Eat Close To Home

I’m heading out for the woods and rivers and won’t be online for several days.

But when I get back…get ready for details of the Em and Laura Project!

Hey, folks! I’m deciding which of these events to do in April for Preserving Traditions. The one that doesn’t get picked probably won’t happen this year at all, as the rest of the year’s events are tied to what foods are in season. Which would you rather do? (Please vote only once  and note – it’s the same poll listed here and at the PT web site.)

Tom Vilsack “broke pavement” today to turn some paved areas around the USDA offices into the first “People’s Garden” for the department Lincoln called the “People’s Department.” Read the full article, then tell me…

Did I miss something, or is there no mention of food gardening anywhere in here? Is this really going to work like a community garden, where you get your plot and grow your veggies? Or is it more about green landscaping than growing food? I’m all for green landscaping and reducing concrete, but it seems a bit odd to me that the USDA wouldn’t have something more … agricultural … in their garden(s).

Oh. Wait. This is the USDA. They don’t want any competition for those 10,000 acre monoculturists who are teetering on the edge of solvency…

Have you seen this? It’s Obama’s agenda for rural America. Some excerpts (italics mine; some items reworded for brevity and clarity):

• Funnel subsidies to small farms, not agribusinesses
• Ban meat packers from owning livestock
• Strictly regulate CAFOs
• Establish Country of Origin Labeling
• Encourage Organic and Local Agriculture
• Encourage Young People to Become Farmers
• Partner with Landowners to Conserve Private Land
• Support Small Business Development: Provide capital for farmers to create value-added enterprises, like cooperative marketing initiatives and farmer-owned processing plants. Establish a small business and micro-enterprise initiative for rural America.
• Connect Rural America with broadband
• Combat Methamphetamine
• Improve Healthcare
• Improve Rural Education: Provide incentives for talented individuals to enter the teaching profession, including increased pay for teachers who work in rural areas. Create a Rural Revitalization Program to attract young people to rural America and retain them. Increase research and educational funding for Land Grant colleges

I’m speechless. In a good way.

The town I grew up in has about 2000 people. The goal of most of the college-bound students (perhaps 20-25% of the class) is “get the hell out of here ASAP and only come back for Thanksgiving.” Small towns and rural areas have huge problems with alcohol, drugs, unemployment, crumbling schools…and they get less attention than inner cities because the overall population is smaller.

So I’m thrilled to see these goals, which touch not only food and environmental issues that are close to my heart, but also infrastructure and quality of life issues, too.

I’m going to buy some Beauregard sweet potato slips (plants) from Johnny’s. Twelve plants are $13 but 25 plants are only $15.50. Does anyone want to try a dozen plants and split the cost?

Is anyone ordering seeds from Fedco this year? I’d like a $1 packet of Sweet Meat squash seeds, but Fedco adds a $5 surcharge to any order under $30. But if I could piggy back on someone’s existing order…

…”Preserving Traditions” as a name for the grange-based cooking group?

After reading this and this about how 95% of all canned tomato products come from California, I did a little digging.

My absolute favorite pizza sauce in the world is Dei Fratelli brand. It’s a very fresh-tasting sauce, not heavy-handed with the oregano, and it has no HFCS. I’ve noticed before that the distributor (Hirzel) is located in Toledo, Ohio, but I’d never been sure where they got their tomatoes. I went looking today, and the news is very, very good for midwesterners!

Key facts (from http://www.deifratelli.com/mediakit.html):

• All their tomatoes are grown in NW Ohio, NE Indiana, and Southern Michigan. Hirzel has its own large farming operation, and they also buy from about 30 family farms in the area.
• All tomatoes are certified non-GMO. Hirzel supplies the plants to most of their farmers.
• Many of the farmers use organic farming practices, even though the percentage of organic tomatoes in the finished product isn’t high enough to label the tomatoes “organic.”
• You can buy online, or at Meijer (at least the pizza sauce).
• Most items are about $1 per 15oz can – about half the price of organics shipped in from California.

I’m really excited about this! Dei Fratelli tomato products hit a really good mix of local, sustainably-produced, delicious, and affordable.

In a 100% biased election process, the judge has voted unanimously with herself* and declared the winner of last week’s Pantry Recipe Contest to be…STOVIES! The winner will receive an all-expenses paid weekend at the gorgeous Rooms at Grayfield Bed and Breakfast in Jonesville, Michigan. Perhaps if you ask the chef nicely, she’ll prepare Stovies for you while you’re there.

Ok, ok, so my mom submitted this recipe. I can’t believe I didn’t remember it myself – it’s a tasty part of my childhood. Dad brought this recipe to the family, and we often ate it when he cooked. Mom sez:

Sautee a chopped onion and 2 or 3 cooked diced potatoes. Add a can of corned beef and half the can (start with less) of water. Add curry powder to taste. Can be served with an egg on top, too. Easy to double up on potatoes and feed four.

The curry adds a really interesting twist on the plain salty flavor of the corned beef. One of my chief memories of this dish is the way it makes my tongue tingle. That’s the turmeric in the curry powder, and I have a similar sensation when eating Indian food these days. Come to think of it, I was probably the only kid in my town (of 2000) who knew what curry even was in the mid-80s.

Thanks, Mom, for the reminder. Now I need to find a source of local, free-range, canned corned beef… *grin*

* No, this isn’t always the case…