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Workshops & Retreats Training Counseling |
| Summer 2009
Vol 2- No 2 |
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In This Issue
 Locavore Weekend Getaway August 14-16, 2009
Spend a relaxing weekend “staycation” in the beautiful hills of Southeastern Ohio exploring, preparing, eating, and celebrating local foods.
Your guide on this adventure is Marilou Suszko, culinary instructor and author of Farms and Foods of Ohio: From Garden Gate to Dinner Plate. Suszko is also host of Our Ohio segment on PBS. Click here to go to learn more and register click here.
MAKING YOUR OWN CHEESE AND MORE
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver Intrigued by the new food language—loca(l)vore, CSA, terroir? Nowadays, you don’t have to be a foodie to come across these terms. So last year when we heard about Barbara Kingsolver’s new book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, we addressed our intrigue by reading it to each other. Perhaps you know Barbara Kingsolver as a novelist, author of such works as Prodigal Summer and The Poisonwood Bible. In AVM, she applies her considerable story-telling talent to describing her family’s year of eating locally: "If something in our diet came from outside our county or state, we'd need an extraordinary reason for buying it. (‘I want’ is not extraordinary)." Each family member had one exception—coffee, chocolate, bananas, etc. They grew a prodigious garden, raised small animals—sometimes to hilarious effect, and bartered with neighbors. They learned to make their own mozzarella cheese, of all things. They faced cravings (fewer than you might expect) and dealt with dark January’s paucity of fresh produce. And they succeeded admirably. All in all, this is a joyous, thoughtful, and yes, inspiring journey into some new ways of eating and thinking about eating. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle has already made a difference in many of our food practices and maybe it will yours, too. Lori Lampel and David Cameron P.S. We can’t wait for the Locavore Weekend Getaway when we can make our own mozzarella!
Intentional Living Tip Find local Farmer's Markets, Community Supported Agirculture porgrams at
Trillium Workshops
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Megan's Musings
The first new fruits and vegetables of the season, asparagus and strawberries have run their course at the Farmer's market. I almost can't wait for the next treausres to arrive?peaches and tomatoes! Athens is a great place to catch the local food bug with its thriving Farmer’s Market that is open all year long; several restaurants that serve mostly to exclusively local foods; and a multitude of nonprofits focusing on bringing local foods to the masses. I first started down the local foods journey because the food just tasted better.
But now I know the people who grow the food I eat. I’ve been to some of their farms, talked to them about the type of seeds they plant, their trials with rain?too much or too little,and watched their animals grazing in open fields. It has left me with an overwhelming sense that food is not just about feeding our bodies, but nurturing our spirits and our communities as well as creating a connection to our past and future.
There are many reasons to buy food locally and some may surprise you. This edition is full of resources to help you learn more about eating locally anywhere in Ohio because it is not something that is only for the lucky few who live in Athens county, but for all who intentionally seek it out through their own gardens, farmer’s markets, Community Supported Agriculture programs (CSA), and restaurants that use local foods.
I hope you enjoy this edition of Trillium's newsletter as much as we have enjoyed preparing it for you.
Love and peace to you, To Eat or Not To Eat Locally Dr. Carol Goland, Executive Director of the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association (OEFFA) and Assistant Professor in the Environmental Studies Program at Denison University, Granville, Ohio, points out these advantages to eating locally produced foods...· Fresher, local food retains more of its nutrients. · Local food preserves the genetic diversity of plants. · Reduce your carbon footprint. Local foods reduce the use of fossil fuels (most U.S. food travels on average 1,300 miles from grower to eater), thereby reducing the discharge of greenhouse gases. · Support your local economy by keeping money circulating among your friends and neighbors. · Support local farmers to help ensure that there will be local food sources for future generations.
Community Supported Agricultre (CSA)
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program is a way for consumers and growers to have a direct relationship through the seasonal purchase of foods. It is a great Consumers purchase advance “shares” in a local farmer’s annual production and pick up their shares from a distribution point. CSA members become active participants in local farming this way by providing up-front cash to finance seasonal expenses; sharing the risks and rewards of growing conditions; and taking part in the distribution system. Nestled in the hills of Athens County lies Green Edge Organic Gardens, a 120-acre farm, and member of the CSA program. Begun in 1997, the farmers of Green Edge seek innovative ways to expand the availability of organic produce throughout the Ohio foodshed. Quality is extremely important and all farm-grown produce is 100% Certified Organic by the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association. Green Edge focuses on sustainable farming, by building healthy soils through the use of compost and rotation of cover crops. Harmful chemicals that would leave a toxic residue on our vegetables and pollute our soil and water systems are NEVER used. To learn more about Green Edge click here or visit their weblog www.greenedgegardens.blogspot.com.Loca -what? Angie Cameron Now there is a name for people who support the local food movement—locavore. The word was designated as the Word of the Year 2007 by the New Oxford American Dictionary. One way to think of local is to envision a “foodshed”. A foodshed is similar to a watershed, which outlines the flow of water supplying a particular area. A foodshed outlines the flow of your food from the producer to your table and includes everything in between. (www.foodroutes.org/faq). Here in Ohio, the local foodshed encompasses the entire state. Ohio has more than 76,000 farms, which add $79 billion to the state’s economy yearly, and employ one in seven Ohioans. Come learn about Ohio's foodshed from Marilou Suszko at the Locavore Weekend Getaway/Staycation. |
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