Seven Ways to Help our Pollinators!

"The Keeping of Bees is like the Direction of Sunbeams"
~ Henry David Thoreau


One of my favorite experiences from the 'Menu for the Future' discussion group hosted at the  Kingston library so far was hearing Laurie Sybertz's first hand account of bee keeping.  She and her husband, Joe, keep bees.  Or at least, Joe does.  They really are fascinating, hardworking, humble little honey bees and are crucial the the successful pollination of many crops, contributing to at least one third of our 'plant' diet through their efforts.

Laurie also shared with us their plight, which we covered in more detail in our newsletter this week (see our website at www.southshoreorganics.com for a copy).  The buzz is that with the use of insecticides, and large scale agricultural farming practices which destroy diversity and the introduction of gmo crops, nearly a third of bee hives have been disappearing.  This is quite alarming, and is a new trend that has been established year on year for the past three or four years.

Lobbyists, bee keepers, organic consumer associations and farmers are all doing their bit to address the problem, but you can help too and the future of our food system may depend on it!  Here's what you can do:

1. Resist Perfection - allow a portion of your garden to return to its 'wild state' with brush, grasses, weeds, deadwood and leaf litter to allow pollinators to find food, seek shelter and breed.
2. Plant Flowers - a native flower garden in a sunny area, or even a herb garden.  Hummingbirds and butterflies like yellow, red and orange flowers while bees prefer blue, purple, white and yellow flowers. 
3. Avoid Pesticides - pesticide misuse is one of the most significant threats to pollinators.  Urban and suburban yards make up a large portion of land undergoing regular pesticide application, avoiding it is not only better for pollinators, it's better for your children, pets and water supply as well!
4. Use Honey - support the honey industry and substitute honey for sugar in your own kitchen.  When baking, use half as much honey as sugar, reduce the liquid by 1/4 cup and add 1/4tsp of baking soda per cup of honey used.  And don't forget to buy local honey.
5. Eat Ice Cream - Haagen Dazs launched a new limited-edition flavor called Vanilla Honey Bee, the company donates a portion of the proceeds from all 'honey-bee dependant flavors' to honey and sustainable pollination research.  Visit their website www.helpthehoneybee.com.
6. Bug Someone Else - pollinators are fragile and easily hurt, but they won't bother you if you leave them alone.  Instead, bug your family and friends about the importance of pollinators in our food chain.
7. Buy Organic - Organic farmers create pesticide free,  pollinator friendly environments while providing healthy, fresh produce.  When you buy organic you keep pesticides off fields and reduce exposure to GMO crops.  Many organic farmers also keep bees because they know it improves their yields.

It takes more than 500 bees to make just one pound of honey, and honey is surely one of mother natures sweetest gifts.  Long ago, we knew the value of the honeybees bounty as in ancient Egypt, taxes were paid with honey and in early Greece and Rome, honey symbolized fertility, love and beauty.  Today we seem to have lost appreciation for this amazing insect, thank you Laurie for sharing your story with us, and for providing the resources for this blog, and the newsletter article.

Resources: MaryJanesFarm magazine

www.ccbee.org

www.pollinator.org

www.nappc.org

www.honey.com

A New Place to Eat

I had the occasion to travel on the Red Line into Boston the other day.  While clutching a railing for support in the swaying cart, I zoned out and let my mind wander as I people-watched because, let's be honest, the Red Line may not be pleasant but it is fascinating!  Occasionally when I have these moments I think 'if I was an alien who was beamed down for the first time into this exact moment - what would I think?'  And then I glance around like I am seeing the scene for the first time.  I would assume subways are where people sleep, read, sit, look unhappy, eat, stand . . . wait, did I just say eat?  Eeew. 

Then my wandering brain really kicked into gear, thinking about our relationship with food and how low down on the list of day to day priorities it is that we have started to 'squeeze it in'.  You see people eating in cars all the time too.  Instant oats, breakfast bars and shakes, grab-and-go snacks and lunches, hot pockets, pop tarts, sandwich wraps, take-it-with-you-soup-cup and we haven't even gotten to drive-thrus yet.  Which begs to be asked:  Are we too busy to eat?  Is the car, subway, bus and train the new dining room table? 

