Rooting Around for Good Winter Eating

Add comment September 5th, 2010 01:17pm Lenae Weichel

We got a taste of fall weather this Labor Day weekend and although it will warm again, I’m already thinking about storing fall harvests long into the winter. In the next six weeks there will be some fantastic opportunities to stock up on local foods to keep and use through the winter and early spring. If canning, freezing, or dehydrating are not for you, I have good news; there is an even older food storage technique that requires little work and even less money – root cellaring. Generations ago, root cellars were pervasive, even in cities, as a way to store food for winter. Today, our houses and apartment buildings likely don’t have dedicated root storage but we can still find ways to store a few things. The resurgence of root cellars has sparked national articles as well as great web resources. Let’s take a look some easy options for storing local foods.

What to store

Beets, carrots, celeriac, horseradish, kohlrabi, leeks, parsnips, rutabagas, salsify, scorzonera, turnips, and winter radishes do best in cold and moist environments; while apples, cabbage, endive, garlic, pears, potatoes, and storage (not sweet) onions like things a little drier. Pumpkins, sweet potatoes, and winter squash benefit from a slightly warm (50-60 degrees) and dry location.

If you don’t have your own garden, you can visit one of our many local farmers’ markets to purchase these items from a local grower. Often, if you request an item in quantity one week you can pick it up (and get a bulk discount) the next.

How to store it

Assuming you have no existing root cellar, consider other ideas. For foods that prefer cool, moist environments, your refrigerator crisper drawers are perfect. If you have a humidity control, place it on the vegetable setting, fill the drawers, and use items as needed. Some fruits and vegetables that like things drier (potatoes, garlic, onions) are not good candidates for the refrigerator but others like apples, cabbage, endive, and pears will all store well on the bottom shelf. But what to do once your fridge space is taken? Consider carving out space in your basement (away from the furnace and water heater), or a cool, dark cupboard or closet. Place items in baskets or crates (milk crates work well) so air can circulate. If your basement or closet is too warm, line your storage area with scrap pieces of sheet insulation (not fiberglass) to keep it cool. Be sure to mouse-proof if you have the little critters. Squashes and sweet potatoes should be stored just below room temperature and in a drier location. Perhaps a higher shelf would provide all the temperature difference they need.

Another storage method is leaving root vegetables in the garden over winter. Insulating the ground layer allows harvest even after surrounding soil has frozen and then, once it all freezes, you can harvest again in very early spring. Cold frames can be made or purchased to help extend the growing season even longer (we harvest sweet, cold-hardy spinach until January!). Unheated garages, 3-season porches, crawl spaces, and other semi-protected outdoor areas can also make good areas to store vegetables; just protect against freezing.

If you are really serious, you can build an insulated, ventilated, and humidified structure within or outside of your home or apartment. However, I recommend starting smaller, trying a few things at a time, and seeing what works for you.  Good resources are available online or from books like Root Cellaring: Natural cold storage of fruits & vegetables by Mike and Nancy Bubel.

Mmm. A picnic!

Add comment September 3rd, 2010 07:51am Jennie Pollock

To consider making the most of local foods while the weather is still fair:

What: Local Foods Family Picnic
When: Saturday, Sept. 11 (1 p.m. family activities, 2 p.m picnic buffet)
Who: University of Illinois Extension-Winnebago County presents Michelle Princer, chef and owner of Toni’s of Winnebago, as the caterer.
Where: Pecatonica Wetlands Forest Preserve, in the new Arrowhead Shelter House
Menu: Chicken, pork chops, cheese, fruits and vegetables, and dessert. You can bring your own beverages or purchase soda, wine and beer.
Cost: $10 a person
To register: www.extension.illinois.edu/winnebago or 815-986-4357

Windex with vinegar: I was floored

1 comment September 2nd, 2010 07:51am Jennie Pollock

I picked up Windex Multi-surface Vinegar because I have been disappointed with some “green” glass cleaners that leave smudges or streaks.

I guess it’s better, and I like that it’s ammonia-free, but where it has been really effective is the dirty nooks and crannies of my bathroom linoleum.

(Note: This person would argue vinegar is better than the Windex version, which doesn’t smell as strong as the real stuff but has the same notes.)

Don’t you hate unwrapping toys with all those twist ties?

1 comment August 30th, 2010 08:55am Jennie Pollock

Usually, so do I.

This weekend, I found a pleasant surprise: Plastic ties were replaced with paper ones, which still must be cut but are more eco-friendly.

My daughter wanted a Baby Alive doll that “eats” bananas and “drinks” juice.

I checked out what Hasbro says it is doing for waster reduction: In addition to eliminating wire ties in high-volume toys, the company has reduced carton sizes, pushed use of recycled paper and moved toward open “try me” areas instead of plastic windows.

