Hello, I'm still here!

I've had sort of mini-hiatus from blogging over the past 2 weeks- sorry for my absence! I've recently started an intense exercise program (of my own development) and that's taken up a lot of the time that used to be "sit on the couch and blog" time- funny how that works.

I've had lots of thoughts swirling about in my head for the past several weeks: eating "healthy" and what that really means, physical activity and its importance in our pretty sedentary American society, and how to make "healthy", "local", "organic", and "seasonal" all jive together in your life and your diet.

I also recently watch the documentary Bag It and that (in the best way possible) has added a whole additional layer of critical thought about how I can function better in a society built on plastic. Also, when will our society get to a place where we realize all of this (shipping food across the country and the world just for "customer choice", using single use disposable plastic for SO many things, making food product containers laced with chemicals like BPAs and phalates) might be more "convenient" but is certainly contributing to health problems, pollution, global warming, etc.

Heavy thoughts for a Saturday morning huh? On that note, I'm off to teach a canning class. I'll be back to a regular blogging schedule here, too, so keep an eye out for more posts!

Thanks for reading,

-Arika

2012 Local Eating Goals

Now that (I hate to say it) we've passed the middle point of summer, I am thinking about and preparing for Fall. This year, more than ever, I am trying to live in the moment and truly enjoy each day and revel in the season- the sweltering hot days, the strangely-cool days, and everything in between. 

However, part of appreciating these summer days is putting up some of my favorite fruits and vegetables for later on the in the year, and planting in preparation for fall. Every year I have a sort of mental list of Homestead-y things I'd like to accomplish- things to grow, things to can, things to freeze, things to dry and store through winter. I'm proud to say that this year, I have actually done some significant fall planting, and I've also done a pretty fair job at "putting up" or canning/preserving/storing & locally sourcing a good deal of the things that were on said mental list! 

I will say that I've give myself some exceptions- this list applies most to food that is eaten in my home. While eating out and about, I do try to have a strong focus on local food, supporting local businesses, and avoiding questionable meat (essentially, it's questionable unless I know where it's sourced from). BUT it's hard to find places to eat that meet all of my strict qualifications! So while I am an intentional eater at restaurants, I am my best locavore self at home, where I can better control what comes into my home, where it comes from, and what I spend our $$$ on.

As I have moved towards eating more and more locally, there is a natural shift towards eating things in the season they grow in. For example, when I say that I eat only local potatoes all year long, it is because I plant potatoes in the spring, I harvest them in the summer, and store them to eat throughout summer, fall, and into winter. Then I stop eating potatoes until I can find them locally again in the spring, or grow them myself once again!

With all that stuff in mind, here's an attempt at a typed version of my 2012 Local Eating Goals.

Happy Home 2012 Local Eating Goals
* crossed off= already preserved or ready to store

Veggies to store/source locally for the entire year-
(successfully achieved this part of the list last year!)
Onions
Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Acorn Squash
Carrots
Garlic (50 heads)

Other food products to source locally for the entire year-
Wheat
Bread
Bagels
Butter 
Milk 
Eggs
Meat products

Herbs to dry & store/grow indoors for the entire year-
Cilantro/Coriander
Basil
Thyme
Rosemary
Oregano
Sage

Locally grown veggies & fruits to Can-
6 pints Pickles
5 pints Tomato Sauce 
10 pints and 12 half-pints Corn
10 pints Green beans
25 half-pints Peaches
15 half-pints Pears
6 pints Apricots
3 pints Cranberry Sauce
15 half-pints Applesauce
3 pints Blueberry jam

Locally grown veggies & fruits to Freeze-
5 quarts Blueberries 
1 quart Cherries 
1 quart Raspberries
2 quarts Strawberries 
3 quarts Corn

Locally grown fruits to Dehydrate-
2 bags dried cranberries

If you'd like to set some local eating goals for yourself, I have a few tips:

• Set some perimeters for yourself- be realistic about what you think you can do
• Have strategies in mind- Where will you shop/how will you grow things to meet your goals?
• Think it out- If you want to can 60 pints of tomatoes, when will that actually happen and do you truly have the time & resources to do that?
• Pat yourself on the back, even if you don't accomplish everything you set out to! You're still making progress, and you'll have a better idea of how you can improve in future years.

What do you try to eat locally year round? 

Are there things that you think are more important to source locally than others?

