Sustainable Food for Thought

Eat Fat - Burn Fat!

2012-01-20T06:31:00.000-08:00

A very common question I am asked by new-to-raw-milk customers is, “am I supposed to remove all that cream on the top of the jar of milk?” The short answer is no, you do not remove it, that’s the best part, and that’s where the nutrition is.

As many Americans, you were most likely raised like me, to believe that fat is bad for us, we must eat a low fat diet at all times, and the best fats are vegetable oils. This can’t be further from the truth! In the 1950’s, it was noted that retailers made far more money selling the butterfat for ice cream and butter rather than whole milk. When the butterfat was skimmed off, the remaining waste product was soon identified as something that could be marketed to the public – claims were made (completely unfounded) that skim milk would help people lose weight, which added more profit to the dairy industry. In reality, skim milk is full of empty calories leading to diabetes, allergies, obesity and higher levels of bad cholesterol.

My grass-fed jersey cows provide wholesome, healthful milk that is 25% cream by volume in a half gallon jar of milk. This nutrition-packed cream will actually help you burn fat, as opposed to a high-carbohydrate diet which puts your body into fat-storage mode. Carbs stimulate the secretion of insulin, which is the only hormone that puts fat into storage. Saturated fats from grass fed animals actually take more fuel to burn, thus increasing your metabolism.

Besides increasing our metabolism, full-fat raw milk from grass fed cows has been described as nature’s single most complete food in that it has more nutritional essentials in larger amounts than any other food. It contains enzymes, the fat soluble vitamins A, C, D, E, B6, and B12, and Activator X, identified as Vitamin K2. The vitamins A and D in the cream are needed for proper assimilation of calcium and protein in the skim portion of the milk. When we drink skim milk on its own, without any fat from the cream, it is not healthy and can actually be toxic and cause allergies. Our bodies only absorb the nutrition from the skim by drinking it as whole milk with all the fat still intact. Traditional whole milk was at least 4% butterfat. I like to buy cows that are testing at least 4.5%-5% butterfat!

And briefly, one additional wonderful substance in whole-fat raw milk is Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) which occurs in the butterfat of grass fed cows. Many studies over the last 20 years have established that CLA offers protection against breast cancer and other malignancies, through its role as a potent antioxidant.

It’s worth every penny to find a reliable source of whole, raw milk – real milk, from grass fed cows. You will find that by incorporating milk and, if you can, raw milk butter, yogurt, and kefir, you will have found the key to burning fat and feeling satisfied with your meals!

Charlotte Smith
@champoegcreamry
www.champoegcreamery.com
Charlotte passionately believes in the health benefits of a traditional foods diet, especially dairy products from grass-fed cows. She loves sharing time honored traditions of transforming milk into delicious and nutritious cheeses through her classes which are also teeming with nutrition facts and wisdom. Charlotte owns Champoeg Creamery, a pasture based raw milk dairy in St. Paul, Oregon, and is the mother of 3 and a certified Nutrition Wellness Educator.

Please Welcome our 2012 Contributing Writers

2012-01-03T11:20:00.000-08:00

I'm spending 2012 fulfilling a crazy dream of traveling the world with my husband, Ted, and recounting adventures at www.twoOregonians.com, and while I'm away from home and kitchen comforts, I've asked a handful of terrific friends and writers to continue sharing their real life, real food encouragements and experiences.

Through growing the community of Contributing Writers, Sustainable Food for Thought will continue to bring ideas, how-tos, encouragement, and inspiration to real food friends in the Pacific Northwest and across the web. You'll recognize a few voices from previous posts, Food Group get togethers, and Food Swaps, and you'll find new faces as well. Please join me in welcoming them as they prepare to share their stories this coming year!

Rebekah Pike
Rebekah is happiest with her nose in a book and enjoys making the most of her pint-sized, apartment kitchen. After leaving work in media production to become a full-time mommy, she began exploring the sustainable living movement, reconnecting with the back-to-the-earth ideals of her hippie parents. She met her husband, Darian, in 2005, working as a camp counselor in Oregon's rugged outdoors. Most of their time is spent chasing after their two year old daughter, Ashlynn, and doing serious “research” at Portland's restaurants, coffee shops and markets.

{Rebekah's friendship in my life is such a refreshing gift. She's one of the most competent, down-to-earth, and true-to-her-convictions women I've ever met. You'll love her! See her posts on Small Batch Canning, Trying New Farms, and Celebrating Rituals of the Season.}

Lindsay Strannigan
@rosemarried
www.rosemarried.wordpress.com
Lindsay is a Portland-based food writer and event coordinator who shares her love of whole and healthy foods, wine, and cooking on her blog and in the company of friends. She creates delicious recipes, often highlighting local ingredients from the Montavilla Farmers Market where she serves as Board Member, and she brings her culinary savvy and event planning skills to our mix, running our seasonal PDX Food Swap.

{Lindsay and I met at the inaugural PDX Food Swap, and she's rocked the food swap party ever since. Her lovely blog is full of celebration and sincerity ~ beautiful recipes to decorate your table, serve to friends, and savor in season. Keep an eye out for her updates here and on Facebook and Twitter regarding future Food Swaps!}

Charlotte Smith
@champoegcreamry
www.champoegcreamery.com
Charlotte passionately believes in the health benefits of a traditional foods diet, especially dairy products from grass-fed cows. She loves sharing time honored traditions of transforming milk into delicious and nutritious cheeses through her classes which are also teeming with nutrition facts and wisdom. Charlotte owns Champoeg Creamery, a pasture based raw milk dairy in St. Paul, Oregon, and is the mother of 3 and a certified Nutrition Wellness Educator.

{I'm lucky to be related to Charlotte; we're first cousins once removed and kindred spirits in the Real Food world. She's been such an inspiration to watch as she's revolutionized her food life and improved her family's health. Whether she's sharing tips for finding a raw milk source, teaching cheese classes, or tending to the well being of her charming cows in order to provide the highest quality accompaniment to freshly baked brownies, she's always sharing her dedication to healthy land, kitchens, animals, and people.}

Genevieve Cruz
www.pokrovfarm.com

Genevieve and her family moved to a 35 acre farm in Sandy, Oregon to improve their health and begin providing others with good food, too. They specialize in grass fed/finished beef and raw milk. She is a stay at home mom who began researching health and nutrition about eight years ago which led them to become farmers in 2008 and begin selling raw milk in March of 2009. She's learned many things while living on a farm and hopes to continue learning more. She loves having people over to visit and share meals.

{Genevieve and I met a few years back when I learned that she was providing raw milk, free range meat, and more from her farm in Sandy. I so enjoyed driving out toward Mt. Hood, visiting the baby turkeys that eventually became our Thanksgiving meal, and chatting about Joel Salatin, family farming, and more. She will begin sharing stories on the blog after the arrival of their newest addition to the family this spring.}

Jesse Buck
Jesse is Bethany Rydmark's {big} little brother. He is a junior in high school and lives on the family farm in St. Paul. He is a video game playing, combine driving, movie watching teenager who also may be found planting the garden, harvesting fresh veggies, snapping food photos in Hipstamatic, cooking dinner for special occasions, and spending an afternoon watching Julia Child episodes and cooking through stacks of recipes with his favorite sister.

{I'm so excited that Jesse is game to share his kitchen experiences on the blog! In the past, the two of us have tackled holiday meal prep together, headed to the vegetable garden to bring in the bounty, and even honed a few choice knife skills at a one-day culinary school. Learning by trying and doing and feeding curiosities should make for fun posts, and you can bet he'll have fun sharing pictures of his final products.}

Kelsey Willard
Kelsey's Health-Food-Courses

www.lifeatthewillards.blogspot.com
Kelsey is a firefighter/paramedic with Clackamas Fire and a dedicated homemaker who has successfully tackled health issues through alternative cooking. Kelsey shares her love of wholesome food with others through small scale health food courses and friendly conversation. She is dedicated to living well and staying fit, and she and her husband are in excited preparations to grow their family through adoption.

{Kelsey and I knew each other through social circles from high school days, but only after reconnecting through Food Group did I get to know her better and learn about her passion for nourishing foods. I admire her hard work and dedication in all areas of life, and I'm grateful to be able to host her here!}

Michelle Felt
@meeshfelt

www.feedyourskull.com
Michelle is a graduate of the Raw Gourmet Institute in Chicago, Illinois. Having grown up in the suburbs of Chicago, she has recently relocated to Portland, Oregon, where the produce is crazy fresh abundant and the culture is as thick as the Midwest’s humidity. She loves raw foods and advocates for eating with realism and relish. "Approach each eating experience as an opportunity to nourish your body, eating the best you can, in the moment."

{Michelle and I met this past fall after Portland lured her and her husband to settled down and start a new chapter following time overseas in Ireland, England, France, and Spain. We've spent time together as WordPress buddies, tapping away at laptops at the Laurelhurst Cafe, and I'm always impressed to read about the bright and lively foods she's whipping up in her Portland kitchen.}

Whether you've been a faithful Food Group member since 2008, a Food Swapper since 2010, or a blog reader since the beginning of 2012, thank you for being here and sharing the joy and health of food and thoughtful living. All the best to each of you this new year!

~Bethany

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Winter 2011 PDX Food Swap Recap

2011-12-24T08:00:00.000-08:00

A hearty thank you to all who participated in our Winter PDX Food Swap on December 11th.

Amazing to think that one year after our inaugural swap, the mini documentary about our event produced by Cooking Up a Story, along with mentions in the Huffington Post, New York Times, food magazines, blogs, and other news sources inspired the founding of countless Food Swaps around the country as well as this fall's recent launch of The Food Swap Network.

Each of you who have put thought and care into your food and shared it with friends are to be thanked for this fantastic new(old!) community celebration.

As I depart Portland for extended travels and Sustainable Food for Thought grows into a new chapter, Lindsay Strannigan of Rosemarried will take over hosting the PDX Food Swap seasonally in 2012. You will continue to find information on upcoming swaps here, on our PDX Swappers Facebook Page, and on Twitter.

In the meantime, enjoy the peek at this month's delicious swap goods...
(in no particular order)

mustard, kimchi, oatcakes, herbal tea...
jerusalem artichokes, apple sauce

nut butter, granola, spiced nuts
cranberry sauce or chutney, bread & butter pickles, pickled beans, eggs, beer

brown red wine mustard, sweet mustard sauces, red wine vinegar, jams
fruitcakes, herb chai
spicy pickles, blueberry nutmeg jam, honey, rosemary & balsamic pumpkin butter
challah and baguettes

salted caramels and caramel sauce

jams, jellies, fruit mostarda, flavored vinegar

cranberry ketchup, caramelized onion marmalade, biscotti
bread, jam, wheat berries, bagels, sauerkraut, eggs
granola
kombucha
chocolate-fig bars

various pickled veggies, home-baked goods
apple maple jam
vanilla spiced pear butter
grape jelly
drinking vinegar

homemade mustards, granola, custom spice & salt blends
canned heirloom tomatoes

A farewell photo with Lindsay Strannigan of Rosemarried.

As always, we're so grateful to Abby at Abby's Table for sharing her wonderful space.

Thanks one and all for another delightful array of home made, hand crafted goodness!

Have a wonderful holiday season with family, friends, and good food, and a merry 2012.

I'll be thinking of you swappers this next year while I'm away. Thank you all for the opportunity to get to know you and to share and receive from your lovely pantries of thoughtfully made foods. I'll be eager to return to swapping again once I'm home, perhaps with a few foreign recipes up my sleeve? All the best to you between now and then...

Until we swap again,

~Bethany

PS: If you have photos or stories from the event, please do share. Feel free to post on the Facebook Page, link in the comments below, or send a note at via the contact form above.

Want to keep up to date on future swaps?

The easiest way is to like the PDX Swappers Facebook page

and follow us on Twitter.

Stay tuned for updates on the PDX Swappers Spring 2012 Swap date.

{ Interested in Starting Your Own Swap? }

Remember, The Food Swap Network launched this fall!

Visit the site for more details.

A New Season at Sustainable Food for Thought

2011-12-22T13:00:00.000-08:00

Friends, with an adventurous heart and a bit of wonder at the seasons of life, I'm writing today to share about changes at Sustainable Food for Thought.

This past summer, after several years of running Sustainable Food for Thought, hosting Food Groups, and offering her front porch as a bulk food drop point, Emily Pastor transitioned from life in the Pacific Northwest to a new home and writing opportunities in Chicago, Illinois. Beginning this new season, she will be sharing her life and writing at www.milkthistlethoughts.com.

Autumn found me wrapping up commitments and making arrangements to begin a year long journey with my husband to explore the far corners of the earth. While I'm away from Portland during 2012, I'll be sharing photos and stories from our travels at www.twoOregonians.com.

Though we've ceased our dear Sustainable Food for Thought Food Group gatherings, bulk buying arrangements, and Portland-area adventures, I'm glad to remind you of a few of the new and continuing opportunities led by Food Group friends:

Kelsey Willard recently began teaching Health Food Courses
Andrea and Allison continue Raw Milk pick ups
Charlotte now blogs at ChampoegCreamery.com

The PDX Food Swap will remain meeting seasonally, led by friend and local Portland food blogger, Lindsay Strannigan of Rosemarried. (Hint: if you're looking for scrumptious recipes making the most of seasonal foods, be sure to bookmark her site!)

Lastly for this update, keep an eye out for a soon-coming post with proper introductions to our new 2012 Contributing Writers! I'm so excited to welcome them as they bring inspiration and encouragement to our group of food friends, sharing their real life, real food experiences.

To each of you readers and friends, thank you for the past years of sharing the Sustainable Food for Thought adventure with us! We're hopeful to see how the next season unfolds and always grateful to look over our shoulders and see the blessings of journeying with you...

~Bethany & Emily

Reflections on Small-Batch Canning

2011-12-07T11:18:00.001-08:00

Why small-batch? There are many reasons why this type of canning has become popular, but for me it’s all about breaking my love for food projects into manageable units. I have memories of watching my mom making jams and jellies on a huge scale, but I don’t possess either the space or the saint-like perseverance to devote to canning on that level. This is only my second year to can on my own, so I’m also still a bit nervous about the whole process. That’s probably an understatement.

I’m neurotic about canning procedure.

I admit it. I worry. I check and recheck (and recheck) directions.

I listen anxiously for each little “ping!” while the jars are cooling.

This means that I am a slow and cautious cook when it comes to putting food into jars, so preserving in small batches really works well for me.

Despite my anxiety over canning, I love the results.

Popping open a jar of yummy goodness in the middle of a dreary Oregon winter just makes me happy.

I was especially excited about canning this fall, because I received a fantastic gift from my in-laws: freshly picked fruit from their small, but productive, hundred-year-old orchard. They had an excellent apple and pear harvest this year and I was lucky enough share in both the labor of bringing in the fruit and the delicious rewards!

I started by turning a sack full of those apples (mixed with some I had purchased elsewhere) into five pints of applesauce. My daughter loves the stuff and I think Grandma and Grandpa’s apples make her like it even more. I like mine with minimal sugar and lots of spice - cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg - whatever I have on hand. The brilliant thing about making applesauce is that it’s very forgiving, which makes it perfect for anxious canners, like myself.

I also had several pounds of pears from their very large, very ancient Bartlett tree to work with. These became four half-pints of pear cardamom butter, using a recipe from Tart and Sweet. Only four half-pints, you might wonder? Yes. I was surprised as well, because I fervently adhered to the recipe, as is my nature to do, and the recipe promised seven half-pints. But my experience with fruit butters is that yields are approximate. The small amount I did end up with is delicious – sweet and spicy from the cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves with a hint of licorice, thanks to star anise pods, which I’d never cooked with before. I have a feeling it will be delicious with some blue cheese on crackers this winter!

Although I feel like my autumn preserving efforts were modest at best, I was truly blessed by the experience of tramping out into the orchard and working with fruit that would be considered too imperfect for the grocery store, but made up for all of its superficial flaws in depth of flavor. Foraging a harvest from those gnarled and knobby trees, which have essentially been left in their wild, natural state, was a unique and rewarding experience.

Those old trees outdid themselves this year and we’ll be enjoying their bounty all through the winter. So much to be thankful for as we approach the end of the harvest season!

More inspiration & recipe tips: Craigslist Apples & Cardamom Apple Butter

Rebekah Pike is most happy with her nose in a book and enjoys making the most of her pint-sized, apartment kitchen. After leaving her job in media production to become a full-time mommy, she began exploring the sustainable living movement and reconnected with the back-to-the-earth ideals of her hippie parents. In 2005, her love of Oregon’s rugged outdoors led to a summer job as a camp counselor, where she met her husband, Darian. Most of their time is spent chasing after their two year old daughter, Ashlynn, and doing serious “research” at restaurants, coffee shops and markets around Portland.

