Thanks Rain

By all accounts, it has been a very wet summer in Carleton County.  I have heard from friends with horses and livestock that the hay situation is being affected by the damp and humidity, and some berry growers' crops are perhaps not quite as sweet as they would be were they more sun-kissed.  But I hadn't yet seen rain like the rain last thursday morning when I ran out to the truck, (late as usual) to help Tegan set up the Buckwheat Flats display at the Bristol farmer's market.  Cats, dogs, buckets, sheets, torrents of rain.  I couldn't find my rubber boots in the rush, so I just put on flip flops, and resolved to be soaking.  It was quite romantic, actually.

When I arrived at the market, I was relieved to see that the brave vendors who made it out were all setting up in the gazebo rather than their usual tents.  Tegan had already carried everything over, so I got to chill out with the hard core.  

Mavis and Karen were there, with their delicious natural sausages from Hilltop pork.  Anjana was cooking her increasingly famous samosas, and she already had a plate of potato pakoras ready to go, as well as some chocolate-coconut burfee, a wonderful south-asian sweet.  And Shona McIntosh had a table simply groaning with gorgeous produce from her farm, carrots, onions, salads, yellow wax beans, and of course, jewel-like raspberries and blueberries, all ultra-fresh and gorgeous.  Everyone was busy, and cozy and relatively dry while warm rain fell in tropical abundance around the gazebo.  There was such a great friendly vibe, and I was glad I had dragged myself out of bed.

The market is getting busier in general.  It was so heartening last week, to see that, despite the continuing downpour, customers started to arrive.  And I'm sure they were marvelling at their good-fortune, at living in the midst of such dedicated farmers and natural-food enthusiasts...!

As a kid, it seemed like a bit of a chore to say 'grace' at meal times, and sometimes we'd make fun or mumble or grumble or roll our eyes.  As I get older and more involved, and more conscious about the politics of food, and the time and energy that goes into bringing my meals from the farm to the table, I find that food and eating has an increasing spiritual meaning for me.  This is all the more poignant for me, of course, as Horus gets bigger and hungrier and more aware of everything around him.  

Meal times are not only important in terms of nutrition, but are also an opportunity for connecting with our friends and family, for re-charging spiritually, and for expressing gratitude for this good earth that we love.

I hope that Horus grows up looking forward to meal blessing time, instead of dreading it.

Following are some of my current favourite meal-time blessings.  Hold hands while you say the words, if you like.  Lighting candles is special, too.  Find one that resonates with you.  They can be changed or modified to reflect your personal spiritual tradition.  Make a special one for your family, or sing a song...Johnny Appleseed ? 

***

Many living creatures 

are struggling for life.

We hope that they all

have enough to eat today.

***

In this food

We see clearly

the presence of the entire universe

supporting our lives.

***

Thank you, Spirit of the world

Thank you [lettuce, lamb, cows, carrots etc etc. whatever is on your plate!]

Thank you farmer [Tegan, Ziggy, Shona--list the farmers in your life!]

Thank you, Mother Earth

We love this food.

One Hundred Miles and Intuitive Cooking

Several weeks ago, I challenged you all to become Locavores, and indeed, Buckwheat Flats is developing quite a following of foodies!  Increasingly, people are recognizing that a diet made primarily from local, organically grown whole food is the optimal way to good health, and strong, sustainable communities.  

A book that went a long way to popularizing the concept of eating locally, and bringing it to kitchens on the west coast, is the 100 Mile Diet, the story of authors Alisa McKinnon and JD Smith's experience of a year of local eating in Vancouver.  It is an excellent book, and should give East coasters some great ideas as to how to make the most of our local food opportunities.  But being dedicated to local food on the west coast is different than going local in New Brunswick.  If not technically, then practically, the growing season is longer on the west coast, there are more local producers, therefore more variety. 

So, all you true New Brunswick locavores, give yourselves a pat on the back.  You're hardcore!  Do you still love carrots?  Good.  Me too.  Here are a couple of recipes that feature...carrots!

Keep enjoying carrots for the next few weeks, and take heart: It is spring, and there is more to come.

Sesame Ginger Wild Boar Burgers

New Brabant Farms has been supplying Buckwheat Flats with wild boar for a while now, and if you haven't tried their products, you should.  Wild boar is higher in protein and lower in saturated fat than beef, chicken or pork, and it is succulent as well as delicious.  Their sausages are superb, too.

Grate some CARROTS, maybe 2 or 3 medium sized ones.  Or more, if you've got a hungry crew.  Chop up some SCALLIONS, a few cloves of GARLIC, if you have half an ONION lying around, you could use that too.  I like GINGER a lot, so I usually grate or chop a good-sized hunk, maybe 2 inches.  Grab a handful of nuts.  ALMONDS work well, cashews would be nice too.  Chop them.  Pour in a slosh of SESAME OIL, and a handful of SESAME SEEDS.  Don't forget a pinch of SEA SALT or whatever spice you have around.  Mix all of the above with your wild boar, form into patties, and cook them in your cast iron frying pan.  Or make them into smaller balls and throw them into a clear broth along with vegetables or noodles, for a fantastic soup.  A thai spice soup would work marvellously.