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“Plant a Row for the Hungry” Puts Tomato Fairy Out of Business

Add comment August 27th, 2010 06:45pm Margaret Larson

Margaret Larson is the Director University of Illinois Extension Winnebago and Stephenson Counties and works with Extension’s Winnebago County Local Foods Working Group to create opportunities and educational programs for small farms and local foods producers.

I wandered into my garden yesterday evening to check-up on the tomato plants.  It’s that time of year when one day the vines are loaded with firm, green fruit and the next day ? as if by magic ? the tomatoes are suddenly red and juicy. So I proceeded to pick tomatoes and, as I have often done over the years, loaded them into the folds of my t-shirt.  Now, I don’t have a big garden, or even that many tomato plants, but my harvest was plenty and left me wondering what I should do with all those tomatoes.

I thought about tip-toeing through the neighborhood, secretly leaving baskets of vine-ripened tomatoes on my friends’ steps (seemed like less effort than firing up the pressure cooker). But, I knew most of them wouldn’t be humored by a visit from the tomato fairy since they already have their fill and their kids, like mine, are too young to enjoy the full-flavor of home-grown tomatoes. What to do?  The answer lies right here in a community effort called “Plant a Row for the Hungry.”

Plant a Row is a national campaign that encourages gardeners to donate excess produce to food pantries, homeless shelters, and other charitable agencies.  The first grass roots campaign (excuse the pun) was organized by the Garden Writers Association in 1995.

Fast forward to 2010, here in Northern Illinois. Since 2001, through the University of Illinois Extension and the Master Gardener volunteers, donations are being delivered to numerous sites that serve those in need.  By the end of last growing season, more than 18 tons pounds of fresh produce had been donated in Winnebago County alone!  And that just includes the contributions that were documented ? we know many more pounds were given to other locations that did not weigh and report donated produce.

I like to think about the healthy meals that were prepared using this donated fresh food.  How many homes were blessed with fresh green beans, sliced tomatoes, even zucchini?  What families were treated to fresh herbs, new potatoes, and cut flowers for their tables? 

Do you have produce you want to donate? Just call U of I Extension-Winnebago County at 815-986-4357 or your county Extension office for more information. Give your extra fruits, flowers, and vegetables to Plant a Row ? it’s easier than summoning the tomato fairy!

What’s so great about organic?

Add comment August 25th, 2010 06:44am Jennie Pollock

That’s the headline Time put on its health checkup story.

You can read it for yourself, but my takeaway was that organic IS better in most cases despite the tone of the headline.

Interesting points from it:

– Organic accounts for only 3 percent of the food market in the United States.

– Organic produce costs 13 to 36 cents more per pound.

– Up to 10 million tons of chemical fertilizer are used on corn alone in a year.

– Only 3 percent of cattle in the United States are organically raised, and 3 percent of us are vegetarians. We eat enough meat to have 220 pounds for every person in the country each year.

Check out the magazine’s taste tests and comparisons.

Or conduct your own!

Back to school: Don’t be fuming

Add comment August 23rd, 2010 11:28am Jennie Pollock

Linda Sandquist at the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois and Rockford’s No Idle Zone campaign reminds us to turn off our car engines as we head back to school.

You might think you need that A/C while waiting to pick up the kids, but you probably will be fine for a few minutes. The air will be cleaner for it.

See everything I’ve written about NIZ since it kicked off in 2009.

Wine and Roses: Sustainable Ag Tour in Northwest Illinois

2 comments August 21st, 2010 12:32am Constance McCarthy

Storm clouds rolling in from the west on August 13 did not deter a group of hardy folks interested in taking in a different angle of sustainable agriculture. At Bright Flower Nursery, just north of Stockton, we were greeted by Jeanie McKewan, who led us through the certified-organic gardens; flowers and shrubs are grown and cut for sale to Whole Foods and other regional florists.

 

Among the 200 dahlias harvested each week is the gorgeous ‘Naomi’. Both sea holly and brightly colored varieties of Gomphrena work well in fresh bouquets and are also good for drying. A perennial sunflower, ‘Summer Nights’, was also quite striking, with its blazing yellow flowers and deep burgundy stems. Pink and red cockscomb showed off their velvety flowers. Shrubs grown for their flowers include hydrangeas and peonies.

 

Florists are always looking for more unusual greens. Leaves of coral bells are a favorite for bridal bouquets. Flower stalks of Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ are cut before the blooms open; the leaves are stripped off, leaving the closed green flower head.

 

Inside to the greenhouse, vegetables, herbs, and edible and ornamental flowers are also grown organically. A special paint is applied to the outside of the glass roof to provide shade in the spring; as it slowly washes away, more sun is allowed to filter in. Flowers in the greenhouse don’t have to put energy into growing stronger stems to resist the wind, and can direct their energy into growing longer stems, a quality much appreciated by florists.