Grow Your Own- Setting Self-Sufficiency Gardening Goals

This year I've been able to check a homesteading goal off of my list- having vegetable storage that
lasts through the Winter! I wasn't able to grow enough of these things for me to only use home-grown veggies through the winter, but I was able to source these things locally all year, to date:

Onions
Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Acorn Squash
Carrot
Kale

That means I have been eating all of these veggies, sourced from Michigan if not Southeastern Michigan! I'm pretty geeked about it- all the above veggies store well so I was able to buy a large amount and then store them in our mudroom, and purchase more as needed.
Next year, I hope to grow enough of these things to supply myself with homegrown root veggies all winter! Based on my success this year, here's my goals for next year:

Veggies-
Onions
Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Acorn Squash
Carrots

Herbs-
Cilantro/Corriander
Basil
Thyme
Rosemary
Oregano
Cumin
Sage
If you're making your own goals for this gardening season, start with the things you really enjoy! If you love carrots, maybe you want to try to grow a bunch of carrots, and store them in a cool, moist place for the Winter. If you're a squash fan, grow some butternuts or delicatas and save a few for those cold December nights!
Wherever you start, and what ever goal you set, it'll be satisfying to grow some of your own food and to rely on that food in the Winter. Good luck :)

Dark Days Challenge- will you join me?

This year, I've decided to join with other garden/foodie bloggers in participating in the Dark Days Challenge! As part of this challenge, I'll be making at least one meal each week that featuring sustainable, organic, local, and ethical ingredients, and blogging about it to share with others! I think this will be a great way for me to strategically use some of the veggies I've been storing; potatoes, carrots, squashes, onions, and find new recipes and meals to feature them in! Please tune in here to check out the dishes I make- if you're interested in learning more, see below!

Dates                                                               
The challenge runs from Sunday, November 27th, 2011 to Saturday, March 31st, 2012.

What’s the Challenge? 
I will cook one meal each week featuring SOLE (sustainable, organic, local, ethical) ingredients, write about it on this blog and email a recap to the larger group on the Not Dabbling in Normal blog.

What does local mean?
Traditionally, local food challenges call for a 100 mile radius. Winter time is more difficult in many climates, especially if you’re new to eating locally, so my default winter definition is 150 miles. If you'd like to participate, you can choose to make your radius smaller or slightly larger as you need. Typical exceptions to the local requirement are oils, coffee, chocolate and spices. If you’re making fewer or more exceptions, please note that on your first post.

How do I sign up?
Head on over to (not so) Urban Hennery to find out more info and to sign yourself up if you'd like to participate as well!

The Put Up Lowdown for 2010

Went through and tallied all of the canned goods I have put up during 2010. I have a total for ya'll, although this is a tally of everything I have left, not everything I canned in 2010 all together.

Here goes!

Canned:

3 pints Pickles

6 quarts Tomato Sauce

17 pints Peaches

7 pints Pears

1 pint, 1 half-pint, 3 4oz jars Cranberry Sauce

4 pints, 6 half-pints, 5 4oz jars Applesauce

12 pints, 3 half-pint jars Baked Apple preserves

5 pints Blueberry jam

Frozen:

3 pints, 11 half-pints Corn

3 quarts, 1 pint Turkey Chili

2 quarts frozen Tomato Sauce

3 containers dried apples

16 frozen Raspberry Muffins

Stored:

30 red thumb potatoes

25 onions

Woohooo!!! I'm very proud of my self. I'll be eating seasonal, local fruit for at least part of the Winter. My goal is to avoid buying fruit if at all possible (although the girls love it and so do I) until it is in season. I will probably cheat because grapes and bananas are pretty standard in our house. But I'm going to dehydrate a lot of banana chips, and I hope I can also do more apples slices, etc.

What else is good to dehydrate? I tried making fruit leathers and they were very leathery as they stuck to the plastic tray they were created on. They tasted very good but they did not come off. How do I prevent fruit leathers from sticking to the tray from whence they came? :) A teeny bit of cooking spray? Would that be gross?

I still have some cayenne and jalepeno peppers growing in the garden, along with the lettuce, basil, and a few lonely tomatoes. I planted garlic several weeks ago and it is shooting up already. Our weather has been so warm lately!

Also, happy to report that I transplated some of our outdoor basil plants inside under the grow lights, and it is doing pretty well- growing back, albeit slowly. Fresh basil in the winter! :)

I can't Deni this feeling..