Don't let the fact that there are no measurements stress you out.  Use your common sense when it comes to quantity.  Add whatever happens to be around that needs to be used up.  Cooking intuitively will make you a freer, more interesting person.  And besides, making a terrible meal once in a while is good for the ego.  Both these recipes are relatively fool-proof though, so have fun!

Ginger Carrot Apple Salad

I love this salad, and I hope you do too.  This is a great salad to make with kids.  They love to grate, they love to taste.  It might sound unusual, but it is delicious and *ridiculously* healthy.  Take the following ingredients:

APPLES, CARROTS, GINGER, NUTS, SESAME SEEDS, SESAME OIL, SCALLIONS, CILANTRO, NUTS

Make everything small.  IE:  grate the grateables, chop the stuff that likes to be chopped, and mix it all together.  Some people are quite sensitive to ginger "the underground stem of the ginger plant Zingiber officinale", says Wikipedia.  Ginger is purported to have numerous health benefits, and has been used throughout the ages, throughout Asia, especially.  And elsewhere.  Oh, and you might want to peel the apples and clean the carrots thoroughly.  Throw everything together in a beautiful wood-fired ceramic bowl.  Or any old bowl.  

Cooking well requires the clever use of what's at hand, as well as your head, your eye and your palate.  You can do it.  

Whole Food, Real Food

I grew up in Vancouver in the eighties.  While these days, Vancouver has a reputation for being one of the most health-conscious cities in the world--natural food stores abound, restaurants with menus based on local, organic and natural foods garner rave global reviews--twenty years ago, even by west coast hippie standards, my mum had high ideals when it came to her dedication to Real Food.  My younger brother and sister and I grew up on fresh fruit, fresh veggies, naturally raised meat, wild fish and some dairy.  We never ate refined sugar in any form--really!  Even juice and breakfast cereal were deemed too processed.  Candy and chocolate were simply not part of our everyday lives.  We ate whole grains a few times a week (brown rice, kasha), but even flour-based baking and breads were recognized as a 'once-in-a-while' food.  While occasionally I felt hard-done-by, (I never had exciting fluorescent candy in my lunchbox) or freakish (in those days, no one else composted, and my friends wondered why we 'saved' our apple cores), mum did a great job of 'normalizing' natural foods and healthy eating for our family, despite being immersed in a culture with competing values.  In fact, my mother was an inspired and inspiring cook.  She made things up as she went along, wasted nothing, and fearlessly cooked meals with an international sensibility.  Once at a gathering, someone made a remark indicating how impressed they were that so-and-so had actually prepared lunch successfully.  My mother gave them a withering look and said, famously, If you can read, you can cook.  Mum never had any patience for anyone who over-dramatized the difficulty of the everyday and necessary act of making food, although she always created an atmosphere of celebration at the table, and she made sure that we were raised with a deep understanding that real fod equals food that is ethically produced, close to its natural state, and made from scratch.  Although I went through a brief period of rebellion in my early teens (cnady), I cannot thank my mother enough for the strong foundation she provided for me and my siblings.  It turns out, of course, that my mother was ahead of her time.  The health benefits of eating well are now widely acknowledged, and diet is cited as one of the main contributing factors when it comes to almost all states of ill-health, including obesity, cancer, auto-immune diseases as well as the common cold and flu.  

When I moved from the west coast to the Maritimes only four years ago, I was surprised by the conflicts I observed in the culture of eating on the east coast.  On one hand, we on the east are absolutely blessed to live in such a beautiful and abundant patchwork of forest and farmland.  Carleton County nb, especially, is dotted with small family farms organically producing some of the highest quality whole foods available.  But I also see a large reliance among Maritimers on highly processed sugary snacks that, while are edible, cannot honestly be described as Real Food.  When fast food, junk food and coffee and donut drive-thru are so common as to be accepted as "normal", it is a sign that we are due for a revisitation of our standard.  Especially considering the "epidemic" of obesity particular to the Maritime provinces, even among children.  On the other hand, it seems that everyone everywhere--and here in New Brunswick too!--are tuning in on the importance that our entire food cycle has on our bodies, our minds, our children, our economy, our environment and our communities in general.  

There remains a lot of confusion however, over what it really means to eat a healthy diet.  After years of fads and corporate misinformation, such as the ridiculous low-fat craze, energy bars and drinks, and stores full of expensive unpronounceable supplements, it is no wonder people seem confused.  Common sense and a little research quickly reveal that whole foods mean just that.  The healthiest food is unadulterated, and processed as little or as naturally (traditionally) as possible.  Processing of course, refers to a broad spectrum of ways that food can be prepared for consumption or storage--modified or preserved.  Traditional forms of preservation, such as fermentation, can actually improve nutritional quality and dimension, as in the case of milk being made into yogurt.  Most packaged, prepared foods found on the local grocery store shelves however, are not worth buying.  Michael Pollan, the author of "In Defense of Food", gives some good guidelines for healthy eating.  These include focussing on foods our great grandparents would have eaten, and he points out that whether or not a food is packaged or makes health claims on the packaging, is actually a good way of determining that the items in question is NOT the best choice.  As a general rule, 'traditional' foods are the way to go.  But sometimes it seems that we have forgotten our Real Food traditions.  And it can seem daunting to attempt to adopt a diet of whole foods with children when we are surrounding by a conflicting culture.  The concept of balance and moderation are always measured in relation to societal norms.  

Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon is another great book to help you on your journey back to a whole food, real food nourishing tradition of your own.  

Have a beautiful day, 

Yolande

Great Food, Great People

The wind was gusty and cold outside and it was even a bit chilly inside. What a treat though to be packing fresh oranges & grapefruit, fair trade coffee, local organic carrots, potatoes, apples, garlic and onions not to mention whole foods galore from Speerville Mill for people to pick up last Saturday.  Thanks to extra hands (Shannon & Paula), we had orders all ready  on Friday awaiting the fresh baking that would be added on Saturday morning.  I loved the experience of meeting old friends and new faces, learning their names and then presenting them with a box of wonderful food.  It felt like presenting a gift with the anticipation of revealing what's inside the humble cardboard box.  One person exclaimed "Wow I had forgotten what I had ordered, this looks great!" as she peered in to the diversity and colour inside.  We had some conflicting comments on the organic whole chicken, while one person was surprised at the cost of the chicken and stated that she could get a 30lb turkey for the same price; another remarked how he had heard how different organic chicken actually tastes and how excited he was to try it out.  Yolande and I are really looking forward to comments back on all this.  I personally can't compare organic pasture-fed chicken to the regular fare in the stores, the taste is one thing and the whole production process is another elephant in the room.   From antibiotics & steroid hormones to toxins stored in the fat to indoor confinement, the large-scale conventional meat production has moved a long way from the days of traditional animal husbandry...   Enough of my thoughts though, I would love to hear from anyone who picked up their order. How are you enjoying your food?  Send any thoughts, comments, ideas, questions to realfood@back2land.ca.  Can't wait to hear from you!  Also note that the next order date is Sunday Jan 25th for pick up on Monday Feb 2nd between 12noon and 6:30pm.  New products throughout - Potato stuffed paranthas & organic pasta & local New Brunswick dairy products...  check it out www.buckwheatflats.com.  

Locavores!

Over the past couple of weeks during preparation for our first order this Saturday, I have picked up organic vegetables grown by Stu and Nancy in Speerville (Speerville Farms)--and several jars of Nancy's incredible mustard.  I've met with Martje Pinenberg for a cooler full of organic free-range wild boar from their sustainably managed woodlot in Knightville, and liaised with Mavis at Hilltop pork for some of their top-quality sausages and roasts...We also have an impressive order of organic flours, seeds, and other dry goods arriving from Speerville Mill.  Meanwhile, Tegan, Leland and Leona & Michael have been trekking across North America with some precious boxes of organic citrus--a (possibly) once-a-year special...which reminds me of my grandmother telling me about the anticipation and delight she remembers feeling about the one orange she received over the holidays--a rare treat considering the distance and effort involved in shipping from so far away.  Tegan's tales of grapefruit boxes on the train brings it home...(bringing them home).  

And it recently struck me:  even in the dead of winter, there is enough here to sustain oneself and much more: natural whole foods, organically grown by New Brunswick farmers.  Not only that, but the quality of these goods is meticulous, and the culinary results are delicious, and utterly healthy.

I have decided to challenge myself, and you, to become a Locavore.  Try streamlining your diet in favour  of foods grown in New Brunswick soil.  Support your body with a delicious nourishing diet, and support the real economy: locally made and sustainably produced.  

And stay warm--it's pretty cold out there.  Come to Buckwheat Flats Natural Foods, 280 Main Street Florenceville, on Saturday, January 17th.  Hot drink, goodies, good news. 

Our next order will be due on the 23rd of January, and again, our order form is available online at www.buckwheatflats.com.

It's been a busy time.  I can't wait to chill out and warm up in front of the fire while checking out some of Andrea's seeds.  

Tegan, Leland, Lee and I look forward to seeing you soon!

Happy Winter Everyone.

Yolande

We are Here!

Is it officially winter yet?  It certainly feels wint'ry out there--although interspersed with some uncharacteristically warm days, which keeps things interestingly topsy turvy...In any case, the trees are bare, the fields are snowy and the nights are very cold in Carleton County.

Buckwheat Flats Natural Foods was born at home: friends sitting around the harvet table, enjoying carrots grown by Tegan and Leland, Knowlesville lamb, squash from Lee's mum, and tea from Pam at Brighton Botanicals.

And after a whirlwind few weeks of meetings and suppers, Buckwheat Flats Natural Foods (formerly The Real Food Co-op!) is underway, with an already-extensive and delicious assortment of organically-grown and naturally raised products and items.

We will be starting out initially as a buying club, with our first order due by January 5th, for pickup on January 17th.  

Please visit our beautiful new website at www.buckwheatflats.com to order online!  

If you're a facebook user, join our group, The Real Food Co-op Carleton County.

And keep checking this blog regularly for news postings, events, recipes & revelations!