Healthy Recipes

71. December 2007 Newsletter

 

Dear Kitchen Gardener,

There are
different ways of knowing whether winter has arrived.  If you're in
Maine, the joke goes, you know because the driving actually improves as
the potholes fill up with snow.  You can also tell the old
fashioned way by looking at the thermometer. Mine read 8 wintry degrees
(-14 C) this morning.  Consulting the calendar is another popular,
albeit controversial, way.  Astonomically speaking, winter is due
this Friday, but,

meteorologically, the calendar says that winter already arrived the
first week of December.  Hmmm.
As with other
perplexing life questions, I like to turn to my compost pile for
guidance.  Northern gardeners like to say that winter hasn't really
arrived until your compost pile is frozen solid and hasn't really left
until your pile has thawed completely.  Up until last week,
my hot pile of
leaves, grass clippings, and kitchen scraps was still chugging along
nicely, melting its way through all the white stuff the sky has been
dropping on us since late November.  Coincidentally, up until last
week, we were also still harvesting salad greens from our cold frames,
arguably the best-tasting greens of the year (but I admit that part of
this is due to the "it's-winter-and-I-am-still-eating-from-my-garden!"
factor which is one nature's best flavor enhancers.)
The past few days
of snow, ice, and bitter cold, however, have changed things remarkably,
putting my compost pile's

soil bacteria and worms on the defensive. If you look closely at the
photo above taken earlier today, you can see a bit of melting taking
place, but I think it's safe for me to oil up my compost fork's handle
and put it to bed for the winter. 

This winter was interesting in how suddenly it came
upon us in my area.  One day, I was outside in a light sweater
raking leaves and

planting garlic, the next day I was all bundled up with a snow
shovel in my hands. 
A

gardening article in the New York Times a few years back suggested
that instead of talking about global warming, we should be using the
term "global weirding".  While the trend is definitely toward
warming, there'll be a lot of weirdness along the way.  Speaking of
the New York Times, I've been following their coverage of local food
issues these days and even managed to contribute

2 cents of my own to the debate through a letter to the editor published
in last Sunday's edition. 

Another item in
the "good news" category: I learned last month that I have been chosen
as a "Food
and Society Fellow" by the Thomas Jefferson Agricultural Institute. 
I'm pretty excited about this and I don't excite easily.  That
award and your generous support will help me to keep KGI going and
growing, even during the dark, cold days of winter.  

Don't worry,
though, about the award going to my head, at least not this winter. 
It will need to penetrate a thick wool hat first.   




Happy holidays,
 

 
PS: I'm busy making your
holiday gift.  It's not so much a new gift, but a better version of
an old one, a gift that will allow you to grow as gardener, learn new
things, contribute your knowledge to the gardening commons, connect with
and help new gardening friends, near and far.  Have you guessed
yet?  It might be too late for the holidays, but will be just in
time for those of you itching to talk about gardening before the ground
and the weather allow you to do any. 
 
PPS: Stay tuned in January as
a "special KGI correspondent" will be reporting from Argentina on a
school garden project that we're helping to launch. 

Category : From the Garden

Date Added: Jan 2, 2008 Rating: 0.00 Votes: 0



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72. Two ways of looking at chicken parmesan

When most of us think of chicken parmesan, we picture something similar to the photo above. It's a simple and delicious dish: breaded chicken breasts, pasta, red sauce, with a sprinkling of zesty parmesan cheese.

But, as the bright young minds at Middlebury College in Vermont have recently learned, it's not as simple as most people think. Below is a screen capture of a Google Earth map that some students and faculty put together to show the complex route that chicken parmesan's ingredients take to go from farmers' fields to Middlebury students' forks. It should be noted that Middlebury is considered a leader in its efforts to move towards local sourcing for its cafeterias.



The point of the exercise (and - we'd say - the local foods movement in general) is not to say "no" to all foods that have traveled, but to become more aware of where our food comes from, who produced it, how it was produced, and the good local alternatives that exist. The more attention we give to these local options, the more of them there will be.