This weekend, while visiting my hometown of Columbus, I stumbled upon a nice little food dehydrator while thrifting around at New Uses. New Uses is a Plato's Closet store of sorts, except instead of clothes, they have applicances and furniture, etc. They had a Deni brand dehydrator for $20, and so I had to purchase it, of course! I have a small problem with Food Preservation Tool Envy. I know, I know- it's bad.

So of course, I had to try out this new toy of mine. Yesterday I sliced up some Goldrush apples and powered up the Deni!

Results? Fairly impressed! Some trays took longer than others to dry out, but in fairness I cheated and did a little bit of overlapping that was not supposed to happen. I also was not 100% precise in my apple slice-measurement techniques. Oh well! The only annoying part was that I was silly and started the process at 6:30pm, which meant that I was up at 1am and 3am and 5am checking on apple slices. I need to do it on a day where I get home early, or on the weekend.

My next goal is to make some fruit leathers! I never in my wildest preserving dreams thought I would be making fruit leathers. I'm pretty (way-too) psyched about it. I'm thinking blueberry/raspberry fruit leathers?

Also, I went to the Worthington Farmer's Market with my mom over the weekend, and they had the most delicious F'ing strawberries there. Ever. Pardon my language, but those berries were just SO good. Each time we took a bite of one throughout the day, one of us felt compelled to exclaim something like, "OH my GOD these berries are SO FUCKING GOOD!" or some other comment about how the berries in the store in January are like mutant berries from hell. So well done, farmer man in Worthington. Those are some sweet strawberries! If I could have forseen that I would be buying a dehydrator later on that day, I would have bought like 4 quarts and preserved those babies!

Another day.

Other preserving goals this week:

• Make blue/raspberry fruit leathers
• Can applesauce and apple slices
• Make and freeze some more soup broth
• Make and freeze more chilli before tomatoes and peppers go away for the season
• Stop by Farmer's markets and freeze good veggies before market closes down for season!

Can I do it all?

Yes I can! :)

Tomato Sauce

So last week(ish) I solicited your tomato sauce advice and expertise, and you gave it. Thanks especially to Jen B. and Di, who sent me their family recipes! I ended up combining several recipes, because it's hard for me to actually follow directions :)

I will be unveiling pictures soon! I ended up with 10 quarts of tomato sauce- woo hoo!! ....

Here's my preserving count so far:

18 pints and 1 quart of canned Peaches
10  4 quarts of Tomato Sauce
5 quarts and 1 pint of Chili (frozen)
9 half-pints of corn (frozen)
1 half pint of blueberry jam
7 pints of pickles

My goals for the next month are:

12 pints of baked apples/apple slices
10 pints of applesauce
4 pints of apple butter
4 pints pumpkin pie filling (frozen)
5 quarts butternut squash soup (frozen)

Also on the Homestead front, I've got 30 heads of lettuce ready to plant outside for the fall and 20 more heads started that are incubating inside. I also started a few dill plants and basil plants inside, with hopes of keeping them inside until the spring.

I've bought some Seeds of Change seeds on sale for next year, including cherry and roma tomatoes, pumpkins, lettuce, and onions. I've saved seeds for bell peppers, and some hot peppers and well, and my friend Steve is supplying me with some Korean melon seeds that will be an interesting science experiment :)

I started late, but boy did I get going!

What have you put away this summer?

YES!

Look what I came home to today:

Finally!!!!!

 

We burned the 8pm oil a little bit, but we got it done by the light of the motion-sensor! It will probably rain tonight and then we'll have to put a bit more in. But we did end up with a bit extra- hopefully enough to fill the cinder blocks with so I can plant my Marigolds soon :) Mike was really helpful and patient, even through my uncontrollable impatience and perfectionism. So thank you, love.


I have some onion sets to plant and I need to go pick up the rest of my cold weather transplants this weekend! Woohoo!!

I little bit of progress can go a long way for your self-esteem :)

Little City Gardens

I just stumbled upon Little City Gardens, located in San Fransico, and I think I'm in love!!

These two women, Caitlyn and Brooke, have team up to try to run a viable micro-farm that will sustainan and support two individuals.

