Archive for the ‘Pavillion Update’ Category

Last week I was privileged to be invited to pick early blueberries at Carol and Greg Busacker’s SGB Farms on Cedar Tree Lane south of Ashland. Talk about sustainable agriculture and local food! Yummm!

They needed a patient, expert picker, as there were just one or two ripe berries per bush–early comers. Greg and I picked together, one on each side of the row, and caught up on our lives while we worked. We covered most of the patch and gathered about ten pounds (about two galloons) of berries. I’m famous for my picking speed because I belt the bucket to my waist and pick with both hands–years of vegetable harvesting experience.

Blueberries are such a joy to pick, no thorns and you get to stand up straight. Rich in antioxidants, they freeze easily and keep well. I fill up my freezer and eat some every day all year. The farm is beautiful and it’s a fun family experience.

Carol and Greg schedule pickers by reservation, call 573-657-2989 to get on their mailing list. Unfortunately they’re totally booked for 2010, but no reservations are needed at Mary Brauch’s Missouri Highland Farms. See her website at www.missourihighlandfarm.com. Mid-Missouri blueberry season is coming June 17-July 19th. Enjoy!

Diane La Mar is a local psychotherapist and writer.

Today, Wednesday. June 16: 

The first sweet corn of the season will be at the Columbia Farmers Market located in the ARC parking lot at the corner of West Ash St & Clinkscales Rd. from 4pm to 6pm.  

There will only be 30 to 40 dozen ears of corn today and the grower, young Ben Paulsmeyer, says it may be a little wormy, more than he would like.   About 100 dozen ears of corn will be available this Saturday, June 19 from Ben.  

Please let your friends know SWEET CORN is here!

Watch as the cucumber plant in my backyard reaches out for a little support over a mere 21 min! Pretty cool!. More to come! Casey

Today, there will be a cool event at Kilgores Community Gardens to kick off the garden use! See details below. Please come and cheer your support for this local movement. The media needs to see we are all behind this sort of effort!  EVENT WILL START AT KILGORES 700 N Providence

3:00 pm: Ian and PedNet volunteers meet Ann and Paula at Nora Stewart School and conduct short educational program with children about physical activity and health, pedestrian safety, etc., and distribute BWWW t-shirts.

3:15 pm: Entire group walks to Kilgore’s Pharmacy on Providence Road.

3:45 pm: Adam and CCUA volunteers meet group and conduct short educational program with children about fresh, local food and health; composting, planting, growing, harvesting, and eating; and everyone plants seeds in Kilgore’s Garden.

4:15 pm: Group walks back to Nora Stewart School

5:00 pm: “Unite 4 Healthy Neighborhoods” event starts at Health Dept.
(Worley/west)

Both Axiom and Columbia Health Dept. will issue press releases tomorrow (Tuesday) to entice media to attend these events as a visual cue for community-wide announcement about the next step in the “Unite 4 Healthy Neighborhoods” tocreate more/better physical activity and nutrition opportunities for children living in underserved areas.

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In an effort to make our blog as dynamic as possible I want to ensure that fresh content is being posted at least weekly if not more.  I know some of you expressed the commitment to write posts but I need to lock that down a little more.

So, please email me a yes or no if you can help.  If you say yes I will send you an assigned day of the month for your ONE monthly contribution.  This would be your minimum.  More would be great.  But you will have your assigned day and you simply put that into whatever calendar reminder system you use to prompt you a few days ahead to get a story to me.

Keep in mind that it does not always need to be some lengthy original piece.  A post can be from a couple of sentences to a couple of paragraphs.  Photos and graphics are very much appreciated as well.  I can usually find something if you don’t have graphics that match story.  Things that would work for posts include-

1.  a link to something cool that you came across that matches our mission and you send the link and brief outline of what it is and why you like it.

2.  Share a recipe or food idea, gardening tip, etc

3.  A story or food for thought piece that you write

4.  It can be a link to a blog post on someone else’s site that you think our readers would like.

So…who is game?

Dan Kuebler of "The Salad Garden" Looking Over His Escarole

These cool evenings inspired us to make Escarole Soup. Coming from the Italian tradition it’s a satisfying comfort food for a chilly day.

