The Local Harvest Dish

this is a continuation of this post about the book “animal, vegetable, miracle.”

barabara kingsolver and her family are continuing to inspire me and my quest for good food.

she asserts, over and over, that community and respectful farming practices are the most important steps to this.

i have a few more digestible quotables for you:

ms. kingsolver tries to explain her family’s decision to become a large part of (and sometimes only part of) their eating chain (from growing to fabricating to cooking their food):

“A lot of human hobbies, from knitting sweaters to building model airplanes, are probably rooted in the same human desire to control an entire process of manufacture. Karl Marx called it the antidote to alienation. Modern business psychologists generally agree, noting that workers will build a better car when they participate in the assembly rather than just slapping on one bolt, over and over…In the case of modern food, our single-bolt job has become the boring act of poking the thing in our mouths.”

she also continues to implore everyone to think about how their money is spent, or at least where it goes.

“Buying your goods from local businesses rather than national chains generates about three times as much money for your local economy. Studies from all over the country agree on that, even while customers keep buying at chain stores, and fretting that the downtown blocks of mom-and-pop venues are turning into a ghost town.”

and also reminds us that it is not only healthy and good to buy from local farmers, but patriotic to the core.

“Thomas Jefferson…presumed on the basis of colonial experience that farming and democracy are intimately connected. Cultivation of land meets the needs of the farmer, the neighbors, and the community, and keeps people independent from domineering centralized powers.”

-clara

I know, I know, it’s time to start acting on those resolutions, but I have to give you an idea for a little decadence to reward yourself.  Three new to our store varieties of Dippity Ice Cream have recently come to my palate–Mexican Chocolate, Cookies-N-Cream, and Bordeaux Cherry.

Mexican Chocolate is a rich chocolate ice cream with a healthy does of cinnamon. It is a delight and like most varieties of Dippity you don’t need to each much to feel very satisfied.  My husband and Father devoured the Cookies-N-Cream ice cream on Christmas because I decided to put a kabash on pies this year.  (How silly was that!) I went crazy for the Bordeaux cherry.  Big chunks of fruit make this especially delightful and it has a rich cherry flavor.  I admit that I had to force myself to close the container.

i recently picked up Barbara Kingsolver’s “Animal, Vegetable, Mircle,” though i have owned it for some months now (thank you vacation time). i am only through the first four chapters and i am almost exhausted – in a good way.

the jist – the author and her family spend a year eating locally (food off of their own land in rural Virginia, or from their neighbors), this is the story of their journey.

this book is packed with information and inspiration – i decided i couldn’t wait till i finished this book to tell you all about it. i have so many dog-eared pages and underlined sections that the final blog post would be impossibly long.

so i will share with you a few interesting things brought up in the book so far-

Barbara (along with her husband Steven and daughter Camille) seek out to inform people about the pros (and sometimes cons) of eating as locally as possible. here Steven explains the amount of oil consumption required for out-of-season foods can be curbed easily:

“A quick way to improve food-related fuel economy would be to buy a quart of motor oil and drink it. More palatable options are available. If every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country’s oil consumption by over 1.1 billion barrels of oil every week…Small changes in buying habits can make big differences.”

the Kingsolver clan also tries to warn us about our dependence on single variety crops (mostly corn and soybeans), explaining that not only is diversity delicious and interesting but also almost necessary for human survival:

“The Irish once depended on a single [variety of] potato, until the potato famine rewrote history and truncated many family trees. We now depend similarly on a few corn and soybean strains for the majority of calories (both animal and vegetable) eaten by U.S. citizens. Our addiction to just two crops has made us the fattest people who’ve ever lived, dining just a few pathogens away from famine.”

last, but not least, Steven explains how a small farm is not only better for the environment, the community, and the health of our neighbors but is actually more profitable than big industrial farms:

“According to USDA records from the 1900s, farm less than four acres in size has an average net income of $1400 per acre. The per-acre profit declines steadily as farm size grows, less than $40 an acre for farms above a thousand acres. Smaller farms maximize productivity in three ways: by using each square foot of land more intensively, by growing more diverse selection of products suitable to local food preferences, and by selling more directly to consumers, reaping more of the net earnings. Small-farm profits are more likely to be sustained over time, too, since these farmers tend to be better stewards of the land, using fewer chemical inputs, causing less soil erosion, maintaining more wildlife habitat.”

subterranean books also reviewed with book a few months ago.

-clara

the store is now carrying some new local cheese – ropp cheeses.

these cheeses are made in normal, illinois with the milk from jersey cows, which tends to be a bit sweeter than milk from regular dairy cows.

we have quite a selection cheddars (like white cheddar, jalapeno, green onion, horseradish) and a delicious swiss.

the one type that caught my eye was the cheddar blue, it looks like this:

i would say that the sweetness definitely shines through, creating a subtle and creamy blue cheese with a bit of a white cheddar bite.

i had some with crackers and apples – it was great. and then i had some in a salad – it was also great.

andy from riddles penultimate and from eat here st. louis visited the farm and reported that the cows are happy and healthy.

the specialty cheeses cost $10.19 per pound and the others are $9.19 per pound.

come in and try some local delights.

