Canning and Balcony Gardening

Now that I'm not writing weekly posts, I've had time to do some more long-term and or involved projects with local food. This weekend was a banner one for such endeavors: not only did I purchase and plant some organic herbs and tomatoes on my balcony, I also tried my hand at making and canning strawberry jam. This is my first real attempt at both after a half-hearted and failed stab at herb gardening last summer. I know I have some tweaking to do but here's my start and I shall update you on my progress throughout the summer:

Balcony Gardening

Contrary to popular belief, us urbanites have lots of options for growing our own food in small places. As long as you have a balcony (or a very understanding management company or HOA), you can plant in large pots or balcony planters. I have a second story unit which faces southeast and thus gets a moderate amount of morning sun then a lot of afternoon sun. With this in mind, I headed to the Atherton Market on Saturday morning to see what would grow well on my balcony.

I split my buying into two sections: herbs which I think will love the partial sun on the eastern-facing part of my balcony and tomatoes that can handle the full afternoon sun on the south side. I selected Thyme, Rosemary, Oregano, a small Basil and Parsley, one Roma tomato and one Early Girl tomato.

I planted the herbs in a long hanging balcony planter and the tomatoes in larger pots. The Oregano was ready to be replanted by itself so it got its own pot as well. I filled in the pots with Black Kow potting soil, a brand made from cow manure and compost using minimal petroleum products and watered the whole set. Fingers crossed my new wards survive the unpredictable May weather!

Even our cat was excited about the new garden!

Strawberry Jam Canning for Dummies

If you haven't heard of or read The Pioneer Woman's blog, you must do so immediately. She has tons of no fuss, simple recipes that use minimal special tools or equipment. I've made and tried several of her desserts (her Blackberry Cobbler and Cinnamon Buns are always huge hits) and she has great practical tips for the non-professional cook. So it's only fitting that when I Googled "easy strawberry jam canning", her site was the top of the hit list.

I have always been scared of canning because I thought it took fancy pots and secret, ancient knowledge that only grandmothers still possess. Boy was I wrong. All you need is a huge pot, some sturdy tongs, and fresh (or overripe) fruit. I won't recount the whole recipe because you can find it on her website here but suffice to say it only took an hour or so to make 7 jars of delicious strawberry jam. This method would work for other berries as well and I will continue to experiment as our local options become available in the market.

It may seem like I spent my whole weekend with my hands in the dirt or slaving over a boiling pot of strawberry goodness. The reality is that I didn't - I ran a 5K, attended a baby shower, volunteered for several hours, coached a swim lesson and did a 10 mile bike ride and still had the energy to do all of this in one weekend. With just an hour here and there, I put up enough jam to carry me through several months of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and planted herbs and tomatoes to boot!

Book Review: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Like many liberal arts undergraduates mildly if not avidly interested in the environment, I read some of Barbara Kingsolver's work in college. I even had the great honor of getting to hear her speak on campus my senior year in support of a ground breaking (no pun intended) organization, Rails to Trails. Little did I know that she and I are actually kindred spirits.

In her hugely popular book, Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Kingsolver chronicles a year spent growing and finding food for her and her family with one limitation: it must be available  either on their farm or within the county. With few exceptions, they worked on their farm full time, growing all the food they would need for the whole year supplementing with produce and protein purchased from their local farmers market.

The book is literally full of amazing facts, ideas and thoughts on eating locally and how it helps not only your body but your community and the environment. Many of these thoughts and facts I've shared with you before and here are some others that jumped out at me while reading:

1. Transporting food is invariably the biggest energy-consuming part of the farm to fork process. If every American replaced just one meal on one day with locally-grown and produced ingredients, the US would save millions of barrels of oil.
2. The average ingredient in a grocery store has traveled further than the average American family does on summer vacation (including flights)
3. For products grown in third world countries like coffee and bananas, the actual farmers often make less than $1 per day. The rest of the profits go the farming conglomerates and transportation companies that support the practice of monoculture that can strip land of its necessary minerals.

But the book isn't just facts about where food comes from. It's an emotional journey being told by a mom who is trying to feed her family while supporting her local farmers, create minimal impact on the land, and also provide nourishing, wholesome and interesting meals. The book is interspersed with sidebars by her husband regarding the politics and big business aspects of industrial farming and insights and recipes from her teenage daughter on a local living lifestyle.

