A Bounty Obsession

Do you know what I am doing right now?  Making blackberry jelly.  The beautiful deep magenta liquid is currently dripping its way through my jelly strainer.  It smells luxurious right now in my house.  I do not think there is any more intoxicating smell as the smell of fresh wild blackberries cooking down on my stove.  But I am getting carried away here.  Or maybe some of you understand.  I have spent the last two weekends gleaning blackberries in what has been a prolific year for blackberries.  I have picked 5 gallons so far.  I am reminiscing now as the rains have begun again here on Whidbey Island.  Fall is a few days away but I have felt it in the air for more than a week.  The time of the blackberry is now passing and those few unreachable berries will now rot away.  The ones I have been able to obtain will now serve a second short life as fruit leather, jelly and syrup.  YUM.  I may have picked my last blackberry for the year but today I quickly transitioned to the next fruit which will be smelling up my house for months to come.  I gleaned 115lbs of the loveliest apples today. 
Two years ago we had a simply stellar season for apples.  The apples glowed like little candies on the branches.  It soon became apparent our neighbors would be up to their knees in apples, so they gave us 50 lbs.  Something in this gesture sparked a fire in our home and we thought we would ask a few other neighbors with trees what they were planning on doing with all their apples.  We were surprised when their response was, "take them all, I won't be picking them and I don't want to be cleaning them up off my lawn."  Imagine that.  All those trees...So the only logical thing was to go on a gleaning spree that left us with over 400 lbs. of apples.  I was making apple based products for weeks.  I had made apple sauce, apple butter, apple pie filling-canned and frozen- I even made my own apple pectin and I still had so many apples.  This is when my hero arrived.  A friend of a friend owned a cider press and he let us use it.  The huge oak device was delivered to our house one evening and when I saw it, I was so relieved.  We started tossing in all the remaining apples in the crusher and two days later we had 8 gallons of cider.  We gave some away to a friend who helped with gleaning the last tree.  I froze several gallons and we drank cider everyday.  Eventually we were down to a gallon and half in our fridge and it became evident I needed to take this cider to the next level.  I found a recipe for Apple Cider Jelly and got to work immediately.  We have shared this golden jelly with many of our friends and it has been, by far, everyone's favorite gift.  Some of them are asking me now if I will be making it again.  All the apples were saved.  I kinda felt like some super hero gleaner. 
And I am about to do it all over again.  We have been checking in on our neighbors trees.  They have all given us the go ahead to glean the trees again.  We have about a week until I dive into apple-extravaganza 2011.  I admit, I may be a little obsessed.  When you live in a place like this, the food is practically growing everywhere, begging to be used, it is just hard for a person like me to ignore.  But...it is a lot more interesting to eat that apple pie, close your eyes and see where that food used to live, and to remember how that tree practically threw that food at you as if to say, "I have grown this for you and your children, eat this so I can become a part of you and so you may grow too."  No apple from New Zealand has ever said anything so nice to me.

Learning to Eat Locally with a Little Help From Friends

Tonight was Transition Whidbey's Potluck With a Purpose Eat Local Challenge kick-off.  We gathered together for a community potluck and shared out local dishes and our local sources.  I finally revealed our Local Food Resource List which included four pages of resources for produce, meat, seafood, poultry, dairy, eggs, grains and honey all available on our beautiful island or just beyond.  This list is the beginning of what I hope to become an extensive source of local food resources for the Northwest Washington region.  Many questions were asked tonight.  Finding the answers to these questions will be my goal as I search ever deeper for the source of our island nourishment. I would love for those Whidbey Islanders who read this to please respond with your sources or you questions regarding local food.  Comment below with your suggestions and help guide my research.  I am so excited to put this information together and truly enable and empower the people on Whidbey to eat as locally as possible.  Thank you!

Local Berries Now and All Year Long

Getting into the eating local routine will take some planning.  If you truly need that sweet taste of Summer berries in the middle of Winter, chances are you will have to be preparing for it now.  Eating local means being conscious of the seasons offerings and being ahead of the game a bit.  By now on Whidbey, strawberries are going out of season and raspberries are just getting started.  You may be lucky enough to snag a flat of strawberries from the markets but get them quick.  My kids and I picked 25 pounds of delicious Hood strawberries while visiting family in SW Washington.  I have to say they are THE best strawberries I have ever tasted.  Truly an amazing berry!  I made 18 pints of strawberry jam with half of them, and froze and vacuum sealed the rest.  I thought this would last much longer but they are so good my family looks for every reason to make toast with jam or smoothies.  The good thing is more berries are coming. 

