What Am I?

Sometimes identifying a vegetable in the field can be tricky. Sure, we know what the vegetable looks like on the store shelf, but are we sure we know what it looks like in the garden? Frankly, I haven't always been able to recognize the vegetables in their natural state. Here are some of my favorite "clueless vegetable" moments:

The first time I saw a Brussels sprout plant, I had no idea what I was looking at. That was back when Tim and I volunteered at Angelic Organics, a big CSA outside of Chicago (if any of you saw the The Real Dirt on Farmer John, then you've seen Angelic Organics). I had to ask a farm intern what it was. Later that day I also had to ask what the celeriac was.

In our first CSA year, my sister and I weeded out all the mizuna (a spicy green) from our mesclun mix. When we had just finished up, Tim came along to set us straight!

That first CSA year we also lost the tags out of a couple of vining plants. So we planted the vines in a special little patch next to the greenhouse. Eventually we determined that the plant was a melon, and it was growing some huge fruit! Every day in August we eagerly thumped a watermelon, eager to eat it. Finally Tim pronounced it ready. We pulled it off the vine and chilled in the refrigerator. At last it was time to dig in. It took me 5 minutes to cut my way through the monster melon! I opened it up and was in for a surprise. The inside was white and dry. We were still clueless until we tasted the thing. It turns out we had harvested a green pumpkin. That was the worst...melon...ever!

The hardest time to identify a plant is in the spring--that's especially true when I plant something I haven't grown before. Sometimes I'll find myself a couple of weeks afterward staring at my plot, wondering what's weeds and what's not.

Earlier this month I ventured out with my camera and took pictures of plants that were just starting to pop up. I've posted some of the pictures below. See if you can guess what they are!

I'm a potato!

Soon we'll be producing succulent strawberries.

We're red and yellow spring shallots.

I'm a future head of lettuce.

Fast Food...Fast Clothes?

I'll confess to eating the occasional Chicken Whopper from Burger King or the always classic McDonad's cheeseburger, but like everyone else, I know all about the dangers of fast food--it's highly processed, highly fattening, and bad for the environment. But one thing I'd never considered was fast clothes--cheap clothes that fall apart quickly and end up in the landfill--until I read "Fast Clothes Versus Green Clothes," an article published by the International Herald Tribune.

It's not just that the clothes fall apart quickly; it's also how they're made. According to the article, "Clothes — and fast clothes in particular — are large and worsening sources of the carbon emissions that contribute to global warming, both because of how they are produced and how they are cared for."

Some stores, like the British store Marks & Spencer, have found success emphasizing green clothes. When I looked online, I found several stylish items; the only problem was the price. Like organic food, for now it seems organic clothing is out of reach for many Americans. For example, Levi's new organic jeans are more expensive than its regular jeans--the cheapest eco pair costs $59 and the most expensive is $245. Still, it's something I'll think about the next time I need a new pair of jeans--including whether I really need that new pair in the first place!

Could You Go a Year Without Toilet Paper?

I don't think I could, but that's exactly what the Conlin-Beavin family is doing in an attempt to live for a year without leaving an impact on the environment, according to this article.

Here's the scoop:

Welcome to Walden Pond, Fifth Avenue style. Isabella’s parents, Colin Beavan, 43, a writer of historical nonfiction, and Michelle Conlin, 39, a senior writer at Business Week, are four months into a yearlong lifestyle experiment they call No Impact. Its rules are evolving, as Mr. Beavan will tell you, but to date include eating only food (organically) grown within a 250-mile radius of Manhattan; (mostly) no shopping for anything except said food; producing no trash (except compost, see above); using no paper; and, most intriguingly, using no carbon-fueled transportation.

It helps that they have a book deal to write about their experience, but deal or no deal, I don't think I could do what they're doing! The article details their current lifestyle, which is pretty intense. Maybe they're taking it a little far, but it made me think about my lifestyle and ways to lessen my impact on the environment. If you want to follow their journey, check out their blog, noimpactman.com.

A Year of Eating Locally

Enough articles from the New York Times--here's one from salon.com about author Barbara Kingsolver (you have to watch a short ad before entering the site). Kingsolver has written many books, the most popular of which is probably The Poisonwood Bible. Now she (and her husband and daughter) have written a nonfiction book about the year she and her family spent producing their own food:

Part memoir, part investigative journalism, part cookbook, "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" is co-authored by Kingsolver's environmental scientist husband, Steven Hopp, and their then-19-year-old daughter, Camille... Together they tell the story of the year the family spent eating only food produced on or near their southwest Virginia farm. The central narrative rings with Kingsolver's characteristic biting humor; Hopp's sidebars focus on the industry and science of food production. Camille's passionate essays, informed by youthful idealism and by her sharp intelligence, also include meal plans and recipes.


The interview with Kingsolver covers a lot of interesting questions about the approach she took to writing the book as well as about the disconnect between Americans and the food we eat. I particularly like her answer to the last question of the interview, what she hopes readers will take away from the book:

Food is the one consumer choice we have to make every day. We can use that buying power in a transaction that burns excessive fossil fuels, erodes topsoil, supports multinationals that pay their workers just a few bucks a day -- or the same money could strengthen neighborhood food economies, keep green spaces alive around our towns, and compensate farmers for applying humane values. Every purchase weighs in on one side or the other....

It's not necessary to live on a farm to eat mindfully, but it's necessary to know farms exist, and have some appreciation for what they do. It takes a little background to recognize the social, biological and epicurean differences between CAFOs [Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations] and pasture operations, extractive vs. sustainable farming, or even what will be in season each month of the year. Amazingly, the outcome of responsible choices can be good health, money saved and a happy palate. Really, it's good news.

Mary Mary Quite Contrary...

How Does Your Garden Grow?

With apple trees


And baby peas

And asparagus/rhubarb in rows

Red or White...or Green?

Here's yet another article from the New York Times about organic food--only this time, the focus is wine. "When the Wine is Green" talks about the growth in organic wines.

I found this quote to be particularly relevant to what we're trying to do with the CSA (emphasis mine):

Green has not yet replaced red or white or even pink as the most important color in deciding which wines to buy, but people have started to think about it. Words like organic, biodynamic, natural and sustainable are increasingly resonating with consumers, not just because they are concerned about health and the environment, but because they are beginning to associate them with great wine, the way organic has become a synonym for high-quality produce.

That’s largely because the growing number of producers who practice some form of natural grape growing and winemaking do so not just because they see it as environmentally responsible but because they believe these methods make better wine.

For all the reasons to eat organic (and, I would add, local) vegetables, the best one is the taste (and nutrients)!

Another interesting point the article explores is biodynamic methods, which we've experimented with. Even if you're not into wine, the article is worth checking out for its explanation of terms like organic, sustainable, biodynamic, and natural.

The King of Green

Prince Charles has been the butt of a lot of jokes, but it seems he has quite a following among the American "food elite." According to an article at nytimes.com, he has his own organic food company (think of a royal version of Newman's Originals) and a farm where he has a 15-acre garden. Here's more:

At the entrance to Home Farm, a short drive from his house, rustic signs proclaim the land free of genetically modified organisms. Rare breeds of British cattle eat red clover. Heirloom ginger Tamworth pigs roll in royal mud. The prince (actually, the prince’s people) grow vegetables from heirloom seeds, and raise organic oats that are baked into the thin, crisp crackers that are the flagship of the Duchy Originals line.

“Given another life, I think he’d have been a farmer,” said David Wilson, the manager of Home Farm.

Who knew?