ecoyear

For those of you who are looking for a Boulder area CSA and are worried that all the shares are sold already, I came across a new CSA at the market last weekend.

Pastures of Plenty is an "experiential CSA", by which they mean that they will be experimenting with fun unusual varieties of vegies, a "treat of the week" by other growers, and offer fresh flowers each week as well. Here's their contact info:

Pastures of Plenty Farm
4039 Ogallala Rd.
Longmont CO 80503
303-440-7103
fax 303-245-0340
email: pasturesofplenty@aol.com

On another note, I made rhubarb tea yesterday. With a little lemon verbena added, it is actually a great stand-in for lemonade, and if you made it with honey and perhaps mint or bergamot instead of tea, you could have it completely local. For those of you who may not know, bergamot is simply bee balm. You can use the leaves of the youngest plants as they start growing out of the soil and steep them in hot water about 5 minutes for a lemony flowery flavor.

Click over under "Blueprint", under "Navigation", to read the first entry of "50 steps to a local diet".

Yesterday at a Boulder Going Local event, Michael Brownlee announced that Boulder County is the first US initiative in a movement that is quickly gathering steam across the world. This movement, called transition towns, or the Energy Descent Action Plan, seeks to equip communities with the resources they will need to cope with Peak Oil, and to quickly reduce carbon emissions.

How exciting! Boulder is now an inspiration for the world!

This has inspired me, in turn, to come up with concrete steps anyone can take to move to a local diet. Under the "Blueprint" section, I will detail what I think will be "50 steps to a local diet". My focus being a temperate or continental climate, I will spend fully half of these 50 steps on food preservation. I am planning steps which could be accomplished in two hours at the most. You could take one step each day, or each week. The first "step", which I plan to write tomorrow, will introduce the principles I use in making my suggestions.

Are you game? Let's do it!

It has not been excruciating. Busy, fun, delicious, and fairly easy. I have granola with milk in the morning, salad with cheese and crackers for lunch, chicken or sausage with greens or asparagus, or pasta with sauce for dinner. I have not bought any cookies, boxed cereals, breakfast pastries etc... - I am baking all my own (that's the busy part). I have succumbed to buying strawberries from California (the kids are my excuse) because there is only rhubarb available locally, unless you are prepared with dried berries and preserves. I have tried sorrel and dandelions for the first time - they are really refreshing and delicious raw in salads, and made my first rhubarb pie - which was outrageously good (see epicurious here).

I stock up at the market first thing on Saturdays (the best stuff is sometimes gone by 9am...I'm sure things will get better but I am anxious to try newly available asparagus and rhubarb). I spend about $100, including meat, and my cheese and crackers indulgence. I spend another $50 per week on milk, and non-local items my kids beg for (chicken nuggets, "pup"cakes, ice cream), as they - remember - don't actually like salad (they do like asparagus!).

Cost, which many people bring up, is probably less at the grocery store - at this point, I don't actually know - but folks, we need to adjust our budget. Oil has gone from $10 per barrel in 1998, to $125 now, and is set to hit $200 sooner than later. I can't think of a better way to plan ahead than to subsidize our local farmers ASAP. Local farms need to hear loud and clear NOW that there is a solid market for produce, that they should ramp up production yesterday - or we'll be rioting in the streets along with the rest of the world.

At this point, I am not sure anyone needs recipes, but try this:

Start with 1 lb asparagus (fat spears from Pachamama Farm were outrageously good)
Heat oven to 400 F, and place rack in top part of oven
Wash asparagus and snap bottom part of stems off
Roll in olive oil and sprinkle with salt
Place on baking sheet and bake 5 minutes on each side
That's it! Enjoy!

A weekend piece by Bill McKibben is helping mobilize the world around reducing carbon emissions. Read it today and do your part. With summer coming, it would mean any or all of the following:

- plan to not use aiplanes
- shop at the local market or join a CSA - there are still shares to be had
- farmers are not getting rich off high prices of vegies at the market. It is the owners of your local grocery store chain that are getting rich off selling you over-processed nonsense and tasteless produce shipped from who-knows-where.
- do not use your air-conditioner
- figure out the minimum amount of water your home landscaping needs
- food not lawns!!
- plant trees
- make this a buy nothing summer
- send your economic stimulus check to 350.org, or Burma
- get on your bike, ride the bus

Write more ideas in the comments section: I need encouragement too!