Weeks 6 - 8 Privilege and Connections

Despite the title this isn’t a posting about politics or mega business. Rather, it’s an apt description of my feelings each week when I pick up my box at the farm and then begin to consume the goodies. I am connected to this food, to the people who plant it, care for it and harvest it. I am connected to the community this family is part of, and I am connected - through greetings in the farmyard on Wednesdays, through the recipe blog and through the Taproot site - to the others who share this food.

These connections are so important and I am beginning to realize what a privilege it is to be part of this CSA. And like many privileges, it may be one that many of us have taken for granted in the past. Having grown up (I always hesitate using that phrase as I’m not sure I want to admit to being grown up) on a farm in Nova Scotia I’ve always had a really good sense of where my food comes from and the efforts that go into getting it from farm to table. Being trained as a Home Economist and then working for years in the environmental area has meant that I’ve continued to look at the quality of my food and the land that it comes from. But so many people are not so lucky. The only source they can identify for their food is the grocery store and they have no concept of the number of hands that have been involved in insuring that the food is there for their consumption – and convenience.

I was looking at a website last night that is home to the Real Food Challenge (http://realfoodchallenge.org/) an organization that encourages students in Universities and Colleges to take responsibility for their food choices. It’s an amazing resource. A quote included in their introductory slide show is particularly pertinent to this posting – when people have a connection to the land they have hope in their lives (John Steinbeck). How true – and in these times of economic downturn , employment stresses, environmental destruction and all sorts of other things, having this connect and this hope is beyond wonderful.

Apart from “just” being a part of this, there is another really important privilege that most of us share. Take a look at the recipe exchange and you’ll see that most of us have resources at hand and some knowledge and skills that let us turn the produce we receive into delicious and creative meals. This in itself is a privilege that many of us may take for granted. But there is a whole generation of folks coming along who know nothing beyond prepared and/or convenience food. A student of min once asked me if I knew how to turn the bag of pinto beans he had in his hand into the kind he could get a Mexican restaurants. And he was very serious – he had a commitment to his health and to the environment but no skills or knowledge to draw on. I had a Mother and grandmother who started from scratch every meal – actually a store bought cookie was a real treat in our house. But just as our society has appeared to lose respect for farms and farming, we’ve also ceased to value time spent learning to cook or preparing food. So many other things appear to be so much more important in our daily lives. But when it comes right down to it, is there anything more important?

As for the rhubarb pie – one of the many privileges! The minute I saw the rhubarb in my box I knew exactly what I’d be making that very night. Incidentally, raw rhubarb is one of the very few things Labrador Retrievers won’t eat! But they do love their pie – especially with ice cream!

Weeks 4 & 5 Transitions

Spring in the Valley is such a time of transition. From snow and mud to hints of green, tiny buds, more mud - and then almost overnight, a burst of colour. Our TapRoot share baskets are going through a similar transition - from mostly winter vegetables and fruit to the first salad mix and spinach, to last week's glorious fiddleheads and rhubarb.

Anyone who attended the magnificent April Flavours event at the Old Orchard Inn last Wednesday night also knows that our local foods can easily be transitioned into gourmet dining at its finest. Kudus to all of the organizers, chefs and producers - "our" Patricia included.

For me, spring is also a time of transitioning through the end of classes, marking the stacks of final papers and exams, and starting to delve into the piles of forgotten business on my desk. Hence the brevity of the post - and the totally missing one from last week. Lucky for me that the baskets have contained a good bit of "see it; eat it", naturally fast food!

Now its time to head off for this week's basket - and yes, I did peak at the list! Stinging Nettles will be a new adventure for me.

Week 3: Health, Food and our Environment

I can never remember if the old saying is “feed a cold and starve a fever” or vice versa. Happily I won’t need to remember anymore – I just need to remember where I’ve filed Patricia’s wonderful recipe for Roasted Squash Risotto. What a heavenly dish! I have to admit I come from a long line of cooks who can’t follow a recipe exactly so I added an extra onion and a little more garlic. And I just happened to have herbed goat cheese so I used that and also minimized the salt. This recipe will top the list of comfort foods – and probably the list for entertaining, pot-luck dinners, etc.

