Rooftop Farming

Intense sunlight, high winds, and an elevator for access doesn't sound like the ideal farming environment, but for several years now many individuals around the country and around the world have been making it work. The spiritual, environmental, and economic rewards reaped seem to make it all worth while. The natural world will find these oasis and even lend a helping hand, as rooftop farmers have discovered that birds can introduce earthworms and other soil organisms. My Coworker recently sent me this interesting story from the NY Times about a for profit group in NY City that is starting their second large scale roof top farm. Called Brooklyn Grange the group raised funds through donations to meet the cost of launching the project. You can click here to go directly to their website for pics and information about the group and their philosophy. You can click here to check out pics and story line from their first 6000 sq ft. The site for City Farmer has a good collection of articles about different Rooftop Farming enterprises. Add in some rooftop beekeeping, and you've got a close to complete package. Good inspiration for Richmond. Check it out.

Makin' Strawberry Jam

I am making jam right now. Strawberry jam to be exact. I have been looking forward to this day ever since last spring when my friends Casey and Ned made the most amazing strawberry jam in the whole wide world. They called it spoon jam because you can just eat it right out of the jar. Or if you are more civilized, put it on pancakes and ice cream and, I am sure, the pedestrian peanut butter and jelly more than once. The jam was nothing short of amazing- complex and flavorful and bright and unlike anything I had ever tasted. I knew that as crazy as the spring always is for me, I needed to take some time and learn to make their spoon jam. If I didn't, I knew I would miss the magic and regret it all year. So here we are, eating chinese takeout and boiling, boiling, boiling away.

I wanted to bring you a recipe- I really did. This is not so much how it happens. We started around 5pm culling 6 flats of freshly picked, gorgeous strawberries.

We put the berries in pots on the stove, adding sugar- not very much to start- well, approximately 4 cups of sugar to 10 quarts of strawberries. When the pink foam subsided, (an important detail to remember) we added about 2 tsps of salt, 1 tsp of vanilla and 1 lemon- juice and zest to each pot.

Toward the end of the night, we started adding herbs like lavender and all kinds of mint to the jars for fun. Some jars were given the benefit of cardamom and cloves. A couple have rose water because I am currently a little obsessed with the combination- it might be the shared redness, I am not sure. I have no idea what the end result will be once it comes time to eat- immeasurable for sure- but I know it will be really fun to open the jars and remember this night.

Three Cheers to the Full Scale Return of the Richmond Markets!

I just wanted to jump in quickly and say how nice it's been to return to the markets. The first day was a bit like a party, with so many old friends and neighbors out together. This week I was surprised by the fantastic bounty out there. One of my absolute favorite vendors, Fertile Crescent Farm, had a beautiful stand with salad greens, loads of strawberries, kale, onions, and more. They even had pints of baby yellow squash!! I walked away with so much healthy, beautiful food including broccoli from two different vendors, radishes, beets, and spinach.
For my mother's day brunch contribution I am making a simple side of strawberries with local honey and fresh pineapple mint. (This is my untested plan anyway.) I bought two types of mint plants from A Thyme to Plant herb farm.

I also talked with the folks at Blanchards Coffee. I love their 'Dark as Dark' and knew I could always get it from the special bulk bins at the Forest Hill Ukrops. Now that Martin's has officially moved in the Blanchards Coffee has been relegated to bags on the bottom shelf of the coffee isle. Hard to find even when your looking. However, the person I spoke with at Blanchards tells me that they should have some form of bulk bins back in the bakery section of the Forest Hill Martin's in a few weeks time.

Day trip, Part 2-Wine!

The Charlottesville area has so many wineries- we could not simply look at a map to choose which ones to visit on our day trip, so we just started driving up Route 20, we soon saw a sign for Jefferson Vineyards, and thought we'd stop in.

The bar was crowded, but our hostess was very helpful, and did not make us feel like she was too busy to answer any questions we had about the wine. I bought a bottle of the 2009 Monticello Pinot Gris.