To learn more about Middlebury's food mapping work, please see: http://geography.middlebury.edu/applications/Food_Mapping/

Chicken parmesan photo credit: My Amii

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Date Added: Jan 2, 2008 Rating: 0.00 Votes: 0



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73. Planting garlic

Garlic may well be the easiest crop you've never tried. The steps are simple: 1) buy seed bulbs 2) break into cloves 3) plant in rich, loose soil 2 inches (5 cm) deep and 6 inches (15 cm) apart 4) mulch 5) water and 6) wait. Ok, that's over-simplifying a bit, but not by much. This short video offers more info and will get you thinking about working some space for garlic into next year's garden plan.

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74. Before you eat up, read up

By Barbara Damrosch, published Thursday, December 6, 2007 in The Washington Post



Christmas shopping may require all the dollars, stamina and good humor you can muster, but it's nothing compared to food shopping. For that you need an advanced degree in educated consumerism. Just last week the mail brought me more lessons in food responsibility than I could possibly digest before lunchtime.

First to arrive was the Utne Reader with a report compiled by the Environmental Working Group that ranked fruits and vegetables by the amount of pesticide residue found on them by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration.

The "dirty dozen" we'd best avoid are, in order of risk: peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, lettuce, imported grapes, pears, spinach and potatoes. The safest six are onions, avocados, frozen corn, pineapples, mangoes and frozen peas.

The group's FoodNews Web site gives detailed data (96.6 percent of peach samples were tainted; one bell pepper sample had 11 pesticides on it).

The solution is simple: Buy organic. But here's the tougher question: Why do they allow residue at all? That would require a larger study.

Next came a poster from the Chefs Collaborative, urging us to buy from farms that sustain the environment -- those that give livestock free range; gather mushrooms only from stable populations; preserve native riparian (streamside) plants; guard soil, air and water against pollution; and "value and protect large predators like bears and mountain lions." Most of this is unknowable unless the farm is right down the road.

And now here's Ode magazine with the top 20 organic, sustainable products for 2008. Two of them I already have: a Sun Frost low-energy fridge, which I love, and Prince Charles's Duchy Originals Oaten Biscuits. But how do the 20 stack up against the Chefs Collaborative's admirably complex chart?

I happen to think Prince Charles, long a champion of organic farming, is one of the world's most underestimated public figures, and his biscuits are top drawer. But I can only assume he protects his riparian flora. Do the guys who grow Honest Tea value bears? Who knows?

The only lesson I ever seem to learn from all of this information boils down to a few words: Grow your own, cook your own and check out the farmer down the road. There are a few levels of complexity I could add to that, but you already have so much to read.

Article copyright of Barbara Damrosch. Reprinted with permission.
Photo credit: D'Arcy Norman

Category : From the Garden

Date Added: Jan 2, 2008 Rating: 0.00 Votes: 0



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75. Take-away, give back

Editor's note: This article and photo were contributed by Liz Kirchner of Manchester, UK. They feature an inspiring man, Shorker Tashek, who grows apple trees by the thousands in a modest garden tucked behind his take-out restaurant, giving the seedlings out to his customers and anyone else he can. Through his trees and his life, Shorker reminds us all that one person can make a difference.



Standing hunched in a sleety drizzle, Shorker Tashek surveys his orchard.

The back garden of Kyae’s Pizza and Curry Take-away in Bury, UK is crammed with yearling apple trees, hundreds of them, maybe thousands. They're gushing from fruit boxes mounded with compost. They're sprouting from milk crates stacked in racks. They're stuffed in plastic pots. They're clustered shivering around our ankles in nooks of soil with no pots at all. A forest of cherries trees, head-high, in rows of rusting tomato puree cans huddle against a shed full of restaurant supplies - fat bundles of onions, stew pots, bright yellow tomato puree cans, sacks of chiliis. A white cat is sitting on a stack of burlap bags. Beyond the brick wall, a bus roars past spewing gravel and exhaust down Tottington Road, but in the rain, the garden smells sweet, cold, and soggy, like compost and cinnamon.

