It feels natural to be return to posting, but also a tad intimidating. I am back in Maine thinking about all those engaging sessions, gifted speakers, and super fun (I know the term “super fun” sounds childish, but it fits believe me) bloggers I met last weekend at the International Food Blogger Conference (IFBC). The event was my first foray into the offline blogosphere.
A few of the people I met there are professional writers who have been published, but most of my blogger kinship are individuals like me who found blogging to be a place to voice authentic thoughts online. I am an amateur at writing and photography and this blog is a place where I can share places I love to visit, post recipes others have developed and I’ve tried and enjoyed… this is where I write about my musings. My personal space where you dear readers can visit as much or as little as you like. Of course, I am hoping for the former! This space continues to be a way for me to meet interesting people in other cities such as Los Angeles based Nathan of thechocolate0fmeats.com who graciously shared his knowledge of food trucks with me and Jen of userealbutter.com, who gave up programming for NASA to ski the Colorado Rockies and bake up a storm. *Note to Jen I’ll be baking that Caramel Cake odyssey you posted about some time back.
Before moving on to the photography seminar, food truck lunch, and oh yes goody bag I want to share a couple of uplifting resources I was introduced to at the conference.
Farmers Colin McCrate and Brad Halm, otherwise known as the Seattle Urban Farm Company, could well be your answer to sustainable food sourcing if you live in Seattle. McCrate and Halm will help design and install a ready-to-go organic vegetable garden for your backyard, and plan out a multi-year garden strategy including maintaining healthy soil and irrigation. After an initial garden installation, they will provide weekly maintenance and if you choose even harvest a weekly supply of fresh produce and flowers for you and your family!! Along the way, while tending to your garden, they will share their knowledge of organic growing with you.
Readers to Eaters is a Seattle based bookseller and publisher with a mission to promote food literacy from the ground up, so children and families can become active participants in their local food culture. They retail and publish books about food, and develop programs and events about our food system by partnering with farmers, gardeners, chefs, teachers, librarians, parents, organizations and communities. I am happy to report I supported them by purchasing a few books at their conference booth. Amy Penington’s Urban Pantry: Tips & Recipes for a Thrifty, Sustainable & Seasonal Kitchen is one I’ll be toting with me next weekend to share with my tomato canning companions.
When I hear about a former warehouse with a rubble-strewn back lot and a mess of Japanese Knotweed being turned into a container garden with bee hives, a greenhouse, vertical garden and compost I think two things - doesn’t everyone dream of this and someone is doing it! Maine based entrepreneurs Eli Cayer and David Homa call it Urban Farm Fermentory.
Did I mention this sprung up in a mere three months?
Cayer and Homa’s unique vision could help (further) reinvigorate Portland’s Bayside neighborhood where UFF is based, while helping more people make smart, sustainable choices. As advocates for eating locally grown food they are turning waste into things that are sustainable, nutritious, and educational. By positive problem-solving and sharing resources with local producers, including one that produces kombucha, Urban Farm Fermentory will help preserve a way of life our Founding Fathers practiced and which some days seems to have almost been lost to food industrialization.
For starters they are offering classes Tuesdays 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. at 200 Anderson Street in Portland Maine. $15 suggested donation. Phone 207.633.7406 for information and the class schedule.
During the past three years gardening has become one of my favorite pastimes. Vegetables not flowers. I love growing my own food and giving produce to friends. Even with the access I have to fresh foods from my CSA, farmers’ markets, and friends farms it is nice to know I personally contributed to my table.
My enthusiasm for backyard gardening is only encouraged by the trials each summer brings in the form of pests, disease, and the whims of Mother Nature. Last week I was a sight in my pajamas after dark flashlight in hand seeking out beetles eating the leaves of my basil and sage plants. I smashed a few and for a few days the leaves did not seem to be as full of holes, but the beetles are back so I will be out with my flashlight again tonight doing due diligence. The week before I did the tomato plant shuffle - bringing one of my two tomato plants in during the rain, out for sun…the leaves have turned a little greener but alas no tomatoes.
I continue to learn not just about caring for growing things, but about patience and value. The vegetables and herbs I contribute to my meals bring a delicious fresh quality and the food tastes far better than anything made with conventional ingredients from a major supermarket.
By keeping a garden, I am cutting down on waste. There are not cardboard or plastic containers transporting my fresh vegetables around. Less gas is spent shuffling between the market and home with fresh herbs.
I am, as Michael Pollan wrote about in his brilliant book In Defense of Food, taking control of my food from the food scientists and processors, and I know exactly what is in it.
