tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86799677691683524602024-03-05T01:18:41.478-06:00BobagandaPolitics and Practicalities of the Local Food Kitchen and Movement!Robert Waldrophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02304213914134642550noreply@blogger.comBlogger73125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679967769168352460.post-61920267668562012302012-03-01T21:30:00.000-06:002012-03-01T21:30:40.565-06:00Moving to www.bobwaldrop.netI have decided to try consolidating a bit, and so I am moving my food commentary and etc to my flagship website, <a href="http://www.bobwaldrop.net/">http://www.bobwaldrop.net</a> . This site will stay up, but posting here will be infrequent.Robert Waldrophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02304213914134642550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679967769168352460.post-47317141096168210942012-02-27T11:45:00.001-06:002012-02-27T11:47:53.743-06:00Breakfast TurnipsI have been having fun lately with breakfast turnips. Hash brown potatoes were always one of my favorite breakfast foods, but with my blood sugar problems these days, that kind of high carb food is not on my regular menu.<br />
<br />
Turnips are a great lower carb alternative to potatoes. I have used both white and purple top turnips. Both were very tasty. The purple tops may have been just a bit sweeter. Here's how I've been cooking them:<br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Shredded Turnip Scramble</b></div>Peel the turnip, shred, saute with breakfast meat, cook until turnips caramelize, add eggs and scramble! Very tasty, very filling, keeps you full all morning.<br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Diced Breakfast Turnips</b></div>Peel the turnip, chop into small dices (about the size of those cubed frozen hash brown potatoes). Saute in olive oil with a bit of chopped onion and garlic, and be generous with the crushed red pepper and back pepper. Cook until well caramelized.<br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Turnip Pancakes</b></div>This is from my archive, as this would have too many grams of carbohydrates for me these days. But if those aren't an issue for you, these are waaaay tasty. I will have to try this with pecan or almond meal instead of whole wheat flour and see how it goes.<br />
<ul><li>1 cup mashed turnips (serve mashed turnips for dinner the night before you plan to make this breakfast, be sure to make enough so that you have left-overs for breakfast).</li>
<li>1 cup whole wheat flour</li>
<li>1/3 cup Greek yogurt ( or buttermilk, or milk with a teaspoon of vinegar)</li>
<li>1 teaspoon baking powder</li>
<li>1 egg, beaten</li>
</ul>Mix the ingredients, fry in oil in medium hot skillet. This makes a fairly thick pancake, if you like a thinner pancake, add a bit more liquid. I did not add any oil to the recipe, only to the pan for frying, because I had mashed the turnips with butter. Serve with just a bit of jam on top. I used raspberry, made by a local farmer, that I got through the Oklahoma Food Coop. This makes about 12 dollar size pancakes. It would make more if you make a less thick batter.Robert Waldrophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02304213914134642550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679967769168352460.post-66555686461496282242011-12-26T14:59:00.000-06:002011-12-26T14:59:03.082-06:00The Coop in 2012A new year is traditionally a time to take stock of how things are going and to think about new ideas for the coming year. The Oklahoma Food Coop is not immune to the lure of rethinking the way we do business. You may have landed here because you completed one of the surveys we launched to gauge the level of support for going to two delivery days/month. Thanks for your participation, and if you didn't land here after participating in one or more of those surveys, here are the links, please click on them and fill them out. Complete each survey that pertains to you, as a customer, producer, and/or volunteer for the Coop.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div><a href="http://kwiksurveys.com/?u=okcoopproducers" target="_blank" title="http://kwiksurveys.com?u=okcoopproducers">http://kwiksurveys.com?u=okcoopproducers</a></div><div><a href="http://kwiksurveys.com/?u=okcoopcustomers" target="_blank" title="http://kwiksurveys.com?u=okcoopcustomers">http://kwiksurveys.com?u=okcoopcustomers</a></div><div><a href="http://kwiksurveys.com/?u=okcoopvolunteers" target="_blank" title="http://kwiksurveys.com?u=okcoopvolunteers">http://kwiksurveys.com?u=okcoopvolunteers</a> </div><br />
We are considering some other possibilities.<br />
<ul><li>We may field a food truck, featuring an all-Oklahoma (or mostly-Oklahoma) menu with products bought from our producers.</li>
<li>We have found a manufacturer of paper products here in Oklahoma, but they are too big to be interested in joining the coop (their minimum delivery to one address is one semi-truck full). But if we pick up they will sell in smaller lots to us at a wholesale price. We could then offer made-in-Oklahoma toilet paper to our members, with the profits supporting our core local food and non-food product activities.</li>
<li>We are considering kiosks and shelf space in stores offering our artisan body care products.</li>
</ul>And of course, we continue to focus on our core competency of local food delivery. We are looking forward to the arrival of our new website sometime in the new year, which we think will be a great improvement over the present online shopping experience of the Oklahoma Food Coop. In addition -- <br />
<ul><li>We need additional pickup sites. In Oklahoma City, in particular we need a Village/Nichols Hills area pickup site, and a Luther/Jones/Arcadia pickup site. But we need pickup sites elsewhere in the state too.</li>
<li>We want to improve the pickup site experience and we need input as to how that can work better. We wonder how big a deal it is that people have to "hunt and peck" for their individual items, and how much of an improvement it would be if frozen and refrigerated items arrived sorted to their individual orders the way that dry goods are.</li>
<li>What else is on people's minds in this regard?</li>
</ul>One thing that's important to remember -- all of us in the Coop are owners. That suggests both rights and responsibilities. Whatever resolutions we may make for the New Year, let's include one about becoming more active in the Oklahoma Food Cooperative! 2012 is the Year of the Cooperative, so let's make it a good one!Robert Waldrophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02304213914134642550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679967769168352460.post-45748199764528798052011-12-07T12:03:00.000-06:002011-12-07T12:03:25.724-06:00Ye Olde Bon Appetitin' Oklavore Gift Guide Part the Third -- the IN BETWEENS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjziHJTzg2oZ985z3dNAe7HRhajx1RpYRUKs-68umuw92lU8DTic-hT59VvjR8Iq_iaorwdl8rcV0kNjHjcslOOjux3zPjlbkfl7KbIHrBmON18zpND-PmP04UQ-XQcsw1JnnxkAGg6ow/s1600/santahat2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjziHJTzg2oZ985z3dNAe7HRhajx1RpYRUKs-68umuw92lU8DTic-hT59VvjR8Iq_iaorwdl8rcV0kNjHjcslOOjux3zPjlbkfl7KbIHrBmON18zpND-PmP04UQ-XQcsw1JnnxkAGg6ow/s1600/santahat2.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It's been an exciting two days at the<b style="color: #38761d;"> Ye Olde Bon Appetitin' Oklavore Holiday Shopping Shop.</b> We toured the <a href="http://bobaganda.blogspot.com/2011/12/your-locavore-holiday-gift-giving-guide.html" target="_blank">Stocking Stufferings</a> Department (the $5 and unders), and visited the <a href="http://bobaganda.blogspot.com/2011/12/ye-olde-bon-appetitin-oklavore-gift.html" target="_blank">Extravagants </a>(the $50 and ups), now we turn our attention to the I<b style="color: #990000;">N-BETWEENS </b>-- gifts between $5.01 and $49.99. This is the largest section, and as I stand here at the front door, I am wondering how I can ever adequately describe the rich diversity of items available this month. Well, when in doubt, just dive in I say and start writing. You can always revise it later.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">How about a<b style="color: #38761d;"> live plant</b>? That's a gift that keeps giving.</span></div><ul style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: blue;">Crestview </b>has certified organic rosemary plants in 6 inch pots for $10.50. Keep it in a sunny window this winter, plant it out in the spring or keep it as a house plant. They also have hanging baskets at $10 - $15.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="background-color: white; color: purple;">Skyridge</b> has really clever ivy topiaries at $15. A topiary is a plant trained/trimmed to a particular shape.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: magenta;">Renricks</b> has pansies by the flat for $17. There are 18 in a flat and you can mix and match. Brighten up your yard during the winter and don't forget that pansy flowers are edible. So you can decorate your winter casseroles and root salads with pansy flowers. Taste and beauty!</span></li>
</ul><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The <b style="color: #990000;">Men's Apparel Department</b> is nicely stocked.</span></div><ul style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;">A <b style="color: orange;">Little Hippy Shop</b> has Grill Daddy aprons, hemp wrist bands, a patriotic peace T-shirt, "Real Men Recycle" t-shirts made from recycled cotton in various designs, </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Quentin at C<b style="color: #0b5394;">rosstimbers</b> is making paracord wrist bands in several colors for $7 (and the profits go towards his "Buy a Horse" fund).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: #134f5c;">Fluffy's Compleat Boutique</b> has men's socks, in size 11-13, in your choice of colors, a tie-dyed long-sleeve t-shirt, a variety of short-sleeved tie-dyed t-shirts, </span></li>
</ul><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">You can spend quite a bit of time shopping the <b style="color: #990000;">Women's Apparel.</b> </span></div><ul style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: #741b47;">A Little Hippy Shop</b> has hippy headbands for $8, bottle cap necklace and ear ring sets at $12.00, peace tees with rhinestones at $22, recycled cotton t-shirts at $18 (various designs), </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: magenta;">Fluffy's Compleat Boutique </b>has women's socks for $8, a tie-dyed Fairy Dress at $30, batik scarves at $18 - $21, a variety of styles and shapes of tie-dyed women's shirts from $15 to $25, tie-dyed t-shirts at $15, </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: blue;">The Chartreuse Lily </b>has some really charming make-up bags at $8, zippered pouches (almost 9 inches long) at $9.95, wristlet clutches with beaded zippered pull that matches the fabric at $14.50, tissue pack covers at $5.50, </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Quentin of<b style="color: #990000;"> Crosstimbers</b> paracord wrist bands are for women too! In several colors at $7.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">The <b style="color: blue;">Rowdy Stickhorse</b> has cleverly designed crochet hooded scarves at $25. These will keep your head, neck, and ears warm and cozy without messing with the hair.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">7<b style="color: purple;">08 Cupcake Lane</b> has totes made from upcycled t-shirts, at $7. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: lime;">Honeysuckle Hollow</b> has Toasty Toes Innersoles made from wool felt. They fit into your shoes under your socks and help keep your feet warm on these cold days. </span></li>
</ul><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The <b style="color: #38761d;">Art Department</b> is another are with enormous variety --</span></div><ul style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: blue;">Guided by the Light</b> has matted prints starting at $25. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: purple;">Happy Rabbit Acres/Main Street Photo-Video</b> has matted prints at $20, and a dairy goat magnet set at $9.99. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: magenta;">Renricks</b> has matted prints at $20. They can also turn any of their greeting cards into matted prints upon request.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: cyan;">Winning Photography Solutions </b>has unique dried flower art, framed. Each item is original and unique and they dry the flowers themselves, the old fashioned way, between the pages of books. They also have prints at $10, with and without matts.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: blue;">Joe de Dee </b>is offering water-color portraits hand-drawn by her daughter Jessica. The portraits are drawn from photographs that you submit.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: purple;">A Little Hippy Shop </b>has photo prints in black plastic frames with glass for $30, and matted prints at $15. </span></li>
</ul><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Is there someone with a baby on your gift-giving list? We can help with that decision in the <b style="color: #990000;">Baby Department</b>!</span></div><ul style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: blue;">Shady Oaks Family Farm </b>has girls' car seat covers, at $25 and diaper cakes (decorated displays of diapers)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: #351c75;">Rowdy Stickhorse</b> has Little Britches herbal baths at $10.99, </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: #741b47;">Soy Candle Cottage</b> has natural baby lotion at $10, and a Baby Shower Basket for $20 that contains a variety of products for baby.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: magenta;">A Little Hippy Shop </b>has cute infant t-shirts for $12.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: #45818e;">Fluffy's Compleat Boutique</b> has very nice tie-dyed infant t-shirts at $13.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: blue;">708 Cupcake Lane</b> has elegant decorated diaper cakes at $45, whose decorations can be customized to your desires.</span></li>
</ul><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: #38761d;">Bath and Beauty? </b>We got what you want and need. Our artisanal body care and bath products are among our greatest values.</span></div><ul style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: blue;">Clear Creek Lavender</b> has lavender bath salts at $6, tins of lavender shea butter at $10, </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: purple;">Laughing Rabbit </b>is offering their sea salt blend bath salts at $7, emu hand and body balm at $10.50 - 20, </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: magenta;">Medicine Women Soap </b>is offering several blends of bath salts made with Dead Sea salt from the Holy Lands blended with various essential oils, at $15.49.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: #a64d79;">Rowdy Stickhorse</b> has herbal body polish at $12.99, bath salts and scrubs between $5.99 and $10.99, herbal deodorants at $5.99, lavender and rose waters at $5.99 - $10.99, foot butters and shoe treatments for $5.99 - $9.99, shampoo bars at $5.99, bath teas at $5.99, Buckaroo Balm at $5.99 - $10.99, Paulette's FAMOUS Cowgirls and Roses creme for $5.99 - $10.99, after shave lotion at $10, shaving soap bar $5.99, sunscreen at $7.99, face masks at $10.99, a variety of soaps at $5.99, </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: #674ea7;">Soy Candle Cottage </b>has a "Bag for Dads" for $19, which contains a nice selection of items for men, bottles of Fisherman's Soy Lotion for $10 and Golfers Soy Lotion at $8, soy hand lotion for men for $5.50 - $10, foot creams at $10 - $15, cuticle candles at $6, additional soy lotions at $10, face cremes at $15, </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: #134f5c;">Earth Elements</b> has Mint Toothpowder for $5.50, </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: #38761d;">Crosstimbers </b>has various foot lotions for $5 - $10, body lotions at $10, goat's milk lotions at $10, </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: #0b5394;">Honeysuckle Hollow</b> has their hand-made "Foot Fishies", exfoliating stoneware.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: magenta;">Joi de Dee</b> has cosmetics, yes, Oklahoma-made mineral make-up at $5 to $25.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: purple;">Laughing Rabbit</b> has a grab bag of miscellaneous soap items for $12.50.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: blue;">Medicine Women Soaps</b> has a variety of their soaps priced starting at $10.99. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: red;">Heaven Sent Food and Fiber </span></b>has Felted Goats Milk Soap Bars at $8. These are bars of soap enclosed in alpaca wool felt, for an elegant bathing experience.</span></li>
</ul><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The <b style="color: #38761d;">Book Department </b>is stocked with useful reading for your Oklavore Experience.</span></div><ul style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: magenta;">Aunt Purple's Cooking</b> has five cookbooks featuring easy and tasty recipes for your family. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: #351c75;">Lost Creek Mushroom Farms</b> has a Shitaake Sampler Cookbook.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: #38761d;">High Tides and Green Fields </b>is offering their book Cattle Panel Hoop House Construction, </span><span style="font-size: small;">includes source lists for materials, construction detail drawings and photos, suggested reading and website sources, suggested crops for winter production. The materials look at natural insulation, double covers, ventilation, watering, and the challenges of Oklahoma weather.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: #0b5394;">Prairie Rose Permaculture (</b>that's me, folks) is offering copies of the permaculture design for my home, Gatewood Urban Homestead, which is a guide to home adaptation that meets the looming realities of peak oil, economic irrationality, and climate instability. Smart adaptations now will save you much money and inconvenience later. Offered as a CD or as a PDF by email.</span></li>
</ul><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The <b style="color: #b45f06;">Children's Department </b>is stocked with items for kids of all ages.</span></div><ul style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: red;">A Little Hippie Shop</b> has children's and youth t-shirts, at $15, </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: #38761d;">Fluffy's Compleat Boutique </b>has a variety of children's and teen tie dyed shirts, at $15/</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: #134f5c;">The Chartreuse Lily </b>has a variety of headbands at $8, </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">You can display your kid's art work on your refrigerator with<b style="color: #351c75;"> Happy Rabbit Acres </b>magnet sets from $9.99 to $25.</span></li>
</ul><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In our <b style="color: #990000;">Department of Classes. . . </b></span></div><ul style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: #351c75;">Shepherd's Cross </b>is offering a variety of fabric arts classes for $15 - $30 each. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: #741b47;">Once Upon a Silver Moon</b> has an incense-making class at $25. </span></li>
<li style="color: red;"><b><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></b></li>
