Archive for June 2015
California Drought Worsens: Another Good Reason to Join a Local CSA Farm
There are plenty of reasons to buy a share in the bounty of a farm that follows the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model of small farm agriculture rooted in growing a variety of crops in an earth friendly way. Freshly harvested food tastes better; buying food from a CSA keeps money in the pocket of a local farm family and protects local farmland; shareholders in a CSA develop a relationship with a particular farmer and a personal connection with a piece of our mother earth that can be visualized and experienced; participants in a CSA diversify their diets and try new foods (my most recent CSA weekly share in mid June from Roxbury Farm in Kinderhook [Columbia County, NY] included just-picked salad mix of various greens, head lettuce, Chiogga beets, snow peas, arrowhead cabbage, broccoli rabe, cucumbers, summer squash, zucchini, turnips, cilantro, parsley); decreased transportation for food and reduced packaging conserve energy. To this mix of reasons, the worsening of the California drought provides another excellent one.
More than one-third of the vegetables grown in the United States and a startling two-thirds of our fruits and nuts come from California. The Salinas Valley in California has become the national center of vegetable production, with some remarkable production statistics: 99% of artichokes, 92% of broccoli, 94% of processing tomatoes, 94% of celery, 86% of garlic, 83% of cauliflower, 76% of head lettuce, 67% of carrots, and 58% of asparagus are grown in the Salinas Valley and distributed throughout North America. (These statistics are cited in Professor Christopher Henke’s historical and sociological analysis of the Salinas Valley’s production of “niche market crops on an industrial level” in Cultivating Science, Harvesting Power – Science and Industrial Agriculture in California (The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2008) previously reviewed on this website.
An eye-opening story, Your Contribution to the California Drought by Larry Buchanan, Josh Keller and Haeyoun Park in the New York Times (5/22/15), noted that “each week, the average American consumes more than 300 gallons of California water by eating food that was produced there.” This startling fact explains why “nearly 80 percent of all the water consumed” in California is used in agriculture. Relying on calculations by the Pacific Institute, based on the institute’s estimates drawn from “local climate data and plant physiology data reported by the California Department of Water Resources and crop yields reported by the United States Department of Agriculture (U.S.D.A.)”, the newspaper’s report notes the gallons of water required to produce approximately 50 types of foods; some examples: 24 gallons for a bunch of grapes; 15.1 gallons for 2 ounces of rices; 42.5 gallons for three mandarin oranges, 1/2 gallon for 3 celery sticks or a tomato slice; 7 gallons for 3 and a half walnuts. Perhaps, most critical are the 143 gallons of water for the average American’s “four glasses of California milk each week” and 86 gallons for 1.75 ounces of beef.
With the recent news reported in the New York Times (6/13/15), California Cuts Farmers’ Share of Scant Water, Rare Measures Are Set for Longtime Users, by Jennifer Medina that “farmers with rights to California water dating back more that a century will face sharp cutbacks,” for a family’s food security, the California drought provides another compelling reason to join a local CSA farm. We recently reported that some established CSA farms have been slower to sell out their shares or have seen a slight decrease in shareholders given the dramatic increase in the number of CSA farms. Consequently, although the summer growing season is underway and the distribution of shares has started, a search for a CSA farm to join would likely still be successful.
(Frank W. Barrie, 6/17/15)
Five Minute Strawberry Rhubarb Oatmeal
The sweet and sour combination of strawberries and rhubarb is a seasonal treat. Indulging in a slice of strawberry rhubarb pie is tempting, but much healthier and in many ways even better is turning the morning bowl of oatmeal into something special by cooking up a stalk of rhubarb with rolled oats and then adding freshly sliced, sweet strawberries, along with my usual add-ons of ground cinnamon, a handful of walnuts and finally a splash of kefir to moisten the hearty breakfast.
