Share Organics Fresh News

What’s Fresh News – Sept 28, 2010

Farm News

Why not celery every week?

Share Organics chooses to offer a selective list of produce that can be sourced locally and in season. Box services like ours developed out of the CSA model where city folk purchased a “share” of the harvest from a local farmer. You ate what was ripe in the field that week. Share Organics started as a buyers group with ten families purchasing organic produce together. Within a few years we were 45 families and looking for local producers. We were surprised to find nothing available! Today we have growers’ contracts with 12 different farms and so our weekly offerings reflect what is ready for harvest in their fields. Each vegetable has its season and when it’s ready in quantity it goes into the box! None of our farmers show an interest in growing celery but we keep trying!

We also try to carry all the “basics”. Our farmer friends on the mainland help us extend the seasons, and co-ops in Mexico can also provide us with a reliable source of organics to expand our offerings to include “basics” like citrus and bananas. We choose NOT to buy off the continent with the exception of ginger (Hawaii or Peru) and bananas (Ecuador or Peru). We choose fair-trade products.

We’ve come a long way: we were able to offer our LOCAL ONLY BOX every week last year! We also had 2 or 3 local products in all our boxes last winter. This week we are 100% local in the veggie portion of ALL our boxes and had a good local berry season and are now offering apples from two local farms. We are on the lookout for island pears and plums!

tin pie plates are for keeping the woodpeckers away!

Chef Survival 3- AT MADRONA FARM…

Quest for the Golden Broccoli!

Sunday, October 3rd from 12 – 5 pm
$75 for adults ($35 is tax deductible)
$15 for kids under 12, aged 6 and under are free

Support the Island Chefs Collaborative and The Land Conservancy

A Culinary Arts Performance of Epic Proportions!

Come and watch 20 of the Islands Best Chefs engage in a boot camp style obstacle course on Madrona Farm.
At this catered event you can watch some of the city’s finest chefs go head to head through a very challenging obstacle course, including the infamous boat race to condiment island, climbing wall, irrigation pipe-crawl, haystack hurdles and much more.

Come cheer these chefs as they race around around the farm to pick the vegetables they need to create their masterpieces. Spectators can join in on the festivities by bidding on the meals the chefs create and playing the ‘Whats on the Plate, Mate?’ game, for prizes and gift certificates from participating restaurants.

For Tickets and information:
www.chefsurvivalchallenge.com or The Madrona Farm Stand, Wed to Sat 11-3pm

Simple (and Amazing!) Roasted Tomato Pasta

On a baking sheet:

• 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 pint heritage tomatoes (cut in half the larger ones)

Roast at 425 degrees for 20 – 30 minutes; skins should be slightly blackened.

Bring to boil 1 pot of water for pasta and add a “dip” of olive oil to the water. Cook 1 cup of dry pasta until al dente.

Add:

• Fresh grated black pepper
• Fresh grated parmesan or romano cheese
• Fresh basil or a tsp of pesto (optional as the roasted tomatoes say it all!)

www.shareorganics.bc.ca

Visit us at the Eat Here Now Market on Sunday Sept 26 at Spirit Square (aka Centennial Square).

We will be making vegetable people!  Come on down and have some fun!

Today is the first day of fall and as fruitarians we turn to apples – so many kinds – pears – so juicy and plums – for a few more weeks!  All Local or BC.  Remember pears ripen from the inside out so don’t wait until they are soft!

Farm News

This week we are offering some new products from local supplier Terra Nossa Farms in Mill Bay. Evelyn and family have been supplying our lovely certified organic eggs this summer. They also raise meat birds and pork.

Our local farmers have to overcome many obstacles to continue to provide us with quality meats. This way of raising animals is expensive. We believe that small quantities of local humanely raised meat can be a healthful part of our diet and NOT negatively impact the planet. We recommend smaller servings less frequently. Over the years the discussion has touched on two main areas:

Environment

“A person existing chiefly on (industrially produced) animal protein requires 10 times more land to provide adequate food than someone living on vegetable sources of protein.”
- from Wikipedia.org

Michael Pollan talks about the advantages of local meat eating to the success of small local farms on organicconsumers.org

Ethics

The industrial model of meat production is criminal in its treatment of animals.

“For my own part, I’ve discovered that if you’re willing to make the effort, it’s entirely possible to limit the meat you eat to nonindustrial animals … Yes, meat would get more expensive. We’d probably eat less of it, too, but maybe when we did eat animals, we’d eat them with the consciousness, ceremony and respect they deserve.” – Michael Pollan

Fresh – the movie

www.freshthemovie

Wednesday, September 22nd at 7pm (doors open at 5:30pm)
Victoria Event Centre, 1415 Broad St
$10 suggested donation

Another Recipe to Share:

Green Salad with Eggplant, Fennel, and a Roasted Garlic,Tomato,Tarragon dressing on a bed of Quinoa.

