Community Supported Healthcare

June 22, 2009 at 11:16 am (Community, Musings)

doctorI wonder what it would take – if would even be possible – to create a truly community-supported health center that would achieve all of the following:

  • Provide basic healthcare – office visits, immunizations, birth control, in-office procedures (biopsies, vasectomies, mole removal, minor stitches, etc.), and simple lab work (urinalysis, blood draws, ob/gyn, bacterial cultures, etc.), and referrals to specialists
  • Offer appointments and walk-ins on extended hours, maybe 6:30am-9pm, 365 days per year (or close to it)
  • Pay an adequate number of doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, and full support staff a competitive living wage
  • Be funded by the surrounding community on a “subscription” model. You pay a monthly or yearly fee to the clinic, and you can partake of all the services of the clinic all year for free, or a minimal co-pay per office visit. No insurance would be accepted or billed; the idea is instead of paying a middleman, you support the clinic directly.

Could this work? Could it be entirely outside of the current insurance setup? If there was no insurance billing, would it save money or drive away potential clients? Would Americans go for this? How many practitioners would be needed? How many subscribers would be needed to support this? What if you added a chiropractor and/or physical therapist into the mix? Often, those aren’t covered by insurance anyway, so you might get some people to subscribe for that service only who would help to support the rest of the clinic.

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Learn to make pie crust!

June 18, 2009 at 11:26 am (Preserving Traditions)

cherry pieAre you daunted by the thought of making homemade pie crust? Come join Preserving Traditions on Sunday, July 12 for a sweet lesson. Our teachers, Mary Wessel Walker and her dad, Jim, will lead us through making a real lard-and-butter pie crust and tart cherry pie filling. (If you don’t care for lard, you’ll be able to use butter or shortening in a separate mixer.)

Each participant will take home a ready-to-bake cherry pie! You’ll need to bring the following:

  • One generous quart of fresh tart cherries (we’ll pit them at the Grange)
  • 2 cups of sugar
  • A stick of butter (4oz)
  • A pie plate

Also, let us know if you can bring any of the following:

  • A cherry-pitter, either mechanical or the handheld plunger type
  • A food processor with a steel blade
  • A rolling pin

…and let us know if you prefer not to use lard. We’ll have vegetarian/vegan options on hand for you.

Cost is $5 (free for members of the Grange). Space is limited! RSVP at http://cherrypie.sign-up-sheet.com/

Sunday, July 12
2-4:30 pm
Pittsfield Grange

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Amazing food work in Ann Arbor: Food Gatherers and Growing Hope

June 12, 2009 at 12:51 pm (Community, Food security, local food)

Yes. We Can Grow Turnips!I dropped off my first produce donation to Food Gatherers of the summer (19 lbs of turnips and greens) and got caught up in conversation with Dan, the head gardener for Food Gatherers. We chatted on the edge of a huge garden – or small field – of proto-produce: spinach, peas, 300 tomato plants, with room for hundreds of square feet of winter squash. If the plot was less than an acre, it wasn’t by much. In addition, there’s another plot out back with collards, cauliflower, and other brassicas. They call this the Gathering Farm.

The idea is twofold: They’ll distribute some of the goodies directly to clients and to the non-profits Food Gatherers serves. But they’ll also send large shipments of produce to the DeLonis Center, where Food Gatherers runs a kitchen skills training program. The participants there will process the tomatoes and such into tomato sauce and other heat-and-eat foods and freeze them. These products will then be distributed to shelters through the winter, when fresh produce is scarce

They’re also partnering this year with Growing Hope to establish community gardens in Ypsilanti, called the Faith and Food project. The basic idea is that Growing Hope helps churches and other neighborhood institutions with the logistics of turning city lots into vegetable gardens. The gardens are tended by the neighborhood and congregation, and food is shared out among them. But a bunch of that food is also earmarked for Food Gatherers, to be distributed to people who don’t have a garden in their neighborhood.

Man, I’m proud to live in this area. And inspired, too. I’ve been thinking that now that Preserving Traditions is up and running pretty well as far as monthly workshops go (I’m set for topics and presenters through 2009), I will focus more on the community-building side. Specifically, getting the community kitchen up and running. I want folks to come to view the kitchen as an extension of their own kitchen, where they can come and do larger food prep/preservation projects that they may not have the space or equipment for at home.

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Still time to sign up…

June 2, 2009 at 8:41 am (Preserving Traditions)

There are a few spots open in Sunday’s strawberry jam canning class! Details and RSVP here…

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Tammy’s Tastings Supper Club – Preserving Traditions Benefit!

