By Analiese Paik

Winter CSAs in Connecticut are rather uncommon, principally because most farms don’t produce enough to complete a share. Urban Oaks Farm, a 4-season organic farm in urban New Britain, Conn,. has teamed up with neighboring produce and fruit farmers to offer a 10-week winter CSA bursting with root vegetables, winter greens, and late fall fruit including apples and pears. Although Urban Oaks (UOF) grows some citrus fruit in their greenhouses, demand always outstrips supply. UOF completes shares by sourcing from trusted organic citrus growers.

Linda prepares sweet potato fries with broccoli pesto.

Any home cook committed to eating seasonally who cannot make it to a farmers’ market or a farm stand will enjoy the convenience of picking up a whole or half share winter CSA from UOF at GreenGourmetToGo. And if you don’t cook, simply can’t make time to cook, or need a way to ease into a flexitarian diet, sign up for GreenGourmettoGo’s CSK (Community Supported Kitchen). Linda Soper-Kolton, chef/owner of Green Gourmet to Go, on a never-ending quest to support healthy eating, will turn your weekly CSA box into ready-to-serve organic, vegetarian family meals. Weekly CSK shares will include vegetarian main dishes, soups, desserts, and treats chosen from a weekly menu. I’m signing up because I want my family to eat more plant-based meals and Linda’s well-seasoned dishes and healthy treats are popular in my house. You can try the CSK for a week to see if it’s a fit for your family, but be sure to give at least one week’s notice when signing up for future weeks so Linda can properly prepare.

Subscribe to the CSA only or to the CSA+CSK. Both optins are picked up at GreenGourmetToGo on Fairfield Avenue in Bridgeport (Black Rock section just over the Fairfield line).

Urban Oaks Farm Winter CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)

Each share will contain a combination of the following each week: seasonal root veggies like parsnips, beets, carrots, turnips, celeriac and potatoes, a variety of delicious greens, late harvest fruit (apples, pears) and beautiful herbs to freshen up your winter meals. Urban Oaks combines its own organic produce and what it sources locally and regionally to put together a box of organic goodness to keep you well-nourished even in the darkest days of winter.

• The program runs 10 weeks beginning the week of January 22 and runs through the end of March.
• Order your UOF Winter CSA through GreenGourmetToGo
• Weekly pick up at GreenGourmetToGo on Wednesdays.
• Full share price: $550, enough for a family of four.
• Half share price: $275, great for a family of two to three.
• Deadline for ordering: January 17
• How to order: Call 203.873.0057 or email linda@greengourmettogo.com
  

GreenGourmetToGo Farm CSK (Community Supported Kitchen)

When you participate in this CSK program, your UOF Winter CSA share gets delivered to GreenGourmetToGo where they transform it into delicious meals using additional ingredients and pantry items to complete their favorite recipes inspired by the seasonal contents of the box. You pick up your meals, which will include soups, main and side dishes and snacks and desserts to nourish and satisfy you and your family. A weekly menu is posted on the website soyou can choose dishes based on your preferences or dietary sensitivities.

• The program runs 10 weeks beginning the week of January 22 and running through the end of March.
• Order your GreenGourmetToGo CSK for all 10 weeks or a week at a time, with adequate notice of renewal.
• Weekly pick up at GreenGourmetToGo on Fridays or by special arrangement. Delivery available depending upon location.
• Weekly full share CSK price: $149, enough for a family of four.
• Weekly half share CSK price: $99, great for a family of two to three.
• Deadline for ordering: January 17 for week one orders, weekly notice thereafter
• How to order: Call 203.873.0057 or email linda@greengourmettogo.com
  

In the event you cannot eat all the CSK food, freeze the meals to enjoy stress-free dinners and lunches whenever you want.

Note that the Urban Oaks CSA must be paid in full (through GreenGourmetToGo). It is a commitment and investment in the farm for the remainder of the winter season (that’s what a CSA is all about!). For the CSK service, Linda asks for a minimum of two weeks’ notice to get on the food prep schedule, but in this pilot form over the winter, she is not requiring a minimum commitment or payment in full. She wants you to try the service and see how it works for your lifestyle. How’s that for flexibility?

GreenGourmetToGo

2984 Fairfield Avenue
Bridgeport, CT 06605
203.873-0057 (store)
203.615.8139 (cell)
www.GreenGourmetToGo.com

The Winter Farmers’ Market at the Norfield Grange will reopen for the season this Saturday, November 12, from 10am to 2pm. The following vendors will be at the market opening, and more will be joining in a few weeks. If you are interested in becoming a market vendor, please check that your products are complementary to those already offered before contacting admin@wintermarket-ct.com.

Gazy Brothers Farm, an IPM, family-owned farm in Oxford, will again be offering a Winter CSA share that can be picked up each Saturday at the market. The fee for 8 weeks  is $160, plus a $40 delivery fee. Download a CSA application from Gazy Brothers’ web site. CSA pick up dates are: 1/16, 1/23, 1/30, 2/6, 2/13, 2/20, 2/27, and 3/5.

The EPA defines IPM as “the coordinated use of pest and environmental information with available pest control methods to prevent unacceptable levels of pest damage by the most economical means and with the least possible hazard to people, property, and the environment.”  This process involves three main components: Identifying and monitoring pests, preventing pests from becoming a major problem, and controlling them in the least harmful way possible.

