Voluntary Simplicity - What is it we really need?

My meditation this week is focused on another quote from my recent Northwest Earth Institute's Voluntary Simplicity Discussion Course.

"The bottom line for us is, if you can become self-sufficient in the basics of life, which are shelter, nutritious food, and clothing - if you have these things covered, then all you have to do with the rest of your time is make yourself a peaceful person."

-- Janet Lehrs

How true that we need so little, yet expect so much from every day. I know, there are VERY few of us that are completely self-sufficient when it comes to shelter, food, and clothes. But how easily we convince ourselves that we need just a little bit more... then just a little bit more...

Quotes like these usually lead to me making a massive sweep though my home, followed by a trip to the local mission to donate. Over the years, I've learned to live with less and less stuff, and more and more experiences. Because really, at the end of the day, what do we REALLY need?

For more about Voluntary Simplicity, check out the following posts:

Falling in Love With Life

Letting Go

Local diet update - June 29, 2009

It was another amazing week at our local farmers' market. We had a few less vendors than in the previous two weeks, but it was still an amazing display and variety of fresh local goodies. And if the 100 degree heat didn't convince you, there's no denying it's summer when customer after customer passed my little info booth with fresh (and very local) watermelons and cantaloupe. I ended up come home with a few of those cantaloupe myself, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Local at the Brazos Valley Farmers' Market this week were:

Veggies: carrots, onions, potatoes, cucumbers, green beans, tomatoes, corn, purple hull peas, garlic, peppers, eggplant, zucchini, squash, beets, tomatillos...

Fruits: apples, cantaloupe, watermelon, dried apples...

Canned Goods: jams, jellies, relishes, salsas, pickles, canned okra, chow chow...

Other Foods: honey, eggs, whole wheat flour, cornmeal, herbs, locally roasted coffee, locally roaster peanuts...

Baked Goods: yeast breads, sweet breads, pounds cake, pies, pastries, croutons, bagel bites, puppy cookies...

Crafts: jewelry, soaps, aprons, dolls, journals, wallets, puzzles, pot holders, candles, paintings...

Plants: decorative plants and flowers

And I know I'm missing a ton of items as I was so busy visiting with customers I didn't get around to see it all!

Now, of course, I had to behave myself when I did my personal shopping. I'm harvesting tomatoes, a few onions, a few green beans, basil, sage, lambs-quarter, cucumber, lettuce, chard, and collard greens out of my backyard garden. Plus, I have plenty of rice, eggs, carrots, potatoes, home-canned corn, home-canned tomatoes and tomato sauce, home-canned soups, and home-canned beans in the fridge, freezer, and pantry (all of it is local).

Most of what I need these days, since I'm not producing any of my own (quite yet anyway), is fruit (and man, do I love fruit!). I picked up 2 cantaloupe, a large bag-full of apples, 3 tomatoes, a bag of green beans, a canister of whole wheat flour, and 5 bars of soap to restock our supplies. If nothing else, we'll be clean, right?

I need to eat lots of my backyard greens this week since most of them have bolted and I need to pull them up to plant more green beans, so expect lots of greenery in this week's market to table post. No matter what it is, you can bet it'll be delicious. That's the true magic of local food - it just tastes better and who am I to deny my taste buds?

Hope you're finding lots of local goodies in your neck of the woods. Have a great week, everyone. And, as always, Happy (and mindful) eating!

GREAT NEWS - Local Utility Company Magazine Responds

Earlier this week, I retrieved our mail and noticed the newest edition of our monthly electric company magazine, "Texas Co-Op Power."

Knowing that the center article is reserved for promoting businesses in our town, I immediately flipped to those center pages. When, what to my wondering eyes should appear... AN ARTICLE ON OUR NEWEST LOCALLY-OWNED GROCERY - VILLAGE FOODS which is also host to one of the three weekly Brazos Valley Farmers' Markets!

Why am I so excited about this? Almost three months ago, I opened the April edition of this magazine to see an article in support of none other than WALMART! I was so upset, I blogged about it, then emailed the electric company and the editor of the magazine.

The editor of the magazine called me himself, recognizing my concerns and asked me to pitch ideas for future articles. Then, of course, we reach the present and the Village Foods article - one of the story ideas I pitched.

What wonderful proof that each and every one of us can make a difference! Go local!

Local residents can look for the latest edition in their mailbox; and everyone can visit BTU's website to read it online (as soon as they update the archives for July...)

Twenty-nine pounds of tomatoes later

I do believe I've finally recovered from the tomato massacre this weekend - at least enough to blog about it. Twenty-nine pounds of tomatoes transformed into 12-1/2 pints of spaghetti sauce. Pshew! It was some serious work and that takes into account that we had a wonderful new gadget to help. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

I spent Friday, Saturday, and part of Sunday playing around with different methods of processing tomatoes (boiling, peeling, and seeding vs. the tomato strainer), as well as different ingredient combinations. By Sunday afternoon, we finally found a basic recipe we loved and wanted to can (when I say basic, the idea is that when we open a jar, we can then add extra spices, veggies, etc depending on what's on the menu).

Thankfully, the tomato strainer gave us the best product. So, rather than having to boil, peel, and seed the tomatoes, all I had to do was quarter them and drop them in the strainer. Dave and I decided it was WAY more fun to work on the sauce together, so I added the tomatoes to the strainer and maintained the collection pans (dumping juice as they filled) while he did the cranking and processing. What a team!

Of course, I should also give credit to Kelsey (our Shih Tzu). Her job was to make sure the floor stayed free of tomato juice drippings. What a pro! My little eager helper licked up every last drop - well, other than the ones that ended up on her neck while she hovered beneath us licking the floor. Let's just say bath-time happened soon afterward.

Next, I sauteed onion and garlic in copious amounts of olive oil and then added the tomato juice and pulp, as well as some salt and pepper (the seeds and skins from the tomatoes were reserved to add to my stir fry lunches this week). At this point, I was able to clean up the kitchen while the sauce simmered on the stove, uncovered so the water would boil off and the sauce would thicken. I did add a little cornstarch to help the process.

After about 5 hours of simmering (now 10:30 PM), I had finally achieved a good consistency and flavor. It was finally time to start processing jars! By 12:30 AM, we had 12 gorgeous pint jars of homemade, local spaghetti sauce and a small 1/2 jar full in the fridge for a special meal this week. Exhausted, we fell into bed without listening for the final pings of the last batch of jars sealing. Thankfully, when we awoke the next morning, we found that all the jars had sealed. Success!

