room to grow

An Eater's Bill of Rights

2010-10-03T21:12:00.000-07:00

Eaters have a right to food.

Eaters have a right to safe food.

Eaters have a right to nutritious food.

Eaters have a right to food with country of origin labels.

Eaters have a right to know whether food has been genetically modified.

Eaters have a right to food produced without harming air, water or land.

Eaters have a right to food produced under socially just conditions.

Eaters around the world have a right to a secure food system.

Eaters have a right to good food at a fair price.

Eaters have a right to know the conditions of their food production

(transport, working conditions, treatment of animals and scale)

- taken from The National Catholic Rural Life Conference "Eaters' Bill of Rights".

A fair and just food system does not end when a person is fed. It begins when all people have equal access to healthy and ethical choices for nourishing our selves and our families. It requires that we pay attention, that we demand information and that we deeply value the true cost of what we consume. It is no longer enough to simply ask "how can we feed a community?" it is essential that we ask "how do we as a community feed ourselves?".

Meet the Booch

2010-03-26T22:02:00.000-07:00

Kombucha. Sometimes it really hits the spot as I smack my lips after that first big gulp. It is a tangy zingy zap of flavor that quenches my thirst. I've started making it myself because its so durned cheap. I flavor and ferment it to my liking and can chug it all week long. I have high aspirations of a kombucha schedule to carry me through the summer so we never ever have to buy over-sugared, over-packaged and over-priced juice again.

The kombucha "mother" is a colony of yeast and bacteria, a living being with a complicated personality. Sometimes my kombucha mother works hard and sometimes it is sluggish, I am slowly deciphering what it needs to be a happy and productive citizen.

First things first...I know people who grow their own mother from scratch but I have heard recent report of a friend whose kombucha supposedly drowned through this method? I didn't get the details. So the biggest step is to get a hold of someone who is already making their own kombucha. Any person regularly making kombucha is going to have a mother to give away every few weeks, so make sure you get both a mother and some of the kombucha tea.

When I'm not brewing I put the "mother" to sleep in the fridge.

These are my steps for brewing:

I put about four quarts of water in a big pot and leave it out overnight to off-gas. (yikes!!)

The next day I brew my sweet tea using the water left overnight. For the tea brew I have been alternating between The Republic of Teas bulk pomegranate green tea or their mango black tea. Both are delicious but there is a world of inspiring tea flavors out there to try. I use fabric tea bags that I can wash and reuse over and over. I fill my tea bag full and throw it into the pot of just boiled water with 3/4 cups of sugar. I have yet to experiment with other sweeteners like honey and agave syrup but its worth a shot. I let my tea steep overnight and pull my mother out of the fridge at this time so it can reach room temperature. The mother needs to be at room temp. to be active and should not be added to hot tea.

The next day the mother and the sweet tea find themselves at room temperature and consequently it is time for worlds to collide. I pour my tea into a glass gallon jar. I add my mother and about 1/2 - 1 Cup of the kombucha that was carrying the mother. Make sure your hands and the equipment are clean at this point and all throughout to avoid icky contamination problems. I use a thin cloth with a rubber band to cover my gallon jar as this allows air flow and prevents critters.

I put the jar in a cool dark place and try not to disturb it while its doing its thang. Originally I left my kombucha to brew for a week, but it wasn't enough fermenting time for my taste and came out pretty sweet. Now I brew it for 11-14 days depending on when I can get to it. This is going to be a matter of taste. The longer it brews and breaks down sugar, the more vinegary it will get.

When I get around to bottling the booch, I remove my mother with clean hands and store it in a jar covered with more brew. Back into the fridge it goes to rest or straight into another batch and another fermenting session. The mother will grow another layer each time it brews a batch. You can just peel off a layer and give it away, compost it, give it to the chickens..whatever. I have noticed the mother works best when it is separated regularly and not allowed to build up too many layers.