I think this would be a wonderfully fulfilling job. Little City Gardens grows salad greens, and sells to a local restaurtant, along with operating a small CSA, and selling to some caterers. The more I continue in this homsteading adventure, the more I am wishing that I could truly devote my time to it. There is something so satisfying about planting with your own hands, and growing food to sustain yourself and other with your own resources. Maybe (probably) it's just a pipe dream, but I am going to further investigate what it might take to make a living (or supplimental income) from my own yard. Things I'd like to check out:

• Selling produce at the Farmer's Markets (I think individual vendors are allowed and I don't think I have to have any kind of licensing, as long as I'm not selling my canning products)
• What type of crop would grow best in my yard (will find this out by growing a variety this year, narrowing selection next year by what grows really well, maybe only specializing in one or two crops in year three)
• How much does a license cost to sell my canning products.
• Do I have to can in a commerical kitchen?
• Where is a commerical kitchen I could use and how much does it cost to use?
• What is there high demand for as far as fresh produce goes
• Are there any products that are in demand where demand is not being met? 

2010 Goals check-up

Today I am inspired to reflect on how I am doing so far on my 2010 goals

(thanks Kathie @ Two Frog Home)!

1. Finding a source for local meat/animal products  Achieved! Meat and eggs from Karl Baer
2. Continuing to focus on eating seasonally and the methods that enable me to do that, like freezing, preserving, storing, and drying food. Official hard-core start date: April
3. Cut down shopping at chain grocery stores, such as Kroger, Whole Foods, etc. In Progress
4. My overall goal is for my average food consumption to look like this: In Progress

• 
  
  15% home-grown
• 
  
  75% Ypsilanti Food Co-op/Farmer's Market/CSA
• 
  
  10% Restaurant

Since I've been reading The Backyard Homestead, I have a much better idea of what kind of specific layout I could have in my backyard for my food crops, and some more solid thoughts about how to put my ideas in to reality! In addition, here are some other Homesteading things I have been working on:

• Making all of the bread we eat
• using cloth towels instead of paper towels
• using cloth napkins instead of paper napkins

On a seperate note, below is me in my favorite outfit, and I hope I get to wear it soon!!

Jeans + a hoodie + Birks= love!

My spring plant order

Here's the order I placed yesterday for my plants! I plan to pick them up when they are starter sized- not fully grown, but bigger than plug-sized. I am so psyched! I'm getting 6 Flats total, plus some other loose plants. The flats are 18 2.5" x 2.5" x 3" containers:

• 64 strawberry plants
• Flat 1: loose-leaf Lettuces
• Flat 2: onions (yellow/white)
• Flat 3: 8 zucchini plants and 10 garlic bulbs
• Flat 4: 8 roma tomato plants and 8 cherry tomato plants
• Flat 5: 8 better bush tomato plants and 10 salad bush cucumber plants
• Flat 6: potatoes
• 4 basil plants, 4 cilantro plants, 2 chive plants, 2 rosemary plants, 2 jalepeno pepper plants
• enough carrot seeds for a 4x4 bed worth of carrots

 
Also- the turkey from Karl Baer's farm was absolutley delicious. I got smoked turkey, and sliced it into pieces small enough for a sandwich- right now I am eating a sandwich with local munster cheese, Baer Farms smoked turkey, and my homemade bread. I will never buy the pre-packed turkey from a grocery store again. This is delish!!
 
I'm going to make some bread tonight. What kind should I make? Suggestions?
 
Although it is cold and snowy and dirty outside, we are moving towards Spring! Or at least that's what I keep telling myself..

Garden plan part 2 (of many) :)

So here's the new and improved plan :) My mom looked it over and was laughing for about 5 minutes straight because I wanted to plant 48 tomato plants, 1 per quare foot. Hey, you can never fault me for lack of ambition! Here's a revised, more acurate plan:

Holy garden plan, batman!

           Lycan-Fry Garden Plan 2010!!!

As you see, the main theme in planting this year is "TOMATOES!". I want to have enough to eat fresh (love love love fresh tomatoes), and a lot left over to can as well- I'm going to get Romas, and some type of cherry I think. Also some zucchini, strawberries, onions, potatoes, lettuce, garlic, and carrots, along with some herbs for an herb garden as well! Let's just ignore the fact that right now, these raised-bed gardens are not yet built.. :)

I'm looking into buying all my starter plants from Destiny Farms in Brighton, MI. I called and spoke with Mike there today- they seem to have pretty good deals on flats of 18 3" container plants, but I don't know.. maybe I could get a better deal on a flat of starters? At any rate- very excited! If you garden in lower MI, check them out- they have some deals if you get your order in before Feb 15th!. Also they build chicken coops and raise chicks that you can buy for nesting or for eventual eating. When Mike let's me take over the yard and turn it into a farm, I will be getting chickens... whenever that might be. I'm going to take a trip up to Destiny Farms this weekend to check things out- I'll report back once I see it for myself!

