Going Locavore

As I posted earlier I have been reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and have truly been inspired.  Her book has reminded me of what I know in my heart to be true, love your neighbor as yourself and for me that means voting with my wallet to support local farmers and businesses.
So, we are going locavore.

The Locavore’s Pledge
If not LOCALLY PRODUCED, then Organic.
If not ORGANIC, then Family farm.
If not FAMILY FARM, then Local business.
If not a LOCAL BUSINESS, then Fair Trade.

Consider these quotes from Kingsolver's book, "Buying your goods from local businesses rather than national chains generates about three times as much money for your local economy" and "if every restaurant got just ten percent of its food from local farmers, the infrastructure of corporate food would collapse".  Those are pretty powerful incentives to me.

Generally "Local" means a 100 mile radius from your home.  If you want to calculate yours here is a great site www.100milediet.org.  When I looked up my 100 mile radius I realized that I hit the local food jack-pot.  My 100 miles includes western Massachusetts, all of CT, Hudson Valley New York, Long Island NY, the eastern edge of Pennsylvania and most of New Jersey (yes, the Garden State).


Making the change to Locavore in February in New England seemed an impossible challenge but I have found that it is not as hard as I thought it would be.  My first step was to shop at Whole Foods, a store I love but often skipped since I bought into the its too expensive hype.  Yes some things are more expensive but many things are not and it is always a good idea to be a savvy shopper no matter where you go.  The thing I like about Whole Foods is that they label all local foods which makes it much easier.  


The second thing I did was to sign up for local milk delivery through  Hudson Milk Company
www.hudsonmilk.com.  Not only can we get fresh, local, glass bottled milk but we can also order eggs, butter, cheeses, breads and meat through them as well.  So far we have been getting milk, butter, eggs and amazing grass fed ground beef.  My husband told a neighbor on the train that we had switched over to milk delivery, and the neighbor exclaimed "you know that is twice as expensive!".  When my husband related this exchange to me, I was very happy to report that in fact a half gallon of delivery milk was the same price as a half gallon of organic milk in the supermarket.  So much for its more expensive - it is very important to do your own research!


Probably the biggest change we will be making is in our produce.  We have just signed up for the spring (I love to hear that word) CSA with Gazy Brothers Farm www.gazybrothersfarm.net.  This farm participates in our town's Farmer's market where we can pick up our produce during the season, it will be delivered to us in the off season - how great is that!  Again, I thought that this would be more expensive too but when I actually did the math it was obvious that this will actually be a big savings for us.  A 10 week share is only $200 which comes out to $20 a week for an entire box of produce.  Try buying that much produce from your local grocery store for only $20.  The best part is that 100% of my food dollars will go to the farmers, our neighbors.  You may not realize, but on average, farmers today receive only 19 cents on every food dollar spent, that is a lot of money on gas and middlemen.  


So far, we have not switched over completely - it is February after all and I am still using up what is in the pantry but I feel really good about the changes we are making.  The kids are also really excited and I am glad we are teaching them the importance of where their food comes from and about how to make educated choices.  I will keep you posted on our progress!


If you want to find out how you can eat locally, please visit Local Harvest. www.localharvest.org

Goin' Bananas

Bananas, one of the most common fruits in the produce aisle, they are there in every season and every store.  We are so used to seeing them that we forget that they are actually exotic and travel a long way to get here.  Everyone in my house wants them on the shopping list yet when they are here they rarely get eaten in time.  Black bananas in the fruit bowl are a common sight.

In my grandmother's youth bananas would certainly have been considered a luxury and wasting them would not have been an option.  Waste not want not - hence the invention of banana bread.  I don't like to waste them any more than my grandmother would, and considering the carbon footprint of a banana shipped to CT it would be crime to.

So when your bananas are goin' make some banana bread.  My friend Donna, who is also a thrifty Yankee gal (and Red Sox fan), makes banana bread all the time.  Her tasty loaves are filled with chocolate chips and often given to friends  - now that's a way to make someone's day!  I like banana bread but find that banana muffins make very convenient snacks, great with a cup of tea or in a lunch box. 

My favorite recipe is adapted from one of my favorite cookbooks: Dairy Hollow House, Soup & Bread, A Country Inn Cookbook by Crescent Dragonwagon

Banana Muffins:

1 3/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1/2 cup brown sugar 

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup of milk

6 tablespoons of melted butter

1 large egg beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 mashed bananas

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F .  Combine all dry ingredients, in a separate bowl mash bananas and set aside, combine all wet ingredients, add bananas to the dry ingredients followed by the wet ingredients, fold together gently until combined.  Add nuts or chips.  Fill paper muffin cups or greased muffn tin 3/4 full with batter.  Bake 15-20 minutes until golden brown and cooked through in center.  Enjoy!

Re-Use It: Clementine Boxes

I get really excited when the first shipments of clementines show up in the grocery stores in November and enjoy them all winter long.  I know that my consumption of clementines here in CT is by no means green. I try not to think about the carbon footprint of each juicy morsel that has been shipped from as far as Spain, but it is a luxury I am not willing to give up - at least not yet.  

One way to feel less guilty about them is to re-use the sturdy wooden crates they come in.   I just can't justify throwing them out, it makes me cringe when I think of the trees cut down to make them so I have turned them into storage bins. As they saying goes "A place for everything and everything in its place", so in an effort to get the upper hand in my war against clutter and Re-Use at the same time, I offer this easy DIY project: Clementine Storage Bins.

Now you can use them as they are and neatly stack them one on top of the other or you can take it up a notch and paint them. Personally, I like to use chalkboard paint so you can write the contents on the side/end. I got my chalkboard paint ready-made at a home improvement store but you could get really crafty and make your own chalkboard paint in a color that works with your decor.  Here is a link to Martha Stewart's chalkboard paint recipe: http://www.marthastewart.com/article/make-custom-color-chalkboard-paint.

Here is my finished product, not living room worthy but certainly an improvement in the basement.

Go ahead, have your clementine and eat it too, just be sure to re-use those wooden boxes!