I bottle the rest of my booch and let it rest at room temperature for at least three days. (I really like these bottles I got from Ikea...3 bucks yo!!!)

This is where the fizzy fizz happens. The longer I leave it out before refrigerating, the more carbonation happens. When you just cant wait any longer throw it in the fridge then pop it open.

Next step...smack those lips.

hey there little dumpring.

2010-02-18T17:32:00.000-08:00

I have a weak spot. It's called asian dumplings. That little pillow of perfect bounce wrapped around succulent filling kills me. In a good way. For some time now, my sweetie and I have been dedicating ourselves to the weekly practice of dumpling making. And when I say dumpling making I am talking about hands-on, from scratch, "take it all the way baby" dumpling making. We want to perfect the dough, the paper thin, translucent wrappers that cradle our various pork, shrimp, ginger and garlic fillings. Most books suggest numerous fillings and dipping sauces and instruct the cook to purchase "wonton wrappers" from the asian grocery. But Andrea Nguyen's book Asian Dumplings has been such a recipe resource for so many different types of wrappers. It had always been about the filling for me, until I discovered the importance of the "vessel".

The basic dumpling dough recipe is easier than pie:
2 Cups of flour
3/4 Cups of just-boiled water (I bring my water to a boil, turn it off and use it within 30 seconds)

After making a well in the flour, I add the water in a steady stream and mix it in with a wooden spoon. I knead the dough until it comes together in the bowl, and then transfer it to the counter to knead for about two minutes. Kneading this dough is a pretty delightful feeling given the warmth and texture and it doesn't take much for the dough to transform into a smooth and cushy ball. Wrap the dough in plastic and let it rest for at least a half hour. "Earlobe soft" is the description that the author uses to describe the dough...it is very appropriate.

Now comes the shaping, rolling, folding part (soon to be followed by the eating part). I work with half the dough at a time and with plenty of flour on the counter, roll it into a long 1" thick rope. Now divide the rope into 16 pieces, put them on end like a scallop and squish it down into a disc shape. The whole time I am working with the dough, I am careful to cover it with a cloth to keep it from drying out.

I use a 1" dowel to roll out the dough into a 3 1/2" circle. The small roller allows a quick back-and-forth motion with one hand, while my other hand is methodically turning the dough. This creates a dough that is thicker in the middle and thin on the edges where it will be folded over on itself. Again, keep all the dough you aren't working with covered to keep it moist and pliable.

About a tablespoon of filling in the center of the dough is followed by any number of folds. The easiest is to just fold the dough into a half circle and pinch down the edges. You can also pleat the edges or crimp them with a fork. The dough is so fresh and easy to work with, it stretches and seals like a good dream.

My favorite fold is a super chubby one.

I keep my left thumb on the filling and pull up the sides of the wrapper with my right hand. I slowly feed the wrapper into my right hand, and pinch and pleat my way around the edge.

I just keep working my way around my thumb until there is no more room and then pinch it closed.

With a little twist n' squish its sealed.

So freakin' cute...just look at em'!!

Now just boil them in water to add to a broth or gently steam them for a delicate delight. For a more dynamic texture, pan fry them till they sizzle for a couple of minutes and brown on the bottom. Then add 1/4" deep of water and throw a lid on to contain the sputter-fest. Once things quiet down (literally), remove the lid, give them a minute to crisp up again and serve with your favorite dipping concoction. Dee-lish!!!

Edible Alchemy: Whey to Sauerkraut

2009-11-20T12:50:00.000-08:00

What to do with that jar of homemade whey that was left over from making the soft cream cheese? How about using it as an inoculant for making sauerkraut? Me thinks this is a mighty fine idea.

This way of making sauerkraut from the Nourishing Traditions cookbook feels really accessible to me and has lip-smacking-good results. The scale and details surrounding making kraut in a large crock have always seemed a touch daunting. This one-quart kraut recipe was squeezed in during a rainy twenty minute afternoon interlude.

