Foraging Fun!

So I recently read Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma at the suggestion of several friends. It's a great book which continues the theme from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, though the perspective is a little different: Michael Pollan takes four different American meals and traces them to their initial roots, whether that be a factory farm or the tree stump next door.

After reading Animal, Vegetable, Mircale, I was inspired to investigate the local CSA offerings and try and incorporate more local choices in my shopping, not just for food but other things as well. The Omnivore's Dilemma ends with a story of a food found almost entirely by foraging, and that's what's been eating at me recently.

There are many ways to forage food from your surroundings, including expeditions as large as hunting for a weekend, down to small things like picking an apple from a local tree as you walk by it. The key is noticing what's going on in the world around you, and taking advantage of it.

Also, to be clear, what foragin isn't about freeloading or garden-snatching; but the truth is that at least in my neighborhood, lots of fresh fruit from trees spoils on the ground because the owners can't use it, or at least not enough of it. Others don't realize the bushes they have out front produce edible fruit, and some just don't have the time to bother. Most people didn't plant the mature trees they have in the yards they inherited with the houses they purchased.

The idea of foraging resonated with me because it wasn't just about saving fruit from rotting (and supplementing your diet with fresh locally grown produce), it was also about forming community, and being aware of your neighbors. After all, you do need to ask if you can harvest some of that neighbor's food; and in some areas dedicated foragers have established connections where contributors can trade some of their fruit for shares of others'.

So when I noted that a beautiful tree at a busy intersection was loaded with apricots, and that many were rotting on the ground, I made the jump from watching to interacting, and knocked on a perfect stranger's door to ask if I could pick some. The gentleman who came to the door was kind enough to overlook the fact that I had interrupted his morning and told me to pick as many as I desired.

I had brought a few grocery sacks in case the answer was yes, and I got to work fairly quickly, though the easily accessible fruit was already gone. I filled two grocery sacks full of 8 lbs each - this wasn't me being greedy, I had plans; my sister-in-law had expressed some desire for apricots, and I wanted to give some to my neighbors as a present.

From there, I loaded up my backpack and started hiking back home (it's ~ 1.5 mi). But I didn't get past two blocks before I decided I might take a detour to my brother's house, as it was getting hot and I wanted to share a portion of the pickings with his family. When I got there I discovered my mistake: picking perfectly ripe apricots is all well and good, but putting them in bags and then moving them around while walking is a recipe for apricot smash. =[

My nephew and I ate a lot of smashed ones so the remaining apricots in the bag might look better for use. When I finally got home myself, I was quick to slice and freeze the bruised ones (they weren't bruised when I picked them, promise!) and sort the ones which were too mashed.

I saved a few in good condition (pictured, at right) to deliver my neighbors - though at least half were not quite ripe; which is why there weren't mashed in the first place. I put them in a paper bag to help the ripening process, and delivered them a day or two later, only to find that they have an apricot tree too! It wasn't ripe, yet, so at least I wasn't overloading them, and even better; they offered to let me pick as many there as I wanted as well. That will give me enough to make and bottle nectar and juice, which is more efficient overall than freezing them.

So that's my first foraging experience - a little bit of courage, a little bit of work, and a lesson learned: pick ripe fruit into shallow boxes so they don't get smashed!

I already have my eye on a few other foraging opportunities, including apples, pears, plums, and chokecherries, and I'll keep you posted as we go along. But already I'm excited to get to know my new neighbors, and I hope they won't think too ill of me when I inquire about their fruiting bushes and trees.

P.S. as of this picking Dick's Market only had Chilean apricots on sale - at $4.99/lb. I'm sure there are local apricots available - I just picked 16 lbs at perfectly ripe! I have continued to ask which of the produce there is local, but I might just step up my interaction a little bit.

The Great Utah CSA Experiment 2009 - Week 5!

Is it already week 5? While last year I felt I was drowning in greens and afraid of the next pickup, this year I feel like there isn't sufficient and I'm afraid the next one won't come fast enough. That's not to say I'm eating everything, I'm storing a lot of it. But I don't know if it will be enough to sustain me when greens season is over. Case in point: we received no salad greens this week, and only one bunch of chard.