A couple baby tomatoes on my healthy (for now!) backyard tomato plant and a glimpse at what is slowly becoming a large cucumber plant.
The BP oil spill has devasted the coastal way of life for many in the Gulf. For every online order with RepurposingNOLA Piece by Piece now through June 30, 2010, you will receive 20% off your purchase, which owner/designer/amazing style maven Traci Claussen will send to Gulf Aid Foundation providing relief to the fishing community of the Gulf Coast and their families, and to address the long-term challenge of restoring and protecting America’s wetlands.
I love her NOLA line. If you know me you have seen me carrying my beloved NOLA HoBo bag.
20% off online orders now through June 30, 2010 with PROMO CODE: PELICAN
Love my friend Traci’s NOLA line. She uses discarded fabrics from post Katrina New Orleans to create designer bags and clothes. I have the pants in this shot and cannot wait to wear them with cute flip flops and a white tank. I’ll carry my NOLA HOBO bag with it.
Go to Earth Hour’s website and join the movement by committing to turn off your lights, appliances, and really anything you do not NEED for one hour on Saturday, March 27 at 8:30 p.m. local time. Hundreds of millions of people around the world are signing up as a call for action on climate change. Need any encouragement, rent “Earth” to see how we treat our environment affects the natural habitats of animal families on the other side of the world.
I love this poster for Pentagram Austin’s fundraising party to help the homeless and celebrate the release of Pentagram Papers 39: Signs. The book is a collaboration with Texas musician Joe Ely and photographers Michael O’Brien and Randal Ford that focuses on the issue of homelessness.
My friend Annie is always up to something fun, yummy, and good for the community. From now until March 26, as a fundraiser for the Ashwood Waldorf School, she and her daughters Ella and Chloe will be knitting as many 8″ squares as they can and gathering pledges and sponsors per square as they can. At the end of the fundraiser the special blanket will be auctioned off, and a trip for two aboard one of the Schooner J. & E. Riggin’s knitting cruises (3 days in June or 6 days in September) will be raffled off. All sponsors will be eligible for entry in the raffle!
To pledge Annie, Chloe & Ella’s squares email info@mainewindjammer.com.
Photo of the Schooner J. & E. Riggin by Elizabeth Poisson.
As part of my job I have attended a handful of travel, food, and fan conventions. The Natural Products Expo West is the first one I actually felt I belonged at, because it was full of representatives for natural, organic, and healthy products. It was also the biggest show I have ever attended. Of the 234 companies in attendance I probably knew 20% of them, because I consume their products on a semiregular basis. Following are my standouts from the show, the folks whose products and personalities I really enjoy, whose branding is beautiful and/or whose business ethics I respect. In no particular order…
Zuke’s Z-Ridge - dental bones for dogs, natural jerky treats free of wheat, corn and soy, everything is made in the USA, and their brand promises are fun and healthy. I should become a stockholder in this company I purchase so much of their product for my dog Paige. The representative I met at the show was so nice!
Green Label Organic100% certified organic shirts - super cool sustainably made low-impact garment dyed tee shirts made by a couple in Virginia. I picked up this one.
Pieces by REpurposingNOLA - New Orleans based small company owned by super cool/sweet Traci Claussen. She takes 100% local, discarded materials like salvaged wood, glass bottles, burlap, vinyl, and textile remnants that would otherwise end up in a landfill and creates designer goods that offer simple, basic luxury for the fashionable recession-ista. Her HoBo bags are named for the space between Howard and Bourbon streets!
El Paso Chile Company - I prefer to make my own salsa during the summer, but in a pinch and for easy transport to parties I love their bean dip and pineapple salsa.
Ciao Bella - I have their Blood Orange and Banana Mango Sorbettos in my fridge now, other favorites include Coconut and Chocolate. Delicious, low in calories, and the cutest packaging.
Alexia- I prefer to make my own french fries, but in a pinch I love their waffle cut fries and whenever I want onion rings at home I pick up a package of theirs from the frozen food aisle. Bit of ketchup and it is like you are in a restaurant.
Galaxy Nutritional Foods - alternative cheese products. I am going to use their Rice Vegan slices for tuna melts in the future. I’ve been eating their soy and vegan cheese products for over a decade!
I love Ashley English’s blog so much I ordered her first two books on chickens and preserving (I don’t need her third on cheese making as I have my friend Margaret nearby who does a fine job), anyway I digress (I often do) as I just want to direct anyone interested in hosting pollinators (an important task) to English’s post from earlier this week “Pollen-nation.” Her husband built these habitats to encourage pollinators to hang out and mingle with each other and local plants. I want a man like that!