</ul><div style="color: red; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">Fabric Arts:</span></b></div><ul style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: #b45f06;">Honeysuckle Hollow </b>has a great gift for those who sew -- hand-felted pincushion orbs at $10.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: blue;">Shepherd's Cross</b> is offering drop spindles at $10 for spinning yarn, rovings and carded batts for $7 to $12 (alpaca/llama), skeins of yarn at $16. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: purple;">Heaven Sent Food and Fiber</b> has two sizes of drop spindles, from $15 to $19.50, hand-painted roving balls for $12.50, skeins of yarn for $15 to $30, featuring a variety of fibers,</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></li>
</ul><div style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">Health Department</span></b></div><ul style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: blue;">Rowdy Stickhorse</b> has Melancholy Magic, an aromatherapy product to lift your spirits, at $5.99 - $10.99, tooth powder at $5.99, herbal dream pillows at $10.99, herbal heat pillow at $20.99, Mexican Mustang Liniment at $10.99, insect repellant at $5.99 - $10.99, </span><span style="font-size: small;">and for $7 - $13,</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: orange;">Soy Candle Cottage</b> has Gardener's Lotion at $10, </span></li>
</ul><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In the <b style="color: #990000;">Holiday Gift Department </b>--</span></div><ul style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: #134f5c;">Rowdy Stickhorse</b> can put one of their appropriately priced items on crinkle paper in a cellophane bag with a bow and tag, priced from $7 to $13.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: #351c75;">Guided by the Light </b>has sets of Christmas cards from $10,</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: #741b47;">Happy Rabbit Acres </b>has sets of Christmas cards from $12.50</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: blue;">Winning Photography Solutions</b> has sets of Christmas cards from $10.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: purple;">Country to Town Market</b> has a holiday gift basket of their Homestyle Jam, at $18.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">The <b style="color: magenta;">Oscar Romero Catholic Worker House </b>has CD's of piano improvisations on the music of Advent, Nativity and Epiphany, performed by Bob Waldrop, and recorded live on the Yamaha conservatory grand piano at Epiphany Church. Proceeds benefit our ministry of delivering food to low income people who don't have transportation. $15 each or $50 for 5 or $35 for 3.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: orange;">Snider Farms</b> has festive gift packs and tins of peanuts from $6.50 on up.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: red;">Rachel's Homestead Creations</b> has home-made Candy wreaths, priced $20-25. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: #38761d;">Bohemia </b>has gift packs of their signature Miss Terri's Almond Dark Chocolate confection at $32.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: blue;">A Little Hippy Shop</b> has crocheted stockings for $16. </span></li>
</ul><div style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">Home Care</span></b></div><ul style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: blue;">Crosstimber Farms</b> has Ethans Should-Be-Famous brooms, made by Ethan Lusby. These are hand-made functional brooms in traditional styles, use them as a broom -- or -- use them as a elegant colonial accent decoration. Priced from $14 to $20, made with broomcorn (Oklahoma was once a leading state for broomcorn production).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: purple;">Rowdy Stickhorse</b> has an anti-bacterial spray at $8, Country Clean concentrate at $20, </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: magenta;">Shepherd's Cross </b>has wool dusters at $12 - $17. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">The <b style="color: orange;">Chartreuse Lily</b> is making refills for the Swiffer duster products at $8, a variety of stoneware clay spoon rests for $8, </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: #783f04;">Honeysuckle Hollow</b> is offering their handmade stoneware bread warmer stone for $6, a set of 3 reusable wool dryer balls for $15 -- these are an alternative to commercial dryer sheets,</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: #073763;">Once Upon a Silver Moon</b> has a set of 3 moth repelling sachets for $12,</span></li>
</ul><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I guess we'll have a part 4 on Thursday morning since I am out of time for today. Tomorrow we'll start with Jewelry and move on through Scented Home and Food Items.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div>Robert Waldrophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02304213914134642550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679967769168352460.post-48533002546509267842011-12-06T14:28:00.000-06:002011-12-06T14:28:52.782-06:00Ye Olde Bon Appetitin' Oklavore Gift Guide -- Part 2 -- the EXTRAVAGANTS<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVUdAsYlHIr6v5Z9CfNkuHujlc_YweeEFF6gEDXreMTMfbIRziEvvXiEppsHc6PAOwECHJKqBnUL72IJCfibnlQnjUY0ApW7BOkSJ9BmTRhyCKP2q3zuzR_yZS1qBLIU3XIbaW9yEs0g/s1600/santa_eating_cookie.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVUdAsYlHIr6v5Z9CfNkuHujlc_YweeEFF6gEDXreMTMfbIRziEvvXiEppsHc6PAOwECHJKqBnUL72IJCfibnlQnjUY0ApW7BOkSJ9BmTRhyCKP2q3zuzR_yZS1qBLIU3XIbaW9yEs0g/s200/santa_eating_cookie.gif" width="123" /></a></div>In <b style="color: #990000;">Part 1</b> of <b style="color: #38761d;">Ye Olde Bon Appetitin Oklavore Gift Guide</b>. . . we looked at the value priced Stocking Stufferings. In Part 2, we are going to look at the <b style="color: #990000;">Extravagants, </b>the gifts that are on the higher end of prices at the Coop ($50 and up).</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Let's stop at the <b style="color: #38761d;">Pet Departmen</b>t first, where we find that<span style="background-color: white;"> </span><b style="background-color: white; color: blue;">Barker and Friends</b><span style="background-color: white; color: blue;"> </span>have large hand-made pet pillows, the tops are quilted using a durable fabric and are priced at $60 each. The exteriors are removable and washable.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In the <b style="color: #cc0000;">Kitchen Department,</b> a new producer -- <span style="color: blue;"><b>Rambling Road Designs</b> </span>-- is offering hand crafted wooden cutting boards. They are 1-1/2 inches thick and both sides are usable. This particular design is made from Hard Maple, Purple Heart, Walnut, and Honduran Mahogany woods. All of the woods this producer uses are certified for sustainable harvest. This is a lifetime heirloom purchase that your great grandchildren will enjoy. Priced at $125.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">These aren't quite $50 but they certainly qualify as extravagant. In the <span style="color: #38761d;"><b>Jewelry Department,</b> </span><b><span style="color: blue;">Beautiful Jewelry Items</span></b> has turqoise and tiger eye necklaces and a coral, crystal, and cinnabar necklace, each at at $45. <b style="color: blue;">Buglight Faeries</b> has a very handsome 20" Agate Slab Necklace, the chain is handmade with copper wire and glass beads, priced at $40, and Swirly Pendant necklace, made with copper wire and glass beads, at $45. All of these are one-of-a-kind works of art.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In the <b style="color: #990000;">Home Decor</b> department, we find a very extravagant gift offered by the <b style="color: blue;">Rambling Road Designs</b> studio. Besides the wonderful wood work, Rambling Road Designs studio also does ceramic art. This month sculptor Jean Routman is offering original bas relief sculptures created uniquely for you. Her "<span style="font-size: small;">Home Portraits" are an original bas-relief replica of your home or favorite place sculpted in terracotta clay, kiln fired and hand painted. Scale drawings are made from photographs of each subject. Clay is rolled into a slab and the scale drawing is transferred to the clay which is then carefully removed creating a three dimensional bas relief image. Details are added as the clay begins to dry. When dry, it is kiln fired and then hand painted. Each home comes in a personalized sculpted base ready for table display.Available in two sizes, priced between $225 and $275. Since each of this is an original work of art created to your order, they are ordered one month and then delivered the following delivery day. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And now. . . for the<b style="color: #38761d;"> Fleece Department</b>. No, I am not referring to the Tax Department, but to the <b style="color: #990000;">Department of Gorgeous, Soft, and Useful Wool Fleeces</b>. Not many stores have such a department. It's one of our little unique notes. But with all these lamb producers, there will be wool! </div><div style="color: blue; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: blue;">Shepherd's Cross</span></b> has several felted wool pelts available</span><span style="font-size: small;"> made from 100% natural, flame resistant wool. The wool is produced and processed at Shepherd's Cross and are processed without chemicals using only 100% natural soap is used to wash the wool. Each pelt is unique since every wool fleece is different. They are soft, natural, durable & luxurious, making a wonderful cushioned seat or a great floor covering. The more they are used the more durable they become. The felted pelts are washable. Priced at the top end at $64 and then go down from there. </span></div><div style="color: blue; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: blue;">Anichini Moore Ranch and Farm</b> also has fleece's this year, listed in Fiber Arts. They come in a natural black color and a natural creme color. These fleeces are for spinning into yarn and are priced at $80/lb and will weigh between 1.5 and 2.8 pounds. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: blue;">Heaven Sent Food and Fiber</b> has fleeces for spinning. They have one Merino fleece at $80, and one Sun Alpaca fleece at $60.00. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: blue;">Shepherd's Cross </b>has amazing sheepskins for sale, in white and dark brown colors, any of which would make a very luxurious seat cover. Priced between $85 and $225.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In the <b style="color: #38761d;">Fabric Arts Department</b>, Kathy Tibbits at <b style="color: blue;">Fluffy's Compleat Boutique </b>is extravagance personified this year, starting with a Steampunk quilt top, at $100. She is offering a set of twin fat quarters, 16 funky hand-died cotton quarters, you can specify whether you want funky or consonant colors. $48. She has a Cherokee syllabary quilt top or quilt. It is $100 for the quilt top, or she can finish it as a quilt for you and the price is $450.00. </span><span style="font-size: small;"> If you pay the full fare, you can pick the color (or pattern) on back, the thread colors, whether it is made puffy and deep like a comforter or stiff and strong like an old-fashioned quilt from days gone by. Also, you can decide if you like original artisan free hand machine quilting or patterned quilting such as a feather, shell or fan pattern like our grannies made. If you'd like to pay a little bit every month, email her before buying and she can list it for you that way. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Altogether, Kathy has 11 quilts or quilt tops available this month. This is one of the most amazing collections of quilts ever offered anywhere. Her quilts hang as works of arts and these are heirloom purchases that will be handed down and used by your grandchildren.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">FYI. . . Kathy is one of the Mothers of the Oklahoma Food Coop, serving on the first board of directors of the Committee to Organize an Oklahoma Food Cooperative. Besides the quilts, she also has men's Cherokee shirts, in two styles, priced at $75 to $100.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;">In the <b style="color: #990000;">Classroom.</b> </span>. .</span><b style="color: blue;">Turtle Rock Farm</b> has a number of classes and events available including beekeeping, sustainable cooking, gardening and composting, and prairie dinner and fiddling concert, priced between $40 and $95.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">In the <b style="color: #38761d;">Art Department</b>, <b style="color: blue;">Luis Saenz Fine Art Photography</b> is offering four matted art prints, at $100/each. Framing is available for $150 extra.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">When it comes to our <b style="color: #990000;">Food Departments</b>, our producers have several extravagant options.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: blue;">Greenwoods </b>has pastured turkeys. They are huge -- 27 to 31 pounds! But they are seriously tasty. A pastured turkey would be a truly extravagant gift.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: blue;">Wichita Buffalo </b>has whole prime ribs and tenderloins of buffalo. These will run you $50 to a bit more than $100 depending on the size of the meat package. They also have bundles of 20 one pound packages of their pastured beef for $95.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">When it comes to hams, you have several extravagant choices. <b style="color: blue;">Anichini Moore</b> has "Large Black Pig" hams, which is an artisan breed. She offers them uncured so you can cure it yourself or cook it like a large roast. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: blue;">Colpitts Pine Ridge Ranch</span></b> has cured hams from their Berkshire pigs, cured, as large as ten pounds this year. He also has a special price on bundles of 10 one pound packages of his ground beef. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">A particularly extravagant gift from <b><span style="color: blue;">American Heritage Family Farm </span></b>would be their bundle of 100 one pound packages of ground beef, at $469, together with other small bundles in the $50 and up range of other cuts of meat</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: blue;">Cattle Tracks</b>, our only organic beef producer, has an extravagant deal called the Half Herd, which is half a beef. It is priced based on the processed weight (that is, the actual weight of wrapped meat packages that go into your freezer). You get to tell the butcher how you want it cut and wrapped. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: blue;">Clear Creek Monastery</b> offers a bundle of 10 pounds of their Pinzgauer beef cuts at $65.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: blue;">Sugarloaf Farms</b> offers both half and whole beefs. You can dialogue with the butcher about how you want it cut and wrap. The price includes the processing charges.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The <b style="color: #38761d;">Lamb Department </b>has quite a few extravagant food options.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b style="color: blue;">American Heritage Family Farm </b>has legs of lamb and assorted bundles of lamb cuts. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Last but not least of the $50 and up gifts. . . give a gift that keeps on giving in the form of the <b style="color: blue;">Gift Membership to the Oklahoma Food Cooperative</b>. It's priced at $45.45 so that when the coop's 10% is added in, it rings up at $50. We can provide a suitable inscribed certified with the gift with a unique number that is entered when the giftee enters his or her name and address info in the online membership application.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
</div>Robert Waldrophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02304213914134642550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679967769168352460.post-11436520145915840072011-12-04T22:48:00.004-06:002011-12-05T09:52:35.227-06:00Your Oklavore Holiday Gift-giving Guide - Part 1 -- the Stocking Stuffers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioYbvSUktaAmozFKDV3YaaooKJhSE9FZdmB0MdBHGhy0xNyvBPwpFmd7oAFkO-Gyn0bG4I7aNWAAq0cA8c3M4fuWzKtduKXb-G6IGMu4oOqmdsEO_kdu_lq1g1m2okXGGm01cJKS8LWQ/s1600/santaattable.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioYbvSUktaAmozFKDV3YaaooKJhSE9FZdmB0MdBHGhy0xNyvBPwpFmd7oAFkO-Gyn0bG4I7aNWAAq0cA8c3M4fuWzKtduKXb-G6IGMu4oOqmdsEO_kdu_lq1g1m2okXGGm01cJKS8LWQ/s200/santaattable.jpg" width="177" /></a></div>Here's Santa's best advice:<br />
<br />
Make this holiday season a gift to yourself and also to justice, sustainability, and the common good, by purchasing gifts from Oklahoma producers for family and friends this year. The Oklahoma Food Cooperative can help you do good and give you great value as you shop. Anybody can go to a big box store and buy cheap schlock made by big corporations that practice injustice towards their employees and pollute the earth with their business activities. Why not give unique gifts that keep our money at home and thus help promote prosperity for all Oklahomans?<br />
<br />
So let's take a brisk walk down the street and open the door into the Oklahoma Food Cooperative's Holiday Store. Wow! This looks like something our grandmother would love. A display of dried flowers, boughs of fir and cedar, Indian corn, pumpkins, pine cones and a gorgeous tree trimmed with painted squash and gourds, draped with hand-made garlands, and home-crafted ornaments. The first place we're going to look at is a very festive holiday bargain boutique, where everything is priced at not more than $5.00. There is a festive painted sign over its entrance -- <b style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ye Old Holidaye Stocking Stufferings! </span></b><br />
<br />
<div style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Buy Quentin a Horse.</b> <span style="color: black;">First thing I noticed was a little sign, "Buy Quentin a Horse" on the Crosstimber's Farms table. I asked the jolly young elf whose name-tag read "Airman Eric" who was minding the store what that meant. He said, "Quentin Lusby wants a horse, and his mother said that if he wanted a horse, he would have to buy it. So he has taken up knot tying and is making paracord lanyards and bracelets/wristlets." The lanyards are value priced at less than five bucks each, so let's buy Quentin a horse for Christmas by buying some of these lanyards as stocking stuffers. I am using mine as a key chain and it is working great for that purpose and I'm getting some more for friends. </span></div><br />
Moving along, we come to the<span style="background-color: white;"> </span><b style="color: #38761d;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Scented Home</span></b><span style="background-color: white;"> </span>section and there is just an amazing complex scent about that corner of the store. Once Upon a Silver Moon has quite the selection of incense priced at $5. The scents are quite amazing. Skyridge Farms has some potpourri's priced just a bit above $5, and Soy Candle Cottage has linen sprays in the $5 range. <br />
<br />
The <b style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Pet Department</span></b> is very well stocked with value priced items. For those of you who like to feed birds, Rowdy Stickhorse Wild Acres has suet cups and Lasley Farm has bags of peanuts for bird feeders under $5. Cat's love wheatgrass, and High Tides and Green Fields has clamshells of it for less than $5. Honeysuckle Hollow has cute little kitty toys made from handspun yard. Proceeds help Leava feed her little colony of feral cats that she watches over. Atoka Lamb has lamb bone dog treats at less than $5 your dogs should adore. Barker and Friends is offering a great deal on its sampler of doggie treats for less than $5. Certified organic? Cattle Tracks has doggie bones and chews for less than $5. The busy crew of the Lusby family at Crosstimbers have several less-than-$5 gifts for your animals including shampoo bars and Hannah's dog treats. High Tides is offering their famous hand-made catnip mice for your favorite furry feline friends.<br />
