The fourth Annual Green Coast Award winners were announced Wednesday, November 16, at the fourth Annual Fairfield County Green Faire at Grand Restaurant and Lounge in Stamford, Connecticut. Fairfield Green Food Guide is proud to be named a 2011 Green Coast Award winner and we thank all our readers for your votes! Four green food businesses we love – Catch a Healthy Habit Cafe, Health in a Hurry, Port Coffeehouse and the Westport Farmers’ Market – are among the 2011 award winners and we congratulate them. Please find a complete list of all 28 winners below and we welcome you to join us on Dec. 6 as we accept our award.

Twenty-eight businesses, organizations and individuals were honored this year and are recognized at both the Green Faire in Stamford and also Green Drinks, December 6 at The Shack Hometown Grille, in Fairfield, Connecticut from 6:00pm-8:00pm. Voting for the Green Coast Awards was completed online at GreenCoastAwards.com from January 1st-November 10th. All winners were reviewed for their contribution to sustainability and approved by Matt Turek, Director of the Green Coast Awards, as well as approved by the Green Coast Award advisory committee. “This year’s 28 Green Coast Award winners represent all areas of sustainability, and demonstrate that Connecticut is on its way to building a more sustainable infrastructure,“ said Mr. Turek.

Patrice Gillespie, of Clean Air – Cool Planet received the Green Coast Award for Leader in Sustainability at the Stamford reception. Patrice thanked the GCA voters and the advisory council by saying, “We are all learning about environmental stewardship from one another, and almost every day I have a ‘V-8′ forehead-smacking moment when an urgently needed idea about sustainability is revealed to me. By now, there are hundreds of innovators whom I know personally and who are contributing greatly to the collective ‘Green Intel’ just in this region. I salute them all and hope that together we effect tremendous progress in 2012.”

Town of Fairfield won the Town category and newly elected First Selectman Mike Tetreau will be in attendance at the December 6^th Green Drinks gathering, which features Green Coast Award winners including Fairfield Green Food Guide. When given the good news about Fairfield’s award, First Selectman Tetreau said, “The Town of Fairfield is honored to receive this award and to be recognized in this manner. It’s a testament to our on-going commitment to environmental stewardship and sustainability for the well being of all of our citizens. Thank you.”

A long-time friend of environmental efforts and a strong supporter of local green initiatives, Mayor Bill Finch won the Green Coast Awards for Mayor. The City of Bridgeport recently celebrated the Third Annual Green Market Exposition at City Hall Annex, a celebration of Connecticut’s green infrastructure. In an interview with GreenTowns, at the GME, Mayor Finch talked about the many green projects and initiatives that are going on in Bridgeport.

For a complete list of all winners, please visit the Green Coast Awards Initiative page on GreenTowns.

Recognizing a growing interest among local residents and businesses for protecting the environment, Daphne Dixon founded the Green Coast Awards, an initiative of Conscious Decisions, in 2007, to support and promote local sustainability, eco-friendly living practices and the celebrate the people behind these efforts. A native Californian and a resident of Fairfield, she has over twenty years of public relations, community organization and event planning experience. Daphne has been working closely with local leaders, businesses and residents to raise awareness and to engage people in green living practices. “By making smart choices, individuals can and do make a difference,” said Dixon.

Voting for the 2012 Green Coast Awards begins January 1, 2012 at www.greencoastawards.com

Please join Fairfield Green Food Guide’s founder, Analiese Paik, on Dec. 6 at Green Drinks Fairfield at The Shack Hometown Grille in Fairfield, Connecticut from 6:00pm-8:00pm to celebrate the awards and network with members and guests including First Selectman Mike Tetreau and Slow Food Metro North. Click here to RSVP. Attendance is free.

On Saturday, June 25, Analiese Paik of the Fairfield Green Food Guide made a guest appearance on WTNH’s Good Morning Connecticut Show at 7:49 am to discuss how to capture the fleeting flavors of summer and the newly released cookbook, Connecticut Farmer and Feast.

Watch the video:

Connecticut farm-fresh produce and fruit is filling farm stands, farmers’ markets, green markets, and farm-to-door retailers. It’s the perfect time to enjoy the fleeting flavors of late spring and early summer. Strawberries, rhubarb and garlic scapes are abundant now, but will soon be gone. Here are a few ways to prepare and preserve these local, seasonal favorites.

Strawberries and rhubarb are a magical combination any way you serve them.

Strawberry-rhubarb compote is simple to prepare and delicious hot or cold.

Strawberries and rhubarb are a magical fruit and vegetable combination. Pies, crumbles, compotes and spicy chutneys are favorite ways to enjoy rhubarb. This strawberry-rhubarb compote (fruit cooked in syrup) is prepared very simply and quickly by cooking the rhubarb, which is quite tough and tannic raw, with some sugar, water, and a vanilla bean until tender, about 5-10 minutes minutes, then adding sliced strawberries at the end and cooking them only slightly. The result is a delicious, flavorful, and fragrant strawberry-rhubarb sauce that can be served hot or cold as a pancake, waffle or ice cream topping, spread on toast, or stirred into plain yogurt. It would make a wonderful shortcake topping, no cream necessary. (recipe below)

Fort Hill Farm's organic strawberries were my choice for making this no-cook compote. Some of the berries are so petite they don't need to be sliced.

Millix Farm's spiked strawberry compote contains triple sec and an orange juice reduction.

If you’re looking for a more sophisticated strawberry compote appropriate for adult guests, think of adding some flavored liqueur instead of sugar. Millix Farm Strawberry Compote is a recipe from the just released cookbook Connecticut Farmer and Feast. Author Emily Brooks visited almost 50 CT farms and has profiled each farmer, sharing stories of multi-generational farm families alongside those of first-time farmers. More than 85 seasonal recipes showcase each farm’s products, and in the case of Millix Farm in Willington, it’s strawberries, which are at their peak right now.

