Still Behind...

To be honest, I quit blogging because I thought that nobody was reading the blog. But I've come to find it's getting a very wee bit of traffic. Which means that hopefully the blog is having a positive impact on at least 455 of you!

So we are now in full summer produce mode, and this weekend was vegetable preparation/consumption madness! I spent the better part of the weekend eating, cooking and eating, and cooking and freezing produce. Here's a smattering of dishes:

- Butternut squash, lentil, carrot and apple puree for Evan
- blackberry and apple puree for Evan
- eggplant parmesean and homemade tomato sauce
- local pasta with squash from the garden, topped with local cheese
- caprese salad with tomatoes from the garden, local mozzarella and a friend's basil

All this produce is awesome, however, the fruit flies that I can not get rid of are not awesome. I hate fruit flies because they signify dirty, and I am not a dirty person. So while cooking and eating produce all weekend, I also set fruit fly traps and was cleaning like a crazy lady to deter the fruit flies. They may have won this battle, but I will win the war!!

Falling Behind...

Do not take my lack of blogging recently as a signal that we've quit the 100-mile diet. In fact, we're going stronger than ever! Here are some of our recent dinners, all which featured ingredients from within 100 miles:
- Pulled pork, corn on the cob, red skin potatoes, green beans
- Frittata with zucchini, squash, goat cheese, onions, basil and chives
- Chicken patties over salad and on the grill
- Vegetable grill extravaganza - if I can grill it, we can eat it!

Lunch and breakfast also continue to be going well. And I just polished off a pint of Geauga Maple Walnut ice cream from Mitchell's.

The baby is getting more mobile and summer means more projects. The garden also is going gang busters.

I promise I'll keep blogging. That's all for now though!

Do you know where your food comes from?

* Mom, you may not want to read this blog entry. I'm going to talk about food sources. Consider yourself warned.

My mom is the type of person who doesn't want to connect the dots between a hamburger and ... a cow. There, I said it. Hamburgers come from cows. I'm sorry but it's true. I used to be one of these types of people as well. When I bought chicken in a Styrofoam container from the grocery store, all I wanted to see was a clean, skinless trimmed piece of meat. I didn't want to consider where the meat came from.

The reason behind this fear was that I didn't want to know about the animals that were feeding me. Fast forward to today. I've learned a great deal about industrial meat sources and local meat sources. I know what I'm getting when I purchase either. I know that the generic beef I buy in a grocery store comes from a corn-fed cow that was on antibiotics and lived a short life in miserable conditions. I know that the grass-fed beef I buy from my herd share comes from a cow that grew up on pasture (which by the way, cows are physically supposed to eat grass and not corn - they can't tolerate corn, which is why they're given antibiotics) and was treated humanely. It also was part of a much larger farming system in which all the animals helped close the farming loop - the chickens come in to clean the fields and spread manure after the cows are done grazing, etc.

Before I started the 100-mile diet I had seriously considered becoming a vegetarian. But now that I know the meat I'm eating comes from animals who were healthy and happy, I feel better about consuming meat. Maybe some day I'll stop eating meat. But for now I'm happy being educated about that which I am consuming.

The Problem with Industrial Organic

I've always intended to read Omnivore's Dilemna, but I could never quite find the motivation to get me into such an informationally dense read. However, now that we're fully participating in the 100 mile diet, the Omnivore's Dilemna has provided much thought-provoking fodder.

Before embarking on the 100 mile diet, I was - like many of us - "greenwashed" into thinking that smacking the word Organic onto a product meant that it was in some way far healthier and much more sustainable than its commercial counterpart. However, I've come to learn that the industrial organic industry is just that...an industry. While many of the organic brands we've come to know by name today, such as Cascadian Farm, EarthBound Farm and Horizon, were once small, local businesses that were separate from industry, today they are unfortunately part of the organic industry. These companies started small, but then to keep up with demand, were forced to go big. But unfortunately we as consumers need to be educated on what industrial organic means.

In Omnivore's Dilemna, Pollan says that it takes 57 fuel calories to put 1 food calorie of EarthBound farms' baby greens on a table in Boston, Mass. The lettuce is grown organically in California but processed commercially and shipped across the country. Much energy is wasted in the transportation and packaging process. Similarly but different, much of the commercial organic milk we consume comes from cows who are treated no differently than non-organic-milk producing cows except for that they are given organic hay.