At long last, here's our recipe for basic tomato sauce (on a smaller scale - 1 batch):

Fresh Tomato Sauce

• 3 pounds tomatoes
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• Salt and pepper
• Cornstarch

Prep your tomatoes either by quartering them and processing through a strainer, or boiling them to remove the skins then seeding and chopping them. Set aside.

Heat olive oil in a pan on low-medium heat and add onion. Sautee for 5 minutes. Add garlic and saute for another 3 minutes. Add tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste. Raise to medium high heat and allow to simmer on stove, uncovered, for several hours (or as long as it takes to achieve a consistency you like). Adding cornstarch will help the thickening process. Note: To add the cornstarch, ladle out some of the sauce into a separate bowl. Add the cornstarch to the bowl and whisk until smooth. Then add back to the saucepan.

Experiment with spices like red pepper flakes, oregano, and basil. Add sauteed mushrooms, shredded carrots, or zucchini. Explore the possibilities, make it your own, but most importantly - Have fun!

Is this the end of my 2009 tomato adventures? Certainly not! I'll be harvesting tomatoes out of my backyard garden through (most likely) November. I'll strain any extra tomatoes, freeze the juice and pulp until I have enough to do a new batch, and begin the canning process again (although on a smaller scale - this was a total of 9 batches. Pshew!). And of course, from the comments on Tuesday, I'm totally going to try my own ketchup too!

So, twenty-nine pounds of tomatoes later, I may be a little tired, but we'll be enjoying local spaghetti sauce all year round. THAT alone is worth the effort. Happy canning!

Market to Table - June 25, 2009

So you've been to the farmers' market (or in my case, you've raided the market AND you have a wonderful backyard garden from which to harvest). Now, what to do with all those fresh local goodies?

Those of you who have followed my blog for very long know that I'm all about the quick and easy. Good food doesn't require gourmet ingredients or 50-ingredient recipes. And lucky for me, good food doesn't require a great deal of skill. I just follow a technique I call "Everything-But-The-Kitchen-Sink" cooking. Basically, check out the fridge (or the garden), grab anything that looks good, and run with it. This usually results in an array of incredibly diverse stir-fries, salads, and snacks. And it's all done without the aid of a recipe, because eating locally, or eating in season, means the season determines the menu, not the cookbook.

So, let's see what hit the table this week. As I reported on Monday, I'm harvesting onions, tomatoes, lambs-quarter, green beans, chard, collards, lettuce, sage, cucumber, and basil from the backyard right now. I also have potatoes, carrots, green beans, apples, watermelon, and wheat flour from the farmers' market; and local rice in the pantry.

Breakfasts this week have begun with a cup of tea made from sage right out of the backyard. Once I've been active for awhile and worked up an appetite, I'll raid whatever fresh local fruit that I have on hand. Of course, this week that was watermelon and apples (local apples rock!).

Lunches (my main meal of the day) are usually stir-fries, but this week, I mixed things up with some homemade veggie burgers too (those are boiled potatoes on the plate with the burgers). Regardless of the meal, whether stir fry or veggie burger, I just start pulling goodies out of the fridge and make it up as I go along. This week, most of the stir fries consisted of lots of those backyard greens like collards, lettuce, chard, lambs-quarter and basil, onions, tomato waste leftover from canning pasta sauce, and of course some local brown rice and carrots from the farmers' market.

But you've seen 101 of my stir fries, right? So here's my latest veggie burger concoction:

Pinto Bean Veggie Burger

• 2 cups cooked pinto beans (farmers' market)
• diced onion (backyard garden)
• diced carrot (farmers' market)
• diced mushroom (produce market)
• 1 cup brown rice (local rice company)
• salt (local grocer)
• italian spices (local grocer)

While the beans cook on the stove, saute the onion, carrot, and mushroom in a little olive oil. Add salt and italian spices to taste. When veggies are soft, remove from heat.

As soon as the beans are soft, drain and mash them with a potato masher. Mix in sauteed veggies and rice. Mix well and form into patties. Store in refrigerator until ready to use.

When it's time to eat, fry the patties in a little olive oil, turning over once to brown on both sides. Enjoy on your favorite roll and/or with some local toppings like sliced onion, tomato, lettuce, pickles, and sauces. I ate mine without the bun and focused on a variety of toppings like my homemade pasta sauce on one day, sliced tomato and bread and butter pickles on another. Both were FABULOUS! But don't follow my recipe to the letter. Create your own with whatever you have on hand.

That just leaves dinner. I steamed some local veggies for Dave to eat with his meals (this week, that meant lots of steamed carrots and green beans). As for me, I made dinner more of a snack-fest, nibbling on a little bit of everything. Well, let me just show you...

Easy Vegan Meal/Snack

It's summer here in Texas and when it's 100 degrees at 5PM, the last thing you want to do is eat anything fresh off the stove. But the "Everything But the Kitchen Sink" idea works here too. Just start pulling whatever sounds good out of the fridge.

Starting from the top-left and going clock-wise, there are a few cherry tomatoes (backyard garden), a handful of pecans (bulk section of our locally-owned grocery), green beans (farmers' market), cucumber (backyard garden), and two boiled potatoes (farmers' market). In the bowl above, of course, is some of that gorgeous watermelon I got at the farmers' market last weekend. It was light, cool, and a perfectly delicious evening meal.

Well, that was easy, wasn't it? Ok, I know. Eating locally can be a bit daunting at first, especially if you're trying to feed a family. After all, it's an entirely different way of eating and cooking than many of us are used to. But the rewards are nothing short of the healthiest, freshest, tastiest food ever. So quit drooling over my weekly menu and go invent some local meals of your own. See you next time and, as always, Happy (and mindful) eating!

P.S. So what's local in your neck of the woods?

Eco-friendly lawn mowing

Ok. Confession time. Little miss Simple-Green-Frugal still uses a gas lawn mower on the yard (or what's left of it now that we've put so many raised beds in). But it's time to correct that glaring error and we're looking for a solution to our gas-guzzling ways. I mentioned letting the grass die and covering it with gravel instead, but Dave didn't sound too pleased with that option. So I'm on to plan B - an eco-friendly mower.