In the fall and early winter, I like to cook up my oatmeal with some organic Cape Cod cranberries, and it’s a seasonal treat in late spring to cook it up with rhubarb and top it off with sliced strawberries. I was somewhat surprised that I could not find any rhubarb for sale at the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market in Troy (Rensselaer County, NY) on a recent Saturday, but did luck out in finding a farm stand with pint containers of beautiful, sweet strawberries. Kudos to Our Farm CSA at Spring Hill Farm of Greenwich (Washington County, NY) for having strawberries available so early in the season in upstate New York. “Farmer Jenn” comes down to the Troy market from Greenwich (about 30 miles to the north of Troy) to deliver CSA shares and to also sell, in the course of the season, its “over 50 types and 300 varieties of vegetables, melons, berries and herbs” (which on this Saturday in late May included pints of ripe, sweet strawberries for $4.99).
Unable to find rhubarb at the farmers market, my hometown food co-op, the Honest Weight Food Co-op in Albany, NY, was the source for the rhubarb from a local farm in nearby New Lebanon (Columbia County, NY). At $4.99 per pound, I was reminded that I should tend more carefully to the rhubarb plants in my backyard garden, which haven’t been very productive.
According to the wonderful reference book, Edible, An Illustrated Guide to the World’s Food Plants (Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 2008), rhubarb is a tricky food to categorize. Although a popular “pie fruit”, it “is no fruit at all, but a stalky cousin of sorrel and very much a leafy vegetable” (Edible, at p. 62). This comprehensive guide to food plants also warns that “the large, wavy edged leaves on rhubarb’s stout red or green stalks have been associated with cases of poisoning due to their concentrations of oxalic acid and anthraquinone, and must not be eaten” (Edible, at p. 184). [Edible was reviewed on this website a couple of years ago; Although out-of-stock from the National Geographic Society, it remains available from other booksellers.]
The Honest Weight Food Co-op is also my source for organic rolled oats, which are available in either regular or thicker cut, at a reasonable $1.69 per pound. I’ve calculated that the 1/2 cup of oats used for this recipe, which makes one serving, costs a mere 22 cents. (Either regular or thick cut can be used in this 5-minute recipe. No need for the “quick” oats.) And the food co-op is where I purchase organic, ground cinnamon in the bulk food section of the store. I can fill to the brim a small jar with organic, ground cinnamon for $1.49. (The $12.38 per pound cost is much less intimidating with the realization that a mere .12 pound of ground cinnamon fills the small jar to the brim!)
For the past couple of years, Cowbella’s plain kefir has become a mainstay of my breakfast. This nonfat, cultured milk is made from the Catskills’ dairy own small herd of pasture-grazed Jersey cows “treated with love and respect.” At the food co-op one quart of the deliciously tangy plain kefir, with its live active kefir cultures, priced at $5.25 lasts me for more than a week and has eliminated ordinary milk from my diet, a plus since kefir and yogurt with live active cultures are much easier to digest. (It also comes in the sweeter flavors of maple or strawberry.) The organic, raw walnuts, also from the bulk foods section of the co-op (from Grower Direct in the heart of California’s Central Valley) of late seem a bit pricier at $16.99/lb. Still, a handful (perhaps an 1/8th of a cup), add a nice crunch and flavor for about 50 cents. [Daniel A. Sumner, director of the University of California’s Agricultural Issues Center and a professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California at Davis in his California Water Blog has suggested that although the drought has been “tough on farms and especially painful for farm workers,” consumers are “likely to see only small food price effect in 2015 from the California drought.” Check out the link to his blog; his reasoning is fascinating.]
Five Minute Strawberry Rhubarb Oatmeal (one serving)
One cup of water
1/2 cup of rolled oats (either regular or thicker cut may be used)
1 stalk of rhubarb
Sliced fresh strawberries
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
Handful of organic raw walnuts
1/4 cup of plain kefir
Rinse, scrub and slice in small pieces one rhubarb stalk. Rinse and slice half dozen strawberries. Bring a cup (8 ounces) of water to a rapid boil in a small pot & lower heat to a simmer. Add 1/2 cup of rolled oats and the small slices of rhubarb stalk and cook (uncovered), at a simmer, for 5 minutes. Turn off heat and cover until all water absorbed. Transfer to a small bowl, and sprinkle 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and add sliced fresh strawberries and a handful of raw organic walnuts.
Moisten with 1/4 cup of plain kefir (which I like to add around the circumference of the oatmeal). Enjoy a seasonal bowl of 5-minute strawberry rhubarb oatmeal!
(Frank W. Barrie, 6/1/15)