So what's a consumer to do? For starters, don't be greenwashed. Do your research. Find out where companies get their ingredients, and how organic those ingredients really are Second, consider purchasing local as frequently as possible. Local gives you an opportunity to get to know your farmers and products, and significantly diminishes the energy needed to transfer the products from farm to table.

The Berry Trifecta (aka cheap berries)

I like to embark upon what I call "The Berry Trifecta" each summer. The Berry Trifecta comprises picking strawberries, blueberries and raspberries in that order each summer. For strawberries I always head out to Red Wagon Farm, blueberries are from Martin Blueberries or a couple farms in Vermillion, OH, and red raspberries are from Rosby's Berry Farm.

Berries are delicious. And they are full of antioxidants and other nutrients that make them good for you. They also can be very expensive.

At the farmers market, I've seen berries for about $5-6 a quart. And in the grocery store, blueberries and raspberries will sometimes run you as much as $4 a pint.

Picking berries on your own, however, is rediculously cheap. This weekend I picked 5 pounds of blueberries for $12.50. I picked 6 quarts of strawberries for $10 earlier this summer. Berries also freeze very well, so there's no need to worry about them going bad if you don't eat them all fresh (which let's be honest is never a problem for me).

How do you find pick your own farms in your part of the country? My favorite site is http://www.pickyourown.org/index.htm. Check it out, and get out there to pick berries while the pickins' good!

Refrigerator Pickles

I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I have been told that my refrigerator pickles are on par with the best commercial pickles on the market. (My friend Kelly is one of my biggest pickle fans, and I take it as a HUGE compliment as she is quite the aficionado of sauces and crispiness of food!)

The best part about my refrigerator pickles is that they are so easy to make. I just made my first batch this morning. I picked the pickling cucumbers from my garden, the dill from my herb garden, and had some garlic from the CSA. I personally love refrigerator pickles over traditional canned pickles because you can make them in small batches and there's no need for boiling and canning.

The hardest part about refrigerator pickles is waiting the 7 days for them to cure!

Here's the recipe:

Refrigerator Dill Pickles
3 cups water
6 tablespoons vinegar
3 tablespoons canning salt
Cucumbers, cut into spears
Garlic cloves
Fresh dill sprigs
Dried red pepper flakes

Combine water, vinegar and salt; stir until salt is completely dissolved.

Cut cucumbers as desired (spears, chips, etc.)

Place 1 clove garlic, 1 spring dill and dried red pepper flakes (to your liking) in each jar. Fill jar full of cucumber pieces. Pour brine into the jar, making sure all cucumber pieces are covered. Cap and refrigerate for 5-7 days before eating.

It's that easy. Enjoy!

CSA vs. a la Carte? A Win, Win.

Is it more economical to purchase local items from a CSA or a la carte? First, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a way for consumers to buy local, seasonal food directly from a farmer. The farmer offers “shares” to member consumers, aka a weekly bag of seasonal produce.

Last year we were members of City Fresh; this year we’re members of the Fresh Fork Market CSA. I LOVE the Fresh Fork Market CSA because we’re getting not only fruits and vegetables but meats, cheese and grains. Plus there’s the option of buying extra items a la carte at pick-up (kind of like grocery shopping off the back of the truck!)

So back to my original question – is it more economical to purchase local items from a CSA or a la carte? Based on straight cost, the CSA is the way to go. The CSA has the advantage of purchasing from the farmer in bulk and therefore can sell items to its consumers at a cheaper price. However, the downside to the CSA is that you don’t get to customize your order. From week to week you can’t be exactly certain what items you’ll receive (you can do a pretty good job guessing though based on the month and what’s in season – e.g., you’re never going to get asparagus in August but probably will get tomatoes and corn).

However, I also like to purchase items a la carte from the farmers market and the back of the Fresh Fork truck. My trick is to take a sneak peak at what’s in store in the CSA each Tuesday (by checking out Fresh Fork’s online newsletter), and then purchase any filler items at the farmers market on Wednesday, at CSA pick up on Thursday, at the herdshare on Monday or at the grocery store throughout the week.

I can honestly say that eating local has been much easier than I first anticipated. It’s not nearly as costly as I thought it would be, and obtaining products has been a breeze. It does take a bit of time, but it’s definitely worth the effort!

Score! Another Added Bonus

Because I've been obtaining all of our food this summer in a piecemeal fasion - CSA, Farmers Markets, Herdshare and occassional grocery shopping - I haven't done an enormous, 10-bag food shop that requires a vehicle to lug the groceries home.

My husband and I also just bought bicycles last month - something we should have done a LONG time ago. We absolutely love our bikes and have been taking them everywhere and using them daily! We can't wait till our son is old enough to use a bike seat so that we can go on family outings.

