In Response

To the NYTimes article The 11 Best Foods You Aren't Eating: Yes we are!
The eleven "healthiest foods on earth" were listed as follows:

1. beets
   
2. cabbage
   
3. swiss chard
   
4. cinnamon
   
5. pomegranate juice
   
6. dried plums
   
7. pumpkin seeds
   
8. sardines
   
9. turmeric
   
10. frozen blueberries
    
11. canned pumpkin

I'd rather eat whole pomegranates than buy the juice that doesn't even taste like the fruit it came from, but, alas, they grow in the Sonoran desert! Instead of sardines, there's flax, which can be grown locally and has no risk of heavy metals.

As for the rest, wintergreens has got you covered.

Food for All

I like Great Barrington, MA. I go there occasionally for meetings, and always find things that impress me: such a nice food co-op with bulk kombucha, local money called BerkShares that have improved the local economy, beautiful ruins of an old fairground (the ruins, not animal racing!), the Orion Magazine office.

During previous visits I've noted signs of well cared for feral cats, and this last time learned about the T.N.R. organization responsible. I'm impressed with Berkshire Animal D.R.E.A.M.S. because trap-neuter-release programs are a challenge to implement, and even harder to get funded.

Beacon has its own [significant] homeless cat population. There are many volunteers working to spay and neuter these cats, build shelters, track colonies, and keep everyone fed and healthy. But Beacon does not have a funded organization like the Berkshires does, so that population is ever-growing.

wintergreens is actively involved in the TNR efforts in Beacon (part of what we're talking about when we blather on about ALL of Beacon's citizens deserving to be well fed). When this issue comes up again as part of the city's budget, I hope you'll support your neighbor cats, too.

Distribution - January 10, 2010

Woohoo, the first distribution of 2010! Here's what we've got:

• Purple pickled cauliflower (Madura Farm)
  
• Onions (Morgiewicz Farm)
  
• Frozen peaches (Glorie Farms)
  
• Frozen pesto (basil from wintergreens' garden, garlic from Huguenot Street Farm)
  
• Carrots (Huguenot Street Farm)
  
• Dried red beans (Cayuga Pure Organics)
  
• and, fresh from the greenhouse, Mesclun baby salad mix (Madura Farm)

Let's start with pickled cauliflower. It's not made with purple cauliflower, but white, and gets its color from a bit of purple cabbage thrown in during fermentation. The brine is hot pink, but the cauliflower itself is sort of a subtle pastel pink, to contrast with its sharp taste. It has some vinegar and hot chili added, but tastes closest to crunchy kraut, with an edge. It's a great accompaniment to mild flavors or soft textures. I'm eating mine snuggled next to mashed potatoes.

Put onions in all hot things (and some room temp salads, too), and put peaches in or on anything cold. Sweet peaches in winter—does it get better than that?

The pesto is made with basil, pine nuts & walnuts, garlic, sea salt, and olive oil. It is very concentrated, and should go a long way. I put my jar in the fridge to thaw first, scrape some off the top & mix with additional olive oil for use (or blend with tofu and spinach for a healthy version). I then put a bit of extra oil on top of what's left in the jar so that it doesn't discolor. It will keep in the refrigerator this way for quite some time. The basil is extra special, since it's grown with seed from the Hudson Valley Seed Library.

Carrots are holding up great in the root cellar. They're amazing little beasts—enjoy them!

We're thrilled to include New York State beans in the distribution. My taste buds and stomach will tell you that Cayuga Pure grows beautiful beans. But before I'd even tasted them I admired them, so glossy compared to those other, dingier red beans! But what to do with all those pretty beans?


Last but not least, we have very nice mesclun mix (heavy on spicy arugula). Many of you told me you'd had too much of EVERYTHING over the holidays. I bet you didn't have too much fresh greens!

Go forth and eat, and remember to bring back your jars for the next helping.

Beacon Bagel + wintergreens = TLA

Did you carve the sign for true-love-always in trees and wet cement as a child, or did I live in a weird subculture of freaks? No, no, I'm positive you made TLA signs, too.

Well, I feel all warm and fuzzy for Beacon Bagel. Because the market was closed, we held our last distribution of 2009 there, in the front window, with heat and coffee and food. Delightful!

Thanks to Anik and Art for helping out the C.S.A., but also for working so hard to run a great local business. We really appreciate you!

Food Art

A word about your tea towels from last distribution, and the artist who made them:

Tea towels have everything to do with a functional kitchen. They are reusable for practically forever and let you forego paper towels and napkins, and they make every kitchen chore easier. I use mine to move hot things because I never seem to have potholders close by. I use them, with a piece of string, to keep bugs and dust out of crocks of fermenting food. I wash my hands twelve hundred times a day and need them to dry off. I air dry stacks of clean dishes on them. I use them as a fine strainer.

Putting a calendar on a tea towel ups their functionality one more notch. People in England and Ireland have been making calendar tea towels for a long time—you often bump into them in vintage shops.

Claudia Pearson, the creator of your 2010 calendar tea towel, is a Brooklyn illustrator and children's book author who hails from England. She loves the farmers market and is very interested in local and seasonal food. You can check out her lovely portfolio here. For the food obsessed, she's collaborating with chef Sung Uni Lee to create a series of illustrated recipes that are simple and vegetarian. You received the recipe card for tipsy leeks, and Claudia's just posted one for fuschia mash.

Art and food seem like a funny combination to some, but without aesthetics and creative experimentation, we'd never enjoy eating (or cooking) as much as we do!

Desert Food

Someone at the market said they thought I'd be bummed living in the desert, because there wouldn't be any local food. Hogwash! Or, more appropriately, javelinawash! The food literally grows on trees...










A taste of the Sonoran desert includes (in order of appearance) pomegranates, mesquite, saguaro fruit, prickly pear tunas, pecans, kumquats, grapefruits, dates, and olives. Swap Meet vendors had the beds of pickup trucks overflowing with oranges and lemons.

Thanks to The Firefly Forest for the saguaro fruit picture. Check out that blog to see beautiful bats eating from a hummingbird feeder.