Counterculture Holiday Ideas

Why sell out for the holidays? Here are a few holiday ideas that might actually help cultivate peace on earth and good will to all. Most of these are ideas that we have picked up somewhere along the way and use in our family holday celebrations. If you have any ideas, pass them along.

Gifts:

• Buy locally made goods. You can find local products at farmers' markets. Look around on your daily travels; you'll probably find more local stuff than you think.
• Buy second hand. Reduce your impact on the use of natural resources for manufacturing new products. Books, CDs, video games, electronics, clothes, toys, and athletic equipment can all be easily found second hand. If you can't find it in a local shop, try e-bay.
• Buy fair-trade products. Check out Ten Thousand Villages. They have locations nearby in Mechanicsburg and Hagerstown. They carry beautiful handmade products from around the world for which the artisans are paid a fair wage.
• Set a limit for your holiday spending. Your friends and family don't want you to go into debt buying presents for them.
• Be creative with gift-giving. Some gifts don't cost anything but have a lot of value: a night of babysitting, a home-cooked meal, a massage, mowing the lawn, a poem, a tai chi or yoga lesson. We all have something to give.
• For the person who has everything, give a charitable donation on their behalf.
• As a gift to yourself and your community, find an organization that is important to you and volunteer.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

• Don't forget about regifting! That brand new picture frame that your coworker gave you last year that doesn't match your decor might be perfect in someone else's home.
• Save and re-use that wrapping paper. Yeah, sometimes it's more fun to just tear into a gift, but sometimes it's OK to take your time and carefully unwrap a present. Think of it as savouring the joy of unwrapping the gift. Really though, we rarely have to buy wrapping paper, because we're able to reuse so much of it.
• Be creative with wrapping gifts. We have used colorful newspaper; it has a very chic, green look. We have covered gift boxes in the previous years' Christmas cards. Any other ideas?
• String-up popcorn and cranberries instead of lights (electricity = coal-fired power plants = no more North Pole for Santa's reindeer or the polar bears).
• Save clean pieces of aluminum foil that are too small to use for anything. Fold them into homemade tinsel/icecicles. I'll post a picture if I have time.
• Get a Christmas tree with the roots balled and plant it after the season is over.
• If you use a cut tree make sure that it is chipped for mulch or used as wildlife shelter and not landfilled.
• Consider how much packaging comes with gifts and where that packaging will end up. Look for alternatives with less packaging.
• Look into solar-powered Christmas lights as an alternative to the conventional.

Local Feast!

• Don't forget to get your turkey and holiday fixin's locally.

Finally, celebrate your holiday traditions with friends and family. Beneath the commercial, plastic surface of the holiday are ideas and traditions worth sharing.

That's it for now. I'll post more ideas later, if I think of more. If you have ideas of your own or would like to comment on these please post a comment.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday.

Dairy Labeling Changes

See Painted Hand Farm's comment under the earlier post on this topic. The essence seems to be that the State wants to prevent dairy producers from putting on their labels whether or not the milk was produced with the use of hormones, antibiotics, and other chemicals. It looks like yet another attempt by our government and big agribusiness to blur the difference between local, sustainably produced food and food produced using conventional means.

New Discoveries

Last Saturday I went to Carlisle to find the Old Pomfret Farmers' Market. Instead I found a street street festival. There were a few farmers selling produce on the square, and I ran into Thom Marti, owner of Broad Valley Orchard - one of the very few orchards in the region that is certified natural (organic - just not USDA certified, which might be even better considering the way this administration has been trying to tinker with the organic standards).

Be sure to check out Thom's website (linked above). Lots of info there. The farm is about 15 miles north of Gettysburg, and from what Thom told me on Saturday the pick-up point for the CSA is at a Lutheran Church in Gettysburg. The amazing coincidence is that this CSA is one that I helped start about 8 years ago. I stepped out after I found myself in over my head without enough gardening experience to provide the food that we needed. I was overjoyed to hear that Thom took over the CSA and that it appears to be thriving.

I ran across a vendor at the fair who makes wooden toys. So I bought this grasshopper for our son. The vendor was "Sew 'n Saw, quality handcrafted items made from wood and fabric" Julie and Tom Pasker 125 Jeanel Ci, Lititz, PA 17543. 717-626-2797. sewnsaw@dejazzd.com

I finally stopped at Appalachian Whole Foods Market on the corner of High St. and Pitt St. in downtown Carlisle. Map of 100 W High St Carlisle, PA 17013-2924, US It's a corner grocery store that carries a wide range or organic and natural foods, body products, and health supplements.