May 27, 2009 at 10:13 am (Community, Preserving Traditions, local food)

Tammy Coxen of Tammy’s Tastings is Ann Arbor’s guru of ganache and doyenne of delights both sweet and savory. In addition to creating some of the best handmade truffles I’ve ever eaten – flavors like fresh garden mint, rosemary-lemon, and salt caramel – she’s a fabulous chef of dinner-type foods as well.

Tammy’s begun a new venture for the summer months when it’s too warm for chocolate:  Tammy’s Tastings Supper Club. The idea is that she will peruse the market for the freshest seasonal foods and combine them into a tasting menu for a private dinner for up to eight people. With food that fresh, she won’t be posting menus in advance,  but she lists the following sample menu on her web site:

Wild Mushroom Tartlette
Seared Scallop with Tarragon Leek Sauce
Salad of Baby Greens with Hazelnut Vinaigrette
Lake Perch with Beurre Blanc and Roasted Asparagus
Roasted Quail with Yellow Oyster Mushrooms, Pea Shoots and White Grits
Cheese Plate with Garnishes
Rhubarb Galette and Vanilla Ice Cream
Petit Fours

Dinners will also benefit local food groups, and she’s chosen Preserving Traditions as the first recipient! I will be helping her cook and serve the meal, and will probably say a few words about the group, but don’t worry – I won’t talk your ear off. This is really about the food, and experiencing Tammy’s creative style and exquisite execution.

Please see Tammy’s blog entry Tammy’s Tastings Supper Club for more information and to reserve a spot at the table June 6th.

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Learn to can strawberry jam!

May 13, 2009 at 8:00 am (Preserving Traditions)

strawberry jamCome learn to can with Preserving Traditions! We’ll be making a relatively low-sugar strawberry jam recipe that requires only three ingredients, but can be adapted to a variety of interesting flavor combinations.

Once the jam is made, we’ll learn how to can it in a simple water bath canner. This water bath technique can be used to can any jam, jelly, fruit, and many kinds of tomatoes and salsas.

Bring 3 quarts of fresh strawberries and 2 empty pint canning jars (or 4 half-pint jelly jars). We’ll provide all the other ingredients plus equipment, lids, and bands.

Space is limited to 15 people – please RSVP here!

Sunday, June 14th
2-4:30pm
Pittsfield Grange
3337 Ann Arbor-Saline Rd.
Ann Arbor, MI

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Yogurt and granola recipes from Preserving Traditions

May 12, 2009 at 8:54 am (Preserving Traditions, recipes)

yogurtJarSeven people joined us at the Preserving Traditions event at the Grange last Sunday to learn to make yogurt and granola. Yogurt, as a process, takes time but not much attention once the milk has come up to temperature. Granola is also easy, though you really need to watch the timer once it goes into the oven.

We made half a gallon of plain yogurt and three batches of granola: pineapple/coconut, sesame/currant, and “the kitchen sink” with wonderful crispy walnuts, sesame seeds, and several kinds of dried fruit. Even after our yogurt parfait buffet, there was plenty for each person to take home.

There’s lots of variation in recipes for both yogurt and granola. The instructions below are a good set of guidelines – don’t be afraid to play with them a bit to suit your taste.

Yogurt

  1. Heat one or two quarts of milk to 180 degrees. If you don’t have a thermometer, heat it until just before it boils. You want steam and a few bubbles, but not actual boiling.
  2. Cool it to 110 degrees – just barely warm to the touch.
  3. Take about 1/2 cup of milk out and dissolve your starter. You can use prepackaged starter or existing yogurt.
  4. Add the starter back to the big pot of milk and mix thoroughly.
  5. Pour into containers and keep warm for 4-8 hours. We used a cooler with a hot pack – you can use any method you can think of to keep the jars at around 90-100 degrees.
  6. Once it’s thickened, store in the fridge.

Yogurt notes:

  • You can use any kind of milk: skim, whole, creamtop, powdered, ultra-pasteurized, and even soy.
  • There’s a lot of variation using yogurt as starter. Best results come from homemade yogurt started with packaged starter, but you can also use Dannon plain yogurt – about 2-3 Tbl per quart of milk.
  • The thickening of the yogurt comes from keeping it warm during the incubation period.
  • The yogurt will reach maximum tartness (and lowest lactose levels) after 3-4 days.
  • It’ll keep at least 2 weeks in the fridge.