Norfield Grange Farmers’ Market Vendors

Bistro Du Soliel
Butterfield Farm
Connecticutly Grown Hoardable Hot Sauce
Daffodil Hill Growers
Eaglewood Farm
Gazy Brothers Farm
Nod Hill Soap
Pasta Heaven
Pemaquid Seafood
Smith’s Acres
The Bites Company
Weston Gardens
Whistle Stop Bakery

When:
Saturdays, 10:00am to 2:00pm
Opening November 12

Where:
Norfield Grange
12 Good Hill Road
Weston, CT
(off Route 57)

Please visit the website for more information. http://wintermarket-ct.com/

By Analiese Paik

Autumn has arrived and with it come the final weeks of many favorite farmers’ markets. A few will morph into indoor winter markets, giving local residents a means to continue buying local food from each farmer throughout the winter (more on that soon). As you head out leaf peeping, plan to visit local, organic farms to shop at their farm stands, some of which are located inside toasty barns. A visit to a local farm stand is a fun family outing that reconnects you with the source of your food and helps you discover the unique and delicious flavors of CT Grown foods.

The following farm stands are located on family farms that are either certified organic or are committed to using organic growing practices. Each spring and summer they open their farm stands to the public to enjoy the healthy vegetables and fruits they’ve grown for the community. Quite a few are open through late fall.

Ambler Farm, Wilton (follow organic growing practices)

257 Hurlbutt Street, Wilton, CT, 06897

http://www.amblerfarm.org/

amblerfarm@gmail.com

Follow the farm on Facebook.

On October 29, 2011, Ambler Farm announced their last farm stand of the season from 10:30 until 3:00 pm. Check their website for upcoming classes and events at the farm.

The big red barn at Ambler Farm is one of several historic buildings on this community farm that have been preserved and restored through the work of Friends of Ambler Farm.

Close your eyes and imagine the quintessential New England farm you’ve read about in books. Picture the rolling fields and stone walls adorned with a farm house, red barn, ice house, and white carriage house. Open your eyes and you’re at Ambler Farm, a gem of a 200-year-old working farm in Wilton where Farmer Ben grows organic produce.

Farmer Ben's organic fields and tools are mostly safe from critters behind the fence.

A community farm open 365 days a year, Ambler Farm in Wilton holds a regular farm stand on Saturdays from 10:30-3:00 from late May through early October and is a regular vendor at the farmers’ market at the Wilton Historical Society (currently closed for the season). During the spring Ambler takes orders for a wide variety of vegetable transplants, including heirloom varietals, easing the work of backyard gardeners. The summer brings tables piled high with freshly picked organic cucumbers, peppers, onions, summer squash, tomatoes, eggplant, beets, basil, cilantro, Swiss chard, garlic and more.

Broccoli maturing in the educational garden.

The Friends of Ambler Farm have made it the farm’s  mission to celebrate Wilton’s agrarian roots through active-learning programs, sustainable agriculture, responsible land stewardship, and historic preservation. Their high quality, hands-on learning programs for children and adults take place year round and include popular summer farm camps. Special events like their annual farm-to-table dinner and annual Ambler Farm Day, are important fundraisers which help sustain educational programming. Among my favorites seasonal events are the honey harvest and maple syruping. If you haven’t yet tried their estate maple syrup, grab a bottle for yourself and another as a gift. Check the farm’s event calendar and sign up for their e-newsletter to stay informed. To learn more, read our feature article about the farm.

Garden of Ideas, Ridgefield (Certified Organic)

647 North Salem Road  Ridgefield Connecticut 06877

http://www.gardenofideas.com/farm_stand.html

Open 8am to 7pm daily through Thanksgiving. The farm stand is located behind the barn and easily accessible from the parking area.

The farm stand at Garden of Ideas carries an attractive assortment of fruit, honey and maple syrup from area farms, including Amber Farm's maple syrup.

Open daily from March through Thanksgiving, this one-acre family farm goes “beyond organic” standards, and even employs some principles of biodynamic farming, to provide their customers with the most environmentally friendly and nutrient dense produce possible. Garden of Ideas promotes plant biodiversity by growing a large variety of crops, including immensely popular heirlooms, alongside beautiful non-edibles that bloom sequentially to supply their bees with nectar throughout the season.I like to call this sanctuary the Garden of Eden because it’s so beautiful and tranquil. Visit our Garden of Ideas photo album on Facebook to see gorgeous photos from our Summer 2011 visit.

In springtime, the farm sells seeds and starter plants to help you get your own backyard garden started. Join the 2012 CSA waiting list if you live in the area.

Guy’s Eco-Garden, Shelton (Certified Organic)

Open dawn to dusk through early November

Holbrook Farm, Bethel (follow organic growing practices)

45 Turkey Plain Road (Route 53 South), Bethel, Connecticut 06801-2874
Tel (203) 792-0561
Fax (203) 744-6748
Email info@holbrookfarm.net

http://holbrookfarm.net/index.html

Now open daily 9-6 except Sunday, when they’re closed.

Holbrook Farm in Bethel sells a wide variety of organic produce grown at the farm, plus goodies like tart cherries from CT orchards, dairy from CT dairy farms, and baked goods from local artisans.

Holbrook Farm Market & Bakery is located inside the big red barn and feels more like a mini grocery store than a farm stand given the diversity of product available. Fresh produce is displayed in the open cooler and adjacent shelves along with a wide variety of fresh-baked goods including artisan breads from Bantam Bakery. Eggs from the farm’s free-range chickens and dairy products from several different farms including raw milk from Stonewall Dairy in Cornwall, pasteurized milk and cream from Arethusa Farm in Litchfield, and fresh goat’s milk from Butterfield Farm Dairy in East Granby, can be found in the double refrigerator cases. Cheese fans will rejoice in seeing favorites like Cato Corner Farm and Beltane Farm along with Sprout Creek Farm from NY, which makes both goat and cow’s milk cheeses. I tasted a selection of Sprout Creek’s cheeses twice recently and found Sophie, a bloomy rind goat’s milk cheese, to be a standout.

Dairy products from at least three CT dairy farms are available at Holbrook Farm Market, including milk and cream from Arethusa Dairy.