In Millix Farm Strawberry Compote Emily Brooks uses Grand Marnier and orange juice, a classic mixed drink combination, to create a decadent dessert appropriate for guests. You can also use triple sec, Frangelico or Amaretto. For the best result, use fresh-squeezed oranges to make the orange sauce. Connecticut Farmer and Feast is available wherever books are sold. We’re giving away a copy of Connecticut Farmer & Feast in our Facebook sweepstakes! Anyone 21 and older who lives in CT can enter the sweepstakes. Click on the Sweepstakes banner at the top of this page to enter or visit the Sweepstakes tab on our Facebook page. Click here to view upcoming book signing events, including several in Fairfield County.

Garlic scapes bundled, just as I received them in my Sport Hill Farm CSA share

Garlic scape pesto is a seasonal treat that can be easily frozen and defrosted for late summer use with tomatoes or a winter pick me up.

Garlic scapes are only available for a very short season and it’s a mistake to pass them over. The scape is the stalk of hard neck garlic and is harvested while young, curly, and flexible so it’s still edible. When the scape straightens, it becomes tough and inedible. Get them now before the season ends! Garlic scapes taste like garlic, but are much milder and add a unique flavor to stir fries, eggs, and soups. I love to buy a large quantity (or just take the plentiful ones in my CSA) and make garlic scape pesto in the food processor, substituting them for basil in a traditional pesto Genovese recipe (recipe below). I then freeze some of it for the winter as a pick me up. The pesto is great simply spread on some good bread, like the #1 artisan bread in Connecticut, The Flaxette from Fairfield Bread Company. It’s a great addition to sandwiches or tossed with pasta. Farmer Patti Popp at Sport Hill Farm in Easton, another farmer profiled in Connecticut Farmer & Feast, likes to add a spoonful or two to yogurt to makes a fresh dip.

Recipes:

Strawberry-Rhubarb Compote

This recipe requires a little time to clean, hull and slice the strawberries and chop the rhubarb. After that, it’s done in 10 minutes. The magical combination of strawberry and rhubarb is one not to miss!

Ingredients:

• 4 cups diced rhubarb , 1/4-1/2 inch dice (4 large or 6 small stalks) (remove all leaves, damaged skin and any soft parts)
• 4 cups hulled and sliced strawberries (keep whole if they’re very small) (about 3 pints)
• 1/2 cup cane sugar
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1 vanilla bean (substitute 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract)

Serves a crowd!

Preparation:

Garlic Scape Pesto

Look for CTC&G at the usual drop sites and enjoy Sustainable Connecticut magazine starting on page 49. Sustainable Connecticut cover photo of Sustainable Farmer Annie Farrell of Millstone Farm by Doreen Birdsell of Doreen Birdsell Studios Photography and Video.

A beautiful new magazine called Sustainable Connecticut has launched. This  special preview in the April issue of Connecticut Cottages & Gardens magazine (CTC&G) profiles local leaders of the sustainable food movement who are inspiring all of us to change. They are creating a wonderful ripple effect that can be felt throughout the state, and beyond. Perhaps you know some of them or they have touched your lives, or maybe even the food you eat.

Video from WTNH’s Good Morning Connecticut show introducing Sustainable Connecticut magazine on Saturday April 2 with Analiese Paik, Founder & Editor of the Fairfield Green Food Guide, and WTNH’s Steve Villanueva.

Sustainable Farmer Sustainable Connecticut magazine begins on page 49 of CTC&G with a beautiful photo of Master Farmer Annie Farrell of Millstone Farm in Wilton with one of their heritage breed hens.  Annie Farrell, the subject of the magazine’s cover story, has spent her life establishing sustainable farms and sharing her knowledge with others as a consultant. Millstone Farm was founded by Betsy and Jesse Fink and they hired Farrell to help them build “a sustainable farm whose mission it is to build a healthy local food system that enhances the natural and social environment” according to the article.

Betsy is an environmentalist and philanthropist and runs the 75-acre farm which has a small CSA and supplies the highest quality fresh produce to top farm-to-table restaurants including the Dressing Room and Le Farm in Westport, Schoolhouse at Cannondale in Wilton, the Boathouse at Saugatuck, and the Barcelona restaurant group. Millstone Farm regularly hosts teachers, students and educational events at the farm where participants can learn directly from Master Farmer Annie Farrell. If you’re a beginning gardener, don’t miss Millstone’s Backyard Workshop on April 16.

From left to right: Bill Taibe, Ryan Fibiger and seated, Alex Gunuey

Farm-to-Table Chefs & Whole Animal Butcher In the Locavore column “Staying Hungry”, I interviewed a few chefs who are leaders in the farm-to-table movement to share their latest news with readers. James Beard award-winning chef and sustainable food pioneer Michel Nischan presented at TEDxManhattan “Changing the Way We Eat” and was recently elected to Ashoka’s global fellowship of leading social entrepreneurs in more than 60 countries in recognition of his work at Wholesome Wave.

Bill Taibe, chef/owner of LeFarm restaurant in Westport and a James Beard Foundation award semifinalist for Best Chef: Northeast is finalizing his restaurant’s green certification process and is planning a second restaurant. Alex Gunuey caters farm-to-school meals at the Friends School in Wilton and started Bone A Part to provide discerning canines with gourmet, locavore dog food.

Fairfield County is welcoming two new sustainable food businesses – Mario Batali’s  Tarry Lodge Enoteca Pizzeria is due to open early summer in Westport and Ryan Fibiger, a graduate of Fleischer’s Grass-Fed and Organic Meats in Kingston, NY, will be opening a sustainable butcher shop specializing in whole animal (aka nose-to-tail) butchery soon in either Westport or Fairfield. Naturally chef Gunuey will be buying trimmings from Fibiger for his dog food, thereby ensuring that no part of the animal goes to waste.