Granola

You can mix an match any flavor combination you like, but keep these proportions roughly equal:

  • 5 cups dry ingredients: rolled oats, other rolled grains, puffed grain cereal
  • 1 cup nuts or seeds
  • 1/2 cup oil plus 1/2 cup honey or other sweetener
  • 1 cup dried fruit and/or coconut

Method of assembly:

  1. In a large bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients and the nuts.
  2. Heat the honey and oil until it’s very liquid.
  3. Pour the honey and oil over the dry ingredients and stir to coat thoroughly.
  4. Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes, stirring every 5-10 minutes.
  5. When the nuts start to get toasty, or the oats start to brown, remove from oven.
  6. Stir in the fruit and coconut while it’s still warm.
  7. Cool and eat!

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Buncha stuff

May 10, 2009 at 7:44 pm (Musings, Preserving Traditions, recipes)

busyI’m not going into the details here, because this is not a “dear diary” kind of blog, but oh my, has a lot of Life Been Happening lately. My main task has been to keep my head above water, and if I have any left, those of my loved ones, so blogging…not so important lately.

In lieu of writing full posts on all the things I could be writing about, I give you a List of Stuff. Details may be forthcoming on some of them; if one intrigues you, let me know and I can bump it up in the queue.

Listiness:

  • Lentil pie: carrots, onions, and broccoli (pick a different 3rd veg next time) topped with seasoned lentils (not very soupy) and a layer of diced potatoes. Sprinkle top with salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic and a good spray of olive oil. Bake at 400 for 35 mins. Nummy.
  • Preserving Traditions continues to rock. We made yogurt and granola today, and it was intensely gratifying when we got to the sampling part of the day that the only noise was the clanking of spoons and the occasional grunted “Mmmm, tha’s good!”
  • A local cooking angel will be doing a small fundraiser dinner for PT in June. Details as they become available…
  • Found a 17-piece Farberware set for $99 after rebate today. Bought one and will split with the Grange.
  • Food allergy testing is a pain in the neck, but going ok.
  • I still have candy left from the awesome schmawesome Easter basket I got this year.
  • This town is full of brilliant, visionary, hard-working local food entrepreneurs. Soon, there may be local sauerkraut, kimchee, kombucha, and other fermented wonderfulnesses!
  • The peas in the greenhouse are up to my HIP. Spinach, lettuce, and a couple leaves of kale have been harvested.
  • In 2 hours this morning, I got the screenhouse and the strawberry bird netting up. They both need some tweaking, but they’re mostly ready. The number of garden infrastructure projects is down to 1 necessary and 4 would-be-nice projects, so that’s a huge relief.
  • I can plant the rest of the garden (almost) any time now.
  • I can now tie a bow hitch knot with one hand, thanks to a workshop at the cool weekend event I went to. It was my first NRA-subsidized event, but I didn’t learn to shoot because all those workshops were full by the time I registered.
  • I made my first solar-cook-while-at-work dinner: split pea soup. Just set everything up before work, and it was soup when we got home. Amended with a couple quick sides and dinner took 15 minutes and almost no cleanup.
  • There are volunteer squashes growing in the new middle garden. I think they are from the jack-o-lanterns that were composted out there last fall!
  • Gonna frost tonight; we’ll see if those Contender beans I’ve been saving are as frost-hardy as they seemed to be two years ago.

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Preserving Traditions May Event: Yogurt and Granola!

April 16, 2009 at 12:14 pm (Preserving Traditions)

cerealMom always said breakfast was the most important meal of the day. So bring your mom, or your kids, or think fondly of your own mom who’s far away, and come learn how to make your own yogurt and granola this Mother’s Day (May 10th) with Preserving Traditions! We’ll demonstrate the basics of making yogurt with no special equipment, and then we’ll concoct several varieties of granola together. You’ll also get to make a yogurt parfait with homemade cream-top yogurt, the granola we’ll make in class, and some local blueberries picked last summer.

We’ll provide rolled oats, oil, and sweeteners. Each person should bring a container to take home some granola, and one of the following:

  • One cup of puffed rice, kashi, or other puffed grain cereal
  • 3/4 c. bite-sized dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, cherries, diced apricots, diced apples, etc.)
  • 1/2 c. shelled nuts or seeds (almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds, etc.)
  • 1/2 c. “extras” – coconut, wheat germ, ground flax seed

RSVP here!

Note: Preserving Traditions is part of the Pittsfield Grange. Grange members attend all PT events free of charge. We request a donation of $5 from non-members to cover materials and use of the hall, or you can sign up for membership the day of the event.

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Veggie Trader

April 10, 2009 at 9:10 pm (Community)

PotatoesJust found out about a new swap list called Veggie Trader. Think Freecycle for garden produce! There’s not much there this time of year for our area, but there is a place where you can plan to specialize. For example, I’ll grow tomatoes and you grow cabbage, and we’ll swap come harvest time. It will also come in handy when we find ourselves buried in “whatever” later this year and want to trade it for “whatever else” someone in town might have.

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