You can make a complete and quick at-home meal from your shopping trip to Holbrook Farm. After you’ve selected your vegetables, bread and dairy, check the refrigerator and freezer cases for smoked sausages and bacons from Mountain Products Smokehouse in Lagrangeville, NY plus chicken meatballs and turkey burgers made from naturally-raised, free range birds. You can even order fresh fish from Frankie’s for pick up at the market. Visit the product page on their website for a complete listing of vendors and products.

Head straight to the open coolers for farm-fresh, organic vegetables like these beautiful parsnips.

Among the dry goods you’ll find pantry staples including honey, maple syrup, oils, vinegars, salts, and jams and jellies, including an impressive selection from award-winning, artisan producer Winding Drive. Their apple pie jam won first place in the  CT Grown category at this year’s CT Specialty Food Awards Competition, but I prefer their peach jam for its pure, peak-of-ripeness flavor. Be on the lookout for Winding Drive’s Habanera Gold Jelly and Roasted Garlic Caramelized Onions spread, both of which tied for second place in the savory condiment category at the same competition.

Sport Hill Farm, Easton (follow organic growing practices)

596 Sport Hill Road, Easton, CT 06612

http://www.sporthillfarm.com/

Now open daily 9-6 except Thursday when they’re open 10-7:00. Hours change throughout the season. Visit Sport Hill Farm on Facebook.

Sport Hill Farm's farm stand is located inside the air-conditioned barn to keep the food fresh and visitors comfortable.

Open 7 days a week, the farm stand is located inside a state-of-the art barn where visitors can shop in comfort for everything from asparagus and lettuce in the early spring to garlic, corn, tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant and squash in high summer, to hardy greens, at least three kinds of winter squash, celeriac and pumpkins in the fall. Fruit from local farms and Red Jacket Orchards is brought in as a one-stop shopping convenience. This year the cherries, plums and strawberries were fantastic. Apples, including rare heirloom varieties, and Seckel pears have arrived for fall.

Organic, hard-neck garlic is available at the farm stand each year.

Sport Hill Farm is well-known for their popular CSA, crop cash and Farm to Chef Connect programs, but they offer much more. Campers from the  summer farm camp run by The Unquowa School visit the farm to learn where their food comes from. A wide variety of on-farm programs and special events, including canning classes and lunches at the farm, help reconnect adults with out food roots and  teach us new skills (private events are welcome). A boutique selection of artisan food products available in the barn includes Fairfield Bread Company’s Flaxette, Peace Tree Desserts’ line of cajeta caramel dessert sauces made with CT goat’s milk, Arethusa Farm’s milk and yogurt, plus organic, vegetarian side dishes and vegan cookies from GreenGourmettoGo.

In early October squash, green beans, arugula, cucumbers, leeks, sorrel, Swiss chard and turnips were available at the stand along with new crop garlic.

Update as of 11/5: The farm stand is located in the main barn and is open 7am -6 pm, 7 days a week closed except for their harvest of Jerusalem artichokes which were harvested last week and are delicious raw or cooked. It is set up for the honor system, but someone is usually there.

October offerings includes arugula, Scarlett Queen salad turnips, radishes, Trombocino Squash,  sorrel, Swiss chard, garlic, parsley, oregano, and tarragon picked daily.

Sticks and Stones Farm is a 60-acre organic sanctuary famous for its stone and moss gardens. This stone masonry farm and retreat features a wide variety of habitats—a mountain, meadows, woods, cultivated areas, and fields, and wetlands—all loaded with their associated wild plants and mushrooms. “Wildman” Steve Brill comes to the farm to lead foraging tours three times a year -early spring, summer and fall – as each season offers different wild edibles to scout and collect. The farm offers cabins for rent, and offer year-round events and artists workshops.

The Hickories, Ridgefield (Certified Organic) closed for the season

126 Lounsbury Road, Ridgefield CT 06877
tel: 203-894-1851
fax: 203-894-1851

http://www.thehickories.org/

The farm stand at The Hickories is neat and tidy and worth visiting to pick up fresh-picked vegetables and a one of their tasty chickens.

The farm stand located on Loudon Road is the only way, other than a CSA share, to fully enjoy their certified organic vegetables and ground fruit. Limited produce is available through Ancona’s Market. The farm stand will be open daily from 11am-6pm in spring 2012. We will update this post next year to provide you with complete farm stand information.

An early August visit yielded beets, carrots, lettucs, garlic, broccoli, potatoes, and tomatoes. The peaches were for CSA shareholders only.

If you live in Ridgefield, you surely know that Dina Brewster’s USDA/Baystate certified organic farm, The Hickories, is the only farm left in Farmingville. When you hear Dina talk about her CSA families, it’s clear that building community gives her joy and satisfaction. Dina increased the number of CSA shares offered on farm last year to 200 so some families had a rare chance to get a share last summer. Please register directly on the site to join the waiting list for 2012 now. Both fruit and vegetable shares are offered including 113 varieties of vegetables plus strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, apples and peaches. Share add ons include bread, eggs, meat and locally produced cheese.

Warrup’s Farm, Redding (Certified Organic)

11 John Read Road, Redding, CT 06896, 1.2 miles north of Redding Center, off Route 107.

Organic vegetables available at the stand in August included newly harvested garlic, a wide variety of heirloom and other tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash and cabbage.

Visit this farm stand throughout the season for organic vegetables and cut flowers, in mid July for organic peaches, and in October for potatoes, garlic, onions, pumpkins and hay rides. Come back in March for maple sugaring demonstrations that the whole family will enjoy. Be sure to get on their CSA list for next season if you live nearby. Warrup’s produce, fruit, and flowers can also be purchased at the Weston farmers’ market on Saturdays where they are a vendor (currently closed for the season).