Lettuce is an excellent early spring crop and easy to care for, just avoid too much sun in high summer advises author Bill Duesing.

In “Spring Lettuce” author and farmer Bill Duesing encourages us to plant some lettuce soon since it’s an excellent early spring crop that likes cool weather. Duesing is Executive Director of the Connecticut Chapter of the Northeast Organic Farming Association (CT NOFA) and recommends planting every 2-3 weeks so gardeners can enjoy lettuce through October. CT-NOFA is not just for farmers (I’m a member!) so please take a look at their upcoming workshops and events-one might be just right for you.

John Turenne, Founder & President of Sustainable Food Systems worked behind the scenes in Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution and is a founding member of Michelle Obama's "Chefs move to Schools" initiative, part of her "Let's Move" campaign to combat childhood obesity.

“The Great School Food Makeover” spotlights the success of The Unquowa School in Fairfield in making over their lunch menu to feature locally sourced foods from sustainable family farms. John Turenne, who helped create Yale’s sustainable dining program, left the university to found Sustainable Food Systems and took on the school as his first client. The Unquowa School has embraced Alice Waters’ edible schoolyard philosophy by not only putting in a school garden, but also by partnering with Sport Hill Farm in Easton to offer a summer farm camp that teach kids from early on where their food comes from and how to plant, cultivate and harvest it. Campers prepare a farm fresh lunch with school chef Peter Gorman on Fridays from food they picked that morning.

Pick up the magazine at the usual drop sites for CTC&G or visit the web site for a digital copy at sustainablethemagazine.com.

Enjoy the hard work of our farmers by seeking out the bounty of Connecticut Grown this spring. Foods that are special to the season like Spring parsnips, early lettuces, and fresh goat’s milk cheeses are a treat.

Displayed on the Ch. 8 set are the following CT Grown foods purchased on closing day of the Westport Winter Farmers’ Market:

• Fresh Spring goat’s milk cheese (chevre) and yogurt from Beltane Farm
• Soft ripened goat’s milk cheese from Beltane Farm called Danse de la Lune
• Cow’s milk and yogurt from Ladies of Levita Road dairy farm
• Certified Organic kale, mesclun greens (mixed salad greens), and flowering tarragon from 2 Guys from Woodbridge farm
• Certified Organic Spring parsnips, carrots, heirloom tomato sauce and bread and butter pickles from Riverbank Farm
• Certified Organic mixed baby greens and spinach from Star Light Gardens farm
• Loin lamb chops and lamb Bolognese sauce from Sankow’s Beaver Brook Farm

Please come back and let us know how you like Sustainable Connecticut magazine and what spring foods you’re enjoying now. Planting a garden? Share your garden photos with us on Facebook.

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Happy Holidays!

Looking for a special holiday gift for the gardeners, cooks and green food lovers in your life? This first installment of our Holiday 2010 Green Food Gift Guide contains 3 clever, thoughtful and fun ideas that were featured on WTNH’s Good Morning Connecticut Show on Saturday, December 6.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to be notified when the next Holiday 2010 Green Food Gift Guide post is published. New gift idea will be published each day on the Blog over the next two weeks.

For the Gardener:

Heirloom Seeds from Comstock, Ferre & Co. in Wethersfield, CT

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.

Comstock, Ferre & Co., located in historic Wethersfield, CT, is the oldest continually operating seed company in New England and is set to celebrate its 200th anniversary this summer. Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company of Missouri recently purchased Comstock, not only saving it from demolition, but also committing to restoring Comstock Ferre to its original state.

The retail and catalog heirloom seed businesses are now up and running and the 260 seed varieties being offering this year were part of the original 1820-1950 heirloom seed collection. An heirloom seed is one that is at least 50 years old and has been selected to be saved and passed down from generation to generation because it grew well and tasted good. Heirloom seeds, unlike hybrids or GMOs (genetically modified seeds) will reproduce true to the parent strain. Rewarded with the same excellent vegetable they remember from past years, gardeners would again save seeds for the next season’s planting. You can save seeds too!

Historic art work originally commissioned by Comstock from local artists will once again grace the covers of heirloom seeds packets sold by Comstock.

Many of the heirloom varieties sold by Comstock are at least a few hundred years old and trace their roots to the founding of our country. Squash and pumpkin, so-called New World varieties, are native to the Northeastern US and the seeds were originally acquired from Native Americans. Others were introduced to this country by the Pilgrims and other European immigrants, including the bulb onion (not to be confused with native wild onions).  The legendary Wethersfield Red Onion served as a major cash crop in the 1800′s and today remains “an icon and logo of Wethersfield” according to the catalog where it is sold in packets of 300 seeds.

Illustrations of vegetables from antique seed packets found in the company archives now grace the covers of heirloom seed packets and decorate the newly minted 2011 catalog, all of which are sure to become collectors’ items. To order a Comstock seed catalog, register at the Baker Creek web site and anyone in the Northeast will automatically be sent one.

Note: No catalog orders are being taken until after Christmas.

How to Purchase Comstock Heirloom Seeds:

Seed packets are available for purchase at the retail store in Wethersfield, CT, just 5 minutes south of downtown Hartford. Comstock, Ferre & Co. is located at 263 Main Street in Old Wethersfield, and is open Monday through Friday from 9-4. Phone: 860-571-6590 or visit them online at www.ComstockFerre.com (this site is under construction)

For the Cook:

A Woolly Pocket Kitchen Herb Garden

Woolly Pockets are made in the USA from recycled plastic bottles and come in a wide variety of sizes and colors.