I used a medium sized organic cabbage and sliced it thinly. As it turns out all the pounding I did later in the process really broke it up so don't worry too much about how you slice it. I put in in a bowl with
1 tablespoon of carraway seeds
1 tablespoon of sea salt
4 tablespoons of homemade whey
and used my handy dandy pounding implement to punch down the mixture for ten minutes to get all the juicy goodness out. I used a 1-inch dowel that we had lying around from mulling mojitos.

After ten minutes of pounding, the cabbage was really broken down and there was a lot of juice in the bowl. I transfered it to a quart sized mason jar and seriously packed in the cabbage, pushing it down to make sure the cabbage was covered by liquid. It is important to leave about an inch of space above the cabbage otherwise during fermentation pressure will build up and push out liquid...ooops, it happened to me!

I covered my jar tightly with a plastic lid and left it out in a warmish spot for three days. Then I sent it off to my stash in the basement, dark and cool for as long as I could stand it. The longer it stays in storage the yummier (up to 6 months) but for our household it only made it one month before we just couldn't wait any longer. It came out fantastic. Super delicious and so cheap. I still feel the whole whey fermentation thing is a little elusive in concept to me but it worked and we can't get enough.

p.s. Recent discovery - sauerkraut added to a bowl of broth or soup....ziiiing!!

Edible Alchemy: Yogurt to Cheese

2009-11-18T18:22:00.000-08:00

The cheese that I have been making from yogurt is more of a "gateway cheese". I have this sneaky suspicion that this simple cheese will lead me down the slippery slope of rennet and who knows what after that. When that time comes, I will venture forth with culinary boldness into the unknown, but in the meantime this is where it starts....

I use a couple layers of cheesecloth that can easily be washed and reused to separate my yogurt into whey and cheese. My set-up is to lay the cheesecloth in a colander over a pot to passively drain my yogurt. I've used my plain homemade yogurt but any organic yogurt will work.

The whey is the liquid that drains out of the yogurt and is a valuable ingredient in lacto-fermentation. I've used it to make super yummy sauerkraut - stay tuned for my next blog entry on that. Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions has great info and recipes for using whey. Its "whey" cool.

I drain my yogurt in the colander for just a couple of hours at room temperature, resulting in a type of creme fraiche or sour cream that is delicious as a dollop in soup. I have also left it longer and made a yogurt "hammock" by simply tying my cheesecloth to a pair of chopsticks and suspending my little pillow of yogurt in mid air. This works great for a firm cream cheese. Make sure to save the whey, it should last in the fridge for a couple of months.

Basically, how long to drain the milk solids is a matter of taste. It depends on what I want to use it for - a dollop, dip, or spread.

I like to leave my sour cream unflavored and tangy but I've really fallen for a cream cheese mixed with the zest of one lemon and some coarse salt. Its a "real punch" of flavor as my friend exclaimed. Definitely going to experiment with herbs, garlic, and olives. I imagine once I have worked my way through the savory pantry I will move on to sweetly flavored cream cheeses. Is it berry season yet?

Edible Alchemy: Milk to Yogurt

2009-11-11T16:46:00.000-08:00

I have noticed recently that the food we have been savoring at home has evolved. A summer spent canning and preserving, started a rhythm of preparing and appreciating food from its most basic raw materials. I am learning the difference between food that takes time and food that takes planning. Fermenting results in some of my most favorite things to eat, and I know now that for most of these foods it takes me 5 minutes of active work and sometimes 12 hours or a week of waiting. That seems really manageable to me on a busy schedule and (as a person who likes to receive birthday presents early so I can enjoy the anticipation of NOT opening them) this fermenting business gets me really excited.

I have had the time to experiment and to learn from Tressa Yellig, the amazing creator of Salt, Fire and Time. Tressa follows a style of cooking promoted by the Weston A. Price foundation and made accessible by the Nourishing Traditions cookbook. It focusses on nutrient dense foods, rich with healthy animal fats and made digestible through fermentation. I have been inspired by her boldness and her integrity as a person and a chef.

