Ten Tips for Better Bread

I found a terrific blog recently that I think you will all enjoy called Farmgirl Fare. Susan writes about her experiences as an organic farmer and artisan baker in Missouri. The photography is lovely and the writing is about Slow Food at its best.

In particular, I recommend that you read her article, Ten Tips for Better Bread. If you're a baker, you'll love it. If you appreciate what bakers do, you'll love it. If you don't bake bread, you'll want to start! I haven't tried to knead bread in years because of my tendinitis, but I think I might try it again this coming weekend.

naturally and humanely raised meat

Richard the Pig hangs out with his buds at Goat Lady Dairy farm

All right. I did it. I bought some baby back ribs this morning from Back Woods Farms at the Greensboro Farmer's Curb Market. Wes Peterson changed the name of his business to avoid confusion with a Peterson who is selling conventionally raised meat at the Piedmont Triad Farmer's Market at Sandy Ridge Road.

To understand the significance of this, you should know that I have boycotted pork since around 1996. I am enormously concerned about the effects of huge industrial hog farms on our state's environment and quality of life. Plus, I had a mind-meld with a pig on a truck in which he was in a complete panic. I won't tell you what he told me. It was a private thing just between us, and can't be articulated in human words anyway.

In the past year, as I have become aware of the changing conditions of our food supply, and the importance of buying locally on the economy and the environment, I have finally come to this conclusion. I am going to support the small farmers who make an effort to provide us with healthy, humanely produced meat, poultry, egg, and dairy products. As much as I would like to become a vegetarian, it is not going to happen any time soon. And if I can eat something that used to breathe, what's the difference between eating seafood and beef? Or pork? Or chicken? As long as these animals are raised in a pleasant environment in natural conditions and taken care of, they are better off than in the wild. My reasoning was that we'd be better off without pigs altogether than for them to be raised in horrible conditions. I still believe that is true, but it is not a practical solution. It won't happen. But we do have choices now.

Until recently, you couldn't get humanely farm-raised pork with no antibiotics or growth hormones unless you were buddies with a small farmer who raised his own. Now, with large companies like Niman Ranch and small farmers like Wes Peterson getting into the game, you can. It's a different market these days. More and more consumers are demanding meat products that aren't raised in filthy, disgusting conditions. You can also buy chicken, beef, turkey, and lamb. Deep Roots Market and Earth Fare carry organic, free-range, and antibiotic/hormone-free meats if you can't make it to the farmers' markets.

Now, I don't know if I'll be able to make myself eat these ribs. I've conditioned my mind against it for about nine years now, and you can convince yourself of anything if you work hard enough at it. My brain says, don't eat a pig. It's an intelligent creature whose only purpose in life is to suffer for our gain. But Wes is doing us, and pigs, a service here, and if I don't eat these, my husband will be happy to have them all to himself.

I highly recommend that everyone watch The Meatrix. What will it be for you, the red pill or the blue pill? The video starts up when you open the page.

4th Annual Farmers Appreciation Day

Slow Foodies,

Mark your calendars, it's just around the corner!!

4th Annual Farmers Appreciation Day
Greensboro Farmers' Curb Market
Saturday Sept. 10, 2005

The market opens at 6:00 AM with a free breakfast of locally raised foods being served at 7:00 AM. Take some time this morning to hang out with others that love our farmers as well as the market. There will be information booths, live music and great fellowship!

We still need volunteers to help out. Call or email me for more information, Donna Myers 273-4371.

And don't forget, bring a friend!!

Donna Myers
EpiCourier

garden macaroni and cheese

My garden is a little behind the times - while others are harvesting tomatoes, peppers, corn and eggplants, I'm still harvesting broccoli! In this recipe, you can use whatever you have on hand from your garden or the farmers' market. Corn, mushrooms, and zucchini would all be good.

First, this note: please understand that since I can't follow a recipe, my own recipes often contain a certain amount of guesswork. For example, I buy my macaroni in bulk, so for this dish, I cooked twice as much macaroni as I thought I needed, used enough of it in the recipe to fill up the casserole dish, and the rest went into the fridge for another dish. Such is life in my kitchen. If you make this and think that it needs a little more or less whatever, it probably does!