Bring the garden indoors this winter in a Woolly Pocket Garden container so your favorite cooks have easy access to fresh culinary herbs. Made in the USA from recycled plastic bottles, Woolly Pockets make indoor gardening fun and easy because they are specially designed to keep plants moist and surfaces dry.

Woolly Pockets should be filled with good quality potting soil and healthy herb plants that will grow well indoors. Remove the guess work by heading over to Gilbertie’s Herb Gardens in Westport to talk to one of their experts. They steered me towards the Aussie basil because it grows straight up and does well indoors. Pictured here is the peacock blue Tina model from Woolly Pocket Garden’s freestanding Island line with Aussie basil, parsley, thyme, orange mint, and garlic chives from Gilbertie’s. Be sure to pick up a complimentary copy of Raising Herbs Indoors when you check out so the gift can be properly cared for.  Also, Gilbertie’s is hosting a winter farmers’ market each Thursday from 10-1 starting December 9 and will offer free gardening lectures at 11 am.

Woolly Pocket garden containers ship flat and include all the instructions you need to get a garden started. Add some soil and healthy plants to make a thoughtful and useful gift that keeps on giving.

The gift that gives again: When you make a purchase on WoollyPocket.com, they will donate a Wally One modular wall system (above) to the school of your choice to help them build their Woolly School Garden.

Bonus: When you make a purchase on WoollyPocket.com, the company will donate a Wally One modular wall system to the school of your choice to help them build their Woolly School Garden. Wally One can be hung from a door or wall to bring the vertical space to life with living art.

For the Chocolate Lover:

Organic Fair Trade & Direct Trade Chocolate

Organic Fair Trade and Direct Trade chocolate is made from the highest quality sustainably grown and harvested cacao.

Organic Fair Trade and Direct Trade chocolates make a delicious stocking stuffer that’s good for both people and planet. Organic growing practices protect and preserve fragile ecosystems and the Fair Trade Certification signifies that farmers receive fair wages and work under fair labor conditions.

Two of my favorites are Taza Chocolate and Equal Exchange.  Taza Chocolate is a Somerville, Massachusetts-based sustainable and socially conscious company which produces a line of 100% stone ground organic chocolates made in the authentic Mexican style. According to the company, Taza Chocolate purchases cacao beans through a Direct Trade Agreement that provides high quality producers “with the economic security and flexibility necessary to conserve natural resources and protect the rights of workers.” These handmade chocolates are available in bars or discs in a wide range of flavors including Salted Almond and Guajillo Chili and fit neatly into a stocking or gift basket. Children especially enjoy making Mexican hot chocolate with the discs and I recommend viewing Taza’s head chocolate maker’s “How to Make Mexican Hot Chocolate” video on the site’s recipe page. Taza Chocolate can be purchased online via the company’s web site, where shipping is free through December 15 on orders over $50, or at Walter Stewart’s Market in New Canaan, Fairfield Cheese Company in Fairfield, and Caseus in New Haven.

Equal Exchange is a leading producer of high quality organic Fair Trade coffee, tea, chocolate, cocoa, healthy snacks and bananas. Cacao beans are sourced from over 40 small sustainable farm co-operatives in Peru, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, and Panama, and then made into fine chocolate bars in Switzerland. The 65% cacao Orange Dark Chocolate is reminiscent of dark chocolate dipped orange peels and new flavors include Organic Chocolate Caramel Crunch with Sea Salt (55% Cacao) and Organic Ecuador Dark Chocolate (65% Cacao). Equal Exchange chocolates can be purchased at major retailers including Whole Foods Market and via the company’s web site.

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This Red Bee Honey gift set includes a bottle of limited harvest pumpkin blossom honey, a 100% beeswax candle and lavender lip balm (not pictured).

When was the last time you bought someone a gift of food directly from the source? Local honey lovers, and anyone interested in becoming a convert, are invited to attend a very special holiday boutique at Red Bee Apiary in Weston on December 11 and 12, 2010 from 1-4 pm.

If you’ve never tasted single nectar source honeys side-by-side to compare and contrast them, this is your chance to do so with the beekeeper herself, Marina Marchese. Once you’ve picked your favorites, choose from a wide assortment of beautifully packaged individual bottles of honey or boxed gift sets that include lavender lip balm and beeswax candles. Relax by the fireplace and enjoy the live music as your gifts are boxed up, compliments of the house.

Honeybee is Marina Marchese's captivating story of how she came to be a beekeeper and expert on honey.

For the book lovers on your list, pick up a signed copy of Marina’s “Honeybee: Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper” along with some honey, honey-based skin care products, or beeswax candles.  Carol Herman, the Books Editor at The Washington Times, named Marchese’s HONEYBEE one of the “Books We Loved” in 2009.

Marina’s transition from art director to beekeeper is being told via a beautifully produced Yahoo  Second Act video and will no doubt lead you on a delicious adventure in local honey.

Red Bee Honey is listed in the most recent edition of Patricia Brook’s “Food Lovers’ Guide to Connecticut”, a best of the best foodie guide to Connecticut.

To learn more about Red Bee Honey, visit the web site and read Lessons from a Local Beekeeper on this site.

Red Bee Honey Apiary & Gardens

77 Lyons Plain Road

Weston, CT  06883-3034

www.redbeehoney.com

Call Toll Free: 1.866.530.3022
Email: redbeehoney@gmail.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Fairfield, CT – On Thursday, April 29, 2010, at 3:35 pm, North Stratfield School (NSS) will hold a Ground Breaking Ceremony for its raised garden bed plots.  Members of the school’s Brownie and Girl Scout troops will work together to measure and dig out the grass for the two plots.  Inspired by the success of Roger Sherman and Mill Hill Elementary Schools, the NSS PTA leadership, with the support of Principal Deborah Jackson, prioritized the project of creating a school vegetable garden of its own.  NSS parents and former educators, Anika Knox and Aimee O’Brien, are the co-chairs of the Garden Committee.