Prices listed this week are again from the local Dick's Market, and non-organic. I received:

CSA SHARE					Price	Value
0.75 lb rainbow chard					2.62/lb	$1.96
0.75 lb peas					3.49/lb	$2.62
1.63 lb zucchini					1.29/lb	$2.10
1.25 lb summer squash					1.29/lb	$1.61
0.56 lb baby purple carrots (tops attached)					*0.79/lb	$0.44
2.38 lb bing cherries					1.99/lb	$4.73

*Price based on loose normal carrots, the closest equivalent.

Cherries!! This is the first share (including all of last year) that I have received fruit from East Farms. They were really good. I ate them by handfuls, I shared with my family at get-togethers (where they received rave reviews), and my nephew happily polished off the last bit of them at a picnic. Yay for fruit!

And purple carrots (see photo at right). They taste like normal carrots to me, except that the outer 3 mm diameter is a deep purple color. Very pretty. My nephew (the same one who polished off the cherries) happily tried one, proudly showed it off to his family, and took a bag home with him afterward. This is the same family who thinks vegetable hash (sauteed zucchini and summer squash in butter and spices) qualifies as a dessert. That's okay, I have plenty to share!

Speaking of carrots, they have been piling up in my refrigerator (this is the 3rd week in a row for carrots). I like the flavor, and use them steamed and in smoothies, but I have a hard time eating them raw (my poor jaw!) And they keep coming with stems attached. A quick google search told me the stems were indeed edible and very nutritious, but it's hard to get past the flavor and texture. They make a good substitute for parsley, but I don't have a lot of recipes which use parsley by the cupful.

I experimented around a bit and found I could put up to 1/2 to 1 cup of rinsed carrot greens into my blender with the other smoothie staples (fruit, ice, juice concentrate, occasional yogurt) and have a nice drink without having the greens be too overwhelming. (Note: don't do 3 cups. Just take it from me.)

The Great Utah CSA Experiment 2009 - Week 4!

Gosh are we already on week 4? This season seems to be slipping by much faster than last. And we're still ahead of last year's schedule, with summer squash and zucchini coming in looking very nice. Here are the goods, with non-organic prices from Dick's supermarket:

CSA SHARE					Price	Value
1.09 lb red & green leaf lettuce					1.38/lb	$1.50
0.63 lb spinach					3.18/lb	$2.01
1.19 lb beets					1.29/lb	$1.54
0.75 lb baby carrots (with tops)					0.79/lb	$0.59
1.56 lb summer squash (2)					1.29/lb	$2.01
0.63 lb zucchini (2)					1.29/lb	$0.81

That's it! We're looking forward to more vegetable hash, a salad or two, and some oven roasted vegetables. Unfortunately, with the added heat coming on this time of year, we're also looking for more recipes that don't require a stove. Though I've steamed carrots in the microwave before, I'm not sure about beets. We might have to experiment - I can't keep using my oven at this rate. Suggestions, anyone?

The Great Utah CSA Experiment 2009 - Week 3!

We got the food from weeks 1&2 used or stored just in time for the week 3 pickup. The peas all went to snacking, the spinach was stored in the freezer with the beet tops and half the chard. The other half of the chard was shared with neighbors (along with two bags of lettuce greens) and we had lots and lots of salads. I would probably be tired of salads right now if I weren't coming out of 5 months of fresh food deprivation. As it is, I'm excited to have leafy greens for breakfast lunch and dinner. And as for the rest, oven-roasted beets (recipe) have now become a real favorite of mine. Hurray for beets! (I don't think I could ever have pictured myself saying that a year ago.)

I'm also happy to report that I've gotten quite a few great recommendations on how to use leafy greens creatively. Head on over to my friend Sarah's recipe blog for some good recipes with arugula. However, because of my recent deprivation, and because last season I ran out of stored greens at the end of August, I am quite happy to store those that I can. In fact I may purchase extra before the end of the leafy greens season with the express purpose of storing them. Sadly, lettuce greens like romaine, red leaf, and green leaf cannot be frozen for later use and as a result we get a bit more tired of them. If anybody has any non-salad based recommendations for romaine - I'm all ears.

