Before the Food Arrives on Your Plate, So Much Goes On Behind the Scenes

One of the first things to like about Tracie McMillan, the author of “The American Way of Eating,” is her forthrightness. She’s a blue-collar girl who grew up eating a lot of Tuna Helper and Ortega Taco Dinners because her mother was gravely ill for a decade, and her father, who sold lawn equipment, had little time to cook. About these box meals, she says, “I liked them.”

Expensive food that took time to prepare “wasn’t for people like us,” she writes. “It was for the people my grandmother described, with equal parts envy and derision, as fancy; my father’s word was snob. And I wasn’t about to be like that.” This is a voice the food world needs.

Ms. McMillan, like a lot of us, has grown to take an interest in fresh, well-prepared food. She’s written for Saveur magazine, a pretty fancy journal, and she knows her way around a kitchen. But her central concern, in her journalism and in this provocative book, is food and class. She stares at America’s bounty, noting that so few seem able to share in it fully, and she asks: “What would it take for us all to eat well?” Read more…

These Foods Will Make You Smile

The Modern American Diet—MAD—way of eating is throwing off our bodies’ natural feel-good chemistry, resulting in a miserable, moody, anxious, and agitated nation. Luckily, an instant jolt of happiness is just a forkful of brain food away. People should be focusing on brain foods and mood-promoting fats to best nurture happiness, says Drew Ramsey, MD, coauthor (with Tyler Graham) of The Happiness Diet: A Nutritional Prescription for a Sharp Brain, Balanced Mood, and Lean, Energized Body. “Just a few meals away from the modern American diet, and you’ll start to feel benefits like better energy and a more stable mood,” explains Dr. Ramsey. “The moment you make a better food choice you are instantly building a better brain.” Read more…

– Meet 14 farmers and learn about CSA share options for the 2012 season.
– Talk with farmers about quantity and pre-ordering options for meat and poultry.
– Buy a share in a farm’s harvest for the coming season.

Community Supported Agriculture offers a terrific way for people to get a steady supply of local food directly from the producers, while creating a relationship of mutual support between farmer and eater. There are a lot of diverse options for pick-up locations, share structures, available foods, and farm involvement. Come to CSA Day to find the right option for you!

The following farms will be available to answer questions and take sign-ups that day:

• Applecrest Farm Orchards
• Brandmoore Farm
• Brookford Farm
• Heron Pond Farm
• Meadow’s Mirth Farm
• Moondance Gardens
• NH Farm Museum
• Red Manse Farm
• Riverside Farm
• Stone Wall Farm
• Touching Earth Farm
• Two Toad Farm
• Wake Robin Farm
• Wild Miller Gardens

Considering a CSA for the first time? Read about Choosing a CSA for questions to think about and to ask farmers at CSA Day at the Market. Local Harvest.org offers even more tips for potential CSA members and detailed information on CSAs.

For a list of farms currently offering CSA shares, and more information about CSA Day at the Winter Farmers’ Market: www.seacoasteatlocal.org.

In this new book, the noted Maine cookbook author and national radio food journalist takes us into her South Berwick kitchen and garden, introducing us to the flavors of fresh, seasonal ingredients prepared in simple and inspiring ways. Notes from a Maine Kitchen is arranged by month, and features our very own Winter Farmers’ Market in the chapter for February, as excerpted here:

It’s 24 degrees, a bright, sunny February morning. I grab my nylon and canvas shopping bags (I feel so virtuous when I actually remember to bring my reusable bags shopping) and head off to the Seacoast Winter Farmer’s Market, just over the border in Rollinsford, New Hampshire. Twice a month from November through April, York County farmers and their counterparts in Rockingham and Strafford counties, New Hampshire, assemble in greenhouses and town halls throughout the Seacoast to sell everything from locally raised eggs and meat to winter greens, root vegetables, cheese, fish, and hot-house tomatoes.

The market officially opens at ten, but people begin pouring in just before nine. The response to the market can be summed up with three numbers: 2, 2,200, and 45. Two is the number of policemen employed to manage the traffic flow outside the market; 2,200 is the estimated number of shoppers who came on a cold winter morning to buy local produce. That puts a huge smile on the faces of the forty five farmers, bakers, and vendors selling their products inside.

Garen Heller, a farmer who runs Garen’s Greens at Riverside Farm in North Berwick, Maine, describes the turnout in one word: “unreal! It’s just unbelievable what is happening here. These crowds mean a return to the roots of people valuing agriculture. It’s a cult of agriculture.” When I ask Heller what the winter farmer’s market means for his business, he doesn’t hesitate. “I can breathe a little easier without worrying about income. These markets didn’t exist three years ago. If things continue on this trajectory, it’s going to change what it means to be a farmer in northern New England.”