3-4 c. cooked macaroni
3 T. butter
1 T. flour
1 c. milk
1 c. extra-sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 c grated Parmesan
1/2 t. paprika
1/2 t. salt
black pepper to taste
About 3 c. finely chopped vegetables - I used:
2 c. broccoli
1/4 c. green pepper
1/4 c. carrots
1/2 c. onion
4 large leaves of basil, chopped
a stalk's worth of parsley leaves, chopped

Preheat the oven to 375.

In a saucepan over low heat, melt 2 T. butter. Mix in 1 T. flour until smooth, and cook for a minute. Mix in the milk until smooth, and bring it up to boiling slowly, stirring often. Add the cheese and seasonings, saving some cheese for the top. Take it off the heat.

In a skillet, saute the chopped veggies and herbs in the remaining 1 T. butter for about 5 minutes, until bright and crunchy. Mix in the macaroni. Put the combination macaroni and vegetables into a buttered casserole dish. Pour the cheese sauce over it and mix it all thoroughly. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes.

Here's a little tip: if you buy butter or margarine in sticks, save the wrappers to grease pans and casseroles. These work especially well for muffin pans.

Local Foods Dinner Supports Piedmont Land Conservancy

Forever These Flavors…a dinner event to celebrate over 11,000 acres of special places protected by Piedmont Land Conservancy. Come celebrate the intersection of the missions of the Piedmont Land Conservancy and Quaintance-Weaver Restaurants by attending a dinner of North Carolina foods, Piedmont-brewed beer and Yadkin Valley wines. Quaintance-Weaver buys over half of its produce from local sources and Piedmont Land Conservancy protects working farms so more farmers can keep their land in production.

The event will be held the evening of Sunday, August 28th at 6:00pm at the O. Henry Hotel and will feature a wine and beer reception followed by a three-course meal, remarks and dessert. The cost of $125 per couple will support PLC’s farm land protection efforts. Guests will choose in advance from a list of three entrées – Carolina Mountain Trout, Niman Ranch™ Spare Ribs, and Vegetarian Strata. Please call PLC at 336-691-0088 for more information or to reserve a spot (space is limited).

Lynne Dardanell
Piedmont Land Conservancy

Local Harvest Dinner

August 25, 2005 (Thursday)
Local Harvest Dinner
6:30 p.m.
Tickets $100 per person
Advanced Reservations and Payment Required
Carolina Farm Stewardship Association invites you to the first Local Harvest Dinner. Celebrating sustainability in the field and on your table.

Come enjoy a splendid 5-course meal prepared by local chefs using the freshest of local ingredients served on location at Hickory Nut Gap Farm in Fairview, NC. This event will be one to be savored and remembered. Be a part of it!

Featured Chefs: Hector Diaz of Salsa, Laurey Masterton of Laurey’s Catering and Gourmet-to-go, Mark Rosenstein of the The Market Place, John Stehling of Early Girl Eatery, Anne Everitt formerly of Elaines on Franklin and Lantern.

All proceeds to benefit the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, a non-profit organization dedicated to the support and expansion of local and organic agriculture in the Carolinas.

Please RSVP by contacting the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association at (919) 542-2402 or cfsa@carolinafarmstewards.org. If emailing, please include your name, address, number in your party, vegetarian meals if requested, and a phone number where we can reach you during the day.

Symposium Cancelled, More Events Planned

As you know we have been working hard to plan our Slow Food Symposium on Oct. 1st. Please note the Symposium steering committee has decided to cancel this event this year. We will analyze and redesign it and offer a new and improved version in the future. We did not get enough early registrations to warrant going ahead with the original plan. But we think we have some ideas how to make it better and more attractive to a wider audience in the future. In the meantime we have already had some great Slow Food events and our chapter leaders have many more in the works. Watch for news of fall and winter events.

Mark your calendars now for these two: Saturday, September 10 FARM FEST at Rising Meadow Farm (see www.risingmeadowfarm.com) an all day event ($5 per person) with demonstrations, food, artisans and music. And Sunday, October 9 GOAT LADY DAIRY Fall Open House, 1 to 5 pm. Free. Both events are great fun and educational for the whole family.