 Now is the time to make a preservation plan.  I am planning on never buying jam or fruit syrup for the next year so I am going to be busy.  Raspberries will be plentiful very soon followed by blueberries, currants, blackberries, other similar soft berries, Peaches, Plums, and Apples.  Now is the time for abundance and enough restraint to help make it last.  Go get those berries!

U-Pick info for Whidbey Island:
Raspberries- 
Mile Post 19
18997 SR 20 (PO Box 392)
Coupeville, WA 98239
(360) 678-3641
MilePost19Farm@gmail.com

Blueberries-
Crescent Harbor Blueberry Farm
2726 Laurel Lane, Oak Harbor
(360)679-4210

Bonnie's Blues
1.5 miles off State 20, Oak Harbor
(360)679-3600

10 Reasons to Eat Local

A wonderful list from the Eat Local Challenge site that helps really sum up why local food is really better:

10 Reasons to Eat Local Food

Eating local means more for the local economy. According to a study by the New Economics Foundation in London, a dollar spent locally generates twice as much income for the local economy. When businesses are not owned locally, money leaves the community at every transaction.

Locally grown produce is fresher. While produce that is purchased in the supermarket or a big-box store has been in transit or cold-stored for days or weeks, produce that you purchase at your local farmer's market has often been picked within 24 hours of your purchase. This freshness not only affects the taste of your food, but the nutritional value which declines with time.

Local food just plain tastes better. Ever tried a tomato that was picked within 24 hours? 'Nuff said.

Locally grown fruits and vegetables have longer to ripen. Because the produce will be handled less, locally grown fruit does not have to be "rugged" or to stand up to the rigors of shipping. This means that you are going to be getting peaches so ripe that they fall apart as you eat them, figs that would have been smashed to bits if they were sold using traditional methods, and melons that were allowed to ripen until the last possible minute on the vine.

Eating local is better for air quality and pollution than eating organic. In a March 2005 study by the journal Food Policy, it was found that the miles that organic food often travels to our plate creates environmental damage that outweighs the benefit of buying organic.

Buying local food keeps us in touch with the seasons. By eating with the seasons, we are eating foods when they are at their peak taste, are the most abundant, and the least expensive.

Buying locally grown food is fodder for a wonderful story. Whether it's the farmer who brings apples to market or the baker who makes bread, knowing part of the story about your food is such a powerful part of enjoying a meal.

Eating local protects us from bioterrorism. Food with less distance to travel from farm to plate has less susceptibility to harmful contamination.

Local food translates to more variety. When a farmer is producing food that will not travel a long distance, will have a shorter shelf life, and does not have a high-yield demand, the farmer is free to try small crops of various fruits and vegetables that would probably never make it to a large supermarket. Supermarkets are interested in selling "Name brand" fruit: Romaine Lettuce, Red Delicious Apples, Russet Potatoes. Local producers often play with their crops from year to year, trying out Little Gem Lettuce, Senshu Apples, and Chieftain Potatoes.

Supporting local providers supports responsible land development. When you buy local, you give those with local open space - farms and pastures - an economic reason to stay open and undeveloped.

Visit the Eat Local Challenge website to learn more
www.eatlocalchallenge.com

Introduction to Local Food Culture

Why should I eat local?
Local food is fast becoming the trend for many in our nation.  People have begun asking questions of our current food system and the answers they are receiving are shocking.  The current state of our existing food system is in need of an overhaul.   The inevitable rise in oil prices directly correlates to food prices and the price of food has risen inconceivably.  As oil dwindles, a food emergency will ensue.  Fortunately, an easy option exists right now.  A drastic move away from the industrialized food culture, towards a renewed local food culture bolstered by community spirit and pride in knowing who your small town farmer is.  It is easier than you think.

The easiest way to go local is to plant it yourself.  At the heart of everyone there is a farmer.  Generations of people relied on growing their own until recently.  We were all grown from soil and the cycle of the seasons.  Our ancestors grew life with the dirt and foraged for the future!  It is our duty to continue this way of life.  We can easily revive this somewhat lost art by just taking some seeds and planting them in dirt.  We could all claim our birthright in this way. 

The next easiest way to eat local is to find a farmer's market near you.  Markets are popping up everywhere and older ones are growing bigger and more diverse.  The market vendors are usually the same people who grow the food they are selling.  These people have a connection with the food they grow.  The farmers who sell at market are generally smaller in size and tend to use organic methods even if they are not certified.  Also, despite popular belief it tends to be cheaper too. 

In the race to 'feed the world' a lot has been compromised and it all seems to be culminating at this point in time all at once.  Who was it that decided gigantic monoculture crops would be the best candidates to accomplish this task?  We can feed everyone in this world with a diverse agriculture that doesn't deny the basic rights of people.  Food is the right of all humankind.  It is our responsibility to take back that right.  We all need to get back to basics and reeducate our culture in agriculture.