The goal for the garden is to inspire students, teachers, and the North Stratfield community with a hands-on connection to the food cycle, the natural environment, and the physical benefits of gardening.  The Groundbreaking Ceremony will be the first of many activities related to the garden that will bring the school community together to achieve this goal.  Seed planting by all first graders will take place Friday morning.  On the following day, Saturday, May 1^st from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm, members of NSS Boy Scout Troop 95 will be constructing the raised garden bed frames.

Knox and O’Brien received an A.C.T. Grant of $400 from the town of Fairfield in the fall.  A.C.T. stands for Adults and Children Together.  Fairfield Green Food Guide founder and NSS parent, Analiese Paik, arranged for an additional contribution from Whole Foods Market (WFM) in Westport equaling $500 worth of in-kind donations of seeds, seedlings and healthy snacks and refreshments for the volunteers involved in the establishment of the NSS school vegetable garden.  Katie Cole from WFM will be in attendance.

“Even before Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution show came about, I was determined that my children were going to know what foods came from which plants,” stated O’Brien, a former NSS 5^th grade teacher and mother of three.  “I am proud to be a part of this exciting school community effort.”  Knox, the experienced gardener of the two, received her graduate degree in developmental psychology and worked with pre-school children in Head Start programs, finding links between gardening and positive behavior.  She added, “The possibilities for learning from the garden are endless.  We are happy to provide the garden as a resource for teachers in whatever way they may envision.”

Currently, three elementary schools and two of the middle schools have established gardens.  North Stratfield School is among a number of schools in the district that have begun plans this school year to establish vegetable gardens.

#  #  #

For more information, contact:

Aimee O’Brien, (203) 610-5090, dancinaimeeg@yahoo.com

April 11, 2010

Analiese Paik of the Fairfield Green Food Guide was interviewed by Matt Scott on News Ch. 8′s Good Morning Connecticut Show about green food for Earth Day.

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

Buy locally grown food from a farmers’ market and learn to cook with the seasons.

Michel Nischan's latest cookbook is perfect for anyone looking for inspirational ways to cook with the seasons

Best-selling author, restaurateur and Wholesome Wave Foundation founder Michel Nischan’s new cookbook, Sustainably Delicious, presents over 100 recipes for home cooks looking for delicious and nutritious ways to prepare seasonal food that is good for the environment, for animals, for farm workers, and for our tables. Michel advises us to “Eat what’s available in season, celebrate variety, respect the land and eschew waste”. His mission is to show that choosing local and sustainably grown food offers innumerable rewards, including some of the very best flavors Mother Nature has to offer. Who thought a humble parsnip could be this delicious?

Choose locally produced food from specialty or grocery stores.

The Farmer’s Cow milk is humanely-produced in Connecticut by a cooperative of six family-owned dairies and is free of artificial growth hormones (rBST). When you choose this fresh milk you support local farms, lower your carbon footprint by reducing food miles, support the local economy and ensure farmland preservation.

Choose organic where it matters most.

Download the Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides or iphone app from Environmental Working Group, familiarize yourself with the worst offenders (the Dirty Dozen), and commit to buying organic instead. Lettuce is a among the worst so choose organic from 2 Guys, a hydroponic greenhouse farm that produces year-round gorgeous vegetables for chefs, retailers and consumers. They are at many area farmers’ markets.

Choose eco-friendly wines.

Parducci Wine Cellars, America’s greenest winery, uses farming practices that result in healthier soil, balanced grapes and higher quality wines. Try their Sustainable White and Paul Dolan Vineyard’s Pinot Noir, made from organic and Biodynamic® grapes grown in certified vineyards. A vineyard that is certified biodynamic meets and typically exceeds the standards and regulations for organic certified farming. Biodynamic agriculture began in the 1920s, predating organic agriculture by 20 years.

Choose organic, fair trade chocolate, coffee and tea.

Kallari single origin, USDA organic, Rainforest Alliance certified chocolate is truly a chocolate lover’s dream and possibly the greenest chocolate available. 100% of the proceeds go to the Kichwa farmers in Ecuadorean Amazon who both grow the cacao and manufacture the chocolate. Available online and at Whole Foods Markets.

Use reusable lunch bags instead of single use plastic lunch and snack bags.

Lunch Skins are a completely food and dishwasher safe alternative to single use plastic lunch and snack bags. Use this coupon code for a 10% discount off your online purchase of Lunch Skins: FGFGED10. They’re a hit with the kids and you’ll love knowing that every time you use them, you’re avoiding throwing away a plastic bag.  LunchSkins has an attractive co-branded fundraiser program perfect for any school or organization.

Swear off bottled water.

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. I love this wide mouthed one from Thermos that lets you guzzle the water and keeps the water cold even in blistering heat.

On Friday, April 23, Audubon Greenwich is pleased to host a very special screen of  “Tapped“ an unflinching, award-winning documentary about the bottled water business. As a special bonus, Stephanie Soechtig (the Director) and Sarah Olson (the Producer) will be there to field questions from the audience. Reception at 7:00 pm / Movie at 8:00 pm. There will be a bottle exchange during the reception so bring an empty plastic water bottle (… hopefully your last) and get a brand-new steel water bottle from the film’s producers (while supplies last) Click here to RSVP.

Grow at least some of your own food.

Buy a potted herb or vegetable plants to start an edible container garden and invite your children to join in the care and harvesting. The one show here is from Moorefield Herb Garden, a vendor at the Fairfield farmers’ market at the Fairfield Theater Company. One easy and inexpensive way to grow what you love is to buy organic vegetable bouquets from Two Guys from Woodbridge at a local farmers’ market and give them a second life. After removing the edible portion of the vegetable, plant the root ball in a raised bed or container where it will produce a second harvest.