This week in the box I received the following. Prices for this week are for non-organic fare from the local Dick's supermarket:

CSA SHARE					Price	Value
1.19 lb romaine					0.84/lb	$1.00
0.63 lb red & green leaf lettuce					1.19/lb	$0.75
0.63 lb spinach					3.54/lb	$2.23
1.00 lb beets					1.29/lb	$1.29
1.00 lb rainbow chard					2.50/lb	$2.50
1.06 lb baby carrots (with tops)					*0.75/lb	$0.79
1.75 lb zucchini (3)					1.29/lb	$2.26

*Price based on 2-lb bag carrots, the closest equivalent.

The season seems to be moving along a bit earlier this year than last, as this week's share included several young zucchini (not available until week 5 last year!) Also new are the carrots, which I didn't receive last year. These are real baby carrots, none of them thicker than my fingers, and most of them shorter. The picture at right shows them next to the storebought whittled down snacking "baby" carrots for comparison.

The spinach was used in a chicken cannelloni dish (one day, when I perfect the recipe, I'll post it). The leaf lettuces have surprisingly been devoured already, thanks again to my wonderful brother. The zucchini went into vegetable stir-fry (see picture, at left) and the beets and carrots have a date with the oven tomorrow. After all that, and a little more blanching/freezing beet greens and the rainbow chard, I'll be ready for the next CSA pickup!

The Great Utah CSA Experiment 2009 - Weeks 1 & 2!

It's that time of year again! Weekly produce and weekly posts about my adventures with East Farms CSA. I've been anticipating this ever since they ended last October, but I've really felt it the last few months. Every time I buy produce at the grocery store I regret it: it really tastes awful. Even the stuff from Whole Foods was just okay. (I mean, it was better than the alternative, but I had no appetite for it).

After being fooled by the system 5 times over the past winter - I decided not to bother at all. (Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me five times. . .) A whole winter subsisting on bread, milk, occasional protein has convinced me to store as much of the great produce I get during the season as possible. I don't think I could make it through another winter like that again! I'll probably need buy an upright freezer sometime this summer to help me store food, but it'll be well worth it.

Unfortunately, after all the anticipation for the CSA pickup, I'm a week late getting started! I missed the first week because I didn't get my pickup letter in time. (It was sent in time, but it took an extra week to navigate the change-of-address process via post). Luckily the good people at East Farms decided I could pick up a full share this week to offset the loss. Here's the goods for a full share (two half shares) delivered Tuesday the 16th. Prices are based on organic fare from Sunflower Farmer's Market:

CSA SHARE-A	CSA SHARE-B					Price (organic)	Value
0.94 lb romaine	1.0 lb romaine					1.90/lb	$3.69
1.25 lb red & green leaf lettuce	0.94 lb red & green leaf lettuce					3.00/lb	$6.57
0.81 lb spinach	0.81 lb spinach					5.99/lb	$9.73
1.06 lb beets	1.25 lb beets					1.59/lb	$3.68
1.31 lb rainbow chard	0.19 lb rainbow chard					2.89/lb	$3.90
0.69 lb english peas	0.81 lb english peas					*2.99/lb	$4.49

*Price based on non-organic sugar snap & snow peas, the closest equivalent.

Compared to week 2 from last year, there is a little more variety. I was really surprised to find beets so early! The peas, chard, spinach, and beets (pictured at right) are great: I can eat them now or freeze for later use; but the lettuce is again a problem for me to put away quickly enough (it doesn't help that my father has been supplying me with as much lettuce as I can consume for the last few weeks from his garden.)

With a glut of fresh locally grown vegetables I'm eating as much as possible to make up for my winter starvation. The first thing I did was eat an entire bowl of peas. I can't begrudge the shucking, they were really great. Next night I prepared a simple salad and roasted root vegetables with the beets (pictured at left). Thankfully, my brother joined us for dinner - the one that can down a large horse. He personally cleared 5 plates of leafy greens! (THANK YOU!) Even with that, I'm going to have to eat as fast as possible so I have room in my refrigerator again!