They carry Big Sky Bread which appears to be baked in York, but is a national franchise. The wheat is grown in Montana, and all of the ingredients are simple -- no preservatives, no corn syrup, nothing that you can't pronounce easily. So it's not 100% local but it's a lot better than many of our alternatives. I bought a loaf of whole wheat multi-grain bread that was incredible. One of the best breads I've had in the U.S., and I have a loaf of French peasant bread in the freezer waiting for just the right meal to accompany it. I'll definitely be back for the bread.

They also have some dairy products from Trickling Springs Creamery which I've written about before. For those of you catching up, it's a great local dairy that has local organic dairy products.Apparently there's also a learning center there at Appalachian Whole Foods. There was really too much to try to absorb in one short visit, so I'll get more info next time I go

If anyone has more info on Appalachian Whole Foods or Big Sky Bread Company please post a comment.

While I'm writing about bread, I thought I'd mention the Gettysburg Baking Company. They have two locations in Gettysburg and Biglerville. I've heard good reports, but I've never been there myself. Again if anyone has been there, post a comment.

Other than my adventure in Carlisle, I've been busy putting food up for winter. In addition to the usual squash and root crops, I've been taking advantage of this unseasonably warm fall weather to get in more tomatoes. I freeze some whole for sauces and soups in the winter. I just put them in a big container in the freezer and then grab some whenever I want. I've also been drying some tomatoes and storing them in canning jars. In anticipation of getting a heavy frost someday, I've also been picking some green tomatoes to ripen indoors. I wrap them in newspaper and lay them on a sheet of newspaper on the cool basement floor. They will gradually ripen, hopefully not all at once. I've also been freezing sweet peppers. We also got some organic free-range chickens through our CSA from Village Acres Farm in Mifflintown, PA.

And I have one question for Finnegans Wake (who posted a comment earlier); have I run into another James Joyce fan? I've never had the courage to attempt "Finnegans Wake" but I love "Ulysses."

Where does our food come from?

I was pleasantly surprised last week when an old friend e-mailed to let me know that he had been reading the blog. Matt has been living in Idaho for a number of years now and writes on topics related to the outdoors and, of course, local food. Here are two of the pieces he e-mailed me.

They are both short editorials.
Look behind the label offers a brief introduction to the array of "eco-labels" we encounter at the supermarket and how one can begin to make some sense of them.

Where's the beef from? asks the fundamental question of the local food movement.

Both pieces relate to this basic idea of connection. I wonder if this local food movement is a reaction against the increasing disconnect and isolation in our culture. The illustrations of our individual isolation in our everyday lives abound: the solitary commute to work, cubicles at work, Moms and Dads who rarely see each other because they are on different shifts at work, kids running to a dozen different activities, automated check-out lanes at the store, on-line shopping, and hours spent in front of our electronic distractions (computers, television, video games, movies...). What could be more basic to life than air, food, and water? Is it possible that food provides a sense of connection that we may not even be conscious of? Connection to the farmer who grows the food. Connection to the people we meet at the farm or market. Connection to the plants, animals, and land that provide our food.

"There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot. These essays are the delights and dilemmas of one who cannot.
Like winds and sunsets, wild things were taken for granted until progress began to do away with them. Now we face the question whether a still higher 'standard of living' is worth its cost in things natural, wild, and free. For us of the minority, the opportunity to see geese is more important than television, and the chance to find a pasque-flower is a right as inalienable as free speech...
We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect."
-- Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

If you have never read "A Sand County Almanac," it is one of the seminal works in wilderness literature. Along with Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and John Muir, Aldo Leopold was one of the first European-Americans to clearly articulate an environmental ethic. I use the label European-American, because there were many Native Americans who had been speaking out against our careless use and destruction of the natural world for some time.

Stock Up for Winter

A few weeks ago I made a post and referenced two articles on Mother Earth News about eating with the seasons and storing foods for the winter. Here's a little update on what we've been doing to put some food up for winter.

First, we've been eating all of the fresh produce we can so that we do not dip into our winter stores. That means right now we're still eating a lot of salad greens, tomatoes, summer squash/zucchini, eggplant, and peppers. Even though we have potatoes, winter squash, and kohlrabi we're saving those for later.

Aside from our CSA, I've been supplementing our produce with stops at another local farmer's stand on Rt 11, just North of Chambersburg (near Green Village if you know where that is).Map of 2891 Philadelphia Ave Chambersburg, PA 17201-7904, US The address is actually for McDonald's which is across the road, but it'll get you there. They have a very nice selection -- not organic, but still local. Their farm is near Path Valley. I've been stopping every week and buying butternut squash, acorn squash, spaghetti squash, and apples.