The farm is also open seasonally for pumpkins and cut your own Christmas trees. Maple sugar demonstrations are typically held the first three weekends in March from 11-5. Warrup’s Farm announced a summer/fall CSA Program last year and it quickly filled up with 30 families.  Please click here to add your name to the waiting list for 2012. It’s best to visit Warrup’s website for posted schedules or call 203-938-9403 to plan your visit.

There are only two ways I know of to get an organic peach grown in Fairfield County, Connecticut (or anywhere else in the state for that matter). One is to have a CSA share in The Hickories, which only distributes their precious orchard fruit to shareholders. The other is to be lucky enough to hit the stand at Warrup’s Farm on a peach picking day. Those days are right now.

Beautiful heirloom tomatoes at Warrup's farm stand.

I visited the farm stand late last week with my son and a friend and we were all disappointed to not find peaches. We killed some time walking around the fields, admiring the basil, tomatoes (lots of them!), and other late summer vegetables thriving in the hot, sun-drenched fields. We secretly hoped someone would show up at the stand with peaches. My friend soon spotted an intern and gave me the high sign. I was delighted to also see farmer Bill Hill since he was sure to give us the scoop. “Not for a few days” he said when asked about peach availability, “then we’ll have them at the stand for $2 a pound. There aren’t enough for our CSA families.” Our collective disappointment must have been palpable, because he took pity and offered to let us pick a few ripe peaches off the trees in the orchard (PYO is closed this year).

Orchard peaches at Warrup' Farm in Redding are not sprayed or otherwise treated for bugs or disease. Get them while you can.

After a short walk to the orchard, we began jumping up to reach the lowest hanging limbs that appeared to bear ripe fruit, hoping for a prize. All the while we were competing with every sweet, orchard fruit-loving insect.  “We don’t touch them” said Hill, referring to the no spray, no hand picking of bugs stance they take with the peaches. “They’re not beautiful” he cautioned. While that was true for a handful of them, we did manage to pick quite a few gorgeous ones that would be ready for eating after a few days of counter top ripening. Extensive surgery would be required on the ones that insects had beaten us to. At $2 a pound, the extra work seemed more than worth it. We returned to the farm stand to weigh our peaches and other produce, fill out purchase tickets, and add our payments to the jar.

Three different varieties of summer squash, new crop garlic, and lots of tomatoes await at the farm stand. Fingers crossed for peaches!

During the ride home my son suggested we use our precious peach cargo to make ice cream. Knowing these would probably be the only local, organic peaches we’d find, it seeded a fitting way to prepare them for enjoyment during the last fleeting weeks of summer. After a few days’ ripening, they were perfect. Ever the frugal and shortcut cook, I searched for an appropriate peach ice cream recipe online and found one from Every Day with Rachael Ray that required no eggs and no custard cooking. Tonight after dinner, two little heads watched intently over our Cuisinart ice cream maker as it churned the thick and peachy mixture until it was frozen thick. Enjoying local, organic peach ice cream on a hot and stormy August evening, we felt lucky indeed.

Whether you eat them out of hand or make them into jam or ice cream, Warrup’s peaches are delicious and healthy. Organic vegetables available at the stand include newly harvested garlic, a wide variety of heirloom and other tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash and cabbage. The farm stand is open Tuesday through Sunday from 11-5 through the first frost. The farm is also open seasonally for pumpkins and cut your own Christmas trees. Maple sugar demonstrations are typically held the first three weekends in March from 11-5. It’s best to visit Warrup’s website for posted schedules or call 203-938-9403 to plan your visit.

Warrup’s Farm announced a summer/fall CSA Program last year and it quickly filled up with 30 families.  Please click here to add your name to the waiting list for 2012.

Warrup’s Farm is located on John Read Road in Redding, CT, 1.2 miles north of Redding Center, off Route 107.

Related articles

The next best thing to local organic peaches: The CT EcoPeach

By Analiese Paik

The following is a transcript of A Dozen Ways to Eat Green, a talk I was to deliver today at the Gathering of the Vibes as a guest speaker on the Green Vibes Stage at 1:30. Unfortunately, due to the heat advisory, I won’t be presenting today. A Dozen Ways to Eat Green is perfect for any eater – those just learning how unsustainable our food system is and are looking for ways to reduce their “foodprint” and those already making sustainable choices, yet are looking to do more. The choices we make three times a day have a profound impact on our health and the environment, so eat smart and eat green!

• Reduce your food waste.
  

By some estimates 40 percent of the food grown in the country is wasted. That figure includes everything from food left to rot in farmers’ fields, to imperfect food throw out by stores and restaurants, to the leftovers you scrape into your garbage pail after dinner. Here are three ways to cut down on your food waste:

1. Buy less to avoid buying more than you need.
2. Make “Use it or Freeze It” your mantra and use your freezer to save food for another day.
3. Declare “Clean Out the Refrigerator Night” once a week to eat all the leftovers before they go bad.

• Compost your raw food waste.

Start a compost pile right in your backyard. When you throw food waste into the garbage, it winds up in a landfill where it cannot decompose. Instead, it emits methane gas, a greenhouse gas, which contributes to climate change. Collect your egg shells, coffee grinds, vegetable peels, corn cobs and husks in a kitchen composting pail and toss them in the compost pile with grass clippings and leaves. Over a few months’ time, they’ll decompose with the help of worms and turn into compost – gardener’s gold. You won’t need to buy compost when you start your organic garden! Visit Rodale’s web site for some expert composting advice.

• Eat less meat.

Practice Meatless Mondays by eating no meat one day a week. The Environmental Working Group has just released The Meat Eater’s Guide to Climate Change and Health, a handy online guide to improving your health and the health of the environment through sustainable meat choices. It includes a recommendation to practice Meatless Mondays, citing this quote from real food activist and author Michael Pollan.