Of course, we have a couple options here:

1. A reel mower
2. An electric mower

I had a reel mower 100 years ago (ok, maybe not that long ago) when I lived in Indiana and didn't think it was such a big deal. I didn't then, nor do I now have a large yard and to be honest, I enjoy the wonderful exercise lawn-mowing provides. A huge positive about the reel mower is that it's pretty inexpensive, running in around $100 for a good one. But...

Our local power company is offering vouchers for $150 off an electric lawn mower which would bring the price of the electric mower down close to the cost of the reel mower. What to do? What to do?

Does anyone out there have an electric mower that you REALLY like and would recommend? Same for the reel mower? What have you found are the plusses and minuses of both?

And for you locals... Want to take advantage of this offer? Here's what the ad says in the BTU newsletter:

$150 Off Electric Lawn Mowers!

The Texas Municipal Power Agency is making available vouches to customers or residents of Bryan for promoting purchase of a corded or uncorded electric lawn mower. Each voucher is worth $150 and is available at Sears. Be sure to take your current drivers license or your BTU bill. Vouchers are available on a "first come, first serve" basis and limited to one voucher per qualified purchaser. A total of 113 vouchers are available. This voucher program will end mid-August 2009 or when all available vouchers are used, whichever occurs first.

Better move fast before those vouchers run out...

Kitchen Toys - My new strainer

Ah. My favorite kind of shopping - when friends give us cool stuff they don't use anymore. No hard-earned money spent, no time wasted in the store, and really awesome stuff you couldn't find there anyway.

Like this strainer. How cool is that? You quarter some tomatoes (peel and all), dump them into that white bowl on top, and crank the handle while you push the tomatoes down the chute with a mallet. The tomato juice comes out the front, the pulp, skin, and seeds come out the side (waiting patiently for a stir-fry near you). And in the meantime, you've worked out any aggression you were feeling because the cat puked all over the floor again, but we won't talk about that...

Right. So here's the tough part - what to do with the tomato juice? Of course, I could always just drink the tomato juice, but I was thinking more on the lines of maybe making something more creative. Spaghetti sauce, maybe?

Friday night I set to work, starting out by searching the internet for recipes. Of course, I ended up (like I always do) ditching the recipes and just making it up as I go along. I spent a good part of the weekend playing around with different methods and combination of ingredients. Stay tuned for the spaghetti sauce adventures later this week!

But surely there are tons of things you can do with strained tomatoes (or other fruits and veggies). So here's my call out to all you amazing, recipe-loving readers. What kinds of goodies can I make out of these fresh-from-the-backyard strained goodies? Don't forget to share recipes if you have them!

Local diet update - June 22, 2009

My favorite part about eating locally is the sense of community that inevitably follows. Whether you hang out at the farmers' market, the local cooperative, the CSA drop, or the farm, it's impossible to get away without a sense of being a part of something larger than ourselves; to find friends, neighbors, kindred souls - all with a love of life and of food.

Much of my community-time happens at our local farmers' market. Although I'm not an official vendor (I host the market informational booth), I'm still just one of the gang. The market manager saves me a spot each Saturday morning, one of the vendors sets up a table for me, and another has provided me with a gorgeous table cloth. Before the market officially opens, I take a few moments to walk around the market, do my personal shopping, and talk to the vendors I've come to regard as friends. We share our stories from the week, ogle the gorgeous produce on display, and make each other laugh from open until close. Truly, the farmers' market not only nourishes my body with fresh local food, it nourishes my soul with deep, meaningful relationships.

Honestly, even if I were growing 100% of my food from our backyard, I wouldn't give up my time at the market. All those wonderful people and an amazing harvest all in one place? How can I resist? Besides, where else are you going to see mutant cucumbers like that (check out the top of the pie safe)? Yikes!

Well, despite the fact that we're harvesting green beans, a few last onions, tomatoes, cucumber, chard, collards, lettuce, lambs-quarter, sage, and basil from the backyard garden, the market harvest was just too good to pass up. In fact, it was so good, I couldn't capture it all in one photo.

Starting with the top, that's a humongous watermelon, a coffee container full of whole wheat flour, carrots, apples (my first local apples!!!), a jar of mild salsa, a large bag of green beans, (wait for it, wait for it) 29 pounds of beautiful ripe red tomatoes (guess who's tinkering with spaghetti sauce this week), and a half dozen onions on top of the tomatoes.

The bag of potatoes wouldn't fit in the first photo without making everything way too small, so it's off on its lonesome (poor potatoes).

In addition to all the market and backyard goodies, I have more local foods lurking here and there in the house - like eggs, canned soups, canned tomatoes, canned corn, lots of local brown rice, and a friend brought by a jar of homemade bread and butter pickles (my favorite pickles - Mmmm).

Does local get any more tempting than this? My culinary world is wide open. What am I going to make with all these fresh local foods? Tune in to this week's Market to Table post to find out. In the meantime, have a great week. And, as always, Happy (and mindful) eating!

Up

Sneaking out for a little rendez-vous this afternoon, Dave and I headed for the theater to watch Pixar's latest: Up. EVERYONE should see this movie! 

All I'll say is that the message is one for each and every one of us: What makes ours a life well lived is not the goal nor the destination, but the adventures of each and every day.

Check it out!

Dr. Doug Welsh's Top 10 Gardening Mistakes

Local garden celebrity (not to mention author, radio host, professor of Horticulture, and Master Gardener Coordinator) Dr. Doug Welsh spoke at the Bryan Library last night on a topic I just could not afford to miss: Top 10 Gardening Mistakes.

Needless to say, the room was packed and lucky for me, I had planned to arrive super early and just lounge in the library until it was time for the lecture to begin. Welsh is a charismatic speaker and with almost three decades of gardening experience, eager to help the rest of us newbies out. The talk was primarily geared towards lawn landscaping, but a few of us veggie growers asked some great questions too. Thank you, Dr. Welsh!

And now, without further ado, Dr. Doug Welsh's Top 10 Gardening Mistakes...