I also stopped today at Shatzer's fruit stand on Rt 30 West (between Chambersburg and St. Thomas). I posted a map to their location in a post a month or two ago. Their apples are a little cheaper and better quality I think. While they are not organic, they also do not spray indiscriminately. Today they had several varieties of apples, pears, winter squash, pumpkins, cider, apple butter, honey, and a few other things I've forgotten.

Most produce needs cool temperatures for storage. Exact temperature requirements vary as do requirements for humidity, but it's not rocket science. See those articles I referenced for more info. If I get time, I'll post a little more later about storage ideas since most people don't have root cellars anymore.

Busy week

Just a quick post to say that we have had a busy couple of weeks. My apologies for the lack of posts.

We took a short vacation to Virginia Beach over the weekend and had some great local food and saw a lot of wildlife on our hikes and bicycle rides.

Food recommendations: Steamed hardshell crabs. Fantastic. Fresh. Local. A little on the pricey side, but how often do you get to have fresh crabs? We got ours at Bubba's on the corner of Shore Dr. and Vista.

Restaurant: Hot Tuna. Ask what their fresh, local catch of the day is. We had Tilapia with a spinach and crab "topping." Their "she crab" soup is incredible as well.

The wildlife we saw at First Landing State Park included Osprey, Green Herons, Chicken turtles, painted turtles, one huge cottonmouth, and a water snake.

I've also been busy researching improvements to our home's insulation (starting with increasing our attic's R value to at least 49 with blown in cellulose insulation), composting projects for my little garden, looking into local foods that I can store for the winter (potatoes, apples, onions, garlic, squash, etc.), and getting back into practicing taiji (tai chi) daily. My wife is also a professional opera singer. I help manage her business on the side and this is a busy time of year for her business as well.

If anyone has any recommendations in regards to where to buy large-ish quantities of local (preferably organic) foods for winter storage please leave a comment. I'm planning on checking out the farmer's markets in the area, but haven't had a chance to do so yet.

Happy Harvesting!

Easy, Delicious Local Supper Idea

Tonight's menu was straightforward:

Steamed greenbeans (some from our modest garden and some from the CSA) with butter (Trickling Springs Creamery) and lemon and pepper;

Baked potatoes (garden/CSA) with butter (TSC).

My late night snack, which I will retire to in a few minutes will be two slices of rustic french bread (Lulu's Breadbox), red raspberry jam (Granma's jam house in Bittinger, MD-- not quite local) and some tea (definitely not local).

"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by." -- Douglas Adams

Local Farmer Prosecuted By State

A Newville farmer is being prosecuted by the State for selling raw milk without a permit. Police and officials from the Department of Agriculture raided Mark Nolt's farm in Newville, Pennsylvania confiscating thousands of dollars in product and equipment and threatening Nolt with jail if he did not stop producing raw milk.

Here's the story from WITF:
"Support voiced for midstate farmer being prosecuted for illegally selling raw milk 08/23/2007Scott Gilbert(Newville) -- Some Cumberland County farmers are rallying around one of their colleagues who's being prosecuted by the state for selling raw milk without a permit. Agriculture Department officials recently raided the farm of Mark Nolt in Newville, confiscating unfinished product and packaging. Authorities say Nolt had sold the milk and products made with it even after his license expired about a year ago. Jonas Stoltzfus, a neighbor and customer of Nolt and fellow producer, says recent highly-publicized crackdowns on raw milk farmers are misguided. 00006_stoltzfus1.mp3 The state says the milk is regulated because it can be harmful if it's mishandled. But Stoltzfus says that factor is outweighed by the need for consumer choice, adding he supports Nolt for defiantly selling the milk without a permit. Stoltzfus is organizing a rally for this Saturday at noon at Nolt's farm at 401 Centerville Road in Newville."

The Sentinel covered the story and has some great input from local people in support of Mr. Nolt: http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2007/08/18/news/news632.txt

Here's a second story just published in the Sentinel that at least partially answers one of my questions below: http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2007/08/23/news/news581.txt

Supporters of Mr. Nolt are organizing a rally on Saturday at noon on his farm: 401 Centerville Rd. Newville, Pa. 17241. Please bring a dish to share for a raw milk product picnic, signs, posters and a friend. Media coverage is expected.

After spending a few hours researching Pennsylvania's raw milk regulations, I have a few questions that I can't easily find answers to.