For anyone wondering about where their food comes from and whether that matters, this is the book for you. You'll come away with a renewed appreciation for the work that goes into our food. I also closed this book emboldened by the sense that I can grow some of my own food (even in my limited space) and that this whole local food mission I've been on for a year and a half really does matter.

Vegan, Vegetarian, 5% or less

You may have noticed recently that my blog posts have been featuring less and less meat or dairy products. After reading The China Study last year, I have been even more picky about what animal proteins I eat and subsequently limiting those to cheese and meat I get locally and the occasional fish at restaurants if no meat-free option is available. Is this going to lead me to eternal youth and perfect health? No, probably not, but the more I read about meat (especially low grade, fast-food type meat), the less I can stomach it. The only meat I've eaten recently is from Windy Hill Farm because I know where it came from (Dana and Charles Burrage, the best farmers around!) or from locally-sourced restaurants like Harvest Moon and Halycon.

To that end, I have gone back through all my recipes posted on the blog and added the following distinctions to each:

• V = Vegan. This recipe has absolutely no animal protein.
• v = Vegetarian. This recipe has no meat but may have dairy products or eggs.
• <5% = 5% or less animal protein. According to some studies cited in The China Study, a diet containing 5% or less animal protein can significantly improve your overall health, and decrease your likelihood of getting cancer, diabetes, obesity, and other serious afflictions.
• LPO = Local Protein Option. This recipe has protein that can be bought from North Carolina farmers that use minimal hormones, antibiotics, processing and additives. LPO's in NC include eggs, cheese, milk, cream, butter, pork, chicken, beef, lamb, goose, duck, ostrich and emu.

These distinctions are, of course, not mutually exclusive; all recipes indicated as vegan are also vegetarian, have less than 5% animal protein and no LPOs; vegetarian recipes vary in the amount of animal protein used; and <5% dishes may have some meat (and thus aren't vegetarian) but still relatively good for you.

I hope these distinctions are helpful for those of us trying to limit or eliminate animal protein in our diets as one way to lose weight or prevent diseases.

Asparagus is here!

Just a short post this week because I want to share this recipe while the asparagus is still in the markets. Put a Fork In It has had some beautiful asparagus the last two weekends but it goes FAST. I got to the market at 9:05am on Saturday and just barely got some. The other ingredients you can also get locally - the olive oil from Ohh-lio Express or both the oil and the balsamic vinegar from The House of Olives and the nuts from Chosen Roasters.

Fancy Asparagus (V)
(1 serving each)

6 asparagus stalks

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar (I used the Blackberry Ginger from House of Olives)

1 tablespoon slivered almonds

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Drizzle olive oil on a cookie sheet.
2. Chop off the bottom 1-1.5 inches of the asparagus stalks. Lay stalks on the olive oil.
3. Drizzle balsamic vinegar over the stalks and finish with the almonds.
4. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until asparagus reaches your desired tenderness.

I made 3 servings and saved some for later.

 That's all it is - easy to do but delicious!

Onions and Olive Oil

Have you ever had three onions in your fridge and nothing else? For me, that's now what my dad calls a high class problem because I found two things this week that may change my life.

1. The House of Olives in Huntersville. This is a relatively new business in the Birkdale shopping center that sells infused olive oils, balsamic vinegars and is the answer to any boring dinner. You might think balsamic vinegar is just for salads but it isn't. House of Olives has fruit-flavored varieties as well as sun dried tomato Parmesan garlic (all one flavor!), chive and dark chocolate. You can taste every type before purchasing and most can be paired with any other. The liquids themselves are made from European olives and some from California but the business itself is local.

2. An easy caramelized onion recipe. I found this recipe after a simple search while trying to spice up some beans and rice. The onions are from Put A Fork In It (who also had some beautiful asparagus on Saturday) at the Atherton Market and the olive oil and vinegar were from House of Olives. The combination may seem a little strange but the sweetness of the vinegar and the kick of the fresh onions was stellar.

