Now in Season

It's Memorial Day Weekend. I love this time of year. It's one of those cross over periods, and in this case it's spring meets summer. Just as this weekend marks the beginning of summer culture so does it so often mark the arrival of some of our favorite summer foods. This week marked my first sighting of sweet red cherries, cucumbers, blueberries, ripe mulberries, and tender green beans. A couple of weeks ago I got my first batch of baby yellow squash from Fertile Crescent. Now those squash are long and lean with beautiful green bands. At the same time there are still mounds of strawberries and asparagus, those bastions of spring. I've been to both the Lakeside Wednesday Market and the South of the James Market this week. That's just two out of over a dozen area markets.

Here's what I got....
Strawberries: Two Quarts for $10, Agriberry
Asparagus: 1Lb for $5, Agriberry
Sweet Cherries: 1 pint $5, Agriberry
Blueberries: 1 pint $5, Agriberry
Yellow Squash: $4 for a pint stuffed upright like little squash soldiers, Fertile Crescent
Snap Peas: $2.50 for a stuffed standard size zippy bag, Thistledown Farm
Radishes: $2.50 for a giant bunch with greens, Fertile-Crescent
Red Cabbage: $2.50 for a mid-sized head, Victory Farm
Carrots: $3.00 for a good sized bunch with greens, Victory Farm
Green beans: $3.00 for a quart, Bill's Produce
Broccoli: $2.50Lb (which came out to $1 for a large head), Bill's Produce
Red Skinned Potatoes: $2-3 a quart ( I've forgotten which), Bill's Produce

Here's some of the other really nice looking produce I saw at the Market this week...
Green Cabbage
Fresh Red Onions
Spring Onions
Arugula
Lettuces Mixes
Spinach
Kale, Curly and Tuscan
Sugar Peas
Cauliflower
Purple cauliflower
Indian Cucumbers (they are yellow to a brownish green, but taste "just like a cucumber". )
Baby Cucumbers
Bok Choy
Fennel Bulbs (Got these, plus some bulbing fennel plants last week as well)
Turnips
Beets, red, orange, golden
Garlic scapes

Of course I'm only talking produce here and haven't even started on all the meats, breads, jams, jellies, herbs, pastas, plants etc. That will have to wait till next time. If you've spotted something new at your market let us know. With all the new Markets, and new vendors out there it hard to keep up!

Reports and invitations

I never wanted to be the kind of blogger who started out a post with some excuse about why I have not been writing. But, yes, I am about to do just that. It has been very exciting and rewarding and quite lovely, and I did miss being able to share it with you. First- the spring median garden was a big success- I got to share scads of beautiful lettuce with many friends and neighbors. Clyde only likes to look- too bad he won't eat any.

And really, are there any plants more adorable than peas?

Also, not only was I able to build a new compost system in the children's garden at Lewis Ginter, Tony, the head chef at the Garden, is willing to save as many vegetable scraps and coffee filters as we want to add to our compost! So, we are starting out with two pickups a week, and we'll see how it goes from there. I have realized lately how important it is to combine resources within your community in order to be truly sustainable. Plus, I met some cool folks who work in the Garden Cafe. You can read more about the system on the Lewis Ginter blog, which will post later this week.

I also had the opportunity to teach a class this spring at St. Stephen's based on Michael Pollan's newest book called Food Rules. I teamed up with a nurse practitioner, and we got to share the good news about the benefits of fat, and why it is important to eat with other people, and how our food system has changed. Of course, our last class was a potluck supper- one of the best I have ever had! That class was so much fun, I am already looking forward to teaching it again next year.

Another project I am really excited about is the Farmers' Market at St. Stephen's. We have had four very successful and really fun markets, and are looking forward to a new season in this 'delicious revolution'. Amazing vendors, great local bands and really wonderful energy- it is truly an honor to be a part of such a thing. I am also happy to report that we have been able to share leftover produce from willing vendors such as Frog Bottom Farm and Flores Produce with the food pantry at St. Stephen's. The food pantry gives food to about thirty families a week, and I am thrilled that we are able to work together to everyone's benefit. The Farmers' Market at St. Stpehen's has blossomed into a food ministry that works with many aspects of wellness. What more could we want from our work, except that it deepens that which we know is true?

I hope you all are enjoying your gardens and your suppers and your community. If you are around northside this week, why don't you stop by the median garden and take some lettuce home? It is time to plant the tomatoes!

Compost Tea At The South of The James Market

I've noticed the 'Living Soils' banner attached to a new tent near the front of the South of the James Market this season. I had yet to stop, and check it out, but I am sure now that I will. Victory Farms mentioned this new enterprise in their e-mail so I visited the website to check them out. Five dollars will buy you one gallon. A half gallon is three dollars. So good for your soils, and usually tricky to find, having a quality compost tea available at the South of James would be exciting news indeed.

