Clean Energy Springfield

Getting a late state, but I started planning the garden tonight. [Insert relationship between local food and clean energy. ;) ] Last year was my first garden, and it was a little overambitious. Nevertheless, I think I'm going to try to keep with it this year. That means, off the top of my head, I'll be cramming tomatoes, carrots, celery, pumpkins, broccoli, peppers (green and yellow), cucumbers, zucchini, chard, onions, lettuce, sugar snap peas, beans, beets, and okra into 32 square feet, not to mention flowers and herbs. (I'm a square foot gardening guy, and plenty stupid.)

What are y'all planting? Anyone else looking forward to your CSA or the farmer's market? Would anyone be interested in setting up a recipe-share group focused on what's coming into season, either in the market or in our gardens?

Three articles recently on biofuels. A Washington Post op-ed does a pretty even-handed job of looking at the state of knowledge on biofuels--the good and the bad, such as food-fuel competition and the comparable efficiency of different sources of ethanol. Meanwhile, George Monbiot says to just dump them. And today, the SJR reports that farmers are planting more corn this year.

Meanwhile, this is all crucially interesting because on April 19, UIS is hosting a panel discussion on the future of renewable energy resources. One topic will definitely be biofuels. Moreover, David Pimentel of Cornell University is on the panel. Pimentel is a widely recognized expert on ethanol, who is also extremely skeptical of its net energy benefits. The panel is from 7:00 to 9:00pm, at Brookens Auditorium. Put it on your calendar.

Treehugger has a post about a theoretical idea for "food towers," condominiums for farms, to fit into dense urban landscapes. On the one hand, it's a nifty idea that's worth a try--and I have to confess I get a little Tom Swifty-ish when presented with an outlandish sci-fi concept. On the other hand, I've read my Wendell Berry, and know this kind of thing crops up from time to time, and promises breakthroughs that are never realized because ... it winds up being kind of dumb. A better idea might be Berry's call for more horse-based farming. Even something like the Post-Carbon Institute's Local Energy Farms project. (And, of course, any time innovative agriculture comes up, I have to plug the Land Institute, which is working to create an American prairie-based food polyculture.)

Of course, the big problem with Berry's solution, and even the Local Energy Farms and the Land Institute, is that while they're doing great things to improve agriculture, they don't really have much to say about the food system, and about the crucial connection between cities and their hinterlands. (I'm taking this city/hinterland language from William Cronon's book on the development of Chicago, Nature's Metropolis (Powell's).)

One attempt at making this link is the 100 mile diet, started by a couple in Vancouver. It's a nifty idea, but I worry that it doesn't scale up. That is, why does everyone get a hundred miles? I.e., why are New Yorkers and Springfieldians looking at the same foodscape? I tried to scale it based on population once, and the result that I got was that all of Springfield should be eating from Sangamon County alone. That didn't quite make sense either.

Somehow, you have to be able to account for the population of the city, the quality of the surrounding land, and also to provide for open space and natural habitats. And I don't see anyone working on that.

Two great recent pieces about the struggle to make a market for local food in our increasingly processed foodscape. First, the always reliable Michael Pollan looks again at the relationship between our food choices and obesity, this time through the lens of what the federal government does. It isn't pretty. However, he concludes by noting that a public health coalition is pulling together to get a better Farm Bill this year -- probably something we ought to start organizing on, here in farm country.

Second, Tom Philpott at Grist looks at some of the struggles of local food markets in a rigged system.

If you have any interest in slow food, local food, being healthy, being sustainable, global warming, or helping the family farm, these are two must-reads. To my mind, we need two things: first, a plan for slowly scaling up our local food markets beyond the farmers' market, and, second, we need to get together and start working for change for a better Farm Bill. The impacts of that bill are tremendous, and are only now starting to be understood--not just its impacts to farmers, or to our food system, or our environment, but also to poverty in third world countries, where subsistence farmers are driven off their land, as their crops are undersold by subsidized American food--this is a crucial cycle of dependency that prevents the Third World from standing on its own (which, incidentally, can create more immigration for the U.S.).

One of the slams against sustainable foods--local and organic or some combination of the two--is that they're the preserve of the wealthy, the upper middle class. Rebecca Blood is giving herself a challenge to see if that's the case. She's committing to live within the USDA's "thrifty food plan" (which sets a baseline for food poverty, and is used to alot food stamps) for one month, but keep her food as local and organic as possible. For a two-person household, this gives her $74 per week. What's more, she's doing it publicly, so you can see how she does.

One of the thorny issues of local food (and relocalizing in general) is rebuilding the institutions that support local food. Millers and marketplaces are both needed to have a vibrant, comprehensive food system, and they've mostly withered away, replaced with massively centralized steroidal versions of what once was. A few weeks ago, after the late frost snap, Casaubon's Book had a post about the trouble of food security (i.e., having enough food to eat, year after year) in a relocalized system. The whole thing is worth reading, but I was particularly interested in this bit, which gives a brief idea of the kinds of institutions we need to start building:

My proposition would be that local communities open food security centers, consisting of (ideally), a food pantry, a community kitchen for community canning and food storage, along with cooking classes, a cafeteria, and a food banking system and store.