This year I'm not going to be as picky about including recipe posts - that will allow me to put up the 'what I got' pretty quickly, and the recipe tweaking won't delay the posting: I can post them individually later. Besides, it helps me solicit help from readers in deciding what to do with all my produce!

Having said that, here's my recipe for yesterday's Simple Salad:

3 c. salad greens, torn
3/4 c. chicken tenders or popcorn chicken (optional)
honey dijon salad dressing

I first had a salad like this at my cousin's house - just lettuce and ranch. I was floored by the audacity of the dish. What, no tomatoes? No cucumbers or cheese or olives or peppers? No onions or spices? No nothing? It sounds pretty plain but it was great, and now I don't feel bad serving simple salad. (Besides, let's admit it: the rest of that stuff isn't seasonal at the same time leafy greens are. And what busy cook can resist simplicity in mealmaking?) I should clarify: Craig likes it with the chicken, but my brother liked it just as well without. Nothing is really required beyond the greens and some dressing you love.

The Great Utah CSA Experiment 2009!

It's that time again! Time to spend time online, dig out your checkbooks, and choose which CSA is right for you and your family. Lest you protest that it is too early, let me remind you that the CSA farm needs to know how many clients they will have so they can order their seeds and get planting. In fact, some CSA's offer financial incentives to sign up early - even by March 1st (ONE week away!)

For a list of all CSA's available in Utah, visit Utah's Own website. For those, like me, in Salt Lake Valley and Davis counties, I'll list and weigh in on the options available for pickup here.

Bell Organic is a vegetables-only CSA: the only CSA in the area which is USDA Certified Organic. They are based out of Draper, UT: so for those in the SLC valley, they are the very closest farm you can find. Their season runs from 18-20 weeks based on weather, and cost for a 2-person share is $400. (They also offer some egg, cheese, fruit, and meat shares from other local farms, but slots for these shares are limited.) Pickup times and locations are very limited: you can pick up produce at their Draper location on Mondays from 5-7 pm, or a Downtown SLC location is available for Tuesday pickups from 5-7 pm.

If you watch the Bell Organic Blog, you'll also find some extra bonuses: regular recipes for the weekly produce, dates available to tour the fields, extra produce for sale on the side at the end of the season, and more!

Borski Farms operates out of Kaysville, UT, and provides a variety of organically grown vegetables, fruits, and herbs. Their season runs 15 weeks and cost for a 2-person share is $200. Pickup locations include Downtown SLC on Mondays, Sugarhouse on Wednesdays, and Kaysville, and Ogden on Fridays. For each of these locations pickup times run from 12:00-6:00 pm. I used and reviewed this CSA in 2008 and was very pleased with the variety and amount of produce I received for the price; you can see my final assessment on their last week of delivery here.

They also provided several mid-season newsletters with information and recipes, and they are part of a co-op which operates a locally produced vegetable and fruit stand in Kaysville.

East Farms operates out of West Pointe, UT, and provides an alarming amount of vegetables for the price. They operate over 150 acres of farmland, 30 of which are specifically set aside for CSA cultivation. Everything included in the shares is grown to meet organic standards. Their season runs for 18 weeks and cost for a 2-3 person share is $250 (sign up before March 1 for a 10% discount)! East Farms is by far the most widely available, with 16 pickup locations overall: 6 in Davis county and 9-10 in the Salt Lake Valley. Pickup is usually available any time after 4:00 pm. I used and reviewed this CSA in 2008 and was extremely pleased with the amount of produce I received for the price; you can see my final assessment on their last week of delivery here.

This season East Farms is adding an online membership tool to help offer additional member services, such as purchasing surplus or signing up for special share offers.

Zoe's Garden is based out of Layton, UT, and provides an astonishing variety of fruits, vegetables, herbs, and even meats all naturally grown and cultivated on-site. They boast the most thorough inventory offered by any CSA in Utah, and offer a Produce ID guide for those of their customers who can't figure out what their mystery vegetable is. Their season runs for 20 weeks and their smallest share is $736 ($700 for an early-bird special). They claim the small share is for one person who likes to eat vegetables daily, but seeing as how it contains on average 15 varieties of produce it might feed more. They have pickup locations in Downtown SLC, Sugarhouse, Sandy, Layton, and Ogden. Pickup times vary depending on location, but are usually 3-8 pm.