-clara

I bet that title drew you in like a moth to the flame.

So a customer has turned me onto sprouting mung beans. I just sprouted my first batch and it was super easy.  You can buy 1 lb of mung beans from LHG for $2.49.  I imagine that if you used them only for sprouts you could easily get 10-12 cups of sprouts. 

Here’s how:

1. Take a clean mason jar and place about 1/4 cup of mung beans in the jar.

2. Rinse the beans thoroughly.

3. I left the beans a little wet and then covered the jar with a folded paper towel and rubber band then poked some air holes. (bean sprouting aficionados use a screen or cheesecloth–I may upgrade soon.)

4.  The customer told me to rinse them once a day which I did, however other research suggests you should rinse the beans 2-3 times a day. I will do this the next time because I think it will encourage quicker sprouting. Obviously, if you’re using a paper towel to cover your beans, remove it before rinsing.  Beans should be moist, but not soaking in water when you store them for sprouting.

5. I stored the jar in my cabinet, but I’ve read that you can also just leave it on your counter.

6. Poof, in about five days I had mung bean sprouts.

I ate a few today and they are quite tasty. How soon you eat them is up to you. I let mine get about 2 inches long. They are earthy and what I love best is the ability to grow something in the cold, cold, winter month of January. Reminds me that Spring will come again…..

To find recipes for cooking mung beans, here’s a website I found:   http://www.boloji.com/ayurveda/av044.htm

Enjoy,

Maddie

if you haven’t stopped by the cafe’ yet to have a cup of our now famous vegan chili – it is time.

this chili is based off my mom’s recipe, with a few new additions.

warm and delicious and house made.

happy eatings,

clara

We now carry frozen salmon from Wild Alaska Salmon and Seafood Company.  This company operates out of Illinois and Alaska.  Tony Wood, the owner and fisherman, lives half the year in the lower 48 and half the year in Alaska.  I’ve included the website so that you can read all about this company. http://www.wildalaskasalmonandseafood.com/about.php

We are carrying frozen sockeye salmon fillets (6-10oz) and frozen smoked sockeye salmon.  This is a wonderful product and we’re excited to be carrying their salmon. 

You’ll find it in our frozen food section.  It’s easy to find. : )

-Maddie

A press release announcing the Cafe Peru Chilchos that is for sale at LHG. Enjoy.

-Maddie

WILLIAM L. BROWN CENTER AT THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN AND

KUVA COFEE COMPANY PRESENT CAFÉ PERU CHILCHOS

 (ST. LOUIS):  The William L. Brown Center (WLBC) at the Missouri Botanical Garden, in partnership with Kuva Coffee Company, proudly presents Café Peru Chilchos, an environmentally and economically sustainable coffee, grown under shade trees in the Chilchos Region of Peru. The coffee is available now for purchase in the Garden Gate Shop at the Missouri Botanical Garden and LOCAL HARVEST GROCERY. Kuva Coffee Company is donating 10 percent of their profits to WLBC to further develop research projects in Peru.  

Café Peru Chilchos is grown in the Chilchos Valley, an isolated region in the northeastern slopes of the Andes in Peru. Its inhabitants have tremendous respect for the natural environment, living in harmony with the ecosystem for hundreds of years. Conservation coffee farmers of the Chilchos Valley have worked meticulously to develop the highest quality Arabica bean without the use of chemicals or artificial fertilizers, thus protecting flora and fauna.

The Chilcho people were part of the Chachapoya ethnic group living in the dense cloud forests in the Huayabamba river valleys in Peru’s Amazonas region. They formed a free and democratic society, living in harmony with their natural environment. After the Spanish conquest, the Huayabamba area depopulated, and only a few families remained in what is now the actual province of Rodriguez de Mendoza. A small part of the huge abandoned area was “rediscovered” in the late 19th century by local farmers. Local families grow high value conservation coffee to sustain their livelihoods and conserve the remaining forests.

The Huayabama cloud forests are a refuge for a large number of plant and animal species found nowhere else in the world. The Chachapoya Biocommunity Network, with help from local NGO INBIAPeru, together with the William L. Brown Center at the Missouri Botanical Garden and Kuva Coffee Company, are working to establish the Huayabamba Conservation Corridor that will ensure the protection of flora and fauna, while giving the population a better and more sustainable livelihood by supporting small producers who grow high quality conservation coffee and cocoa. 

The Missouri Botanical Garden is the oldest continually operating botanical garden in the nation, celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2009. Missouri Botanical Garden: Green for 150 Years.

I’m sure some of you have vowed to cut back on calories and maybe even sugar–if you are one of those, please don’t read this post.

New Chocolate Products

KaKaO: Hazelnut spread. Way better than Nutella, this delightful spread has a wonderful consistency, a strong hazelnut kick, and it is sweet, but not overly so. I love it, love it, love it.

Patric Chocolate: Three new products in the store since December.  Hot chocolate discs, Chocolate Nibs, and a 75% Cocoa bar.  The 75% Bar is unbelievable and what is not to like about Hot Chocolate Discs.  These are perfect for the cold, cold, nights we’ve had lately and they are wonderfully rich. 

So come on in for a chocolate treat.