About an hour after the market opens, Heller is already sold out of his greenhouse grown salad greens, winter radishes, bok choy, kale, and mustard greens. Early shoppers know to head straight for his table and grab the coveted produce.

As I walk the aisles of the market, held in a modern greenhouse flooded with winter sun, I see people lining up to buy root vegetables (everything from celery root, purple-topped turnips, and carrots to potatoes and parsnips), greens (chard, kale, and mixed salad greens), locally raised meats (chicken, pork, and beef, as well as buffalo and elk), locally caught fish (lobster, Maine winter shrimp, sole, haddock, and fresh crabmeat), locally made yogurt and milk, maple syrup, honey, cheese, bread, and pastries. If you get to market early enough, you can buy virtually everything a family needs for a week’s-worth of good eating.

Learn more about Kathy Gunst and Notes from a Maine Kitchen at her website and blog.

The New Hampshire House of Representatives has passed a bill allowing the sale of  unlicensed “homestead” food and on-farm sales of raw milk. New Hampshire currently allows the sale of non-potentially hazardous foods from licensed home kitchens; HB 1402 seeks to eliminate license requirements. From NHPR, an examination of both sides of the issue:

The New Hampshire House of Representatives has passed a bill that would make it easier for the smallest farmers to break even. If it becomes law it would allow residents to sell some home-made baked-goods, preserves, and cheese at home or at farmers’ markets.

When the homemade foods bill came out of a House committee, it had unanimous support.

It sits in a political sweet spot: both Democrats who want to support local foods and Republicans who want smaller government like the idea of deregulating small farmers.

It lets people sell less than $10,000 a year in home-made food and produce less than twenty pounds a day of hard cheese, without a license.

The bill was modified before being sent to the house floor to say unlicensed cheeses must be labeled as such, and they must be aged 60-days before selling…

Barnstead Republican Guy Comtois, the bill’s sponsor, says it’s aimed at giving new farmers a running start before they have to pay for a license.

“It’s tough to start off at 100 miles an hour,” Comtois says, “so it does not do away with licensing, it just gives somebody that’s coming out of the gate the chance to find out is this going to be doable or am I just gonna stay with the 20 gallons a day.” Read more…

The 2nd Annual Macaroni & Cheese Bake-Off presented by Granite State Dairy Promotion created a lot of excitement last month. Amy Hall, GSDP executive director, estimated the crowd at 600–650 people lining up to sample all the different variations on the comfort food classic.

Farm cooks continue to shine in this competition. This year a team of two dairy farmer sisters took that coveted prize. Deb Erb of Springvale Farms in Landaff and Doreen Morris of Gamblin’ Farm in Haverhill took first place in the NH Made category. Contestants entering this category were required to use at least one milk and cheese product sourced from a NH dairy farm or cheese making facility.

This award gets their recipe on the menu at Cotton restaurant in Manchester for the week of February 20th, and will feature the New Hampshire products that Deb and Doreen used to make their “Northern Comfort Macaroni and Cheese“—the Erbs’ own Landaff cheese, Cabot Creamery Cooperative butter, and half-and-half from Hatchland Farm dairy in North Haverhill. The Erbs make their Landaff Creamery cheese based on a traditional Welsh recipe.

Second place in the “NH Made” Category was Carolynn Durrel of Manchester, who featured Brookford Farm’s cheddar cheese and quark, and Bartlett Farm milk in her recipe for “Mmm Mmac and Cheese“.

For these and other winning Mac & Cheese recipes: www.nhdairypromo.org.

“I think we’re on the verge of great change. I think we’re seeing the beginning of the end of transgenic or GMO agriculture,” he said.

But altering the nation’s food system will take more than a single lawsuit. Gerritsen credited people on the New Hampshire and Maine Seacoast for working to revive a food culture that connects farmers directly to consumers, citing the success of community supported agriculture and fisheries in the area (Gerritsen’s Wood Prairie Farm established Maine’s second CSA back in 1990).

“We’re going to have to develop our own ability to go around (the industrial) model of agriculture,” he said. “What we need is a new vision of how farmers and eaters can develop alliances and relationships which are mutually beneficial.”

