WFP
Autumn is so close I can taste it. My garden is doing well, albeit a tad neglected. As usual. I'm grateful I'm not in it for perfection. But, all the same, I still end up reveling at the perfection that comes out of it. Check out this awesome purple carrot.
And the inside is like a sunset… Amazing.
With this new fire under us to just further refine our locavore habits, I'm doing a lot of thinking about various things. There are many things that I can get locally that are doused in chemical fertilizers and pesticides… Most things I can either grow or find organic, but fruit is one of those things that I'm having to look a little harder at. You'll notice that I didn't go strawberry picking this year. Sad, but true. I couldn't figure out how to do it without worrying about my kids- juicy and joyful though they would be. I just would be thinking about the inevitable toxic load they would bear from a years worth of pesticide-laden strawberries. Ugh. I can find organic blueberries and raspberries, but that's about it when it comes to fruit around here. I have high hopes for finding some organic apples, but who knows. As for corn (another thing I can't really grow in the quantity I want), I'm less concerned about it being organic, as I know that the husk serves to protect us somewhat. Anyway, some things I'm just determined to try to grow myself- who cares that I don't have more land?! I'm going for it.
I dismantled these beds because they were constantly trampled by the dog and babies, and they were too shaded anyway. 
I set up two new perennial beds in sunny patches in the yard. One for strawberries, one for herbs. They'll be on a rotation together- 3 years and then I'll swap them. 
Anyway, the idea with these beds is to create a little multi-level thing, that affords me more root space for the plants. This should help me plant a bit more intensively in the space. 
I bought 20 new strawberry plants, and I had 6 plants in containers on the patio to transplant.
Multi-level raised bed! 
Now filled with strawberry plants.
I had four plants left over and so we put them in front of Vera's play house. She was very proud and excited that her little plot would churn out some delectable fruits.
I'm getting better at feeding myself in the way that I want to- even when I'm super busy with everything else. Today was pretty packed- I've been moving most of the day, visited with two friends and kids, worked in the yard, on the house, etc. It's living around here. So around 2pm I put a roast that I'd defrosted in a pan, added salt, pepper, herbs, tomatoes, carrots, and garlic. 325 degrees, until dinner time.
Around 6 I boiled some pasta, then I pureed the roasted veggies and herbs with the pan drippings and added a little sour cream. I pulled apart pieces of the roast, and gave each person a bowl full of pasta, sauce, meat and a little shredded cheese. Total work involved- about 15 minutes. That's fast food right there.
What are you eating lately? What kinds of questions do you ask about food in your area?
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Last week we managed to make an AMAZING dinner, exclusively with food bank goods. Most of it was even local food! Today we did a really delicious stir fry to use up some veggies, mostly from our CSA–I could have split them up into a couple different meals, but stir fry just sounded so delicious!
Right now, I admit I’m not asking a LOT of questions about the origins of my food. A lot of the food bank stuff comes from the natural grocery stores, which all have a focus on stocking local product whenever possible. And much of the produce comes from local farms and gardens. Honestly I think I eat more local now than I did when I was buying all my food. Interestingly, the culture here is very local-food-ie, but East-Asian-style food is big and a lot of the stuff just isn’t grown or processed here. So that’s an interesting dichotomy.
We have been really busy with work and school, so have been doing “bowls” of random things sort of like your pasta dish. A stock of beans, rice, grilled veggies, shredded cheese, salsa, etc. all makes it very easy to put together. Have you tried Mmm sauce? http://peasandthankyou.com/2011/04/12/wannabe-recipea-mmmm-sauce/ It’s a copy cat of a sauce from a cafe based in Oregon. Its invaded the blogosphere. Anyway it’s pretty delicious on almost anything. Freezer burritos have become a regular thing lately, too.
In the city where I live, we are fortunate to have a few farmers markets that only carry local foods, and most are organic, which cuts down on the question-asking. So we try to do that when possible. I am being way more careful to read labels, I can’t believe where they sneak HFCS into…
We are roasting corn on our grill lately– it’s very yummy! You just leave it in the husk over the grill and it gets lovely and warm and sweet. No more boiling! 🙂
your pasta looks so tasty! 🙂
I like what you’re thinking about local eats. It’s a journey for us too, to be sure.
Fruit is SO tough. It was a bad year for berries here, and we hardly got any wild blueberries. Thankfully, all the wild apples are coming up. Do you have anywhere near that you could collect wild apples? We’re lucky in that there’s a lot of abandoned, residential property here (from way way back…no buildings left) that apples are growing like crazy on. Easy to load up! We also have lots of good grapes on our property, but they’re hard to preserve without a dehydrator. Rhubarb? Not really fruit, but might satisfy some winter fruit craving. It’s going to be near impossible to break up with citrus and bananas around here…Paul is not 100% with me on local eating, and he’s loath to give up some stuff, particularly fresh fruit (even if it’s not in season). So we compromise by eating organic produce if we can’t find local. We are fortunate that our milk farmer grows a diverse selection of organic produce which we’ve been able to get and enjoy (and preserve) this year, including fantastic sweet corn. The UP Is sometimes tough for true local food…often we have to get “regional” food from WI or MN, or lower MI. But it’s better than California or Mexico, and there are a lot of folks really interested in local eating here, and we have an outstanding food co-op, and lots of small area farms. Lately, we’ve mostly been eating from our garden or local farms, and the venison from last fall. This week, I’ve made chili with MI beans and our venison with our tomatoes and local onion and garlic. Also, pulled venison burritos with MI beans/local corn relish, homemade queso blanco from local raw milk and our kale salad. Local chicken dinner with mashed potatoes/gravy and our roasted beets with feta from WI. I wish we could share dinners with each other, ’cause that roast looks goooood! 🙂
I hope you have success with your strawberries! We had some last year, but took them up and gave them away to make space for tomatoes. I love that Vera is excited about her own plot. SO cool. 🙂