1. Overwatering - Forget what the programmable watering systems tell you. Watering 20 minutes, 3 times a week is NOT what's best for your lawn. Water when your lawn needs it and when it needs it, water all at one time (giving it approximately 1" of water per week). For veggie gardens, his recommendation is... using a drip irrigation system. If you don't have one, get one! And use it every other day for 3 hours.
2. Over-fertilizing - Our ground here does not need phosphorus. It's nitrogen that makes things happen (although phosphorous' one substantial use is making those beautiful 1015 onions so wonderfully big). If you're going to fertilize, fertilize with nitrogen.
3. Misusing pesticides - More is NOT better. Neem oil is a great organic pesticide for soft-bodied insects. Use spinosad for hard-bodied insects.
4. Improperly identifying a plant problem - ask nurseries, master gardeners, or locals can even get plants tested by the diagnostic team at TAMU. Often times it's not disease that is affecting a plant, but stress/trauma from wind, temperatures, or water fluctuations.
5. Using plants that are unproductive and/or poorly adapted to your area - Keep in mind what you can grow in your area. Some things grow well here, others don't. Don't rely exclusively on what seed manufacturers say. A seed company in Illinois saying that a particular plant is heat resistant may not have taken into consideration Texas heat. Ask around. Of course, the old adage is (since land here really sucks), "if you can grow it here at TAMU, you can grow it ANYWHERE!"
6. Planting the right plant in the wrong place - keep in mind the ultimate size of your plant when placing them in the yard or garden.
7. Failing to prepare the soil before planting - Again, the soil here in Central Texas is awful, containing less than 1% organic matter. Supplement! For veggie gardening, always add organic matter anytime you replant or rotate a crop.
8. Failing to use mulch - Mulched beds use 25% less water and gives you better weed control. You can even mulch your veggie gardens! And the Bryan compost facility offers it for free in bulk. Just ask for chipper material.
9. Planting at the wrong time - Follow area guidelines, but use a little common sense too. The freeze here this past spring surprised everyone (including the pecan trees, which are rumored to never be wrong).
10. Failing to think long-term - Think about what you envision for your garden in the long run, the environmental impacts, upkeep, etc.

Not on the list, but covered in follow-up questions, I also found out that if a fruit tree tries to produce within the first 3 years, you should knock the fruit off to prevent it from growing. This will give a greater yield later on.

I hope this helped you out as much as it helped me. If nothing else, it'll make us think about how to make our gardens better and more efficient. For you locals, you can find more information about local gardening, as well as upcoming garden classes, at the Brazos Master Gardener website.

Have a great weekend!

Market to Table - June 18, 2009

The greens in our garden (lettuce, collards, and chard) were starting to bolt so it was time to do some serious backyard veggie eating (remind me next time to plant less greens and more green beans - there's only so many greens even a Texan can take). So this week, the only meal that didn't feature greens was breakfast. Everything else? Well, let's just see...

Veggie stir fry - Collards don't really go well in salads. It's just not really that kind of green. Stir fry it up, though and it's heaven! The stir fry pictured above was the most frequent meal for me this week since it pulled a lot of bountiful (aka overflowing) goodies from our very own backyard, like swiss chard, collard greens, lambs-quarter, lettuce, tomatoes, onion, and basil. A few farmers' market goodies made the dish like white eggplant, pinto beans, garlic, and olive oil. Local brown rice finishes off the ingredients.

Easy as always (would you expect anything but easy from me?), I simply started by sauteing the tomato, onion, garlic, egg plant, and any stems from the greens (swiss chard stems are a great substitute for celery) in a drizzle of olive oil. Once the tomatoes have completely broken down and you have a nice thick tomato-veggie paste, dump the rest of the greens in, cover, and cook until the greens have softened. Then toss in the cooked brown rice and pinto beans, heat through, and enjoy (and don't forget to lick the bowl - it's THAT good!).

Veggie plate - Earlier in the week, I needed to finish up some leftovers lurking in the fridge. Rather than picking any one thing, I let myself enjoy a smorgasbord of goodies. Those are boiled red potatoes from the farmers' market (we're pushing 100 degrees here, so I've been eating them chilled from the fridge - Mmmm!), steamed green beans (from the backyard garden), and some stir fry leftovers (greens and onions from the backyard, carrots from the farmers' market). Although you can't see them here, the local peaches I had for dessert that afternoon really topped off the meal. 

Stuffed Tomato - Ok. It doesn't get any easier than this. Remember all those stir fry goodies from the beginning of this post? I had some leftovers (my eyes were bigger than my stomach one day) so I cored two nice big juicy tomatoes from the backyard (be sure to save the tomato innards for your next stir fry) and stuffed the tomato shells. Drizzle your baking sheet with olive oil (brush a little on top of the stuffed tomatoes too) and bake at 350 for 25 minutes (I baked it in my toaster oven) and have the all-local meal of your life! Experiment with the stir fry veggies to find what you like best. You can even dress it up with some homemade croutons or shredded cheese. 

Peaches and plums - Ok. You talked me into it. I just couldn't close this post without showing off the local fruit. Just about every morning for breakfast, I've had a couple of the juiciest sliced peaches ever and a few perfect little plums (both local, of course) alongside a nice hot cup of sage tea (sage harvested from the backyard garden). Is there a better way to start the day? I think not.

Well, there's plenty more greens in the backyard where these came from, so I'm sure I'm in for another week of sauteed greens and plump red tomatoes. I'm not complaining though. There something magical about walking into the backyard, asking "So what's for lunch?" and finding a beautiful harvest just waiting for my plate.

Happy (and mindful) eating!

Bird Wars

The first 4 of my 13 tomato plants were planted in early March. I've waited months to enjoy the epitome of the garden experience - picking a ripe red tomato and sinking my teeth into its juicy flesh. Enter birds.

As soon as the first tomatoes started to ripen - started, mind you, not fully ripened - the bird were ready, lurking on a neighbor's tree just waiting to scoop down for a little tomato-love. I tried to let them ripen on the vine as long as possible, but inevitably, I'd try to leave a tomato on for just a few more hours just to discover during the next inspection that it had been half pecked. Honestly, I don't mind sharing, but the birds were in no mood to share and pecked anything that looked like it might start to ripen. Disappointed that I'd been denied this gardener's pleasure, I started picking the tomatoes yellowish-green and letting them ripen in a paper bag on the counter.

That's when I started to do a little research and let me tell you, the internet is full of 101 ways to scare birds away: scarecrows, pie pans blowing in the wind, wind-chimes, aluminum foil, bird netting, leaving water out for the birds (what they really want from the tomato is moisture), leaving bird food out, hanging red Christmas bulbs before tomatoes ripen (to fool the birds into thinking these red orb things suck)...

