Join us Rebels, Tell the FDA to regulate GMO foods!

Good Morning Rebels (GSO readers, that is what I call my regular readers over at The Royal Ranch site, in case you were wondering-ha!)!  Happy hump day; hope you are having a wonderful week; but even more importantly I hope you will join me in signing this all important petition.  It is high time we know exactly what we are eating; and that people who are not yet even aware of how deeply GMO foods are embedded into our everyday diets, become aware and knowledgeable about what they are putting into the mouths of their beloved families!

Farmers' Market Days

Saturdays are Market Days - Farmers' Market, that is. I reserve Saturday mornings for going to the market and buying whatever is in season. I reserve the afternoons for prepping and freezing or even canning. Here's a taste.

Berries! From left to right: sweet Bing cherries, blueberries & raspberries. The blue and red mixed when I dropped the bag as I tried to fit one more purchase in my big blue bag on wheels.

The first chore of Market Day this week: sort the mixed up berries. I nibbled quite a few. After this, I rinsed all three kinds of fruit and pitted the cherries. The blueberries are now in the freezer; the cherries and raspberries will be eaten by Tuesday.

Here's the rest! From left to right, again: sweet corn, asparagus (the last of the season!), garlic, onions, tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, and lots of pickling cucumbers. You can tell I had a goal - pickles. The batch of fresh dill was on the deck; I bought it at the mid-week market on Wednesday.

I offered before and after for the berries: here's the After shot of the dill pickle spears. It was a busy night, but totally worthwhile. Some time in the winter, we'll appreciate the spoils of the summer. We won't have to buy store pickles, a money savings. These will taste so much richer, too -- being made from locally grown ingredients and made in my own kitchen.

Now that's a Market Day I can enjoy from start to finish.

Rhubarb, tomatoes, and random thoughts

Rhubarb! I have rhubarb! In fact, I spent time last night looking through my new go-to books for canning, wondering if I could can some of this bountiful harvest. Since it was too cold to plant tomatoes until very recently, I focused on rhubarb.

I did find a recipe that looks a lot like the stewed rhubarb I made for supper tonight. It was like applesauce, but with rhubarb instead of apples. Make sense? I found one and thought Yeah! Canning commences! And then realized I will need eleven pounds of rhubarb to fill seven quart cans. Yes, I said 11 lb. of rhubarb! Well, if I harvest and freeze this week and do the same next week, I'll have all eleven before I know it. Yum.

The tomato seedlings are in the ground now! I tallied up the tomatoes and put the supports in place as a planning maneuver. All right, I also did it because I wanted to get in the garden and it was too darn cold to plant! Only a few green sprouts dared poke their little heads out from the soil, and they're all spinach. Yep. I will have a minimum of 13 tomato plants, even if those I started from seed do not make it (darn late blizzard) and at least 5 peppers. The pepper plants are coming up better from seed, and if they survive, I'll have nine pepper plants. Salsa time!

I'm experimenting with various new dishes, and right now rhubarb is my theme ingredient. Part of the locavore menu involves eating what's ripe and in season. By the time it's our of season, we'll be tired of it and ready to move on to something else. About the time my family rebels and shouts out "No More Rhubarb, Mom!" strawberries will be coming into their prime. Then I can mix strawberry-rhubarb pie, strawberry-rhubarb crisp, strawberry-rhubarb dump cake -- bwahahahaha! Just kidding, family. I'll be more creative than that. Maybe.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we helped another family rescue five bunnies last Monday night. I think that's a sign that I'm feeling a little more energetic; I went with daughter to help out, even though it was getting late.

I could share a picture of the garden plot, but it would be rather dull. It's exciting only to me. Soil, compost, remains from last year because I'm going no-till this time, and a few red spiral posts standing sentry over small tomato plants.

But trust me. I'll overwhelm you with garden pictures eventually - hopefully sooner rather than later.

Seeds of Spring

I've tried starting seeds early a couple of years with minimal success. I'm trying again, this time with a better plan - I hope.

My Ultimate Greenhouse (set of shelves with a fitted plastic cover) is assembled and sitting on the deck. The herbs that survived the winter are there, as are the newly planted seeds. With about 6 weeks until planting time, let's see if I can put together a garden from scratch.