“The single most important thing any of us can do to shrink the environmental footprint of our eating is to cut back on our meat eating — doing so has a bigger impact than eating local or organic.” -Michael Pollan, Author and food activist

When you do eat meat, avoid factory farmed beef, poultry, pork and dairy; choose grass-fed, pasture-raised, and organic meat and dairy instead. Approximately 99 percent of the meat sold in restaurants and grocers if from factory farms (CAFOs) where animals are raised in close confinement, fed an unnatural diet of genetically modified (GM) corn and soy, and are routinely treated with antibiotics to keep them from getting sick. Raising animals in this manner might produce cheap meat for the consumer, but what’s rung up at the register doesn’t factor in the true cost to the environment and human health. Don’t fall victim to the illusion of cheap food. The real cost of producing and eating food from the industrial food chain will have to be paid for by generations to come.

Many Connecticut farmers raise livestock on pasture and sell it at farmers’ markets throughout the state, plus a sustainable butcher shop will be opening in Westport soon.

Learn more by about the impact of factory farming on the climate and human health from EWG’s The Meat Eater’s Guide to Climate Change and Health.

• Choose organic food over conventionally grown.

Choose organic whenever possible to protect the environment and human health. Organic foods and wines are cultivated without the use of synthetic fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides so they do not deplete the soil, damage the environment or pose threats to human health. CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) programs are the most economical way to buy fresh, local, organic produce. CSA programs offer consumers a seasonal share in a single farm’s harvest for a fixed price. Each season I publish a guide to CSAs offered by local farms, and each year the list grows.

Processed foods, even those labeled “natural”, commonly contain ingredients made from the “Big Four” genetically-modified (GM) food crops: soybeans, corn, canola and cottonseed, yet they carry no labels declaring “contains GMOs.” The bottle of canola oil innocently sitting in your pantry is likely GM, since eighty percent of the canola grown in the US is genetically modified. Many well-respected members of the sustainable food, agriculture, and science communities believe that GMOs pose threats to human and animal health, the environment, and biodiversity. Choose organic or Non-GMO Project Verified processed foods to avoid GMOs. To learn more about GMOs, please read While You Were Eating on this blog.

• Eat locally with the seasons.

Fresh, local food is delicious, nutritious and in abundant supply at farm stands, farmers’ markets and through CSAs. Buy locally grown food in season to reduce the “food miles” your food has to travel to reach your plate and cut down on food packaging. Fewer food miles translate into reduced use of fossil fuels and lower greenhouse gas emissions. Less packaging means you create less waste. You’ll also be providing a living wage to our farmers, ensuring farmland preservation and our ability to feed ourselves, and encouraging the cultivation of a diversity of species, including heritage and heirloom varietals. Eating locally with the seasons is an investment in the future of our local foodshed.

• Grow some of your own food.

Seeds are very inexpensive, and if you make your own compost, you’ll likely wind up saving money by growing your own. A fantastic source of inspiration and advice for home gardeners is Kitchen Gardeners International, the group behind the campaign to replant a kitchen garden at the White House. Look for gardening workshops and classes, includes those we post, to help you get started. Comstock Ferre & Co., a 200-year-old seed company in Wethersfield, CT, offers a wide variety of heirloom seeds via their catalog, online store, an retail location. Read more about Comstock here.

• Choose organic, Fair Trade coffee, tea, chocolate and sugar.

Fair Trade means farmers are compensated fairly for their work, no child labor is used, and farms employ sustainable growing practices. Organic farming practices don’t rely on synthetic fertilizer and never use synthetic pesticides, herbicides and insecticides. When we choose organic, Fair Trade products, we are rewarding farmers for treating their workers fairly and using sustainable growing practices. These products may cost a little more, but the payoff is priceless.

• Choose sustainable seafood.

Choose sustainable seafood. Download the Sustainable Seafood Guide or iphone app from Seafood Watch and consult it at the fish counter or when ordering in a restaurant. Commit to limiting your consumption to sustainable seafood choices under the Best Choices and Good Alternatives categories. Whenever you eat a sustainable seafood meal, enter it into the app to share your resources with other users.  Whole Foods Markets stores have started using a seafood labeling system for their wild caught products based on Seafood Watch’s ratings to help the consumer at point of purchase. You can learn all about sustainable seafood in an interactive exhibit called Go Fish! at the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk.  It’s perfect for adults and children.

• Stop buying disposable bottled water.

Disposable bottled water is one or the most unsustainable beverage choices you can make. Plastic water bottles are made from petroleum and are designed to be used once, resulting in a product that is thousands of times more expensive than tap water and no safer, according to a report by Food & Water Watch. Most of these bottles are not recycled and wind up in landfills and our oceans where they  leach harmful chemicals into the ground and water. There is a floating garbage patch twice the size of Texas in the North Atlantic that is poisoning sea life. Please carry a thermos filled with filtered tap water instead.

• Learn to cook!

Cooking is becoming a lost art. Take some cooking classes and buy a cookbook that teaches you how to cook with the seasons including Deborah Madison’s Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America’s Farmers’ Markets, Emily Brooks’ Connecticut Farmer & Feast, Michel Nischan’s Sustainably Delicious: Making the World a Better Place One Recipe at a Time, and Harvest to Heat: Cooking with America’s Best Farmers, Chefs and Artisans by Darryl Estrine and Kelly Kochendorfer.

• Start or volunteer at a school or community garden.

School and community gardens are thriving across the country including urban, rooftop, vertical, aquaponic, and hydroponic varieties. Public gardens are revitalizing urban communities and providing food deserts with a source of fresh local food. Creating community while helping to feed yourself and others more sustainably, especially children, is rewarding and laying the groundwork for a more sustainable food future.

• Don’t wait for someone else to fix it.

The food choices you make all day, every day, have small but important impacts. Eat Smart, Eat Green.