I tried all the free options available to me like the aluminum foil, the wind-chimes, and setting out a water dish for the birds. It did slow them down, kinda... but it certainly didn't stop them. Day after day, I was pulling in pecked tomatoes that would have to be eaten without ripening.

That's when Dave wisely suggested we break down and spend a little money for bird netting. It took awhile to figure out where they keep the stuff in the hardware store (in the pest section - hmm. Apropos, no?). It was only $6 roll so we decided to give it a try. We spent all of five minutes on Sunday draping the netting and staking the corners over the 2 x 8 foot bed containing 12 of the 13 tomato plants. The results? Well, those are some mighty fine looking tomatoes still ripening on the vine, aren't they? The war may not be over, but I finally won the battle. 

Brazos Locavores - July Field Trip Announcement

Bluebird Peach Orchard (July 12, 2009)

Ready for another sweet trip? We recently enjoyed berry season at Kings Orchard, but a new season has arrived and Texas has turned into peach country!

Bluebird Orchard, 30 miles northeast of Bryan in Franklin Texas, is home to over 120 beautiful peach trees, some as old as 15 years with varieties that produce from May through August. Join the Brazos Locavores for a field trip through the orchard, meet the owners, and discover the wonderful world of peaches. We’ll also be given a tour through the farm's soap making facility. Two tours for the price of one! Ok, so the trip is free, as usual, but it's just too good to pass up, right?

Here’s the scoop:

What: Brazos Locavore Field Trip to Bluebird Orchard

When: Sunday, July 12 (10:00-2:00 PM)

Where: Meet up at Brazos Natural Foods at 10:00 and carpool out to the farm

RSVP: to Heather at brazoslocavores@gmail.com by Wednesday, July 8. This tour is limited to 30 individuals so be sure to RSVP today!

NOTE: As always, be sure to bring the kids as this is a great educational opportunity as well as wonderfully fun! The farm asks that there be no tree climbing, however, as it can be dangerous for the kids and harmful to the trees. Bluebird Orchard also recommends wearing socks and closed-toed shoes as fire ants are known to lurk around these parts.

For more information on Bluebird Orchard, check out their blog at http://bluebirdorchards.blogspot.com/ or email Heather at brazoslocavores@gmail.com.

Want to learn more about the Brazos Locavores? Visit our website at http://brazosgrows.org/brazos-locavores/

Or to receive field trip announcements directly to your inbox, join the Brazos Locavores Google Group at http://groups.google.com/group/brazos-locovore-adventures.

Voluntary Simplicity - Falling in love with life

The past 5 weeks, I hosted a Voluntary Simplicity discussion course offered by the Northwest Earth Institute. Joining me at my home were 4 other women. It was actually the second time I've taken the course and yet this time, being at an entirely different place in my life, I learned an entirely different set of lessons. Now that the course is over, and I'm meditating on some of the things I gleaned from the many passages and group discussions, I hope to share some of those things that meant the most to me. 

This week, I'm meditating on a quote from Ann Lovejoy. It's from the chapter entitled "Living Simply on Earth" which discussed how our choices affect the world around us, how each and every one of us is connected. It was the final chapter in the course, but this quote hit me the hardest.

I suggest that each of us strive to fall in love with our own daily life.

To me, this is the epitome of the voluntary simplicity movement. It's not about cutting the cable, or baking bread from scratch, or biking all my errands around town (although these things are currently part of my journey). Voluntary simplicity is about rediscovering ourselves, our families, the world around us. It's about waking up in the morning refreshed, excited about what the day might have in store, and delighting in the possibilities. It's about finding peace and happiness in the blue sky, a loved one's smile, the warmth of the sun on my face. It's about deliberately choosing how I spend my time and resources, and getting rid of all the needless distractions. It's about being in love with our daily lives.

In the last few weeks, I've deleted my to-do lists, left my days unstructured, and let each minute take me where it will. After an 11-year journey (with so far yet to go), I can say that in these last few weeks, I have indeed reached this place... I am absolutely in love with my life. How about you?

Brazos Locavores - Visit to Richardson Farms

For those of you following the Brazos Locavore adventures, we visited Richardson Farms this past weekend. Visit the farm report on Brazos Grows to hear all about the trip.

And stay tuned for the July field trip announcement coming soon!

Want to learn more about the Brazos Locavores? Visit our website at http://brazosgrows.org/brazos-locavores/

Or to receive field trip announcements directly to your inbox, join the Brazos Locavores Google Group at http://groups.google.com/group/brazos-locovore-adventures.

Local diet update - June 15, 2009

Whether you're eating an exclusively local diet or just trying a few things on for size, eating locally doesn't have to be a drain on your energy or your pocketbook. Some grow their own food (certainly the most inexpensive option of all), others live in a farming community with roadside stands at every junction, while still others are fortunate to have a wonderful year-round farmers' market. Truly, the hardest part is uncovering food resources in your community. Once you do, eating locally is a breeze (and a tasty one at that)! I'll include some links below on how and why to eat locally at the end of this post. For now, here's how my local diet and local diet resources are faring...

I'm happy to say, we set an all-time record on Saturday morning. The Brazos Valley Farmers' Market hosted a total of 31 vendors, the largest single day vendor count in the market's 20 year history. How cool is that?

Of course there were tons of goodies - fruits, veggies, eggs, honey, and crafts. The range of seasons is what's really impressive. We still had some leftovers from the winter seasons, like potatoes, onions, and cabbage; on top of the latest summer goodies like corn, cucumber, tomatoes, and squash. How can you beat that variety?

The local diet here at home is mostly coming out of our backyard: green beans, tomatoes, lettuce, chard, collards, lambs-quarter, onions, sage, and basil. I also have a pantry full of all-local corn, tomatoes, soups, rice, honey, and pinto beans. So, I didn't need much at the farmers' market this week and yet I still ended up with loads of goodies (some of which were generous gifts from friends): red potatoes, a super ripe humongous tomato, plums, white eggplant, peaches, a dozen eggs, whole wheat flour, and two different kinds of puppy cookies. 