Anyway, last night's herdshare pick up was light. Just some red potatoes, spelt flour and quinoa. The house where I pick up the food is only a few miles from our house, so instead of hopping in the car I decided to ride my bike to pick up the food. Talk about local and sustainable! I used zero carbon emissions to pick up the food, and it was all grown within 100 miles of home.

I love this diet :)

Some 100-Mile Breakfast Options

When we first started the 100-mile diet, I thought that breakfast would prove the most challenging meal of the day. However, breakfast hasn't been a problem at all. Here's what's been on the menu thus far:

- Omelets: Featuring eggs from the herdshare, grass-fed cheeses from a variety of local sources, sausage or bacon from the herdshare, and local veggies from the farmers market, CSA and/or our garden!
- Toast and jam: Bread from the Breadsmith and local jam purchased at the farmers market.
- Oatmeal: I bought some rolled oats from our herdshare and top the oatmeal with local honey and a splash of local milk.
- Parfait: We scored some local yogurt from our Fresh Fork Market CSA and have topped it with local berries and granola from the herdshare.

Hope this provides you with some easy, delicious breakfast options. Enjoy!

100-Mile Baby Food

Baby food is very easy to make, it just takes a little bit of time. I have the Beaba Babycook, so really it doesn't take much time at all! With the Babycook, I can make a batch or two of food at a time - you can steam and puree the food in the same machine, so it's minimal prep and clean up.

With all the local meat and produce we've been getting, it's been really easy to keep up on the baby food in our house. Our son loves it, and I feel better providing him fresh fruits and vegetables that were picked at the peak of ripeness and treated with minimal pesticides. The meat comes from local Amish farmers who treat the animals humanely and use minimal antibiotics and zero hormones.

While I've made up most of my recipes on my own, some favorites come from "Top 100 Baby Purees". My son's favorites are blueberry parfait; chicken, sweet potato and apples; and anything with carrots.

Here's a batch I made this weekend (a bigger batch so I used the full-size food processor), including local broccoli, zucchini, red potatoes, and sweet peas. I freeze it in ice cube trays and defrost one at a time, so this batch will last us a few weeks.

If you haven't made your own baby food, you should try it! You'll be amazed how much better it tastes and looks than the packaged stuff. And your child will thank you for it someday, too!

Yesterday's Purchases, and Last Night's Dinner

As I said yesterday, I had $49 to spend at the Cleveland Clinic Farmers Market yesterday afternoon. Here's what I bought:

- 4 tomatoes, 1 zucchini, 2 pattypan squash, 2 cucumbers, 1 green pepper, pint of sugar snap peas - $12
- 2 bunches of fresh herb pasta - $3
- 1 loaf of multigrain bread - $4.50
- 2 heads of fresh field lettuce - $5
- 1 large bucket of apples - $6
- My splurge items (but so delicious and totally worth the money): 1 quart each of cherries, blueberries and golden raspberries - $16

Grand total: $46.50

When you think about it, this is a lot of loot and will go a long way. Berries are always the most expensive, but the veggies are very reasonably priced. I'm going to do a price comparison at some point to find out how to get the most bang for my buck (and to try and debunk the myth that shopping at the farmers market is much more pricey than at the grocery store!)

Last Night's Dinner
My birthday was yesterday, and my parents arrived from Cincinnati. We decided to have a cookout. On the menu was:
- Burgers: ground beef from herdshare, local swiss cheese from Heinen's, chicken patties from Tea Hills Farm (they have the best chicken patties!), and buns from Breadsmith
- Tossed salad (with fresh veggies from farmers market)
- Local roasted potatoes
- Broccoli salad (not local, from Heinen's, purchased by my mom)

I was excited to see that my parents are supportive of our 100-mile diet. I'm not surprised though, since they really are the ones who instilled my values in me. My dad grabbed some milk out of our fridge this morning, it's Hartzler Farm milk in a glass bottle, and he said: "Wow, I haven't seen a glass milk bottle in a long time. Looks like we're 'catching up with the Amish'." "Catching up with the Amish" is one of my Dad's favorite phrases - he really admires their culture and lifestyle, and he thinks that we would be a lot happier as a people if we were more like the Amish. I can't wait to visit our herdshare Amish farmers in September to see if my Dad has been right all along!

Let's Find Out What $49 Will Get Me at the Farmers Market

One of the most common arguments against farmers markets is: "They cost too much."