Winter 2011 Portland Hand Crafted Food Swap

2011-11-19T17:43:00.000-08:00

Registration is Now Open for our Winter 2011 Portland Hand Crafted Food Swap!

Hosted by Rosemarried & Sustainable Food for Thought at Abby's Table in SE Portland

Invite Friends & Spread the Word:

@pdxswappers | #pdxfoodswap | PDX Swappers Facebook Page

(*Please note the early start time for this swap!)

Where: Abby's Table, 609 SE Ankeny Street, Portland, OR 97214

What: Bring an assortment of your homemade edible specialties to exchange for other handcrafted delights. Sustainable Food For Thought will provide swapping cards, name tags, and organization for the event. You will be given the opportunity to offer trades in a silent-auction type format, and you will be free to choose which trades to accept for your products. Bring as much or as little as you like; there are no caps or minimums.

Who: Pacific Northwesterners {aka the Willamette Valley, the Portland Metro Area, and our Neighbors to the North}. Please note, we are unable to provide childcare for this event.

Cost: Swap participants will be given free entry; a donation jar will be available to help cover the cost of supplies. (Or, better yet, donate one of your hand crafted goods!)

{How?}

a) RSVP below with your name, contact info, & description of items you plan to trade.

Register early! Due to limited space, we are capping the number of swappers at 35 and will maintain a waiting list.

b) On Sunday the 11th, please bring your hand crafted goods and be read to swap!

c) Simple as that! We’re excited as always to meet one another and celebrate the bounty of the seasons and the fruits of our labor. If you have any questions about the swap, please refer to this handy list of FAQs.

d) Please note the early start time for this particular swap. Make sure to arrive at 2:00pm so we can get started on time. In addition, there will be no appetizer potluck for this swap. Instead, bring extras of the goods you plan to swap so that people can taste and sample.

Registration for this event is now closed. If you would like to be placed on the waiting list, please send an email to pdxfoodswap@gmail.com. Thank you!

Registration is now closed for this event.

All registrants will receive an email confirmation.

Thank you, and we hope to see you on December 11th!

A Community Garden Story

2011-11-07T08:38:00.000-08:00

“A community is the mental and spiritual condition of knowing that the place is shared, and that the people who share the place define and limit the possibilities of each other's lives. It is the knowledge that people have of each other, their concern for each other, their trust in each other, the freedom with which they come and go among themselves.” ― Wendell Berry

Last year, not too many months after my husband and I partnered with a local non-profit to start a Transitional Housing Project in Montavilla, we attended a Community Food Forum in the neighborhood. The meeting raised awareness about the conditions and needs of under resourced residents in our corner of Portland.

We were so grateful this past spring when a local church worked up some of its vacant land, built garden plots, fenced in the area, and opened sign ups to apartment dwellers and neighbors without access to land.

Matt Lawer with the Central Bible Church Community Garden graciously gave our Transitional Housing Program access to our own garden plot, and we enjoyed inviting friends and neighbors from the Program to take part in planting, growing, and harvesting their own fresh food.

We're also incredibly grateful to Jeff Michaels of Cascade Organic for donating an enormous variety of heirloom veggie starts.

{Springtime Planting}

{Growing Food & Friendships}

{Edible Lessons}

A few of our apartment girls game out one summer evening to learn how to harvest and cook fresh greens. After a how-to and taste-test hosted in my kitchen, one of the girls game back 20 minutes later to show off her own cooking skills. She'd gone home and re-created the dish all by herself!

Therein lies the beauty of teaching and sharing: young people empowered to get dirt under their nails, try new foods, cook for themselves, and share the table with neighbors.

{Summer & Autumn Harvests}

Again, beautiful heirloom tomatoes grown from starts
donated by Jeff Michaels of Cascade Organic

We are grateful to each member of the community who participated this past year:

Central Bible Church for opening the garden.
Matt and Tori for extending the invitation to the community.
Jeff Michaels for donating plants.
Our residents for planting, watering, weeding, and harvesting.

Our community is stronger for the opportunities to work together
and the joys of growing, harvesting, and feasting on home-grown, healthy foods.

Thank you.

~Bethany

Bringing in the Sheaves

2011-11-04T14:24:00.000-07:00

I recently enjoyed the rare privilege of a solitary trip to the Beaverton Farmers’ Market.
I adore autumn, with all its old-fashioned little rituals.

Drawing in the last of the harvest…

Cleaning out the busy summer’s clutter and preparing home and hearth for winter…

Celebrating the end of harvest and joy of plenty with harvest time feasting and merriment…

Putting up and stocking up for the long, cold winter to come…

Slowing down from summer and preparing for the busy holiday season…

As I walked around the market on this seasonably chilly and breezy morning, I was struck by how different the energy around me seemed from the opening markets in the spring or even the high summer markets of only a few weeks past. The weather was different of course and the trees were now arrayed in their Technicolor best. But the shift that I sensed was less tangible than that. The mood was cheerful, but a bit subdued from the exuberance and abundance of summer. The crowds were thinner. The farmers were friendly and helpful as ever, but perhaps a bit mellower, as though they were road-weary travelers, approaching home from a long, eventful journey.

As I filled up my bag to the brim with apples, pears, delicata squash, broccoli, potatoes, a few carrots and grapes, I reflected on the deep, abiding ties between humans and the changing seasons.

Here in the suburbs, I often feel divorced from nature, as I’m sure many people do. But I find it interesting that even if you’re not the type to spend a Saturday morning shopping an outdoor market and indulging in philosophical musings, everyone seems to feel a bit nostalgic for the need to bring in the harvest – even though the vast majority of us aren’t directly responsible for the reaping and storing of crops any longer.

Even in our virtually non-stop society, where our lives carry on pretty much as usual, with no thought given to quaint concerns such as “season,” autumn brings to mind the little traditions that link our very modern lives to the celebrations of yore –

Hay rides…

Drinking fresh-pressed apple cider…

Choosing pumpkins straight from the farmers’ fields…

Preparing our families’ favorite seasonal foods at home…

Even die hard city dwellers will find themselves pining for a visit to the farm in October. It’s fascinating to me that despite all our efforts at “modernization” and our attempts to grant nature as little influence over our busy lives as possible, we seem to have some sort of primal instinct that calls us back to the land at harvest time.

By and by the harvest and the labor ended,

We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.

-Knowles Shaw, 1874

Rebekah Pike is most happy with her nose in a book and enjoys making the most of her pint-sized, apartment kitchen. After leaving her job in media production to become a full-time mommy, she began exploring the sustainable living movement and reconnected with the back-to-the-earth ideals of her hippie parents. In 2005, her love of Oregon’s rugged outdoors led to a summer job as a camp counselor, where she met her husband, Darian. Most of their time is spent chasing after their two year old daughter, Ashlynn, and doing serious “research” at restaurants, coffee shops and markets around Portland.

Autumn PDX Food Swap Highlights

2011-10-31T12:31:00.000-07:00

Cheers to harvest preservation and sharing the bounties of our kitchens! PDX Swappers met for our seasonal food swap on Sunday, October 23rd at Abby's Table in SE Portland, and we were blessed with another beautiful array of home made, hand crafted goods.

Many thanks to Lindsay Strannigan, local Portland food blogger and kitchen extraordinaire, for her assistance in running the event. Pay her a visit and take a peek at her recipe for Crema di Limoncello that made an appearance at the swap!

Our Winter PDX Food Swap will be held on Sunday, December 11th at Abby's Table.
Registration opens late November.

Want to keep up to date on future swaps?

The easiest way is to like the PDX Swappers Facebook page.

{ Interested in Starting Your Own Swap? }

Soon, the Food Swap Network will go live, providing access to resources, FAQs, a swap directory, and all sort of juicy bits of inspiration to help you begin your own local event.

In the meantime, check out this smattering of terrific resources:

Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking: Food Swaps
Brooklyn Homesteader: Food Swaps Across America
LA Food Swap: Start Your Own
Seattle Swappers: How a Food Swap Works
CHOW: Rules for Effective Swapping

PS: If you have photos or stories from the event, please share. Feel free to post on the Facebook Page, link in the comments below, or send us a note at sustainablefoodforthought@gmail.com.

Until we swap again,

~Bethany

Autumn Food Swap FAQ

2011-10-19T17:41:00.000-07:00

We're excited to see you at Sunday's PDX Food Swap. This October 23rd event is now full, and all registrants have received a confirmation email. Any additional registrations will be kept on a wait list in the event that last minute openings arise. Our next scheduled swap is set for Sunday, December 11th, and we'll begin taking RSVPs mid-November.

In the meantime, seasoned-swapper Lindsay of rosemarried has graciously aided in putting together a helpful FAQ based on some of the questions that came in from those of you new to Food Swapping:

How much stuff should I bring to swap?
Bring as much (or as little) as you like! The more you bring to swap, the more items you’ll take home. There is no minimum, just bring whatever you’re comfortable swapping.

Suggestions on types of goods/foods to bring:
We encourage you to be creative with your swap items! You may swap baked goods, canned goods, homemade spice blends and teas, homemade lotions and balms, home-grown fruits & vegetables, honey, vinegar, dried goods, and more.

Can I bring alcohol?
Yes, you may bring alcohol to swap! In the past we’ve had people swap home brews, infused liqueurs, and other forms of alcohol. Please note, this is a cash-less exchange.

Do my swap items have to be canned? Or can I bring items that need to be refrigerated or frozen?
We do not require swap items to be canned. However, if your item needs to be refrigerated or frozen, please mark this information on your label. We don’t want anyone getting sick!

How should I package or label my goods?
Make sure everything is contained in a jar, bag, or container that makes the items easy to transport and swap. Make sure all your goods are labeled so that we know what they are! Ingredient lists aren’t necessary but can be very helpful to include.

Additional Inspirations:
Seattle Swappers' How a Food Swap Works
Chow.com's Rules for Effective Food Swapping
Bethany's Pinterest Food Swap Board
Cooking Up a Story's Food Swap Video

Autumn PDX Food Swap: October 23, 2011

2011-10-04T17:09:00.000-07:00

Registration Now Open for our Autumn 2011 Portland Hand Crafted Food Swap!

Hosted by Sustainable Food for Thought at Abby's Table in SE Portland

Invite Friends & Spread the Word:

@pdxswappers | #pdxfoodswap | PDX Swappers Facebook Page

After putting up, whipping up, drying, canning, soaking, mixing, stacking, sorting, and setting aside, come celebrate by bringing your favorite creations to swap with fellow Portland foodies.

A Food Swap is part silent auction/part village marketplace/part fun-loving open house where your homemade creations (breads, preserves, special concoctions, canned goods, etc.) become your own personal currency for use in swapping with other participants. What better way to diversify your pantry and rub shoulders with friend and neighbors?

When: Sunday, October 23rd, 2011, 4pm-6pm

Where: Abby's Table, 609 SE Ankeny Street, Portland, OR 97214

What: Bring an assortment of your homemade edible specialties to exchange for other handcrafted delights. Sustainable Food For Thought will provide swapping cards, name tags, and organization for the event. You will be given the opportunity to offer trades in a silent-auction type format, and you will be free to choose which trades to accept for your products. Bring as much or as little as you like; there are no caps or minimums.

Who: Pacific Northwesterners {aka the Willamette Valley, the Portland Metro Area, and our Neighbors to the North}. Please note, we are unable to provide childcare for this event.

Cost: Swap participants will be given free entry; a donation jar will be available to help cover the cost of supplies. (Or, better yet, donate one of your hand crafted goods!)

{How?}

a) RSVP below with your name, contact info, & description of items you plan to trade.

Register early! Due to limited space, we are capping the number of swappers at 35 and will maintain a waiting list.

b) On Sunday the 23rd, please bring your hand crafted goods + a contribution to the appetizer potluck.

c) Simple as that! We’re excited as always to meet one another and celebrate the bounty of the seasons and the fruits of our labor~

This Event is Now Full ~ Thank You!

All registrants have received an email confirmation.
Any new submissions will be held on a waiting list.

&lt;p&gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Loading...&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Thanks so much ~ see you there!

{ PDX Food Swap Documentary }

Homemade Honey Sweetened Ketchup

2011-09-21T10:10:00.000-07:00

Tomatoes threaten to overtake our entire kitchen at present.

(Same song, second verse?)

In addition to those included in our weekly CSA delivery, I'm also harvesting from our two community garden plots, and recently my friend and CSA-share-splitter Allison visited the farm to pick up our 50 lb "Salsa Time" stash.

So, what to do at 11pm on a work-night when I should be sleeping or making progress on freelance projects? Make ketchup, of course! (ha.) But seriously, it's so delicious, it's by far worth the time (and during tomato season, I can only take so much pasta sauce).

Since it's such a simple recipe (very easy to make once you've rounded up the ingredients), I quadrupled the batch. I found it easier to keep batches spread between different pots to keep the heat/surface area consistent.

Regular ol’ Tomato Ketchup (but better)

Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It - Karen Solomon

1 cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
5 whole cloves
5 cardamom pods (crushed)
1 star anise
10 black peppercorns
~~1 (28 oz) can whole tomatoes~~ I blanched and slipped the skins off fresh tomatoes
1 large yellow onion, quartered
2 Tablespoons ~~neutral vegetable oil~~ I used refined coconut oil, since I had it on hand
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/3 cup ~~packed brown sugar~~ I used a combination of honey and molasses
1/2 cup ~~champagne vinegar~~ I used apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon hungarian paprika

1. Using a piece of cheesecloth (or an empty tea bag), tie the cinnamon, bay, cloves, cardamom, anise, and peppercorns into a bundle. Set aside. {I didn't get that fancy. I just threw the spices in and fish out the remnants at the end}

2. Pour tomatoes and their juice into a food processor or blender. Puree until totally smooth, and set aside all but 1/4 cup. To the remainder, add the onion and puree.

3. In a large dutch oven (this will splatter so use a large tall pot), heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion puree and the 2 teaspoons of salt and stir well. Cook for 8-10 minutes, letting the puree reduce and lightly brown. Add the tomato, sugar and vinegar, turn heat to a low simmer, and reduce for about 15 minutes uncovered, with an occasional stir. Add the spice bundle and reduce for 10 minutes more, with an occasional stir. When it’s done reducing, it should be a little thinner than commercial ketchup. Stir in paprika, taste for seasoning and add salt and freshly ground black pepper as needed. {Don't be afraid to let it cook longer. The more liquid that boils off, the thicker the final consistency}

4. Let ketchup cool and remove the spice bundle. {Ha! See above note about fishing.} Pour into a jar and chill overnight, or at least for 6 hours.

Will store in fridge for up to 2 months.

To can: ladle into sterilized jars, leaving 1/4 headspace and process in a water-bath canner for 15 minutes (more at higher elevations).

For those of you who make it in your own kitchen -- I hope you enjoy. It's a favorite staple in our house, and I'll be the first to say that it gives any high-end restaurant a run for its money...

One of my top memories last year was serving it alongside kale & egg cups when we had our good friends Alyssa and Bryan over for breakfast.

Ketchup? For breakfast? Yes. It's that good.

~Bethany

Grocery Shopping in Season: Our Food Life Calendar

2011-09-18T13:03:00.000-07:00

Purchasing Patterns for Local and Seasonal Eating
vs.

Purchasing Patterns for Seasonless Supermarket Shopping

Summer bade farewell to the Rose City this past week (judging by the weather, if not the autumnal equinox), and with the appearance of fall comes the influx of ripened tomatoes, the returning allure of the oven, and a reminder of the until-recently too-hot-to-cook stash of pastured meat in the back of the freezer...tangible reminders of our seasonal food life.

Over the past years of experimenting and learning to purchase and cook in ways informed by natural cycles of "springtime and harvest," I've transitioned to conceptualizing my household food budget as spread out over the entirety of the four seasons rather than isolated to individual weeks or months.

{ Our Yearly Food Life Calendar }

Download as a PDF

Purchasing and preserving according to rhythms of the seasons rather than regularity of the paychecks takes a bit of planning, but I've experienced firsthand the the payoff in terms of quality, sustainability, and satisfaction at the dinner table.

Paying for our annual CSA membership takes a chunk of change at the beginning of the year, but it frees me up from paying for vegetables once the bountiful spring and summer and autumn months are underway.
Spending money on canning supplies at the onset of preservation season means shopping for "free" from my pantry stash all during the winter months instead of picking up cans of tomatoes at Trader Joes in December and January.

Writing a check for large amounts of honey and maple syrup all at once means a price savings on high quality supplies now on hand for easily sweetening morning meals of steel cut oats or a favorite brownie recipe.