Escarole is in the chickory family and therefore on the bitter side when eaten raw but cooking changes that into a mellow, flavorful green. Escarole looks like a loose head of lettuce with thick leaves and wide ribs that stand up well to cooking. The Italians blanch the centers by covering the plants with a plate or tying the leaves together at the top. Dan does it by planting them on 9 inch centers crowding them together. Here’s an easy recipe:

Escarole Italian Sausage White Bean Soup
Needed
1# Italian Sausage  (I like Susie’s Grass Fed lamb sausages)
1 onion diced optional
2-15oz cans of Cannellini Beans (Italian white beans, can substitute navy beans)
1# Escarole Greens (about one head)
1 Quart (64 oz) Chicken Stock

The Fun
Cut the sausage into 1 inch pieces.
Brown the sausage in a skillet with onion if desired.
Thoroughly clean escarole and cut into 3 inch pieces.
In a different skillet, toss the escarole with 1-2 TBS. olive oil and stir fry for just a few minutes.
Combine the sausage and escarole in a stock pot with the chicken broth.
Add the 2 cans of beans, simmer until done.

Consumare I Pasti!
Diane La Mar & Dan Kuebler
“The Salad Garden” (Columbia Farmers Market Vendor)

http://gocolumbiamo.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=3&clip_id=96

Need:  Eggs, Boiling Water, Ziploc Bags, Favorite Fillers

The best part is you all eat at the same time!!  It does use energy to boil water and you need ziploc bags, but they can be rinsed and reused!  I have seen different versions of this method and below is a link to a video on it.  I used to love having a few friends over for Sunday breakfast.  Usually I would make sourdough pancakes and sometimes omelettes.  The hard part with both foods is that you spend all of your time cooking and everyone eats one at a time.

 So, I tried this boiled bag omelette method and it works great and no cooking oil!  I did learn a couple of things that I can share.  This would be great for a family too.   I used a couple of pieces of ham (local), onion and garlic sprouts from my garden, organic swiss, asparagus from the Columbia Farmers Market (local), and of course Stanton Brothers Eggs from the market as well (local) – 3 per bag.

 You can watch the video below for the general idea.  There is no reason to leave air in the bag and burp it two times like he shows.  Here is my method.

 1.  Start boiling large pot of water- the size and level of water is determined by size of group.

2.  I would sauté, lightly any tough items like asparagus. Also fry up any uncooked meat like sausage as this must be cooked. But most ingredients are fine uncooked- onion, mushroom, etc.

3.  Get small to medium Ziploc bags.  These should be the heavy duty ones not the flimsy snack ones.  I used the ones with double ziplocs. 

4.  Chop all available ingredients into bowls that everyone can pick from.

5.  Have everyone write their name on their bags and put in the ingredients they want from the bowls.  Small amounts are best – maybe 2 Tbs of onion, etc.

6.  You collect bags and put in 2-3 eggs to each.  Roll out the air and seal well.  They have everyone gently break up eggs and squeeze bags to mix- kids will love this.

7.  Put bags into boiling water seam up. I turned my bags from side to side every few minutes.

8. I left the lid on with enough space for venting.  Cook for ~14-15 min.

9.  Lift bags out gently and dry off.  They are VERY hot inside so you have time to get everyone settled and ready to eat.  Have each person come with plate and gently slide their omelette out of bag onto plate.  They will be VERY hot for a while.  So cut open and let them air out/cool.

They are not pretty but they eat well!  Everyone can now enjoy their personalized omelette at the same time.  Enjoy! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak3uJGf6Bj0

http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/coops/ssdpg/ssdpg.htm

Contact me if you need assistance.

Once again we are shown the value of growing our own food or shopping locally and meeting the person who grows our food!  It has taken me a few minutes a day and I have about 20 heads of lettuce growing and about 20 chard and kale.  Easy as can be!  Boy, as if Arizona did not have enough problems, now E Coli Lettuce!  Be sure to check this brand and check your fridge and school menu!

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hEnc00D5YgQjLxbZqLLkjOw_fwzgD9FHV0QG2