<br />
Coming now to the <b style="background-color: white; color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Paper Arts Department</span></b>, well, the mind almost boggles at the selections, as in "there are hundreds of things to look at here". All of the following are $5 or less --<br />
<ul><li>Guided by the light handcrafted cards,</li>
<li>Happy Rabbit Acres/Main Street Photo handcrafted cards</li>
<li>Renricks handcrafted cards</li>
<li>Skyridge Farms, handcrafted cards with handcrafted paper, some of which have wildflower seeds implanted.</li>
<li>A Little Hippy Shop has a cute collection of window stickers.</li>
</ul> Escaping the Paper Arts Department with some checks left and positive balances on the credit cards . . . we run into the <b><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Kitchen Department</span></b>. Every kitchen needs cute stuff, and there is a lot of it in the value aisle. We all know we need to ditch our paper towel habits, and Fluffy's Compleat Boutique has gorgeous tie-dyed kitchen towels in the $5 or less range. If you have a refrigerator, you have a need for kitchen magnets, and Main Street Photo/Happy Rabbit Acres has refrigerator magnets galore!<br />
<br />
Next we check out the <b style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Jewelry Shop</span></b> where we see that A Little Hippie Shop has great hemp bracelets and peace sign bottle cap necklaces. Once Upon a Silver Moon has fairy dust necklaces.<br />
<br />
It's hard to leave the jewelry section, there is so much to look at. But we must move on and so we enter the <b style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Home Decor Department</span></b>. They are doing it right. There's an elf in the corner picking Christmas carols on a guitar. He must be the famous<b><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Rednecked Elf </span></b>that we've all heard so much about. His Santa hat has a bill that reads "Billy Ray's Used Sleighs".<br />
<br />
First thing we see are some gorgeous beeswax candles from George's Apiary. Then we see Once Upon a Silver Moon as Arkansas quartz crystals by the ounce from Mt. Ida, as well as a selection of herbal pillows. Beautiful Jewelry Items has Good Deed Beads which are 10 beads attached to a wooden cross. <br />
<br />
In the <b style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Fabric Arts department</span></b>, we find some fine phat quarters I mean fat quarters for the quilters in your family. Seems to me like you could just put a hem around those and they would make great napkins so you could ditch your unsustainable paper napkin habit.<br />
<br />
The <b style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Children's Department</span></b> features two great bargains in the $5/or less Holidaye Stuffings area. G-J All Natural Beef has its Redneck Genius Game, and the Little Hippie Shop has a cute hippie flower hair clip.<br />
<br />
The largest department in the <b style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ye Old Holidaye Stocking Stufferings</span></b><b> </b>area is the <b style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Bath and Body Care Department</span></b>. There is an almost dizzying array of artisanal products at value prices for your gift-giving pleasures. And don't forget the guys. Guys need great body care products. You'd be surprised at the number of manly men about this coop who have a stash of artisanal soaps for their regular enjoyment.<br />
<ul><li>Joi de Dee -- bath salts, lip balms (big selection of flavors), foaming sugar scrubs, soaps, foaming liquid soaps, </li>
<li>Rowdy Stickhorse -- soaps "almost too numerous to list", mustache and eyebrow wax, natural cotton wash cloths, soaps, </li>
<li>Crosstimbers Farm, hand lotions, deodorant body powders, foot butters, shampoo bars, lip balms, face cream, hand and body lotions, crochet wash cloth, soaps, drawstring bags for soaps, </li>
<li>Clear Creek Lavender lip balm, soap sachets, soaps, </li>
<li>Soy Candle Cottage lip balm, Mom's candle, facial scrubs, </li>
<li>Laughing Rabbit Soap -- soap bars, </li>
<li>Medicine Woman Soap -- natural hand sanitizer, </li>
<li>Honeysuckle Hollow, shea butter soaps, </li>
<li>Once Upon a Silver Moon, soaps, </li>
<li>Heaven Sent Food and Fiber, soaps</li>
</ul>Accessories? We got them, for men and for women.<br />
<ul><li>Chartreuse Lily -- mirrors (various designs), coin pouches, key fobs, travel tissue packs, </li>
<li>Fluffy's Compleat Boutique -- scarves, dyed long shoe laces</li>
</ul>That's quite a list, don't you think? BUT WE AREN'T DONE YET! You can give FOOD as a gift, in fact, people are known to ADORE gifts of Oklahoma foods. And there are LOTS of $5 or less food items that would make great gifts. So let's wander over to the <b style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">HOLIDAY TREATS</span></b> section of the Oklahoma Food Cooperative. Oh good, there's samples.<br />
<ul><li>Earth Elements Market Bakery -- cookies by the dozen,breads, brownies, cookie doughs, muffins, jams</li>
<li>Snider Farms -- peanut butter cheese ball, peanut nugget candy, peanuts - various packages and flavors</li>
<li>Bohemia -- Chocolate/honey caramel love bars, Crownies, bars</li>
<li>Concina San Pasqual -- brownies, fudge, green chili salsa, </li>
<li>Renricks -- cheese spreads, dip mixes, glazes, </li>
<li>Peach Crest -- jams</li>
<li>Wildhorse Canyon Farms -- jams/jellies, </li>
<li>George's Apiary -- flavored honeys, spun honey, </li>
<li>Honey Hill Farm -- honey, </li>
<li>Lasley Family Farms -- peanuts, roasted and flavored</li>
</ul>I hope this gives you some great ideas for what you can buy for five dollars or less through the Oklahoma Food Cooperative. Tomorrow, I will give a tour of the extravagant gifts -- those starting at $100 and going up from there!<br />
<br />
I hope everyone is having fun eating their way through this bon appetitin' feastin' season! We certainly are at our house.Robert Waldrophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02304213914134642550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679967769168352460.post-25627569642692932252011-11-24T18:39:00.002-06:002011-11-24T18:58:24.071-06:00Green Bean Casserole -- with a Home-made Shiitake Mushroom Sauce and Sean's Should Be Famous Onion Rings<ul><li>Green beans, fresh or frozen, best if from your garden or a local organic producer</li>
<li>Fresh shiitake mushrooms (lots -- at least a half pound)</li>
<li>Fried onions rings (made with Sean's Should Be Famous Onion Ring Method, recipe below)</li>
<li>Cream (1 cup)</li>
<li>Beef stock (2 cups)</li>
<li>Flour (6 tablespoons)</li>
</ul>If fresh, string and cut up the green beans however you like them and blanche in boiling water for about 5 minutes. Drain.<br />
<br />
Place green beans in a casserole dish. Mix a handful (or two!) of the fried onion rings with the green beans.<br />
<br />
Slice the shiitake into small pieces, saute in butter until cooked. Add the flour and make a "mushroom roux" (cook until the flour is light brown).<br />
<br />
Add the stock, stir quickly, add the cream, stir quickly. After the cream is thoroughly mixed with the beef stock and roux, pour it into the casserole dish and gently stir so that everything is submerged in the sauce. Place a handful (or two!) of the fried onion rings on top of the casserole.<br />
<br />
Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes, until it is "bubbly".<br />
<br />
Yes, you can use canned green beans and canned mushrooms, and it will be a LOT better than the standard canned Cream of Mushroom soup variety. Maybe not quite as good as the home-grown green beans and shiitake mushroom version, but plenty better than the standard.<br />
<br />
<div style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Sean's Should Be Famous Onion Ring Method</b></div><ul><li>1 can beer </li>
<li>Large onions</li>
<li>3 eggs</li>
<li>flour (3 cups, makes a lot of onion rings)</li>
<li>Habanero Salsa</li>
<li>baking powder (1.5 tsp per cup of flour)</li>
<li>3 teaspoons cornstarch</li>
<li>Spices and Herbs to taste (salt, garlic powder, cayenne, whatever you like, experiment! or add nothing for the traditional simple onion ring taste)</li>
<li>oil for frying</li>
</ul>Cut the onions into rings. Get the biggest onions you can find. Mix the dry ingredients to make the breading mixture. Beat the eggs with the beer and the habanero salsa but don’t mix with the dry ingredients. These rings are breaded, not battered. Dip the rings into the beer/egg mixture, then into the breading mixture so they are thoroughly covered with flour. Dip again in beer/egg and again in dry mixture. These rings are double dipped.<br />
<br />
If you don’t have habanero salsa, use cayenne pepper in the dry ingredients. Or if you don't like spicy hot foods, just leave this out entirely. Fry in hot oil until done. If you are using some of these for green bean casserole, fry the onion rings for that dish a little more crispy than the others for just snackin’.Robert Waldrophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02304213914134642550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679967769168352460.post-8604998557251473572011-11-21T09:30:00.000-06:002011-11-21T09:30:19.085-06:00Fried Radishes and EggsI started cleaning out the c<a href="http://www.energyconservationinfo.org/chestfridge.htm" target="_blank">hest refrigerator</a> this morning to make room for our 19+ lb pastured turkey to thaw and down in the bottom of the produce box was a bag of radishes from the October coop order. The radishes were just fine, the greens a bit. . . past due. So I dumped them in the sink, washed them, cut off the greens and roots, sliced them, into the pan with some local butter, onions I got in September from the coop, and some serrano peppers from this month's coop order. Garlic, salt and pepper, cooked well done (not burnt, but the onions should be well caramelized and in fact the radishes caramelize a bit too). This made a great low carb side dish to my scrambled pastured eggs and sausage from a free range pig, all of course bought through the <a href="http://www.oklahomafood.coop/welcome.php" target="_blank">Oklahoma Food Cooperative.</a> Taste, food safety, nutrition. All there in about 15 minutes of work and some good bon appetitin' eatin.<br />
<br />
I know that "fried radishes" sounds weird, since most of us only eat radishes raw, but try 'em, you'll like 'em. They sweeten up very nicely.Robert Waldrophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02304213914134642550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679967769168352460.post-2407052183809782892011-11-18T09:12:00.000-06:002011-11-18T09:12:46.169-06:00BEWARE of your Butter!As it turns out, conventional butter is loaded with 11 different pesticides, including --<br />
<br />
3 known or probably carcinogens<br />
8 suspected hormone disruptors<br />
1 neurotoxin<br />
2 developmental or reproductive toxins<br />
<br />
More at <a href="http://www.whatsonmyfood.org/food.jsp?food=BU" target="_blank">Pesticide Action Network North America.</a><br />
<br />
Organic butter is more expensive, but how expensive are the consequences of pesticide residues, such as cancer?<br />
<table><tbody>
<tr><td align="right"><br />
</td><td><br />
</td><td><br />
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="right"><br />
</td><td><br />
</td><td><br />
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="right"><br />
</td><td><br />
</td><td><br />
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="right"><br />
</td><td><br />
</td><td><br />
</td><td><br />
</td><td><br />
</td><td><br />
</td><td><br />
</td><td><br />
</td><td><br />
</td><td><br />
</td><td><br />
</td><td><br />
</td><td><br />
</td><td><br />
</td><td><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Robert Waldrophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02304213914134642550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679967769168352460.post-14375287883900319082011-11-16T22:34:00.000-06:002011-11-16T22:34:32.185-06:00Ideas for a Local and Low Impact Holiday!★ <b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Give food!</span></b> Preferably local food, food that you've grown yourself, or something that you've made yourself or bought from a local producer – jams and jellies, pecans from your tree, pickles, breads, pies, cakes.<br />
<br />
★ <b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Give locally!</span></b> Besides food, look for locally-made artisanal body care products like soaps and bath salts, clothing, arts and crafts.<br />
<br />
★ <b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Make gifts!</span></b> Besides food, think of your own craft and artistic abilities. <br />
<br />
★ <b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Give with justice! </span></b> If you do buy gifts, vote with your dollars. Avoid big box stores and shop at locally owned stores. Explore the after market for treasures that will make wonderful gifts such as antiques and vintage items. Buy imported gifts from fair trade groups that support global economic justice. Buy products made from recycled materials for gifts.<br />
<br />
★ <b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Re-gift! </span></b>This is the giving away of something that was given to you. The hobbits started this in the Shire, so it must be a fine and sensible thing to do.<br />
<br />
★ <b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Give sustainability!</span></b> The list here is very long. Miniature herb gardens. A solar small battery charger and rechargeable batteries. Potted plants either for growing inside or for transplanting outside later. Baskets of cloth napkins and kitchen towels to replace paper towels and napkins. Seeds for a spring garden together with a “Coupon Good For Four Hours Help Creating a Garden in the Spring.” Non-BPA lined reusable water bottle. Tuition for classes that teach a useful skill or art. Bundle clothes line and clothes pins in a fabric bag with a long handle (when hanging clothes on the line, put the pins in the bag, hang it around the neck, so they are conveniently available). And by all means, give the kids bicycles and tricycles – and give only “naturally-powered” gifts to children (or anyone else, for that matter.)<br />
<br />
★ <b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Give Global (or local) Justice!</span></b> Make financial donations to groups working for local or global justice and sustainability in honor of friends and family for the holidays. This could be groups like World Neighbors, Greenpeace, Sierra Club, Heifer International, a local food bank, or a group associated with your faith tradition. <br />
<br />
★ <b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Give the arts! </span></b>Tickets to local art galleries, concerts, museums, and don’t forget the zoo. <br />
<br />
★ <b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Give favors!</span></b> Make booklets with your own hand drawn coupons that can be exchanged for events like – “Date Night with the Wife”, “Dinner with my Eldest Daughter”, “This Coupon good for One Major Honey-Do for My Loving Spouse”. “This coupon good for skipping one vegetable and getting extra dessert.” (Only include one of those.) “Stay Up Late.”<br />
<br />
★ <b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Make decorations!</span></b> Use natural materials as much as possible. Save them from year to year as family heirlooms. Pass them between generations. Think fabric, wood, metal, yarn, string, rope, dried plants, flowers, leaves, and paint. Memorabilia – a child's first shoe, a grandmother's handkerchief – can make beautiful ornaments. You could also use consumables – popcorn is a traditional item to string on thread and hang on a tree. After the holiday, the birds will enjoy it! A tree can also be decorated with baked “cookie ornaments”. Be sure to poke a hole in the dough before baking so you can string it on the tree. <br />
<br />
★ <b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Recycle wrappings! </span></b> Boxes of ribbons, bows, wrapping paper, and gift decorations carefully saved from previous years, belong in all houses. One way to honor the giver for the gift of a beautifully wrapped package is to save the wrapping and use it again.. Alternatively, wrap packages in cloth, such as towels or napkins. Even more alternatively, don't wrap the packages, instead, present them with some kind of joyous ceremony. Or hide them, and make a game out of the finding. Or do creative things like re-purpose useful items (socks, stocking caps, helmets, kitchen ware) as “wrapping” for gifts. A little ribbon and a bow, which is easily saved for use in another year, can make any item that can contain something else into a “gift package”. <br />
<br />
★ <b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Make a reusable fabric gift bag.</span></b> Cut 2 pieces of exterior fabric and 2 pieces of lining fabric, all the same size. Put each liner piece on top of its exterior fabric, bend over and sew along the top, thus hemming the opening edge. Stack both pieces of fabric with the liner fabric on the outside. Sew the 3 sides that aren't hemmed ¼ inch from the edge. Turn inside out. Attach a nice ribbon long enough to tie the top when the bag has been filled with a gift, to one side of the bag with a few stitches at its center. Use any kind of fabrics, old sheets are great material for the lining, which can be plain. Use something more decorative for the outer fabrics. <br />
<br />
★ <b style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Get energy-frugal LED lights! </b>LED lights use 95% less energy than traditional lights and last up to 100,000 hours when used indoors. They use .04 kw per bulb – that's 100 times less than traditional bulbs and 10 times less than mini-bulbs. <br />
<br />
★ <b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Don't buy a fake tree made from plastic and polyvinyl chloride. </span></b>Consider a living tree, in a pot. It could be a bonsai evergreen that would always live in its pot or a larger plant that you would plant in your yard or at a park or church or school. Or. . . Buy a Christmas tree from a local grower farmer. All Christmas trees sold in the US are farmed. A single farmed Christmas tree absorbs more than 1 ton of carbon in its lifetime. For each tree cut for sale, one to three trees are planted. Recycle your Christmas tree as compost or through a community program (93% of farmed Christmas trees in the US are recycled.) Never cut a wild tree in a forest for a Christmas tree. Or. . . make yourself a Christmas tree as a craft. It can be something new each year, or if you make one that is particularly great, you can save it from year to year and maybe add to it a bit each year. Or. . . make a Christmas tree wall hanging from felt, decorate it, and place your presents in front of it. Or. . . decorate some other kind of large houseplant that you already have. <br />
<br />
★ <b style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Buy Christmas cards from local artisans</b>. Or. . . make your own paper for your cards. Or. . . buy paper from local artisans to make cards. Make cards that fold to become their own envelope. Send e-cards via the internet. Buy recycled cards. Send all the cards you receive (including birthday and other holiday cards) to St. Jude's Ranch for Children in Nevada, where they will be re-crafted into new cards and sold to support the organizations efforts to help children. Read more about this at http://www.stjudesranch.org/shop/recycled-card-program/ . <br />
<br />
★ I<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">f you ship gifts, use crumpled newspaper, or popcorn</span></b>, to cushion the gift in transit. If you pack in popcorn, include a note inviting the recipient to feed the popcorn to birds.<br />
<br />