Recommended Reading:

• Tomatoland
• Eating Animals
• Righteous Pork Chop
• Diet for a Hot Planet
• Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
• Omnivore’s Dilemma (and young reader’s version)

Movies:

• Food, Inc.
• FRESH
• Nourish
  
• The Future of Food
• The World According to Monsanto

Bonus Green Food Tips:

• Bring your own bags wherever you shop. Try keeping a soft, collapsible bag in your pocketbook so you always have one handy.

• Reuse grocery store vegetable bags as liners for your kitchen compost pail. You’ll save money on composting supplies and give the bags and second life.

• Use recycled products. Choose from post-consumer recycled aluminum foil and paper products (napkins & paper towels), phosphate-free dish-washing liquid and dishwasher soap, and biodegradable garbage bags.

• Recycle #5 containers and cork at Whole Foods Markets instead of throwing them in the garbage. Whole Foods collects #5s and cork for recycling (feel free to pop in just to drop off your recycling). Recycling costs you nothing but is a huge gift to the environment.

• Use reusable bags instead of single use plastic lunch and snack bags. There are many on the market and they have become so mainstream that they are now available at Linens ‘n Things. Lunch Skins are eco-chic, reusable lunch and snack bags that are cute enough to give as a gift.
  

• Choose organic and biodynamic wines. These so called “natural” wines rely on low impact methods for solving common problems that plague vineyards. For instance, birds of prey are brought in to control for varmints. Organic wines are cultivated without the use of synthetic fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides so they do not deplete the soil, damage the environment or pose threats to human health.

Homegrown, heirloom Stupice tomatoes with garden oregano. Grill the tomatoes then lay the oregano sprigs on top and cover until dinner's ready.

I couldn’t resist the Westport Aquaculture oysters in the seafood case at Whole Foods Market Fairfield yesterday. We’d stopped in on the way home from the beach and found some local corn from Mitchell Farms and Farmer’s Cow milk to help round out a veggie-heavy dinner to be made from our weekly CSA share from Sport Hill Farm. Our trip to the seafood counter was supposed to be for sea scallops only, from a Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Certified fishery. But my husband was leaving for a 10-day business trip to California and I wanted to give him a special send off. Our half dozen Blue Point oyster order was neatly wrapped and labeled in a net and off we went to prepare the feast.

MSC-Certified scallops grilled on garden-fresh rosemary skewers.

Raw or cooked was the question on the way home in the car. I grew up near the waters of Long Island Sound and spent summers fishing and clamming with my family during the summer months. I remember cooking clams and oysters on the grill and how easy it was and wanted to relive that food memory. I did not, however, want to revisit the memory of my father drilling the right and wrong ways to shuck a bivalve into us, so I figured the best way was to steam them open. My husband, our grill master, liked that idea.

Grilled Sport Hill Farm cauliflower was tender, lightly golden and delicately sweet and flavorful.

We had lots of food to grill – summer squash, cauliflower florets, and sweet Cipollini onions from our CSA, heirloom Stupice tomatoes from the backyard garden, scallops skewered on rosemary stalks clipped from our raised herb bed, and halved and pitted peaches from Rose’s Berry Farm that we’d drizzled with Red Bee wildflower honey. The oysters would go on last so I had time to soak them. Bivalve mollusks benefit from sitting refrigerated in clean, cold water just before serving raw or cooking because they’ll filter out any sand. Just be sure to give them a good scrubbing first to remove any loose sand, barnacles and other sea life that might be attached to them. Discard any that are open, a sure sign they’re dead. And don’t let them soak too long or the fresh water cycling through them (they naturally do this as filter feeders) will dilute their flavor.

Lay the clean oysters on the grill trough side down to capture the flavorful juices.

Plucked from the grill with a pair of tongs, the oysters are ready to serve.

How to grill oysters: Lay them trough side down (the deep cupped part of the shell) on the grill in order to retain their juices. Shut the grill and lift after 5 or 6 minutes so see if any have popped open. The minute the first one opens, remove them all from the grill to a serving plate. Cooking times will vary according to the grill temperature and the size and temperature of the oysters. Remove cooked oysters carefully to prevent spilling their juices. If they’re too tippy, fill a bowl with kosher salt and snuggle them into it.

My husband pried the oysters open with his bare hands, sparing us the drama of shucking.

Topped with a little melted, organic butter, the oysters were "the best ever" according to my kids.

At the table, my husband wrestled the oysters open the rest of the way with his bare hands, detaching the upper from the lower shell at the hinge. I hadn’t gotten around to making the mignonette sauce, so warm butter had to do as a sauce, which of course pooled on top of the abundant natural juices. My husband and sons ate them with gusto, urging me on as they declared how delicious they were. I was too busy steaming corn and putting out the wine and missed them entirely. We’ll have to buy more next time.

Sunset Meadow Vineyard's Cayuga White was a perfect pairing with all the seafood and fresh vegetables.

To learn more about Westport Aquaculture and Whole Foods Markets’ commitment to sustainable seafood, please read our sustainable seafood post and watch the video below.

You are invited to attend a very special event – Growing Sustainably in Connecticut: 3 Local Farmers Discuss their Connection to Our Soil. The farmers serving as guest panelists are Dina Brewster from The Hickories farm in Ridgefield, John Holbrook from Holbrook Farm in Bethel and Annie Farrell from Millstone Farm in Wilton. Please join me on May 3 at 6:30 pm at Norfield Grange in Weston from an opportunity to learn firsthand from our sustainable farmers and ask  some questions. This event is organized by the Weston Select Committee for Sustainability and is free and open to the public.

Trying to utter the words meat and sustainable in the same sentence undoubtedly gives us pause. We know that 99% of the meat consumed in this country is raised on CAFOs (Contained Animal Feeding Operations) that pump the animals full of antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals so they can stay just healthy enough to be legally slaughtered and sent to market. In the case of steer fed a diet of cheap, genetically modified corn, these poor quadrupeds have been stripped of what should be an inalienable right of all ruminants – access to pasture where they can chew some cud.