Shannon aays: The Jefferson Winery was our first of what turned out to be four very different wine tasting experiences. The Jefferson is a popular winery for the large body of people who are just out to drink wine and hang out on a nice day. Our first sight was of a stretch limousine parked right outside the deck seating. A bridal shower group all in brightly colored dresses, shoes on, and off were bouncing about between the deck and the limo. We sought refuge indoors at the long tasting bar only to find it packed. After waiting politely for a few moments I gave up and had to pull a Saturday night bar scene shimmy, squeezing in sideways to get one shoulder into the bar space right at the sliding bar space used for loading in cases and allowing the staff entrance in and out. The man working behind the tasting bar ignored us completely, but we were quickly rescued by a really great woman who managed to make the whole rest of our experience a real pleasure despite the couple with their 4 small and understandably bored children who came up along side of us for a tasting. For a cost of $5 we each were given a decent size pour (when talking tasting) of 10 different wines. The tasting covered everything from dry whites and reds to dessert wine. Since I am part of the large body of people who just want to enjoy some wine and a nice day and Erin was driving, I drank every bit. The family quickly disembarked and our host had only us to tend to. She spent a good deal of time explaining (mostly to me since Erin actually knows some stuff) the differences in their wines, stainless steal vs. oak barrels etc. She pointed out the 2008 Petit Verdot should peak in 2011 (two years after it's release). This lead to a discussion in which she stated that virtually all American wines are made for instant gratification, meaning they don't age well so buy and drink up! We liked the 08 Petit Verdot, the '07 Mertiage, and Erin liked Pinot Gris. Our "free" wine glasses in hand we headed out.
We continued down (up?) Route 20, and found ourselves at First Colony Winery. To get here take a turn off of 20 and onto a small residential street that winds around past a good number of small country homes. Just as you think you really may have taken a wrong turn a sign appears pointing onward. Here we found only two other cars in the lot, and a charming landscape. The farily large main room has a small tasting bar towards the back where we found two couples finishing up their tasting. Erin and I quickly found ourselves completely along with the whole of winery and it's two staff members. Erin cut out early on this one saving her taste buds for greater things down the road. I, however stayed on for the 3 dry whites and the 4 reds, that included the 2006 Tannat. To the Tannat I actually had to say... Whoa! The Tannat is apparently a grape with very thick skins and there for a very high level of tannins. In Virginia this grape is usually blended with other red grapes like the Cabernet Franc to give it a fuller body. I skipped most of their semi-sweet and sweet wines I believe the tasting cost $8 and 12 wines were offered for tasting. If you buy three bottles the cost of the tasting is waved. I did just that and walked out with the '07 Rose, the 07 Cab. Franc, and the 07 Cab. Sauvignon. This last one has a fruity rich flavor that ends with a chocolaty finish. It tasted quite good to me who knows close to nothing about wine.

Just a bit up a hidden dirt road in the back of First Colony is Virginia Wineworks- home of Micheal Shaps wines, and wines sold under the Virginia Wineworks label. The Virginia Wineworks seems to be a hidden gem of a spot. Micheal Shaps actually makes the wine for a number of other wineries in the area. The Virginia Wineworks label is his sort of "everyday" label. Those carrying the 'Micheal Shaps' label are his higher end wines and they will run you between $32 to $50 a bottle. Our third winery was another varied experience. We arrived at the back of warehouse loading dock area. Harvesting crates stacked high next to us, a large metal rolling door was three quarters of the way up revealing shining steal machinery. We must of looked uncertain and the lone woman standing outside gave us a wide, friendly wave to let us know we were indeed in the right spot.

Erin says: We walked into the warehouse, resting wine in barrels to our left, harvest and bottling machinery to our left, and had the best time with some fantastic wines and our very knowlegable and generous hostess. I was so struck by their use of native yeast in the initial fermentation and the complexity of the single varietals that I bought two bottles of wine that cost over $35. I am now the proud owner of a Michael Shaps Viognier and 2007 Cabernet Franc. (What now?) Michael Shaps consults with many wineries in the area, and his expertise is evident in his wines. I also bought two of the Virginia Wineworks label wines, a Rose and the VA Wineworks Red,which are made with purchased grapes, and sell for under $20. This winery is really fun if you want to learn more about how great wine is made.