So far, I have:

• jalapeno peppers
• green bell peppers
• broccoli
• cilantro
• oregano
• yellow pear tomatoes

If I can maintain these and care for them well, I'll have seedlings when spring becomes summer-like and frost warnings are over, well, minimal. If the list doesn't sound like much, remember that I usually buy tomato and pepper seedlings in mid-May. I'll have them in plenty of time to join the pre-planted pals. Beans and peas and squash will wait until the end of May, too. I have a wish list of seeds that I might give in and buy from Hometown Seeds. I tested a variety pack from their site last year with excellent results.

My goal this year is to fill both new and old plots. Instead of telling you, I'll show you - when there are actually plants to show, that is!

Warm breezes, dirt under my nails -- it's definitely spring.

Sweetened Condensed Milk (Homemade!)

Photo courtesy of ifood.tv

You know that ooey, gooey can of milk that you always have on your shelf for those extra rich baked goods...that is until you need it?  Well, I needed mine yesterday, and lo and behold, my son donated it to the canned food drive.  So what is a savvy baker to do?  Google it of course.  And I came up with a great second choice because I always have powdered milk on hand, doesn't everybody?

So here goes, it's easier than pie...

1/2 cup hot water

1 T. butter

1 cup powdered milk

1 cup sugar

Place all ingredients in blender and mix well.  I must admit, that I thought I could get away with saving myself from washing the blender and just mixing this by hand.  Big mistake.  I had lumps and an exhausted arm, so use the blender and then this can be stored in an airtight container in your fridge or freezer.  By the by, my lumps baked out perfectly in the toffee chip bars that I made, so it worked out fine, but it still would have been worth washing the darn blender!

Putting the garden to bed for the winter

It looked like this at first. Deceptive, really; the air was quite cold.

Then I pulled out all the stops, er, stakes and supports and put them in a safe and sheltered place next to the garage. The rain barrel is already off the cinder blocks.

Without their supports, the tomato plants looked like this -- sprawled across the ground, no strength left.

Don't worry; I picked as many tomatoes as I could before this. A few random and hardy zucchini, too. We'll be eating fresh for a while longer.

It's a bittersweet time, putting the garden to bed for the winter. It's the final end of one season and the beginning of another, and the waiting begins until we can plant again in spring.

Goodnight, tomatoes. Goodnight, zucchini. Goodnight, peppers. Goodnight -- oh, all right, I'm done.

Tomatoes? Make soup!

I usually post a recipe every Tuesday on Compost Happens. I'm making this one today. It's a combination of two recipes, made in the slow cooker. Typical of my kitchen, I'll add in a few fresh herbs and vegetables, but if it's not ripe now, I'll leave it out.

Harvest your tomatoes and enjoy!

1 quart fresh tomatoes
1 medium to small onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1 carrot, grated
1 cup fresh beans
1/2 cup grated zucchini
2-3 oz. fresh spinach
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
4-6 cups chicken broth or chicken stock
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
(optional): 1 teaspoon lemon pepper, 1 teaspoon dill
salt and pepper to taste

Wash tomatoes. Core them, but you don't have to peel them. Yippee! Place tomatoes in crockpot and tomato guts in the compost. Did you think I'd let that go? Not a chance.
Add onion, peppers, carrot, beans, zucchini, spinach, garlic, basil, and broth to crockpot. Let simmer on low for 8-10 hours or high for 4-6 hours.
Close to serving time, blend with an immersion blender (or remove portions from pot and blend in regular blender, but the other way is easier). Use a slotted spoon to remove any skins that are still solid.
Use your favorite thickener. Add slowly and stir. I like a tablespoon or two of cornstarch mixed with a small amount of water or broth, then turn the pot to high for 30 minutes to an hour.
In the meantime, prepare your sides. Salad, fresh bread, even a PBJ will taste good beside this soup. Oh, yes, don't forget the goldfish crackers!

Adapted by combining Joanne's tomato soup found on Zorba Paster's site and Stephanie's tomato soup recipe on A Year of Crockpotting and adding a few random goodies that were ripe in my garden the day I filled the crockpot. Ah, a vegetable garden is a wonderful thing.

