Sunday Dinner: Group Effort- James

Sunday's dinner was one of those lovely meals where no one person can take credit for any part of it. Christy can take the credit for planning the meal, but humbly said she didn't lift a finger (which was not true). It was also an "oh my God how did we get so much squash" kind of meal. We had 11 people around the table, lots of Davidson students and a few neighbors. I was told by young Kiki from next door that I seemed like a James, which I took as a compliment.

Here's what we ate (and who prepped it, in addition to who grew it)

Ratatouille (Veggies chopped by yours truly, cooking courtesy of Robert, Morgan, and Kristina)
-Eggplant (Barbee Farms)
-Summer Squash (KC Farms)
-Zucchini (Know Your Farms Garden)
-Onions (Various Sources. We've got a lot of them.)
-Jalapeno and Bananna Peppers (KC Farms)
-Tomatoes (All Seasons Farms)
-Oregano, Basil, Garlic (Know Your Farms Garden)

"Simply Divine" Grilled Corn (Robert, Yours Truly)
-Corn (Barbee Farms)- Soaked before Grilling

Chili con Carne con Queso, or Dip, if you want to avoid tongue twisters (Christy)
Ground Ostrich (Bird Brain Farms)
Jalapeno Peppers (KC Farms)
Onions (See Above)
Cheese (Ashe County Sharp Cheddar)

Hard Boiled Eggs (Margie, Morgan)
-Eggs (We're not really sure at this point...)

Hummus/Cucumber spears (Camp Leftovers)
Cucumbers (Know Your Farms Garden/Barbee Farms)
Garlic (Know Your Farms Gardens)
Canned Chickpeas, Tahini, Lemon Juice (Not Local)

We concluded with Homemade Icecream (featuring Homeland Creamery milk) and Davidson Chocolate Company Truffles.

Well..I made it!

Hello KYF! I have made it safely to Ireland, and I am enjoying my first full day on the farm. Currently, I am working in the OOOOBY store. That stands for Out of Our Own Back Yard. It reminds me a lot of the Bradford store because there is a big huge garden, greenhouses, a shop, and the owner, Suzie, teaches different classes on health and gardening. I won't usually have internet, but if I work in the shop any more while I am here, I'll update and share how life is going. So far, living without electricity or running water has been awesome. The other WWOOFers are all college students or kids just out of college who are also traveling solo. We cook together in the outdoor kitchen and usually eat outside. When it gets cold, which it does get a lot colder than I expected, we eat in the yurt. I'll upload pictures of the garden, the store, and the yurt when I get back.

So far, it has been a lot like my first few days interning for KYF. There is the adjustment period of settling in, getting to know everyone, and learning how things work but I already feel a little ahead of the game. I'm doing a lot of the same types of things I've done working with Aaron and Colleen at the incubator farm and the same work I've done on the Commons Garden.

One of the strongest similarities I see is that in the same way a lot of the KYF farmers look out for each other and barter, the farmers in Carraig Dulra (the farmland area I'm living on) also have strong ties. It's cool to hear how Suzie shares land and teaches classes at the store with other farmers. There is definitely a very strong community here.

I will upload pictures soon - they help explain it so much better! Hope you are all doing well!

Tuesday Dinner- James

Dinner Tuesday was a simple thing. Three of us, pasta, sauce, some bread, not much else (for some reason we talked an awful lot about cat piss...).

Pasta=Penne, Pasta Wench Portobello Asiago Vidalia Ravioli

Sauce
Ground Beef (Grateful Growers)
Zucchini (KC Farms)
Shitake Mushrooms (Landis Gourmet Mushrooms)
Kale (Coldwater Creek Farm)
Basil (Know Your Farms)
Garlic Scapes (Coldwater Creek)
Canned Tomatoes (Know Your Farms)
Onions (We're not really sure at this point, we've got a lot of them)

At one point when we were cooking, Morgan looked at the pot of sauce and exclaimed "This is All Real Food!"

That's what we're all about.

Thursday's Dinner- James

Folks were coming and going for most of dinner on Thursday, so it felt a little chaotic. My almost total inexperience with pizza dough didn't help, but somehow we managed to get four not-too-bad pizzas out of the two frozen lumps of dough that Kaitlin made about a week ago. As I feel like someone should be chronicling our culinary (mis)adventures in Christy's absence, here's what we put on those pizza crusts.

