Eat. Drink. Better.

Apple harvest time arrives at the best and worst time on our Wisconsin farm and B&B, Inn Serendipity. As four bushels of apples sit on my front porch, I’m reminded of all those right reasons: the crisp flavor of fresh apples, appreciation of the harvest bounty and the tempting aroma of a pie baking in the oven.

Apple pies baking in the oven. That’s where I remember the “worst of time” mantra: apple season, like everything else on the farm this time of year, arrives during that crazy-busy, over-abundant time of year called “fall.” The final bounty of garden booty needs harvesting, along with a mile-long laundry list of farm chores that need wrapping up before the winter winds start to blow. Not ideal timing to be in the kitchen rolling piecrust. Actually, I can’t even see my counter top to roll a crust this time of year, as it is overloaded with tomatoes, zucchini and everything else in need of processing.

But don’t think this chaos of fall causes me to give up on pie making. The secret? Simplify the process. Our Inn Serendipity house favorite from our Edible Earth cookbook, Oat Apple Pie, serves up a good example of super simple pie making, as it doesn’t call for a rolled piecrust. Rather, the crust is pressed oatmeal dough, kind of like apples wrapped in a big, chewy oatmeal cookie. By rethinking the traditional pie model, you now have both cookies and pie wafting from the oven. Priceless.

Here’s the recipe, made from basic ingredients you probably have in your pantry right now. I easily adapt this for vegan B&B guests by substituting vegan margarine for the butter. This is also a great recipe for beginning pie-makers (and folks like myself with produce piling up on the counter) as there is no rolled crust. Read the rest of this entry »

With all the news surrounding food safety, global pollution, misguided government food policies, and the myriad of other problems faced by consumers, it’s always comforting to occasionally read some good news.  Here’s a bit of uplifting news.  An organization, Edible Schoolyard, bringing gardening knowledge to junior high school kids in urban areas.

The program strives to teach inner city youth about gardening and consuming fresh, seasonal produce.  From its own website, Edible Schoolyard specifically defines its goal of involving students “in all aspects of farming the garden and preparing, serving, and eating food as a means of awakening their senses and encouraging awareness and appreciation of the transformative values of nourishment, community, and stewardship of the land.”

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A visionary, inspiring image:  “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food.”

No, this isn’t some crunchy, organic non-profit’s local food campaign or a new Slow Food slogan.  This message comes to us fresh from our United States Department of Agriculture.  “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” is a national effort collectively launching this week, designed to build vibrant local and regional food systems that provide healthful food and build the economic base of rural communities.  It showcases the importance of the connection between us and our food sources and includes $65 million in new funding initiatives.

The fact that this message comes from the USDA represents the fresh crop of vision under the Obama Administration.  Thanks to the efforts of USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan, there’s a new ingredient at the USDA that has the potential to cook up something big:  leadership.  Harvesting inspiration from back in 1862 when Abraham Lincoln established the USDA as the “People’s Department,” this week’s collective efforts takes a transforming perspective on the relationship between our food and us:  personal responsibility. Read the rest of this entry »

Summer brings out life’s busy side for all of us, from garden duties to a packed outdoor agenda to sunny social gatherings. But don’t solely blame our modern lifestyle for the jammed summer schedule. Living a busy, abundant lifestyle during the warmer months is completely in flow with living seasonally; the key right now is to recognize and embrace the signs of fall and slow things down.

“Summer signifies a time of high energy, spending time in the outdoors and strong creative and social output,” explains Charlene Torchia, co-owner of Journey Inn, a green bed and breakfast in west central Wisconsin where she and her husband, John Huffaker, lead workshops helping folks connect with seasonal living. “Fall ushers in a time of slowing down, building our energy reserves, reflection and renewal.”

Our food choices play an important role in embracing this seasonal lifestyle. “Eating local and fresh directly connects you with the season,” explains Torchia. “In the peak of summer, our menus focus on raw, fresh items like salad greens or outdoor grilling. The fall crops naturally bring our cooking indoors, with soups and stews simmering on the stove.”