Buying foods in bulk means a $50 minimum order for Azure Standard (that I could always split with friends), but cheaper prices per pound and less trips to the grocery store to refill the flour, spices, beans, and nuts throughout the following months.

{ A Few Favorite Opportunities for East-Side Portland Bulk Buys }

Thanks to Chris at Lost Arts Kitchen for coordinating these upcoming buys:

Freddy Guy's Hazelnuts (Orders due 9/26/11)
Organic Maple Syrup (Orders due 9/26/11)
Larson's Creamery Butter (Orders due 10/3/11)

For info on other related east-side Portland buys, check out one of my favorites:
The Montavilla Food Buying Club

Or check out the helpful list from our April meeting:
Food Group Re-cap: Buying Foods in Bulk

{ What About You? }

Any changes in your buying patterns over the past few years?
Any of them harder (or easier) than others?
Any favorite sources?

~Bethany

The People's Co-op Food Swap

2011-09-12T10:11:00.000-07:00

You're invited to participate in the People's Co-op Food Swap on Wednesday, September 21st, 2011 at 6pm. For details and to RSVP, visit Lindsay at rosemarried.com.

Happy Swapping!

Back to the Start: Graphic Art in the Food Revolution

2011-08-31T12:28:00.000-07:00

As a landscape architect, I value the usefulness of wordless graphics to convey a message.

The complexities of our modern food systems boggle the mind, and reading story after essay after published journal article sometimes overwhelms and leaves me grasping for straightforward explanations to share with friends and family.

This simple animation reminds us all of the need for reinvention and revolution in the standards of practice for food and farming.

From YouTube: Coldplay's haunting classic 'The Scientist' is performed by country music legend Willie Nelson for the soundtrack of the short film entitled, "Back to the Start." The film, by film-maker Johnny Kelly, depicts the life of a farmer as he slowly turns his family farm into an industrial animal factory before seeing the errors of his ways and opting for a more sustainable future. Both the film and the soundtrack were commissioned by Chipotle to emphasize the importance of developing a sustainable food system.

Thanks to Kate, at Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking, for pointing me toward this clip! And a sincere thank you to the farmers, companies, co-ops, and individuals dedicated to returning back to the start.

~Bethany

Local Food Needs YOU: Part Two

2011-08-21T17:47:00.000-07:00

Friends,

As a continuation of the call for public involvement on the issue of Community Food Distribution Points as addressed in The Urban Food Zoning Code Update Project, I've asked for permission to share a recent update issued by the The Montavilla Food Buying Club Steering Committee.

An example of last season's weekly CSA delivery.

Our ability to gather at an urban drop point in a residential area

to pick up farm-fresh produce delivered by our local farmer

is threatened by potential changes to the Portland Zoning Code.

Please consider taking a small chunk of time read through the issues and submit your input through the city's Online Survey (open until August 29th).

This is an important juncture in the storyline of local food in Portland, and your input may very well shape the future of access to nourishing, responsibly sourced meals in this city.

***

The City of Portland is in the process of putting in place zoning codes to regulate where market gardens, community gardens, farmers markets, chickens and bees, and "food membership distribution sites" (ie. CSA and food buying club pick up sites) can be located.

Their decisions could have a big impact on our food buying club, including prohibiting residential/home pick-up sites for both CSAs and food buying club deliveries.

Right now they are leaning toward allowing CSA and food club deliveries only in COMMERCIAL or LIGHT INDUSTRY zones, but NOT allowing them in RESIDENTIAL and OPEN SPACE areas, except maybe at "small distribution sites with fewer members."

Why are they headed in this direction regarding buying clubs and CSA drop sites? Because of concerns about parking/traffic disrupting residential neighborhoods.

Have they had any complaints? Yes, but only about one club, which has since moved to a commercial space.

We did our best to point out that it is not appropriate to evaluate a club's ability to have home/residential dropsites based on their membership size. Rather, they should look at how many people participate in a club's average/largest BUYS, how OFTEN those large buys happen, and how long the pick up WINDOWS typically are--since a club can have 200 members but only 40 are buying and picking up for any one buy and it is usually spread out over a number of hours. So, our type of buys have virtually no effect on neighborhood parking or traffic.

That said, since zoning is totally complaint driven and apparently no one from any of the food buying clubs had ever showed up at these zoning code meetings before, the city planners are going to need feedback to decide in our favor.

Online Survey

OR print a hardcopy and forward it to:

Julia Gisler
Bureau of Planning and Sustainability
1900 SW 4th Avenue, Suite 7100
Portland, OR 97201
julia.gisler@portlandoregon.gov

The online questionnaire closes Monday, August 29th. Please weigh in!

What we hope you will say in response to the questions on Food Membership Distribution (which is on page 5 of the online questionnaire):

NO, they are not headed in the right direction.

The new zoning codes should allow drops in residential and open space areas for clubs &amp;amp; CSA drops whose LARGEST buys/pickups at any residential site do not exceed 60 buyers and offer at least a 6 hour window for pickup. Any residential buys/pick ups smaller than that should have no restrictions since they will have virtually no impact on parking or traffic.

You may also want to add something personal in the "What type of impacts concern you the most?" section.

This is what Amy Bean wrote:

"I am very concerned about any limitations with both types of distributions. Families NEED easier food access that doesn't involve a supermarket, and allows for purchases from local farmers and in bulk for reasonable prices. Not only does this improve livability, it strengthens neighborhoods and brings neighbors TOGETHER as partners who share common values in the quality of their food and where it comes from - sustainability in other words."

If CSAs and buying clubs are forced to only use dropsites in commercial locations, it will increase the costs for everyone, since item prices will need to go up to cover renting space for deliveries. It will also be a major pain for small/occasional sellers who would not be able to run buys from their homes.

Please take a few moments, go online to www.portlandonline.com/bps/foodcode and make your voice heard by Monday August 29th.

Thanks so much,
The Montavilla Food Buying Club Steering Committee

***

And thank you to Chana Andler of the Montavilla Food Buying Club and Portland Local Food for allowing me to republish her information.

~Bethany

Local Food Needs YOU: Portland's Urban Food Zoning Code Update Concept Report Accepting Comments

2011-08-12T22:42:00.000-07:00

"Community Food Distribution Points"

Image Source: City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability

The Urban Food Zoning Code Update Project is well underway here in Portland, Oregon.

When word went out seeking volunteer community members to participate on the Portland/Multnomah County Food Policy Committee's Food Advisory Group, my heart felt the tug, but realistically, I couldn't commit to another endeavor during this season of life.

However, I am happy to follow updates from time to time and participate (and encourage your participation) as life allows.

Until August ~~15th~~ 29th (that's Monday!), the public (that's you and me!) are invited to comment on the Food Policy Committee's Urban Food Zoning Code Update Concept Report.

The report covers the future of Farmers Markets, Community Gardens, Urban Food Production, Community Food Distribution, and Animals &amp;amp; Bees. In general, their work seems to be going in a positive direction: solidifying the ability of Portland to strengthen its local food shed and bolster community food security.

However, if you only spend time educating yourself and commenting about one thing, let it be 4) Food Membership Distribution Sites (page 21 and following). Future policy making impacts Community Supported Agriculture programs (such as our CSA, Gardenripe) and Food Buying Clubs (such as our own previous Azure drops, and the various Food Buying Club drops around Montavilla, East Portland, and the rest of the city).

The report notes examples for Portland to draw from, including the city of Philadelphia's standards:

Home occupation standards could apply to food membership distribution sites. Home occupation language in Philadelphia’s code could serve as guidance for regulating food membership distribution sites. The following rules are of particular applicability: no more than one off-street parking space is permitted for visitors; no separate building entrances may be added for the sole use of the home occupation; home occupations may not produce noise, vibration, glare, odors, parking/loading demands, traffic of other unreasonable effects on neighboring residences, up to three people who are not residents of the principal dwelling be may present at one time in connection with the home occupation; and lastly, truck deliveries of pick-ups of products associated with the home occupation are allowed only between the hours of 8am and 7pm, and delivery and pick-up via semitractor trailer is prohibited.

(Remember that Azure semi truck coming kindly down our Montavilla street to drop off our load of goods?)

Currently, the option is on the table for Portland to restrict drop sites to commercial and light industrial areas (and thereby not in residential or open spaces - including churches located in residential areas).

A quote from Know Thy Food's Facebook page: "this is exactly what happened to us, and why we were forced to move out of my home into our current space. not every club will be able to survive or afford such a move, so proposals to force them into commercial or light-industrial spaces is a proposal to shut them down. let's not let it happen!"

As the Committee contemplates Portland/Multnomah County's best choices for creating new policy, please let your voice be heard! (Remember, comments due by Monday!)

Online Survey

OR print a hardcopy and forward it to:

Julia Gisler
Bureau of Planning and Sustainability
1900 SW 4th Avenue, Suite 7100
Portland, OR 97201
julia.gisler@portlandoregon.gov

Because we ARE the community.

~Bethany

Monday, August 15th Update from Julia Gisler:

Problems with the on-line survey has been resolved and we apologize for the frustration this caused over the weekend.

The good news is that all surveys submitted were received (even if you got an error message) and will be added to the public record. As a result of this mishap we will be extending the deadline for questionnaires/surveys to Monday, August 29th at 5:00 pm.

Please pass this information on to others you think may be interested in commenting on the Concept Report. You can find the questionnaire at www.portlandonline.com/bps/foodcode.
Julia Gisler, City Planner
Portland Bureau of Planning & Sustainability

Further reading:
Portland Planners Threaten Local Resiliency, Local Food, and Local Economy

Real Food Field Trips: A Beginner’s Guide

2011-08-08T21:32:00.000-07:00

Where does Real Food come from? Who is responsible for growing and harvesting, preparing and sharing it? How can you find the answers and educate yourself, your children, and your friends and family?

This week, I'm guest posting at Frugal Granola.

Real Food Field Trips

A Beginner's Guide for Choosing Your Own Food Adventure

(And a big thank-you to my mom, who took me on endless field trips to give me the world!)

PDX Food Swap Summer 2011 Highlights

2011-08-03T22:02:00.000-07:00

With summer fruits finally ripe for the plucking and Oregon sunshine stickin' around, PDX Swappers met together for another terrific food swapping evening on Saturday, July 30th at Abby's Table in SE Portland.

Our group hosts several dozen swappers at our seasonal gatherings and over four hundred fans on our PDX Food Swap Facebook page, and we are excited to see the passion for thoughtfully made food and community connections continue to build...

Thanks one and all for another delightful array of home made, hand crafted goodness!

Want to keep up to date on future swaps?

The easiest way is to like the PDX Swappers Facebook page.

Stay tuned for updates on the PDX Swappers Autumn Swap date.

In the meantime, one of our swappers has extended the invitation to join her for a small Food Swap event at her home (she has 15 spaces available, first come, first served):

Backyard Food Swap

An informal gathering and trading of kitchen crafts

Saturday, August 13th, 2011

7:00 PM

5844 SE 21st Avenue

Portland, OR

(Westmoreland Area)

To RSVP and for more information, contact Debbie

503/523-8542

deborahotenburg@yahoo.com

{ Interested in Starting Your Own Swap? }

There are so many terrific resources beginning to surface on the internet ~ check out this smattering to get you going with inspiration:

PS: If you have photos or stories from the event, please share. Feel free to post on the Facebook Page, link in the comments below, or send us a note at sustainablefoodforthought@gmail.com.

Until we swap again,

~Bethany

What I Learned at Culinary School: One Month In

2011-07-27T16:43:00.000-07:00

One month into her year-long program at the L'Academie de Cuisine in Maryland, past Sustainable Food for Thought member Janene Flanagan shares her freshly acquired kitchen wisdom:

NEVER use non-stick cookware.
Burns happen. Arms, Hands, Fingers. Get over it.
Be nice to your dishwashers. They are your friends.
Don't be scared, it's only cooking not brain surgery.
When in doubt, strain it.
Julia Child was brilliant.
Hollandaise can be too hot, too cold, too thick or too thin, know how to make it perfectly.
Things you think that are going to be hard aren't.
Things you think that are going to be easy are impossible.
Hydrate. Drink more water than you think you can bare.

Whisk faster.
You don't need measuring cups or spoons ever ever (when you're cooking).
You need measuring cups or spoons always always (when you're baking).
Don't forget to remove your nose ring. Ooops.
Most personalities on television have no idea how to cook "properly." Who knew?!
Use cream, not milk. Use stock, not water.
Make your own stock. It's 100 times better than store bought. So is salad dressing, and mayonnaise, and everything else for that matter. Make it.
Smile and pretend you know what your talking about when presenting menus.
Memorize your mother sauces. In fact memorize everything.
Breathe.
Salt and pepper are the most important seasonings. Invest in a pepper grinder and a salt pig.
Don't touch your face. Sneeze in your arm. Wear your hat. Keep your towel in your sights at all times or you might never see it again.
Practice. Practice. Practice.
Keep telling yourself it can only get easier, even though you know its a total lie.

Salted butter is an absolute no no.
Your never too old to learn something new.
Taste everything.
Your Chef's Knife should be the most expensive tool in your kitchen. Pony up.
Keep your knives sharp. Have plenty of bandages on hand.
Learn French.
Etuvee, Mise en Place, Liaison, Panade, Nappe, Fraisage, Peler A Vif, Chiffonade.... know it yesterday because tomorrow there will be two dozen more in their place to know.

Pray.

Janene Flanagan pulled up her Portland roots in 2010 to venture into the wild eastern lands of Washington D.C. Prior to her move, she participated in Sustainable Food for Thought's Food Group and shared candidly her hesitations in the kitchen. Since then, she's settled with her husband Patrick into their East Coast season and has turned a fantastic new culinary leaf! We wish her all the best over the next eleven months of school...

Summer PDX Food Swap: July 30, 2011

2011-07-11T08:09:00.000-07:00

Announcing our Summer 2011 Portland Hand Crafted Food Swap!

Hosted by Sustainable Food for Thought at Abby's Table in SE Portland

To RSVP for our July 30th Swap, read below and send us an email. There are only 35 swapping spaces being released at this time, so RSVP early to claim your spot...

Invite Friends & Spread the Word:

@pdxswappers | #pdxfoodswap | PDX Swappers Facebook Page

After putting up, whipping up, drying, canning, soaking, mixing, stacking, sorting, and setting aside, come celebrate by bringing your favorite creations to swap with fellow Portland foodies.

A Food Swap is part silent auction/part village marketplace/part fun-loving open house where your homemade creations (breads, preserves, special concoctions, canned goods, etc.) become your own personal currency for use in swapping with other participants. What better way to diversify your pantry and rub shoulders with friend and neighbors?

When: Saturday, July 30th, 2011, 7pm-9pm

Where: Abby's Table, 609 SE Ankeny Street, Portland, OR 97214

What: Bring an assortment of your homemade edible specialties to exchange for other handcrafted delights. Sustainable Food For Thought will provide swapping cards, name tags, and organization for the event. You will be given the opportunity to offer trades in a silent-auction type format, and you will be free to choose which trades to accept for your products. Bring as much or as little as you like; there are no caps or minimums.

Who: Pacific Northwesterners {aka the Willamette Valley, the Portland Metro Area, and our Neighbors to the North}. Please note, we are unable to provide childcare for this event.

Cost: Swap participants will be given free entry; a donation jar will be available to help cover the cost of supplies. (Or, better yet, donate one of your hand crafted goods!)

{How?}

a) RSVP to sustainablefoodforthought@gmail.com

Please provide your name, contact info, and a description of items you plan to trade.

Due to limited space, we are capping the number of swappers at 35 and will keep a waiting list after that, so register early.

b) On Saturday the 30th, please bring your hand crafted goods + a contribution to the appetizer potluck.

c) Simple as that! We’re so excited to meet one another and celebrate the bounty of the seasons and the fruits of our labor~

{A Very Kind Thank-You}
To the following inspirations and collaborators:

Kate Payne at The Hip Girls Guide to Homemaking

Hip Girls Guide to Homemaking | @hipgirls | Facebook

Check out the directory of fabulous swaps popping up around the world, grown from the original inspiration of #BKSwappers in Brooklyn, NY!

Abby's Table
Abby's Table | @AbbysTable | Facebook

{Looking Forward to Seeing You There!}
If you have additional questions, please be in touch with Bethany
(sustainablefoodforthought@gmail.com)

{ Mini PDX Food Swap Documentary }

Want to receive updates on future swaps?
Like the PDX Swappers Facebook Page

So Many Farewells: Limbo is No More

2011-07-07T15:25:00.001-07:00

One of my absolute favorite shopping spots in Portland closed its doors this past weekend.

