Eating Responsibly

My grandchildren love to cook in their pretend kitchen. Their fresh produce boasts vibrant colors and shiny finishes. I was struck at how much that pretend food resembles much of what we find in the gleaming produce aisles of the supermarket.

Is this stylized version of food what folks want to eat?

Wendell Berry shares the following observation in his essay "The Pleasures of Eating."

"... food wears as much makeup as the actors. If one gained one's whole knowledge of food from these advertisements (as some presumably do), one would not know that the various edibles were ever living creatures, or that they all come from the soil, or that they were produced by work. The passive American consumer, sitting down to a meal of prepared or fast food, confronts a platter covered with inert, anonymous substances that have been processed, dyed, breaded, sauced, gravied, ground, pulped, strained, blended, prettified and sanitized beyond resemblance to any part of any creature that ever lived. The products of nature and agriculture have been made, to all appearances, the products of industry. "

Berry contends that eating is an agricultural act.

"Most eaters ... think of food as an agricultural product but do not think of themselves as participants in agriculture. They think of themselves as consumers. If they think beyond that, they recognize that they are passive consumers. They buy what they want – or what they have been persuaded to want – within the limits of what they can get. They pay, mostly without protest, what they are charged. And they mostly ignore certain critical questions about the quality and the cost of what they are sold. how fresh is it? How pure or clean is it, how free of dangerous chemicals? How far was it transported and what did transportation add to the cost? How much did manufacturing or packaging or advertising add to the cost? When the food product has been manufactured or processed or precooked, how has that affected its quality of price or nutritional value."

These questions are some of what I'm thinking about on this cold January afternoon as the snow swirls around the high tunnel, drifting in the fields and coating trees in the orchard with white.

Beans On A Branch

We've been experimenting with growing edamame (defined as "a dish of green soybeans boiled or steamed in their pods") for several years. For the uninitiated, I'll share the correction pronunciation: "ed-ah-mah-may."
Edamame soybeans are different varieties than the those grown to make tofu, soybean oil or other soy products. They're are harvested while they're still green, before the pods dry, much like fresh peas.
Edamame are loaded with nutrition and packed with fiber. One cup provides 34 percent of daily protein needs while boasting exceptionally high folate, manganese and Vitamin K levels. They also offer a source of iron, magnesium, thiamin, phosphorous, potassium, copper., calcium and Vitamin C according to my sources.
We'll be growing edamame again in 2014 and already folks who have been our edamame customers in the past have placed orders for this summer. 

American farmers lead the world in soybean production, growing 75 million acres in 2011. But production of the “vegetable soybean,” called edamame, lags far behind Asian countries such as China, Taiwan, and Thailand. - See more at: http://www.non-gmoreport.com/articles/april2012/edamame-non-gmo-us-farmers.php#sthash.iApL1HBR.dpuf

My mother (who has had a hand in shelling a lot of edamame destined for the freezer here on Crandall Hill) saw a piece about an upsurge in commercial edamame production in Arkansas (where my brother and sister-in-law, also with edamame shelling practice, make their home) on CBS News this morning. NPR ran this piece ( http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/10/16/234764120/arkansas-aims-to-make-edamame-as-american-as-apple-pie ) in October.
If you'd like to try fresh edamame next summer and want to assure that we'll grow enough for you, please email, comment or telephone us to get your name on our list. (See previous blog post http://www.metzgerfarm.blogspot.com/2014/01/whats-on-horizon.html .)

American farmers lead the world in soybean production, growing 75 million acres in 2011. But production of the “vegetable soybean,” called edamame, lags far behind Asian countries such as China, Taiwan, and Thailand. - See more at: http://www.non-gmoreport.com/articles/april2012/edamame-non-gmo-us-farmers.php#sthash.iApL1HBR.dpuf

American farmers lead the world in soybean production, growing 75 million acres in 2011. But production of the “vegetable soybean,” called edamame, lags far behind Asian countries such as China, Taiwan, and Thailand. - See more at: http://www.non-gmoreport.com/articles/april2012/edamame-non-gmo-us-farmers.php#sthash.iApL1HBR.dpuf

American farmers lead the world in soybean production, growing 75 million acres in 2011. But production of the “vegetable soybean,” called edamame, lags far behind Asian countries such as China, Taiwan, and Thailand. - See more at: http://www.non-gmoreport.com/articles/april2012/edamame-non-gmo-us-farmers.php#sthash.iApL1HBR.dpuf

