Picking Local Organic Strawberries and Why!!!

The beauty of local-organic produce!

Hello everyone. I have a lot of catching up to do on this blog. Expect updates probably more than once a week for the next 3-5 weeks because I have a plethora of blogs floating around in my head not-so-patiently waiting to be released to the virtual world.

This blog is about local, organic strawberries and my adventure picking them here in Central New York. On Tuesday, June 15, my brother Shawn and his adorable 4-year old son Blaze and a few of our friends headed out to Cobblestone Valley Farm to pick strawberries after work.

When we arrived at Cobblestone Valley Farm, there were several other pickers of all ages; a neat sight to see! We had our buckets weighed and were ready to go. The first two rows of about 10 rows in total were ready to be picked. I hadn’t been strawberry picking since I was a kid and I never remember it being so much work. I very well could have been more of a strawberry-pointer-outer like Blaze as opposed to a strawberry picker. We picked for an hour and a half straight leaving my hands all scratched up and my back achin’ from hunching over. Let me tell you, I admire those who do this for a job. I can not imagine doing this all day long; it saddens me that so many farm workers in the United States get paid such low wages for this intensive work and for those who work on non-organic farms, they have a major health risk with pesticide exposure. A great organization that promotes social justice for farm workers is located here.

At any rate, I did end up with four pounds of strawberries for only $10---what a deal and I was ecstatic about the fact that they were organic. I will only eat strawberries if they are organic; if they are not organic, chances are that they are extremely contaminated with pesticides. The Environmental Working Group ranks strawberries as one of the dirty dozen, which you should always buy organic. Print out the shoppers guide to pesticides in produce here.

I will be enjoying these strawberries for weeks in my smoothies!

The strawberries I picked were so delicious. Brent and I enjoyed some fresh and froze a bunch. Our smoothies have never been so delicious! Thank you Cobblestone Valley Farm! If you live in Central New York and want local, organic strawberries---give them a call (607-749-4032) and see if they still have strawberries available. Their website says they may have them available through July 4^th

No matter where you live, visit pickyourown.org to find berry picking farms near you! In the Northeast United States, the next available berries will be blueberries (July-August). Have fun! When you go local, you are supporting farmers right in your own community; it doesn't get much better than that.

June 5th Farmers Market Trip

I can’t imagine changing my Saturday morning routine; honestly, it is the highlight of my week. I wake up at the break of dawn (who knew a night owl like me could acclimate to such a schedule?). I go to my triathlon practice. After that, on my way home, I stop at the Central New York Regional Farmer’s Market. Parking is a %$&^* at this hour, but it’s worth it. I bring a couple of my shopping tote bags and I load up. For the longest time, I only bought my produce at farmers markets; I thought I couldn’t afford paying an extra buck for each dozen of eggs and I didn’t even want to investigate meat prices. The truth of the matter is that my food budget has not increased and I feel healthier than ever.

And I’m supporting local farms---how can I NOT feel good about that? Here’s what I bought this past Saturday:

A pint of strawberries - $4 (SO DELICIOUS)

A HUGE bunch of spinach $5 (think 2-3 of those bags you buy at the grocery store)

A bunch of organic asparagus $3

A pint of snow peas $2

1.5 pounds of wild-caught Washington State salmon - $13.75

(I’ll elaborate below—the BEST!)

Pint of local vanilla yogurt from grass-fed cows $4.25

(not much more than Stonyfield Farms)

Two dozen of free-range eggs $5 (yummy omlettes)

A total of six basil plants for my garden $7 (hope I can make lots of pesto this year)

Garlic-lemon chevre $5 (my favorite EVER--a huge log of it)

3 small organic zucchinis $1 (what a deal—I should have bought more)

The total = exactly $50

I purchased all of that food for what it generally costs for Brent and I to have a meal out. And this food covers probably close to 80 % of our food for the week. Brent made a phenomenal grilled salmon pictured here. Strawberries with my homemade granola and yogurt is sensational. I made a yogurt-mustard sauce for the asparagus. We used the spinach in this spinach, black-eyed pea and wild rice vegetarian dish that we love so much. Eating this way is SO SO SO fun. Thank you CNY farmers!!!

Pictured below: Photo 1 = grilled salmon marinated in cilantro, mango juice, lime juice, olive oil, splash of rice vinegar, ginger, and cumin. Photo 2 = glorious strawberries in the nude!

Book Review: FOOD RULES: AN EATER'S MANUAL By Michael Pollan

I am so happy that Michael Pollan wrote Food Rules. If you have read my review of The Omnivore's Dilemma, you know that I found it to be quite thought-provoking and brilliantly written. Sadly, I have many clients who just can not dedicate time toward reading something so "dense." Food Rules is an awesome solution for those people. It is a wee 140 pages comprised of 64 rules and some pages have no more than 15 words on them! I swear!

Pollan's introduction is the only portion of the book that requires sit-down time. It's about 11 pages. Here, he sets the premise for the rules based on two truths.

FACT 1: Because of packaged foods, lots of meat, lots of sugar, and lots of refined flours (the main components of the Western diet) along with very little vegetables and fruit, populations who eat a Western Diet invariably suffer from Western disease including by not limited to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and even cancer.

FACT 2: Populations eating an extraordinarily wide range of traditional diets don't suffer from these diseases.

All of the rules throughout this book are fairly-easy-to-implement things to remember as far as what you should and shouldn't eat in order to get back to basics and achieve a healthier lifestyle.

Some rules I particularly like are:

Rule 19: If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don't.

Rule 27: Eat animals that have eaten well. Animals that have access to green plants (grass) are much healthier--as it turns out, so are their meat and eggs!

Rule 39: Eat all the junk food you want, as long as you cook it yourself! I've lived by this rule for years and as it turns out, I'm rarely in the mood to cook junk food b/c I've come to love healthy food so much!

Rule 51: Spend as much time enjoying the meal as it took to prepare it. Slow down my friends! Savor it!

All and all, this book is a quick, informative read for beginners on the journey to sustainable eating and it serves many great reminders for those who have been on the journey for many years!

Thank you Michael for getting this news out there!!!