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. You call learn all about sustainable seafood in a fabulous new exhibit called Go Fish! at the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk. Pick up one of Seafood Watch’s pocket guides to take home and don’t miss the movie  in the sustainable seafood theater, sustainable seafood “cafe”,  and the tank of LI fish including cod, striped bass, Atlantic salmon and wolfish. It’s perfect for adults and children.

By Eileen Weber

Michelle McCabe, event organizer and Chair of the Fairfield PTA Council Fuel for Learning Partnership

The Food for Thought Expo took place at Fairfield Warde High School this Saturday. A good buzz of people attended the fair to hear lectures and experience what local vendors had to share. From locally made breads and honey to fresh milk and organic gourmet take-out, this showcase had it all.

As part of a series of lectures included in the event, Analiese Paik, this site’s founder, spoke for close to an hour about getting the message out about local, organically grown food. “It’s there for the taking. It’s out there,” she said.

Red Bee Honey's Marina Marchese points out that beekeepers are farmers too and they provide a critical service by ensuring that our bee populations thrive. Without them, we'd have to hand pollinate.

Paik went on to describe the opportunities consumers have at their fingertips. From CSAs to farmers’ markets to retail chains selling whole foods, there is something for everyone. The biggest joy for her, she said, is connecting the farmer to the consumer. It’s making that connection that is key to fresh food’s survival in our society.

Analiese Paik, flanked by the ladies of The Farmer's Cow, a cooperative of family-owned dairies providing fresh milk to CT consumers.

“We need to check the box on local food. Check the box on the local economy. Check the box on farmland preservation,” she said. Paik’s point was that local, organic food should be a way of life and not something we do once in a while. With obesity and juvenile diabetes rampant in this country, the very thing that makes a difference with those two epidemics is the kind of food we put in our mouths.

Nick Mancini is a Master Gardener and organic gardening and composting expert. He was a guest speaker at Food for Thought and here demonstrates vermiculture (container composting with worms).

In a recent press release about the event, Michelle McCabe, Chairperson for Fuel for Learning Partnership (FFLP), the expo’s organizer and sponsor, said the event was meant to remind us of what foods to avoid. “It seems almost daily that we hear or read stories about the foods we eat, many of them with bad news,” she said. “…the main goal is to help us better feed our families. With the help of cooking instructors, educators, and local businesses, visitors to the Food for Thought Expo will be introduced to the vast range of resources available to help us all attain that goal of healthful eating.”

Annelise McCay is a long-time advocate of better school food and founded Sherman School's organic edible schoolyard garden.

The FFLP sponsored the event as part of an on-going effort to help educate the general public about the best ways to approach nutrition, and how we can overcome the health challenges Paik mentioned in her lecture. “We’re all on a journey toward changing the way we eat,” said McCabe. “That comes with a learning curve, and our focus is to help people take ownership of their health, and the health of their children.”

Paik sees consumer interest in natural foods growing exponentially. She sees her role as providing a way for people to get to the food they should be eating. It’s also a way to keep our precious farmland preserved. “There are a thousand points of light out there and we’re connecting them,” she said. “There is hope.”

Michael Mordecai and Elizabeth Keyser serve tastings of The Flaxette, a delicious, hand-crafted baguette featuring organic ground flaxseed.

But it’s not just the farms. It’s everything that relies on the farm that provides fresh food to families. Maybe you go to food stores like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods Market. Or maybe you decide on take-out from Fairfield area hot spots like Health in a Hurry, Catch a Healthy Habit, and Green Gourmet To Go. Fairfield County’s latest farm-to-table restaurant comes in the form of a mobile brick oven caterer and Cheff Jeff had it stationed outside to serve pizza made with fresh, local toppings to the more than 600 guests that attended the event.

Glen Colello from Fairfield's organic cafe, Catch a Healthy Habit, espouses the benefits of raw food.

But there are some people who are a little apprehensive about buying shares in CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture). Frequently, farms provide an abundance of produce at some point during the season that the average consumer can’t use up in a week. To that, Paik said there are easy ways to avoid that problem. Blanching the excess and freezing it makes it easier for you to use the vegetables any time you choose. And if that doesn’t work for you, try Veggie Trader. They link people with excess produce to those who are looking for it. And if you can’t make it to a farmers’ market and don’t belong to a CSA, use CT Farm Fresh Express to get farm-fresh food to your table in one quick delivery. Of matching a farmer’s produce with the consumer, Paik said, “That’s a match made in heaven.”

John Turenne, Founder of Sustainable Food Systems, was the surprise guest of the day and stopped to visit with Cheff Jeff and his mobile, wood-fired brick oven.

While real estate is location, location, location, food has a similar concept: local, local, local. “CSAs are selling out,” said Paik. “We’ve stopped losing farmland. Smart people are running farms with a good business plan.” She said that farms are the hub, providing the raw material for the consumer, government, institutions like New Milford Hospital and their Plow to Plate initiative, retail chains, chefs, and school lunches. “It’s a jigsaw puzzle,” she said “and we are all finding ways to work together to be part of the solution.”

Paik feels we’ve reached our tipping point with the organic food movement. “We’re not waiting for our government to fix the food system. We’re doing it for them.”

Please click here for the Food for Thought Expo 2011 event post. The post below refers to last year’s event!

A celebration of local farms, stores, restaurants, local/sustainable food advocates, businesses and educators for National Nutrition Month.