★ <b style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Make a commitment to distributive justice that lasts all year.</b> By all means, be generous with a charity that provides food and other necessities to low income households at the seasonal holidays of the “feasting season”. But people are hungry and in need all year long. During the holiday season, give your entire family the gift of service, by joining together in a family (or household) commitment to participate in distributive justice every month of the year.<br />
<br />
★ <b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Teach your children why you are doing a low impact and local holiday.</span></b> Involve them with the planning. Help them to ignore advertising.Robert Waldrophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02304213914134642550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679967769168352460.post-27315746901929158932011-11-08T23:30:00.003-06:002011-11-08T23:30:32.697-06:00Mushroom Gravy, Creme of Mushroom Soup, and Saurkraut<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<b>Gravy, Creme of Mushroom Soup, Saurkraut.</b></div>
<br />
Today we are all about recipes and let's talk about<span style="background-color: lime;"> </span><b style="background-color: lime; color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">gravy.</span></b><br />
<br />
First, always make extra gravy. You can use it as a sauce for a casserole the next day, or as part of your left-overs-from-dinner-lunch the next day.<br />
<br />
Next, for a nice <b style="background-color: lime;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">mushroom gravy</span></b>, start with about 1/8 pound of fresh mushrooms. I personally am partial to shitake, but ordinary button mushrooms will do fine. If the Coop producers are out of stock, and you need mushrooms, and are in the OKC area, check Matt Burch and April Harrington's store Earth to Urban at 1235 SW 2nd (across from the Old Farmers Market building). I got some there today which I used for my mushroom gravy tonight.<br />
<br />
Slice the mushrooms, and saute them in some nice butter that you bought directly from the dairy which has a pastured herd. You can add a little chopped onion and hot peppers, if you like a more savory gravy. Once the mushrooms are done, add some flour. How much, you ask? Well, that depends on how much gravy you want. The basic rule of thumb is two tablespoons flour and two tablespoons oil per cup of gravy. So if you want two cups of gravy, add 4 tablespoons of oil to the pan to saute the mushrooms, and then add four tablespoons of flour. Stir the flour until it browns a bit. Don't walk away and think you can do something else while the flour browns. That's a good way to burn the flour and waste the mushrooms. When it is nicely browned, add some stock -- beef, chicken, pork, whatever you have on hand. Plan ahead and cook a chicken in the oven a day or two previously, and you will have some nice stock leftover from that. The secret to a good gravy like this is an excellent stock and it is worth your time and effort to make your own. How to do that? Well I will review that tomorrow.<br />
<br />
Add the stock all at once and stir vigorously until the gravy thickens. Voila, mushroom gravy. If you made two cups, you can use that for your own home-made Green Bean Casserole, about which I will write tomorrow.<br />
<br />
Now let's talk about <b style="background-color: lime;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Creme of Mushroom Soup.</span></b> You can also use this as the sauce for Green Bean Casserole (or any other casserole) or you can just eat it as a soup. I think the kids would say, "it's the bomb!" <br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
This recipe makes 6 quarts, and can be
frozen, thawed and reheated. You can make less, but I have never
made this outside of a crockpot, so I don't know how it would go for
example if you tried to make only 1 or 2 quarts in a sauce pan on top
of the stove. If you try it, let me know how it works and I can
incorporate that info the next time I write about this recipe. If
you plan on using this in casseroles, in place of canned crème of
mushroom soup, package it in two cup containers.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
4 cups cream</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
4 cups chicken stock (beef stock would
be fine)</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
6 cups sliced mushrooms</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
1 cup chopped, cooked bacon</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
1 Tbsp dried parsley</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
1 tsp salt</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
1 tsp pepper</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
½ tsp thyme</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
1 onion, chopped in small bits</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
2 Tbsp bacon fat (butter would work,
but bacon fat is better)</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
4 cloves garlic</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Cook the garlic and onion in the bacon
fat or the butter for about a minute. Remove from the heat. Add the
butter/onion/garlic and all of the other ingredients to a large crock
pot. Cook on low for four to six hours, until the soup is thick and
a bit frothy. It will continue to get thicker as it cools. Don't cook
too fast or too long </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
There is <b style="background-color: lime;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Napa Cabbage</span></b> available this month on the coop, and Napa cabbage makes great saurkraut. Here is a recipe for naturally fermenting saurkraut that was given to me by a master fermenter, Lynnet Bannion, with whom I studied permaculture. Note that as with all such preservation methods, scrupulous cleanliness of everything is mandatory. Sterilize the jar with boiling water, make sure the knives, cutting boards, mandolins, stampers/thumpers that you are using -- and also your HANDS -- are clean.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b style="background-color: lime;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ursula’s Sauerkraut</span></b><br />For a half-gallon jar, you need 3.5 pounds cabbage, 1 teaspoon caraway seed, 1 tablespoon sea salt. You can add optional ingredients from the following list: peeled sliced garlic; washed, cored and sliced apples; peeled onions cut into eighths; dill seed; juniper berries; or other spices.<br /> </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Wash cabbage and cut into thin shreds, with a kraut cutter, mandoline, food processor, or by hand with a knife. Mix cabbage shreds with the salt in a large bowl or small plastic bucket, and let stand for 15 minutes. Then press the cabbage with your fist or a wooden stamper until the juice is flowing well. It is important to crush the vegetables enough to create the juice. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />Pack the juicy shreds into your jar in layers, interspersing the caraway and any other ingredients you are using. Pack tightly enough that all the air is pressed out. If you don’t have enough juice to come to the neck of the jar, you can add a little brine: 2 tsp salt to one quart water. Cover loosely, put the jar on a plate or pie tin, and keep in a dark corner of your kitchen for one week. Then cap and<br />keep in a cold place for another four weeks to mellow. Sauerkraut keeps many months under proper storage conditions (provided you keep out of it that long).</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b style="background-color: lime;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Bob's note:</span></b> It's important that all of the cabbage be submerged in the brine. If it keeps coming up above the brine/cabbage juices, then put a cup of water in a ziplock back and put that in the neck of the jar to keep the shreds under the surface of the water. The fermentation process is carried on by lactobacillus bacteria. Use organic or all natural cabbage, trim off any spots or blemishes. If you mix up some brine to add, do not use chlorinated water. Don't use iodized salt, use pickling salt or sea salt without any additives. Don't reduce the amount of salt. This is a preservation process, the salt is necessary to the process. Check it often during the fermentation week, if some scum develops, carefully spoon it off. The volume of the cabbage will reduce, as the process develops, so you may need to add brine. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b style="background-color: lime;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Tomorrow: Green Bean Casserole, Sean's Should Be Famous Fried Onion Ring Method, Stock Part the First</span></b><br />
</div>Robert Waldrophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02304213914134642550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679967769168352460.post-57546009823351055132011-11-07T23:37:00.001-06:002011-11-08T08:51:57.280-06:00WOW! What a FEAST of FOOD for our FEASTIN SEASON!This order is our eighth year birthday. I dredged up some spreadsheets and it looks to me like we are approaching $4 million in total sales over that 8 years. . . <b style="background-color: lime; color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">$3,796,154</b><span style="background-color: lime;"> </span>to be exact, so depending how this month and December finish out, we will likely cross the four million dollar sales threshold in January 2012.<br />
<br />
What a lot of good-tasting and nutritious food and quality non-food items that dollar figure represents. BUT. . . more interesting than these figures from our past is what's happening RIGHT NOW.<br />
<br />
Over the years I have received a lot of emails from people
elsewhere who envy the local food selection we have available here in Oklahoma
through the Oklahoma Food Cooperative. Some businesses may brag about
having products from a half dozen local producers. This month, you can
order from <b style="background-color: lime;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">98 different Oklahoma producers,</span></b> and pick and choose among <b style="background-color: lime;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
4,789 products!</span></b> That kind of access doesn't exist in very many areas of
this country, so let's take advantage of what we've got, and -- as I've often said over the years -- follow the Oklavore principle and "eat what is available!<br />
<br />
Speaking of gifts. . . which I wasn't. . . but I will segue that way anyway. . . This month the coop has a new product --<b style="background-color: lime;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> a gift
membership </span></b>-- that delivers an attractive certificate to you on delivery
day stamped with a unique number that the recipient of your gift enters
when he or she inputs their info on the coop's membership form and
voila, they are members!<br />
<br />
Since most of us will be dong a lot of shopping this holiday season, don't forget the little detail that you can shop for holiday gifts from the comfort and convenience of your own home, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Food makes a great gift. As do our body care products and other non-food items. <br />
<br />
Regarding the <b style="background-color: lime;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Feastin' Foods of November</span></b>. . . I just scrolled through the produce list and was really impressed at the amount of produce that has been listed since the day the order opened. If you typically only shop the coop on the first day of the order, you are missing out on good deals. Many times our vegetable (and egg) producers add a considerable amount of inventory as the order progress and the get a better handle on what they will have available for delivery day.<br />
<br />
The fall produce looks glorious. First on the list is <b style="background-color: lime;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">GREENS</span></b><span style="background-color: lime;">. </span> Greens are a luxury food and are also affordable. Buy a LOT more than you are going to eat and freeze them in meal size portions for eating later. These crisp fall days are excellent for long slow cooking of big pots of food, so cook all your greens at once and freeze for eating later. Cooked greens are great in the freezer, just don't you forget to label and date them so you know what they are. I always think I will remember but then I don't and so I have learned the hard way to label and date. That way if you defrost something that you think is frozen apple slices, in anticipation of apple pie, and you get something else, you aren't disappointed.<br />
<br />
I have written a lot about greens over the past eight years of the coop. One cup cooked <b style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: normal;">greens typically contains: 20
calories, 1.2 g protein, 4.4 g carbohydrates, 3.5 g dietary fiber, 93%
water, plus Vitamins A and C, folate, potassium, and calcium. "All this -- and TASTE TOO!" Anyway, here's something I wrote in November 2007</b>-- <a href="http://www.oklahomafood.coop/bobsblog/?p=78" target="_blank">"The feastin season is upon us."</a> You really should try the Cream of Greens soup on that page, it is one of the best recipes I've ever posted. Even people who hate greens like this soup when made with Coop ingredients. BUT, don't freeze greens with cream sauces, freeze the plain cooked greens, THEN add cream sauces when you thaw them for eating later. Cream and cheese and eggs are GREAT with greens. If Wagon Creek has some cream left, by all means substitute that for some of the milk.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately the links in that post to "What to do with 20 pounds of ground beef" and the similar one for ground pork are no longer active but the recipe ideas are listed in my post, so that gives you some ideas. As to what to do with 20 pounds of ground beef, that is.<br />
<br />
The <b style="background-color: lime; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">turkeys</b> are going pretty fast, but as of this writing there remain a few. Greenwood is a new producer and they do on farm processing, so you have to pick up those turkeys directly from them in the parking lot of the operations center. If you've already opened a basket for another pickup site, and want to get one of their turkeys, don't forget to change your pickup site to OKC Central. You do that by opening your shopping cart, and you will see the place for your pickup site on the left side of the page.<br />
<br />
There are lots of<b style="background-color: lime;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> eggs</span></b> right now, more than 100 dozen available. As I noted last week, and as one of the producers wrote in their producer notes Tuesday, it's easy to freeze eggs, and you can even dehydrate them yourself. Later this winter, when egg production falls off, you'll wish you had some frozen dozens of eggs stashed in your freezer, so order now and freeze for eating later.<br />
<a href="http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/freeze/eggs.html">http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/freeze/eggs.html</a><br />
<br />
Of course, our <b style="background-color: lime;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">meat</span></b> producers continue to be strong suppliers of the local market. Our local meats offer a great return for the money -- not only do they taste great, buying local meats from our producers' free ranging flocks and herds provides direct support for animal husbandry methods and practices that heal the earth and do not destroy the biosphere. Every dollar spent for supermarket meats is a dollar invested in the environmental ruin of this region. So let's spend our money wisely and buy local meats from free ranging flocks and herds.<br />
<br />
I almost forgot -- we have a plethora of <b style="background-color: lime;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">pumpkins </span></b>available this month at great prices. Actually, we have a plethora of plethoras of pumpkins available. So you can make your pumpkin pies this year directly from a pumpkin. Here's all the info you need from the site that taught me -- <a href="http://www.pickyourown.org/pumpkinpie.php" target="_blank">Pick Your Own!</a><br />
<br />
We have lots of roots this month -- besides <b style="background-color: lime;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">turnips</span></b>, the <b style="background-color: lime;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">sweet potatoes</span></b> are here! And the <b style="background-color: lime;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">radishes.</span></b> Now's the time to stock up on both these excellent storage crops for winter. Sweet potatoes and turnips offer great nutrition and even better taste. Throw them in with a roast to slow cook on one of the upcoming cool days. For a change of pace with your radishes, slice them thinly, fry them, scramble some eggs with them. Voila, very tasty breakfast AND added vegetable nutrition in a meal that is usually light on veggies.<br />
<br />
Don't forget to buy some <b style="background-color: lime;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">soap</span></b>. You can never really have too much artisanal soaps made by Oklahoma producers. All of our <b style="background-color: lime; color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">body care products</span></b><span style="background-color: lime;"> </span>make great gifts (and this is the HOLIDAY season, hint hint).<br />
<br />
As does our many jams and jellies and if you think your life might get a bit busy this holiday season, don't forget a few prepared meals for the freezer.<br />
<br />
Do you have<b style="background-color: lime;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> flour</span></b> for the rolls, breads, cakes, and pie crusts? <b style="background-color: lime;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Corn meal</span></b> for the stuffing and breading? <b style="background-color: lime;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Onions</span></b> and <b style="background-color: lime;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">mushrooms </span></b>and <b style="color: lime;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: lime; color: black;">green beans</span> </span></b>for the traditional green bean casserole?<br />
<br />
So it goes down at your corner Oklahoma Food Cooperative. This is the beginning of our "feastin' season". In the Northern Hemisphere, it is the time when the harvest has been gathered. In days of yore, our celebrations originated in the deep gratitude for the fact that there was a harvest, and the community would have food to eat during the looming winter. In the modern era, many of us have lost that intimate connection with our food, but here in the Coop, we have been working for eight years to resurrect and restore our intimate connections with the food. It has been a long trip, sometimes change, always fruitful and full of great tasting food adventures. We remain a ways from Europe in terms of developing our own unique regional tastes, but we are certainly on our way to that day right here in Oklahoma.<br />
<br />
When we started the Oklahoma Food Cooperative, we said. . . "local food is the next big thing." And as it turns out, that came true. As a result, we are surrounded by a <b style="background-color: lime;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"faux locavorism</span></b>" that uses glib words and fancy signs and artfully designed stores to substitute for reality. We certainly do not have the panache of some of the stores of the area, but we have the food that they don't. So come on down the cyberstreet to your <a href="http://www.oklahomafood.coop/shop/" target="_blank">Oklahoma Food Cooperative</a> and let's start the feastin' of the season!<br />
<br />