We hunker in the rain looking at the little trees. "I can tell you just the time I started planting," he says. "When my son was born. He is seven. I knew that if we don’t do this, the next generation will not respect us. They will say, 'How can we trust you? You have ruined the planet.'"

Your child's disapproval is strong motivation, surely, so. Tashek, 34, set about matter-of-factly greening the planet. In his native Bangladesh, he worked with volunteer organizations planting mangoes, bananas, and jackfruit to reduce hunger and bolster flood protection. In the UK for five years, he continues.

A giant hoarding above the gardens in brilliant blues and greens encourages passers-by to "Save the Planet. Save Yourself". People come everyday to take trees, he says.



His is the no-frills, no-nonsense "Grow trees. Give trees." approach. Tashek buys fruit-bearing trees, but plants apple seeds simply to produce plantable trees. Then he gives them away. One-by-one they go in little bundles along with the naan and cucumber salad to customers, neighbors, and friends at the take-away.

By the thousands they go to organizations like the Red Rose Forest, neighborhood Green Streets efforts. Elementary school classes replant barren fields with them. Garden centres hand them out at the till. "I grew 2,000 this year. Five thousand all together are in the gardens",
says Tashek.

There’s no knowing how many actually get into the ground, but the huge scale suggests quite a few. When it’s suggested that 5,000 trees is a lot of trees, he says, For one person it is a lot. For a country, it is nothing.

In from the cold, we drink hot chai on teal plastic couches under the take-away menu for pizza and poppadums, and newspaper clippings about Tash’s trees and his recent nomination for the prestigious Unilever Dragonfly Environmental Award.

"What he’s doing is to be commended", says Bury Councillor Dorothy Gunther. "Some of the trees are very small, but, you know, tall oaks from little acorns grow. Everything’s got to start somewhere. "

Saying good-bye and walking to town on that wintery afternoon, the lights are coming on in the houses, and I realize, there are apple trees in the gardens all along Tottington Road.

Story and photo copyright of Liz Kirchner of Manchester, UK.

Category : From the Garden

Date Added: Jan 2, 2008 Rating: 0.00 Votes: 0



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76. Brain Boosters

A child with good brain
health has the opportunity to be more successful in their schoolwork, and that
translates to a better...

Category : From the Garden

Date Added: Feb 23, 2008 Rating: 0.00 Votes: 0



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77. PMS and Pain

It’s no
secret that many women suffer through their monthly periods, experiencing
cramps, bloating and lower back pain, to name...

Category : From the Garden

Date Added: Feb 23, 2008 Rating: 0.00 Votes: 0



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78. 10 steps to planning your organic garden

These straightforward tips come courtesy of Charlie Nardozzi, senior horticulturist and spokesperson for the National Gardening Association. Follow them and you're sure to have great results this season.

1. Find the Right Spot. Like real estate, a successful organic garden is all about the right location. Find a spot in your yard with full sun (at least 6 hours), well-drained soil, and one that's within easy reach of the house.
2. Beef Up the Soil. Add organic matter such as grass clippings, leaves, compost, manure, hay and straw each fall. In spring, apply a 1/2- to 1-inch-thick layer of finished compost on beds before planting.
3. Raise it Up. Create raised beds (8 to 10 inches high, 3 feet wide) by mounding the soil and flattening the top. Soil in raised beds warms up and dries out faster in spring and is easer to work. You can reform the beds each spring or make the beds permanent by framing them with rot-resistant wood, plastic or stone.
4. Grow What You Like. Although it may seem obvious, grow crops you and your family love to eat. While bush beans, lettuces and tomatoes are some of the easiest vegetables to grow, if your family doesn't enjoy them, why grow them?
5. Select the Right Varieties. Grow varieties of vegetables and fruits adapted to your area. Check with local garden centers and fellow gardeners to find the best varieties to grow.
6. Start With Transplants. For the beginning gardener, purchase as many vegetables as possible as transplants from the garden center. Seeds are necessary for root crops, such as carrots and radishes, but transplants of most other vegetables are more likely to be a success.
7. Design Properly. Design your garden with a mix of flowers, vegetables, fruits and herbs. A mixed planting is less likely to get completely destroyed by insect, animal or disease attacks.
8. Plant Correctly. Follow package directions and plant at the proper spacing and depth. Thin seeded crops to the proper distance. Crowded plants become easily stressed and don't produce well.
9. Mulch. Maintain constant soil moisture and keep weeds at bay by mulching. Mulch cool-season crops such as strawberries, broccoli and lettuce with a 2- to 3-inch-thick layer of hay, straw or grass clippings. Mulch warm-season crops such as tomatoes, melons and cucumbers with plastic mulch to heat the soil.
10. Check for Insects. Inspect plants every few days for any insect activity. Handpick destructive insects and drop them in a can of soapy water.