Pizza 1 (aka Veggie Monster)
Whole Wheat Crust
Lamb's Quarters Pesto (Lamb's Quarters courtesy of Inspired Gardens)
Organic Valley Mozzarella
Summer Squash (KC Farms)
Shitake Mushrooms (Landis Gourmet Mushrooms)
Green Onions

Pizza Two (loosely based on this recepie)
Whole Wheat Crust
Mozzarella
Kale (Coldwater Creek Farm)
Goat Lady Dairy Peppered Chevre Log
Goat Lady Dairy Hard Goat Cheese

Pizza Three (aka The Meat-za)
White Crust (many thanks to Evan for rolling out the white flour crusts)
Chef Ricardo's Mucho Macho Tomato Sauce
Mozzarella
Ground Beef (Grateful Growers)
Shitake Mushrooms (Landis Gourmet Mushrooms)
Roasted Peppers (Christy's Freezer)

Pizza Three (aka James got hungry and wanted to stop putting toppings on pizzas)
White Crust
Tomato Sauce (Fisher Farms)
Mozzarella

I was particularly proud of/enjoyed the kale/goat cheese one. The tang of the goat cheese was lovely with the slightly bitter kale and the hefty whole wheat crust. Props to "When Harry Met Salad," both for having an amazing blog title and for the idea of the combination.

Jack of All Trades- James

Today, Christy, Margie, and I had a conversation about the design of spaces. I brought up Yi-Fu Tuan's book "Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience" (which may or may not be a book worth reading, I still haven't decided). Perception and design of space is something I'm pretty fascinated by, and I may return to the subject later in the summer, but what's relevant to what I want to talk about at the moment is the fact that "Space and Place" is the kind of book that, as Christy put it, "confuses librarians." I've found it slotted in psychology, philosophy, and geography. We both enjoy the fact that it confuses categorization.

I've found that my work with Know Your Farms defies categorization in the same way. In the space of one day, my job has gone from planting lima beans to doing web promotion for the camp. In the space of the last 8 days, my job has taken me to 2 states and at least 5 cities in NC. I've gone from helping cook dinner for 11 to trying my hand at html (the dinner turned out better than the code). While it's slightly frustrating for casual conversation, I like the fact that when people ask me what I'm doing for the summer I have to say "Well, I'm doing a lot of different things."

"We Tried" - Kaitlin

Yesterday was Sunday dinner! I spent most of Sunday day making pie crusts for the quiche and pizza dough for pizzas we will eat later this week. We made dinner for 11 tonight and had 4 guests - Robbie, Dani, Luke, and Alex. It's great to have guests because as we're learning more about where our food comes from and how to prepare it, it's fun to be able to share knowledge with individuals who are not working with local food everyday.

Tonight's Menu consisted of 3 different kinds of quiche and a delicious salad. Dessert was a little bit of a flop, but we satisfied our sweet teeth with Homeland Creamery Ice cream! Woohoooooo!

Today while making the Quiche crusts, I learned that using lard rather than shortening is better for your health. Although lard usually gets a bad rap, lard consists of fats that your body can break down and use. Shortening like Crisco has a vegetable oil base and has so many partially hydrogenated oil that your body cannot break down the substance - and that's a recipe for clogged arteries! Sooooo, we modified Margie's pie crust recipe and the recipe for pie crust in "The Joy of Cooking" by replacing shortening with lard.

Margie's Recipe (Modified)

1 and 1/4 cup flour (Linley Mills)

1/4 cup lard (Grateful Growers)

1/4 cup butter (Homeland Creamery)

1 tablespoon of sugar

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 tablespoon of vodka to 3 tablespoons ice water

Flaky Cream-Cheese Pastry Dough

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (Linley Mills)

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

cut into 1/4 inch pieces and add:

6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (Homeland Creamery)

3 ounces cold cream cheese

The "James Wants Bacon Quiche"
Onions (Barbee Farms)
Zucchini (Barbee Farms)
Thyme (Know Your Farms)
Bacon (Grateful Growers)
Ostrich Egg (Bird Brain)
Cream (Homeland Creamery)
Pepper Chevre Log (Goat Lady Dairy)

Christy's "Mexican Quiche"
Sausage (Wild Turkey Farms)
Bell Peppers (Aaron Newton's last year crop)

Pepperjack Cheese (Ashecounty Cheese)

Ostrich Egg (Bird Brain)
Cream (Homeland Creamery)

Margie's "Gudaitis Family Spinach Quiche"

Spinach (Inspired Garden)

Onion (Barbee)

Kale (Know Your Farms)

Ostrich Egg (Bird Brain)

Gouda (Ashecounty Cheese)

The "We Tried" Salad

Romaine lettuce (Know Your Farms)

