I have Converted...to a Container Gardener

If you told me last summer that I’d be growing a container garden of tomatoes, green peppers, zucchini, mint, parsley, basil, cilantro, sage, lavender, thyme, tarragon, rosemary, and chives, I’d laugh hysterically. I do not have a green thumb at all. But, I’m attempting to develop one. This summer, I grew all of the above. Some of my growing was successful; some was not. For those items that were not successful, I’m learning what to do next year and I’m eager for the challenge. I’m open to ANY suggestions on how I can transform this thumb of mine into a bright-and-shining shade of green.

My Outdoor Garden:

Tragedy # 1: I was way too enthusiastic! I planted my bell peppers, tomatoes, and a variety of herbs the second week in May. We had two frosts in May. During the first one, Brent and I carried the plants indoors. YIKES! What a workout. During the second frost, we were away, which resulted in the deaths of my pepper plants, parsley, and cilantro.

Tragedy # 2: Mr. Groundhog. He had quite the obsession with my zucchini flowers. I sprinkled my dog’s fur around our plants, put up ugly windmills to frighten him, sprayed vinegar, etc. I didn’t ever see him again, but my zucchini never did grow (I should probably mention they were free as part of the Finger Lakes Wine + Herb Tour…I’ll decline the plants next time).

Tragedy # 3:

Not enough drainage. I was intelligent and drilled holes in all my plant pots...and lined the bottom with pebbles for helpful drainage…except Brent did not properly drill holes in my plum tomato pot…I got three lone tomatoes from that plant!

Tragedy # 4:

Beatles! They’re back and they’re big and gross! They love my basil. Oddly, they would go through phases; one week they’d munch away, the next week they wouldn’t. I was still able to make tons of pesto, so this was the mildest of tragedies.

Okay, on a positive note, I did get over a dozen yummy tomatoes, plenty of parsley, a lot of basil, and a decent amount of mint.

My Indoor Garden:

My little herb box contained chives, thyme, tarragon, mint, and sage. I have a separate lavender plant and a separate rosemary plant. All get plenty of drainage and sunlight. I think I didn’t tug enough at the roots of my chives, tarragon, or thyme seedlings before planting them because they didn’t live very long.

What I love about indoor herb gardens is that I can attempt to grow all year long! I better re-pot my lavender soon too because it is outgrowing its pot!

All in all, a positive experience. And few things are as therapeutic as digging in dirt, especially after a long day at work!

Sadie's fur and this flower windmill did seem to scare the groundhog away!

My window herb box looked so lovely until the chives and tarragon kicked the bucket!

I suspect that this gigantic beetle ate my basil. Here, he/she's munching on our grape vine!

Isn't this tomato a beauty? I'm so psyched that I grew this!

You Ain't Gonna Find a Cucumber Like This at Whole Foods

I remember when I first discovered Whole Foods; it was the summer of 1999, a few years before I began my adventure into holistic nutrition counseling. I was in complete awe of the fruit and vegetable arrangements; the beauty of the peppers in orange, red, yellow, and green stacked to perfection astounded me. I had a friend who lived near Whole Foods and was completely irritated to learn that she couldn’t get Crisco there; I thought the concept was kind of cool and that was before I even learned that Crisco was nothing more than trans fat grossness!

So at first, I thought Whole Foods was pretty darn awesome even though it didn’t quite welcome those with budgets like mine; I was a graduate student after all and absolutely agreed with the nickname “Whole Paycheck.” As I began to learn the differences between organic and conventional vegetables and fruits, I developed an aversion toward Whole Foods. I could not BELIEVE that they made people believe that because they shopped there, they were eating healthier foods, when in fact, the majority of their food was pesticide-laden conventional foods. Yes, they do offer plenty of organic, but it’s not all organic.

At any rate, I recently bought the most delicious, organic cucumber I have ever had. Where did I get it? I bought it from my CSA, Wyllie Fox Farm, for $1.00. It was so big that I was able to use it in two different salads. Try this recipe. So delicious. And to think, you can get such a gorgeous cucumber for less than a cup of coffee, isn’t that great?