Raising cattle wasn’t always like this. In the pre-CAFO days farmers grazed cattle on their farmland, herding them from field to field where they enjoyed a wide variety of native grasses during the warmer months and setting aside hay and silage to feed them in the colder ones. Thankfully not all farms were converted to CAFOs or closed down. It’s these small, sustainably managed family-owned farms that are providing some of the most humane and prized meat available in the marketplace. Connecticut residents are able to purchase this type of meat frozen and cryovaced directly from local farmers or through certain intermediaries, but rarely fresh at a retail butcher’s counter. A gaping hole exists in the retail marketplace for local-sustainable meat and that’s about to change.

Fleischer’s Grass-Fed and Organic Meats in Kingston, NY has been running an extremely successful and high profile whole animal butcher shop and school since 2004. You may have caught Fleischer’s co-owner and master butcher Joshua Applestone on The Martha Stewart Show coaching her through the butchering of a side of pig while discussing the virtues of local and pasture raised meats. Joshua and Jessica Applestone’s new book, The Butcher’s Guide to Well-Raised Meat: How to Buy, Cut, and Cook Great Beef, Lamb, Pork, Poultry, and More, will be released in June and has already been called an “instant classic” by Marion Nestle. It’s a butcher’s guide appropriate for any food lover and cook.

Ryan Fibiger is a recent graduate of Fleischer's Grass-Fed and Organic Meats' whole animal butchery program and will be setting up shop to serve discriminating Fairfield County consumers by summer's end.

Graduates of Fleischer’s whole animal butchery school are blazing a trail from New York City (Tom Mylan at The Meat Hook, also featured in the new Williams-Sonoma book The Cook and the Butcher) to Los Angeles (Amelia Posada and Erika Nakamura of Lindy & Grundy’s) setting up retail shops that appeal to consumers in search of the most delectable and sustainable fresh beef, lamb, pork and poultry available. Fairfield County will receive such a treat when Ryan Fibiger opens his full-service, whole animal butcher shop late this summer. Fibiger traded in a career in high finance for an entrepreneur’s life where he will replicate Fleischer’s successful whole animal butcher shop model. Initially, Fibiger will source from New York farms that currently supply Fleischer’s (all within 100 mile radius of Westport), but his goal is to also source from the best of breed Connecticut farms. While a whole animal butcher shop will appeal to any discriminating consumer, it’s the health-minded and sustainable eaters that are most apt to rejoice and throw a party to celebrate their newfound access to a convenient source for real meat with a backstory. I know I’ll be one of them.

According to Fibiger, the Fleischer’s philosophy starts with the butcher knowing the farms that raised the animals, how they were raised, and how and by whom they were slaughtered. “We hold our farms and slaughterhouses to extremely high standards of quality, transparency and humane practices.” The butcher takes over from there with an unconditional commitment to expert butchery and to using the entire animal from snout to tail. Really. That means cuts not fated for the retail case are rendered for fat or used to make stock, and any trimmings are made into dog food. This also implies the return of the traditional butcher as educator, helping to inform the consumer about lesser known cuts and ways to prepare them.

Local farm-to-table chefs whose sophisticated clientele already support their dedication to seasonal and nose to tail cooking (think cheeks, tongue, and sweetbreads) are important wholesale customers for whole animal butchers. (I’m willing to wager that a pig’s head torchon will soon arrive on one of these menus.) Fibiger plans to follow the Fleischer’s model of training chefs and sous chefs to break down whole animals themselves (subprimals in the case of steer) and anticipates a strong reception over time. “There are unlimited options as a chef when you break the animal down yourself, as well as insight into the quality of the meat (and life of the animal) that can only be inferred from working with the whole animal” he explains. If all goes as planned, an A-list farm-to-table chef will set up a new restaurant a few doors down from the butcher shop and pre-opening events will including pig roasts in the outdoor plaza and café.

As exciting as this new store is, whole animal butchery will require some adjustments on the part of the consumer. Think of it as an opportunity to become informed and enlightened about cuts of meat you’ve likely never seen and how to prepare them in a delicious manner for family and friends. This is so critical to a sustainable butcher shop’s success that it’s a formal part of the business model. Expect video podcasts, live demonstrations and workshops, and a store staff that’s 100% Fleischer’s trained and ready to answer your every question, patiently and professionally.  One lesson for customers will be that the meat carries no USDA grading. “Pastured-raised meat is not generally graded” explains Fibiger, referring to the USDA grades frequently applied to factory farm-raised steer (e.g. prime, choice, select, etc.), “However, the flavor of our meat compares favorably against even the best prime-graded cuts”. Also prepare for the most popular cuts to disappear quickly each week since there are a finite number of steaks and chops in each animal.  As Fibiger is quick to point out due to the rising popularity on restaurant menus, in the case of hangar steak, there is only ONE. To ensure availability, it’s advisable to call ahead and place a custom order. They deliver.

Fibiger is also planning a whole animal CSA (fully broken down) and will begin taking orders in June.  A butchering demonstration open to the public is planned for late May or early June and you can find both events posted on this site once details become available.

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One of the easiest ways to celebrate Earth Day every day is to green your kitchen. Here are some delicious and fun ways to reduce your family’s “foodprint” while also eating well.

• Bring your own bags wherever you shop. Try keeping a soft, collapsible bag in your pocketbook so you always have one handy.

• Reuse grocery store vegetable bags as liners for your kitchen compost pail. You’ll save money on composting supplies and give the bags and second life.

• Use recycled products. Choose from post-consumer recycled aluminum foil and paper products (napkins & paper towels), phosphate-free dish-washing liquid and dishwasher soap, and biodegradable garbage bags.