What is the cost of a permit for producing raw milk in PA? Why was Mr. Nolt's permit expired? He had been warned on at least two occassions by the state. It sounds like an act of civil disobedience to me. Is there something inherently wrong with the state requirements or permitting process? Pennsylvania is one of only a handful of states that even allow the sale of raw milk products. At this point, wouldn't it be wise to follow the law? I believe peaceful protests and acts of civil disobedience are the responsibility of the citizens of a democracy, but what exactly is Mr. Nolt protesting?

When I look around at the condition of agriculture in Pennsylvania, my intuition tells me that there is something wrong. I see family farms struggling to survive and going under only to be replaced by shopping centers and developments. The only operations that appear to thrive are what I would call factory farms: those operations in which the animals (typically cows, chickens, or hogs) live in cramped, squalid conditions and are treated like machines that produce milk, meat, and eggs for our supermarkets. We have very few small-scale farmers who take pride in the quality of food they produce, care for their animals and consider themselves stewards of the land. My last questions: Is the state really protecting our health by prosecuting Mr. Nolt? Or is it protecting the financial interests of large-scale agribusiness by squeezing the little guy?

Movie Review: Super Size Me

Documentary. Excellent. Filmmaker, Morgan Spurlock, embarks on a one month diet in which he eats only food from McDonald's. The rules: He can eat only food sold at McDonalds; He must try the entire menu; He will only super size his meal if they ask.

As one might expect, the result to his health is disastrous. The effects are as severe as binge-drinking over a similar time frame. The diet resulted in severe harm to his liver, kidneys, heart and circulatory system, and mental and emotional health. What I found really astounding were the statistics regarding the increase of obesity in the U.S., particularly among children. Despite repeated efforts, no spokesperson from McDonald's agreed to be interviewed for the documentary. I don't understand why not. I'm sure they care about the health of their customers and stand behind their product.

While the experiment seems extreme, the film brings attention to two important topics: the disconnect between Americans and the origins and preparation of our food; and the influence weilded by large food corporations both in the halls of our government and through marketing. What looked like an innocent Big Mac before is now revealed to be a toxic fat bomb. The movie made me reconsider ever eating fast food again. Definitely worth watching, but plan on eating some veggies after.

Fabulous summer foods!

I hope everyone is having as much fun eating local summer produce as my family is. Lately, I've been getting our milk and cheese at Trickling Springs, bread and baked goods at Lulu's Bakery, veggies from our CSA and Maplewood Produce, and fruit from Shatzers Orchard and Maplewood. I have info on these other places elsewhere on my blog, and here's a little info on Shatzer's.

Shatzer's is not organic, but at least they're local. It still beats having fruit shipped from California. They are really friendly and have a little shop where they sell their fruit and other local items. Here's a map to their fruit stand on Rt 30 west of Chambersburg:Map of 2197 Lincoln Way W Chambersburg, PA 17201-8655, US

I'm still looking for a reliable source of local organic fruit. If anyone has any info let me know. I hope that I'll soon be able to check out the Windmill Farmer's Market in Shippensburg. They advertise organic produce.

If you're having trouble figuring out some new and different ways to prepare all these great veggies, here are some ideas.

Last night I made Eggplant caviar. Don't fear it has nothing to do with fish eggs. The dish is named for its texture which is like a coarse dip. Basically you bake an entire eggplant in oven at 400 degrees for 35 minutes. Roast a few cloves of garlic in their skins wrapped in a piece of aluminum foil in the oven along with the eggplant. When done let the eggplant cool until it is cool enough to be handled. Cut the eggplant into slices and remove the skin, but be sure to get all the little bits next to the skin as these are some of the tastiest. Puree the peeled eggplant. In a large mixing bowl, combine the eggplant, a handful of chopped parsley, 3 scallions or small onions, 2 tbsp olive oil, 2 tbsp lemon juice, salt to taste, and garlic (just squeeze the roasted garlic from its skin into the mix). Mix and mash as thoroughly as possible. Serve with crackers or on slices of toasted baguette.

Tonight we had omelettes with sauteed onions, garlic, tomatoes, summer squash, and cheddar cheese (all mixed into the omelette). Then we had fresh peaches for desert.

Some nights we have ratatouille, which is basically just grilled (or sauteed) veggies drizzled with olive oil and italian herbs.

As tomatoes are beginning to kick in, I often have tomato sandwiches and some fruit for lunch.

I'll occassionally post a recipe for seasonal foods. I love to cook, but I know not everyone enjoys searching for that perfect recipe.

