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Craigslist Magic

Trading on craigslist turns this:
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Into this:
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8 pounds of tomatoes!

I traded Lazy Day Farm (on Seward Road, 1.5 miles east of I-35 near Guthrie) the massive amount of pots I’ve accumulated for eight pounds of tomatoes. I had no idea she was going to give me so many! I’m going to make gazpacho and salsa.

Cornmeal Cobbler

Sweet cornbread baked on fruit. Brilliant!

IMG_2682.JPGIf everything goes right, Ressler Farms will sell cornmeal through the Oklahoma Food Co-op. When I met Larry Ressler in February, he asked about unmet demand in the co-op. I immediately thought of cornmeal. Someone used to make it—I can’t remember who—but it’s not available anymore. Well, there’s hull-less popcorn. Would that work for milling? Somewhat moot since I don’t have a grain mill.

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Blueberry Bonanza for Father’s Day and Mom’s Birthday.
The family doubted the fruity dish; we are a bunch of fervent chocolate lovers. But there was nary a blueberry left.

Blueberry Bonanza with Cornmeal Topping
Submitted by Judy Rogers in the Gardeners’ Community Cookbook
:: 3 to 4 c fresh blueberries
:: 1/2 c sugar
:: 1 T fresh lemon juice
:: 1/2 c cornmeal
:: 3/4 c all-purpose flour
:: 1 1/2 t baking powder
:: 1/2 t salt
:: 1/2 c plain yogurt or milk
:: 3 T butter, melted
:: 1 large egg, slightly beaten
:: ice cream, frozen yogurt, or creme fraiche

1. Preheat oven to 450˚.
2. Place the blueberries in a 9-inch square baking dish. Add 1/4 c sugar and the lemon juice and toss to mix.
3. Mix together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt, and remaining 1/4 c of sugar in a large bowl. Add the yogurt, butter, and egg and stir briefly until blended.
4. In 1 T amounts, drop small mounds of the cornmeal mixture over the top of the blueberries. Bake until the topping is golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove and cool enough to handle, then serve warm or at room temperature, topped with the cream garnish of your choice, if using.

Tricia’s note: I think this topping would work on most fruit. I’ve made it three times now: with Oklahoma blueberries, peaches, and apples. When I made it for the apples, I substituted brown sugar for the white sugar.

Jammin’

Ooh, yeah! all right!
We’re jammin’:
I wanna jam it wid you.
Were jammin’, jammin’,
And I hope you like jammin’, too.
-Bob Marley
strawberries strawberries

Homemade Jam
64 ounces of strawberry jam for $29
     5 pounds of organic strawberries from Peach Crest Farm = $25
     Sure-Jell pectin = $1.44
     7 c sugar = $2.56
45¢ per ounce

Store-bought Jam
Smucker’s Organic Strawberry Jam
12-ounce jar for $2.99
25¢ per ounce

Sure, there are external costs—transportation, water, time, energy, scale—that have not been included. And if I were able to buy a gallon jar of of Smucker’s organic strawberry jam, it would probably work out to an even cheaper price per ounce. But, I’m just looking at these numbers for curiosity’s sake. The stuff I made is some of the best damn jam I’ve tasted. Perhaps I’m a little biased? And I know the story behind it: the kitchen faucet broke and water leaked all over the floor during the sticky jam-making process!

I took a suggestion from the cookbook I used and added three tablespoons of balsamic vinegar to the jam for a “robust” flavor. Other suggested variations/additions are vanilla bean, black pepper, or lemon zest.

 

IMG_2691.JPGIMG_2686.JPGstrawberry balsamic jam on ice creamPB&J

 

fort mason community gardenWhile I was attending a conference in San Francisco I happened across this oasis one night on my way back to the hotel from a restaurant. My feet were killing me and I was sleep-deprived, so I told myself I would come back and explore. I’m so glad I did. I was full of superlatives as I lumbered around this most beautiful, most unexpected agrarian conglomeration.