Steve Tate
GOAT LADY DAIRY

Goat Lady Dairy wins 1st Place for raw milk Gouda

Slow Food Friends,

Thought you would enjoy celebrating some great news with us. Last week
my sister Ginnie (the Goat Lady) and our cheese-maker associate, Carrie
Bradds attended the American Cheese Society meeting in Louisville, KY.
A part of this annual event is a national cheese competition. This year
over 120 cheese-makers from all over N. America entered 749 cheeses. We
are thrilled to announce that Goat Lady Dairy won a 1st place in the
American Made: International Style category for our Goat Lady Gouda, a 3
month aged raw milk cheese we make in 6 to 8 lb wheels.

Hand made, traditional raw milk cheeses have become an important part of
the emerging local food revival across the country. We are proud to be
a part of this important change.

Take care,

Steve
Goat Lady Dairy

Montessori Produce Market Today 10 am to noon!

According to the News and Record this morning, Greensboro Montessori School is having their "fifth annual 'Montessori Market' today. Proceeds from the sale of produce grown in the school's gardens will buy school supplies for underprivileged students in Guilford County. The sale will be from 10 am to noon at the school, which is on Horse Pen Creek Road in Greensboro."

Edible Schoolyards in action!

Biofuels Presentation

A couple of weeks ago the Kathleen Clay Edwards Library branch hosted an informative lecture on the use of biofuel to power personal and professional vehicles.

One of the presenters, Andrew McMahan, has provided a copy of his discussion slides so that members unable to attend can review at their convenience. He did a great job putting them together and they are a quick study guide on the topic.

They are formatted into slides in a word document so won't work well for the Slow Food web site, however, I would be happy to email them to anyone interested. Email me directly at lrchilds2002@yahoo.com if you'd like the file. No special software is needed to view, they open in any version of Word.

Master Gardeners Demonstration Site Photos

Master Gardeners Demonstration Site

Today I visited the Legacy Demonstration Gardens behind the Guilford County Cooperative Extension offices. They are located on Old Burlington Rd., near the intersection of East Bessemer. The gardens are beautiful and include many examples planting techniques. There is over an acre of plants, shrubs, trees and pathways.
The site even includes an apiary. Adjacent to the gardens is the Community Gardening Project which allows individuals to lease space for plantings. 10% of the plantings go to programs that help feed the hungry. The link to the web site featuring all cooperative extension programs is http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/guilford/garden/-mg.shtml

These gardens are worth a visit. Here is the link to the photo album: http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=13lvek2v.bndwu8ab&Uy=-um37xp&Ux=0

Recipes galore

Ben Hwang of Lux.Et.Umbra sent us a recipe database that he's been working on, and he invites everyone to contribute to it. He's got a few in there already that look pretty tasty. Ben says that the BBQ Meat Loaf is his favorite. It's pretty cool - check it out!

Plus, Donna at Epicourier is always looking for recipes to add to her list. Click on Recipes at the right.

We'll eventually add a recipe section to our blog and/or web site. It's coming...probably around the same time we put up the Local Food Guide information. If you'd like to contribute a recipe that uses local, sustainably produced food, or relates to Slow Food in some way, please email Laurie at lponeillATslowfoodpiedmont.org. (Substitute @ for AT when you email.)

Students Flock to Campus Organic Farms

Great article about connecting universities with local farms:
Why not UNCG?!

Students flock to campus organic farms


Miranda Roberts

Chinese Vermicelli

Chinese Vermicelli

1/4 cup sesame oil

1/4 black soy sauce (must be black-it is much thicker than regular soy sauce)

2 Tablespoons sugar

2 Tablespoons hot chili oil

2 Tablespoons black vinegar

1 pound vermicelli (I used rice vermicelli for the pot luck)

1/2 cup toasted sasame seeds

1 cup green onions, thinly slices on the diagonal, for garnish

In a large bowl, whisk together sesame oil, soy sauce, sugar, chili oil, and vinegar.