Zoe's garden also offers part-season shares, and some deliveries include eggs (chicken AND quail eggs) and honey.
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A note on 'organically grown' and 'naturally grown' food vs. Certified Organic standards: Certified Organic standards were implemented to protect the consumer and help provide truth in advertising, but they are very expensive to obtain, and that includes a several year waiting period. Those farms which claim to grow their produce according to organic standards but do not have this certification offer the consumer no guarantees or assurances.

However, the cost of actual certification is reflected in food prices. If you know and trust your local farmer, then produce grown organically by them is produce grown organically period, whether certified as such or not. That's the benefit of supporting your local economy!

This year will be a bit different for me and my husband. I had hoped to try out at least one new CSA, but we are moving from our apartment in Holladay to a new home in Bountiful. This is very exciting, but unfortunately there is only one convenient pickup within a few miles of our home: the East Farms pickup in Woods Cross.

I am more than happy to sign up for an East Farms share again, and I will keep you all updated on relative amounts and costs, same as last year. I'm also excited to try out the new online CSA membership option. I almost can't wait for fresh produce again - I've tentatively purchased some fresh produce from different grocers several times in the past few months, and regretted it every time. I'm going to need to freeze and store as much as possible, so I don't suffer next winter!

And finally, because I still have pumpkin puree in my freezer, I'll include the simplest ever pumpkin recipe:

-----Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies-----

2 c. pumpkin puree
1 box spice cake mix
2 T. butter, melted
12 oz. chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients together, drop onto cookie sheet, and bake 10-12 minutes at 350 F.

(Photo to be added when I get my new camera. I'm sure I'll still have puree at that time =P)

The Great Utah CSA Experiment - Winter Squash Update!

I promised it would come, but I'm sure you didn't think it would take me this long to start tackling my store of CSA winter squash! It's a good thing it stores so well. I once had a pumpkin I dressed up for president's day - this year I wasn't going to wait quite that long. Over the past few weeks I've been experimenting with pumpkins and acorn squash, and I have to say they are easy to prepare and delicious to boot - but finding enough recipes to use up a whole pumpkin's worth of purée is not a simple task!

Luckily, my cousin loves to cook and use pumpkin and has a few great recipes to share. She helped me determine the best way to cook (and store) a 30 lb monstrosity, and was the source of two of the recipes included. So for the curious, here is a play by play of Me vs. The Pumpkin.

The first job was to wash the pumpkin of the little remaining dirt and collected dust. This wasn't a simple task, as the pumpkin didn't actually fit inside the kitchen sink (see above). We make do with what we have. I rinsed one side, then turned the pumpkin and repeated, and we were off to the races!

After washing the pumpkin, I carved out the top with the handle, just as if I were preparing for a Halloween pre-jack-o-lantern lobotomy. After I could get my knife inside, I began slicing the pumpkin up into 2-3" wedges and dug out the insides. Of course, I saved the guts so I could cook the seeds later.

All in all, I obtained 11 massive wedges - now the difficulty was how to cook them. There was no way I was going to boil them: I wasn't interested in standing over a hot stove all day nor was I interested in losing any flavor to the water. I found my microwave could cook 1 cut-up wedge in 20 minutes, and it retained a bright orange color. I could also fit up to three wedges on a baking sheet and bake for 1 hour at 300 F, that resulted in a darker color. After cooking a grand total of 4 wedges with these methods I called up my cousin. "Buy a plastic turkey bag" she said. I was able to crowd the remaining 7 wedges inside the turkey bag, balance it precariously on the small cooking tray, then forget about it while they all cooked at 300 F for 1.5 hours. I should have done that at the start!

After cooking, the flesh was soft enough for me to dig it out with a spoon - and in some cases, peel the skin right off. I then proceeded to puree the pumpkin with my handy immersion blender. (One day I will write an article on how much I love my immersion blender). It made quick work of the very soft pumpkin and I was soon scrambling to find containers in which to fit 25 cups of pumpkin purée.

