Farmers Markets Winding Down -- I go all purple and orange

Since I'm well-stocked with spinach, peppers, apples and squash, I filled in a few other things. I put a quarter in the shot above to show how small those sweet potatoes are. They're like fingerlings. And the grapes are my favorite of all grapes: concord. My grandmother had a huge concord vine in her yard when was growing up, and one of her favorite pies was concord grape. I bought this stuff at the farmers market in Northfield, IL, just north of Chicago. It was the last week of the year. There are several more around my area next week, then that's it.

The grapes and sweet potatoes are from southwest Michigan, the rest from growers just outside Chicago.

It's Easy, It's Plentiful, It's In Season, It's Local

It's Carnival Squash. A "winter squash" that seems piled up right now in every farmers market, produce department, even a few garden centers. I'm really getting into all kinds of squash this year, so I had to try a carnival. Like all squash, there are several ways to cook these. I picked the simplest. I simply cut it in half horizontally, scooped out the small amount of seeds/guts, sprinkled an improvised blend of cinnamon, smoky paprika and a spice mixture that I think has some allspice in it. I put a little butter in there (optional), put it in the oven at 375f for a little over an hour--I got distracted and left it in longer than planned. But, out it came:

Lot's of the recipes called for brown sugar, but I left that out. With the butter and those spices, it seems to have a natural sweetness. It's a great side dish. You can eat the baked flesh right out of the squash, or scoop it out. There are many ways to use the scooped out stuff in other recipes, just a google search away. Next up is acorn squash.

Getting Local Real Food is Hardest Where It's Needed Most

This may seem obvious, but many of the enlightened social progress "movements", such as energy conservation, green consumption and sustainable food production are, to the poorest of our population in depressed inner city neighborhoods, remote lifestyle choices and eccentric hobbies of rich people. Every aspect of our society, in particular the big infrastructure systems like economic development, transportation, healthcare, political representation, criminal justice, and the food system, are stacked against residents of these left behind urban areas.

Does that mean that nobody should even try to pursue progress in areas such as sustainable and more healthy food? Thankfully, some activists and organizers believe the answer is no. One Chicago Tribune article shows ways that people are trying to get affordable locally grown produce into inner city neighborhoods. These are very admirable efforts, particulary given the odds of fighting against what seems like the entire current of urban history of the last 40 years. I intend to learn more about these programs, first in Chicago, then other "great lakes" cities like Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo. I'll share everything I learn here on Great Lakes Real Food.

Sorry For Another Bummer Story, This Time Close to Home

Well yesterday it was contamination of bagged lettuce and spinach, today it's a fish-killing virus spreading in the Great Lakes. Not dangerous to people, but a big problem for the fish in the Great Lakes. It's a damn shame, because I would love to consider the fish that are catchable in the Great Lakes as an example of a local foragable food source, but between the toxins present, and their at-risk population, it's kind of depressing. Well, the weekend is coming and that means farmers markets, which always cheer me up. For the next two weeks anyway.

Scary Story About Diseases Borne by Bagged Greens

Story in today's Chi Tribune about new report showing that bagged "leafy greens" are a rising threat for food-borne diseases. Not really surprising given the spinach outbreak two years ago. And didn't most of us think that pre-washed, bagged and "ready-to-eat" greens were just too good to be true when they first started showing up in stores some years ago? The article, citing the report by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, is worth reading, even if just as a reminder.

So what is the core problem? In my opinion, it's simply industrial agriculture. Mammoth farms in California, with absentee owners, aggregating produce from many dispersed fields, processed and packaged by complex machinery, then shipped thousands of miles away to the produce dept. of your big mega supermarket. Who knows where the "leafy greens" actually came from, whether they were vulnerable to livestock runoff or other contamination somewhere along their long odyssey to your fridge.

Solution? Buy your greens as much as possible from small farmers who grow it themselves. Is there still risk of runoff contamination? Of course, in any agricultural area, there is that danger, but if the grower is managing a relatively small field, and knows exactly where all the crops are grown and picked, then the chances of unknown contamination are far lower.

Here in the Great Lakes region, it's getting cold, but spinach can be grown well into late autumn.

I Love Farmers Markets!

But where I live (Chicago's north shore burbs) they will only be around thru the end of this month. I went to my two favorites this weekend, Northfield on Saturday, and Skokie today. The pics above are from Northfield. Notice the blueberries, very unusual in October.

All fruit is from southwest Michigan, about two hours away, vegetables from Illinois, hour or so away. Not looking forward to the markets being gone.

Autumn Winds Blast Great Lakes, Challenging Eat Local Efforts

Frost is on rooftops and lawns in the morning, and clouds of leaves are swirling out of gloomy gray skies from Duluth, MN to Rochester, NY and beyond. So while people on the West Coast, across the South, and pretty far up the Mid-Atlantic are continuing to peruse their bountiful farmers markets, things are different here in the North. Our ride on the "eat local" and "real food" bandwagon has turned overnight to a brisk hay ride through fields of dried corn stalks. How can we still enjoy produce that is grown and offered "locally" if the growing season is simply over?

There are three things that can help:

1. Expand the "local" perimeter to the south. Growing seasons are longer (and start sooner) the farther you go south. So, for instance, in the Chicago area, there will still be vegetables and some tree fruit coming up from the southern parts of Illinois, Indiana and from Missouri. Produce from these areas can still be found in farmers markets that run through October. But then what?

2. Start trying recipes for colder weather crops like squash, pumpkin, cabbage and brussels sprouts. There will be fewer places to buy these items, because most of the "folding table at the end of the farmer's driveway" type vendors will have put the table away until May or June, but the larger produce stores, and some co-ops will remain open until the dead of winter. I hope to compile an index of produce-oriented markets for the Great Lakes states, which of course I will post here.

3. Grow Your Own. The obvious choice for the most local food of all. Those who are experienced gardeners probably already know what to plant in mid-summer for fall harvest. But for everyone else, here is a concise two-page guide published by the University of Minnesota Extension that provides helpful tips on what to plant, and how to prep the soil. If it will grow in the cool autumn of Minnesota, it will grow nearly anywhere else across the Great Lakes region.

One more thing: like so many methods and practices that make up the "eat local" movement, what our grandmothers did can help us enjoy locally-grown fruits and vegetables from late autumn through late spring. Canning and preserving was simply part of life until the last few decades. Nearly everything harvested during the growing season can be preserved for eating later. This topic could be its own blog, but I will add articles and resources whenever I can to help first timers try their luck.