Tag Archives: food

Food Not Lawns – Reflections

Savage article about lawns past present and future
https://www.newyorker.com/…/…/21/turf-war-elizabeth-kolbert…

My take: embrace what nature has to offer, and (forest) garden
–
I was pretty amazed and psyched to hear a Cornell professor (Dr. David Wolfe) discuss the importance of gardening in one of his public lectures (it was either in Climate Change and the Future of Food or Gardening with a Mission – sorry I’m not sure which, watched them a while ago, but I’m sure I recommend them both!)

He pointed out that most farmers are not in a position to do the kind of continuous experimentation necessary for adaptive management in changing climate; trialing one or two new techniques is a challenge in itself. Gardeners on the other hand tend to trial new things every year, discovering what is working and what isn’t as our weather trends change year to year.

Another important point about gardening is all the ecosystem services it provides, not the least of which is provisioning. What did the land and labor look like that is involved in all the food in your fridge and cubbards? Is it something you can count on for provisions in time of peace as well as times of chaos? When industrial systems are strained, we need *victory gardens!*

Trees: Fuel, Fiber, Food, Fodder, Farmacueticals, Fun + some

Inspired by https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2019/03/farmers-plant-trees-alongside-crops/

Fuel: firewood; biomass (wood pellet stoves); pitch, resin, charcoal

Fiber: structural wood for houses and furniture; living fences; pulp for paper; fiber for rope and potentially even clothing and fabrics; biochar and mulch as soil amendments to sustain soil fertility and resilience to drought and flood

Food: forest farming, forest gardening, supporting crops in alley-cropping and other techniques; sustaining drinking water; protein, oils/healthy fats, fiber

Fodder: silvopasture and all the benefits that comes with wildlife and livestock including food, mowing, fertilization, and many other benefits of biodiversity

Farmaceuticals: medicine, physiological and psychological; chemicals for a vast variety of purposes

Fun: may you enjoy it and it enjoy you

+ some: ecosystem services: regulating, provisioning, supporting, cultural

For
Resilience
Relinquishment
Restoration
Regeneration
Reconciliation

One Love

Cacao Hazelnut Milk Mixture

Ingredients:

Hazelnut Milk – apx 8oz

Cacao drink powder – 2 1/2 tablespoons

Cinnamon – a pinch / to taste

Stir all ingredients together in a small saucepan on medium heat, preferably covered. Stir occasionally. Enjoy once warm, no need to boil; don’t let the mixture go beyond a simmer.

This is a very rich chocolate drink with a pleasant nutty taste. The sweetness and richness of the chocolate helps moderate the potentially intense hazelnut favor.

 

Happy to have a hazelnut catkins growin’ and ready this year – hopefully we’ll have hazelnuts here next summer! We just planted our second hazel, which means the two can pollinate one another and both produce nuts.

 

Crabapple Butter From Tree to Toast & Jelly

These crabapples we picked turned into crabapple butter and a good time with new & old friends.

We milled out the seeds and skins: we boiled the crabapples a bit then put them through the food mill before boiling the resulting mush further into the sauce/butter. The food mill took some technique to use efficiently, but I didn’t work on that ‘station’ much so I’m not sure what the technique was exactly!

A month or two went by with the canned crabapple in the cupboard, and I gave one can to my brother and enjoyed one in my house. Including crabapple toast!