• Recycle #5 containers and cork at Whole Foods Markets instead of throwing them in the garbage. Whole Foods collects #5s and cork for recycling (feel free to pop in just to drop off your recycling). Recycling costs you nothing but is a huge gift to the environment.

• 

  Lunch Skins are eco-chic, reusable lunch and snack bags that are cute enough to give as a gift.

  Use reusable bags instead of single use plastic lunch and snack bags. There are many on the market and they have become so mainstream that they are now available at Linens ‘n Things.

• Use thermoses instead of buying water bottles. Ditto for kids’ single serve milk and juice boxes. Plastic water bottles are made from petroleum and are designed to be used once, resulting in a product that is thousands of times more expensive than tap water and no safer, according to a report by Food & Water Watch. Most of these bottles wind up in landfills where they take hundreds of years to break down and can leach harmful chemicals into the ground. Carry a stainless steel thermos instead.

• Compost your food waste. Food that’s thrown out instead of composted releases methane gas, contributing to global warming and climate change. Compost is a fantastic soil amendment and it costs you nothing, so you’re saving money in the end. Use an empty flour container, bowl or other receptacle to gather your food scraps in the kitchen (or a dedicated kitchen compost pail) and empty them regularly into your compost pile. Not sure how to compost?  Visit Rodale’s web site for some immediate expert advice.

• 

  This pre-World War II photo shows just a few of the 11 historic buildings and barns that date back to the 1700s when Comstock was founded. Amish crews from parent company Baker Creek have begun to restore the buildings and preserve the antique equipment, transforming the campus into a living agricultural history museum. Photo c/o Comstock, Ferre & Co

  Grow some of your own food. Seeds are very inexpensive, and if you make your own compost, you’ll likely wind up saving money by growing your own. A fantastic source of inspiration and advice for home gardeners is Kitchen Gardeners International, the group behind the campaign to replant a kitchen garden at the White House. Comstock Ferre & Co., a 200-year-old seed company in Wethersfield, CT, offers a wide variety of heirloom seeds via their catalog or online store. Read more about Comstock here.
  

• Buy locally grown food from a farmers’ market or farm stand, CSA, or online ordering and delivery service. A complete list of Fairfield County farmers’ markets and farm stands can be found here, CSAs here, and home delivery services here.

• Choose locally produced food from specialty or grocery stores. The Double L Market in Westport, Palmer’s Market in Darien and The Pantry in Fairfield all carry some local food.

• Choose organic whenever possible to protect the environment and human health. There are over 40 certified organic farms in Connecticut, and many more that meet or exceed the National Organic Program’s (NOP) standards but do not carry the certification. That means a lot of choice for the consumer! Click here to read more about what the NOP standards mean as well as other eco farm and food labels.
  

• Choose organic and biodynamic wines. These so called “natural” wines rely on low impact methods for solving common problems that plague vineyards. For instance, birds of prey are brought in to control for varmints. Organic wines are cultivated without the use of synthetic fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides so they do not deplete the soil, damage the environment or pose threats to human health.

• Choose organic, Fair Trade coffee, chocolate and tea. Fair Trade means farmers are compensated fairly for their work, no child labor is used, and farms employ sustainable growing practices.

• 

  Whole Foods Markets stores started using a seafood labeling system for their wild caught products based on Seafood Wach's ratings to help the consumer at point of purchase.

  Choose sustainable seafood. Download the Sustainable Seafood Guide or iphone app from Seafood Watch and commit to limiting your consumption to sustainable seafood choices under the Best Choices and Good Alternatives categories. Whole Foods Markets stores have started using a seafood labeling system for their wild caught products based on Seafood Watch’s ratings to help the consumer at point of purchase. You can learn all about sustainable seafood in a fabulous new exhibit called Go Fish! at the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk.  It’s perfect for adults and children.

Happy Earth Day 2011! Please add your suggestions for greening your kitchen under comments below. Looking forward to seeing you at Wilton Go Green’s Expo on May 1.

If you live in Greenwich or Stamford, you can now participate in a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) with delivery from the farm right to your doorstep. For the past five years, Farm Share Ltd. (www.myfarmshare.com) has been delivering CSA shares of freshly harvested organic crops from a small family farm to hundreds of area homes, helping people eat better and allowing the farmers to do what they do best: farm!

CSA is a unique approach to bringing farms and families together for great food and to support sustainable agriculture. With CSA you get a share in everything a farm produces for the year and the farmer gets a commitment from the buyer for the whole season.  For you, that means months of great food and the opportunity for your whole family to get to know the taste of seasonal, farm fresh food. For the farmer, it means having the resources to buy seed and equipment and the time to do what they love to do. These funds are crucial to their survival now.

100% organic veggie shares cost about $28 a week including all delivery charges. Sign up takes place in the spring (now!) and then starting in mid-June, deliveries are  made to homes once a week and continue through mid-November.  Extra shares and vacation week shares are donated to the hungry. Farm Share makes all the arrangements for the donation at the request of its members.

Some of the veggies we’ve enjoyed in past years include: tender lettuces, fava beans, and sugar peas in spring; crisp cucumbers, colorful beets and hearty rainbow chard as the summer begins; and deeply flavored heirloom tomatoes, plump eggplants, squash, potatoes, onions and fresh garlic as the season unfolds. Hand-collected organic eggs from pasture-raised chickens and naturally grown fruit are available as add-on options and all members receive a weekly email with a list of box contents, information about the veggies, news from the farm and delicious recipes. To learn more, please visit the web site.

To enroll (payment can be made with check or credit card), please visit the website at www.myfarmshare.com or email information@myfarmshare.com. Shares are still available in all areas now, but do sell out in certain areas each season, so if you are interested please don’t wait too long.