Read more…

The next Food and Health Forum dinner seminar features Pete Johnson, of Pete’s Greens in Craftsbury, Vermont. Focusing on “Putting the Culture Back In Agriculture Through Community and Collaboration”, this event will take place at Blue Moon Evolution on Monday, March 19th, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Special pricing for farmer tickets are available, with a portion of the evening’s proceeds to benefit Seacoast Eat Local. For more information: www.foodandhealthforum.com.

Demystifying Gluten
Tuesday, February 21, 12 – 1 p.m.

Understanding Genetically Modified Foods and Organisms
Thursday, March 8, 6 – 7:30 p.m.

Forks Over Knives Film Screening
Thursday, March 22, 6 – 8:30 p.m.

A Meal to Change the World: Oxfam America Hunger Banquet
Tuesday, April 3, 3 p.m.

Ben Hewitt: The Future’s in the Dirt
Thursday, April 5, 2012, 6:30 – 8 p.m.

True Tales of Cures Without Drugs
Wednesday, April 11, 12 noon

For more information: www.manchester.unh.edu/campuslife/public-programs/food-thought

Portsmouth Beer Week is coming up at the end of February / beginning of March, and there are some fabulous events going on! We thought we would join in the fun and host an event of our own. After a bit of brainstorming, we decided to combine our love of beer & our love for all things local with our very deep love for chocolate & cheese. The result? A fun beer, cheese, and chocolate pairing event at the brewery!

We are still nailing down the specifics, but the event will include:
- Five samples of our beer (including a few special batches like Fat Alberta and our Raspberry Wit, along with a few of our flagship beers like Hog Happy Hefeweizen), paired with
- 1-oz samples of cheese from local creameries, and a few chocolate samples from local chocolatiers, plus
- An in-depth tour of the brewery with Annette Lee – our brewer.

Interested? Here are the details -
When: Sunday, March 4th. Two sessions: 1pm – 2:30pm and 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm.
Where: Throwback Brewery – 121 Lafayette Road, #3 North Hampton, NH
How to join in the fun: Give us a call at 603-379-2317 to reserve your spot. Or email info@throwbackbrewery.com. Please be sure to let us know what session you will be attending.
Cost: 20 dollars – payment due when you show up for your session.

The sessions will be limited to 15 to 20 people. So, if you are interested, please sign up soon! It should be a lot of fun!

For more information: www.throwbackbrewery.com

The Third Annual Portsmouth Beer Week runs from February 27th to March 5th. See Rachel Forrest’s top picks for the week > For more information and full schedule: www.portsmouthbeerweek.com.

While its name may be changing to Stout Oak Farm, the scenic, rolling fields of Creamery Brook Farm in Brentwood will forever remain as open space, protected from subdivision and development, and conserved for agriculture, wildlife, and water quality.

In late January, the Southeast Land Trust of New Hampshire, the town of Brentwood and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service acquired a conservation easement from the heirs of Lawrence Lyford on the 56.5-acre farm on Middle Road (Route 111A), ensuring its agricultural fields are forever conserved.

Funding for the protection of Creamery Brook Farm was provided by a grant of $253,000 from the U.S. Farm and Ranchland Protection Program, administered by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. The town of Brentwood provided $289,843 from its Open Space Bond, first approved in 2003.

Immediately following the sale of the conservation easement, the Lyford heirs sold the farm to Kate and Jeff Donald, an established young farming couple, most recently operating from leased land in Epping.

“Conserving this productive farmland and transferring it ownership to a young farming couple is simply the best possible outcome,” said Brian Hart, executive director of the Southeast Land Trust, a nonprofit conservation organization based in Exeter that orchestrated the conservation deal and its conveyance to a farmer. “By doing so, we’re meeting the community’s desire to preserve important lands, helping meet the strong interest in local food by conserving farm soils, and getting the farm into the hands of a successful farmer.”

Kate Donald has been an organic vegetable farmer for the past 12 years, operating Stout Oak Farm and actively involved with Seacoast Eat Local. At their new location at the historic Creamery Brook Farm, the Donalds will grow four acres of vegetables for CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) shares, farmers’ markets, and local restaurants. They also plan to open a new farm store, which will be stocked with their vegetables, herbs, cut flowers, and seedlings for home vegetable gardeners, as well as other products raised by their friends at other local farms. More information on their plans and goals can be viewed at their Web site, www.stoutoakfarm.com.

“As new stewards of this historic farm, we are committed to taking good care of the land, and providing delicious healthy food for our community,” Kate Donald said. “We are thrilled to see this land conserved, and grateful for the opportunity to bring this land back into production.” Read more…