Text credit: The National Gardening Association
Photo credit: Keeeps

Category : From the Garden

Date Added: Feb 23, 2008 Rating: 0.00 Votes: 0



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79. Interview with Michael Pollan

For those of you who are fans of Michael Pollan and his latest book, "In Defense of Food, this online interview is the next best thing to sitting down with him yourself. It comes courtesy of our filmmaking friends at Cooking Up A Story. Enjoy and be thinking about how you can "defend food" in your own family and community.

Category : From the Garden

Date Added: Feb 23, 2008 Rating: 0.00 Votes: 0



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80. The Best Nutrition is Natural

By Barbara Damrosch, published Thursday, February 14, 2007 in The Washington Post

Nature's gifts come in fancy wrapping. "Look at me!" the tomato shouts. "I'm red, I'm sweet, I'm juicy." The banana makes no less flashy a pitch: "Check out my E-Z-Peel skin!" It's a marketing strategy designed to lure creatures to eat fruits and thereby disperse their seeds.

You wouldn't think these goodies needed help selling themselves to us, but advertising by the ultra-processed food industry is a big distraction. Even recent boosts from science, trumpeting the nutritional value of fruits, vegetables and whole grains, seem to derail nature's mission. No sooner do we learn that a plant food is a package rich in disease-fighting antioxidants than somebody tries to take that complex package apart. Witness the beta carotene debacle of the '90s. On the strength that beta carotene, found especially in bright orange foods, might protect us from diseases such as cancer, suddenly beta carotene supplements were hot-selling items. Then studies found that the supplements might cause cancer instead. The conclusion: Get your beta carotene from carrots.

That's the central message of Michael Pollan's latest book, "In Defense of Food." In his usual clear, hit-the-nail-on-the-head style, Pollan traces our country's sorry journey to a less healthful diet, and he offers good, simple solutions -- the most noteworthy of which is to "eat food." Real food, that is, not a collection of cheap, dubious makeshifts assembled in a lab. Basic to his argument is the idea of food synergy, that a food "is more than the sum of its nutrient parts."

The trend toward medicalizing vegetables (breeding them to be higher in the flavonoid of the month) is perhaps better intentioned than turning food into pills, but to my mind it still smacks of what Pollan calls "nutritionism." Is it necessary to pack extra lycopene into a tomato and more carotene into a carrot, or vice versa? If you eat a diet rich in lots of different fruits and vegetables, grown organically and picked fresh, you will get all the nutrients you need.

One of Pollan's maxims is to choose food at the edges of the supermarket if you must shop there at all. The center aisles are a swirling nucleus of ever-changing fake foods with unpronounceable ingredients. Pick up something from the outer walls instead: an honest red cabbage or a fat beet. Then break through those walls to the fields and gardens beyond.

Granted, February is not the garden's best season, but in my pantry there are red paste tomatoes that I put up in summer, pink applesauce I made in fall, and even, in the cold greenhouse, a few last sweet winter carrots. And that's what I'll serve my valentine.

Article copyright of Barbara Damrosch. Reprinted with permission.

Category : From the Garden

Date Added: Feb 23, 2008 Rating: 0.00 Votes: 0



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