How can a family on a tight budget obtain enough food at a farmers market to subsist? I hope that, over the course of the next two months, I can show how its possible! So my challenge today is to spend my $49 (I spent $1 on coffee this morning) at the farmers market, and then reveal what we're eating over the next few days and the cost per meal. (HINT: $49 will go a long way if you spend your money wisely and get creative!)

So stay tuned - I'll be back tomorrow with the goods and how we're using them!

Today's Lunch and An Added Bonus!

For lunch today, I have a sandwich, soda water and melon.

The sandwich: Breadsmith bread; lettuce, tomato and cucumbers from the farmers market; and Mackenzie Creamery herbed goat cheese. This sandwich is honestly delicious. I thought it would be missing something without any meat or condiments, but it rocks my world. Dan agrees.

The soda water: We drink so much soda water that we invested in a Sodastream two years ago. I love that we can make homemade soda water for almost free (need to buy new chargers every few months), and we're producing no waste.

The melon: This is my only non-100-mile item for lunch. (Fortunately for me its not July yet!)

The added bonus: This is a garbage-less lunch! I pack my lunch in a cooler, and use resuable containers, therefore producing no waste! An added benefit of the 100-mile diet means that we'll be eating out less and purchasing fewer items that produce waste (packaged foods). Not only is the 100-mile diet healthy for our family and supportive of the local economy, but its helping us produce less waste and therefore reducing our environmental footprint. A win, win, win!

What Happens When You Send Your Husband to the Farmers Market

I sent Dan to the farmers market today to pick up vegetables and fruit. He came home with one cucumber, two chocolate chip cookies, and this cinnamon roll (almost the size of his head).

Me: Dan, what the hell is that?
Dan: They didn't have many veggies. I LOVE the 100-mile diet.

Last Night's Mostly Local Dinner

As I mentioned yesterday, I went to the farmers market and picked up groceries to last us till the next farmers market trip on Saturday. Last night we had the pierogis with zucchini, squash and onions, and green beans. Here's the recipe/ingredient list:

Pierogis (local-made, not sure about source of ingredients), sauteed in olive oil
Zucchini, summer squach and onions (all local), sauteed in olive oil
Steamed green beans (local)









Total cost of dinner: $10

I also made some baby food for Evan last night, and I'll post some of my recipes and the local ingredient list at a later time.

Today's Farmers Market Finds

Each Wednesday and Saturday this summer I will go grocery shopping at my local farmers markets. I'm extremely fortunate to have a farmers market literally at my doorstep at work. The Cleveland Clinic Farmers Market is a way our organization demonstrates its commitment to the health and wellness of our local communities, including the people and the physical environment.

Each Wednesday about 30 vendors set up on a green space on campus, and thousands of employees, patients and visitors shop for local goods. Today's finds were fabulous, as usual!

- Pierogis and hummus (we'll need to cut these out when the formal 100-mile diet begins as the ingredients aren't all local)
- Bread and chocolate chip cookies (a girl needs to snack!)
- Garlic and Chive fresh pasta
- zucchini, patty pan squash (see right) and cucumbers
- two types of lettuce

Tonight we're going to have the pierogis topped with the zucchini and squash. Tomorrow night we'll have the pasta with a salad, and Friday we'll have some local chicken burgers with some local red potatoes and green beans. Yummy! (Once we get into the actual challenge I'll start posting recipes).

Our First Herd Share Pick Up

I just returned home from our first herd share pick up. Technically we're not part of the herd share because we don't get the raw-milk dairy products...yet. To be in the herd share means to pay each month to have a farmer take care of cows, and then you reap the products - raw milk, butter, cream, yogurt. We sampled the raw milk last week and it was VERY grassy tasting. I've heard that raw milk is the most grassy tasting in the spring though because that's when there's the most grass. So I was told to re-try it again later this summer when the cows start eating more hay. At that point if it tastes better, we'll join the herd share.

Anyway, we're not technical herd share members, but we are part of the group that gets goods from the Amish farmers in Holmes County (90 miles away). The Yoder Family, which I referenced in my last post, is a temperate Amish family that uses technology to help with the family business. So we place our orders online each week, and then one member of the herd share travels to the Yoder family farm each Monday to pick up the goods for all the family. Since it's our first week I didn't order much, but here's what we got:

- Chicken breasts
- Ground beef
- Eggs
- Granola
- Granola Bars

I just finished a granola bar and it was yummy. I'm excited we joined the herd share and am looking forward to the goodies to come!