"This just in". . . the inbox carries news that up to 3/4 of the honey sold in major stores can no longer be considered honey due to the extreme processing it experiences. <a href="http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/11/tests-show-most-store-honey-isnt-honey/">http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/11/tests-show-most-store-honey-isnt-honey/</a> <br />
<br />
If you are not a member, you can sign up at <a href="http://www.oklahomafood.coop/okfoodservice.php%20" target="_blank">http://www.oklahomafood.coop/okfoodservice.php </a>. <br />
<br />Robert Waldrophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02304213914134642550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679967769168352460.post-35319012096234645482011-11-04T20:14:00.000-05:002011-11-04T20:14:15.843-05:00Carols for the Feastin' Season!Here are three Coop Carols to sing this Feastin' Season! --Tis the Season for the Feastin', the Autumn Carol, and the Get Ready for Winter Song.<br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<b>TIS THE SEASON FOR THE FEASTIN'</b></div>
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sing to the tune Deck the Halls</span></i><br />
<br />
(1) Tis the season for the feastin',<br />
Oklahoma Foods are good to eat!<br />
Taste nutrition can't be beaten,<br />
Oklahoma Foods are good to eat!<br />
Nurturing the land and people,<br />
Farm and city joining hands.<br />
Tis the season for the feastin',<br />
Oklahoma Foods are good to eat!<br />
<br />
(2) Care for people and creation,<br />
Oklahoma Foods are good to eat!<br />
Hope throughout the bio-region,<br />
Oklahoma Foods are good to eat!<br />
From our farms onto our tables,<br />
we will bless the way we eat!<br />
Care for people and creation,<br />
Oklahoma Foods are good to eat!<br />
<br />
(3) Healing nature with earth's beauty,<br />
Oklahoma Foods are good to eat!<br />
Wisdom, joy fulfilling duty,<br />
Oklahoma Foods are good to eat!<br />
Eating with the changing seasons,<br />
Chasing the CAFOs from our land!<br />
Healing nature with earth's beauty,<br />
Oklahoma Foods are good to eat!<br />
<br />
(4) Social justice, sustainability,<br />
Oklahoma Foods are good to eat!<br />
Economic viability,<br />
Oklahoma Foods are good to eat!<br />
These our values, govern always,<br />
They will take us forward far!<br />
Three in number the core values,<br />
Oklahoma Foods are good to eat!<br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>The Autumn Carol</b></div>
<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span></b><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><b>Tune: O Tannenbaum (O Christmas Tree)</b></i></div>
<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span></b><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
(1) O Autumn season, golden bright!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
We hail the harvest welcome sight!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The air is crisp, the moon shines long,</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
It's time to raise our voice in song</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The squash and pumpkins, taters sweet,</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Peppers, greens, and nuts we greet.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
O autumn season, golden bright!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
We hail the harvest welcome sight!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
(2) The heat of summer is now past,</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
We wait the time of winter's blast.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The children are in school today,</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The farmers work to reap the hay.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Peach preserves and apple butter,</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Set our hearts to be aflutter.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
O autumn season, golden bright!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
We hail the harvest welcome sight!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
(3) There is no kinder time of year,</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Than Autumn bright without a fear,</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The peaceful times upon the land,</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Bring hope and health, a time so grand.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
So raise a glass of Autumn cheer,</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
A cider strong, a mug of beer.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
O autumn season, golden bright!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
We hail the harvest welcome sight!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>The Get Ready for Winter Song</b></div>
<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span></b><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><b>Tune: "Santa Claus is Coming to
Town". . .</b></i></div>
<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span></b><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
OH! We better not wait, it's time to
make plans,</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Compost, mulch, put away the fans,</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Winter time is coming to town!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Squash and turnips and carrot plants,</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Season extension for the cabbage
transplants,</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Winter time is coming to town!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Let's insulate the attic!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Insulate the floors!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Insulate the walls so deep,</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
and don't forget the doors!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
So! Make your list, and check it twice,</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Solarize, weatherize, don't roll the
dice,</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Winter time is coming to town!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>Robert Waldrophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02304213914134642550noreply@blogger.com0Oklahoma City, OK, USA35.4675602 -97.516427635.260646200000004 -97.8322846 35.6744742 -97.2005706tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679967769168352460.post-80716341871332421922011-10-10T09:42:00.001-05:002011-10-10T22:07:32.265-05:00The Cooperative Difference -- 14 reasons to shop at the Oklahoma Food Cooperative<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>This month's recipes: Ricotta Breakfast Pudding, Bacon beef rolls, Stuffed zucchini bake, Zucchini and Italian sausage quiche, Baked meatballs, Alice Springs chicken, Moonchild's Bacon Cheeseburger quiche..</i></div><br />
What's the Cooperative Difference when it comes to the Oklahoma Food Cooperative?<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Convenience -- Community -- Selection -- Trust -- Health -- Justice -- Sustainability!</span></b> <br />
<br />
When you buy food from the Oklahoma Food Cooperative --<br />
<br />
1. You can shop any time during the day or night, from anywhere in the world with computer access, and get your food at 40+ pickup sites across the state -- <b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Convenience!</span></b><br />
<br />
2. You can choose from thousands of products -- <b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Selection!</span></b><br />
<br />
3, You get the best tasting food in the Oklahoma marketplace -- <b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Selection!</span></b><br />
<br />
4. You get the healthiest food in the Oklahoma marketplace – free ranging flocks and herds, organically managed pastures and fields -- <b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Health!</span></b><br />
<br />
5. You get the safest food in the Oklahoma marketplace – absolute knowledge as to where your food comes from, inspections by the USDA and ODA -- <b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Trust!</span></b><br />
<br />
6. You get relationships with the men and women who produce your food -- <b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Community!</span></b><br />
<br />
7. You become part of a the solution to our modern economic crisis, by helping to reweave the economic connections that once characterized rural and urban Oklahoma --<b style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Community!</b><br />
<br />
8. You help make the state more resilient in the face of major disasters, war, terrorism, economic collapse, and other negative black swan events --<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Sustainability!</span></b><br />
<br />
9. You have a say in how the cooperative is governed -- <b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Community! </span></b><br />
<br />
10. You meet interesting new people and participate in a new and more enjoyable and convenient way of shopping for groceries -- <b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Community!</span></b><br />
<br />
11. You stop supporting exploitation in agricultural labor markets --<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Justice!</span></b><br />
<br />
12. You stop taking food from the mouths of hungry children in third world countries --<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Justice!</span></b><br />
<br />
13. You stop degrading the earth and polluting the waters and air with your food purchases -- <b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sustainability! </span></b><br />
<br />
14. You get full transparency regarding the production practices of your food -- <b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Trust!</span></b><br />
<br />
Join or shop now at <a href="http://www.oklahomafood.coop/">http://www.oklahomafood.coop</a> .<br />
<br />
Here's this month's recipes for some of our great Oklahoma foods.<br />
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Ricotta Breakfast Pudding</b></div>This is a very nutritious breakfast that cooks quick and has a high comfort food quotient.<br />
<ul><li>1/3 cup ricotta cheese</li>
<li>1 egg</li>
<li>3 tablespoons cream</li>
<li>1 tablespoon ground flax seed or pecan meal or almond meal</li>
<li>dash cinnamon</li>
<li>droplet of vanilla extract</li>
</ul>Mix the ricotta cheese, egg, and cream. Cook over medium heat until it thickens. It will seem to not be doing anything, and then it will thicken very quickly, so don't turn the heat on, go away and do something else. Stir constantly while heating. Once it thickens add the flax seed meal or nut meal and let sit for a minute or so. Enjoy! You can add a dab of sweetener if you want, but it isn't really needed.<br />
<br />
Nut meals, as well as flax seed meal, are somewhat expensive in stores and generally aren't available through the coop. you can buy pecans, however, through the coop and turn them into meal with a coffee grinder. If there are a few bits that don't grind finely, that's fine, just through them in. Flax seed also grinds well in a coffee grinder. This is one serving. It is very filling.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"> <b>BACON BEEF ROLLS</b> </span><br />
<ul><li> 2 eggs, beaten</li>
<li>1/4 cup low carb ketchup </li>
<li>2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce </li>
<li>4 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded </li>
<li>1/4 cup onion, chopped fine </li>
<li>2 tablespoons parmesan cheese </li>
<li>1 teaspoon salt </li>
<li>1/4 teaspoon pepper </li>
<li>2 pounds ground beef </li>
<li>12 strips bacon </li>
</ul><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"> Combine everything except the bacon in a large bowl. Mix well then shape in two 6-inch long log shapes. On a large sheet of wax paper, lay 6 slices of the bacon side by side. Set one of the beef rolls crosswise at one end of the row of bacon strips; roll up, wrapping the meat with the bacon. Very carefully place the first roll in a 9x13" baking pan, lined with heavy foil, with the ends of the bacon under the meat roll. I recommend lifting it with a wide spatula so that it does't break. Repeat with the remaining bacon and meat roll. Bake at 375º 45-50 minutes or until the center of each roll reaches 160º. If the bacon doesn't look browned enough on top, put the beef rolls under the broiler for a minute or two. Makes 8 servings </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"> <b>STUFFED ZUCCHINI BAKE</b> </span><br />
<ul><li>4 medium zucchini </li>
<li>1 pound ground beef </li>
<li>1 clove garlic </li>
<li>1 small onion, diced, 2 1/2 ounces or about 1/2 cup </li>
<li>1/2 cup fresh mushrooms, diced, 2 large or about 3 ounces </li>
<li>Salt and pepper, to taste </li>
<li>2 ounces freshly grated parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup </li>
</ul><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"> Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise. Scoop out the pulp, leaving 1/4" of the flesh intact. Discard the pulp. You can use a teaspoon to dig out the pulp and seeds, then once most of the pulp has been removed, use the spoon to scrape out any remaining seeds. Place the zucchini shells on a greased, foil-lined rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle the zucchini with salt and pepper. Brown the meat, garlic, onion, and mushrooms, seasoning to taste with salt and pepper; drain the fat. Fill the zucchini shells with the meat mixture. Cover with foil and bake at 350º 45 minutes or until the zucchini is tender. Uncover, top with cheese and bake to melt the cheese, about 10 minutes. Makes 8 servings</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"> <b>ZUCCHINI & ITALIAN SAUSAGE QUICHE</b> <br />
1 medium or 2 cups shredded zucchini<br />
2 tablespoons butter <br />
1/2 pound Italian sausage, browned and drained <br />
4 ounces Swiss cheese, shredded <br />
1 ounce parmesan cheese, 1/4 cup <br />
5 eggs <br />
1 cup heavy cream <br />
1/2 teaspoon salt <br />
Dash pepper<br />
<br />
<br />
Sauté the zucchini in butter 5 minutes. Place in the bottom of a greased 10-inch pie plate and pat dry with paper towel. Top with the sausage and Swiss cheese. Beat the eggs, cream, parmesan and seasonings; pour over the sausage. Bake at 450º 15 minutes. Turn down the heat to 350º and bake 15-20 minutes longer or until browned and a knife inserted in center comes out clean. Check after 15 minutes because it will get quite brown. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Makes 6 servings. Can be frozen (freeze it in slices and then reheat them for breakfast).<br />
</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"> <b>BAKED MEATBALLS</b> <br />
1 pound ground beef <br />
1 pound bulk Italian sausage <br />
2 teaspoons dry minced onion <br />
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder <br />
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, 2 ounces (I used the kind in a can) <br />
2 eggs <br />
1/2 teaspoon salt <br />
1/4 teaspoon pepper<br />
<br />
Mix all of the ingredients in a large bowl using your fingers. Mix until the meat no long feels slimy from the eggs. Shape in golf ball size meatballs and place on a large baking sheet with sides. Bake at 375º for 15-20 minutes until the meatballs are done all the way through. Rinse in a colander to remove any egg and cheese that has leaked out. <br />
Makes about 20-30 meatballs. Can be frozen. </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"> <b>ALICE SPRINGS CHICKEN</b> <br />
4 boneless chicken breasts <br />
8 pieces bacon, coarsely chopped <br />
8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced <br />
1 tablespoon butter <br />
1 clove garlic, minced <br />
4 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"> Season the chicken with the seasonings of your choice; grill until just done. Keep the chicken warm. Meanwhile, fry the bacon in a skillet until crisp; drain on paper towels. In the same skillet, sauté the mushrooms and garlic in butter, seasoning with salt to taste. Cook until the juices have evaporated. Place the chicken on a foil-lined baking sheet. Top each piece of chicken with 1/4 of the mushrooms and bacon, then with the shredded cheese. Broil until cheese is melted and bubbly. Makes 4 servings. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"> <b>MOONCHILD'S BACON CHEESEBURGER QUICHE</b> <br />
1 pound ground beef <br />
1 small onion, chopped, 2 1/2 ounces <br />
4 slices bacon, chopped <br />
3 eggs <br />
1/2 cup mayonnaise <br />
1/2 cup heavy cream <br />
8 ounces cheddar or Swiss cheese, shredded <br />
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder <br />
Salt and pepper, to taste<br />
<br />
<br />
Brown the hamburger with the onion and bacon; drain the fat. Season to taste. Spread in a greased pie plate. Whisk all of the remaining ingredients except the cheese. Mix about 1/3 of the cheese into the hamburger mixture and arrange the rest over the meat. Pour the egg mixture over the cheese. Bake at 350º for 35 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting. Makes 6-8 servings. Can be frozen<br />
<br />
</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><br />
<i>Recipes this month courtesy of <a href="http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/recipes.html">Linda's Low Carb recipes</a>, one of the great resources on the web of healthy comfort foods. </i></span>Robert Waldrophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02304213914134642550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679967769168352460.post-17092261883559650822011-09-29T09:48:00.000-05:002011-09-29T09:48:37.630-05:00First worker coop meeting tonight!<h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":1}" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="messageBody translationEligibleUserMessage" data-ft="{"type":3}">Tonight (Thursday, September 29) is the first meeting of the A Better Way to Go to Work fall tour. This is our Midwest City Presentation</span></span></h6><h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":1}" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="messageBody translationEligibleUserMessage" data-ft="{"type":3}"> We start at 7 PM, at the Midwest City Library 8143 E Reno. I am tonight's presenter.</span></span></h6><h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":1}" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="messageBody translationEligibleUserMessage" data-ft="{"type":3}">Come and learn how worker owned cooperatives can --</span></span></h6><ul><li><h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":1}" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="messageBody translationEligibleUserMessage" data-ft="{"type":3}">help you create good jobs for yourself, your family, and your friends,</span></span></h6><h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":1}" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="messageBody translationEligibleUserMessage" data-ft="{"type":3}">-- gain job security for the future,</span></span></h6><h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":1}" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="messageBody translationEligibleUserMessage" data-ft="{"type":3}">-- Drive economic development for your community, </span></span></h6><h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":1}" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="messageBody translationEligibleUserMessage" data-ft="{"type":3}">-- Protect your family from economic insecurity and calamities, </span></span></h6><h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":1}" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="messageBody translationEligibleUserMessage" data-ft="{"type":3}">-- Increase your household financial resilience and sustainability, </span></span></h6><h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":1}" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="messageBody translationEligibleUserMessage" data-ft="{"type":3}">-- Discover more fun, enjoyable, and profitable ways to work.</span></span></h6><h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":1}" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="messageBody translationEligibleUserMessage" data-ft="{"type":3}">See <a href="http://www.okie.coop/">http://www.okie.coop</a> for more information. </span></span></h6></li>
