BBQ Sauce
• Boulevard Brewing Co. Pale Ale Mustard
• Pain is Good Hot Sauces
• Pain is Good Steak Sauces
• Fiesta Artichoke Spinach Dip
• Fiesta Raspberry Jalapeno Sauce
• Fiesta Salsas
• Jan’s Organic World Salsas
• Jumpin’ Jack Salsas
• Margarita Salsas
• Old Fart Salsas
• Pain is Good Salsas
• Pendleton’s Blue Com Chips
• Senor Stan Salsas
• Silva’s Corn Chips
• Treehouse Berry Farm Salsas
• Jan’s Organic World Salad Dressings
• Mama Capri’s Salad Dressings
• Treehouse Berry Farm Chutneys
• Tripti’s Chutneys
• Lost Trail Sodas
• Anthony Beehive Honey
• Little John Sherwood Farm Blackberry Syrup
• Sweetheart Honey
• Mama Capri’s Bruschetta Sauce
• Cascone Pasta Sauces
• Cascone Pizza Sauces
• Cupini Pasta Sauce
• Garezzo’s Pasta Sauce
• Jan’s Organic World Pasta Sauces
• Mama Capri’s Pasta Sauces
• My Neighbor Stan’s Pasta Sauce
• Bilardo Brothers Meat Rubs
• Pantry Shelf Muffin & Cake Mixes
• Treehouse Berry Farm Raspberry Vinegar
• Grandma Hoemer’s Applesauce
• Grandma Hoemer’s Preserves
• Treehouse Berry Farm Jams & Jellies
• Good Dog Biscuits and Treats
• Henderson Farm Dog Shampoo Bar

Bulk

• Annie’s Candied Orange & Lemon Peel
• Dried Mushrooms
• Hawley Honey
• Locally Roasted Coffees
• Locally Supplied or Blended Teas
• Missouri Pecan Brittle
• Missouri Pecans
• Rocket Man Crunch Candies
• Soaring Eagle Farms Whole Wheat Flour

Frozen foods

• Ancient Grains Amaranth Pizza Crust & Flatbread
• Ancient Grains Cookie Dough
• Ancient Grains Good Morning Millet Patties
• Ancient Grains Millet Carrot Bread
• Ancient Grains Pre-Baked Cookies
• Ancient Grains Sunny Millet Bread
• Bread of Life Spelt Pizza Crust
• Pieroguy’s Pierogies
• V’s Tortellini

Bread aisle

• Bread of life Breads, Muffins & Cookies
• Bread of life Cookie Mixes
• Bread of life Granolas
• Farm to Market Breads
• Goucher’s Peppernuts
• Grace’s Best Sunflower Seed Cookies
• Hometown Granolas
• Jerusalem Bakery Pita Breads
• Acme Grains Flour
• Acme Grains Sorghum Flour
• Acme Grains Wheat Berries
• Wheatfields Breads
• Yummy’s Pita Chips

Refrigerator case

• Eggs
• Green Hills Harvest Milk
• lwig Butter
• Iwig Cream
• Iwig Milk
• Central Soy Products
• Jerusalem Cafe Products
• Le Petit Garden Products
• Lebanese Flower Products
• Mediterrean Market Products
• Mohamed’s Products
• Tripti’s Flat Breads
• Yummy’s Choice Products

At checkout

• Marcon Pies
• Nut Nation Smoked Pistachios
• Oak Ridge Farm Inoculated Shiitake Mushroom Log
• Sleepy Jean’s Candies
• Tall Grass Toffee

Meat case

I recently received a windfall of hard green pears from Angela after a branch broke from her tree, thereby rushing the pear harvest. As perhaps you can tell from the photo, the pears were small, the round bottom portion about the size of a handball, and they weren’t yet ripe.

I let the pears sit on my counter for a week or two, but they never developed much fragrance, and they’re the gritty sort of pear anyway. Finally, I decided to sauce them (like applesauce), and a fine decision it was. Try this approach, and let me know what you think.

Gingered pear sauce

• 2-3 pounds pears
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 generous slices fresh ginger, peeled if you like
• 1/4 cup sugar, or to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract (see note), or to taste

1. Quarter and core pears. Place in heavy pan with water and ginger. Cover. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cook until soft, about 30 minutes. Cool slightly.
2. Put pears through food mill or cone sieve (my choice). Discard captured peel.
3. Stir sugar and lemon extract into sauce. Enjoy straight or as sauce over ice cream or cake. Makes about 3 cups sauce (I think).

Please note! I wasn’t writing things down as I did this one, and enough time has passed that I’m guessing on quantities and time. BUT, this sort of thing isn’t going to be an exact science anyway. Use as much ginger, sugar and lemon as you think is compatible with the amount of pears you have. Also, the lemon flavoring definitely made the sauce tastier, but if I’d had a fresh lemon on hand, I think a tablespoon or more of lemon juice plus some grated rind would have been better.

Afterword

The pears made up a good quantity of sauce, and I thought I might freeze some for later. But it was so good, it disappeared in a few days. Hence, no photo, but it wasn’t especially pretty anyway. It looked like dark applesauce. Use your imagination.