Exceptions

Some hard-core 100-mile dieters are absolute purists. I am going to make a few concessions for our first go at this. Let’s face it – some things just don’t grow within 100 miles of Cleveland but are kind of necessary. Therefore, those few things will be allowed. After all, this isn’t so much about depriving my family as it is about demonstrating that it’s relatively simple to eat local.

Here’s what we’ll be consuming from outside a 100-mile radius:
- Coffee
- Dark chocolate (I.can’t.live.without.chocolate.)
- Olive oil & balsamic vinegar (for cooking and salads)
- Bananas and avocados for Evan (his developing brain and body need the nutrients from these guys)
- Alcohol (although we’ll try to drink mostly local wines and Great Lakes beer, which is a Cleveland beer. I contacted Great Lakes and found out that their ingredients are from an international supply chain, but the company gets the produce for its restaurant from local growers and is growing local hops for one of their beers this fall.)

We’ll also make exceptions to the 100-mile diet when we occasionally eat out and go on vacation this summer (although we’ll try to choose local foods if available).

Any thoughts/suggestions/substitutions for the items above that we may be able to get locally?

This is how we do it

(Yes, you’re supposed to sing this blog entry title to the 1995 hit song by Montell Jordan!)

How are we going to subsist while eating items from within a 100-mile radius of Cleveland? Here the plan:

- Farmers Markets: The North Union Farmers Market operates farmers markets at several locations around Cleveland throughout the summer. And fortunately, one is located at Cleveland Clinic, my place of employment, on Wednesdays! The other I attend regularly is at Crocker Park on Saturdays. The farmers markets will provide us with:
o Bread from Breadsmith in Lakewood (they try to use as many local ingredients as possible)
o Pasta from Ohio City Pasta (they also try to use as many local ingredients as possible)
o Produce from the various vendors
o Meats, cheese and grains from the various vendors

- Herdshare: I’m happy to announce that as of this week, we’re members of an Amish herdshare run by the Yoder Family in Amish Country, Ohio. While we’re not technically herd owners, more on that later, we are part of the group and therefore are enabled to buy from the Yoders’ online site:
o Beef, chicken, pork, etc.
o Eggs
o Produce
o Grains
o Cheese
o Raw milk*

- Grocery Store: Heinen’s in Cleveland carries Hartzler Family Dairy milk. They also carry Mitchell’s Homemade ice cream, and you can imagine my excitement when I discovered this weekend that Michell’s is featuring flavors made from ingredients within 100 miles of Cleveland :)

- Our garden!! This is the one that excites me most. This year we’re growing tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, zucchini, squash, cucumbers and herbs.

*You must be part of the herdshare in order to purchase the raw milk. Raw milk sales are only permitted in Ohio if you are a herd owner, aka a part owner of a cow. I’m not ready to jump into the raw milk scene yet.

So this list looks pretty comprehensive, right? It is, but it isn’t. What’s most daunting to me is that our menu will essentially be created for us by what’s available each week. For example, asparagus and lettuce are going gang-busters right now, so we’re eating lots of it. However, later this summer asparagus and lettuce won’t be available at the markets. Which means we won’t eat it.

Like I said, we’re using the month of June to gear up, clean out the cupboards at home and stock up on local items.

Why the 100-Mile Diet?

As the years have gone by, I've taken a greater interest in all-things sustainability. (I don't consider myself a "tree-hugging hippie", but I do go by the nickname Green Kristine.) For me, living sustainably isn't a fad. It's actually more of a step back in time. It's about a return to norms that existed when my great grandparents were living - eating quality foods as a family, purchasing products to last (not be tossed after one use) - thinking about how we can make as little impact during our time here on earth as possible, in order to protect the health and welfare of future generations.

Anyway, this all came to a headway after I finished reading "No Impact Man" a couple weeks ago. I realized that since my son was born in October, I had become pretty complacent in my sustainability practices. (Anyone who has had an infant probably understands why being green got pushed to the back burner.) But now that Evan is getting older - including eating table food - and I've recently started working part-time, I don't have any excuses.

So my husband and I have decided that during the months of July and August, our family is going on the 100 Mile Diet. Everything we consume (*with a few exceptions, which will be discussed at a later time), must come from within 100 miles of our home in Cleveland. We think the 100 mile diet is a great opportunity to support our local economy, reduce our impact on the environment (more about that at a later time too) and ensure that we're getting the highest quality foods.

So stay tuned...lots more to come. We're using the month of June to gear up for the diet, and I'll use June to blog more about the whys and hows of the diet.