The Challenge Begins...

Tomorrow!  Even if you can't participate every day, it's okay.  Do what you can. 

Over the weekend I shopped at my every day grocer and picked up some local food.  Let's just say citrus time is just beginning in La Florida.  Mmm... my favorite.

A few places to look for the local goods:

• your every day grocer
• health food store
• Wal-Mart  (WM is now the nation's largest purchaser of local produce.  Did you know this?  News to me!)
• farmers' markets
• CSA's
• farms and U-Picks
• grow your own food!

Send me pictures of the local food you're finding and I'll post them to the blog -- miltonsara@gmail.com, or leave me a comment.  Good luck and have fun!  I can't wait to see what you find!

Week 5 in my backyard

Looking at the garden pictures from one week ago I see a considerable increase in the amount of green.  My garden is growing!  The satsuma tree has birthed one lonely satsuma.  We weren't expecting much from our citrus tree until next Fall, but this little one was a pleasant surprise.  The red leaf lettuce is changing with the leaves on the trees; the hammock is up and plenty of lounging has been going on in the cool breeze.  My three year old lays very still in it, hanging his toddler legs over the side.  I've always been impressed with his ability to abruptly halt play, making time to kick back and relax; a rare thing for someone so young, and a good reminder to me that sometimes the answer is simply to: 

s  l  o  w    d  o  w  n . 

And, since 80% of our household is male, and we have a couple of foam swords lying around, sword fights are inevitable. 

There you have it - week five for my little garden.  Year five for my oldest little person.  There's a whole lot of growing going on over here!

Local Farm

A perfect way for you to get fresh, seasonal produce is to become a member of a CSA - Community Supported Agriculture.  When you become a CSA member to a particular farm, you are buying a share of the season's harvest.  A CSA is all about offering what the season brings.  As a member, your money goes to operating the farm -- seeds, equipment maintenance, labor, and so on .  And in return, you get a bagful of freshly picked produce.  So...

You are eating with the seasons.
Your food couldn't be fresher.
You can build a relationship with the person growing your food. 
You can know exactly how your food is grown (organic, without pesticides and fertilizers, etc.)
You support small, local business and they support you. 

Doesn't that sound wonderful?

KYV Farm is a local (for you Northeastern Floridians) organic family farm/CSA.  I found it in my search for locating the local for next month's challenge.  I'm thrilled to have found this local jewel!  I'm going to take a tour of the farm sometime soon.  Anyone want to join?

Only ONE week until the local food eating challenge begins!

fall garden week 4

some lettuce from the Mesclun Mix is 5" tall!

baby bibb.

more from the mesclun.

 

 

trail of kale.

 

 

 

My little helper in the garden.  Sweet boy.

The Locavore Challenge!

Here it is: Eat locally for 30 days.  

This may sound daunting, but don't let it be!  Allow me to explain...  You do not need to prepare an entire meal with as many local ingredients as you can dig up -- although you may. 

What it does mean -- eat ONE local thing a day. 

A locavore is someone who makes an effort to eat food that is grown, raised, or produced within a 100-mile radius of home.  Let's broaden the "local" boundaries to mean anything in your state.  You could pull a few mint leaves from your potted mint and toss it into your salad; or, spread a teaspoon of local honey on your toast; another idea, you could roast a halved squash that you purchased from your neighborhood farmer's market.  This can be as simple or as complex as you'd like it to be.  It is up to you.

By doing this we may not be making a huge change in our diet yet but, it will push us to search out what our surrounding area has to offer - because it is there!  And, our local food growers need us and we need them! This will give us knowledge.  And, knowledge empowers us!

We will begin November 1st.  This way you have time to hop on the internet and locate the local.  Any sort of organic grocer will have items; your neighborhood farmer's market; even your common, every day grocery store is likely to have some things.

You may email me pictures that you'd like to share on this blog of the local foods you added to your daily diet.  I would love to see what you're eating (and others would enjoy too, if others are out there... hope you are!). Or, you may simply leave a comment about what you ate that day.  If you can't do this every day, that's ok.  Keep on trying throughout November.  Eat locally as often as you can.  This isn't about us making a great change to our diets, but rather it gives us the knowledge we need to start making changes.  Perhaps you will try some new fun recipes along the way!  This will be just as challenging for you as it will be for me.  Until now my local food purchases are few. And, if you are already living this way -- WONDERFUL!  Please share your knowledge with us!

Ooh -- this is going to be fun!  Begin searching now.