Thanks to irresistible pricing + ingenuity in the kitchen, their $1.00 bags amounted to loaves of banana bread, mango popovers, easy salads, and more than a few random, nameless, nutritious and frugal veggie dishes in the Rydmark house.

Their lovely wall of spices paved the way for our adventures in home blended SE Asian spice mixes.

Just last month, I snatched a sweet bag of Lemon Twist tea for a Farewell-to-Spring-Hello-to-Summer party.

Little did I know I'd be treasuring the last few ounces.

Eleven year Limbo employee, Joshua Stephens, plans to open Stone Cottage Herbs to sell spices online.

Their grand opening is coming soon, and I just registered with the new site.

So many things change quickly in life.

Savor the familiar while it is here.

Look forward to the future...

~Bethany

July's Food Group & Bon Voyage to Emily Pastor

2011-07-03T17:04:00.000-07:00

Hi friends,

Food Group this July will be a little different than in the past.

Sustainable Food for Thought co-founder, Emily Pastor, will be moving to Chicago at the beginning of August with her husband, Paul and daughter, Elaia (and their baby-on-the-way due in late November), as Paul takes a one year editorial internship with a magazine publication.

This quick transition for their family and for Sustainable Food for Thought means that future plans for SFT may take a different form over the coming months (though we're still planning the Summer PDX Food Swap).

We've so enjoyed spending time with each of you who have participated over the past years, and we're grateful for the ways we've learned and grown through each others' shared knowledge and experiences.

If you are able, please join us for our planned-on summertime reunion/conversation Food Group this Wednesday, July 6th, and we will also use the evening for a {last minute!} send-off for Emily.

Depending on how future plans unfold, this may be the last Food Group for a season...it would be wonderful to see you there!

(Please be in touch with "maybe" and "yes" RSVPs...)

Cheers,
Bethany Rydmark

PDX Food Swap Meets Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking

2011-06-27T21:15:00.000-07:00

We've been craving sunshine in Portland almost as much as juicy tomatoes and rosy red cherries, and last Friday night, by a lovely stroke of fortune, the happy-to-please-you weather gifted PDX Food Swappers with a balmy evening for enjoying good food and company in honor of Kate Payne's visit to town.

Since her April book release, Kate has been mixing and mingling with Food Swap friends all around the country on her Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking book tour, and PDX Swappers and Lost Arts Kitchen eagerly played hostess as she made her way through the Pacific Northwest stretch.

Location: Lost Arts Kitchen, NE Portland

Setting: The perfectly warm, slightly breezy, blooming-with-color, and bustling-with-chickens back yard.

Note: PDX Food Swap = Delicious Swap Potluck.

So many delectable choices on the menu!

Swap items too numerous to count...

Onion Jam and Caramelize Onion Marmalade

Homemade Bruschetta

Pickled Asparagus

Basil Strawberry Syrup

Canned Nectarines

Green Tomato Relish

Dijon Mustard with Balsamic, White, and Red Wine Vinegars

Home Canned Heirloom Tomatoes

Honey Sweetened Applesauce

Salsa Verde

Wine Jelly

Cranberry Jelly

Raspberry, Blueberry, Strawberry Jam

Honey Sweetened Apricot Habanero Jam

Strawberry Rhubarb Dessert Sauce

Blueberry Muffins

Chocolate Caramel Apples

Gluten Free Quinoa Chocolate Cake

Fresh Herbs

Home Brewed Kombucha

Espresso Syrups

Homemade Granola

Smoked Almonds

Plum Liqueur

Ginger Brews...and so much more!

Friends from all over the city (NW, NE, SW, SE) and from the corners of the internet...
@beermusingskris
@bethanyrydmark
@biblioholicbeth

@hipgirls
@lostartskitchen
@sarahgilbert
(Were you there? Send a note with your Twitter handle, and I'll add your name to the list!)

Kate, graciously signing copies and chatting with new friends...

I believe Kate sold out of her rental-car-trunk-stash of Hip Girl's Guides, and my friend, Miranda, let me know that she picked up the last copy at Powell's Books just a week ago (hopefully they've replenished the shelves by now?). In the meantime, you may snatch one of the in-stock copies at Amazon, or place a hold at the local library!

For tidbits on other recent tour stops and Food Swaps, see posts and picture collections from our regional neighbors:

SF Swappers
Grow & Resist
Seattle Seedling
Bellingham Food Swap

Bethany, Chris, and Kate

Connect with Kate/Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking:
Hip Girl's Online | Facebook | @hipgirls

Connect with the PDX Food Swap:
Web | Facebook | @pdxswappers

Connect with Chris Musser at Lost Arts Kitchen:
Lost Arts Kitchen | Facebook | @lostartskitchen

Thank you so much to each of you who make up our community: we are blessed with such terrific Portland-area devotees of food culture and friendship. It's an honor to swap food and stories and inspiration.

Safe travels to Kate and Joann as they finish the West Coast Tour, and thank you especially to Chris for opening her home to host the evening!

If you're itching to swap...keep your eyes and ears open! We've just announced the date for the Summer Swap (Saturday, June 30, 2011at 7pm at Abby's Table), and more details will follow soon...

~Bethany

July Food Group: Summer Successes and Inspirations

2011-06-23T23:00:00.000-07:00

The summer sunshine is finally putting on a friendly face! Gardens are growing, CSA deliveries have begun, berries are making their way into preserves...

...and new month around the corner means Food Group!

Since the early days of Sustainable Food for Thought, we've be so encouraged by the opportunity to swap stories and share resources with friends and neighbors. In that vein, for July's Food Group we'll be sharing a light potluck meal and facilitating a discussion on Summer Successes and Inspirations.

Please bring one or all of the following:

A tried and true recipe, method, or tip you've discovered since last summer
A story about a Sustainable Living flop + lessons learned from the experience
A recommended recent read (book, article, blog post) that prompted thought
A new project you'd like to learn about (since chances are high that someone in the group will have a valuable 2¢ to share on the topic)

You Are Welcome~

Wednesday, July 7th, 7:00-8:30pm
Bethany's Home
92nd & NE Burnside, Portland, Oregon

Please RSVP for Directions & To Reserve Your Spot

As always, please feel free to bring a snack, bring a friend,

and join us for an evening of conversation and camaraderie.

Looking forward to seeing you!
~Bethany

GMOs and Labeling

2011-06-21T11:20:00.000-07:00

Food Renegade published a must-read article today about GMO labeling. Check it out...

Do you believe in the Whole Foods fairy?

She used to be your garden variety woodland sprite, but times are hard and sorting mountains of corn and soy for Whole Foods is a sweet gig. Just sprinkle a little magical fairy dust and VOILA! The genetically modified feed separates from the conventional feed in a snap.
Continue reading at Food Renegade...

Enjoy,
Emily

Aurora Local Foods – Support Your Local Farmer!

2011-06-13T09:00:00.000-07:00

Note from Bethany: After learning about Aurora Local Foods through a friend on Facebook and reading an article from the Wilsonville Spokesman, I've been keen to help spread the word about this new endeavor growing south of the Portland Metro Area.

This week, my good friend Rebekah Pike shares her first-hand experience with the internet-based company that connects local buyers with competitively priced foods produced on nearby farmlands:

{ Aurora Local Foods Pick-up Location }

I should start this by saying that I love farmers’ markets. I start anxiously anticipating the opening of my local market months in advance, like a kid counting off the days until Christmas. I’m the crazy one who shows up even on the rainiest days, reusable bags in hand and toddler in tow. I brag about my purchases to anyone who will listen and have been known to slap down money for items that I have absolutely no menu plan for, just because they look interesting.

Hello, my name is Rebekah – and I’m addicted to my farmers’ market.

But I’m not so in love with the traditional market concept that I can’t see its limitations. For one thing, depending on your neighborhood, it can be pricey. Really pricey. I’ve noticed again and again that most vendors are extremely savvy to the price point expectations of their customer base and that prices from stand to stand rarely vary by more than $0.25 or so. This doesn’t really bother me when I’m making everyday purchases, but when I’m looking to buy 10 or 20 pounds of an item for a preserving project, shopping my beloved farmers’ market becomes less practical.

The second problem I’ve discovered is the investment of time. I have to drive through several miles of notoriously congested suburbia to get to my favorite market. Then I have to circle the site, squeeze into a tiny parallel parking spot, coax my toddler (or bribe her with promises of a cookie) into her stroller and walk several more blocks. Once there, I have the crowd of fellow farmers’ market addicts to wade through, the price comparison shopping to do, lines to wait in … in spite of my addiction, I’m getting tired just thinking about it.

So, while I have absolutely no intention of breaking up with my farmers’ market, I was excited to discover a fresh, new model for direct-from-the-farm purchasing in Aurora Local Foods.

This is essentially a cooperative of local farmers who sell their products through a website run by business owner Matt Battilega of Big “B” Farms in Aurora. The beauty of this idea is that it is both convenient for the customers and an efficient business model for the farmers. Rather than having to drive from farm to farm, customers can shop online from several different farms at once and pick everything up at a designated time and location. Rather than delivering their products to the market, which then may or may not sell, the farmers only have to deliver what the customer has already selected and paid for.

Genius.

Here’s how it works: On Tuesday evening each week, a list is posted on the website that shows the items available for purchase. The list changes from week to week based on the season and availability. And it’s not just for fruits and veggies – so far, I’ve seen everything from herbs to pastured chickens to local milk from grass-fed Jersey cows. There are even some local specialty foods for sale, like chocolate covered hazelnuts and handmade pasta. Customers add items to their cart and pay by credit or debit card. All purchase information is secure and encrypted. A receipt and purchase confirmation is then emailed to the customer, along with instructions for pick-up. Purchases must be made by Monday at noon for pick-up on Tuesday.

Easy, right??

So far, I’ve placed two orders through Aurora Local Foods. My first order was driven by my need for seven pounds of asparagus for pickles. I was thrilled that Aurora Local Foods could get me that amount for the lowest price I’ve seen anywhere this season, including conventional grocery stores! In fact, I’ve found that all the produce I’ve purchased so far has been exceptionally well-priced, especially considering the quality. If you have questions about a specific product, you can call or email Matt. He was great about answering all of my questions.

Even if trekking out to Aurora isn’t practical for you on a weekly basis, I would definitely encourage you to take a look anyway. You might discover a valuable resource for bulk produce purchases or maybe you could make a plan with a friend or two and take turns driving out pick up your orders.

This is a great way to connect to your local farmers and support the work they are doing to make sustainable food more accessible.

Give it a try and happy shopping!

Aurora Local Foods: Website | Facebook

Planting to Reap a Harvest: Growing and Preserving Food with Kids

2011-06-13T00:00:00.000-07:00

{Photo Credit: by photos8.com}

It’s that time of year: the soil is warming, crops are popping up, and the full swing of preservation season is right around the corner...

There is deep meaning for adults and children alike in putting to good use the blessings of fresh food. There is great work and great satisfaction in reaping a harvest, and though it is easy to source food effortlessly from a grocery store, it is wise to reveal to children the full life cycle of foods: from soil to harvest to the dinner plate.

Join me over at Frugal Granola to read more thoughts on growing, preserving, and sharing food with little ones...

~Bethany

Cooking: An Instrument of Comfort

2011-06-09T17:15:00.000-07:00

Photo Credit

“You probably need to eat something,” the baker said. “I hope you’ll eat some of my hot rolls. You have to eat and keep going. Eating is a small, good thing in a time like this,” he said.

~“A Small Good Thing,” by Raymond Carver

We are surrounded by hurting and weary people. Some are in our families, some are friends, some are strangers. We all face times when exhaustion and loss characterize our own seasons in life. During those times, it’s hard to overemphasize the important role that food plays in providing comfort and healing...

Join me over at Passionate Homemaking to continue reading...

~Emily

Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking Giveaway

2011-06-08T12:29:00.000-07:00

Dear friends and visitors,
With a light heart and a happy bit of gusto, I present to you:

A chance to win your own copy of Kate Payne's new book,
The Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking.

See below for Giveaway Details - contest open through June 14th.

(And I can say with all certainty that this is a splendid bit of fun because, as fate would have it, I won a copy this spring at the Local Kitchen giveaway!)

{ My copy, pictured here with homemade Pomegranate Syrup that I received from Kate back when she was moving from NYC to Austin, TX, cleaning out her summer preservation stash and offering a giveaway on her Facebook Page. Side story: Once her book arrived, I pulled out the syrup and proceeded to make myself a lovely beverage, and then sat on the couch, flipping through page after page, smiling to myself over all the great ideas worth trying. Consider this your warning: if you win, you may lose a few hours to happy browsing... }

I met Kate last winter through a web of Facebook Pictures (BKswappers' Food Swap pics inspired our very own PDX Swappers group), Twitter Tweets (she's fun to follow @hipgirls), and Helpful Emails (offering gracious to help as we sorted logistics for our first swap), and I'm now looking forward to a Real Life meetup when she travels through Portland this month on her Hip Girls book tour and PDX Swappers visit.

Kate's spunky, thrifty, DIY spirit resonates with my desire to give-it-a-go around the house and garden. Her tagline says it all: "Decorating, Dining, and the Gratifying Pleasures of Self-Sufficiency - on a Budget!"

Thinking about tackling a project? (Without breaking the bank!) Thinking about decorating your home or cooking something new? (Without packing up for an interior design academy or booking a trip to culinary school in France?)

The Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking is divided into three helpful sections, each chalk full of easy-as-pie methods to take care and be smart in your daily living space.

I. Room-by-Room Guide to a Homey House, Homie
II. Impressive Acts of Domesticity: Do Try This at Home
III. Life After Restaurants

You can give the book an online browse if you'd like to read more...and if you'd like to get a sense of her easy going, inspiring charm, give a little watch to her instructions for Homemade Marmalade + Waterbath Basics:

All ready to own your own copy?

{ Giveaway Details }

This giveaway will be open until midnight, Pacific Standard Time, on Tuesday, June 14th.

In honor of the three sections of the Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking, please take your pick and leave a comment on one (or all!) of the following.

Decor & bargain hunting:
What recent thrift-store find are you most excited about?

Keeping up around the house:
Do you have a trick or two that you use for cleaning nasty spills with natural products?

Cooking, preserving, & entertaining:
Tell us a story about a favorite food project and how you shared it with friends.

Fine print: The winner will be selected at random. Harper Collins Publishing will ship a lovely copy directly to the winner's front door! Please leave your email address or twitter handle with your comments so we can contact you if you win. Each comment counts as one entry, and you may enter up to three times.

{ Your Chance to Meet Kate }

The June 24th PDX Swappers & Lost Arts Kitchen Meet-Kate house party/book signing/food swap is now full, but...

If you live locally and would like to meet Kate, she's signing books at Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing next week, on Thursday, June 16th.

If you live out of state, you're also in luck - Powell's is selling and shipping signed copies! Head over to their website for more info...

{ That's it ~ leave a comment for your chance to win! }

Don't be intimidated!
Leave your entry as grand or as simple as you would like...

As Kate's first page says:

I dedicate this book to all the beginners out there.
Keep at it;
we all have to start somewhere.

Until next time,

~Bethany

{ And the Winner is... }

June 15th Update: Congratulations, Chelsea! Your comment was selected using random.org. Thanks to all for entering and sharing terrific inspirations!

PDX Food Swap Evening with Kate Payne

2011-05-29T21:12:00.000-07:00

{ You are Invited }

Come join the festivities in celebration of Kate Payne's visit to Portland!

If you've spent any time reading Food Swap recaps from around the country or browsing images of delightful homemade goods and inspiring company, you've probably heard of Kate, the Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking author and member of the BK Swappers founding duo (whose original Facebook Pictures helped spur on the creation of the PDX Food Swap in 2010)...

Zigging and zagging through through Swappers' local bookstores, homes and kitchens, her book tour travels bring opportunity for kindred spirits to meet along the way and celebrate together "a modern approach to domestic pleasures."

Thanks to Chris Musser of Lost Arts Kitchen for hosting this evening with Kate. (If you're not familiar yet with Chris, take a peak at her fabulous list of preservation and self sufficiency classes that are offered throughout the year.)

~~Space is limited to the first twenty-five RSVPs ~ hope to see you there!~~
This event is now full. Thank you so much for your interest.

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Never fear! If you're unable to make this special June 24th party, Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing is hosting a separate book signing event on June 16th at 7pm.

For More about Kate Payne:
The Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking | @hipgirls | Facebook

For More about Chris Musser at Lost Arts Kitchen:
Lost Arts Kitchen | @lostartskitchen | Facebook

For Future PDX Food Swap events:
PDX Food Swap | @pdxswappers | Facebook

June Food Group: Essential Oils in Everyday Life

2011-05-22T11:29:00.000-07:00

Sustainable Food for Thought is hosting a guest speaker at our June Food Group to demystify using essential oils in high quality natural cleaners, homemade body products, nutritious foods, and homeopathic remedies.