And so when a quart of farm fresh organic milk recently made its way into my hands I decided to venture forth into a world of edible alchemy. It is not in my personality to understand the physics or chemistry behind these simple creations, instead I accept it as magic.....delicious, accessible magic.

Milk = Yogurt
Yogurt = Cream Cheese and Whey
Whey = Sauerkraut

What a tidy little sequence of events, wouldn't you say? I could go to the store and buy each of these items quite easily, but I get such pleasure from having the building blocks at my fingertips. I know that I save money, avoid packaging, and have complete control over what goes into my food. And like I said...its magic and its a hoot.

Here's the first round. I got this yogurt recipe from Sandor Ellix Katz's Wild Fermentation book, an incredible and informative read.

Heat a quart of organic milk in a heavy bottomed pot until the temperature reaches 180 degrees, stirring gently the whole time. If you don't have a thermometer look for the small bubbles starting to foam around the edges.

Turn the heat off and allow to cool till you can put your finger in the milk without flinching. (110 degrees).

At this point add only a tablespoon of organic yogurt that has live cultures. This will be your starter culture but next time you make yogurt you can use a tablespoon from the previous batch. Mix the starter in until its dissolved in the milk. Pour into a pre-heated quart jar and close tightly.

In the meantime you need to devise a way to tuck your jar of yogurt-to-be into a warm and cozy spot for the night. You could wrap the warm jar in towels and set the bundle in a toasty spot, but my favorite method is to fill a couple hot water bottles and snug them into a small insulated cooler.

Close the lid and surpress any desire you might have to peek and wiggle your jar of yogurt. It likes to rest in its cozy nest for 8-12 hours.

Our house runs cold this time of year and I often struggle with finding a consistently warm spot for my ferments and for my toes. I have to say the hot water bottles given to me by my British nana are well cuddled around here. In fact, for full disclosure, after I wrote that last sentence I got so inspired that I went and put the kettle on to fill up my hot water bottle for a bit of blogging warmth.

Soon enough, out comes yummy warm yogurt, sometimes with a thick layer of cream on top. You know the rest.....

Falling

2009-10-27T17:15:00.000-07:00

On my walk to the "friendliest store in town" I beheld glorious fall.

Dragging my feet along the way.....just to savor it.

Getting figgy with it.

2009-10-19T16:26:00.000-07:00

Recently, a dear friend of mine (after eating about 75 figs all to himself mind you) shared with me the location of a neighborhood fig tree, heavily laden and cascading over the public sidewalk. After knocking on the door to inform the residents of the house, we began to fill our basket with the most perfectly delectable figs. I had visions of fig sauce on pork chops in mid-winter and immediately began pouring over the Complete Book of Home Preserving, where I was happy to find an easy fig preserve recipe and great information about canning in general.

My basket held about 30 figs and I added these to 8 cups of boiling water. I turned the heat off, covered the pot and left the figs to sit for about 15 minutes.

In a different pot, I combined 2 Cups of sugar and one sliced lemon and boiled them over high heat with 4 cups of water to dissolve the sugar.

I removed the lemon slices and added 2 cups of figs at a time to the pot. I boiled them in the syrup until the skins became brown and transparent. I set these ones aside and added more green figs until they were all brown and the syrup was thick and dark. I combined the figs and syrup and left it to cool overnight.

The next morning I decided to chop up the figs before reheating them.

I brought the figs and syrup back to a boil and prepared my jars and lids. I filled my hot jars, making sure to leave 1/4" headspace and processed the jars in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes.

And here's the new addition to my winter stash. I made four half pint jars of Fig Preserves. That should last me until my dear friend tips me off to the location of another heavily laden and ambiguously owned fig tree.