</ul>Robert Waldrophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02304213914134642550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679967769168352460.post-28754046276707972082011-09-16T19:37:00.000-05:002011-09-16T19:37:43.587-05:00Tonight's bon appetitin' casseroleTonight's casserole was certainly an example of eating what's on hand.<br />
<br />
I fried hamburger in a cast iron skillet, with chopped onions and hot peppers, sliced zucchini and yellow squash, minced garlic, a dash of teriyaki sauce (actually 2 dashes). After everything was done, I stirred in a tablespoon of flour, stirred that around a bit, added half a cup of heavy cream, a cup of my own beef stock -- see my page at <a href="http://www.bettertimesinfo.org/4stock.htm">http://www.bettertimesinfo.org/4stock.htm</a> if you haven't read my instructions on making your own stock -- some yogurt cheese, some shredded mozzarella cheese, and voila, top of the stove casserole. I suppose it could have gone into the oven at some point, but we were hungry. And this was done in less than 30 minutes, starting with a frozen pound of grassfed hamburger. Everything was from the coop.<br />
<br />
We went to see the movie Contagion this afternoon, and I guess the scenes of looted/empty supermarkets and food riots and etc stimulated our appetites. That movie is one of the best arguments for food storage that I've seen lately.Robert Waldrophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02304213914134642550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679967769168352460.post-56566500900811941112011-09-04T18:11:00.000-05:002011-09-04T18:11:38.088-05:00Bob visits Sunflower "Farmers" Market and finds. . . Homeland!Yes folks, that's about it. Given all the hurrah about the new Sunflower "Farmers" Market, I decided I should go see it for myself, so I stopped by there on my way home from church today. Me and a lot of other people, because the parking lot was crowded and the store was packed.<br />
<br />
We should have been outside with signs saying -- Real Food -- Real Farmers -- oklahomafood.coop , lol.<br />
<br />
But when I went in, all I found was basically a Homeland Store, redecorated in the latest West Coast faux farmer style, maybe a slightly larger produce section. they had a nice selection of organic produce (from the US and Mexico), several of the same brands that you see at Homeland. The meat market was nothing to write home about. There were live butchers, but it is all mystery meat except for one tiny corner which had a farm "brand" grass-fed ground beef -- for $5.99/lb and it wasn't even certified organic. I forget the name of the farm, but I thought it was significant that it said "brand" which suggests a certain amount of aggregating behind the label. <br />
<br />
They had a big sign on the wall showing off their label identifying "Oklahoma" products. I didn't see any Oklahoma meat, dairy, or produce, one of the brands of eggs had Oklahoma on it, but their certified organic eggs were more expensive than coop eggs. <br />
<br />
I take the crowd though as evidence of hunger among Oklahomans for a more natural and more local diet however. But except for the expanded organic section, Sunflower has nothing that Homeland or Akins or the Health Food Center don't have. And the meat markets at Buy for Less, Crest, or the Crescent market are better than the Sunflower.<br />
<br />
What Sunflower does have going for it is marketing.<br />
<br />
We should maybe think about getting some of that. Robert Waldrophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02304213914134642550noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679967769168352460.post-66450064779995493992011-09-01T14:21:00.005-05:002011-09-01T16:59:53.606-05:00September Bobaganda: More on caramelized onions, summer squash, and why food storage is important.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs3mDuaFUL5eR2gewhbuq_lyyCfjyPGiMe8jYO58ZK0ABD15tnL9tJVfTzWQrJ6gKSAYbEFxV3Yd5kI19uZSS4e_GvR-i9tDxC4OEKFjF3MRMEFEwcOEwdsdxuEp2pk4pTUH0BUk_CcQ/s1600/lesliesonions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">j<img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs3mDuaFUL5eR2gewhbuq_lyyCfjyPGiMe8jYO58ZK0ABD15tnL9tJVfTzWQrJ6gKSAYbEFxV3Yd5kI19uZSS4e_GvR-i9tDxC4OEKFjF3MRMEFEwcOEwdsdxuEp2pk4pTUH0BUk_CcQ/s320/lesliesonions.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>In my <a href="http://bobaganda.blogspot.com/2011/08/its-too-hot-to-shop-so-im-going-to-coop.html">Bobaganda</a> of August 1, I discussed caramelizing an entire crock pot of <b style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">onions</span></b> and then freezing them in meal size portions, as one way to ensure that the summer abundance of onions can be enjoyed this winter. <a href="http://www.oklahomafood.coop/">Oklahoma Food Coop</a> member and producer Leslie Moyer posted this gorgeous picture of her crockpot of caramelized onions to her Facebook page. Imagine how tasty this crockpot of onions will be over the next few months. Talk about a convenience slow food! Anyway, there's still lots of onions available through the <a href="http://www.oklahomafood.coop/">Oklahoma Food Cooperative </a>this month. So now is the time to stock up and preserve this summer bounty for eating later.<br />
<br />
Another common summer vegetable available through the<a href="http://www.oklahomafood.coop/"> Oklahoma Food Cooperative </a> this month is <b style="color: #274e13;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">summer squash.</span></b> I went to a potluck dinner at Allison Blanchard's house last night (she who manages the produce section so efficiently on delivery day), and earlier this summer she bought a case of yellow squash through the coop. She cut off the ends, sliced them in half, boiled them for 3 minutes, then spread them out (one layer) on a cookie sheet and put the sheet in the freezer. When the squash (shouldn't the plural of squash be squish? ) was frozen, she put it in ziplock freezer bags. So if she needs one or two, she takes them out, cooks to perfection, and serves. By freezing them first on a tray, she avoids the problem of ending up with a large clump of frozen vegetables suitable only for a banquet not a meal ;).<br />
<br />
I am seeing a bounty of <b style="color: #274e13;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">sweet potato greens</span></b> this month at the <a href="http://www.oklahomafood.coop/">Oklahoma Food Cooperative</a>, and while I know this sounds almost weird, if you like cooked greens you will love sweet potato greens. A common staple in African cuisine, read about cooking sweet potato greens at --<br />
<a href="http://theslowcook.blogspot.com/2008/09/sweet-potato-leaves.html">http://theslowcook.blogspot.com/2008/09/sweet-potato-leaves.html</a><br />
<a href="http://marcsala.blogspot.com/2006/06/unusual-greens-part-3.html">http://marcsala.blogspot.com/2006/06/unusual-greens-part-3.html</a><br />
<a href="http://www.kadirecipes.com/2011/03/29/how-to-cook-sweet-potato-leaves-recette-guineenne-des-feuille-de-patate/">http://www.kadirecipes.com/2011/03/29/how-to-cook-sweet-potato-leaves-recette-guineenne-des-feuille-de-patate/</a><br />
<br />
I'm ordering some this month and intend to try them southern style -- chopped finely, cooked with bacon, onions, hot peppers, a dab of vinegar, and some liquid smoke.<br />
<br />
Here's an interesting twist on breading fish. Some of us have to watch our carb consumption due to problems with diabetes. So instead of breading some tilapia with cornmeal, I used<b style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> pecan meal</span></b>. I made my own pecan meal by pulsing the pecans in a coffee grinder. Probably a food processor or blender would be better, but I didn't have one handy. then I just dipped the fish filets in an egg wash, and in the pecan meal and then into the frying oil. Very Tasty. As soon as the weather cools off a bit so I start cooking inside again, I am going to try to make a pecan meal muffin. there are quite a few recipes in the online<a href="http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/"> low carb communities</a> for almond meal or almond flour muffins, and pecans are as low carb as almonds, or almost anyway. And pecans are an Oklahoma product available through the <a href="http://www.oklahomafood.coop/">Oklahoma Food Cooperative.</a><br />
<br />
Memo to producers: when are we going to see some Oklahoma-grown tilapia? I'm tired of buying Chinese tilapia. <br />
<br />
Speaking of counting carbs,<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="color: #134f5c;">yogurt cheese</span> </span></span></b>is a great low carb product, maybe 5 grams of carbohydrate per cup (and a cup of yogurt cheese is a lot). Most of the carbs in yogurt are in the whey, and yogurt cheese is basically yogurt minus much of the whey. So if you are counting carbs for weight loss or diabetes issues, yogurt cheese should be on your <a href="http://www.oklahomafood.coop/">Oklahoma Food Cooperative</a> shopping list this month.<br />
<br />
This is a good month for eating what's available, which is, after all, the most basic premise of the Oklavore movement. There is a tremendous amount of food available this month at the <a href="http://www.oklahomafood.coop/">Oklahoma Food Cooperative</a>, and even our <b style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">prepared foods</span></b> are for the most part less expensive than eating out. So instead of spending seven to ten dollars buying an inferior lunch, stock up on prepared foods from our coop producers and take your lunch with you. You will certainly be healthier, and the food will be tastier. It's a mystery to me why some people won't hesitate to spend seven bucks at a fast food restaurant but hesitate to spend a similar amount for some good wholesome food that they could bring from home for their lunch.<br />
<br />
I also want to continue to remind us all of the great value of our <b style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">non-food items</span></b>, especially the<b style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> body and laundry care products</span></b> available through the <a href="http://www.oklahomafood.coop/">Oklahoma Food Cooperative</a>. Many of these products from the big box stores create toxic stews in our water, and God only knows what they could be doing to your body. Many of them are tested on animals, who suffer greatly as a result. Our artisan body and laundry care products are better for the earth, never tested on animals, and in fact offer great value. Sure, the sticker price on some of them might be a bit higher than at the big box store, but when you figure the "price per wash" or "price per load of laundry", you are saving money. Quality always counts.<br />
<br />
Don't forget to pick up the <b style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">plants</span></b> you need for this fall. Fall in Oklahoma is a great time to plant perennials and it looks like there are lots of plants available this month.<br />
<br />
Any way you look at it, the prospects for the 2012 wheat crop are looking rather grim. This article from AgWeb -- <a href="http://www.agweb.com/article/next_drought_victim_2012_wheat_crop/">Next drought victim: 2012 wheat crop?</a> is "read and weep". <br />
<br />
So how is your <b style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">family's wheat storage</b> program? Did you reply -- "what wheat storage program?" Well, here's the facts. The US government used to maintain a strategic reserve of wheat, but that was all sold off long ago and not replaced. So if you want to protect your family -- call it a "famine hedge" -- it's up to you to buy, store, and hold your own supply of wheat and other foods. Wheat has the virtue of staying good for 30 years and more when properly stored. I'll say more about storing wheat in my next post in a few days, but in the meantime, I want to say that those bags and buckets of wheat available on the September order at today's prices may look positively cheap and "value priced" if we don't get a wheat crop in 2012.<br />
<br />
And we quite frankly might not get a wheat crop in 2012. I know that is an alarmist statement, but we have been running close to the edge on food and energy for a long time -- so close that it won't take a big mis-step to send us sliding over an edge. For years I have been writing to you and anyone else who would listen about the triple threats we face -- economic irrationality, climate instability, peak energy. Those are real threats, they are not boogermen that I dreamed up in order to liven up my rhetoric with scary stories.<br />
<br />
I know that every single one of us is absolutely invulnerable and will never have an accident or lose our job or fall victim to one or all three of those triple threats, but that feeling of personal invulnerability is an artifact of cheap oil, a relatively stable climate, and personal feelings of economic security encouraged by politicians and advertising. It seems to me that stable climate, cheap oil, and economic security are in increasingly short supply these days. Just because we haven't slid over the abyss thus far does not mean it won't happen. The closer we get to the edge, the more likely the possibility of a "feeding frenzy" of numerous negative feedback loops reinforcing each other thus creating the risk of a dystopic downward spiral of devolution.<br />
<br />
Note also that when it comes to food storage, meat is an important food to stock up on. With a good freezer, meat keeps very well. Manual freezers are much better than frost free refrigerators, and be sure to develop a back-up system in case the power fails. A simple backup is a marine battery, an inverter big enough to power your freeer, and jumper cables to recharge your battery once its depleted from your car or pickup. A better choice for recharging would be a small generator and a battery charger. I'll say more about this later. The long-term impact of drought will certainly drive an increase in the cost of meat.<br />
<ul><li>There will be smaller herds, since many ranchers are selling off their herds due to the high cost of feed and the drought impact on their pastures, and</li>
<li>The costs of feed and other inputs are skyrocketing.</li>
</ul>So now's a good time to stock up on all the meats. Once you get your stock built up, rotate it regularly. Buy extra now to get to where you need to be on your storage program, then go back to buying what you typically use in a month, and rotate your supplies so you always have (for example) six months or more of meats in your freezer.<br />
<br />
So ask yourself again -- "how is my family food storage program" -- and if you don't like the answer, now is the time to convert some of your family's savings into food. <i style="color: #990000;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Every household should keep some of its savings in the form of food. </span></b></i><br />
<br />
If you think it is about time that you paid more attention to bracing for the on-coming storm, besides bulking up your food storage, I invite you to invest $10 in purchasing a copy of the permaculture design for my home, <b style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Gatewood Urban Homestead</span></b>, available as a PDF delivered via email this and every month through the Oklahoma Food Cooperative. My producer name is Prairie Rose Permaculture, and if you want it on a CD, you can get it that way too but it costs a bit more since I have to buy a CD and an envelope to deliver it in.<br />
<br />
<br />
Finally, I would like to say a word about the<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span></b><a href="http://www.okie.coop/"><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Oklahoma Worker Cooperative Network</span></b>,</a> which is my latest cooperative organizing effort. A worker cooperative is a business that is owned, controlled, and managed by its worker-owners. We are going on tour in late September and in the month of October, to present an introductory evening participatory workshop. We're calling our tour -- <b style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"A Better Way to Go to Work". </span></b>There will be presentations in Stillwater, Shawnee, Norman, El Reno, Edmond, OKC NE, OKC SE, OKC NW, and OKC SW. See our <a href="http://www.okie.coop/2011falltour.htm">Fall Tour page</a> for the places and dates, all of the meetings will start at 7 PM. They are free, and we invite anyone who is interested in the concept of worker cooperatives and participating in an economy of solidarity to attend. In a sea of economic irrationality, worker owned cooperatives are islands of economic rationality and security. <br />
<br />
If you think that you would be interested in starting a worker owned cooperative -- and in the field of growing and producing local foods, there are many entrepreneurial possibilities -- or if you would like to help jump start this concept in Oklahoma -- I invite you to<a href="http://www.okie.coop/membership.htm"> join</a> the Oklahoma Worker Cooperative Network, which is itself structured as a cooperative. A membership share is only $25.<br />
<br />
Well, folks, I have written myself into a storm of hunger. So I am going to take my own advice and have some egg salad, made with coop eggs and April Harrington's Most Delicious dill-zucchini relish and coop onions (OK, the mayo and mustard came from Buy for Less, but I was out of yogurt cheese or I would have used that).<br />
<br />
<b style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Y'all bon appetit, you hear? </span></b><br />
<br />
<b style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">PS. To join the </span></b><a href="http://www.oklahomafood.coop/">Oklahoma Food Cooperative</a>, click <b style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.oklahomafood.coop/okfoodservice.php">HERE.</a></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span></b>Robert Waldrophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02304213914134642550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679967769168352460.post-54953444364683689832011-08-10T12:20:00.002-05:002011-08-10T12:30:11.103-05:00On supporting your local producer community during really hard times.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/4YrfLnlrquo?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>The hardest times we've experienced since the beginning of the Oklahoma Food Cooperative are certainly upon us now. The triple threats of peak energy, economic irrationality, and climate instability are sending three strikes on farm country. Feed prices are climbing through the roof, the drought and heat is destroying crops, and meanwhile, the see-saw economic craziness that is beyond our control continues to run riot over the globalized markets.<br />
<br />
And its not just in farm country. Many of us in the cities are having to cut back on our expenses because of situations that are beyond our control. <br />
<br />