Essential Oils in an Indonesian Market

Essential oils used to make me think of cheap potpourri - sickly sweet collections of dried bark and flowers or cinnamon sticks and pine cones living at the dollar store. Oh, and $7.99 aromatherapy gift packs piled high in Fred Meyer aisles during the holidays.

In more recent years, I've used a few favorite oils when making DIY Lip Balm, I've chosen between "lemongrass or lavender" during a therapeutic massage, and I've been known to drop peppermint oil into my bucket of steaming vinegar water when mopping the floor, but there are so many more beneficial uses to learn and put into practice.

It's possible to scour the internet and check out library books, but it's always a bit more fun to learn from another person who is already putting knowledge into practice, so we've invited a friend to come and share her experience with the group.

Rosalie Culver, from Sherwood, Oregon, is a spunky and energetic inspiration! She has been using essential oils to care for her home and family for the past several years, and I'm excited to learn her tips and tricks for using essential oils in everyday life.

You Are Welcome~

Wednesday, June 1st, 7:00-8:30pm
Bethany's Home
92nd & NE Burnside, Portland, Oregon

~~Please RSVP for Directions & To Reserve Your Spot~~

The June Event is Now Full. Thanks so much for your interest!

As always, please feel free to bring a snack, bring a friend,

and join us for an evening of conversation and camaraderie.

Looking forward to seeing you!
~Bethany

Pacific Northwest Tidbits & Updates

2011-05-09T16:34:00.000-07:00

Hi friends,

All that springtime activity means many wonderful opportunities up and down the Willamette Valley and out among our neighboring Pacific Northwest Communities.

This Monday afternoon, I'd love to spread a few choice tidbits:

Interested in learning from some of the best? Tyler and Alicia of Afton Field Farms in Corvallis will be hosting Joel Salatin this summer. Ted and I had the great privilege of listening to Joel speak when Tyler and Alicia brought him to Portland for a visit two years ago: fabulous. Visit their website for more information on the August 19th & 20th events:

Field Day with Joel Salatin

Intensive Discovery Seminar

Our neighbors to the north will be pleased to know that Seattle Swappers are now up and running! Stay connected with them: Facebook | Twitter | Email

Of course, if you're keen to participate in Portland, keep an eye out for our next PDX Food Swap event: @pdxswappers | PDX Swappers Facebook Page.

Community Outreach in North Portland is running a free Food Sharing Workshop on Saturday, May 21st, if you're keen to learn more about container gardening, household management, fruit production, seed cycles, etc. (RSVP by Monday, May 16th.)

For those living near the Montavilla neighborhood in East Portland, Central Bible Church on NE 90th and Glisan is currently installing a new community garden to share with neighbors who do not have access to growing space (i.e., apartment dwellers, etc.). They're offering 10x10 and 10x20 plots. If you're interested, please contact Matt and Tori (familialawer at gmail dot com) for more information.

(As an aside - I'm super excited to be helping coordinate a shared plot for my neighbors at Stepping Stone Apartments - a project of My Father's House Family Shelter. I'm currently trying to source seeds and starts to help jumpstart this garden for low income families ~ please be in touch if you have any great connections!)

Our June Food Group will feature Rosalie Culver of Sherwood, Oregon as she shares about her uses of essential oils for cooking, cleaning, and homeopathic remedies. If you are new to the group and interested in attending, please contact us ahead of time to see if there is space.

Thanks to all you readers who are part of Food Group, the PDX Food Swap, the Pacific Northwest community, and/or the wide world of online friends and encouragers. It's inspiring to get to know each one of you and to swap the resources and lessons we each pick up along the way...

~Bethany

Congratulations to our Giveaway Winners

2011-05-09T15:14:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Random.org, the winning numbers are in: Congratulations, Joan and Amy!

If you missed the giveaway and the full story on Portland sisters Deb & Annie and their terrific company dedicated to creative, sustainable gift packaging and reusable totes, see the original article here, or pay them a visit at www.LuluWraps.com.

Amy, thanks for leaving your email address. We'll be in touch shortly.

Joan, congratulations! Please send an email with your shipping address to sustainablefoodforthought@gmail.com by Wednesday, noon PST to claim your prize. (If no contact information comes in, we will make the prize available to a runner up.)

Through the month of May, Sustainable Food for Thought readers may use the coupon code "NWLUNCH" at the Lulu Wraps checkout to receive free shipping and 25% off on their order.

[Full disclosure: There is no business transaction associated with this Sustainable Food for Thought post; we're just Portland gals who like supporting other Portland gals. It's all about sharing resources and spreading inspiration... Enjoy!]

PDX Food Swap Spring 2011 Highlights

2011-05-08T11:29:00.000-07:00

Last night's Spring PDX Food Swap gathered creative and delicious inspirations from all around the city of Portland. Participants came bearing boxes and baskets brimming with home made, hand crafted goods, and as each swapper filed in to claim their spot at the swapping table and crowd the appetizer potluck with delectable treats for swapping sustenance, I again marveled at the beautiful food community we share here in the Pacific Northwest.

We're so grateful to our kind hostess, Abby Fammartino, of Abby's Table in SE Portland.

I brought a handful of several different items to trade: Challah bread, raw milk yogurt (made with delicious milk from Charlotte at Champoeg Creamery!), all natural lip balm, green seafood rub (from one of my favorite inspirations: The Spice Merchant's Daughter), Marionberry jam, vanilla+peach jam, applesauce, and Pumpkin Flax Seed granola.

The flow of the evening...

Tickled pink over puff pastry dough and home grown tomato starts!

I'm so grateful for the amazing array of swapped goodies I brought home:

:: a tomato plant, ginger-peach kombucha, almond milk, ginger beer, veggies and dipping sauce, brown rice flour, sauerkraut, lactofermented veggies, spicy collard greens, rosemary orange caramel dipping sauce, cranberry cardamom vanilla sauce, strawberry sauce, agave blueberry spread, cracked pepper spelt crackers, yogurt lemon cake, puff pastry dough, lemon curd, & Indian spice brittle... ::

Plus, for each treasure I scored, another amazing swap item got away! Homemade raw milk ice cream, culinary lavender, chicken eggs, kombucha babies, cake pops, gourmet salad dressings, citrus curds, apple cider, cilantro and basil starts, home brews, wild harvested sage, artisan breads, and so many more...

Hence the need for another "next time!"

Thank you to all who came to share the bounty and inspiration. Your contributions are what make these swaps so terrific!

If you're a blogger who attended last night, please feel free to introduce yourself and leave a link to your page below. There are so many great neighbors in this city - it's a privilege to meet you all and share your delicious food.

Want to keep up to date on future swaps?

The easiest way is to like the PDX Food Swap Facebook page.

Until we swap again,

~Bethany

{Giveaway} Local Portland Lulu Wraps: A Sustainable Alternative to Single Use Bags

2011-04-25T10:45:00.000-07:00

Giveaway entries accepted through midnight, Sunday, May 8th, 2011.

We're doing a little something different at Sustainable Food for Thought today: an introduction to a sweet friend of mine, a giveaway from her local Portland company, Lulu Wraps, and a peek at her springtime lunch menu, highlighting some of Oregon's finest produce.

The trouble? Ever-growing numbers of paper goods and plastic bags and price tags dangling off disposable products.

The fix? Finding reusable solutions and fostering a mindset that treasures the gifts we've been given.

Portland sisters Deb & Annie Abele share a passion for thoughtful living, sustainable food, and keen eye for design. Deb and I met several years ago as co-workers at a Portland landscape architecture firm. When we recently met for lunch, and I learned about her new endeavors, and I asked her to share a bit about Lulu Wraps and her company's elegant solution to disposable plastic bags, gift wrap, and grocery sacks.

Annie {L} & Deb {R}

What inspired you to launch Lulu Wraps? Where do you source your fabrics and materials, and how do Lulu Wraps contribute to Sustainable Living in the Pacific Northwest?

My sister, Annie Abele, and I had been looking for a new, creative and planet-friendly business venture. We had long been fascinated by examples of fabric wraps from around the world.

Because we're sisters and were diy from childhood, maybe a gift from our Oregon pioneer ancestors, we both love making things, sewing and otherwise. Our families save and treasure the same worn pieces of gift wrap, slightly smaller with every use, and making the leap to designing fabric gift wrap that is a endlessly reusable was natural to us.

From the original gift wrap concept, we've added lunch wraps, both more washable and collapsible than a lunch box. And of course, more sustainable than a paper or plastic sack. The cloth lunch wrap can neatly gather up sandwiches, fruit, bento boxes, take-out cartons, or whatever. Once empty, you can fold them and slip them into a pocket. When open, they make a nice clean placemat. They can be washed if need be, and used over and over again.

We live on the same NE Portland block now, with gardens connected through a gate, but Annie has lived in Portland, Providence, Indiana, Holland, Michigan and San Francisco, and I've lived in Portland, Ithaca and San Francisco. She's a graphic designer and I'm a garden designer. We continuously cook, read, garden and sew, along with other creative endeavors.

The wraps are all limited editions. Most of them are very simple, just hemmed. We sometimes use contrast linings, and the lunch wraps have water-resistant linings. Our own embroidered and hand-printed wraps are in the works.

Our fabrics come from a variety of sources, including vintage saris bought from India over the internet, fashion fabrics in wide variety, organic cottons and hemps, and locally sourced recycled water-resistant polyester lining.

Our wraps are just coming out in local stores now; at the moment, they are available exclusively on our website.

{ Lulu Wrap Giveaway }

Giveaway #1: Red Wolf

Giveaway #2: Sylvie

Visitors to Sustainable Food for Thought are invited to leave a comment below to be entered in the giveaway for one of two 26" x 26" cotton lunch wraps lined with recycled water-resistant nylon. Both come with easy tying instructions and a matching cotton napkin.

Two winners will be chosen via Random.org and will receive a limited edition Lulu Wrap shipped directly to their home. Entries accepted through Sunday, May 8th, 2011.

Winners to be chosen and announced on the site on Monday, May 9th.

If you'd like to be notified directly if you're the winner, please include your email address in your comment {i.e., sustainablefoodforthought (at) gmail (dot) com}

No extra steps: no Facebook Likes or Twitter Follows. Though if you'd like to take a peek at the Lulu Wraps "How to Use" page, you're welcome to leave a second entry stating how you would use your own Lulu Wrap to replace disposable products in your daily life.

A Packable Springtime Lunch from Deb

In honor of both our rainy Portland spring, and Sustainable Food For Thought, we've come up with a (nearly) all local lunch, with photos and recipes. Nearly all the vegetables are from our bounteous, wonderful CSA - Pumpkin Ridge Gardens, in North Plains. The greens were so ridiculously plentiful this week, and our hens are laying to beat the band, so the focus of the lunch was easy!

The menu:
Egg salad sandwich
Spring rolls with chutney sauce
Slice of cake (because it's Toby's birthday today!)

~ Egg Salad Sandwich ~

Two chopped hard boiled eggs (from our back yard flock),
several radishes, coarsely chopped up,
Hot peppers preserved in vinegar from the end of last summer (just use a pepper or two, cut up),
a heaping tablespoon of chopped It's Linda's bread and butter pickles from Lopez Island,
dijon, brown or yellow mustard,
Salish alder smoked sea salt (from Woodinville, Washington),
Plenty of black pepper,
Two slices of Grand Central's Como bread.
Stir eggs, vegetables and seasoning together, spread on the bread. You won't need any mayo - it's moist, spicy and slightly sweet.

~ Spring Rolls with Chutney Sauce ~

For three spring rolls:

Six or so large leaves of any sturdy greens (we used turnip greens),
One carrot, julienned,
Half of a cucumber, julienned (this did come from the store),
Several hot peppers, preserved in vinegar from last summer and kept in refrigerator (sliver the peppers),
six or more radish thinnings,
green onions or onion thinnings,
(add/substitute any available spring vegetables that strike your fancy),
Salish alder smoked sea salt,
Freshly ground black pepper to taste,
Lay washed large leaves overlapping somewhat on work surface in groups of three or so.
Scatter vegetables across the mid section of each group of leaves,
Pressing the ribs a bit to flatten, roll snugly.
Repeat for all three.

For the dipping sauce:

Two or three tablespoons of Ginger Peach chutney (I make this most summers - use any peach chutney recipe and add lots of slivered fresh ginger.)
Juice of half a lime
(chili flakes or hot sauce if you like)
Stir to blend.

***

Many thanks to Deb and Annie and all the best to them as they continue crafting beautiful, sustainable alternatives to disposable packaging.

Again, to enter the reusable fabric wrap giveaway, leave a comment below and include your email address. I'm sure the gals at Lulu Wrap would love to hear from readers around the country!

~Bethany

Lastly, through the month of May, Sustainable Food for Thought readers may use the coupon code "NWLUNCH" at the Lulu Wraps checkout to receive free shipping and 25% off on their order.

[Full disclosure: There is no business transaction associated with this Sustainable Food for Thought post; we're just Portland gals who like supporting other Portland gals. It's all about sharing resources and spreading inspiration... Enjoy!]

Spring 2011 Portland Handcrafted Food Swap: May 7th at Abby's Table

2011-04-14T22:11:00.000-07:00

Announcing our Springtime 2011 Portland Hand Crafted Food Swap!
Hosted by Sustainable Food for Thought at Abby's Table in SE Portland

Congratulations, friends! In the wake of our December, 2010 PDX Food Swap, Cooking Up a Story released a mini documentary about our event, and that coverage along with mentions in the Huffington Post, New York Times, food magazines, blogs, and other news sources has continued to inspire the swelling interest in Food Swaps around the country (check out the ever-growing list at Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking).

To RSVP for our May 7th Swap, read below and send us an email. There are only 45 swapping spaces open, so reply early to claim your spot...

Invite Friends & Spread the Word:
@pdxswappers | #pdxfoodswap | PDX Swappers Facebook Page

After putting up, whipping up, drying, canning, soaking, mixing, stacking, sorting, and setting aside, come celebrate by bringing your favorite creations to swap with fellow Portland foodies.

A Food Swap is part silent auction/part village marketplace/part fun-loving open house where your homemade creations (breads, preserves, special concoctions, canned goods, etc.) become your own personal currency for use in swapping with other participants. What better way to diversify your pantry and rub shoulders with friend and neighbors?

When: Saturday, May 7th, 2011, 7pm-9pm

Where: Abby's Table, 609 SE Ankeny Street, Portland, OR 97214

What: Bring an assortment of your homemade edible specialties to exchange for other handcrafted delights. Sustainable Food For Thought will provide swapping cards, name tags, and organization for the event. You will be given the opportunity to offer trades in a silent-auction type format, and you will be free to choose which trades to accept for your products. Bring as much or as little as you like; there are no caps or minimums.

Who: Pacific Northwesterners {aka the Willamette Valley, the Portland Metro Area, and our Neighbors to the North}. Please note, we are unable to provide childcare for this event.

Cost: Swap participants will be given free entry; a donation jar will be available to help cover the cost of supplies.

{How?}

a) RSVP to sustainablefoodforthought@gmail.com
Please provide your name, contact info, and potential items you plan to trade. Due to limited space, we are capping the number of swappers at 45 and will keep a waiting list after that, so register early!

b) On Saturday the 7th, please bring your hand crafted goods + a contribution to the appetizer potluck.

c) Simple as that! We’re so excited to meet one another and celebrate the bounty of the seasons and the fruits of our labor~

{A Very Kind Thank-You}
To the following inspirations and collaborators:

Kate Payne at The Hip Girls Guide to Homemaking
Hip Girls Guide to Homemaking | @hipgirls | Facebook
Check out the directory of fabulous swaps popping up around the world, grown from the original inspiration of #BKSwappers in Brooklyn, NY!

Abby's Table
Abby's Table | @AbbysTable | Facebook

{Looking Forward to Seeing You There!}
If you have additional questions, please be in touch with Emily or Bethany
(sustainablefoodforthought@gmail.com)

{ Mini PDX Food Swap Documentary }

Want to receive updates on future swaps?
Like the PDX Swappers Facebook Page

April Food Group Recap: Buying in Bulk

2011-04-12T12:52:00.001-07:00

Our Sustainable Food for Thought comrades met together for April's Food Group, and Emily led a helpful overview on Buying in Bulk, focusing in particular on Azure Standard, a bulk buying resource based out of Dufur, Oregon.

