I told someone recently that my desire to eat locally is "Not an addiction recovery program but something I can dop to bring awareness to the importance of building a strong local community and attempting to become less reliant on fossil fuels. So yes I am drinking black tea and coffee! Looking back on the past week I would say I am averaging 70%-80% locally grown food and supporting a local business whenever I can (i had a really good chicken stew at Elmers last night).


Ode to Prunus persica:

Peaches originated in China and made their way West in classical times by way of Alexander the Great and the Romans. They eventually arrived in the Americas with the Spaniards during the 16th century. Chinese legend says that peaches bestow immortality. With its large central pit, the peach is related to the other stone fruits: apricot, almond, cherry, and plum.

I am most enjoying the peaches eating several a day! It is a good year for them......the last time I enjoyed them so much was while I was pregnant....delicious. I am saving the pits to make my favorite winter tea. Have you ever made Peach Pit Tea? This recipe comes by way of one of my herbal teachers and good friends Kate Gilday of WOODLAND ESSENCE (Yes, the same place I learnt to make the Ash bark baskets.

Peach pit tea is one of my favorite home remedies to strengthen the immune & lymph systems and to help to ward off colds and flus. It is totally safe and delicious, great for children too. So start to collect and dry the pits from all those locally grown juicy peaches you eat during the summer months. (To prevent them from molding, wash the pit thoroughly in water before drying.) Here’s how you brew it. Pour 1 quart of water over 6 peach pits. Simmer for half to 1 hour. Strain out the pits & drink this naturally sweet tea. The pits can be reused 2-3 times before returning to the earth. Make sure you are using pits that do not have cracks in them as the seed can contain high levels of hydrogen cyanide, a poison that gives almonds their characteristic flavour. This toxin is readily detected by its bitter taste.

You can slice, poach, candy, dry, cook, can, or freeze peaches. To peel peaches, blanch them in boiling water for a few seconds, then plunge them into cold water until they are cool enough to handle; the skin will slip right off. Add them to yogurt, ice cream, fruit salads, tarts, or breakfast cereal. Peaches work well as the single fruit in cobblers, pies, turnovers, crepes, sorbets, soufflés, jams or jellies, marinades, and juiced. Spiced peaches make an excellent side dish with winter meals. Peaches can also be distilled in brandy and liqueurs.




I am loving this Flickr alphabet! You can play too here! click here!

I am looking forward to Apple Cider!! and still searching for local sunflower seeds!!

Day 2

Breakfast:
Yogurt w/Maple Syrup
Toast w/ Butter Jam
Fruit
**Black Tea (NOT local) with local honey

Lunch:
Picnic style fruit, bread, cheese


Dinner:
Burger, and Corn on the cob
Salad
Watermelon

Late night snack
toast with butter and honey!!

We have been gearing up around here.......scouting sources of local everything........and the September 1 date is upon us!! Yesterday I went to a farm and found a source of local wheat. Wheat grown and ground at a farm (Upingil Farm, Gill MA) 21 miles from here. While there I found that they are also a good source for cheese at a reasonable price. Their cheddar was great! We have no shortage of yummy cheese but it all comes at a price! Worth it for the work but not affordable to us.

At the farmers market I picked up a loaf of bread from Bread Euphoria (called the Grainery) made entirely from local wheat, some strawberry jam, a bunch of dinosaur kale from Sangha Farm as Zoe loves kale chips (basically baking kale until crispy) and a bag of organic plums which I promptly made into a plum butter well after eating several of them and saving a few for today.

It also occured to me that we have unfinished perishables in the fridge.....so we will be finishing them up, but not replacing them. I am also trying to only spend money locally in order to support our local community.

Recipes on day 1

Breakfast:Scrambled eggs with onions, tomatoes, cheese and bacon. Toast and Butter. (All local)
Black Tea (NOT local) with local honey
Lunch: Picnic style fruit, bread, cheese
Dinner: Cauliflower Cheese with kale kinkles, Plum Butter for desert (All local)


List of Farms/ Businesses supported today

Side Hill Farm
Sangha Farm
Eggs from our friends
Upingil Farm
Apex Orchard
our trusted Natural Roots Farm
Chase Hill Farm
Bread Euphoria
Elmers Cafe

Looking for a local source of SUNFLOWER SEEDS to grind into sunflower butter......anyone know of a source??
Also a local source for POPPING CORN.....last year I found some at Whole Foods but did not record where it came from and cannot seem to find it this year, it might have been later in the season.

We are almost home.


There is a lot to catch up on........

Let's start with culinary delights of eating local......










and a local favorite (not for me however!!)

Dreaming In Green


Many years ago when I was a new herbalist a friend and I dreamed up an herbal project. We named it Dreaming in Green. Though the project never came into fruition and Michelle and I have been out of touch for several years that name has always resonated in me.

My hopes and dreams have always been in "Green", or at least of a Greener, simpler way. As many of you know food activism has been a big part of my work over the years. I was updating some handouts for a class I am giving at the 20th Annual Women's Herbal Conference and I came across some fun links I thought I would share here......

Eat Wild
Blog: Low mileage Food
Food Routes

Eating local has always been near and dear to my heart. We are blessed to live in an area where this is possible. We get our milk (raw) straight from the farm. We make our yogurt and ice cream. We buy local cheeses. Fruit and veggies from our CSA and plentiful farmstands, bread from local bakeries (though the grain was not grown locally). Miso from down the road. Eggs from our neighbors. Meat (organic and free range from our local farms. Medicine and Spices from our garden. This is not to say we do not indulge and enjoy what town has to offer but we try to keep it local.

There are many challenges out there at present:





One Local Summer
100 mile diet



Start today: Save tomorrow! So I have decide to make a new environmental pledge every week for the rest of this year, that is 25 environemntal changes that my family will commit to this year. Starting NOW!

I pledge to:

- Choose tap water over bottled water whenever possible;

- Fill a reusable bottle with tap water;

- Support public funding for safe and affordable tap water

Take back the Tap

Please play along. Use my ideas. Share your own.........Let's be the change we want to see......

And on a complete side note check this out!!!


Oh my gosh inspiring !!!A low impact woodland home Way cool!!!