Here's a good start. The Wilson CSA has a weekly newsletter and includes some great recipes. http://www.wilson.edu/wilson/asp/content.asp?id=815

Great Local Food Articles

Joel Salatin, farmer and writer, published the following article in Mother Earth News about eating locally. The article begins with a great section about eating local meat and eggs in season. Most of us non-farmers have no idea that there is even a season for meat and eggs. Mr. Salatin goes into great detail about that topic and offers tips on finding and eating local produce as well.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Whole-Foods-and-Cooking/2007-08-01/Seasonal-Eating.aspx

By the way, two easy places to get local eggs in the Chambersburg area are Trickling Springs Creamery and The Wilson/Fulton Farm CSA. I've also noticed Trickling Springs carries some local beef.

Here's another great article that Mr. Salatin linked to at the end of his article. This one describes methods of storing and preserving local foods for the winter.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Whole-Foods-and-Cooking/2007-08-01/Fresh-Local-Food-All-Year.aspx

Otterbein Acres Sheep Dairy

Today was a fun day on the local food scene. I ran over to Maplewood Produce and picked up some tomatoes, cherries, peaches, and blueberries. Then we went to Otterbein Acres Sheep Dairy for some Romano and Cheddar cheese.

Otterbein Acres is small farm in the rolling hills west of Shippensburg that raises both sheep and cows. The farm is near Newburg on Otterbein Church Rd, although I didn't see a road sign. There are a few other small businesses immediately before the dairy, and the dairy is on your right if you're coming from Newburg Rd. They are also very close to the PA Turnpike. Here's a map to the farm: Map of 10071 Otterbein Church Rd Newburg, PA 17240-9630, US

Their cheese is naturally aged and is not pastuerized. The Romano is aged at least 5 months and the cheddar at least 2 months. When I stopped in today, they allowed me to taste the cheeses before I bought any. They are exceptional; head and shoulders above anything you can get at your local grocery store.

You can either go directly to their farm or go to Carlisle's Old Pomfret Farmers' Market to get their cheeses (every Saturday 8am-12pm from May through October 27). http://www.downtowncarlisle.com/FarmersMarket/tabid/61/Default.aspx
If you are in the D.C. area, they also sell their cheese at the Rockville Farmers' Market. http://www.rockvillemd.gov/events/farmers.htm. In addition to cheese, I believe they also sell lamb and poultry when requested in advance.

Otterbein Acres Sheep Dairy
10071 Otterbein Church Rd
Newburg, PA 17240
717-423-6689

New Bakery in Shippensburg!

Looks great. Check out the article in the Sentinel: http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2007/07/06/shipp_news/news25.txt

I'll post after I have a chance to stop in tomorrow.

Eating Locally

For about a year now my family has made locally grown foods a significant portion of our diet. Last year I grew most of the food we ate from early June through the end of October. We only eat meat once or twice a week, so most of what we bought at the grocery store was condiments and staples such as salt, sugar, rice, bread, and pasta.

In December, we moved into a new house, and I didn't have enough time to prepare the ground for a new garden of the size we had last year. We really only had a few options to continue eating locally grown foods: farmers' markets, roadside stands, and Community Supported Agriculture programs (aka CSA).

Farmers' Markets: I love them, but they're not practical for us to purchase all of our foods there. My wife and I both work. The market hours are limited, and we inevitably miss the market and end up buying our produce at the local grocery store.

Roadside Stands: Too unpredictable. You never know what they will have or when they will be open. They're nice for surprises, but not for a regular food supply.

CSA: This was our choice, and we love our local CSA: Fulton Farm on the campus of Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania http://www.wilson.edu/wilson/asp/content.asp?id=205. The basic idea: You pay at the beginning of the season for your vegetables and go pick them up at a designated place every week (or two). For us this works the best. We usually have more than enough produce (we often end up giving away some to family and friends). The quality and variety of food is outstanding. The pick up time and place is consistent, so it's easy to plan around, and we love being part of such a positive and progressive endeavour.

Why is eating locally grown food better than imported?

1. It's fresher, therefore it tastes much better.

2. Local is more nutritious. Related to freshness. Also small scale farmers usually do a better job of caring for their soil, plants, animals, and environment.

3. Buying local supports the farmers near you and not some gargantuan agricultural company in another state or even country.

4. Buying local reduces pollution, including greenhouse emissions. Bottom line - the food doesn't need to be shipped, flown, or trucked thousands of miles to your table.

5. You can even meet the people who grow your food.