For those friends who weren't able to join in person, please find tidbits and thoughts from the evening shared below:

{Welcome & Announcements}

Our second PDX Food Swap is on the horizon (details here)
May's Food Group: Herbal Tea Workshop (~~details here~~ ~ postponed)
Next Azure Standard Drop (to be determined ~ be in touch if you're interested in participating)

{Topic for the Night}

As with many methods of household and kitchen management, bulk buying offers a broad spectrum of options. Before becoming overwhelmed at the possibilities (and disenchanted with the effort), or dismissing the idea that it's also quite possible to start (and stay?) small, we spent the evening discussing our experiences and sharing ideas.

[For those not familiar with Azure Standard, Emily History and Mission of the company.]

{Discussion}

Is Azure Standard Right for You?

What are your household's needs? Cost savings? Online shopping? Access to natural foods?

What are you looking for in a bulk buying experience? A way to eliminate going to the grocery store altogether? A source for staples to be supplemented by trips to the market? A source for a few particular items?

How frequently do you anticipate ordering?

Different households carry different needs and different rhythms of food purchase and preparation. There is no one-size fits all approach. Listening for others' experiences proves a good starting point, but only you can decide what may integrate well with your family's lifestyle.

Setting up an Azure Account and Navigating the Website

Anyone can visit the site, but only once you've created a login can you view prices, place orders, and save favorite items. Many people shared their experiences with the website: it can occasionally be tedious (especially when "browsing" randomly or sorting through sale items). Generally, though, it's worth the effort, and often times getting your hands on a hard copy of the catalogs can be a helpful time saver (especially when you're just getting to familiarize yourself with what they carry).

What to Buy and What to Avoid

Based entirely on first hand experience and preference and the chimed-in notes from the group:

Azure's a great resource for buying:

Dried beans and legumes
Grains
Nuts
Seeds
Dried fruit
Natural sweeteners such as molasses and Rapadura
Organic produce*
Mozzerella
Raw cheeses
Glass storage jars**
Homeopathic remedies

(*hit or miss, depending on the season; **beware the woes of separately-ordered-lids!)

Less preferred items:

Canned beans
Canned tomatoes
Pasta
Most bread products
Ricotta, Parmesan and cottage cheese
Packaged/processed foods
Organic produce*
Condiments
Dishwasher detergent

(*hit or miss, depending on the season)

Rule of thumb for the greatest cost savings: Buy staples and avoid packaged/processed foods.

General Tips

Know what you like to cook and what your family eats
Make a list before browsing Azure's website
Don't buy it if you won't eat it
Comparison shop

Storage Tips

The biggest food spoilage culprits: temperature, humidity, and oxygen.

Nuts, seeds, and cut grains can go rancid quickly. If you buy these in bulk, divide them into smaller portions and keep them in your freezer.
If you use large quantities of a certain whole grain, bean or legume, keep a smaller supply in accessible glass jars on your shelf and store the rest in food grade waterproof buckets.
Azure sells Gamma Seal lids that fit five gallon buckets to convert them into waterproof/airtight food storage containers. (These buckets and lids are also available locally at the Portland Preparedness Center on NE Glisan & 72nd)

{Other Bulk Buying Resources}

Search for Food Buying Clubs and Co-ops in your area for more opportunities to save on bulk purchases. The Montavilla Food Buying Club is an excellent resource, as is the Portland Eastside Buying Club (see below) spearheaded by Chris Musser of Lost Arts Kitchen. Bulk purchases can save you money and give you access to such high quality goods as pastured butter, natural maple syrup, wild caught Alaskan salmon, grass fed beef, and group orders from Frontier and Hummingbird Wholesale.

Simply in Harmony, Hillsboro, OR
This drop is a distributor for Azure, which means customers place their order with the coordinator, she places one large order with Azure, pays for it, sorts it, then calls customers to pick up their orders at their convenience. Customers pay her directly at pick up. Open to new members: sig@eburgi.com

Farm to Family, Beaverton, OR
Azure Standard and Noris Creamery deliveries. Frontier and OGC coming soon. New members welcome: vermit1@yahoo.com

North Portland Food Buying Club

Know Thy Food

Portland Eastside Buying Club
Azure Standard drop, monthly. Bulk meat and retail cut buying club: Deck Family Farm. Chicken from Deo Volente Farm. Produce during growing season: Thompson Farms, Hanson Farm. Whole Oregon albacore tuna in late summer/early fall. Open to new members.

Additional Recommendations from Food Group members:

Harmony Jack Farms, Scio, OR

Barefoot Farm & Flowers, Clatskanie, Oregon

Full of Life Farm, St. Paul, OR
Owned and operated by Bernard Smith, brother of Charlotte Smith of Champoeg Creamery

Pure Life Farm, Molalla, OR
Run by Bethany's friend, Brenda, of The Wellfed Homestead

{Final Thoughts}

Bulk buying may not be the best choice for you right now. (What?!) And if that's the case, then give yourself a pat on the back for recognizing that fact and making a sane choice for your family.

Sustainable living isn't about keeping up with appearances or copying someone else, it's about finding what honestly works with your checkbook, kitchen sink, dining table, and family dynamic. It's about nurturing your loved ones and serving your neighbors with a grateful and generous heart, and stewarding resources in the way in which you are deeply called.

If bulk buying is something you're looking forward to testing out, or if it's something you've been practicing for many years with great success, please continue to share your thoughts and be encouraged by others' stories.

To give you a peek into a future post about my Food Life Calendar, you can check the image below and see that in my home, for example, bulk buying falls into the "Quarterly" category.

I'd love to know your best stories of buying in bulk and any favorite area resources. Please feel free to share here, or bring your experience to contribute to our next Food Group.

As always, it's a pleasure to learn alongside you dear friends.
~Bethany

Sweets from Trees: Naturally Harvested Organic Maple Syrup

2011-03-26T10:10:00.000-07:00

{Picture Credit }

In the Northwest, mouthwatering berries {and sunshine!} haven't yet emerged to cheer our plates and hearts, and February's glut of Valentine's chocolate is kindly in the past...but take heart ~ now's just the time for sweetness that comes from humble trees.

{ Picture Credit }

"The season of sugar-making came when the first crow appeared. This happened about the beginning or middle of March, while there was yet snow on the ground. This period of the season was looked forward to with great interest, and, as among the Minnesota Ojibwa today, became a holiday for everybody. Each female head of a household had her own sugar hut, built in a locality abounding in maple trees which might or might not have been convenient to her camp, but which was the place always resorted to by her, and claimed by right of decent through her mother's family and totem."

~ A European American's observation from 1896
As referenced in Jessica Prentice's delightful book, Full Moon Feast.
See her Sap Moon chapter for 13 traditional, unrefined sources of sweetness.

~

I took a vicarious field trip last weekend, when a good friend living in Boston told me over the phone about her adventures "sugaring" in Vermont. She recently drove north for a regional festival where small farms, producing anywhere from handfuls to hundreds of gallons, displayed their wares and offered delicious samples of maply-goodness.

Her stories reminded me that those small scale production operations can be a true labor of love.

The trees are tapped

They bleed their sap

And a diligent farmer must tend a boiling vat,
until the water evaporates to leave a golden syrup

{ Wood to keep the fires going }

For any of you in the Portland area interested in cooking with this high quality sweetener, Chris at Lost Arts Kitchen has made arrangements for sourcing "Certified organic maple syrup from Michigan and Wisconsin. Amish made, using horse power for collection and wood fire for the evaporation process."

The syrup will be available for pickup in NE Portland in early April; orders & payment due by the end of the month.

In the meantime, you may also enjoy this post that speaks to seasonal eating and sweetener choices: A Celebration Every Day: Sap Moon

Hope to see you at April's Food Group, where we'll be chatting about bulk buying (like...stocking up on syrup when it's in season?) and exchanging kitchen stories from the past month...

~Bethany

April's Food Group: Azure Standard and Buying in Bulk

2011-03-23T10:48:00.000-07:00

photo credit

What comes to mind when you hear the phrase "buying in bulk"? Perhaps you think of the bins at your local grocery store. Maybe the packs of GA-zillions of rolls of toilet paper from Costco come to mind. Or perhaps, the packages of ramen noodles leftover from Y2K. Well, toss your old ramen and your pre-conceived notions about bulk buying out the window because we are hosting a practical and resourceful Food Group devoted to buying in bulk!

Our discussion will center around Azure Standard, as it is our main source for buying and splitting bulk pantry staples, but we will cover a variety of local bulk buying opportunities for your benefit. Since becoming a drop point for Azure Standard in October, many of you have expressed interest in participating but don't know where to begin. We are passionate about like-minded people pulling resources together to help one another save money on healthy food. With this in mind, we decided to devote an entire Food Group to the how's, why's and where's of buying in bulk.

{Allison and Bethany with some Azure goodies, hot off the semi truck}

Discussion will include:

Setting up an Azure account
Navigating the Azure website
Tips on what to buy and how to store it
Seasonal planning and budgeting for buying in bulk
Resources for a variety of group buying opportunities

Whether you are interested in buying in bulk but don't know where to start, or you have years of experience to contribute and are looking for a few new resources, we'd love to have you join April's Food Group.

Wednesday, April 6th, 7:00 p.m.
Emily's Home, 78th and Burnside, PDX
RSVP to sustainablefoodforthought@gmail.com

Food Group is FREE, so bring a snack, bring a friend and join us for an evening of conversation and food camaraderie!

~Emily and Bethany

Food for Thought: Writing or Reinventing The Wheel?

2011-03-23T00:30:00.000-07:00

{Photo Credit}

The creativity and pluck of humanity is a beautiful thing, especially exhibited in words scrawled on paper or neatly formatted through keystrokes and mouse clicks.

But sometimes this internet storm of 24/7 information begs the question:

Why Write (More)?

In browsing the food and farming and sustainability stories that wend their way through my Twitter and Facebook feeds and email subscriptions during a given week, I'm often simultaneously inspired and overwhelmed.

So much to learn. So much to try. So much to be tested and pondered.

So much already written.

Here at Sustainable Food for Thought, the answer to "Why Write?" is fairly straightforward:

Sustainable Living grows from the dynamism of thought + action.

We write to share ideas and encourage friends in the community to live a considered life, to try new things, and to think more critically about the hows and whys of our food systems. Often, posts are extensions of the themes we explore in Food Group, and at times, they are resources and recipes that we've enjoyed and want to pass along to you.

I'm harder pressed to find an answer to the question: "Why Write More?"

The volume of information in this digital age is a double-edge sword. It can fan the flame of curiosity and learning, but it can likewise deflate readers by the sheer burden of new ideas and steal joy from writers who give up precious hours simply for the sake of "posting."

I've grown to realize, writing the internet's umpteenth overview of how to stretch farm raised roasting chickens into several meals may not be the best use of time when there are so many other fabulous examples already available. (Even though I've enjoyed taking pictures of my precious chicken in its various states at various mealtimes and filing away the mental snippets to someday post.)

Today, I am reminded of the simplicity of sharing.

Of pointing you in the directions of inspiration rather than reinventing the wheel.

I often bookmark articles to share. I have a mental list a mile long of inspirations to pass on to all of you. At times, pulling them together to add to a larger post seems the best thing to do.

But today, no extras. Simply a smattering of beautiful, insightful, thought provoking links.

No need to write more when other authors scattered around blogs and newspapers and digital corners and library shelves have already eloquently compiled and presented their content.

Perhaps some of these finds will inspire you.

And perhaps they will fade from your attention and drift into internet history...

In either case:

Remember,

What has been will be again,
What has been done will be done again;
There is nothing new under the sun.
-Ecclesiastes 1:9

Read and write and learn and live it out because you love it.
Not to keep up or to accomplish more for the sake of more.
But because something deeper calls out to you.
Because thoughts inspire you to action.

And I will try to do the same.

~Bethany

{ Food for Thought }
This Week's Links & Stories for Sustainable Living

Finding a Local Farmer ~ A Keeper of the Home Guest Post by Katie of Modern Alternative Momma

The Urban Farming Guys ~ A group doing great work to restore life to a decaying inner city through urban food production and community building.

Are Foodies Gluttons? ~ An interesting piece on the criticisms of Foodies' "inordenant preoccupation" with food vs. the efforts to call Americans to pay attention to their dinner plates and the nation's food policies.

Preservationists vs. Artisans ~ A post and ensuing discussion on the recent New York Times' controversial "D.I.Y. Cooking Handbook"

Relaxing the Rules for Small, Local Food Sellers ~ The piece also makes reference to Oregon's recent slew of bills (bills including the recent approval of home brewer to share their beverages off of their home property)

Winter Squash Smoothies ~ Two Frog Home's creative beverage - just in time for clearing out the last of the winter stores to make room for new Springtime Market finds.

DIY Green House ~ Inspiration for readers with space, from the ever elegant Crackers blog.

The Lexicon of Sustainability ~ Watch the 2:45 video for details on this education project.

Edible Landscaping: Growing Food in the Flower Bed

2011-03-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

Preview: Sustainable Food for Thought's Guest Post at Frugal Granola.

{Photo Credit}

Add nutritious food to your dinner table
&
Give your yard a mini-makeover!

It's easier that you may think to reap the
benefits of color, nutrition, and stylish design.

Too overloaded to take on a brand new vegetable garden? Bored with your ho-hum yard? Did you know you can add zest to your existing landscape by bringing the color and texture of home-grown foods directly into your existing flower beds?

{Books on the Shelf} What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets

2011-03-16T11:55:00.000-07:00

What do you eat on an average day?

Where does your food come from?

How do you prepare it?

A bit ago, I shared my discovery of a great book by husband and wife traveling photographer/writer duo, Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio:

What the World Eats: 25 Families, 21 Countries, 525 Meals

I found their feast for the eyes and mind at my local library, and inspired by that first read, I quickly placed a hold on their more recent 2010 publication:

What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets

After waiting patiently for months as I crept higher and higher on the library's list, I finally got my hands on a copy, and now that I've taken my time perusing its fabulous pages, I thought I'd share the inspiration with you.

Part Lonely Planet Travel book, part sociology commentary, part essay collection featuring such authors as Michael Pollan and Wendell Berry, What I Eat breaks down the daily diet of 80 individuals with caloric intake ranging from 800 calories in drought ridden Kenya to 12,300 calories in the well stocked suburbs of Great Britain.

With a forward by Marion Nestle and a lovely passage of "Collective Wisdom" on eating supplied by recognizable figures as varied as Mark Bittman, Francis Coppola, Jack LaLanne, and Alice Waters, the book sets out with the reminder that everyone eats. Food choices, sources, and customs play into the daily nourishment of our bodies, and the geographical exploration of diet, habit, and health puts in a new light the food we consume each and every day.

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snacks & Other: Categories of food consumed, listed by type and quantity. The month of the year is noted, and explanations made for seasonal differences in diet.

Beautiful photos and engaging text reveal Italian Friars, Israeli Rabbis, Egyptian Businessmen, Brazilian Fisherman, Tibetan Monks, Japanese Sumo Wrestlers, American Models, Icelandic Fisherman, Namibian Pastoralists, German Brewers, and Spanish Shepherds classified by age, height, and weight, with occupation and daily meals detailed for all to see.

The book comes to a fitting close with Wendell Berry's The Pleasures of Eating, a favorite essay reminding us all:

Eating "is an agricultural act...how we eat determines, to a considerable extent, how the world is used." - Participate in food production - Prepare your own food - Learn the origins of the food you buy - Whenever possible, deal directly with a local farmer - Learn as much as you can about the economy and technology of industrial food production

I encourage you to get your hands on a copy and take an armchair tour of the world and its beautiful people, diverse diets, and amazing resources.

Excellent Food for Thought.

~Bethany

March Food Group: Planning Your Kitchen Garden

2011-03-06T17:30:00.000-08:00

Our March Food Group was canceled due to a family emergency, however the seed swap will be held during April's meeting, and the outline and resources from the event are shared below. You are invited to chime in down in the comments section for additional discussion, and we'll put out the call for double the homemade treats in April to make up for missing homemade goodies this month!

Planning Your Garden ~ What to Grow & Where to Grow It

{SE Portland front yard kitchen garden circa 2009}

What level of gardener would call yourself?

Greenie
Your heart's in the right place
But your hands have never been in the soil

Green Thumb
You have dirt under your fingernails
And a few growing seasons under your belt

Garden Graduate
You've been harvesting veggies year after year
Now you're ready for new challenges

{ Food for Thought }

Which vegetables and herbs to you most often purchase at the market?

Think about your favorite recipes and seasonal dishes and the average number of times you grab a particular type of produce and put it in your basket. Would you rather buy New Seasons' organic cilantro imported from California for $1.49 a bunch, week after week, or harvest home grown cilantro all season long for the one-time cost of seed or starts?