The United States of Food

So, I know that somewhere someone has talked to me about this Virginia company that ships whole pre-planted raised garden beds to customers in Virgina. The company based in Lanexa Va, (between New Kent and Willamsburg) has a garden starter kit package for non-Virginians. Why this hasn't caught my attention until now I can't imagine. Whole, growing gardens shipped to your yard?!
Started by two guys with interesting and impressive bios... Ivan Fehrenbach, and Shane Emmett , The United States of Food will build, plant, and ship you any of their 'stock' bed designs ranging from a soil filled wine barrel to a 4x8 raised bed. Pine seems to be standard, but you can choose ceder for extra money. Victory Farms has announced that The United States of Food, is now using Victory Farms own compost in their garden soil mix. They will custom build gardens for Restaurants on site as well. If chickens are your thing they can also build you a custom coop. The price for the 4x8 garden is $695. The price of convenience. The website tries to balance this cost by showing you the potential value of the food that could feasibly be produced in the plot over a two year period.
I had questions about what plants are in their selectable planting options. With names like 'The Presidential Plot', and 'The Southern Supper' I couldn't find any sort of actual plant list. Interested? Check out their 'how it works' page. Have questions? If your in the Richmond area you can visit them at the Bryan Park Market on Tuesday Afternoons.

Local Food Symposium- Registration Deadline This Thursday

LOCAL FOODS SYMPOSIUM

Wednesday May 26, 20109:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Randolph Farm Extension Pavilion,

Virginia State University4415 River RoadPetersburg, Virginia

REGISTRATION

The event is free, but you must register by May 20, 2010 by emailing Tracy Downey at tmdowney@vt.edu or calling 804-524-5611. For more information, please contact Crystal Tyler-Mackey at 804-524-5494 or cmtyler@vt.edu

Community Viability Specialist Jonah Fogel -This Wednesday At Tricycle Gardens

Jonah Fogel is the Community Viability Specialist for our region. He help start The Richmond Area Food Systems Council. He has played an important role in the development of many a farm, business, lecture series, farmer's market, well you name it and he's knowledge and hard work has likely played role. Check out his lecture this Wednesday May 19th, and put your money towards a good cause at the same time.

From the Tricycle Gardens E-mail........
Ecological Policies for an Ecological Age
Guest: Jonah Fogel-Government policies play an important role in fostering technological innovation and economic growth. How can local, state, and federal policies help encourage sustainable development? How can trade agreements, farm legislation, and transportation policies support green business practices? How do we create a business model that rests firmly on ecological principles, including concern for long-term growth and sustainability? TG Headquarters, 7-9pm $20

Grass-fed Beef at Richmond Arby's?!

My mom told me once that when she was pregnant with me the one thing she would crave and eat all of the time was Arby's roast beef sandwiches. She also assured me that those sandwiches were much different than those made up of the sheeny grey brown sliced meat that were the stuff of my teen years. I grew up on fast food, lots of it. I was a rather sickly kid and was always at the doc. To make it up to me my mom would take me to McDonald's after each visit. In high school I ate breakfast at Burger King or McDonald's everyday with friends before school. For lunch I would eat the Taco Bell they served in the school lunch room (nachos and soft beef tacos!). Every Friday night was pizza night, (Domino's), The Burger King on East Grace was a frequent spot for a quick bit before a show. I could go on.
Finally, after years of living off of pizza and soft pretzels from food trucks in Philly I was so sick I could only think to come home and focus on taking care of myself.

All that information, too much perhaps, leads me to say that I have eaten fast food exactly once in the last 6 years, if you don't count the occasional break down for some take out pizza that happens about twice a year. Oh yeah and those nachos I had at Northside Grill... anyway... I am totally out of the fast food loop. So earlier this week I was surprised when my husband handed me a brown paper napkin from Arby's that read GRASS-FED BEEF in bright green letters. I now realize I am way behind the times as RVA News , and Richmond Times Dispatch have both already reported that as of March 1, 2010 all 19 of the Richmond area Arby's will use all grass-fed beef on all of their sandwiches. Yeah! Go Arby's. So now my husband can enjoy the occasional fast food lunch, and maybe enjoy it a little more. At the same time, grass-fed fast food is still mass produced, fast food. Truly healthy, humanly raised meat doesn't seem possible if it has to be on a scale great enough for Americans to continue to eat it three meals day.
It may seem to some that the switch to grass-fed is an obvious, no brainer of a decision. However, The Restaurant Company, that owns the Richmond area Arby's made a big leap here. They didn't just provide a grass fed option, but changed to grass-fed for all of their sandwiches. Chipotle, has opened the door for fast food venues to opt out of the industrial food model to some degree. However, there is already at least one person who has started a facebook page just to bring back the old conventionally raised beef. The smattering of comments on that page range from the likes of "The beef taste like Grass" to "Perhaps there was a Government takeover of Arby's. The Government seems good at screwing stuff up." Meanwhile, I've been doing Internet searches to try and determine where exactly this grass-fed beef comes from. No luck yet.
Ah well, I say good luck to Arby's, it seems like they've always been a step above and a step ahead, and I for one hope they don't step back.