Preparing and eating this dish made be reflect on the role our food choices play in our health – and how the production and growth of our food also impacts our health and the health of our whole community. I KNOW where this food comes from and Patricia keeps us up to date on planting, nurturing and harvesting. I’m not only getting good, nutritious food but I know it is produced in a sustainable manner and I know that I am supporting members of my own community in purchasing from them. One step at a time everyone who is participating in CSA is doing their own part in improving health in all its many contexts.

A final note about these healthy food choices. As a household of one, I am finding that I have to be ever vigilant in my “meal planning” to keep up with my weekly half share. My 5 (yes FIVE) Labrador Retrievers love carrots and apples as treats – and I’m going to have to follow their lead. No more popping upstairs to the Café at work for a quick fix from a muffin or cookie. There’s no reason – other than pure laziness – that I can’t take a container of carrot sticks, apples, radishes, and whatever else I find in my basket to work with me. I know I’ll feel better for it. And there’s nothing quite like surprising the host/hostess of a dinner party with a lovely bouquet of…radishes!

Wednesday is only 2 days away and I still have potatoes and parsnips!

Week Two - Wonderful Winter Veggies

After the promise of spring and some warm weather, the temperature has turned cold again this week. But my 2nd food box contained just the right ingredients for a tasty feed of Roasted Winter Vegetables. I had invited my senior students over for a meal on Friday and they all but inhaled the Roasted Veggies, the Vegetable Biryani, the fresh green salad and of course the carrot cake. I found it a challenge to wait and plan my menu until after I saw what was in my box - but the success was well worth the few moments of "out of control" panic.

I think this "new" way of planning menus is just another one of those things that our grandparents did as a matter of course - you plan around what you HAVE; not around the myriad of things you can get at the local grocery store. It forces us to focus on what we have and not to become dependant on goods from other places that all too often come to us at great environmental, human and financial cost. Of course for the "controllers" in out midst - it may take a while to be totally comfortable with letting the weekly goodies be the guide.

While I was browsing through the Seedy Saturday displays at the Wolfville Farmer's Market I realized I had made a "mistake" in my first post to this blog. I used the S in CSA to mean Ssustainable but I see it really stands for Shared. But I think maybe I'll leave it as a "multipurpose" S - it can mean different things: shared, sustainable, supported, or in the oft quoted words of my Grade 8 Math teacher from many decades ago - Scrumptilicious!

I'm looking forward to the Farm outing tomorrow!

Week One - the very first hamper

For some weeks now I've been following Patricia's posts and pictures and watching the progress of things at the Farm. Progress that takes on a whole new meaning when I know I will have a close connection with this food. As I travelled to Church Street to pick up my first hamper I was reminded of the anticipation I used to feel when my friend Susan and I traded lunch bags back in the '70's at the University of Alberta. Tired of having the same uninspired brown bag lunch day after day, we decided to make lunch for each other instead. How much more fun it was to pack a lunch for someone else and lunchtime was more eagerly anticipated knowing that lunch would be a complete surprise.

And so too, my first hamper. I was like a kid at Christmas -well really just like myself at Christmas! I couldn't wait to see what was in the hamper. And I was not disappointed! Fresh greens, sprouts and tomatoes, apples and pears, and mushrooms, squash and carrots. All foods I love. It was probably a mistake having my Labrador Retriever Webber in the car with me - they were all foods he loves too!

The planning begins - I have company for the weekend so will try the pear/squash soup recipe; have a pot-luck dinner to attend so will take a big salad with lots of fresh extras, and may even make a carrot cake.

Fresh and local produce aside, its very fulfilling to know that I am part of a Community Sustainable Agriculture project.