What inputs go in to producing those crops?
What types of chemicals, labor, fuel for transportation, etc. are in play?

Do you know where those inputs come from, how they're created and funded? Do you have a sense of the sociological, ecological, and nutritional impacts?

What amount of trade off in time and effort would you be willing to invest for the opportunity to harvest those same foods from your own garden?

Be realistic; be educated. Even if you're not able to daily tend a 40'x40' plot out in the country, ask yourself which few crops would make the biggest impact to your food budget bottom line and which reasonable next step would be right for you. For those crops that you're unable to grow yourself, remember to use your dollars to support sustainable sources (small scale producers, farmers markets, CSAs).

{ What to Grow }

Seed catalogs & nursery sales are calling: what will you cultivate this year?

{Organic garden starts available at the Portland Farmers Market}

Greenie

Get your fingers dirty for the first time and focus on growing a few easy crops (lettuce, beans, peas, cherry tomatoes, potatoes, onions, zucchini, corn, strawberries) ~ perhaps avoid finicky carrots or overly needy heads of cauliflower.

Reward yourself with the gratification of color: string up a line and grow my favorite, Purple Podded Pole Beans. Plant a patch of edible flowers like borage and nasturtiums and liven up your salads for the rest of the year.

Choose when to buy starts versus seeds. Tip: when you're not bothering with cold frames and greenhouses and basement grow lights, buy hot weather, long season plants as starts to get a jump on Oregon's shorter growing seasons - tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, etc.

A quick kitchen garden jump start: plant your first herb garden to have fresh sprigs on hand and to reduce pricey purchases of minuscule bundles packaged in excess plastic and labels. Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme are popular for a reason.

Don't plant too early: remember that crazy Oregon frosts come rolling in long after the calendar says "springtime." Check for the region's last frost date before you set your tender little seeds and starts out to live a life on their own. Mother's Day was always our family's rule of thumb for safe vegetable garden planting in the Willamette Valley.

Green Thumb

Ready to extend the savings and the rewards? Push the growing seasons.

Stop buying starts at the nursery. Consider sowing seeds indoors well before the last frost date so that you're ahead of the game once the springtime weather is ready to place nice. Beware of what not to grow (for example, beans do not transplant well), but be encouraged by the possibility of harvesting your own melons well before the autumn rains kick in.

Add cooler weather crops to your planting mix (greens like kale and chard, garlic, and cover crops like clover to enrich your soil fertility during the slower seasons).

Introduce perennial plants into your garden (rhubarb, asparagus, artichokes, berry vines); these edibles will grow in place year after year and can become foundational elements of your garden's layout and design.

Use companion plantings to aid with pest control, soil fertility, and crop yields. Handy chart.

Garden Graduate

Eliminate the need to purchase seeds altogether! Plant seeds saved from previous seasons' heirloom varieties which will grow true to type. Build your own seed library and swap with other gardeners. (See notes below for details on the Portland Seed Library.)

Take on new cultivation challenges: Meyer lemons, limes, blood oranges, kumquats, feijoas, etc. (See a recent Portland foodie's article on growing Mandarin oranges.)

Supplement locavore meals with home grown and home brewed beverages:
Grow your own green tea (Camellia sinensis is available from Territorial Seeds)
Grow your own hops for home brewed beer
Grow your own sweet flowering herbs for making sparkling beverages (try Jessica Prentice's hibiscus and rose hip soda, yarrow ale, or lemon verbena ale from Full Moon Feast)

{ Where to Grow It }

Think about your available space and its proximity to the kitchen, water sources, and sunlight. Pay attention to soil health.

{Vestal Community Garden garden plot circa early 2010}

Greenie

Just starting? Try a few pots on your balcony, stoop, or windowsill. The larger the better for keeping moisture in the soil and giving ample room for roots.

Balance your potting soil mix with additional compost in order to ensure enough soil density to support strong root growth (especially important for taller, heavier plants like tomatoes). Any friendly neighborhood garden center will point you in the right direction for healthy, organic soils.

Siting tips: if you're surrounded by shade, focus on root vegetables and and leafy greens. If you're blessed with plenty of sun, put in more of the plants that require the sunshine to fully develop large, colorful fruits (tomatoes, eggplants, peppers).

Green Thumb

Ready to move beyond the bounds of pots?

Consider gardening in your yard: remove an area of lawn and build up the soil. Plant edibles among your flower beds (be certain you're using herbicide and pesticide free gardening methods).

Construct raised beds for ease of soil building, of maintenance, and harvesting.

Interested in more growing space and opportunity to rub shoulders with your neighbors? Investigate the Community Garden plots available near you and jump on a waiting list or start a local effort.

Garden Graduate

Ready to take on multi-seasonal planning? With a little strategic forethought and effort, crop rotation zones will push your garden toward optimal soil health and higher yields.

You guide the formation of ecosystems when you plant your garden. To introduce a higher diversity of soil-living microorganisms, balance the populations of beneficial (and non-beneficial!) insects, and build the overall soil structure, move the location of certain types of plants from one growing season to the next.

To learn more, browse Julie Day's Crop Rotation Made Easy and the No Dig Vegetable Garden.

{ What Next? }

Local Seed and Start Sources:

Victory Seeds
Territorial Seeds
Portland Nursery
Pistils Nursery
Urban Farm Store
Portland Farmers Market
Ferguson's Fragrant Nursery

Great Books to Have on Hand:

Maritime Northwest Garden Guide: Planning Calendar for Year-Round Organic Gardening
Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades

Helpful Web Resources:

Planting a Vegetable Garden by Rod Smith
Oregon State University Extension Service Gardening Encyclopedia
OSU Planting Guidelines

Hands On Learning Opportunities:

Growing Gardens
Portland Nursery
Joy Creek
Oregon Tilth: Organic Vegetable Gardening Classes

**Note: Although we weren't able to meet in person for Food Group, Bethany W. provided a few great resources over email to share with the gr0up:

Borrow (and return) Free Seeds from the Portland Seed Library and seed saving project. "We had a seed swap there this past weekend and I can tell you with certainty there is no need for anyone in the Portland area to buy carrot, spinach, chinese cabbage or orach seeds! [There] are plenty of other seeds too but there is an excess of these and some others due to a mammoth donation from a seed company and since they won't last forever we are really trying to get people to take them." See the Seed Ambassadors Project e-zine for more news and updates.**

Remember, gardeners are a friendly bunch - grow something new, ask questions, learn along the way, and celebrate serving up the fruits of your labor...

{Garden Fresh Produce = Joyful Meals}

"If you've never experienced the joy
of accomplishing more than you can imagine,
plant a garden."
~Robert Brault

Again, so sorry to have missed the company and good food for our March Food Group. Hopefully the ideas outlined here will be a helpful jumping off point as we all begin to plan our springtime plantings. Be sure to bring seeds and stories for swapping at our April Food Group ~ and feel free to share discussions below in the meantime...

~Bethany

Invitation ~ New Local Book Club for Portland Foodies

2011-02-24T11:50:00.000-08:00

Friends,

Sadie, a self described local bookseller/library employee/big reader/food enthusiast has extended a terrific invitation to all area bookworms interested in a once a month book club/outing about town to discuss and celebrate food related literature. She's putting the word out and has asked Sustainable Food for Thought to help spread the message.

Please read below and then drop her a line at books_a_go_go@yahoo.com to keep updated as plans develop.

{Sustainable Food for Thought Books on the Shelf}

Howdy, All,
I'm a hungry mind seeking other rabid readers! I'm looking for a small group of female foodies who are as crazy about food books (memoir, essay, cookbooks) and experiencing the bounty of PDXs many fine farmers' markets, restaurants, and cafes as am I to forge a book circle.

This group will meet once a month to discuss a mutually chosen food-themed book accompanied by an outing (per the above) so that we might sate our book and foodie hunger!

Here's a brief list of the types of books I've enjoyed in past (and that might appeal to you?) But the real fun will be in discovering what each member brings to the table!

If this interests, I'll hope to hear from you. Please contact at the following email.

Bon Ap,
sadie
books_a_go_go@yahoo.com

*American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half of Its Food (and What We Can Do About It)
*Spoon Fed: How Eight Cooks Saved my Life *Au Revoir to All That: Food, Wine, and the End of France
*Blood, Bones, & Butter
*Food Lover's Guide to Portland
*The Language of Baklava
All Michael Pollan
*Life, Death & Bialys

Sustainable Food for Thought Joins {Contributing Writers} at Frugal Granola

2011-02-18T08:55:00.000-08:00

Exciting seasons lay ahead as Sustainable Food for Thought continues inspiring Pacific Northwesterners (and friends beyond the region!) to find and share encouragement and resources for local food, urban agriculture, nutritious cooking, and sustainable living.

During 2011, Emily Pastor and Bethany Rydmark will be sharing monthly as Sustainable Living Contributors at Frugal Granola, home of Washington State blogger Michele Augur who writes about "Living a Simple & Sustainable Life of Passion for God, Family, Organic Food, & Bargain Shopping."

Learn more about Michele and the
2011 {Frugal Granola} Contributing Writers

~Emily & Bethany

Preview ~ March Food Group: Planning Your Garden

2011-02-17T13:16:00.000-08:00

Are you tired of root vegetables yet?
Bethany and I were talking the other day about how winter eating is starting to get a little stale. We may not be able to enjoy a ripe juicy tomato or savor a crisp salad straight from the garden yet, but by golly, we can talk about it!

Join us for Food Group March 2nd at 7pm for an evening devoted to planning our gardens. Whether you are a beginner gardener (a.k.a someone who kills everything) or an experienced green thumb or anyone in between, you are not going to want to miss this Food Group!

We will discuss how to plan your garden this year, be it in containers or on several acres. Topics will include crop rotation, siting your garden, DIY pest control/soil amendments, seed saving, and more!

In addition to our discussion on garden planning, we will end with a seed swap! If you are interested in swapping any extra seeds you may have, bring your seeds, some containers to bring seeds home, and a digital camera (to take pictures of the seed packets).

Food Group: Planning Your Garden
Wednesday, March 2nd, 7pm
Emily's House, SE PDX (Address will be provided in confirmation email)
Food Group is FREE but don't forget to bring seeds to swap and a snack to share!
RSVP at sustainablefoodforthought@gmail.com

Space is limited to the first 10 people to RSVP.
We will put together a wait list and ask that those who RSVP are committed to coming out of respect for the wait list.

Can't wait to see you there and talk about all the fresh bounty this summer will offer!
~Emily

Cultivating a Love for Cooking

2011-02-13T21:55:00.000-08:00

If you're like me, you weren't born with the inclination, talent or desire to cook.

It's not something that I necessarily hated , but it just didn't float my gravy boat. True fact: my brother cooked more than me growing up. Shameful, I know.

You and me, we could have a long chat about all the ways I've been "thwarted" in the kitchen, but I'd prefer to share with you the ways I've been learning to (dare I say it) love cooking. Here are some tips to help transform any cooking experience from a drudgery to an enjoyment.

1. Plan Ahead
For me that means menu planning. I make menu planning into something I look forward to each week because I make it fun. Once a week, I'll head out to a local coffee shop to clear my head, plan for the coming week and prepare our menu. During this time, I plan meals around the staples I already have in my kitchen (i.e. beans, grains, stocks, meat, root veggies). Then I peruse favorite food blogs for inspiration with those ingredients. After I find some recipes that incorporate my ingredients, I'll make a list of the items I'm missing (i.e. fresh herbs, produce, dairy items, etc). When my energy isn't constantly going toward figuring out what to cook each day, I am free to enjoy the process of cooking.

2. Keep a well stocked pantry, spice rack, and freezer.
Always having staples on hand makes the occasional spontaneous meal a reality. There's always a meal on hand when beans and rice are around!

3. Make Things You're Excited to Eat
A simple but important point. If you're not excited to eat it, you won't be excited to make it. Enough said.

4. Cook with New Ingredients
There's nothing like getting caught in an ingredient rut to kill the joy in cooking. Instead of passing over a recipe because you've never used one of the ingredients on the list, be daring and give it a try. You might just find a new favorite!

5. Watch a Short Cooking Video
We don't have a TV, so I don't watch much, but I am a sucker for cooking shows! Just seeing someone make something gives me more courage and excitement to do it myself. If you've never made a particular dish, watching a short clip can give you the confidence you need to tackle it with gusto.

6. Take Pride in Your Work
Don't treat food as strictly practical...treat it like art and take some extra time to make it look pretty. Add a garnish, set your table, light some candles...anything that makes the food look pretty and ups the "WOW" factor. Beautiful food tastes better.

7. Put Together Your Own Cooking Journal
This is something I've been wanting to do for a while. Start bringing a camera into the kitchen and take pictures of all your meals during the different stages. Write down any changes you made to the recipe and the end results. Compile your favorites into a book. Use it as a reference for yourself or give it away as gifts!

As I've been naturally implementing some of these steps, cooking is becoming an exciting avenue of my life where I can express creativity and do something meaningful with my hands. As I gain confidence and skill in cooking, I also gain the desire and joy for it too.

How about you? Were you born loving to cook or is it something you've learned to enjoy with time?

Happy Cooking (and eating!)
~Emily

{Books on the Shelf} What the World Eats

2011-02-11T11:30:00.000-08:00

Oh, the library. Piquing curiosities, inspiring fresh thoughts, teaching perspectives, and introducing new understandings of the world...

I'd love to share with you one of my favorite finds from this past fall:
What the World Eats: 25 Families. 21 Countries. 525 Meals.

Two important things to know before delving in:

1) Getting my own library card as a little kid was a big deal. A big deal. The week I could write my own name, my mom took me to the front desk, and after one elegant signature, I became the bearer of a Woodburn Library Card, proud of the shiny new piece of ID to keep in my little girl purse. (I think I still have that original card in my little cedar jewelry box.)

2) Fast forward a decade to Jr. High: One favorite year of home school co-op classes focused on world geography. Each Friday, in addition to practicing our skills at Mapping the World by Heart and presenting written/oral reports on various countries, three of us girls would bring ethnic dishes corresponding to our study areas. Thankfully, my mom was game for weekly missions to track down foreign, odd ingredients.

Fast forward another decade...and a half:

Love of libraries, love of the world, and love of true food still ignite my inspiration and creativity.

A "quick trip" to the Belmont Library hold shelf usually morphs into wandering tempting aisles...and soon enough, I depart with more words than I can possibly sift through before due dates call my bluff.

"But hey," I tell myself, "Library books are free learning. Why not take advantage?"

Happy indeed I've been with this particular find:

What the World Eats a 2008 publication by husband and wife duo, photographer Peter Menzel and author Faith D'Aluisio.

This picture-rich book highlights families from all around the world, in their homes, surrounded by a one-week supply of food and provides a detailed breakdown of groceries by type, quantity, and cost, giving a window into daily life and diet in places as disparate as Canada and Chad, Mexico and Mongolia, India and Australia.

Homes: varied from French suburbia to dirt floors in Ecuador.

Food: ranging from arrays of produce, animals products, and staple grains to diverse collections of packaged/processed foods and brightly colored bags, bottles and boxes.

Financial Breakdown: weekly $$ amounts (converted to USD for comparison's sake) including market value of homegrown foods (such a homegrown chicken or milk from a family cow) and subtotaled by category (i.e., grains & starchy foods, dairy, meat/fish/egg, fruits & veggies, prepared foods, etc.).

Notes: occasional details about cooking and preservation methods, short biographies of the families and their occupations and past times, country fact summaries, and charts and tables detailing literacy, fertility, obesity, population density, and annual meat consumption rates.

In recent Food Group discussions, we've spoken of meal planning efforts and sustainable, budget savvy living. It's eye opening to see for one's self the actual types and quantities of food being prepared and served by families around the world and to ponder the comparisons between kitchens and the cultural dietary shifts of developed countries during the past century.

Visit this article for a quick peek at additional pictures, or simply give the book title a Google image search and feast your eyes!

This book makes a great educational tool, and I'm eager to share it with my own future little ones, someday, as they amble up to receive their first library card and explore the wonders awaiting them on the bookshelves...

Available at Powell's Books
and of course,
the Multnomah County Library.

After coming across this initial book, I was pleased to learn that Peter and Faith published another terrific title in 2010: What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets. Keep an eye out for highlights in a future edition of Sustainable Food For Thought's {Books on the Shelf}.

~Bethany

February's Food Group Recap: DIY Lip Balm

2011-02-07T20:54:00.000-08:00

February's Food Group proved to be a productive and educational get together as Bethany led us through the art of making DIY lip balm. The warm sweet scent of melting beeswax drifted through the bustling room of about 15 local ladies, all learning the why's and how's of making lip balm to die for. Yeah, it's that good.