Acknowledgments

2009-10-13T16:47:00.000-07:00

"I thank the animal tenders and beekeepers, and the ones with courage to slaughter. I thank the bakers, brewers, cheesemakers, miso makers, and sauerkraut makers. I thank the urban gardeners and the forest homesteaders. I thank the seed savers and skill sharers. I thank the dumpster divers, gleaners, and foragers. I thank the co-ops, farmers' markets, and CSA farms. I thank the crusaders, protestors, and watchdogs. I thank the cooks, chefs, and kitchen magicians everywhere who find creative expression in keeping people well fed. I also thank the dishwashers and those who do the grimy tasks that keep kitchens safe and clean. "
The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved
Sandor Ellix Katz

Red wigs on bikes

2009-10-07T09:01:00.000-07:00

Late last week my dear friend Der Lovett invited me to join him and a bunch of folks on a bike ride. The bike ride being a fundraiser for his friends Amie and Harper and an act of love and support that brought me to my knees and has stayed with me in my thoughts.

Recently after being blessed with a new baby into their lives, Harper was diagnosed with ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease. ALS is a disease that hits people between the ages of 40-70, in which the person slowly looses muscle movement and control, leading to inevitable paralysis. Meanwhile the mind is left completely unaffected. The bike ride was organized to raise money to help support Amie and Harper, as time progresses and the family's challenges become greater. The idea was that each person would donate $10.00 and join in this long meandering bike ride around NE Portland.. oh yeah.. and everyone wore RED wigs. Lovett Deconstruction matched our "teams" donations to make a pretty substantial overall donation. The organizers were expecting about 300 people to show up and it was such a beautiful sight to see. Amie, Harper, and their little baby joined us on the ride via pedicab.

I was deeply moved by being a part of this bike ride. It was an incredibly creative and deeply heartfelt act by a community of friends and supporters. It reminded me that by gathering together in large numbers we could raise a lot of money and provide a tangible show of love. There was a sweetness in the air, though I knew the seriousness of Amie and Harper's future, I also felt comforted by this simple act of human helping human. It was humbling to realize that all of us are always just a step away from loosing a loved one. How precious all this is.....all the more reason to don a red wig and celebrate one radiant evening together.

Two ways....

2009-10-02T16:56:00.000-07:00

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is." Albert Einstein

Sunday afternoon

2009-09-28T15:00:00.000-07:00

Sunday afternoon came around, and it was time for the "dog'gone dogooders" to head downtown to the weekly Potluck in the Park. This is a completely volunteer run event that just celebrated its 18th year of service. Every Sunday afternoon, rain or shine, a free meal is available to anyone, and we are talking a nutritious and bountiful hot meal. Various salads, casseroles, yogurt, breads and fresh fruit are just some of the choices available to the almost 400 folks that come by.

We showed up early to sign in and orient ourselves. There were a lot of volunteers helping out and that isn't counting all the folks who had been gathering food donations all week long and cooking the food on Sunday morning. There was a tourist couple from NYC who registered as volunteers through Hands on Portland, with the intention of participating in the place they were visiting. Brilliant!! Once again, I was really impressed by the number of kids that were volunteering that day. My own world as a young person was so self indulgent, I can't begin to imagine the effect it would have had on me to offer my time in support of another human being.

Once I started serving food, it was a whirlwind of activity peppered with moments that made me laugh and moments that slammed into my face the reality of poverty and homelessness in this country. It is only recently that I am beginning to experience relationship with another person across class lines. I am realizing that I have come to rely too heavily on my assumptions of another person based on how they look, making me lazy and likely to dismiss. Assumptions have stunted the curiosity that leads me to want to hear another person's story. It feels like a tool I misused and neglected. I've also become aware of how much censoring takes place in the formalities of my day to day life. Time spent around people experiencing homelessness has been filled with personal questions, outbursts of anger, exclamations of joy, contained quiet, random acts and a huge spectrum of personal space boundaries. Its dynamic, it feels like vibrant complicated life.