Established in 1975, the Fort Mason Community Garden overlooks San Francisco from Fort Mason, a former Army post. Organic practices are strongly encouraged and pesticides are forbidden. The 125 garden plots are 100 square feet, on average. The land is tiered, which adds drama to the garden. It was so neat to look at all diverse plots and personality. Some are for growing food, others for flowers, or a combination. Some tidy; some unruly and exotic. There’s even a zen garden. Members are required to plant at least two seasons per year. While the garden feels like a secret, the community knows its value: the membership waiting list is four years long.
fort mason community garden
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fort mason community garden
Everett Price maintains his plot on a Sunday morning. He’s been a member of the Fort Mason Community Garden for 20 years. He and his wife Alice wish they could bring their dogs along; alas, dogs are not allowed.

More photos here.

Soon I’ll start profiling community gardens in the OKC metro. Please leave suggestions in a comment. If you want to profile a community garden for oklavore.com, email me at tricia@oklavore.com.

Check out what I’ve been up to at Guilford Gardens:
work log
onion harvest

Food, Inc. Buzz

Industry web sites have been created to respond to Food, Inc.

Monsanto
Animal agriculture industry groups
National Chicken Council

I need to share.

I’m in San Francisco for a work-related conference. Food has been a nice diversion from the sometimes-dry subject of legislative redistricting.

I’ve been eating some great food—more on that later. And I got to see Food, Inc. in its limited release. Amazing. It covered a lot of ground— mainly reinforcing things I already new a bit about. I was most shocked by the footage on Monsanto’s investigative, intimidation, and legal activities. They are destroying our agrarian heritage, rural communities, relationships, livelihoods, etc. I was so disgusted. But the documentary did a good job of inspiring. I felt so pumped by the end of the movie. It helped that the theater was packed and people were just as moved as I was, judging by the sniffles I heard around me. And then… Eric Schlosser came out for a Q&A! He likened the sustainable food movement to the anti-tobacco movement: “The law changes once you reach a critical mass of public opinion,” he said. After the movie the cool guy hung out in front of the theater talking with a small crowd (including me). It was awesome!

I can’t wait for Food, Inc. to come to Oklahoma.

Wild Food Walk

A couple weeks ago I went on a wild-food walk near Coyle, Oklahoma. The rain let up enough for our hard-core group (or just hard-core nerds) to pile into the back of a 4×4 pick-up to hunt pokeweed, lamb’s quarters, ramps, mushrooms, yarrow, mullein, horsetail, yucca, river reed, heals-all, and Iowa sage. After the walk, we learned how to prepare and enjoy lamb’s quarters and pokeweed.

wild food walk - ramps
Oklahoma ramps. I gather it’s a regional term, but generally means wild onion or garlic.
wild food walk
Our group of wildcrafters was led by the inspirational Jackie Dill. Jackie graciously shares her knowledge with all who are interested. My jaw dropped when she shared her age. Let’s just say that many people her age are barely coherent; she’s initiating and leading groups of people into the backwoods to stalk wild food. She said she grows or forages about 70% of her diet.
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My take: mullein and ramps. The ramps are quite potent! Their “aroma” filled my refrigerator.
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wild food walk - mulleindrying mullein
Mullein can be taken as a tea to treat congestion.
wild food walk - pokepoke berry
It’s not wise (read: potentially lethal) to eat pokeberry or mature pokeweed. Baby pokeweed is made edible by cooking the hell out of it. Of course, there are the hearty types that scoff as such statements.
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Poke sure is pretty. This is a picture of still-green pokeberries in northern Georgia.
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Heals-all. Just like it sounds. Use like you would aloe vera. You break the stem and rub the goo on a wound. It heals all.
Iowa sage
I’m drying my wildcrafted sage in order to make a smudge stick.

Read about last year’s wild food walk.

Food, Inc.

NYT has a review of Food, Inc. From what I’ve read, it seems Food, Inc. is a culmination of the last several years’ worth of media critiquing our food system. I’m going to be in San Francisco during opening weekend. Maybe I’ll get to see it!

Icebox Insight

Matt's frig
23-year-old bachelor | fort worth, tx | 1-person household | recently discovered that sauteed spinach can be good

mary frig
stay at home mom | del valle, tx | 3-person household | new obsession: iced coffee

mom frig
empty-nesters | ft worth, tx | 2-person household | memorial day & birthday weekend

chelsey frig
magazine editor | edmond, ok | 2-person household | seeks out opportunities to meet strangers

the whitameron frig
map-maker | edmond, ok | 2-person household | maintains a list of the contents of her freezer

This idea was shamelessly copied from here.
I wonder how much energy was wasted in the making of this collection.

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