Sara's S's

STRAIGHT FROM THE GROUND

Ok. So you may rinse your food off first.  But otherwise -- leave your food WHOLE - in its natural state - as much as you can.  The less our food is altered, the better it is for our bodies.

SIMPLE

Eat simply.  This goes hand-in-hand with eating our food straight from the ground.  Prepare your meals with few ingredients.  Not only will it save you money on your grocery bills, but it was what your body was made to consume.  

SURROUNDING AREA

In other words, eat locally.  By eating food grown in your surrounding area you have more control over it.  Consider the pesticides used or the path taken to grow and transport a banana from Central America up to your grocery store. It is impossible to know all the variables.  This is only the tip of 'the importance of eating locally' iceberg.

SEASON

We can all agree that it's a beautiful thing to eat a red, ripe strawberry year-round.  But, I believe that our bodies were made to eat what the Season brings.  For example, the time for berries is Summer; Wintertime yields meat, as vegetables and fruit do not typically grow during this, the coldest season of the year.

I am not a pro at my four S's, but I fully believe that our bodies were meant to eat according to them.  I think I'd like to try harder.  Maybe a 30-day challenge. Hmmm... Any ideas?  And, any takers?

seeds sprouting

It's begun!

charming little bibb

heart-shaped kale

red leaf from a mesclun mix

and, spinach.

week three

The last bit

Basil Abundance

Remember that burly basil bush from the last post?  Here's one way you can use your basil:

SPINACH BASIL PESTO 

________________________________________________________________________________

1 1/2 cups baby spinach leaves

3/4 cup fresh basil leaves

1/2 cup toasted pine nuts

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

4 cloves garlic, peeled and quartered

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Blend the spinach, basil, pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, garlic, salt, pepper, lemon juice, lemon zest, and 2 tablespoons olive oil in a food processor until nearly smooth, scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula as necessary. Drizzle the remaining olive oil into the mixture while processing until smooth. (Courtesy of allrecipes.com)

 

I substitute walnuts for pine nuts. I throw in two or three cloves of garlic - I don't want to smell like garlic the next day!  I don't have a food processor and my blender does a fine job. One of my favorite things about this recipe is that you can freeze the pesto in an ice cube tray and pop out a couple cubes to toss in with some pasta. I filled an ice cube tray just before my third baby was born.  Anything to make dinner prep a little easier!

Do you have a favorite basil recipe?

Fall Garden Game Plan

Here's the game plan ...The front box is filled with leafy greens.  Did you know that aside from being beautiful kale is chock-full of anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatory components?  It's true!  Last year we planted kale and it flourished like a weed!  We only planted a 3'x5' section of it. We ate kale weekly and gave some away to friends and there was still tons left!  I think every time the rain fell the kale grew a few inches. 

Broccoli is also big at our house.  The kids love it.  They're not big on eating it raw. Yet.  I think it's a bit difficult to chew on.  But they do LOVE their roasted broccoli -- tossed in olive oil and simply seasoned with kosher salt and ground pepper.

Beets though...  This is new to us.

Stay tuned.  Tomorrow I'll share with you what I'm going to do with that rotund basil bush.  Mmm...  it's my favorite basil recipe!

Delicious Autumn!

Fall, a breath of fresh air!  In Northeast Florida, the Fall we experience is quite subtle; the coolness creeps in, slowly manifesting itself at night and the leaves tend to change ever so slightly.  On occasion, a flaming Fall tree can be seen.  This may seem a bit disappointing to some as Fall is generally revered for its brilliant colors and crisp air.  And, almost all would agree that 74 is not crisp.

Yet, I find myself loving the Fall here more and more, year after year.  It may not be the beginning of a New Year, but I can't help but feel invigorated.  There is something about the coolness: it awakens my yearning for knowledge and to create good food for my family's growing bodies.

One of the benefits of living in Florida is that every season is a planting season.  I may still be considered a novice gardener, but I'm learning every season and loving the experience of growing goodness.

I would like to share with you my experience -good and bad- of Florida gardening on my small piece of dirt; some of my favorite recipes using food from our garden; and anything else related to Sprouting Goodness.  We'll see where it takes us.  

I find much joy in the beauty of the Earth and cannot help but share it!  My hope for this blog is that I will share my knowledge with you and you will share yours, as well.  This way we can learn together and edify one another.  So, if you haven't begun yet, YOU Florida gardeners, or anyone else who is able to plant in Autumn -- let the gardening and sharing of ideas begin!