Carmelized Onions (V)
2 onions, sliced long-ways
2-3 T olive oil
1-2 T Blackberry Ginger Vinegar
1-2 t sugar
1/2 t salt

1. Heat oil in large skillet. When hot, add onions and coat thoroughly.
2. Cook for 10 minutes then sprinkle salt, sugar then vinegar.
3. Continue to stir onions, recoating every 5 minutes for 45 minutes to an hour.

This would be delicious for fajitas, sausage, or even pasta.

Tired of Winter Produce Yet?

Here in Charlotte, the weather has been unseasonably warm. We've had more days of over 80 degree weather than I can count on one hand in the last two weeks. Daffodils have come and gone and tulips are almost out of here too. The poplars and pear trees are even starting to fade! 

What does that mean for the farmers markets though? Unfortunately, the answer is that we're probably still looking at a couple more weeks of the same produce options you've seen since the beginning of the year as new crops are planted and grow. Farmers' stocks of sweet potatoes, squash and greens will probably continue into mid-April or later. This means that the same things I've been serving my household and friends for months won't be changing for a month.

However, there are still exciting ways to both take advantage of the last of the winter crops and also explore some new foods. Maybe now is the time to enjoy the non-seasonal offerings at your local market. For example, I have been buying a loaf a week of Duke's Bread. I make a lot of soups this time of the year because winter produce lend themselves well to soup (butternut squash, vegetable, carrot top) and trying one of the many varieties of bread really makes a soup dinner more exciting. Of course cheese like those from the Chapel Hill Creamery (which Charlotteans can buy from Simply Local) and Cheval Farmstead can make a great soup and bread meal even better.

This may also be a great time to explore the protein options at your farmers market. Windy Hill has an amazing meat selection all year round and the 7th Street Market has a fish seller with some beautiful options regardless of the season.

So embrace the slight lack of produce variety inherent to March and early April and try something new!

Reflections on a Local Food Lifestyle

I can’t believe it but it’s been over a year since my first post in 2011. Since then I have read up on food, tried some of the amazing produce that North Carolina has to offer and gotten input from others on what they can get locally in their home towns. It’s been an exciting and enlightening year and thanks to all that have taken the journey with me, submitted recipes or pointed me to new markets.

Now that I’ve been trying this local eating thing for a year, I have some reflections on getting and eating local food:

1. It’s not hard. You may need to plan ahead a little and be familiar with your state’s produce offerings, but if you want to eat locally, you can (at least in Charlotte and every other city my guest bloggers have written about).
2. If you eat locally, others will too. I can’t relay how many people that I’ve spoken to about my journey over the past year have become interested in and, in many cases, hooked on local food. By (gently) telling my friends, family and coworkers about the benefits of local food, many have sought out farmers markets and co-ops available in their area.
3. Not all farmers markets sell local produce. Just because your food doesn’t come from a grocery store doesn’t mean it’s local. Many farmers markets supplement their local items with non-local produce in order to have a more complete offering and attract shoppers. This isn’t necessarily bad because often the non-local ingredients are also organic, humanely-raised or otherwise better than grocery store produce but buyers should be aware and ask vendors where their food comes from.
4. Eating locally can inspire you to try new things. This is such an understatement. I’m not a professional or even an amateur cook, just someone that wants to feed myself and my friends healthy and delicious food. By exploring locally grown and raised offerings, I’ve been encouraged to branch out and try produce I’ve never used before.
5. Food is more meaningful when you shake the hand that grew it. In twenty first century America, we’re very disconnected from the source of our food. When you shop at a farmers market, you often get to meet who grew your food, discuss with them how they prepare their food and generally be closer to what you eat. I find that I waste less food and take more pride in what I make when I know someone has worked hard to grow it.
6. A local food lifestyle can very easily be a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle. I’m not sure if it’s because you can grow more produce per acre than you can animals or whether regulations on raising animals for meat are just so taxing (pun intended) that it’s not as lucrative, but for whatever reason, farmers markets have more produce than protein. This means that there’s often an abundance of fruits and vegetables, often in varieties you can’t find at the grocery store, making a meat-free lifestyle easy and interesting.

Though my one year experiment is over, I will continue to post on the blog as I find recipes and other tidbits that I think would be of interest to others that are striving to live a more local lifestyle. Don’t hesitate to send me your recipes and experiences at charlottelocaleats@gmail.com!