 

The group then migrated 20 miles west to Famous Fossil Winery, where all the grapes are grown biodynamically. The vineyard contains approximately 2,100 vines on just under 5 acres. They grown 12 different varieties of grapes, all of which are selected for their cold hardiness and suitability for winemaking.

 

The winery is located north of Freeport, in its own little microclimate that is especially suited to growing grapes. It takes three years after planting before a vine will yield grapes for harvest. During that time, much care and attention is given to the vines, training and pruning them. Clusters are also thinned, with a view to keeping the one, best cluster. A word to the wise: don’t ever just reach out and grab a cluster off a vine if you are on a tour!

 

Pam added that they chose biodynamics over standard organic practices because biodynamics is concerned with much more than simply the plant. Biodynamics also focuses on building up the fertility of the soil, and planting and growing in harmony with the natural forces at work in the world. Beneficial insects are nurtured and encouraged. Birds and bats are welcomed, as they eat harmful insects. Even snakes help out, eating the voles that can damage the grapevines. Some vineyards have started to use baby-doll sheep to reduce fossil fuel usage and keep the weeds down between the rows of vines. These sheep are short enough that they can’t reach the grapes, but they are more than happy to graze away on the weeds and grass in the vineyard.

 

The tour, which was organized by the University of Illinois Extension, concluded with a lunch prepared with many locally-sourced ingredients, including an abundance of fresh vegetables for salads and sandwiches. Best of all, the rain stopped in time for folks to enjoy their lunch out on the terrace overlooking the hills of the vineyard.

Nutrition for your face

Add comment August 16th, 2010 05:23am Jennie Pollock

One of my Rockford Woman advisory board members passed along the name Deb Carter for Go Green because of the growing interest in natural beauty products.

Carter, who retired in May as a surgical nurse, has used and sold paraben-free Sense skin-care products by Usana for more than three years.

The company was founded by a doctor, Myron Wentz, which is important to Carter, because the company cares about cell nutrition, molecule absorption and research. About not putting chemicals on your skin. “I place a lot of value on that,” she said.

“I’ve noticed a huge difference in my skin, and because of that, I’ve introduced the skin care products to a lot of people,” said Carter, who feels that her skin looks better in her 50s than it did in her 30s. “Of course I don’t look like a 20-year-old on the cover of a magazine.”

Sense (pronounced SAN-say) offers items for three basic stages: cleansing/toning, resurfacing and moisturizing.If you’re interested, contact Carter at 815-703-0501 or impactyourlife@yahoo.com.

She does hold spa parties and offers preferred customer discounts.

Regular prices are $26.34 for eye nourisher and $17.94 for daily cleanser, for example.

Swarm!

Add comment August 15th, 2010 02:53am Constance McCarthy

This week’s local foods posting comes from Ken Frampton of Pheasant Hill Farm. You can find him at area farmers markets, incluidng North End Commons on Saturday mornings.

 

It was only a matter of time. We expected it would happen, but wondered what we would do when it did happen to us here at Pheasant Hill Farm.

 

Then it happened - a swarm of honeybees.

 

It was mid-July, a little bit late for that sort of thing. But there they were, a mass of bees clustered on a branch giving off a low, nervous hum. The beard-shaped swarm, about two feet in length had, perhaps, 10,000 bees in it.

 

Swarming is one of the most natural things for honeybees to do. Often it’s precipitated by overcrowding, or heat, or nature has a way of sending the message that it’s time to go.

 

What happens is the queen, the lady who does all the egg-laying, signals to the hive, “Hey girls, I want half of you to come with me. We’re splitting this place. Let’s find ourselves a new home.”

 

While scouts set out to find new accommodations, the bees, which rarely sting at this moment in their lives, ball up around a tree branch and wait for the moment to set out.

 

But there was our swarm – 20 feet up in a tree. We had no ladder that would reach them, so I had to shinny up the trunk, climb carefully out on a limb and finally stretch out my full length on a flimsy branch with a pair of snippers in my hand. That was the easy part.

 

No sooner than had the branch been cut, than half the bees fell off the cluster and then reformed in a pair of lower branches. With half the bees clinging to the snipped branch, I carefully retraced my steps, hopeful I wouldn’t bump into another part of the tree and shake loose several hundred more bees.

 

I handed it down to a fellow beekeeper below and went back up to collect more mini-swarms. Meanwhile the other beekeeper deposited branches, bees and all, into a new hive set aside for such a purpose. Somewhere amid all these honeybees was the queen. Several more clusters were captured this way.

 

Survival was now the question. A swarm this late means neither the new hive nor the old one with a home-raised new queen, would have enough time to build or rebuild their hives and collect enough honey to keep them alive through the coming winter. Later, this fall, we’ll try reuniting the two hives for one, stronger, self-sufficient one.

 

We’ll see.