Why do we do this to ourselves?  At what point did we say 'strawberry pancakes in the form of a pop tart on the subway - what a great idea!  It will save me at least 15 minutes over a bowl of granola and yogurt!'

Seriously!?  Is eating an unsatisfying meal while hurtling through the bowels of Boston the best we can do? Then it made me think back to a show I caught on TV where a woman was packing dinner into Tupperware so her three children could eat in the car on the way to their piano lesson, baseball practice and dance recital respectively.  Does anybody else out there think we are losing the plot? 

I think we owe it to ourselves to treat ourselves better, to take a moment and think of what we are giving up in exchange for those precious minutes: good healthy food, some face-to-face conversation, or some 'me' time, a few minutes to reflect on what our day will bring or did bring.  Do we really accomplish anything in those sacraficial minutes anyway?  To quote an age old and over-used verse:

To everything there is a season,
and a time to every purpose,
A time to be born, and a time to die,
A time to plant, and a time to harvest,
A time to weep, a time to laugh . . . .

Well, surely there is a time in between all that to eat too?

Surviving Snowflakes!

Do you remember the conversation your mom had with you when you were little and the kids at school were being mean?  The one where she says 'don't worry honey, don't let them get to you - if they don't get the reaction they want, they will soon get bored and find somebody else to pick on' . . .

Well, that is how I feel about the snow.  It is being mean, and it is picking on me . . . us!  I mean, REALLY!  One storm is romantic, two is still somewhat fun, but one a week is losing its charm.  I have enough snowy photos for ten years worth of Christmas cards - and we built a snowman bigger than us - look:

Yes, my daughter is actually sitting on 'his lap' and those are russet potatoes for eyes - not sure where his rainbow carrot nose is at this point but there you are.  I know others out there agree, that we are kinda out of snow-day ideas.

Back to my point, I think I am going to take my mom's sage advice and refuse to give the mean snow the reaction it is looking for.  Instead, I am going to celebrate these days because after all, taking some down time is not the worse thing to do and I have been told that shovelling your drive burns 1500 calories which makes me feel even more justified in suggesting that we do something decadent, indulgent and delicious with our afternoon.  I am suggesting BAKED PEARS!  With a dollop of Marscapone cheese: 

Ingredients:

• 4 D'Anjou pears
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup water
• Dash of salt
• Dash of ginger (or cinnamon)
• 1 1/2 tsp grated lemon rind

Method:

1. Heat oven to 325 deg F (slow to moderate)
2. Wash the pears and cut a think slice from the blossom end (don't you love that term, I think all bottoms should be called 'the blossom end') - this is so they will stand easily - leave the stems on
3. Place pears upright in baking dish
4. Mix remaining ingredients together and pour over pears
5. Bake uncovered for about 1 1/2 hours, or until pears are tender.  Baste syrup over pears occasionally while cooking
6. Enjoy!

Maybe, just maybe, if we punctuate these storms with a little celebration, the snow will get bored and go pick on somebody else.  It's worth a try . . .



The New Family Cook Book

When we moved into our new home, I took a moment over a hot cup of tea and a view of our homestead to rest my tired feet and reflect what it means to move - all the change, excitement, hope . . . glancing around at all that still had to be done, my eyes rested on this cookbook lying near the top of an open yet-to-be-unpacked box.  It was a gift from my grandmother, a well used and loved book that I have seen her use on many occasion.  I used it now and then for shortbread, but hadn't taken time to really look at it, consider all its undiscovered treasures, and appreciate the true value of this gift.

And it was over that cup of tea, one hot July afternoon, as I took stock of the heavy books' contents that I learned the true depth of words like 'heritage', 'legacy' and 'heirloom'.  Everything I think the younger generation has forgotten about cooking, is contained within these precious pages - from where different cuts of meat are taken, and what they are best suited to, to canning, preserving, freezing, cooking temperatures, how to tell if something is fresh and where to store it to keep it that way.  And it is not just about cooking, I got a glimpse too of what it meant to host a luncheon in the 50's on pages 53 - 130, how to set the table, what to choose for the menu, and how to be a gracious hostess.  These are all skills I feel are largely lost, and sadly so - I think our children would greatly benefit (as would we) from learning and remembering these graces. 