Brent shows off our awesome cucumber!!!

Shannon’s Dilly-Wonder Salad:

Ingredients:

SALAD

- 1 cucumber sliced thinly (or in the case of a cucumber as big as mine, you only need half)

- 5 cups baby salad mix

- 1 cup shredded carrot

- ½ cup chopped dill

DRESSING

- ¼ cup lemon juice

- 4 Tablespoons olive oil

- ¼ teaspoon Herbamare or sea salt

- 2 Tablespoons agave nectar

- Ground pepper to taste

Directions:

Mix the salad ingredients together. Toss in the dressing.

I Heart My CSA

Each spring, I get super-psyched about my “CSA season,” which typically runs from June through November here in the Northeast. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture; its structure connects conscientious consumers to a local farmer. As a CSA member, you purchase a share of the farm and in return receive an abundance of seasonal produce every week throughout the CSA season.

I have been a member of three different CSAs: one in New York City, one in Easton, PA, and my newest CSA in my newest city of residence, Syracuse. I feel amazingly gratified to be able to say that my CSA, Wyllie Fox Farm, just received its USDA organic certification! The USDA has many specifications for farmers who choose to become officially organic and the process of becoming legally organic is so arduous that many farmers choose not to apply for the certificate. In order to become USDA certified organic, a farm has to refrain from using synthetic pesticides or fertilizers; they can not use plastic mulches, they can not use non-organic transplants; they are not allowed to use any synthetic materials in their washing, handling, and storing of the produce; the list goes on and on. But Jamie and Maggie Edelstein work very hard to meet the USDA certified organic specifications.

Here is an example of a large share! So many greens! And rhubarb!

(wait until you find out what I did with THAT!)

Brent and I had the great pleasure of visiting the farm and celebrating their certification. They’re totally GREEN! For example, the plastic that they use for their high tunnels is recycled; it came from farmers who no longer need high tunnels. The farm equipment appears archaic, but hey, it does the job; they feel no need to get the “latest and greatest” farm equipment.

We are thrilled about our CSA! We’re splitting it with a friend so it’s only costing us $275 a season. $275 for 20 weeks! That comes out to $13.75 a week. What a deal for the freshest, local, organic produce!

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!!!

Sprouting Success and Update!

Hi everybody,

I know, it's been well over a month since I've written. I have been busy with food, nutrition, and all the wonderful bits I like to share with you all--as a result, I will have plenty to update you with weekly. First of all, I want to inform you that I have had a sprouting success. It happened way back in April. I decided to sprout mung beans! Folks, they're so easy, and so delicious!!!

You take 1/4 cup of mung beans and soak them in a 2-cup size mason jar (fill the jar almost to the top). Close the lid and instead of using the jarring top, line it with cheese cloth. Soak for 24 hours. Drain well (the cheese cloth is an awesome strainer). Then each morning and each night, rinse the sprouting mung beans well. Be sure to drain well. I rest the jar on its side on a small shelf and then place a bowl under it to catch any excess water. In less than a week, you will have delicious sprouts!

The nutrients of sprouts compared to their non-sprouted counterpart increase exponentially. Here is a breakdown of the increase in nutrients that mung bean sprouts have compared to mung beans (source: sproutnet.com)

Energy content - calories	Decrease 15 per cent.
Total carbohydrate content	Decrease 15 per cent
Protein availability	Increase 30 per cent
Calcium content	Increase 34 per cent
Potassium content	Increase 80 per cent
Sodium content	Increase 690 per cent
Iron content	Increase 40 per cent
Phosphorous content	Increase 56 per cent
Vitamin A content	Increase 285 per cent
Thiamine or Vitamin B1 content	Increase 208 per cent
Riboflavin or Vitamin B2 content	Increase 515 per cent
Niacin or Vitamin B3 content	Increase 256 per cent
Ascorbic acid or Vitamin C content	An infinite increase

I hope you all try this out! In my next blog update, you will learn about my container gardens!!!