Red lettuce (Know Your Farms)

Spinach leaves (Inspired Garden)

Carrots (Barbee Farms)

Onions (Barbee Farms)

Broccoli (Know Your Farms)

Zucchini (Barbee Farms)

"Lusty Monk" Dressing

1 part balsamic to three parts extra virgin olive oil mixed with one spoonful Lusty Monk Mustard from Asheville, NC

CSA Days

This week I did the preparation, run, drop, and debrief for the CSA. At first, I did not think this would take more than a few hours. How difficult could it be to load and deliver some boxes? Over the past few days, I have learned that this operation is a lot more difficult, even for a CSA that serves 38 people. The work it takes to make this kind of procedure run smoothly and successfully gave me a whole new appreciation for how our food goes from the farm to our plates.

One of the most shocking parts of this process was how much time it took to deliver the food. Yesterday, Robbie and I loaded the truck around 1:30, left Christy's house by 2:00, and even though the drop ran smoothly, we did not make it back until 9:30. It seems to me that there has to be a better way to deliver food efficiently and sustainably. I was discussing this with Christy today, but we could not think of a solution. There are so many factors to consider. You have to allow time for traffic and give the customers enough time to pick up their boxes without feeling rushed. There also is the matter of picking up and dropping off the rented refrigerated truck. Hopefully, if Know Your Farms owns its own truck the time will be cut down a bit, but it there will still be five or six hours devoted to deliveries.

Going through this drop gave me a real appreciation for the time and energy it takes to distribute local food. It has also made me start thinking about what we consider "local" - a walk? a car drive? How many miles? Although I know that for most individuals, the food from the CSA box is the most local option available, even this operation requires a lot of gas to pick up food and distribute the boxes. The fact is that this is the most local option available because our country is not designed around local food. If we lived in a "local food friendly" nation, there would be space in cities for urban farms, rooftop gardens, and ordinances that allowed individuals to keep chickens. Unfortunately, we live in a nation where most of our food comes from thousands of miles away and buying locally means filling up a 22 foot refrigerated truck twice in two days in order to pick up food, keep the food fresh, and make deliveries.

I'm not saying that the CSA is not local. This CSA is the best option we have. It makes a real difference compared to the millions of miles that food travels to get to a grocery store. However, I think it is sad that our nation's concern for local food is so low that this is the best option we have. I believe that we are capable of doing more and making our food even more local. We have the power to grow food on our own blocks, in our own backyards, and right on the roofs of the Charlotte skyline. It is unrealistic to believe that tomorrow, everyone in Charlotte will begin shopping at local stores, harvesting their own gardens, or trading eggs for tomatoes with neighbors. Change sometimes happens slowly, and the CSA program is one step towards changing Charlotte. This single CSA program will not change the world, but it does plant the seed for individuals to start thinking about the idea of "local" and to consider their habits. It may inspire individuals in Charlotte to grow their own food or start supporting local businesses in the city. It may encourage individuals to begin to make changes, and as they change the overall must adjust. These small efforts contribute to the overall push that will change the way our food system operates by making room for slow food.

A beautiful CSA box!

KYF!

Plaza Midwood drop behind the Common Market

The Movement- Morgan

The Local Market Model

The farmers market fosters an elemental form of human exchange. The communal and cultural gathering around food in the mainstream is largely lost at the hand of transnational global food networks and the homogeneous super market model. Countering the globalized form of food production and distribution hinges on a consumer population that assumes responsibility and engages in conscious choices for the source and practices of their food production. This seems to be one of the largest statements for the ‘locavore’ movement: engage in this alternative network to access food based on transparency and trust with a vested interest in local community and land. It has been awesome to see this movement alive in the Davidson community. Knowingly or not, members of the CSA and consumers at the Farmer’s Market are assuming the role Carlos Petrini recognizes as, ‘coproducers’ (Shiva, Vandana (Ed.) 2007. Manifestos on the Future of Food and Seed. Cambridge, MA: South End Press.). Coproduction is based on the relationship between consumer and producer. The consumer assumes the burdens and responsibilities of their farmers while farmers make a commitment to quality for the consumer and the land.

Food communities

Petrini also recognizes the ways that alternative food networks are living reminders for the meaning of community. Among fast paced lives and distanced forms of communication, the farmers market and communal gathering around honest food bring us together. There is a lot to be lost in forgoing cooked meals and food in a social context. These things are coming alive for us as interns, and I know as the summer goes on I have so much more to experience!

Levering Orchard Pictures