The obvious solution was to use as much as possible by cooking as quickly as possible. So I immediately used 2 cups to make pumpkin muffins. But it turns out 2 cups makes > 3 dozen muffins - and I really didn't think my family of two could eat 450 muffins before they spoiled. Good thing I could give some away! These were delicious, and everybody I shared them with loved them. I am counting on making many more with the remaining pumpkin purée stored in my freezer.

My next bright idea was to experiment with cream of pumpkin soup for dinner. I used up 2 cups making a variant with a can of evaporated milk and bullion, and it wasn't bad, but needs a bit more work before I publish the recipe. Craig wouldn't even taste it though - which leads me to believe that it doesn't matter what I do with the recipe, he's decided he doesn't want anything to do with pumpkin soup. Guess that leaves us with more muffins!

After that, I made a pumpkin dessert roll - pumpkin cake rolled up in cream cheese frosting: cant' go wrong! It was delicious and evaporated at a family party; but it only used up 3/4 cup pumpkin.

Finally, I rinsed and roasted the pumpkin seeds. Nearly 2 cups of raw seeds baked up nicely, and since Craig won't eat them, it meant more for me. Hurray!

After a full day of cooking, not even 20% of my pumpkin was used. I put the remainder in the freezer, and started brainstorming on who I could share it with. So far, I've pawned 2.5 cups off on my sister and 5 cups on my cousin (who took the first pumpkin and gave me the help. I hope she'll continue to do so!)

As for the remaining squash in our storage, we've made it through one acorn squash and three spaghetti squash. Again, the spaghetti squash were all used for quick and dirty meals on nights when I was too tired to think of anything else - they are very practical and easy to prepare if you have jars of spaghetti sauce. The acorn squash was nearly as easy - much easier than the pumpkin to prepare, certainly - but that's likely because it was 15x smaller. This one Craig and I ate right out of the shell, loaded with butter and sugar. It was delicious!

All that remains to be experimented with are several buttercup and carnival squash. Expect that update soon!

Recipes for Winter Squash Update:

-----Fabulous Pumpkin Muffins-----

1 c. butter	4 c. flour
2 c. sugar	1 t. cloves
2 eggs	2 t. allspice
1 T. vanilla	1 T. cinnamon
2 c. finely pumpkin purée	2 t. baking soda

Mix together the first five (wet) ingredients, and blend well. In a separate bowl, mix together the remaining (dry) ingredients. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, and mix until just moistened. Distribute the batter in muffin cups and bake at 400 F for 12 minutes, or until golden brown. Makes ~ 3.5 dozen.

-----Pumpkin Cake Roll-----

Rather than copying and pasting content, I'll just direct you to two of the best recipes on Allrecipes.com, which is where I was told to find them. Don't let the multi-step process fool you into thinking this is a difficult dessert to make - on the contrary it was VERY easy and relatively quick.

Pumpkin Roll II
Libby's Pumpkin Roll with Cream Cheese Filling

-----Roasted Pumpkin Seeds-----

2 c. raw pumpkin seeds, rinsed thoroughly
2 T. butter
2 t. Worcestershire sauce
1 t. salt
1/2 t. garlic salt

Mix together butter, sauce, salt, and garlic salt in a small bowl. Microwave on medium until the butter is completely melted. Whisk the ingredients together, then add the pumpkin seeds and coat liberally. Scoop the seeds onto a cookie sheet and spread out until you have one layer, then cook at 250 F for 1 hour.

-----Sweet Acorn Squash-----

1 acorn squash, cut in half and de-seeded
4 T. butter
6 T. maple syrup*

Microwave the squash on high for 12 minutes, turning several times to ensure even cooking. Remove the squash, and put 2 T. butter and 3 T maple syrup in each half. Place the halves in the oven on 'broil' (~ 6" under the elements) for 2 minutes until the butter melts and the syrup begins to caramelize. Remove and serve hot.

*You may substitute brown sugar, apricot jam, or any other appropriate sugar laden flavorful sweetener you desire. Brown sugar appears to be commonly used, but I liked mine with apricot-cranberry jam, and Craig enjoyed his with maple syrup.