American farmers lead the world in soybean production, growing 75 million acres in 2011. But production of the “vegetable soybean,” called edamame, lags far behind Asian countries such as China, Taiwan, and Thailand. - See more at: http://www.non-gmoreport.com/articles/april2012/edamame-non-gmo-us-farmers.php#sthash.iApL1HBR.dpuf

Potato Magic

Making mashed potatoes using a ricer is a concept I remember from my mother's kitchen. My 90+-year-old grandfather lived with my family for the last years of his life and he loved all foods old-fashioned – salt rising bread, codfish gravy, soft sugar cookies ... and riced potatoes. As a youngster (what did I know?), I considered the process a complete waste of time when one could whip up those spuds with an electric mixer!

I spotted a ricer at a kitchen store while Christmas shopping so I bought myself a little present. Since then it's had lots of use for it produces the fluffiest mashed potatoes ever! I've discovered yet another use for our gourmet organic potatoes. (Pictured here are our Augusta (a yellow fleshed potato similar to Yukon Gold and Butte Russet.)
The ricer looks somewhat like a very large garlic press and works the same way. Just put the cooked potatoes in the hopper and press through the holes into a bowl. Mix with warmed milk and melted butter and stir lightly to combine. By ricing, you avoid the gummy-ness that sometimes happens when you whip the potatoes and you also avoid lumps common with the use of potato mashers.
I used unpeeled potatoes for my first try and found that the skins get trapped in the hopper and make the job much more cumbersome.

In reference to my previous post, I appreciate hearing from all of you -whether you commented or messaged or emailed me. I would welcome additional comments/suggestions for we really are interested in bringing more efficiency to our fledgling operation.I'll leave you with this photo taken this beautiful sunny morning with our thermometer reading -4F.

Orchard and high tunnel blanketed in snow

Farm Friday Blog Hop

What's On The Horizon?

We've been giving a lot of thought to the 2014 growing season in the past weeks. The 2013 season featured many successes. The collective efforts of a hardworking group of producers/growers yielded  a more vibrant Potter County Farmers' Market. We changed locations  - moving just a block to a county-owned lot across from the courthouse square. We have additional vendors and more products offered for sale. And we hosted our first-ever "Chef At The Market" event showcasing fresh produce from our regular vendors.

As positive as all of this sounds, I think all of our vendors will agree that going to the Farmers' Market each week is a lot of work. Every Friday we're up before the sun in a flurry of harvesting, cleaning, pricing, packaging, transporting and then setting up for a 1:00 p.m. start time. The goal is to bring enough produce to make it worthwhile but not bringing so much that it doesn't sell. I have also observed that there is no pattern in what appeals to the customer week in and week out. The beet greens that flew off the table one week will languish the next week and then the following week when we decide to let them stay in the field to grow into beets, everyone is looking for beet greens!

We continue to explore how we might more efficiently meet the food needs of our customers. For example, if you're interested in leafy head lettuce on a regular basis, would you consider setting up a standing order for a couple of heads each week during the growing season?

These little plants grow to become tasty heads of leaf lettuce.

Or maybe you really want to freeze snap beans when they're in season. Would you be willing to contract with us to grow them for you? We'd know how many seeds to plant - and when to plant them - to meet the specific needs of customers who are committed to buy when the harvest comes.

The concept could work for all the vegetables we might grow - from the first peas of summer to the luscious heirloom tomatoes to the fall crops of potatoes, squash and pumpkins. Would you have an interest in helping us plan what to grow this summer based on what you would buy? It's a bit like a CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture) 

...from Wikipedia: Community-Supported Agriculture (sometimes known as community-shared agriculture) is an alternative, locally-based  economic model of agriculture and food distribution.

Would our concept of growing produce for specific customers provide a stable base of support for our efforts while giving us a clearer picture of how much to plant knowing we have a market for that produce?
Would you be interested in a weekly box of produce, based on what's in season? Would you pay up front to support this effort?

On New Year's Day, I don't know what the 2014 growing season will look like. What will fill the raised beds in the prime high tunnel space? What will be planted in our fields and garden spaces?
I'm counting on hearing from you - potential customers - to let us know what you're looking for. Feel free to comment below. (Please note that all comments are reviewed by us before they're published on the blog so your comments needn't be published.) I hope to hear from you soon!