After spewing so many words the past few days, it was nice to be able to relax a little today. We started by biking out the Wabash Trail to Barnes and Noble (for, admittedly, today's earlier post). Sadly, Barnes and Noble needs a bike rack: T & I chained onto a tree, and then later someone else did, as well, and it was tricky getting unattached. I took the photo so I'd have something to show B&N's manager next time I go in, by way of asking for a rack.

Later, at home, I worked in the yard and garden for a while, and pulled some beets. I made Deborah Madison's Vinegared Beets Nested in Their Greens, from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. Basically, you steam about 2 pounds of beets until tender and peel them, and then steam their greens. Toss the greens with a little under a tablespoon of butter, salt, and pepper, then arrange them in a nest. In a pan, heat another just under a tablespoon of butter. Add 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar, and shake them around until the vinegar has evaporated. Spoon the beets into the nested greens. I suspect this is a "make and eat immediately" recipe, but it's going into the refrigerator, along with a pot of rice, to be doled out for lunch a couple of days this week.

For actual dinner tonight, T & I made a pea and carrot risotto, from Jack Bishop's Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook, along with a wilted spinach chard with garlic side, and fresh bread that T made while I was in the garden. The peas and carrots were from the farmer's market yesterday, and the chard was from the garden.

Most of the cooking was done while listening to the greatest hour of music on the radio, the Sangamon Valley Roots Revival.

And, of course, at the end of the day, a full compost crock is a happy compost crock.

Thanks to Carey Smith Moorman, who submitted the recipe below for a local food meal (she submitted this awhile ago, but I'm still digging out from underneath PURPA stuff). If you have any recipes that you like and want to share, using what's at the farmer's market, in your garden, or at your CSA, send it along or post it wherever you have webspace and I'll link.

One of the great things about what Carey sent in is the flexibility she's included--she started with the basic stuff (roasted vegetables), and then added on a few variations, which is a great way to start eating locally. Take a look & give it a try.

-- Greg

Roaster Pan Delight

From the farmers market:
4 qts. new potatoes, red and yellow
3 medium onions
1 head broccoli
2 summer squash, green and yellow
4 medium beets, plus their greens also

From the garden:
5 burdock roots [UPDATE: See comments below for a discussion on using burdock roots.]
handfuls of:
garlic scapes
garlic mustard
lambs quarters
oregano
basil
lemon balm

From the shelf:
2 Tbsp. olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Starting with the vegetables that take the longest to cook, peel and chop to bite-sized portions. Add olive oil and your starting vegetables to your roaster pan, and bake at 375 degrees. Keep chopping and adding to the roaster pan, until the potatoes taste done. At that point, add greens, season with salt and pepper, and turn off oven. Serve in ten minutes.

This is a beginning path to roaster pan vegetables. For instance, you can add whatever vegetables and herbs you may have on hand or in your garden, and leave out whatever vegetables or herbs do not suit your fancy.

For delicious leftovers, reheat with scrambled eggs (those dark orange ones that only come from hens raised the old-fashioned way, that eat bugs and run around), and serve with red sauce (ketchup, salsa, hot sauce, etc.) and shredded aged parmesan on warmed tortillas. They're not only tasty in the morning!

Following are three dressings to use on any batch of roasted vegetables (given in roaster-pan sized measurements):

Cantonese Dressing
2/3 c. soy sauce
2/3 c. rice vinegar
2 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger root
2 Tbsp. honey
2 Tbsp. dark sesame oil
6 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 tsp. ground anise

Italian Dressing
8 tsp. olive oil
1/2 c. fresh lemon juice
12 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
6 Tbsp. minced fresh rosemary (4-6 tsp. dried and ground)
2 Tbsp. minced fresh oregano
2 tsp. salt

Caribbean Dressing
6 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. canola or vegetable oil
4 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp. packed brown sugar
1 med. onion, coarsely chopped
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. ground black pepper
2 tsp. grated fresh ginger root
2 large garlic cloves, minced or pressed
2 fresh green chile, coarsely chopped, seeds removed for a milder "hot"

Here's this week's recipe, again courtesy Carey Smith Moorman:

Beans and Taters

Chop and fry 3-4 medium onions, and one bulb of garlic/handful of garlic scapes, in 1 Tbsp. of olive oil. Add 2 quarts yukon gold potatoes, washed and chopped, along with one cube of bouillon and two cups of water. Bring to a boil, then simmer lightly until potatoes are soft. Add 1 pound green beans, snapped. Cook additional 5 minutes. Salt, pepper, and otherwise season to taste.