Community Supported Agriculture Options

So, I've been an absent contributor to this blog for a while now (very busy with school and end of semester tasks) but I hope to be back every Wednesday this summer. Recently I've been thinking about sustainable eating (along with other research intersections pertaining to obesity) and trying to accept that in the Midwest there really are not as many organic produce purchasing options as on the coasts or in the southern regions due to shorter growing seasons. When a person lives alone, doesn't have the time/energy/money for growing produce, or doesn't have room for a garden (see my "backyard" to the left) it's time to start considering other options for enjoying homegrown fruits and vegetables. Therefore, I've been looking into Community Supported Agriculture outlets here in the Bowling Green, OH area.



Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a socioeconomic model of agriculture and food distribution. A CSA consists of a community of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation where the growers and consumers share the risks and benefits of food production. CSAs usually consist of a system of weekly delivery or pick-up of vegetables and fruit in a vegetable box scheme, sometimes including dairy products and meat.



CSAs generally focus on the production of high quality foods for a local community, often using organic or biodynamic farming methods, and a shared risk membership/marketing structure. This kind of farming operates with a much greater than usual degree of involvement of consumers and other stakeholders — resulting in a stronger than usual consumer-producer relationship. The core design includes developing a cohesive consumer group that is willing to fund a whole season’s budget in order to get quality foods. The system has many variations on how the farm budget is supported by the consumers and how the producers then deliver the foods. The more a farm embraces whole-farm, whole-budget support, the more it can focus on quality and reduce the risk of food waste or financial loss. This is pretty brilliant!





Here are a few links to help you in your search for CSA information if interested:





USDA National Agriculture Library





Local Harvest





The Eat Well Guide





The National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service




I also like to freqent my local farmer's market such as the one here in BG. If you're like me, summer is the time to partake in all of the foods that are not readily available during the winter. Enjoy and get involved with your local CSAs!

Until next Wednesday, -BA

Edible Chips & Computer Chips: How Do We Get Rid of Them?

Here are a few developments that I've been mulling over lately. I thought I would share with you all...

SunChips, Frito-Lay’s popular line of multigrain snacks, announced recently that on Earth Day April 22, 2010 this year it will introduce the first fully compostable snack chip bag made from plant-based materials. The change is designed to significantly improve the environmental impact of its packaging.



SunChips brand is taking the first step towards this transformational packaging. The outer layer of packaging on 10½-oz. size SunChips snacks bags will be made with a compostable, plant-based renewable material, polylactic acid (PLA). PepsiCo's Frito-Lay North America division plans to rollout a package for its SunChips snacks where all layers are made from PLA material so the package is 100% compostable.

“We know environmentally friendly packaging is a priority for our SunChips consumer,” says Gannon Jones, vice president, marketing, Frito-Lay North America. “Today’s launch of packaging made with 1/3 renewable materials is an important first step towards having a fully compostable chip bag in market by Earth Day 2010.”

Current snack food packaging has three layers: a printed outer layer with packaging visuals/graphics, an inner layer, which serves as a barrier to maintain the quality and integrity of the product, and a middle layer that joins the other two layers. When the packaging is 100% compostable, it will fully decompose in about 14 weeks when placed in a hot, active compost pile or bin. NatureWorks LLC is providing the PLA, which is trademarked under the Ingeo name.

“Packaging is clearly the most visible interaction consumers have with Frito-Lay’s brands,” says Jay Gehring, vice president, packaging R&D, Frito-Lay North America. “To make packaging that would interact differently in the environment we had to change the composition of packaging and invent key technologies. Using plant-based renewable materials, we have a promising solution that will transform packaging and significantly impact the billions of snack food bags produced annually.”

Once the 100% compostable bag is introduced, the company anticipates the switch will lead to reduced greenhouse gas emissions in the production of the packaging and the elimination of petroleum-based packaging material. The launch of PLA packaging is yet another small step in the SunChips brand’s sustainability journey.

Hmmmm interesting. That seems very promising!

Here's another tidbit.......

Over the weekend my laptop computer stopped working, so I'm currently trying to find the best option for recycling it.



Getting rid of a computer can be a complex process that isn't necessarily environmentally friendly. Right now I'm looking at several options. I found a reuse organization, a zero landfill option and a donation/computer repair center (although I'm cyncial about where the actual components end up.) Any other suggestions?

Happy Wednesday,

-BA