Bethany started the evening off by highlighting each of the ingredients involved in the DIY lip balm and the importance of each. She explained that even the "natural" lip balms on the market contain unnecessary ingredients. For example, check out the ingredient list of two well-know lip balms compared to the recipe Bethany used from GloryBee Foods:

Original ChapStick Ingredients: arachidyl propionate, camphor, carnauba wax, cetyl alcohol, D&C red no. 6 barium lake, FD&C yellow no. 5 aluminum lake, fragrance, isopropyl lanolate, isopropyl myristate, lanolin, light mineral oil, methylparaben, octyldodecanol, oleyl alcohol, parrafin, phenyl trimethicone, proplyparaben, titanium dioxide, white wax

Burt’s Bees Ingredients: beeswax, cocos nucifera (coconut) oil, helianthus annuus (sunflower) seed oil, mentha piperita (peppermint) oil, lanolin, tocopherol, rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) leaf extract, glycine soja (soybean) oil, canola oil

DIY Ingredients: pure, filtered beeswax; sweet almond oil; vitamin E oil, aloe vera concentrate, essential oil

By making DIY lip balm, not only can you cut out the fillers, but the savings are incredible as the finished product costs less than $1 a tube.

Bethany walked us through the first batch then everyone jumped in, making delicious batches of lip balm with rich scents such as Tangerine Peppermint, Jasmine Lime, Bergamot, Red Currant Lime, and a Tropical blend.

Throughout the night, everyone kept commenting about the simplicity of DIY lip balm. Thanks to Bethany's organization, preparation, and instructions, everyone walked away with 12 tubes of nourishing lip balm.

The evening ended with everyone enjoying delicious snacks and refreshing conversation. I so enjoyed getting to know everyone new to the group...Food Group is definitely one of the highlights to my month. Thanks to everyone who participated! I hope you all are enjoying your lip balm!

For those of you who missed this awesome Food Group but are interested in making DIY lip balm, here is everything you need to get started at home. Enjoy!

{ Supplies } found at GloryBee Foods
1 oz. pure, filtered beeswax
½ cup sweet almond oil
½ teaspoon vitamin e oil
¼ teaspoon aloe vera concentrate
½ teaspoon essential oil
lip balm pots or tubes

{ Instructions }

Cut beeswax into pieces (the smaller the pieces, the faster it will melt).

Combine beeswax, sweet almond oil, vitamin e oil, and aloe vera concentrate in a small, pourable container (a glass measuring cup works well). Place this container in a saucepan and fill the pan with approximately 2 inches of water.

Heat the mixture over medium heat until the beeswax is completely melted.

Remove from heat and add essential oil.

Pour into containers (pipettes come in handy here, otherwise, use a steady pouring hand).

Cool completely before use.

Makes approximately two dozen 5 gram (.15oz.) pots or tubes. Instructions courtesy GloryBee Foods

Thanks again to everyone who participated! We hope to see you all again for the next Food Group about planning your garden on March 2nd. {Details coming soon!}

Blessings,
Emily

Wintertime Local Eating- Interview with Gretchan Jackson

2011-01-25T13:33:00.000-08:00

"Eating local" and "eating in season" are popular phrases these days, aren't they? However, do you find yourself eating locally more in the summer than in the winter? If so, you're not alone. Many Farmer's Markets around the area are only open during the spring and summer months, when the crowds and crops are at their peak. The demand for local food decreases as cold weather sets in and the non-flashy crops of winter make their debuts. Jessica Prentice, author of Full Moon Feast, says it best:
"At the height of summer, when there are bountiful fresh juicy tomatoes, sweet corn, crisp green beans, and peaches that are bursting with flavor, we may flock to the farmer's markets and celebrate the joys of the harvest. But our enthusiasm doesn't last through the Hunger Moon... During the Hunger Moon we return to the supermarkets to buy produce imported from tropical countries where the sun still shines. Our interest in seasonality is seasonal."

It's no wonder that we find ourselves eating more locally and in season during the summer...it's just, well...easier! Here in the Montavilla neighborhood, we have the privilege of having a farmer's market which hosts a Winter Stock-Up day about once a month during the market's "off season". To gain more insight about the issue of eating locally in the winter I talked with Gretchan Jackson, the Market Manager for the Montavilla Farmer's Market, and here's what she had to say:

1. Tell us a little about yourself! What is your position with the Montavilla Farmers Market, how long have you been involved with it, and what is your favorite part about your job?
My name is Gretchan Jackson and I am the Market Manager at the Montavilla Farmers Market. I live in the neighborhood and have been an avid locavore since discovering the bounty of local farmers markets in college. Montavilla Farmers Market is in its 5th year and I have been on board as a market founder and manager since its inception in 2007. My favorite part of the job is working to connect local farmers and producers with a community of supporters here in Montavilla.

2. It seems like there is a trend to “eat locally” only in the summer months when it is most convenient. Why is it important to support local vendors and farmers year round versus just during the summer months?
With Portland's mild winters, there's no reason to stop eating locally and in season after October. The real secret is that winter crops are at their sweetest once it gets cold outside. Shopping at year round farmers markets encourages local farmers to extend their season to provide us with the best and least traveled food available. Supporting the local farm and producer economy in the leaner months, ensures that growers and small businesses can remain financially viable, allowing them to return and thrive as the crowds and crops return in summer.

3. What are the biggest setbacks for farmers and vendors participating in the Winter Stock-Up Market?
When the weather shifts and skies are grey, cold and wet, folks forget that there's warmth to be had a local market, conversing with neighbors and vendors about the delicious abundance found here in the Pacific Northwest. No matter the weather, it is important to show up to support the farmers and vendors who have traveled to your locale to meet you.

4. Are you finding that the Winter Stock-Up Market is well-received/attended and do you expect that more markets around Portland will become year-round or have winter stock-up days?
We have been very pleased with the offerings found at our Winter Stock-Up Markets in December and January and also happily surprised with the customer turn out. A Winter Market offers a unique chance to experience a farmers market with smaller crowds. Often times the farmer or producer themselves will be vending, so you can speak directly with them about their farming practices and varieties they offer, without a rush. Prices are often lower with storage crops too, and bulk buying is encouraged. Certainly, as the demand for winter farmers markets increases, other farmers markets will follow suit by offering cold weather dates. We've already seen that phenomenon with the November Harvest Markets prior to Thanksgiving that many markets now feature.

5. What can the Portland community do to show their appreciation and support of year round markets and the Winter Stock-Up Market, and how can they get involved?
Come visit the Montavilla Farmers Market at the February 13th Winter Stock-Up Market from 11am - 1pm, at the 7600 Block of SE Stark Street here in Portland. You will find 25+ varieties of local apples and pears, beef, pork, soft and aged goat cheese, dry-cured sausage, likely some storable crops like carrots, turnips, garlic and onions and more at the Market. Plan to stock up as it's our last Winter Market until our regular season begins in June! Come participate by joining us as shoppers.

Thanks again to Gretchan Jackson for giving us some insight into eating local during the Winter! My hope is that there will no longer be an "off-season" for farmer's markets as the demand for local food in the winter increases. Let's finish the "Hunger Moon" well, and savor the rich and nourishing flavors of winter.

Join me on February 13th in attending the final Winter Stock-Up market from 11 am - 1 pm. See you all there!

~Emily

Exploring Plant Protein

2011-01-23T19:45:00.001-08:00

Greetings from San Diego!

For those I haven't met, I used to be a part of the food group in person until we moved from Portland to San Diego 5 months ago. I miss being there in person but have been thankful to stay in touch with some of you and continue learning and sharing. Due to a health condition, my husband is unable to have animal protein. I have been venturing out into unknown territory and trying out new sources of animal protein.

Millet is a gluten free, easy to digest grain rich in Phytic acid and almost 15% protein!

Black Bean and Millet Salad

Black Bean and Millet Salad
1 cup millet, uncooked
3 cups water
2 cups black beans, cooked
2 large tomatoes, chopped
1 medium onion, (or substitute green onions), chopped
1 medium cucumber

Dressing
1/3 cup water
3 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons garlic, minced
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon cumin

Cook the millet in 3 cups of water until water is absorbed, about 30 minutes. Fluff with fork and allow to cool. (Boil water first, then add millet and simmer. I had to look this part up as the recipe wasn't very specific!)In a large bowl, combine millet, black beans, tomatoes, and onion.Peel several strips from the cucumber (it should look striped) and cut it lengthwise into four pieces. Remove the seeds and cut into 1/2-inch slices. Add the cucumber to the salad.

Mix all dressing ingredients until well blended and pour over the salad, tossing to blend. (Experiment with the seasonings to suit taste.) Cover and refrigerate until the salad is well chilled. Serve on lettuce leaves or stuff into pita bread.

Another new item for our family this week was Tempeh. I wish I could say I found a fermentation starter and made my own, but not quite yet! I purchased a non flavored block of organic Tempeh from our local health foods store to use in the recipe. It has 20 g of protein in a serving. (Non GMO, Organic Soybeans)

This picture is of Tempeh Scalloppine with Shallot Mushroom Gravy. There is a organic and local foods restaurant near where Steve works called Native Foods and it comes from their cookbook. Due to the fact that we are downsizing to an apartment in 4 days, I already packed it! I will try to remember to come back and add the recipe. I found Tempeh to be nutty, wholesome, and flavorful.

Tempeh Scalloppine with Shallot Mushroom Gravy

My family has made quite a few changes in the last few weeks. We are enjoying raw milk and raw cream and think we have located a good source for raw goats milk! My son Luke, will be turning 3 on Wednesday and it took switching to raw milk and a mostly raw foods diet to improve some health issues he has had his whole life. We are also thankful to have found a local, organic farm near where we live. (It took 5 months to figure out such a thing DOES exist in Southern California!) We became CSA shareholders and had our first delivery last Wednesday. The last recipe I wanted to share with you comes out of the CSA cookbook we received with the first delivery. It was a big hit with the entire family, even 13 month old Ellie!

Cauliflower Potato Curry

2 T peanut oil ( I used almond oil)

1 tsp each: curry powder, turmeric, cumin, dried thyme

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

2/3 cup chopped onion

2 cups cubed waxy potatoes (Yukon gold was in CSA delivery, they can be both waxy and starchy so they worked great)

1 cup vegetable or chicken stock, or water ( I used water)

2 cups chopped cauliflower

1 medium carrot,chopped

2 slices fresh gingerroot

1/4 pound fresh beans, chopped

1 T fresh lemon juice

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat oil in skillet. Stir in dry spices. Add onion and garlic; cook over medium heat until tender. Add potatoes and stock, cover and cook 10 minutes. Stir in cauliflower, carrot, and ginger. Cover and cook 5 minutes. Stir in beans. Cover and cook 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove cover; continue to simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated. Stir in lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve over white rice and top with green onion. (We used brown rice. Next time I was thinking of trying Millet or Quinoa). Makes 4 servings.

***

Lisa Engelman is a Founding Member of Sustainable Food For Thought's Portland Food Group, and we are blessed to be able to continue sharing our learning and conversations through email and blogging as she and her husband and two beautiful kids now make their home in sunny Southern California ...

Our Portland Hand Crafted Food Swap Featured on Cooking Up a Story

2011-01-18T11:05:00.000-08:00

Participants in December's Hand Crafted Food Swap may remember a kind pair circulating around the room capturing the event on video camera.

Our guests were Cooking Up a Story's Rebecca Gerendasy and her husband/assistant extraordinaire. They joined the evening to produce a Small Bites film clip about the Food Swap to add to CUPS' wonderful online series of "shows about people, food, and sustainable living."

A few weeks back, CUPS shared a preview, and today, the full piece is up:

{ Cooking Up A Story: Food Swap }

Heartfelt thanks to Rebecca for sharing her energy and love of local foods and helping to spread the Food Swap inspiration with others around the country.

Please take some time to explore Cooking Up a Story's terrific collection of informative and encouraging videos at www.cookingupastory.com.

"Cooking up a Story explores...larger questions and concerns, as we continue to focus on the people whose living examples provide inspiration, education, and possible models forward toward building a more sustainable future."
- CUPS

{ Details }

Portland's First Hand Crafted Food Swap

Inspiration from Hip Girls' Guide to Homemaking

Want to receive updates on future swaps?
Like the PDX Swappers Facebook Page

February Food Group: DIY Natural Lip Balm

2011-01-13T20:34:00.000-08:00

Have you heard that factoid about how women consume

an average of 6 lbs. of lipstick
over their lifetimes?

Yeah, me too.

It's more than a bit unsettling to think about that bright grease ending up in our stomachs (and livers? and wherever else?). Granted, considering I wear lipstick all of about 2.3 days a year, I'm pretty sure my lifetime dietary intake will be substantially lower that the average.

But my intake of lip balm is probably quite another story.

I met my best friend over a tube of chapstick. You know, that sparkly, smelly, shiny LipSmackers stuff that Jr. High girls loved in the early 90s? My tastes refined over time, oh yes. I went through a Carmex phase, then an Aveda phase after that... But when I learned how to make my own with trusted ingredients, a few simple supplies, and about 20 minutes of time, my new favorite became a medicine cabinet and purse pocket staple.

I've been making lip balm since college, when my kind friend, Jay, introduced me to the recipe and products available from his employer, GloryBee Foods (a local Pacific Northwest company based out of Eugene, Oregon).

Dubbed "Better Than Burt's," it's stacked with benefits:

Fine ingredients.

Simple containers.

Zero pricey brand name labels.

And even if you ate 6 lbs of it tomorrow,
you'd probably be none the worse for wear...

Did I mention? It's oh-so-easy to make.

In honor of Valentine's Day and kissable lips (or maybe because we simply crave more wintertime kitchen projects during the cold and dreary "Hunger Moon") ~ February's Food Group will be a hands-on learning session with instruction and supplies for creating your own Homemade Lip Balm.

Food Group: Join us the first Wednesday night of the month for ideas, resources, and camaraderie on the food front. As always, feel free to bring a friend, bring something to eat, bring a story about your food-life, or just bring yourself and enjoy the good company and conversation...

{A Sampling of Lip Balm Supplies}

During our DIY night, the group will be given opportunity to customize essential oil blends and make batches of pure beeswax/sweet almond oil/aloe vera/vitamin E oil lip balm.

You Are Welcome~

Wednesday, February 2nd, 7:00-8:30pm
Bethany's Home
92nd & NE Burnside, Portland, Oregon
~~Please RSVP for Directions & To Reserve Your Spot~~
*This Event is Now Full*

All supplies and ingredients will be provided.
A donation of $8 per person is asked to help to cover the bulk materials costs,
and you'll be free to take home a dozen tubes of lip balm at the end of the night.
Maybe pair them with chocolates for the perfect Valentine? ;)

Food For Thought

According to an October 5, 2010 article, Amazon.com sells 3,963 lip balm products!
(ChapStick, Vaseline, Alba Botanica, Burt's Bees, C.O. Bigelow, Neutrogena, Labellow, and Soft Lips, to name a few popular brands).

A tinkering gentleman in the 1880s invented the original ChapStick by creating something like a wickless candle wrapped in tinfoil...though I'm guessing that the modern recipe* may have a few additions to his original formula. (*arachidyl propionate, camphor, carnauba wax, cetyl alcohol, D&C red no. 6 barium lake, FD&C yellow no. 5 aluminum lake, fragrance, isopropyl lanolate, isopropyl myristate, lanolin, light mineral oil, methylparaben, octyldodecanol, oleyl alcohol, parrafin, phenyl trimethicone, proplyparaben, titanium dioxide, white wax)

"Natural" modern alternatives are commercially available, including Burt's Bees Beeswax Lip Balm.* Interesting to note, however, that in 2007, Burt's Bees was purchased by the Clorox Company. (*beeswax, cocos nucifera (coconut) oil, helianthus annuus (sunflower) seed oil, mentha piperita (peppermint) oil, lanolin, tocopherol, rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) leaf extract, glycine soja (soybean) oil, canola oil)

The GloryBee recipe* we'll be using contains five ingredients (*pure, filtered beeswax; sweet almond oil; vitamin E oil, aloe vera concentrate, essential oil)

A fun article from the New York Times highlights education, learning the contents of typical cosmetics, and favoring DIY over mystery ingredients: Experimenting With Makeup: What Puts the 'Ick' in Lipstick?

What Do You Put on Your Lips?

What is worth making at home vs. purchasing out of convenience?

More Importantly...What Comes Across Our Lips?
"Kind words are like honey; sweet to the taste and good for your health."
{Proverbs 16:24}

Hope to see you on the 2nd!
~Bethany