Of course, I have plans for each and every one of these goodies. Last week, it was blueberry pancakes, stir-fries, corn on the cob, fresh garden salads, and homemade crackers with veggie dip. So what will it be this week? Stay tuned for this week's Market to Table post to find out! In the meantime, Happy (and mindful) eating!

For more information on eating locally, check out the following posts:

The Benefits of Eating Locally

A How-To Guide to Eating Locally

Go Local!

Crisis and Opportunity - A book review

Definitely check out my latest review on the Blogging Bookworm  - Crisis and Opportunity: Sustainability in American Agriculture by John Ikerd. Here's part of the review...

Honestly, I've never read a book so full of inspiration, insight and hope. This isn't just a "must read." Crisis and Opportunity is a handbook for daily living and the beautiful awakening to a bright, new future. 

Now scoot on over and get the full scoop. See you there!

Market to Table - June 11, 2009

Although I ate some of my usual all-local fare (pecans and fresh fruit, veggie stir fries, etc), I was having serious wheat flour cravings this week (usually I can skip the breads and it's no big deal). So I indulged...

Blueberry pancakes (vegan) - I honestly couldn't tell you the last time I ate pancakes, but as I was resting on the couch trying to figure out what I wanted for dinner one night, I swear I could hear the wheat flour and dried local blueberries calling to me from the other room. "Heather... In here...Hello?"

Right. So, being vegan, I don't eat eggs or dairy, so I had to get creative and did some major editing to a typical pancake recipe. Here's what I came up with:

Heather's Awesome and Totally Vegan Blueberry Pancakes

• 1/2 c. whole wheat flour (ground locally)
• 1 tbs cinnamon sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 c. water
• 1 tbs veggie oil
• handful of dried blueberries (local berries that I dried myself)

Combine ingredients and mix thoroughly. Add additional milk as needed for desired consistency. Place on warm (greased) griddle. Flip when bubbles start to form on top of pancake. Enjoy with your favorite syrup or jar of preserves!

Note: This only serves 1 person - lucky me! Feel free to double, triple, whatever and don't forget that pancakes freeze really well for a easy morning meal. Just save those plastic cereal liners to separate the pancakes in the freezer for easier retrieval.

Black bean dip on whole wheat crackers - Ok. A little more of that locally ground whole wheat flour for you. I haven't made these crackers since the last time I mentioned them on this blog (see recipe here). Again, the wheat flour is ground locally. The honey is also local. I topped the crackers with a homemade black bean dip and enjoyed a few fresh local plums on the side. Mmm, mmm! Right, so that bean dip:

Heather's Bean Dip

• 1 medium tomato, diced (local - from the backyard)
• 1 small onion, diced (local - also from the back yard)
• 1 cup black beans, cooked
• olive oil (farmers' market)
• salt to taste

Smash the black beans up with a fork. Add the diced tomato and onion. Drizzle with olive oil and just a pinch of salt. Stir together and enjoy. Now wasn't that easy? And it tastes great on top of those homemade whole wheat crackers.

Pasta, salad, and corn on the cob - Here's one of Dave's meals this week. The egg noodles were from the farmers' market. Unfortunately, the sauce was not homemade (still working on a recipe for that so feel free to give me help). Complimenting the meal was steamed corn on the cob (farmers' market) and a green salad (lettuce and onion from the backyard; mushrooms local from the produce market, carrot from the farmers' market).

All I can say is that it was a really tasty week! And what's with this wheat craving? Who knows what it'll be next week. Stay tuned to find out. In the meantime, Happy (and mindful) eating!

The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget - A book review and giveaway

I have a brand new book review over at The Blogging Bookworm: The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget. 

But here's the best part... I'll be mailing a copy of The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget to one lucky winner. Check out my review for more information on the giveaway. See you at the Blogging Bookworm!

Garden therapy - A backyard garden update (June)

Again this month, I'm amazed at how much difference a month can make. Here are the photos from last month (go ahead, I'll wait while you check them out...).

Back? Right. Now check this out...

Bed 1 (4 x 4 shallow) - Not in full harvest, Bed 1 is still offering up some wonderful goodies. We are harvesting kale, lambs-quarter, sage, and green beans from this bed. We're still waiting on spaghetti squash, cucumbers, yellow squash, and basil, but they are not far behind as you can see particularly by the beautiful vines along the trellis. Those yellow squash we rescued from the trash bin at Home Depot are doing beautifully and they were FREE! Cucs and squash are just weeks away. I can just feel it...

Bed 2 (4 x 8 shallow) - This, of course, is our tomato bed. All 12 plants made it through the frost (although originally we thought we lost one of them) and all are producing beautifully -the tallest of the plants are well over 6 feet tall. I'm pulling off at least one tomato every day. There are 6 different varieties all in this one bed like tomato berry, razzleberry, celebrity, big beef, early girl, and jet setter. The first round of green beans were also in this bed and I just ripped them out last week, having made their last cycle of beans. Tiny green pepper plants still line the front of the bed, but they are yet too small to see in this photo.

Bed 3 (4 x 10 deep) - The plants are yet a little too small to show up in a photo, but Bed 3 is my sweet potato bed. I still have a few onions to harvest from it, but the rest of the bed is filled with 6 sweet potato slips that I made myself from grocery store sweet potatoes and coached along by a market vendor. The slips took to the soil perfectly and we're enjoying watching them grow (I'll enjoy eating them even more come fall!). 

Bed 4 (4 x 10 deep) - Nothing to show in this bed, but Bed 4 will also be a sweet potato bed. My sweet potato slips need one more week to root and then they'll be planted. I know. I know. That's a lot of sweet potatoes. But they are one of my favorites! Mmmm!

Bed 5 (4 x 9 shallow) - This is one of the two beds where we've seen the most dramatic progress. Last month, you could hardly tell anything was growing. This month, the chard, basil, green peppers, and green beans are alive and well. There is also sage growing in this bed though not large enough from which to harvest. Speaking of harvest, we're picking chard and basil from this bed almost daily, with green beans and green peppers not far behind. Yum!

Bed 6 (4 x 10 shallow) - Bed 6 has also come along rather well. It's covered in swiss chard, leaf lettuce, and collard greens. Other than a few green pepper seeds that I planted in a few empty squares, this bed is practically in full harvest. We're pulling some of these greens just about every day (and even giving away some of the excess - there's so much of it!)

