Tis the season . . . for harvesting wonderful herbs that is. There are many books, articles and probably millions of blog posts on the many ways to use and abuse herbs.

Other than drying or freezing them, another way to use fresh herbs to create delicious herbal taste into the colder months when we may not have as hearty a harvest available (although window herb planters are kind of cool for winter-fresh herbs.

Herb-Infused Vinegars
As Kelli Best-Oliver wrote earlier this week in her ‘five cool things to do with herbs’, making herb-flavored vinegars is pretty easy. She suggests heating the vinegar slightly. I’ve never done that, but it seems like a good idea!

I usually use white wine, white balsamic or champaign vinegars for these. My current favorite (and the one people are getting for x-mas this year) is tarragon vinegar, which of course makes an awesome bernaise sauce (always served at our traditional McWilliams family Christmas eve dinners).

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Artists keep stocked with paint, pencils and other supplies so they can craft a masterpiece whenever the creative muse hits. Likewise, as someone passionate about food and cooking, your palette is your kitchen. Keep it stocked with the core ingredients necessary to whip up anything from bag lunches for the kids to an impromptu dinner party.

Stocking the pantry saves time and money – two non-renewable resources and drains on greening our lifestyle. With a little planning and organization, your pantry will never let you down. I recently gushed about my pantry passion in an article for Hobby Farm Home magazine, going into more detail on stocking the kitchen.

Here’s a few starter tips: Read the rest of this entry »

Guest contributor Pamela Price is the founder of Red, White & Grew, a blog devoted to “Promoting the Victory Garden Revival and other simple, earth-friendly endeavors as bipartisan, patriotic acts in an age of uncertainty.”

If you’re a full-fledged foodie, then you’re well aware of this weekend’s Slow Food Nation ‘08. Sandwiched as it is between the nation’s political conventions, the first-ever SFN promises to be a palate-cleanser for those of us who regard good food and sustainable agriculture as bipartisan paths to unity. According to the official web site, SFN conventioneers will be invited to Celebrate, Learn and Act this weekend to create a “deeper connection to our food.”

Not surprisingly, and as Kelli Best-Oliver reported here earlier, many SFN events are already sold out. And the major networks won’t be providing round-the-clock coverage for the San Francisco-based convergence (drat!).  But don’t feel left out of the party! There are several ways you can stay connected both with the convention goings-on and general spirit. Read the rest of this entry »

“Free organic fruit. Perfectly ripe. Locally grown. Yours for the taking.”

Your ears perking up yet? If this showed up on your local Craig’s List or Freecycle would you be frantically e-mailing, “When can I come over”? Amazingly, such an opportunity probably exists right now, perhaps right down your road, as fruit trees ripen and – too often – fall to the ground and rot.

Like an archeological remnant of a past generation, industrious homeowners often planted these fruit trees several decades ago, before our era of mega-supermarkets and the universal concept that we can, and should, buy everything 24/7. Seems these trees tend to fall into two categories: either they belong to senior residents who can’t physically pick and process the fruit, or newer residents who bought the house with the tree and don’t have the time to pick, much less know what to do with four bushels of pears. Other folks even go as far as considering these trees a nuisance, as overripe fruit falls to the ground and attracts bugs and rodents, eventually chopping the tree down.

Don’t anger the Lorax, make pear pie instead. By connecting with these untapped fruit sources, you cook up something bigger than your private food stash – you will be an ambassador for building community, one bite at a time. I made my annual pilgrimage yesterday to local seniors John and Mary’s house to raid their pear tree, coming home with three five-gallon buckets of fruit. No secret invasion needed; Mary calls every year right before Labor Day to let me know the pears are ripe and we’re welcome to harvest.

Here are three tips for foraging a fruit tree near you: Read the rest of this entry »

You may have seen some brown, knobby tubers at your local farmers market recently. No, that’s not ginger, they’re sunchokes, also known as Jerusalem artichokes, but they’re really nothing like artichokes. They’re actually a member of the sunflower family and have a texture that’s is a cross between a potato and a water chestnut. And, they’re totally delicious. Ideas for cooking, after the jump… Read the rest of this entry »

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Reasons to be a Vegetarian!

As a former vegetarian, I eat a very select and small amount of meat and consider myself a conscious carnivore these days. I’m doing research for a book and i wanted to gather some facts about the environmental impact the industrialized meat production system. I’m all about creating a safe, humane, healthy and regional farming system for both veggies and animals.

After scratching the surface of the topic of industrialized meat production, I’m more convinced than ever, we will not survive if we continue (as a culture in the US) to demand and consume as much meat as we have become accustomed to. Churning out beef, pork, chicken, etc. on this scale can’t be sustainable, and I’m sure there are hundreds of great arguments about why we really don’t need to consume this much meat. I’ll leave that debate to those better qualified to cite studies and reports. I just know how I feel and what works for me. I’ve got many addictions, but thankfully meat isn’t one of them.

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The clock is ticking and back-to-school sales are bombarding us every time we turn on the TV or open a newspaper. At the same time, farmer’s markets are at their peak with the bounty of the harvest. Is it possible to connect the two?

The answer may be Ann Cooper, a.k.a. the Renegade Lunch Lady. She’s on a crusade to persuade schools across the country to transform lunches into healthy, appetizing meals. Furthermore, she is teaching students about nutrition through hands-on work in gardens and a curriculum that covers the fundamentals of food.

Ann’s mission is to change the way our children are eating. Her goal is to tackle outdated district spending policies, commodity-based food service organizations, political platforms with no mention of school food or child health - and ultimately the USDA - to ensure that kids everywhere have wholesome, nutritious, delicious food at school.

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If I had to sum up Renewing America’s Food Traditions: Saving and Savoring the Continent’s Most Endangered Foods (Chelsea Green Publishing, $35) in one sentence it would be, “Everything old is new again.”

Gary Paul Nabhan, PhD maybe America’s premiere Locavore. He spent years helping to compile lists of America’s endangered food products. He asks, “Do we put pretty pictures of these edibles in a museum so we can look at them?” His answer, No! We preserve foods, tastes, cultures by what Slow Food calls “eater-based conservation”. Mr. Nabhan has said that isn’t just about the genetics, “If we save a vegetable but we don’t save the recipes and the farmers don’t benefit because no one eats it, then we haven’t done our work.”

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I’ve a lifelong love affair with cheese.  On sandwiches, salads, over pasta or soups, or just on its own, I love the salty tang of cheddar, the nuttiness of Parmesano Reggiano, and the creamy softness of a fresh mozzarella.  I could never voluntarily be vegan, because I couldn’t give up what has to be my favorite food.  But because I’m always looking to eat lower on the food chain, and I know how delicious vegan food can be, I thought I’d do a taste test of “cheeze” sauce recipes.   I whipped up three “cheeze” recipes to see if they could find a place in my regular repertoire of recipes.
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It’s raining zucchini!

Well, maybe not literally, but it can feel that way at this time in the summer, when home gardens, farmer’s markets and fresh produce aisles abound with these versatile and prolific veggies.

There is something kind of funny about these little green monsters. It could just be the word ‘zucchini’, which by the way has its roots in the very food-associated Italian language. ‘Zucca’ is the Italian word for squash. Not to get bogged down in an etymology thing . . . the point is that zucchini has been party to many silly jokes, such as:

What is a zucchini’s favorite sport?

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