Rooted

2009-09-16T18:24:00.000-07:00

Keeping up

2009-09-09T12:00:00.000-07:00

As I sit here, a big pot of heirloom tomaters from the garden is bubbling away on the stove. Another round of canning tomato sauce for the winter is underway. It almost, and I emphasize almost, makes me sentimental for the coziness and the hearty meal of a dark winter evening.

This is our first season preserving the bounty, and I am humbled by the amount of time and labor that needs to be invested. But oh...what an investment in riches it is! We have canned cucumber bread and butter pickles, cucumber relish, jalapeno peppers, pickled beets, and tomato sauce. We have been racing to turn our basil jungle into tidy little pockets of frozen pesto. We have frozen grated zucchini for many future zucchini breads (chocolate chips to be added upon baking). All those mighty little seeds we started so many months ago have turned into plants, thriving and ripening and eager to feed us. It fills me with a deep sense of contentment to acknowledge the riches I have now and to set them aside, to tuck them away for later. Jars that are to be opened in the depth of winter, to nourish a gathering of friends and family.

Dog'gone Do-gooders

2009-08-26T10:35:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, blessed with the resource of time, if not money, a crew of friends decided to form a volunteer collective. A superforce that could organize and be available to volunteer at a moments notice.

It was a diverse group of folks, circles within circles of friends. And though it was a bucolic city in which they dwelled, there were a lot of places where their time and attention could make a difference. So they all looked deep into their hearts and thought about the values that were most important to them. The issues that both gave their lives force and made their hearts ache. For one girl it was protecting, loving and caring for animals. For another it was cleaning and maintaining the beautiful wild areas around the city. There was one who had the gift of art and wanted to use it as a vehicle for connecting with others.

And lets not forget the girl who had a big bug in her butt about food security and food justice. This girl loved to eat, and loved to eat local and nourishing and most of all loved to eat yummy. She wanted everyone to share in the access to the bounty that was possible. She wanted to help people grow food and help people afford food. And so she chose the Oregon Food Bank learning garden as an opportunity to gather up the volunteer collective and send them out into the world to create a ripple. Eight grouped together that day and showed up on a sleepy Saturday morning. There were other people from the community who were volunteering that day...and teenagers at that!

And so these 8 scattered amongst the vegetables and weeds to water, harvest, clear ground and generally have a good chat while getting some stuff done. The girl's father came along that day too, and though he had never worked in a garden before he had a good time and had to be dragged away from the incredibly gratifying job of weeding.

The group went on a tour of the Oregon Food Bank facility. The girl was absolutely floored by the perfectly executed and well organized warehouse. Everything was in its place and perfectly dialed in. The food bank was reaching sooooo many people which was amazing...but sooooo many people were in need which sucks. It was an inspiring and humbling experience and the girl was committed to figuring out a way to become a superhero of the urban food movement.

choices

2009-08-06T15:25:00.000-07:00

"Every time you spend money on food, you are voting for the world you want" John Kinsman

once was a driveway

2009-07-29T16:04:00.000-07:00

We have lived in our wonderful North Portland home for three growing seasons now. We have always said it came with good vibes and good bones. This third year into our vegetable garden out back lends me a feeling of deep contentment and awe. Those little seeds...all they wanna do is grow and take over the world with their abundance...what a beautiful sight. And yet...where do we go from here...we needed more room to keep up with our vision of edible bounty. The driveway must go!!!!

Fifty feet of concrete, 10 feet wide...now that's room to grow.

After looking at the depave website we felt ready to take on the task. Depave provided important information about calling 811, a free service, available nationwide that labelled all our utility lines so we could avoid any mishap. We rented two jackhammers and a concrete saw from Interstate Rentals and begged the help of a neighbor and the always dependable family. Five people, two jackhammers, a hearty lunch break, and seven hours later.....the soil breathed again.

All we ever needed was a meandering path for our beloved bikes peugeot and bianchi....