But in today’s 24/7 world, such natural, seasonal transitions can often be neglected. Between the busy, advertising-hyped “back to school” season and the bustle of the holidays around the corner, our fall schedules are often no different than the peak of summer. Here are some tips from Journey Inn to embrace the autumn season and savor the inspiration of fall:

1. Show Gratitude
“Draw inspiration from this harvest time of year and express gratitude, especially for the abundance of food and flavors we’ve enjoyed all summer long,” suggests Torchia. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s easy enough to eat local in spring and summer. Your garden is booming, CSA’s are in full effect, and farmers markets abound! So how can you make that bounty last into the winter, when fresh produce is a little more scarce? Here are some DIY solutions!
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One leaf on the maple tree turned bright orange. The apples on our trees now droop with bounty. The local drive-in went to weekend-only hours and starts movies around 8:00 pm because that’s when it gets dark now here in Wisconsin. Deep sigh. Yes, those bittersweet signs of fall are in the air.

My advice on how to deal with this transition? Throw a potluck party celebrating the abundance of summer while you still can. Call it post-gardening season therapy. There’s nothing more cathartic than feasting with friends, savoring and reminiscing about the bounty of this year’s harvest –- while undoubtedly starting to plot for next year’s growing season.

Here’s a mini-cornucopia of ideas to get you started. For more detail, check out my piece in Hobby Farm Home magazine: The Community Table: Celebrate your local bounty with a potluck meal of regional fare.

1. Focus on Fresh Bounty

Tomatoes, cucumbers, summer squash, salad and spinach greens. Read the rest of this entry »

A quick trip to the farmers market Saturday afternoon netted me several more pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables. The canteloupe vanished soon after arriving home. My daughter had me cut it open and scoop out the seeds for her and she sat down on the sofa with a melon baller. Ten minutes later, it was gone.

While she gobbled down the melon, I surveyed the fridge for dinner. I needed to use up some leftovers from a party earlier this week where I served dips and chips. I had a half jar of salsa and some sour cream left over. With the red potatoes and jalapeños I bought today, I had the makings of a good side dish for dinner. Read the rest of this entry »

Pear pie. Pear ginger muffins. Pear cordials made from fruit, sugar and vodka. Pears canned in sugar syrup. Pear jam.

When my senior neighbor Mary calls me every year at the end of August with her annual message of “The tree is ripe – come pick,” I turn into the Bubba Gump of pears, gratefully using the four bushels of pears I harvest off her abundant backyard tree.

As the country whines about escalating food prices, there’s often rotten apples falling from some tree near you. Or pears, plums – name your fruit. You know the tree I’m talking about – the one you pass by every day in someone’s yard that is practically falling over with ripe fruit and you think to yourself, “Someone needs to do something with that.” How true – and that “someone” is you.

Talk about an organic homerun: By connecting with and harvesting a local fruit tree, you not only garner more organic, fresh, local fruit booty than you know what to do with – and put something to use that would otherwise have gone to waste. You build community by connecting with others. We’re talking community at its core, most sustainable essence, sharing abundance with others, relishing the gifts of the land.

Step up to the plate – or bushel – and tap into these unwanted fruit on trees in backyards across the nation that could be making the world a better place through more pie – or jam or cobblers or muffins – you get the picture. Here are three tips for foraging a fruit tree near you:
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How great would it be if there were want ads in your local newspaper or on Craigslist for organic fruits and vegetables, grown in your town, by your neighbors?  A new website - Veggie Trader has sprung up that offers exactly such a service, a purchasing and bartering clearinghouse for locally grown fruits and vegetables.

Veggie Trader describes itself as the “place to trade, buy or sell local homegrown produce”.  The idea is simple, you register on the website and then offer to purchase, to sell, or trade any manner of surplus fruits or vegetables.  If you have too many tomatoes and want to see if anyone nearby has a surplus of peaches or peppers, you can log on, run a search, and find out who in the neighborhood may be willing to exchange with you.

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There is new evidence that high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) may be a culprit in what is known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), or the disappearance of honeybees.

Colony Collapse Disorder has killed off more than one-third of the bees in the United States.

Beekeepers know that when there isn’t nectar readily available to their hives, as in the winter months, some turn to supplements. Traditionally it was (guess what) honey. But that’s what you want to harvest, so many turn to cheaper substitutions. Cane or beet sugar, mixed with water, was seen as acceptable as long as you removed the part of the comb containing the sugar once bees started producing again. It was important to keep the bees fed so they’d keep brooding and ready to produce honey.

Except it hasn’t only been the occasional sugar-water substitution. We’ve substituted the substitute. People have also turned to high fructose corn syrup.

And once again, it seems our need for convenience and affordability has cost us: a new study shows that a contaminant from heat-exposed HFCS may be killing off the bees.

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