Type:     Free expo with guest speakers and workshops
Date:     Saturday, March 27, 2010
Time:     10:00am – 4:00pm
Location: Fairfield Warde High School, 755 Melville Avenue, Fairfield, CT

Don’t miss this amazing, free event sponsored by Fairfield PTA Council’s Fuel for Learning Partnership Committee. Come with your family and enjoy the cooking demos, panel discussions, guest speakers, exhibitors and free tastings of fresh, local food. Lunch may be purchased from the portable, wood-fired brick oven caterer featuring locally grown foods.

Participants include:

Samantha Heller, MS, RD, CDN, author of Get Smart: Samantha Heller’s Nutrition Prescription for Boosting Brain Power and Optimizing Total Body Health.

Amie Hall, CHHC, AADP, From Your Inside Out, is host to many delicious farm lunches and part of the edible schoolyard garden team.

Health in a Hurry, an award-winning restaurant offering inspired organic, vegetarian food to go.

Catch a Healthy Habit, an organic, raw food cafe and host to many live, education events.

Fairfield Green Food Guide, your guide to local and sustainable food.

Red Bee Artisanal Honey, a Weston apiary offering honey, a full line of honey products, honey tastings and book events.

Wave Hill Breads, Wilton, handcrafted, artisan breads available at specialty stores and farmers’ markets including the indoor winter farmers’ market at the FTC.

Fairfield Bread Company, Fairfield, home of  “The Flaxette”

Chef Jeff Borofsky and his portable, wood-fired brick oven catering company featuring locally-grown food. Come hungry because Chef Jeff is catering the event.

Sport Hill Farm, an organic farm in Easton run by Patti Popp and also the site of The Unquowa School’s Summer Farm Camp. Her CSA is sold out, but you can buy just picked produce at her farm stand once the season begins.

Stone Gardens Farm, an IPM (Integrated Pest Management) farm in Shelton offering CSA shares for pick up at the farm or at Westport GVI’s Wakeman Farm in Westport

Green Gourmet to Go, a brand new, organic, vegetarian restaurant located in Black Rock.

The Farmer’s Cow, Lebanon, provider of milk, eggs, cream, cider and lemonade. Ask them about their ice cream which is coming out soon.

SPEAKER SCHEDULE

10:00 – 10:15am    Introductory remarks

10:15 – 11:15am    Growing your own Produce: Organic Backyard Gardening with Nick Mancini

11:30am – 12:30pm
Get Smart: Samantha Heller’s Nutrition Prescription for Boosting Brain Power, Samantha Heller, MS RD CDN, Registered Dietitian, Clinical Nutritionist, Exercise Physiologist

1:00 – 2:00pm
Get it Local: Finding all Your Cooking Needs in and around Fairfield County with Analiese Paik, Founder and Editor of the Fairfield Green Food Guide

2:15 – 3:15pm Panel Discussion

From Classrooms to Cafeterias: Why Public Schools are Important in the Fight Against Obesity and the Fight for Sustainable Food Systems

Marlene Schwartz, PhD, Deputy Director, Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity

Bruce Gluck, Food Services Director, New Canaan Public Schools
Michelle Flashman, Curriculum Leader and Instructor , Family and Consumer Science Department, Fairfield Public Schools

Please feel free to stop in at any time to attend the following family friendly activities! For everyone – of all ages and all stages of life! All talks, demos, and displays are designed to help build confidence in your kitchen and comfort at your table.

Location:
Barlow’s Restaurant (in the school)
10:30am Healthy Eating Choices for the Whole Family, JoAnn Koebbe

11:30am Healthy Eating Choices for the Whole Family, JoAnn Koebbe

12:30pm Cooking in the Classroom: the Fairfield Middle School Curriculum, Michelle Flashman

1:30pm Cooking in the Classroom: the Fairfield Middle School Curriculum, Michelle Flashman

3:00pm Healthy Eating Choices for the Whole Family, JoAnn Koebbe

Instructors & Classes
JoAnn Koebbe, Certified LEAN Coach & Health Counselor
Lifestyle, Exercise, Attitude, Nutrition are the key components to this interactive, FUN, lesson in making healthy eating choices. For everyone, children, parents, grandparents.

10:30 am, 11:30 am, 3:00 pm, 3 sessions, 30 minutes each

Michelle Flashman, Family & Consumer Sciences Curriculum Department Leader, Fairfield Public Schools
Discover what Fairfield middle school students are learning about food in the cooking classroom!

12:30 pm, 1:30 pm, 2 sessions, 30 minutes each

Location:
Family & Consumer Sciences Classroom

SPEAKERS & DEMOS
10:00 – 10:45am Whole Foods, Whole You — Amie Hall

10:45 – 11:00am Gluten Free and Flour Power — Amie Hall

11:00 – 11:30am Small Batch Baking and Buying local breads — Michael Mordecai

11:30 – 11:45am Whole Foods, Whole You — Amie Hall

11:45am – 12:45pm Food Scientists! — Valerie Wilke

1:00 – 2:15pm An Introduction to Health Supportive Cuisine – Sue Cadwell

2:15 – 3:15pm Lunch Box Fun and Co-op Bulk Buying – Valerie Wilke

3:15 – 4:00pm    Re-thinking the School Lunch Menu – Bruce Gluck and Amie Hall

Instructors & Classes
Amie Guyette Hall, Health Counselor and Cooking Coach, From Your Inside Out

Whole Foods, Whole You! We all know we should eat better food. This workshop helps us understand WHY. Kick off the day’s events with this helpful way of understanding the food mood and chronic condition connection that we are all trying to conquer. Insightful, eye opening.