When my own daughter breezed into the kitchen, it occured to me that four generations were represented right there in my kitchen, with another cookbook my mom had made me with recipes for all the meals I loved to eat while growing up, a recipe book I often leaned on for family favorites, and a recipe book my daughter had received (her first one) for Christmas.  What a wonderful gift, and a special heritage these books would become for the younger members of our family one day.

Occasionally, I will be including experiences of our meals from my 'New Family Cook Book' in my blog, and tips too so I hope you visit often.  Let us make it a family affair as we teach our children that being a conscientious adult means knowing the source of the food we eat, what sustains it, and how to cook it and not how to recycle the cardboard box it came in.

Impossible is a word full of possibilities!

The season of self indulgence is drawing to a close and I am already squeezing myself into my wardrobe and trying various diets on for size.  I am considering New Years Resolutions at the same time: try harder to save, treat each day as a gift, do six impossible things before breakfast, save the day at least once, be more adventurous with food etc. etc.

Or, maybe I should be more specific and have one particular goal to accomplish this year, and since we are embarking on this local and organic produce delivery journey, maybe it DOES have to do with food.  A food adventurer . . . oooh . . . an EXPLORER!  And I am not talking about exotic foods, far off flavors and foreign fragrances.  Just vegetables.  I mean, there has to be at least one great recipe out there for each and every vegetable!  Don't you think?  I love veggies, but there are some I just don't like to eat, so maybe that will be my mission for 2011.  Find a way to eat everything, and savor the experience.

So, that being said, here is a little recipe that I thought I would share with you all, it is the 'little black dress' of sauces!  Everything looks great in it and its perfect for every occasion.  Need something for seafood or fish?  This is it!  Asparagus or brussels sprouts need a little dressing? Look no further!  It is a French Butter Sauce, and tonight we are eating it on roasted brussel sprouts, yum!  Enjoy.

1. Bring 1/4 cup white wine vinegar, 1/4 cup white wine, 1tblspn minced shallots, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper to the boil in a deep saucepan.
2. Continue to simmer until the sauce is reduced by half, the larger the saucepan the quicker the ingredients will reduce.
3. While the wine mixture simmers, cut 1 and 1/4 cups of chilled butter into small squares and once the sauce is reduced, add half the squares and beat with a metal whisk until the mixture forms a creamy paste.
4. Reduce heat to low and continue beating in one piece of butter at a time, adding a new piece as soon as the previous piece is nearly incorporated.
5. The sauce should now be about 1 1/4 cups and have the consistency of a light hollandaise.  Remove from heat and strain.
6. Season with salt and pepper, add a squeeze of lemon.

Voila!

'Tis the Season

Let me just start by saying that nature is a wonderful thing!  

Imagine a finely tuned, well-oiled food system that produces exactly what you need right at the moment you need it!  And no, I am not talking about our grocery store with its carefully appointed displays, or the incredible network of transportation mediums that bring the food to our tables, I am talking of course, about Mother Nature.

In a world where we cultivate only the best-selling produce and import what’s out-of-season, we have forgotten what 'seasonal' means, and have lost the fine balance of meeting our bodies needs.  When it comes right down to it, by eating seasonally we are doing just that.  Winter vegetables like brocolli, brussel sprouts, kale, leeks, squash, turnips and cauliflower are all rich in Vitamins A and C - to help us keep colds and flus at bay.  They also have iron and calcium as well as many other minerals, and fibre too.  They are not as high in starches and sugars as some of you might think, certainly nowhere near as high as some of the summer fruit and vegetables – but then, we aren’t as active in winter are we? 

If we eat seasonally not only will we improve the variety in our diets over the course of the year because we are no longer just eating our ten favorite things all year round regardless of where it comes from or how far it travels, but we will have healthier bodies that are fed less excessively too.  So add the following fresh produce to your shopping list this season: beets, broccoli, broccoli rabe, brussel sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celeriac, collards, kale, leeks, mushrooms, parsnips, salad greens, sprouts, winter squash, swiss chard, spinach, turnips, cranberries, apples, pears and quince – and be merry!

Happy Holidays!