Success!!

Next Saturday, I will be the proud consumer of locally-grown meat! 2 lbs. of turkey breast, 6 pork chops, and a dozen eggs. A small, humble order but it feels good. I got a hold of Karl Baer, a local farmer (from Adrian, MI) and he was really friendly and informative.

He walked me through the order, haha, because I am incompetent- when you buy meat from the supermarket, you get it all chopped up where you can't even really tell it was ever alive, and you don't have to mess with technicality. I didn't even know how to go about ordering from him. The conversation went something like this:

Arika- "Hey... can I have some turkey?"

Karl- "Sure, what type? We have smoked turkey breast by the pound, fresh turkey breast by the pound, turkey sausage, spicy turkey sausage, turkey burger, turkey wings, turkey thighs, turkey carcasses etc. etc. etc..."

Arika- "Hey... can I have some turkey?"

Anyway, he was understanding and chatty, which I appreciated. He's at the Ypsi FM every other Saturday, including next Saturday, which is when I will be picking up my first order! He also had whole roaster chickens, but I don't think I can handle that. I did make chicken noodle soup last year from the Moosewood cookbook, with a whole chicken that cooked over-night. Maybe I will have a soup making party and do that soon. Anyone up for an all-night chicken-cooking sleepover?

Who could resist that invitation?

I don't think a former vegetarian has ever been this excited about meat before. I'm missing my Master Gardener class tonight because I have a meeting, which is a little disapointing, but a fact of life. Sometimes, you have meetings. I'll have to shlep down to Monroe in 2 weeks to take the class I'll be missing at their MSU-Ex. office. Oh well- I'll get to see another MSU-Ex office and meet some new folks- that will be an adventure!

Here's to hoping it doesn't snow too much this weekend. My ground is frozen and I can't dig in to get my soil sample! Come on Mother Nature.. can you warm up just a teeny bit?

Urban Homesteading

Ashes sent me a wiki entry on Homesteading-

"Currently the term 'homesteading'^[1] applies to anyone who is a limb of the back-to-the-land movement and who chooses to live a sustainable, self-sufficient lifestyle. While land is no longer freely available in most areas of the world, homesteading remains as a way of life. A new movement, called 'urban homesteading', can be viewed as a simple living lifestyle, incorporating small-scale agriculture, sustainable and permaculture gardening, and home food production and storage into suburban or city living."

I think this is roughly my goal. I'd like to produce some of my own food, turn most of my yard into either a) gardening space for growing food or b) native plant areas that mimic (somewhat) what plants might naturally grow here. I also am trying to eat "seasonally" or with seasons in mind. Of course, that's not as easy as it sounds. It doesn't even sound easy! But here's some of the things I've been working on:

• Trying to choose previously owned, sustainably-made or re-purposed furniture whenever possible. All that we bought new (furniture-wise) for this house was our bed frame and that was made by company that re-plants a tree for each one it uses, and uses parts of Rubber Trees that are going to be disposed of!

• Shopping at the farmer's market, Ypsilanti Food Co-op, or Whole Foods/Trader Joe's. That's where I get 90% of our groceries

• Canning and preserving food that is in-season now for the winter, when it will be unavailable

• Had my own community garden plot this year!

• I try to support local businesses whenever possible, whether its buying furniture, buying food, buying art, etc.

• Hope to transform my yard and leave only about 20% grass. The rest will be raised-bed gardens and native plant areas!

• 90% of the household products I buy (toilet-paper, cleaners, etc) are organic or non-toxic

• Used No-VOC paint (FreshAire from Home Depot) on most of the new rooms we painted!
  

In general, I try run everything I buy by this test: Is it either local or environmentally friendly (it's hard to find both!)?

Anyway that was a rant! Just meant to post some pictures of our latest canning adventure: Butternut Squash soup, Apple and Ginger Marmalade, and Apple butter! Yum!