10:00 am – 10:45 am, 11:30 – 11:45am

Gluten Free & Flour Power. A supportive introduction to alternative flour and pantry products.
10:45 am – 11:00 am

Michael Mordecai, Fairfield Bread Company, Bread Baker
Learn about small batch baking and buying local. Bread is the staff of life, and Michael shares
11:00 am – 11:30 am

Valerie Wilke, Chef, Blood Root Restaurant
Food Scientists!
Become the food scientist that you and your children want to be! Find encouragement and discover fun, fabulous ideas of how to experiment around the rainbow!
11:45 am – 12:45 pm

Lunch Box and Co-op Bulk Buying
2:15 – 3:15pm

Sue Cadwell, Owner, Health in a Hurry
An Intro to Health Supportive Cuisine. Easy recipes & food samples. Grains, Greens and Soy.
1:00 pm – 2:15 pm

Bruce Gluck, chef and Food Services Director in the New Canaan Public Schools
Rethinking the School Lunch Menu
3:15 pm – 4 pm

SELF GUIDED KITCHEN TOUR
Visit 5 interactive family friendly stations that will expand your food knowledge and build comfort in your kitchen.
Topics include Glorious Greens, Great Grains, The Mighty Bean, Flour Power, and Power Tools!
10:00 am – 4:00 pm

RSVP for this event on my Facebook page

Sunday, March 14, 2010, 7:45 am

Analiese Paik of the Fairfield Green Food Guide discussed sustainable seafood with Matt Scott on Ch. 8′s Good Morning Connecticut Show

Click here to view the video  and post comments.

Why Sustainable Seafood?

Nearly 75% of the world’s fisheries are fished to capacity, or overfished. Our seafood choices have a direct impact on the health of our oceans. I recently became an advocate for Seafood Watch, a program of the Monterey Bay Aquarium that helps consumers and businesses choose seafood that is fished or farmed in ways that don’t harm the environment or deplete stocks.  Their sustainable seafood recommendations come in handy pocket guides and mobile applications that indicate which seafood items are “Best Choices,” “Good Alternatives,” and which ones you should “Avoid.” These can be downloaded from their site, seafoodwatch.org.

Print and carry Seafood Watch's pocket guide to help you choose seafood that doesn't harm the environment or deplete stocks.

The Case for US Shrimp

Imported  wild shrimp is on the “avoid” list at Seafood Watch because shrimp trawl nets accidentally catch and kill more than 1.8 mm tons of marine life worldwide each year. Farmed shrimp is also on the “avoid” list because shrimp farms have destroyed millions of acres of coastal habitat worldwide. What shrimp should we eat? Seafood Watch recommends US shrimp instead because it is caught under tighter US environmental standards. Luckily we are close to Maine and can enjoy the Maine shrimp season, which is nearing its end.

A Seasonal Delicacy

Maine shrimp, a local and sustainable seasonal delicacy, is available at the Norwalk Indoor Farmers' Market from Pemaquid Lobster & Seafood

The supply of Northern or pink shrimp from the Gulf of Maine is so bountiful this year that the Maine State Department of Marine Resources has extended the season to May 1. I bought these yesterday from Pemaquid Seafood, a vendor at the Norwalk Indoor Winter Farmers’ Market at 61 Wall Street, and cooked them briefly in salted boiling water until they turned an opaque pink and the tails curled up. Aren’t they delicious? So sweet and flavorful and available with the head and tail on for maximum flavor, headless, or already peeled. All you need is some bread and a salad from these winter markets and you’ve got a local feast. Availability is subject to Wednesday’s catch so check this website for updates on the catch of the week. www.pemaquidlobster.com. Pemaquid is also in Naugatuck on Fridays at 786 Rubber Ave from 9:30am-5pm. Don’t forget to bring a cooler with ice.

Shop from Retailers Dedicated to Preserving Ocean Health

Target and Whole Foods Market are two retailers who sell sustainable seafood based in part on guidance from the Seafood Watch program. Target has eliminated all farmed salmon from its stores, citing guidance from the Seafood Watch program. This is a huge development from a major retailer, and it means that no farmed salmon will be sold as fresh, frozen or shelf items in any of its more than 1,700 popular stores. Most salmon are farmed in open net pens, and waste from these farms is released directly into the oceans, polluting waters and spreading disease. Seafood watch recommends wild -caught salmon or Artic char instead.

Whole Foods Markets was one of the first American companies to join the Marine Stewardship Council in 1999, a group committed to working together towards the common goal of rebuilding declining seafood populations. In keeping with Whole Foods Market’s continuous efforts towards having fully sustainable seafood for its customers nationwide, they began working with the Seafood Watch and the Blue Ocean Institute to offer consumers a new, progressive Wild-Caught Seafood Ranking System.

Equally importantly, they source their clams, oysters and lobsters from Westport Aquaculture, a 5th generation family-owned shellfish business with over 600 acres of beds in the Western Long Island Sound. You may have heard the term “stewards of the land” in reference to farmers who take good care of the land, well Captain Jeff Northrop in association with Norm Bloom & Sons and Tim Pramer are “Stewards of the Beds”. Instead of carting away the oceans, they are only harvesting what they sow. They seed the beds with baby clams and oysters they purchase, grow them to the size of a quarter in an upweller (ocean incubation tank), and then plant them in their beds to grow and spawn naturally. When they are mature, they are harvested using turn-of-the century refurbished boats in Norwalk and Westport.

Westport Aquaculture sells their catch to Whole Foods Markets in CT and NY plus high-end restaurants looking for super-fresh, sustainable seafood like The Dressing Room in Westport, Match restaurant in Norwalk, La Villa in Westport and Blue Hill and Stone Barns in New York. This is an excellent source for year-round local and sustainable shellfish. Lobsters are caught in traps by the two remaining lobster fishermen in Fairfield County and must adhere to very strict size restrictions. The catch is highly regulated and there is a healthy supply of lobsters . Visit Westport Aquaculture at the Westport and Ridgefield Summer Farmers’ Markets or online at www. Westportaquaculture.com. (Editors Note: The site is temporarily down while undergoing renovation.)