We had to leave eventually, so we headed back to highway 20 toward the Kluge Estate. All of the surrounding land to this winery is breathtakingly gorgeous.
At Kluge, you can either sit outside in a peaceful grove with your flight of six wines, which always includes their amazing sparkling wine, or at the bar inside. We elected to stay inside, (ostensibly to learn something from the woman pouring our wine, but it was pretty late in the day for anything resembling education) and our bar quickly filled up with fellow travelers on the wine road. We learned a lot about the Kluges, (did you know the estate is for sale?) laughed a lot and enjoyed some very fine wines. The Albemarle flight is $15, which is refunded if you join the wine club. I swear, this sounded like a really good idea at the time...

We had a blast checking out the gorgeous Charlottesville countryside, and found some amazing VA wines to boot. Let us know if you have any VA wineries you recommend- we'd love to go again!

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution and Our National School Lunch Program

Three Cheers for Chef Jamie Oliver, and all of his efforts to improve our food system! The season finale of his ABC show aired last night with a mixed bag of positive impact and government roadblocks. This is a great time for Jamie to be raising awareness of the need for vast change in the way we feed our children. The new Federal School Lunch Bill is awaiting a vote in the Senate. The group Mission: Readiness, made up of retired military officers has weighed in with the release of their report this week showing how obesity in America's youth has become a problem for military recruitment. The group is petitioning the government to support better food in our school system. I feel like some real threshold has been crossed when the Mission: Readiness group has turned it's attention to the poor quality of our school lunches. Read the A.P. article here, or the somewhat more informative NPR story here.
Click Here to sign Jamie's petition for better food in America's public schools. You can roll over each state and see how many people from each state have signed. Virginia has almost reached 12,500. That puts us a couple thousand below North Carolina, and about 50 thousand behind California. As for West Virginia, the state that played host to Jamie's Food Revolution Television show... they are at 5,343 signatures, interesting stuff. Check out Jamie's Food Revolution website to track progress and learn more on how you can help. The site even has a two week school meal plan with recipes included.
Locally, our new Richmond chapter of Slow Food has made transforming the food in our area public schools part of their mission. To learn more about Slow Food Richmond, and maybe join in, click here.
If you want more info here are some related reports from The Institutes of Medicine of The National Academies:
http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2008/Nutrition-Standards-and-Meal-Requirements-for-National-School-Lunch-and-Breakfast-Programs-Phase-I-Proposed-Approach-for-Recommending-Revisions.aspx

Tricycle Gardens Permaculture Presentation This Tuesday

I Pulled this from the latest Tricycle Garden's e-mail......
"PRESENTATION ON ASHEVILLE'S PERMACULTURE PARK!
Tuesday April 27th, 7-9pm, Permaculture (permanent agriculture) is the harmonious integration of landscape and people providing their food, energy, shelter, and other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way. Currently residing in Richmond's Museum District, Jonathan Brown is a certified urban permaculturalist who, with his wife, developed the nation's first edible, public forest garden in the City of Asheville, NC, the George Washington Carver Edible Park. This presentation will highlight this and some well developed urban ecology projects from around the country.
Location: Tricycle Gardens Headquarters, 211 West 7th Street
Cost: $5"

I plan to be there. This is some really exciting stuff. Also, if you haven't spent all your money already at this weekend's Herbs Gallore, there is still time buy Tricycle Gardens own kitchen garden plants. Tricycle will be selling their organically grown vegetable plants over the next few weeks at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens Plant Sale Thursday, April 29, through Saturday May 1, and at The South of the James Market twice per Month. I have been buying from them for the last couple years. The plants are healthy, organically grown, affordable, and the money you spend with them goes to support their very worthwhile mission.
Visit their website for more information.

Whole Foods and Other Area Farmer's Markets Today... Earth Day

Whole Food's Website says that they are still holding the Farmer's Market in front of the Glen Allen store on Thursdays from 4:00 - 7:00 p.m. Tonight will be the first of the season. There will be locally grown produce and other locally made items. This market runs through October 21st. Their are other Farmers Markets opening or operating today. Check out the complete list in my post below entitled 2010 Farmer's Market Start Up.