Ingredients:

1 cup quinoa

Olive oil
1 bulb of garlic, broken into cloves
½ lbs of tomatoes, (usually 1 medium or 2 small) washed
1 bulb of fennel, trimmed and quartered, or halved if small, fronds removed and set aside
1 bag salad greens or head of lettuce or spinach
1 long Japanese style eggplant, sliced in half
dijon mustard

mayonaise (optional)
apple cider vinegar
honey
tarragon, finely chopped

salt and pepper
pine nuts or sunflower seeds (optional)

feta (optional)
capers (optional)

black olives (optional)

fresh basil (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 400.

1. Boil 2 scant cups of water, add the quinoa and cook for 10-15 minutes, it should still have “bite” when it’s done. Let cool. Spread it out on a large plate to cool faster, or make ahead of time.

2. Put the cloves, whole tomatoes and fennel on a baking dish.  Oil the fennel and garlic, but not the tomatoes. Roast for about 20 minutes or until the cloves are soft, tomatoes are blackened and oozing, and fennel is just soft but still a bit crisp. Basically you need to keep an eye on what’s happening in the over. Let cool.

3. Add a tablespoon of oil and heat a frying pan to medium-high.  Add the eggplant halves, cut side down, and fry for 5 minutes on each side. Check to make sure it’s not burning. It should be crisping and softening but not falling apart. You may need to adjust the heat. Let cool.

4. When vegetables are cool enough to handle, peel, core, and chop the tomato. Peel the garlic cloves. Chop the fennel lengthwise into slices and set aside. Chop the eggplant cross wise in chunks and set aside.

5. To make the dressing, put the tomato and garlic in a blender or food processor. Add a tsp of dijon mustard, 1 Tbsp mayo, 2-3 Tbsp of apple cider vinegar, 1-2 Tbsp honey, 2 Tbsp chopped tarragon. Pulse. Add up to 1 cup of olive oil slowly while blending. You want a thick consistency. Taste and adjust seasoning by adding more mustard, mayo, vinegar, and/or honey to suit your taste. Season with salt and pepper.

6. To assemble the salad, i suggest arranging in individual bowls.  Evenly divide the cooled quinoa, top with greens, then the sliced eggplant and fennel, pour the dressing over and garnish with the optional toppings (pine nuts, sunflower seeds, capers, crumbled feta and/or fresh chopped basil). Yum!

Cooking Courses

Local Veggie chef Sonja Limburger has some courses you might be interested in. I attended her Nepalese Vegan Cooking course last winter and it was yummy! Check out other courses in the Oak Bay Rec and Fairfield Community Centre Program guides fro other courses.

Up coming classes for next week

Basic canning and food preservationTues. Sept.21 / Esquimalt rec. center

If you missed learning from your grandmother, then this class is a chance to experience canning. We will choose fruits and vegetables from this bountiful harvest season. Prepare for a hands on class (bring an apron and a small knife). You will go home with three different canned items, jars provided.
$46.00 6:30 – 9:15

This class held at Ecole Brodeur in Esquimalt located at 637 Head street.
To register call: 250- 412-8500

Vegetarian Thanksgiving feast Wed. Sept. 22 6:30 – 8:30

You are invited to join the chef to learn some tasty and nutritious recipes as an alternative to turkey. The menu includes a Wild rice & chestnut (or pecan) stuffed squash with a Cranberry orange sauce, Savoury Tofu walnut balls and more. Enjoy a satisfying dinner after the lesson. $45.00

Held at the Thrifties cooking and life style center in Tuscany village located at 1626 McKenzie Ave by the corner of Shelbourne

To register go online to this website : www.thriftyfoods.com/EN/main/cooking/centre/cooking-lifestyle-centre-our-classes.html

Or call 250- 483-1222

Upcoming Crop News

We are all out of frozen apple juice but the new season for pressing is just beginning! We are expecting more juice in a few weeks. Kildara Farms will be pressing 1 Litre jugs and Isabella Orchard, 2 Litre jugs for us.

Down at The Hazelnut Farm in Saanich Adele reports that the harvest is a bit late this year and we will have to wait until October to order more hazelnuts, hazelnut butter and chocolate hazelnut butter. Shell, roast, grind and add chocolate… Mmmmmm.

Meanwhile tomatoes are in full production! 10 LB cases of Roma and Alicante. Did you know you can freeze tomatoes whole? Then over the winter just grab a few big ones out of the freezer to put in your soup or stew. Thaw them and the skins pop off or cook them frozen and fish the skins out before serving.

