I Brake For Farm Stands

You can make a pretty good homemade carrot soup with just a few carrots, an onion, chicken stock and some grated ginger. I also added zest of an orange in this batch for an extra kick.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Yes, it's carrot season and the farm stands are packed with plump, juicy, sweet carrots. I cannot resist a roadside farm stand, and feel great about supporting farmers.

I recently bought 3/4 quart of Maple syrup from a business at $23. A week later I drove past a small farmhouse selling their own syrup and picked up a full quart for $17.  Quite a savings, and the flavor was far superior! It was so delicious that I slurped it up by the spoonful. There is nothing like maple syrup. Nothing!

But the best part of that second transaction was hearing all about the product. The farm wife's eyes brightened as she told me she had made maple syrup since she was a child and "loved it. Just loved it." She and her husband tapped 120 trees on their land and this batch came from a rather modest "three day boil." It was a small crop due to last year's mild winter.

The woman predicted a more "normal winter" this season. "The caterpillars are changing color," she told me, and her father always said, "Watch the caterpillars, they'll tell ya what's in store." Apparently she saw a caterpillar that week that was almost white. Get out the Uggs.

Further down the road I collected some Cherokee Chocolate tomatoes. It's a very popular tomato with celebrity chefs these days and was also a favorite of the grower's. I mentioned that I'd never grown a chocolate before and was told to save some of the seeds from these and I'd have them in my garden next year. Don't you just love farmers?

Here is one of the Cherokee Chocolates next to a beefsteak from my own garden. Very exotic.

Fishing in Slippers

Finally took a few days off to head up to the lake for some R&R. I didn't even have to hit the grocers first. I shopped in my own larder, retrieving jars of gazpacho, beets, fresh potatoes, cukes, onions, tomatoes and more from the garden. 

Even at the cottage, sustainable living can be achieved... provided that there is edible fish to harvest. It's imperative that we keep our waterways free of pollutants.

The bass in this lake are still edible, but acid rain has killed off entire fish populations in some lakes with pH levels equivalent to that of lemon juice.

I learned of this while conducting research for a screenplay several years ago.

Stands of maple trees along the eastern seaboard have succumbed to dieback (dying from the tops down) due to acid rain.

I think about that every time I pay $9 for a bottle of maple syrup. Is it any wonder that most pancake houses serve up the ubiquitous corn syrup instead?

The effect on wildlife and our natural resources is devastating. Reducing your carbon footprint has never been more crucial.

I'm happy to say that I'm meeting new people every day who are taking steps to reduce their energy use. Some, even attempting to get off the grid completely. Trendsetters are installing wind, solar energy and geothermal heating systems in their homes. Rain barrels and dug wells are being used to help water sustainable home gardens. Solar ovens are fashionable alternatives for the slow cooking movement.  People are even hanging laundry on lines again. It's finally hip to be green.

If you don't have the land to plant a sustainable garden, CSAs and local farmer's markets are de rigueur. CSAs (Community Shared Agriculture) are programs where you prepay for fresh foods right off the farm. CSAs provide everything from meat, poultry, dairy, fruit and produce to herbs, crafts, honey, flowers, fibers and soaps. Each week you pick up your carton at a drop off point.  Local Harvest.org is a great source to locate a CSA in your city.

But don't forget that you can also garden inside. All you need is a pot, soil and good light. We should all start rethinking the design of our homes. Interior greenery could be hanging pots of cascading strawberries, window boxes of pretty mesclun lettuce and containers of cooking herbs instead of philodendrons and ivy.