Bed 7 (4 x 10 deep) - No picture here either. There's no soil yet in the bed so we'll be working on it through the summer months so that we can plant some fall veggies later this year. More soon.

The Orchard - Yep. That's right. We now have an orchard. That's 4 dwarf columnar apple trees. We're not sure how they'll do, but with any luck the Fall of 2010 will bring us beautiful and plentiful apples. One of them didn't make the shipping process (the far back one) so we're waiting on the replacement. Right smack-dab in the middle is one final tomato plant that a friend at the market gave me. It's a grafted indeterminate tomato plant that we planted so late in the season, we assumed it wouldn't produce until well into the fall. So much for that reasoning. It already has tomatoes on it just one month after planting. Go tomato plant, go!

So that's how the backyard garden is looking these days. The only things I really need to supplement my local diet is starches (rice/wheat berries/potatoes) and fruit. We've been getting a few things yet from the market like beans and corn, but I'm thinking I might just try those on my own later this summer to replace the greens in Bed 6. There will be plenty of room.

Over the past month, as I've delegated some of the responsibilities of my volunteer work to other volunteers, I've found much more time to spend in the garden. It's a beautiful relationship - one that gives as much as it takes. How could I have ever guessed that in 8 months, I'd go from no garden at all to eating primarily out of my back yard. And garden therapy not only feels good, it tastes amazing! I can only imagine what the next month will bring...

Local diet update - June 8, 2009

It was a busy weekend for our farmers' market. In addition to our regularly scheduled Saturday morning market, we provided a Friday evening market too. With fifteen vendors on Friday and another 24 on Saturday, there was plenty of fresh food to choose from. Of course, I'm harvesting lettuce, tomatoes, chard, collards, green beans, kale, lambs-quarter, basil, and sage from my backyard garden and I still have plenty of those wonderfully juicy plums and peaches from the previous market, so I really didn't need much, but when has that ever stopped me?

I went home with whole wheat flour, carrots, corn, purple-hull peas, two peppers, an onion, and a bag of greens (some of this was given to me by friends).

With more than 2 dozen ears of corn, I did a bit more canning on Saturday afternoon - another 6 pints for the pantry shelves and winter's corn-less months. I also have about 3 quarts of wheat berries, 4 pints of rice, home-canned soups, stewed tomatoes, corn, and pinto beans (all of it local) lining the pantry shelves; local eggs, plums, peaches (dried), and blueberries (dried) in the fridge; and my homemade whole wheat bread (honey is local; flour ground locally) as well as the purple hull peas in the freezer.

Needless to say, with so many greens now both in the fridge and growing in the backyard, it'll be another very green week in food and there'll be no need to dip into pantry and freezer supplies. But those carrots, the extra corn I held back for the week's meals, and a tomato here and there will keep my salads and stir-fries fresh and colorful. The only question then is, what should I eat first?

Stay tuned for Thursday's Market to Table post to find out what I did with all these fresh local goodies. In the meantime, have a great week! And, as always, Happy (and mindful) eating!

Letting go

I've mentioned on a number of occasions, that I'm your typical type-A personality. Even now that I don't have paid employment, I'm always "on the clock." I tend to wake up with a to-do list and can't rest until it's complete - is it ever really complete?

But a new friend of mine has been an amazing inspiration. She's wonderfully relaxed, easy-going, and seems always to be "living in the moment" - to me, she's the epitome of "zen" and a wonderful example of a life well lived. If only I could live that way, right?

A couple weeks ago, in a conversation with the Voluntary Simplicity discussion group in which we both take part, she told us about a time in her life when she had no job, no money, and no home; and what a wonderful and liberating time in her life it turned out to be. Somehow "the universe," she said,  "just has a way of taking care of us."

Her words struck me. They stayed with me, laying heavy on my heart that night. And as I reflected on what she had said, I realized that the whole experience, which could have been frightening or deeply depressing for her, turned out to be incredibly liberating. And here I am with the perfect opportunity to live freely, letting the experiences of the day lead me along adventure after adventure... and what am I doing? I'm micro-managing myself to death. Way to go, Heather! Hmm. You know, my friend also says that people tend to find their way into our lives when we most need their kindness and guidance. Message received, my friend. Message received...

I woke up the very next morning and deleted every single to-do list from my laptop dashboard. Granted, I have a general idea of what I'll do each day based on visual cues (i.e. if there's a pile of laundry on the floor, it must be time to do laundry), but more than ever, I'm letting the day take me where it will - whether than be in my garden, housework, reading, baking bread, or wandering around town on a bicycle (or a little of everything). 

Without my to-do lists these last couple weeks, I still get most things done. There were a couple times that things fell through the cracks, but strangely enough the world didn't fall apart. Go figure. 

Now 10 months into my "retirement," I'm finally learning to be at peace; I'm learning to be free; I'm learning to let go... It feels REALLY good!

Market to Table - June 4, 2009

With local food, it's hard NOT to have a dynamic week in culinary adventures. With new foods coming in season and my veggie garden in almost full harvest, there's just so much to choose from. Here's a few of the things I enjoyed this week...

Spaghetti Squash Primavera - I have a hard time deciding which I like best: the spaghetti squash seeds toasted with a little olive oil and salt or the spaghetti squash strands. Either way, I can't get over my love for this simple veggie (so much that I planted one in the backyard this spring). Unfortunately, my plant isn't producing yet, so this squash came from our farmers' market, but as usual, the spaghetti squash hit the spot. The squash "noodles" make a gorgeous and functional base for a primavera sauce and with an abundance of greens ready for harvest in the backyard, the sauce leaned in that direction. Topping those squash "noodles" is sauteed green onion, collards, lambs-quarter, basil, white eggplant, and tomatoes. All these primavera goodies came from my backyard except the eggplant and it came from the farmers' market. It just doesn't get any more local than that!

Salad - With so many of those wonderful veggies in the backyard, salads are a must! This is a favorite combination - kale, lettuce, onion, lambs-quarter, and tomato (all from my backyard garden), topped with some Texas pecans, dried cranberries (farmers' market), and some of my oil and vinegar dressing (equal parts olive oil and apple cider vinegar, then salt and pepper to taste). It's wonderfully filling, super tasty, and a nice cool meal for these hot summer days. Mmm, mmm!