What to do? Well, here is Bobby Max Waldrop's 4 point program for helping our growing local producer community to get through these hard times that will also help you increase the quality of life of your own household. <br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Part the First: Eat What's Available.</b></div>In the past, I have often said "Eat what's available." That remains good advice. I'm the first to notice the shortage of vegetables this summer, even though we have more vegetable producers than ever before. The climate is against us this year, my home garden is doing no better. I am barely keeping some container tomatoes and hot peppers alive, and getting only a couple handfuls of small tomatoes each week off of 6 plants. So I buy what I can, and get the rest at the store. But I continue to buy my meats from the coop, since they remain in good supply. If you can't afford to buy all your meats from the coop, then buy your ground meat, or some ground meat from the coop. Ground meat from the big box supermarkets is true mystery meat. Each pound may have meat from dozens of different animals from six different states. Isn't it worth $30/month to help these farmers get through these hard times?<br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Part the Second: Cut Your Local Food Budget Last.</b></div>If you have to cut your budget, cut your local food purchases last. Some years ago, as the coop develop, I got a little behind in my personal economy, looked critically at my budget, and dumped my monthly cell phone contract in favor of a cheap pay as you go phone that I use as little as possible. We shop a LOT in the after market -- thrift stores, flea markets, etc.<br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Part the Third: Buy Non-Food Items From Local Producers</b></div>What about your non-food purchases? Are you still buying bath and laundry soap at the grocery store? What about other body care products? The artisanal body care products offered by our coop's producers are true values. They may be priced a bit more than the supermarket, but they last longer -- "more wash per bar" should be the motto of all of our soap producers. Our producers' body care products are not tested on animals. Their production does not pollute the environment. The money spent for them does not go to giant soulless corporations but instead stays right here in our Oklahoma economy and supports our producers and their families. If you want to feel good physically -- and emotionally -- after you bathe, then use soap from our coop's producers.<br />
<br />
Here's one anecdote about using non-food products. Early on, I bought some laundry detergent from Rowdy Stickhorse. It came with a tiny little scoop and said One Scoop Per Load. I looked at that and thought, "This can't be right" and kept on using my usual quarter cup scoop. When I told Paulette about that, she laughed and said she was fine with selling me all the soap I would be, but it really did only require one of those tiny little scoops per load. So I tried it, and she was right. I've used Rowdy Stickhorse and I've used Crosstimbers laundry soaps (the powders) and I like all of them and consider all of them to be great values. If you have never tried laundry detergent from the Oklahoma Food Coop, your clothes will thank you if you try it this month.<br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Part the Fourth: Keep the Faith.</b></div>Finally, the third point is simple -- keep the faith. Everything that we have said about local food for the last eight years remains true and important.<br />
<ul><li>Our cities will only prosper as our rural areas prosper. </li>
<li>When farm country is hurting, everyone is hurting. </li>
<li>Developing local food systems is an important adaptation to the threats of peak energy, economy irrationality, and climate instability which are upon us in all of their crazed fury. </li>
<li>Local food is the best tasting food. </li>
<li>Local food is best for the environment. </li>
<li>Local food is best for you and your family and especially for your children.</li>
</ul>In healing our environment and creating a more stable local economy, we can rank our decisions as good, better, and best. "Best" of course would be to buy most of your food and non-food items from local farmers and producers. But if you can't do that best choice, make a better choice, and buy a significant proportion of your household's needs from local producers. And if that isn't possible, make a good decision and buy something every month, say $30 to $40 worth, to keep faith with our local producers and help them get through these hard climate and economic times into a better future.<br />
<br />
Each of us holds the future of our local food systems in our own hands. I hope you will join me this month, and each month to come, in supporting our local producers by purchasing something from them that your family can use.<br />
<br />
http://www.oklahomafood.coop sign in and order today -- or if you aren't a member, sign up now! If you are one of those members who joined and has never ordered, while we appreciate the support of your membership share, it is equally important that our local producer community be supported on a regular basis with some of your grocery dollars. So take a chance, spend $30 or $40 and see what good food and non-food items we have. Robert Waldrophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02304213914134642550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679967769168352460.post-37159460339753911192011-08-01T15:43:00.000-05:002011-08-01T15:43:54.714-05:00It's TOO HOT to shop so I'm going to the COOP!<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Cucumbers in yogurt. . . green bean salad. . . ham salad. . . Santa Fe chicken salad. . . and thoughts on keeping cool in the extreme heat. . .</strong></span> <br />
<br />
106 degrees today, 110 degrees tomorrow and the next day. . . IT IS TOO HOT TO SHOP! That's why I'm going to the online coop store for groceries this month. Yes, it's true, the August order of the Oklahoma Food Coop is open and I can sit here in my nice cool house and order away online. It sure beats driving to a big box supermarket, parking and hiking across 60 acres of blazing hot asphalt to the front door, and then repeating that process when I am done.<br />
<br />
The vegetable aisle looks a little lean this month. But then, it is August, and this is the hottest and driest summer since modern record-keeping began in the last decades of the 19th century. We still have onions, and it looks like there are lots of potatoes available, so remember the first rule of local foods: Buy when in season and store for eating later. You will want some of those potatoes and onions in November and December for your Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, so plan ahead. You could buy a whole year's worth of onions, and caramelize them by the pot-full in your crockpot, and then freeze them in recipe-size portions for eating later. <br />
<br />
Remember also that it pays to shop the Coop often during the order period. Producers with both eggs and vegetables will often wait until later in the order window to post their products, since they may not be sure what will be available 3 weeks from now right this very day. But over the next week or so, it will become more evident to them and then we will see some inventories start to increase.<br />
<br />
And then there is also the little detail that there is quite a bit of non-seasonal food available year from from the Coop. Buffalo, Beef, Pork, Lamb, Cheese, Yogurt, Grains, Flours and Meals. . . you can certainly make many meals out of these deals. <br />
<br />
Don't forget your non-food items. Laundry soap? Check. Bath soap? Check. Yes it costs more but yes it is also a superior artisinal product so actually, these body care products cost less than their store-bought cousins, if we could just figure out how to give a figure for "cost per bath", lol. The hard part about buying our artisinal bath soaps and such is deciding which "flavors" you want. Which is fine, you could buy more than one you know. <br />
<br />
So what are we going to cook this month?<br />
<br />
Well, once thing I like is <span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>cucumbers and yogurt</strong></span>, both of which are available this month. Sometimes I shred the cucumber into the yogurt, and add a bit of fire like a chopped jalapeno or cayenne or powdered or crushed red pepper. Those who have been reading my recipes for a while are well aware of my deplorable habit of adding heat to everything, so go ahead, add more than you think you need since the dairy tends to cut the heat of hot peppers anyway.<br />
<br />
Or. . . I peel the cuke and quarter it, and then slice it into thin quarter moons. Add this to some yogurt and then if you are making (for example) one cup, add about a half tablespoon of your favorite home-made or locally made jam or jelly. It adds just a bit fo sweetness and some fruit flavor, peach and strawberry both seem really nice for this, without adding a bunch of carbs and such.<br />
<br />
Another summer favorite is <span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>green bean salad.</strong></span> so pull some of those green beans that you picked and canned earlier this year off the shelf, drain the liquid and dress them with vinegar and oil and just a hint of sweetness. You could use sugar or Splenda. . . or here again you add a hint of fruit to the complex of flavors by using some peach or strawberry or grape jam. Jam making is much easier than most people think, but you can also buy great jams from our coop's artisanal prepared food producers. <br />
<br />
What's that you say? You didn't put up any green beans, in fact, you didn't grow any green beans at all. Well you are certainly missing out. Green beans are one of the best vegetables to grow in Oklahoma. You can raise them in the spring and in the fall. The more you pick them the more they produce, and you can pressure can them for eating later. But if you don't have any on hand, you'll want to store-bought cans, a quarter cup each of vinegar and oil (extra virgin olive, please!), and sugar, Splenda, or jam to taste.<br />
<br />
What else sounds good. . . hmmmm. . . how about some <span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Minced Ham Salad</strong></span>? Great hams are sold hereabout these parts, so get one and chop some of it very finely. Maybe about a half pound. Then mince some onion finely, and add some good relish. I highly recommend the varioius relishes available from our coop for this, including the zucchini relish, also for egg salad, deviled eggs, hot dogs, and anything else you would put relish on. Many people think relish can only be made from cukes, and while fine relishes are made from pickled cukes, it is rather pedestrian to limit our choice to just cucumber pickle relishes when there are so many other fine relishes out there, like zucchini. Then add some mayo and go ahead and get some organic celery from the store and put some of that in there too. <br />
<br />
If you're starting with a half pound of ham chunks, you'll want a half cup of mayo, 1 celery stalk, 1/4 cup relish, 1/4 cup minced onion. If you can't get organic celery, don't add celery, as conventional celery is one of the worst veggies in the supermarket for pesticide residue. Celery is one vegetable that must always be bought organic, and it's not something that really will grow well around here. Lovage, on the other hand, has kind of a smoky celery flavor, and it will grow quite nicely hereabout these parts and is a perennial, which makes it a double value for the price of planting. I have used lovage in just about everything that I would use celery and it was fine.<br />
<br />
Extra chicken? Well, substitute chicken for ham. Add some chili powder and a little heat and call it <span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>"Santa Fe Chicken Salad".</strong></span><br />
<br />
Let's say a quick final word about energy conservation. As folks know, we've done a lot of work to make our house more energy efficient. Because of the 9 inches of insulation in our walls and 14 inches in the attic, plus our R-20 interior insulated window shutters, we can cool our entire 1548 sq ft house with only 20K btus of AC equipment. that amount of AC equipment is designed to cool about 600 sq ft, and we rarely have all those btus going at the same time. So we're saving money every month on our electrical bill, and reducing our global warming emissions, and thus making out like a moderately fat rat during these hard times. It also helps that we planted extensive landscaping outside that shades the house. It hurt us a bit this summer when the city made us cut down five of our fruit trees due to their bogus claim of "view obstruction", but oh well, I forgive them for their sins just as O hope to be forgiven for mine, which are many.<br />
<br />
So while the summer is brutal, never think that we are totally at the mercy of the elements. With smart work we can adapt our dwellings to meet the new extreme normals of this age of climate and economic and social chaos. But the thing is -- none of this happens on its own. We didn't wake up one morning and find our house adapted. We made a plan and we implemented it and now we get to harvest the fruits of those design decisions. <br />
<br />
Don't know where to start? Caulk and weatherize. Caulk is cheap. Heat always moves towards cold, so in the summer, all those leaks around your doors and windows and other places are letting HEAT in to turn your nice interior coolness into hotness, and thus forcing your AC to work harder and harder. Next, shade your windows and doors, from the outside. Curtains are fine on the inside, but your goal should be to keep the heat from hitting your windows in the first place. Once the sun hits the glass or the frame, the heat gets inside by conduction, even if you have interior curtains.<br />
<br />
So order up some tasty local foods, that do good as well as taste good, and start making your own household plan to adapt your own dwelling to meet the extremes of the future that is coming at us.<br />
<br />
In 2005 I said that things were going to go from bad to worse, when we did our extreme green renovation, and I am sorry to say that I was write. That process is going to continue. The sooner we adapt our dwellings to the looming realities, the safer we will be -- and the less money we will spend on energy.<br />
<br />
For more details, see my printable flyer on keeping cool during the extreme heat of summer at <a href="http://www.energyconservationinfo.org/summer2007.pdf">http://www.energyconservationinfo.org/summer2007.pdf</a> .Robert Waldrophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02304213914134642550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679967769168352460.post-54229804172803913212011-07-12T16:42:00.003-05:002011-07-12T16:51:05.092-05:00Down to the wire on the July order.<div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Nice rain today in Okie City, caught me with clothes hanging out on the line, lol. By the time I noticed it was raining, it was too late to dash to the line. Oh well, they just got an extra rinse with pure rainwater. It's been so long since it rained I had almost forgotten what it was like to see water falling from the sky.</span></div><br />
<div style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">We are down to the wire on the July order, which closes tomorrow evening at midnight.</span></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">I still see LOTS of onions available. Now is the time to remember one of the first principles of Oklavorism: buy when available and store for eating later. In other words, probably in January there won't be any onions for sale through the coop. But if you buy onions now, you could be eating local onions in January 2012. Of all the vegetables, onions are among the "best keepers". Onions are among the most healthy and nutritious of vegies, low in carbs and calories.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">I also see potatoes, summer squash, and eggs and red and green tomatoes still available.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">As to recipes for onions. . . check out our new online forum at <a href="http://www.oklahomafood.coop/smf">http://www.oklahomafood.coop/smf</a> . You can remember its location by noting that “smf” is an acronym for “Sell More Food”. (Hat tip to Lisa Weissenbuhler who told me that.) You have to register to post, but it's not hard. Add your favorite recipe in the recipe section. We often think of onions as an ingredient in various prepared dishes, and not about how the onion can be a star of the feast. But just google “onion pie”, and you will find about a million recipes, and then there is also French onion soup. Make that with some home-made stock using soup bones from the coop. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">And the meat counter is well stocked, as is everything else, pretty much. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Don't forget to get some of our artisanal soaps. If you've never tried them, just buy one bar this month and check out this great luxury product at a working class price. You'll be surprised at superior quality of the product and also at how much "wash" you get out of one bar. If there was a way to compare bars of soap in terms of "number of washes", there is no doubt that our locally made artisanal soaps would win that battle hands down, which makes them a much better value than the cheap soaps that are loaded down with chemicals that are typically available in the big box stores. </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Don't delay, order today!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">I hope people will take advantage of our new online forum for discussions. Besides recipes, there is a thread on the coop’s new strategic plan, which provides a place to make suggestions and discuss the plan.</span>Robert Waldrophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02304213914134642550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679967769168352460.post-14923842219015866792011-07-05T23:03:00.000-05:002011-07-05T23:03:50.379-05:00It's STILL Summertime. . . .and the livin' is HOT.What can I say about a month like June. How many days on the wrong side of 100 degrees Farenheit? How extreme is the drought? How much problem is this for our producers? <br />
Well the drought is extreme, officially so, over half the state, and getting worse everywhere else. The fact that we don't see giant dust clouds in the air is a testimony to what farmers have learned since the 1930s, but the problems that drought presents to rural producers and communities remain the same today as they were in the 1930s.<br />
Right now the grass and hay crops should be growing, putting on height and weight. There should be plenty of grazing for cattle and other herd animals, the farm ponds should be full. But the pastures are not growing. They are turning brown and dry. As hay crops shrivel and die, those responsible for livestock look ahead to the winter months, estimate the dwindling supply of hay in their barns and sheds, wonder about what they will be able to cut this fall. . . and then they count their cattle and try to figure out how many head of cattle they can afford to take through this winter into an uncertain spring. Will the drought break this fall? This winter? Next spring? Or is this part of a multi-year drought cycle?<br />
<br />
We in cities are not so far removed from our pastoral ancestry, where wealth was measured in cattle, or sheep, or goats, or horses, or some combination thereof. We are steeped in those stories in the Bible -- the Hebrew word for cattle appears 56 times in the book of Genesis! My father certainly measured his wealth in cattle -- the cattle count was a regular feature of our regular round of chores. <br />
<br />
The number of mother cows a producer can maintain is determined by how much feed they can produce and/or buy. "Feed" includes pasture and hay crops (alfalfa, etc), it may include some grain and/or soybeans. Cattle also require water, and in the heat of the summer, that means more water, not less. All of this is true of other livestock -- sheep, goats, pigs, I habitually talk about cattle because that's what my family raised in southwest Oklahoma.<br />
<br />