Hints for preparing Scarlet Runner Beans

Wash and top and tail the beans and if necessary remove the string from the side of the bean using a small, sharp knife. Chop the beans into even-sized diamond pieces or slice into ribbons before cooking.

To serve, toss in butter and a little lemon zest or stir in 1 tbsp pine nuts and a drizzle of oil from a jar of sun-dried tomatoes.

Fresh – the movie

www.freshthemovie

Wednesday, September 22nd at 7pm (doors open at 5:30pm)
Victoria Event Centre, 1415 Broad St
$10 suggested donation

- Cash bar, local organic food concession, popcorn, coffee, door prizes, more!
- FoodRoots is excited to partner with Open Cinema in presenting “FRESH – new thinking about what we’re eating”. Come see the film, hear the panelists, and join in the discussion!

FREE Victoria Harvest Festival celebrates local and adds flavor to the future of Vancouver Island grown food.

Celebrate Victoria’s first annual Harvest Fest on Sunday, September 26th from 11am – 4pm at Spirit (Centennial) Square! Showcasing local farmers, food processors, restaurants, and small businesses that are contributing to food security in our region, and to encourage Victoria citizens to shop locally and make the connection: where their food comes from. This FREE community event will also help promote the creation of a year-round, indoor public food market and raise awareness of the Victoria Downtown Public Market Society (VDPMS). Experience a large local produce farmers market; “buck-a-bite” food samplings from some of the region’s top restaurants; beer, wine and cider tastings; and a tea and coffee sampling station. A kids’ area will be hosted by Lifecycles Project Society, Share Organics and the Greater Victoria Compost Education Center. Music provided by amazing local bands and DJs.

Tofu Eggplant and Squash in Miso Glaze

For glaze stir together:


Cube and toss in glaze:


Let sit for at least a 1/2 hour.

Thread on skewers and BBQ with lid closed for 18 minutes or bake in oven.

www.shareorganics.bc.ca

Fair Trade for Canadian Farmers

Regina, Saskatchewan -June 07, 2010-

Farmer Direct Co-operative Ltd. (FDC), a farmer-owned business of 70 certified organic family farms is the first business in Canada and the United States to receive domestic fair trade certification. “People usually associate fair trade with coffee, sugar, bananas and other crops from the global south, but fair wages to farm workers and fair prices to farmers are just as much a concern in industrialized nations like Canada and the United States,” explains Murray Horkoff a FDC farmer-owner from Kamsack, SK. “Now organic consumers can purchase fairly traded flax, wheat, beans, hemp, peas, lentils and other crops grown in the Northern Hemisphere,” adds Horkoff. See full article on the Farmer Direct Co-op’s website.

Widespread opposition to draft Canadian organic aquaculture standards

The deadline for comments on Canada’s draft organic aquaculture has closed with widespread opposition from organic farmers, scientists, food, environmental and consumer advocacy organizations in Canada and the US. Wild Salmon Supporters, through the parent coalition CAAR, submitted comments to the Canadian Standards Board objecting to the inclusion of provisions that would undermine consumer confidence in the organic brand, such as the use of pesticides and antibiotics as well as the allowance of open net cages. In addition to the comments, we rallied 45 Canadian and US groups with a collective membership of over 1 million people to sign on to a letter raising concerns over the draft standards.
Excerpted from Wild Table – e-newsletter for SalmonSupporters.org

“Pesticides are war chemicals that kill – every year 220,000 people are killed by pesticides worldwide”

“We are witnessing a massive corporate genocide – the killing of people for super profits. To maintain these super profits, lies are told about how, without pesticides and genetically modified organisms (GMOs), there will be no food. In fact, the conclusions of International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development, undertaken by the United Nations, shows that ecologically organic agriculture produces more food and better food at lower cost than either chemical agriculture or GMOs.”

- Excerpt from Vandana Shiva’s “The Killing Fields Of Multi-National Corporations”, The Asian Age, July 14th, 2010

On the local scene

- looking at a rainy cold week is not so good for corn, tomatoes, and basil but the spinach, chard and kale will love it!  Glancing out this is definitely a “soup” week .  Fresh corn makes this chowder mouth watering good!

Corn Chowder

Saute in olive oil in a soup pot:
1 diced onion

Add:

2 diced potatoes
1 or 2 medium carrots diced

Cover with water & simmer for 10 minutes. Then add:

2 cobs of corn (off the cob)
(hint: stand husked raw corn on end and with a downward motion slice off kernels, rotate and slice again until all are removed)

Cook 5 more minutes and then add:
1 1/2 cups milk, light cream or soymilk

Salt and pepper to taste

1 Tsp butter

Reheat and dust with paprika before serving.

www.shareorganics.bc.ca