Stir fry - Even more of those backyard veggies have made an appearance in my stir fries this week. Pictured here is onion, chard, collards, lambs-quarter, and lettuce (all from the backyard); stir fried in olive oil (farmers' market). Once all the veggies are soft, I added in some black beans (not local) and brown rice (local - bought in bulk from Houston area). Somehow these stir-fries always turn out delicious... I think it's the super fresh veggies!

So what local foods are you enjoying this week?

Pedal Power Update - June 2009

What an awesome month for Pedal Power!

First of all, the winds have died down quite a bit (down to less than 15 mph regularly) so biking has become enjoyable again.

Second, I have expanded my journeys. Before, if I needed to go to the post office, the bank, the vet, etc., I'd combine errands only if there were fairly close to each other. Not any more. This past month, I've been biking all over town, sometimes 1-1/2 or 2 hours at a time, going this way and that - getting errands done all in one day and enjoying the long and relaxed, but productive rides through the streets of Bryan-College Station. Sure it's getting warm (routinely in the high 80s and low 90s) and I'm pretty sweaty and stinky by the time I get home, but I've never had so much fun. 

Advantages of consolidating more of these errands is 1) I get more done at a time which means I have more time for long stretches doing yard work and gardening and 2) it's just so darn much fun!

And in more Pedal Power news, I've even been biking around with a friend of mine (who also gets around town during the week by bike). We've met for coffee, lunch, and run errands together on our bikes. Isn't everything more fun with a friend?

So get on our there and pedal your way to a healthier you, completed errands (gasoline free), and wonderful friendship. Pedal power rocks!

Juicing it up (and reducing food waste) with a raw food diet

One of our newer farmers' market vendors is a real inspiration. Rebecca, owner of Scrap Works, is generous, kind, and just has a way of making you smile, not to mention she's about as innovative as you can get. She makes gorgeous crafts - all out of fabric scraps, paper bags, and dried coconut shells.

Although I've both purchased and enjoyed her many crafts, she inspires me most through her diet. Rebecca and her entire family (hubby and 4 children) eat only raw foods (for more info on what it means to be on a raw food diet, check out Wikipedia). When I first talked to her, all I could think about was all the things she didn't eat - how do you live without baked bread, rice, potatoes... all those things you need to cook to eat. Oh, me of little faith.

Once I tasted some of the things Rebecca makes for her family, I was SOLD! She makes the most wonderful raw trail mixes, flax crackers (in a dehydrator), and (my personal favorite) dried dates stuffed with a variety of goodies like cocoa nibs, nuts, coconut, mint. She has dates that taste like almond joy candy bars and some that taste like thin mints. Rebecca is a genius. I mean, this stuff is really good eating!

So while Rebecca is working on a raw food cook book (which I'm really looking forward to), I've been experimenting on my own with raw trail mixes and those luscious stuffed dates. I'm not considering going 100% raw or anything, but I am experimenting and exploring some wonderful new recipes by thinking outside the culinary box. 

Then out of the blue, my brother emailed me to rave about his family's juicer (juicing being a major staple of the raw food diet) - basically, you just toss all kinds of fruit and veggies into the juicer and end up with serious nutrition in a glass. That's when it occurred to me that this is yet another way to take advantage of extra fruits and veggies lurking in the refrigerator that can all too easily be forgotten. Thus far, anytime I have an excess of veggies, I make and can soup. Juicing is a second wonderful option for eliminating food waste (and have a wonderful healthy drink in the meantime). So, now I'm considering looking into a juicer for us as well. 

So help me out here. Have you ever tried a raw food diet or juicing? Tell me a little about your adventures. 

Do you own a juicer? If so, which one? What do you like/don't like about it? 

Do you have any favorite recipes you'd be willing to share?

Local diet update - June 1, 2009

It was an amazing weekend for local food, but honestly, I'm so exhausted, I'm going to keep it short. Let's see...

Saturday morning, I got up early (as usual) to setup and host the farmers' market info booth. The market doesn't open officially until 8AM. I was there at 7:15 and we already had customers, so I hustled to get my shopping in while running back and forth to attend to my booth. Sheesh! That's early folks!

Anyway, the market was just covered in goodies. All the same things as last week, but with some wonderful additions like corn, pinto beans, and plums. Oh! I was in heaven!

Well, I didn't need much since I'm personally harvesting tomatoes, onions, kale, lambs-quarter, chard, collards, lettuce, green beans, basil, and sage from my backyard. Mostly what I was looking for was fruit, but when I saw the pinto beans and corn, I knew I had a canning adventure in my VERY near future.

I came home with honey, whole wheat flour, beets, onion starters (to plant in the garden), 4-1/2 pounds of peaches, 4 pounds of blackberries, 12 pounds of plums, dried cranberries, 2 dozen corn on the cob, 6 pounds of pinto beans (weighed before they were shelled), garlic, and white eggplant. What a haul!

Needless to say my 5 hours at the farmers' market Saturday morning was nowhere near the extent of my day. Saturday afternoon was spent shucking and canning 9 pints of corn, canning 5 pints of pinto beans, and planting the multiplying onions in the garden. I also tried to can some plums or blackberries, but I didn't like the way then turned out canned so I set them aside for Sunday's adventure. 

Sunday, I got up early and turned the 3 quarts of blackberries into 1-1/2 batches of blackberry jam. Then my friend Pilar joined me for a second day of canning. We made one tasty batch each of plum and peach jams. Neither of us had made plum jam before, but it was absolutely fabulous! Once we'd completed the canning, we harvested some veggies out of the backyard and made a very local lunch. Yum! 

Pshew! What a weekend! All that's left (for this week anyway) is to preserve the rest of my peaches. I can always can them (I found out last year that I prefer canning to freezing), but I'm considering dehydrating them instead. I have a few drying now in my dehydrator as a test batch, but it's too soon to tell. Has anyone done this?

For the future, I plan on canning another batch of corn, more peas, and more fruit yet this summer. I'm all done with jam, but the tomato harvest out of my backyard should pick up soon and I plan on canning lots of stewed tomatoes too. I'm looking forward to a full pantry for the winter and I'm well on my way. Sure, it takes a little extra time to preserve all these goodies for the long haul, but I know that come winter, when I dip into a jar of corn, mix some pintos in with my latest stir fry, or nibble on fresh local blackberries for breakfast, the good feeling of summer days will be mine yet again!

Have a great week everyone. And, as always, Happy (and mindful) eating!