During drought years, the amount of feed produced on a given farmer's pastures and hay fields will be less than a good year with sufficient moisture, unless the producer has access to irrigation water, which is not the case for many Oklahoma farmers and ranchers. There's also less water in the farm ponds and prolonged drought can effect the underground water table that feeds wells. Less feed plus less water equals fewer mother cows and fewer mother cows mean fewer steers and fewer steers means less revenue for farmers and ranchers.<br />
<br />
This problem adds up fast. Every mother cow sold into the marketplace is the destruction of productive wealth. That mother cow will produce no more mother cows or steers. The destruction of productive wealth is not good for farmers and ranchers and its not good for rural communities and its not good for our urban communities either. It's called "eating your capital" and it is a sign of desperation wherever it occurs.<br />
<br />
What happens at your house when there's less money? What happens if it becomes a permanent decline because some of your productive effort is simply no longer there?<br />
<br />
What can people in cities do about this?<br />
<br />
First and foremost, we can buy food directly from our farmers. With less revenue in farm country, any money siphoned off to the giant corporate food aggregators like Cargill and Archers Daniels Midland is money taken out of rural Oklahoma to enrich giant corporations. There is little enough going around this year anyway (this drought also killed the Oklahoma wheat crop this year). Buying food from farmers strengthens rural economies and that is good for everyone.<br />
<br />
Meats are among the most well supplied items in our local food online supermarket. Ground meats of all kinds, in particular, are competitively priced, high quality, and taste very good. All of us need to increase our purchase of these food items in order to support our farmers who are going through this climate crisis. <br />
<br />
And not only meats. I'm encouraging everyone to look at what they bought from farmers a year ago, and then increase that this month and every month left this year. Could you increase your purchase by 10%? 20%? Don't forget the non-food items too, many of our producers are making excellent body care products and they are such great values that when compared straight on with supermarket products, the initial price might be a bit higher, but since they last so much longer than store-bought soap, the artisinal soaps of our coop producers are actually "cheaper per wash" than anything in the big box supermarket.<br />
<br />
This is the month of the "aliums and potatoes" in the coop; and I hope that when the order ends, there isn't an onion or a potato left. Now is the time to buy onions for the rest of the year. They will keep just fine in most air conditioned homes these days, even without refrigeration. Localvorism requires "looking ahead" and buying when the harvest is upon us, for eating later once the harvest is past.<br />
<br />
Everyone needs to work together to mitigate the on-rushing impact of climate change/weather weirding by reducing carbon footprints and fossil fuel usage. One easy and simple strategy is to cook outside this summer! Sure, you can afford to air condition your house, and cook inside, and just run your AC overtime to get rid of all that heat and humidity -- but can the Earth afford it? Look at the brown and dry pastures and fields throughout the state and tell yourself that what you do doesn't matter, except that you won't believe that because you know it isn't true. The truth of the modern dilemma is that EVERYTHING that we do matters -- for good, or for ill. <br />
<br />
Cooking outside isn't the One Solution to climate change, but there isn't any such thing as the One Solution. Instead, there are ten thousand little things that need to be done, or done differently, and cooking outside is one of those. Do that, get good at it, and then move on and do something else, meanwhile, tell others about how they can save money and help the planet by cooking outside during the summer so they do the same and can move on to something else too.<br />
<br />
Sometimes accepting this kind of responsibility is scary. It was sure scary when we decided to build new walls 5-1/2 inches inside of all of our exterior walls so we could 9 inches of insulation in our walls and 14 inches in the attic. But we have never regretted that work and that expense, not even once. It was, in fact, the best financial investment I have ever made. It is certainly a better investment than the money market account that presently holds my 403b retirement fund.<br />
<br />
It was scary when the founders of this food coop came together and one day in the hot summer of 2003 decided, "OK, we are going to start this thing in November 2003." Is there anyone who regrets that decision? Not me, even though it has hardly been a smooth ride, indeed, it has often been a rough, bumpy, and contentious ride, but that's fine, because the cause is just and the food is tasty and those two things make it possible for us to persevere through times of difficulty.<br />
<br />
And then there's the "invisible structures" which make it easy to do harm and hard to do good. We need fewer of the "easy to do harm" situations, and we need more structures which make it "easy to do good and hard to do bad." For example. . . The state of Oklahoma owns over 800 miles of railroad. Isn't it time we put that resource to work and thus reduce our fossil fuel dependence? Wouldn't it be nice if our producers could send their products to delivery day by train? What about passenger and freight rail service uniting our regional cities with Tulsa and Oklahoma City? There is much that could be done, but the squeaking wheel is the one that gets the grease. <br />
<br />
So that's the story of the July Bobaganda. Everything that you do matters. For good, or for ill. There's very little neutrality these days. I'm hoping that more people will decide this month that they are part of the solution and buy some food from local farmers and then cook it outside to keep from working their AC so hard. No pressure folks, just a frank realization of our own personal responsibility for the consequences of our actions.<br />
<br />
Joining the Oklahoma Food Coop, and buying some of your food from local producers,. is a HUGE part of the constellation of solutions we need today. So thank you for that, and know that this month, just like every other month, you can get from the Oklahoma Food Cooperative -- for an honest and reasonable price -- good food that tastes good and does good.<br />
<br />
PS. If you pray, please pray for our farmers and ranchers and coop producers. Pray that they will receive the grace of fortitude to make it through these hard times. Pray for rain, and for protection for all life from the climate craziness that is even as we speak come upon us, for the drought is as hard on the wildlife and birds and bees as it is on the livestock. (I don't know about anyone else, but I have seen very few bees and other pollinators this year.)Robert Waldrophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02304213914134642550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679967769168352460.post-22809939948886608692011-06-08T19:48:00.000-05:002011-06-08T19:48:02.200-05:00While you're reading the news connecting ROUNDUP with BIRTH DEFECTS. . .<div>While you are perusing the latest news about the suppressed research that connected Roundup with BIRTH DEFECTS IN CHILDREN. . . </div><div> </div><div><a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/57277946/RoundupandBirthDefectsv5"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">http://www.scribd.com/doc/57277946/RoundupandBirthDefectsv5</span></a> </div><div> </div><div>. . . Look at this list of ROUND-UP FREE vegetables available from the Oklahoma Food Coop RIGHT NOW! </div><div> </div><div>Buy extra! Preserve some now for winter eating. Cabbage? Think saurkraut. Greens? Think cooked greens, frozen in meal sized containers. (Wagon Creek dairy containers are great for recycling as frozen vegetable containers.) Radishes? OK, I can’t really think of a way to preserve them. . . well, it was only last month that I discovered that you could FRY them, so maybe fry them and then freeze them? WHY NOT? Yellow and zucchini? I have dehydrated a large pile of these veggies in the past and used them during the winter in soups, stews, and casseroles. Plus people in my house developed a liking for them as dehydrated munchies. (OK, you knew everyone at my house is sort of weird, so why are you surprised about this?)</div><div> </div><div>It's times like this that give real meaning to the phrase -- "EAT WITH THE SEASON!" Eating the same food, 24/7/365 is BORING. As the season changes, so should our diets. The producers of the Oklahoma Food Coop are rolling out a bountiful feast of food. We are lucky that we have the Coop which provides us with such easy access to such great food. Let's make sure the Coop AND our producers stay sustainable for the long term by buying some local food every month. Like today!</div><ul><li>beets</li>
<li>cabbage</li>
<li>microgreens</li>
<li>kale </li>
<li>bok choy</li>
<li>arugula </li>
<li>leeks</li>
<li>choi choi</li>
<li>swiss chard</li>
<li>lettuce</li>
<li>cabbage</li>
<li>celery</li>
<li>red onions</li>
<li>white onions</li>
<li>garlic</li>
<li>candy onions</li>
<li>elephant garlic</li>
<li>purple garlic</li>
<li>mushrooms (maitake, shitake, reishi, lion’s mane, oysters)</li>
<li>red radishes</li>
<li>green onions</li>
<li>shallots</li>
<li>turnips</li>
<li>baby beets</li>
<li>full size beets</li>
<li>green knob onions</li>
<li>watermelon radishes</li>
<li>yellow squash</li>
<li>zucchini squash</li>
<li>patty pan squash</li>
<li>tomatoes (red and green)</li>
</ul>Robert Waldrophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02304213914134642550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679967769168352460.post-50708118845257704982011-06-06T21:20:00.001-05:002011-06-06T21:22:46.872-05:00It's Summertime. . . and the livin' is easy and the eatin' is good.For some ambience, click on this link and put this music on (from Porgy and Bess, the iconic song -- Summertime, and the livin is easy, fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high.) <a href="http://youtu.be/vWFJLUBwpSY">http://youtu.be/vWFJLUBwpSY</a><br />
<br />
Next, fix yourself your favorite cool summer beverage. While regular tea is not an Oklahoma product per se, the Coop's fine beverage producers have fine teas blended right here in Oklahoma. Or, make a quick trip through your "tea garden" and bring in a variety of mint leaves, some bee balm, crush them a bit and steep them in hot water. Pour over ice and relax. Don't have a tea garden? Put that on your list of things to do. Don't have land for a garden? That's fine, herb tea plants grow great in containers and typically will do fine in dappled shade or on a sunny windowsill. <br />
<br />
Third. . . before we get to FOOD, let's talk just a bit about energy conservation. Here are my two bestest and most effective ideas for energy conservation:<br />
<ul><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Cook outside! </strong></span> Every BTU you cook with is a BTU that your air conditioner will have to remove, so you pay TWICE for the energy to cook inside: Once when you cook the food, and then again when your AC works overtime to remove the heat and humidity. </li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Shade the outside of your windows and doors.</strong></span> For that matter, shade ALL of the exterior envelope of your home, but if you can't do that, get some shade over your windows and doors. These are typically the worst insulated systems in your building envelope. Even an expensive double pane/argon filled/low E coated window is still only R-3 or 4 at the most, compared with R-19 of the typically insulated 2 x 4" frame exterior wall. (Or compared with R-33 of my 9 inch thick walls.) If nothing else is available, duct tape some auto sun shades together and hang over the exterior of the windows.</li>
</ul>The reason for "exterior" shading is that once the sun hits the window or the door, even if you have curtains inside, the heat will get inside via conduction. Heat always moves to cold, and your nicely AC'd interior is surrounded by solar BTUs that are quite anxious to find their way inside your (hopefully) well-insulated building envelope.<br />
<br />
The less money you spend on energy, the more money you can spend on local foods! And eating local foods is much better than making energy corporations rich, don't you think?<br />
<br />
Now for some summer foods.<br />
<br />
One of my favorite summer salads is cucumber, tomato, and onion salad. Well, the way I am, I also add some chopped jalapenos. Chop up the vegetables, mix equal parts oil and vinegar, add a dash of salt, and voila, great summer salad. As to amounts. . . I typically do two medium cucumbers (sliced as half moons), one medium onion (roughly chunked), and 4 tomatoes (use a serrated knife, slice in half, then slice each half in quarters. I would add 2 large jalapenos sliced in rings. For this much veggie, I would use 1/4 cup oil and 1/4 cup vinegar and 1 teaspoon salt. It's good freshly made, and it's really good the next day. And yes, you can use a chopped up walking onion from your garden instead of a regular bulb onion, or a handful of chopped fresh onion or garlic chives.<br />
<br />
Since summer time is not much of a time to heat your oven, my favorite summer breads have always been skillet top breads. I would simply use my regular bread recipes, only instead of forming into loaves, I would pinch of a bit of dough about the size of a golf ball, roll it out, and then bake it on a cast iron skillet. I do this with AND without oil, getting subtle differences in the taste and surface texture. Sometimes I deep fry the dough to make a yeast-raised fry bread. That's "to die for" as they say these days. And if you want cornbread, just make your favorite cornbread batter and but cook it like a pancake batter.<br />
<br />
One of the best summer foods is the simple hamburger. Make it from ground beef, ground buffalo, ground lamb, mix it half and half with ground pork or even sausage. You can be creative with the seasonings. I often mix finely chopped herbs with the ground meat before forming the burgers (sage, thyme, rosemary, crushed red pepper) and maybe add just a dash of teriyaki sauce. Form into balls and press out with your hands, or put a ball of ground meat on the back of a saucer and place another saucer over it and lightly press to form a patty. <br />
<br />
Put it all together and throw it on the grill or into the skillet. For the classic "onion burger"... after you put the patty on the skillet, cover it with thinly sliced onions. When you flip it, the onions caramelize as they cook. Handle the meat as little as possible. Don't "massage" or "knead" it, mix it only enough to combine whatever you are adding to the ground meat or to mix the different kinds of ground meat. One of the interesting things about the ground meat bought from the coop is that it is typically very lean, so there isn't a lot of shrink during the cooking. <br />
<br />
And please, make extra! You're getting the grill or the skillet hot, so why not cook twice the number of burgers that you need and refrigerate or freeze the others for eating later? A great lunch is simply a cooked hamburger patty, smeared with some mayo or mustard, layered with onion, pickle, cheese, and wrapped in a leaf of romaine or slid into a bun. Burgers with eggs for breakfast? WHY NOT? Burgers with eggs AND chili AND bacon for breakfast? WHY NOT? INVITE ME! If you're worried about your ability to eat such good food, I'll help. <br />
<br />
I am really impressed with the amount of vegetables available this month through the cooperative. It is obvious that there has been tremendous growth in the capacity of the local food system between this year and last. I am writing this Monday evening, and you'll find LOTS of vegetables still available. Many vegetable producers add to their listings as the order progresses and they become more certain about what they will have available. <br />
<br />
Right now you can find various kinds of greens, cabbage, onions (several kinds), radishes, tomatoes, beets, turnips, cucumbers, microgreens, leeks, celery (this is a FIRST), carrots, garlic, fresh herbs, mushrooms, potatoes, jalapenos, zucchini and yellow squash. Makes me hungry just to write about this. But extra, while the buying is good, and preserve for eating later! <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em><strong>Your freezer is your friend when it comes to eating local. </strong></em>You will want some nice local veggies this winter, won't you? Well, buy now so you can eat later.</span><br />
<br />
And speaking of extra. . . how is your food storage doing these days? We all know how I preach on this subject and in fact I can hardly write any bobaganda without reminding everyone that there are a hundred and one things that could happen tomorrow that would interfere to the point of ruination with the orderly working of our just-in-time food system. Troubles on that scale would likely impact the coop. If terrorists have hit the fuel supply, we wouldn't have fuel to run our delivery days just as the supermarkets wouldn't have for their supply trucks. So always remember this ancient wisdom. . . "Remember the time of hunger in the day of plenty." The world is consuming MORE GRAIN every year than it is producing, and that means that we are slowly drawing down our world food security grain stocks. This year's wheat harvest in Oklahoma was gravely harmed by the unstable weather we experienced (severe cold coupled with extensive drought), and there is no guarantee that this troubled weather cycle will not continue. <br />
<br />
As an experiment. . . do an inventory of all the food in your house, and then realistically ask yourself how long you could feed your household with that amount of food. Would it be a radically different diet from what you're used to? If so, that's a danger sign, since a time of trouble is typically not a good time to start a new way of eating. <br />
<br />
Store what you eat, and eat what you store. If you eat hamburger, then store hamburger. And make sure you have a backup way to keep your freezer cold. I have a marine battery, an inverter, and a small generator, spent about $300 total.<br />
<br />
Summertime, the living is easy, enjoy it while it lasts! Don't delay, the June order closes this coming Thursday! Log in right now and get some of this good Oklahoma eatin' for your own household. Y'all bon appetit, you hear?Robert Waldrophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02304213914134642550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8679967769168352460.post-5825215442152969202011-05-20T11:35:00.000-05:002011-05-20T11:35:43.564-05:00Radish Home FriesRadishes were in abundance on the May Oklahoma Food Coop order, and most people just slice them and put them in salads or nibble on them raw. Weelllll. . . that's just the beginning of the possibilities. <br />
Why not try cooking them?<br />
<br />
Radish Home Fries: a LOW CARB treat<br />
<br />
1 pound radishes, washed, trimmed<br />
1 small onion diced (or as I used this AM, one Walking Onion from my garden, the white onion at the bottom plus the scapes at the top, chopped)<br />
2 tablespoons butter (From Wagon Creek, of course)<br />
1 tablespoon EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)<br />
Salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, and/or cayenne pepper, to taste and preferred heat, which in my case was a LOT, if I had had a jalapeno, it would have gone in there too!<br />
<br />
Quarter and slice the radishes, put everything in the pan, fry 5 to 10 minutes until nicely browned on both sides. Serve in place of hash browns. Found online at one my favorite recipe sites, <a href="http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/radish_home_fries.html">http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/radish_home_fries.html</a>Robert Waldrophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02304213914134642550noreply@blogger.com0