Cook vermicelli in boiling water until barely tender. Drain, rinse with cold water, and drain again. With your hands, immediately toss the pasta with dressing, making sure pasta is completely and evenly coated. Add sesame seeds and continue folding the dressing through the pasta, literally "wiping" the bowl with the vermicelli. Remove to a shallow dish, top with green onions, and serve at room temperature.

For the pot luck, I topped with additional toasted sesame seeds and black caraway seeds.

You can use your imagination by adding some color to the border of the plate with carrots, grape tomatoes, parsley, etc.

This dish can be made up to two days in advance, but add the green onions only shortly before serving.

Beatrice Schall

Farmers' Appreciation Day 2005

Slow Food Enthusiast,

I am very excited about the upcoming 4th Annual Farmers Appreciation Day to be held Saturday September 10, 2005 at the Greensboro Farmers' Curb Market. Although most of us celebrate farmers appreciation day everyday, this day has been set aside to let our local farmers know how much we appreciate all that they do for us, our families, our community and the world.

As in the past our farmers will enjoy a breakfast of locally produced food that includes Neese's Country Sausage, grits from the Old Mill of Guilford, fresh baked biscuits from Simple Kneads Bakery, and country ham from Phillips Brothers Country Ham. Alex Amorosa from Cheesecake's By Alex has agreed to prepare the breakfast this year that will include other menu items such as sausage gravy, red-eye gravy, and fried potatoes. And no breakfast would be complete without a good cup of coffee donated by Carolina Coffee & Tea. Later in the day our farmers can grab a quick lunch of homemade pimento cheese sandwiches made by David Wright of Real Catering. And though this is a celebration of our farmers we don't plan on keeping all of this good food a secret. Market patrons will also be able to enjoy the festivities. Farmers Appreciation Day will be held out on the lawn where everyone can have breakfast, listen to live music, and talk with local organizations that support our farmers, healthy eathing, and a heathy community.

I am also excited that the Slow Food Piedmont Triad convivium will be present for Farmers Appreciation Day. There as been a lot of great energy since the convivium was started and Farmers Appreciation Day will be a fabulous avenue to share with others our common goal.

We could use your help in other areas as well. If you are or know of local musicians of the folk and bluegrass genre that would like to donate their talents that day we would greatly appreciate their participation. Musicians may sell their cd's or tapes and will also receive a complimentary breakfast.

Other areas of participation as well as contact information are located on the EpiCourier website.

I hope that you'll mark your calendar and bring your friends to the 4th Annual Famers' Appreciation Day!

See you at the market!
Donna Myers

A Fast Slow Lunch

It was a very warm muggy morning at the Greensboro Farmers' Curb Market. Fortunately the July weather also brings us delicious vegetables and fruits that require little or no cooking!

My husband and I prepared the following lunch, all from local farmers and food artisans, organic when possible.

Blue cheese/leek tart (from Nora Glanz)

Corn on the cob (from unknown farmer at GFCM)

Sliced tomatoes (from farmer who parks a produce truck at UNCG on the honor system)

Boursin cheese (from Goat Lady Dairy)

French bread (from Simple Kneads)

Shredded basil (from my garden)

We warmed up the tart for a few minutes in the oven and boiled the corn. That took care of all the cooking.

We spread the soft goat cheese on bread slices, sprinkled them with shredded basil and topped them with sliced tomatoes. I also tried a little goat cheese and basil on the corn. Yum!

This lunch might have been fast and easy to prepare, but we savored it slo-o-owly.

See, you don't have to sweat for slow food! But the farmers do, so please remember their hard work the next time that you're at the market.

High Country Farm & Garden Tour

From the CFSA mailing list:

High Country Farm & Garden Tour

July 23 & 24th 1 – 5 PM

Whether you are coming from out of town for a blissful retreat to the High Country or a native of the area celebrating summer with your local farmers, the High Country Farm and Garden Tour is the event for you! Visit 9 farms on July 23rd and 24th and see apple orchards, an apiary, 20 different varieties of garlic, and so much more! You’ll get great ideas for your own gardens and your kids will thoroughly enjoy seeing barnyard animals roaming happily on pastures! It’s an event that no one should miss!

Make a vacation out of it if you are coming from out of town. There are so many peaceful places to stay and fabulous restaurants where you can dine, just check out http://visitboonenc.com/ or http://www.blowingrock.com/ for ideas! If you have never been to the High Country, you don’t know what you are missing!

Volunteer! By volunteering at one farm on either Saturday or Sunday of the tour, you can take the tour the other day for free! Volunteers are needed to help greet visitors and collect money at each farm – what a great way to get to know a local farmer too! Just contact Siri McDonald for more details and to get signed up: 828-265-3278 or sirimcdonald @ yahoo. com.

This is your last chance to enjoy a farm tour this year:

WHEN: Saturday and Sunday, July 23 & 24, 1 – 5 PM

WHERE: 9 Farms in beautiful Watauga County - Just pick up a map at a Boone area store or the Watauga Extension Office (828)264-3061, download one from the CFSA website: www.carolinafarmstewards.org, or call (919) 542-2402 and we’ll mail you one! Then you can choose which farm you’ll visit first and plan your weekend!

COST: $5 per car per farm - OR $20 per car for all 9 farms – buy an admission button at the first farm you visit - OR $15 in advance – buy your button from the Watauga County Farmers Market the next two Saturdays to receive a $5 discount to take the whole tour!

• Visit 9 Watauga County farms!
  
• Breathe the fresh High Country air!
  
• Celebrate summer’s bounty of fruits, vegetables and honey!
  
• Support your local and organic farmers!
  
• Support the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association!
  

See Things Made

Charlie and I have realized we have several YEARS of programming ideas based on “See Things Made” i.e. demonstrations of local food production. A beginning list includes: molasses (we can go to HartRich Farm, a farm north of Winston – Salem that makes Molasses with horses!), apple butter (our family makes apple butter every fall outside over the fire in a big copper kettle), cider making, vegetable canning (tomatoes, etc.), fruit canning (peaches, etc.) winemaking, hoophouse vegetable growing, grass fed meats (beef, pork, poultry, etc.)

We need to figure out a way we can take our “show” on the road to farms that do not have the public facilities like we have here at Goat Lady Dairy. Perhaps we could go out in a bus (solving the parking problem and saving fossil fuels and having a fellowship time on the ride out to the farm), taking our pot-luck with us, maybe even a tent we could set up at each farm, or more simply take blankets for a pot-luck picnic. This allows the farmer to focus only on the demonstration. We realized after Sunday that a much easier way to do the potluck would be to have everyone bring their own plates, cutlery, cups etc. and then take it home to wash. This solves the dishwashing problem without creating massive paper waste for the landfill!

If we do something like this, we could have a photographer document the demo to add to our “See Things Made” section on the website. We have already planned to turn our cheesemaking slideshow into a stand alone presentation with captions. It IS amazing what can be done with digital cameras and photo software! I’m sure offering this on the web-site would generate lots of interest in future farm visits for demonstrations. To me this is among the best Slow Food activities we can offer because we bring ‘eaters” out to the farmers and make it easy for the farmer to share their craft and philosophy. This is the kind of interaction which inspires slow food loving urban folks to really care about their local farms!

Steve
Goat Lady Dairy

The Splendid Table

The link below is a GREAT resource for food. It is for THE SPLENDID TABLE, a public radio show that comes on 91.5 FM WUNC at noon on Sundays (or check your local station schedule) On the home page you can sign up for the “Weeknight Kitchen” and Lynn send you a FREE recipe each week based on great SLOW ingredients but designed for weekday use when you don’t have a lot of time to cook!

http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/

Steve
Goat Lady Dairy

Potluck at Goat Lady Dairy- Recipe Request

Hello all. The potluck food was so good! Thanks Goat Lady Dairy for hosting and Steve for giving such a great presentation.

The variety of foods was wonderful, and I'd love to be able to recreate some of dishes. Anyone willing to share the recipe for the dish they brought? And maybe a couple of notes about any key SlowFood ingredients?

Here's ours: We brought fresh picked blueberries from Honey Sweet Farm in Reidsville, and hot sausage from Phillips Brothers in Asheboro (purchased from Donna Myers of EpiCourier at her booth at the farm market).

Thanks much!