By shopping at farmers markets, we’re encouraging, supporting better use of land and better farming. Years ago, right after WWII, it was impossible to find organic food. It was the consumer who turned that around. It will be the consumers again, who will change agricultural practices.
We came across food Journalist Mark Bittman’s column that was originally published in the New York Times, on June 10. Feel free to share your thoughts by commenting on this article:
From Mark Bittman:
Just about everyone agrees that we need more farmers. Currently, nearly 30 percent are 65 or older, and fewer than 10 percent are under 35. The number of farmers is likely to fall further with continuing consolidation and technological innovation.
But displacement of farmers is neither desirable nor inevitable. We need to put more young people on smaller farms, the kinds that will grow nourishing food for people instead of food that sickens us or yields products intended for animals or cars.
The problem is land, which is often prohibitively expensive. Farmland near cities is prized by developers and the wealthy looking for vacation homes, hobby farms or secure investments. Many farmers have no choice but to rent land for a year or two before being asked to move and start all over, because the purchase of even the smallest plot is out of their reach.
There are credible efforts to provide farmworkers new landopportunities, like trusts for preserving farmland. There are also dozens of federalstateand programs aimed at helping farmers get started, as well as farm business incubators like the one run by Glynwood in the Hudson River Valley. But the barriers to obtaining land remain high.
According to this article, a new bill proposed by Representatives Joe Courtney, a Connecticut Democrat, and Chris Gibson, a New York Republican, and devised with input from the National Young Farmers Coalition, calls for forgiving the balance of student loans of those who spent 10 years as farmers and made loan payments during that time.
Of course, those who may object to adding farmers to the loan forgiveness list. But let’s face the elephant in the room, what is stopping us from investing in a better kind of farming with a new generation of farmers willing to do it?
Have you seen the lush asparagus that’s been coming to our Saturday market? If you haven’t, it’s time to pick some up on your trip to the downtown Evanston farmers’ market.
So you brought your fresh asparagus, but how long will it stay good for?
The answer is, thankfully, for quite some time.
The best way to preserve asparagus is to freeze it. But before you freeze it, we recommend that you blanch it first. And by blanching, we are referring to the boiling process. Blanching your asparagus before boiling it helps it stay greener and helps it retain its texture.
There are two popular ways you can blanch your asparagus.
1. The boiling method
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add up to 1 pound of asparagus at a time to the boiling water. Let the asparagus blanch for 2 – 5 minutes, depending on the thickness of the spears.
When the time is up, immediately drain the blanched asparagus and transfer it to the cold water. Leave it in the cold water for the same amount of time that you left it in the boiling water. Drain the asparagus in a colander.
2. The steaming method
Bring the water under your steaming basket to a boil. Place the asparagus in the basket and cover. Steam for 3 – 6 minutes, depending on the thickness of the spears.
When the time is up, immediately transfer the blanched asparagus spears or pieces to the cold water. Leave them in the cold water for the same amount of time that you steamed them. Drain well in a colander.
And there are also two ways you can freeze your asparagus!
2 Ways to Freeze Blanched Asparagus
1. The easiest way is to place the blanched, chilled and drained asparagus spears or pieces in freezer bags or containers, label the bag with the date it was first frozen.
2. To freeze them without having them stick together (so that you can take out just what you need), flash freeze them first. To flash freeze, spread the blanched asparagus in a single layer on baking sheets. Freeze for 1 to 2 hours, then transfer to freezer bags or containers.
A Friends’ tested and true asparagus soup recipe, submitted by Vikki Proctor.
What’s even better? You can find all of the recipe ingredients in this article at our Saturday farmers’ market!
Serves: 2-4
Ingredients:
1 pound asparagus
1/3 yellow onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 small russet potato
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 tablespoon butter
3 cups vegetable (or chicken) broth
salt+pepper
a lemon
a little greek yogurt (or sour cream)
1. Chop up the asparagus (reserve about half of the tips), onion, garlic and potato (peel and wash it first).
2. In a medium pot, heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat.
3. Cook the onion until just softened (2-3 minutes).
4. Add in the garlic, asparagus and potato.
5. Cook until the asparagus begins to turn bright green (3-4 minutes).
6.Season with a little salt and pepper and then pour in the broth.
7. Allow to simmer for 20 minutes or until the potatoes can be easily sliced through with a knife.
8. Feel free to use a blender to blend everything up.
9. In a small pot filled with 2-3 cups water, blanch the reserved asparagus heads until bright green and cooked through but still crunchy.
10. Drain and reserve.
11. To serve, garnish with a big dollop of Greek yogurt and a few of the cooked asparagus heads.
Last week at our Saturday farmers market, we met Kelly Koss, a 26-year-old Americorp VISTA member who worked as a nutritionist for the Campus Kitchens Project at Northwestern University.
Kelly has worked closely with Friends to help accomplish our two core missions: increasing awareness about SNAP benefits in downtown Evanston farmers’ markets and educating the public on healthy eating.
Kelly said she has been personally invested in the issue of promoting the availability and accessibility of farmers markets across the nation, especially through non-profit organizations like Friends.
“I was definitely surprised at first that a lot of people [I’ve met] were not aware of the wonderful incentives to purchase from your downtown Evanston farmers’ market,” she said.
And so far she has helped us host a community meet and greet last Saturday and helped us inform the public on any questions they may have about nutritional eating, Friends’ commitment to matching every SNAP dollar spent in our farmers’ market and wellbeing eating as a whole.
Kelly has been a long-time farmers’ market aficionado for quite some time, and frequented the farmers’ market in Maine where she attended graduate school. Her love for farmers’ markets comes naturally, especially since she has dedicated herself to increasing awareness about proper nutrition.
Just last year, Kelly spent time interning at a dietary hospital treating those with chronic nutritional diseases, and has made a commitment to help not only those who suffer from nutritional deficiency-related ailments but also those who are on the verge of developing one.
“Now I’m in a position to work on the preventative side of helping people avoid these nutritional diseases,” Kelly said.
In fact, Kelly played a key role at her Campus Kitchens chapter at Northwestern by introducing “Sowing Seeds for Healthy Kids,” a garden-based nutrition education curriculum which helps kids make healthy choices by helping them learn where their food comes from.
“That was one of my favorite assignments to work on with CKNU,” she said. “I piloted Sowing Seeds for Healthy Kids at Family Focus last winter.”
According to Kelly, there were about 20 students in each class around the ages of 8-10. They didn’t have access to a garden and it was too chilly to go outside, but the curriculum was easy to adapt to a classroom setting.
“The group of kids we taught already had a basic understanding of what a healthy diet entails and it was wonderful to witness them using that knowledge to discuss where our food comes from and where we can find nutritious food in our community,” she added. “I think their favorite lesson was the second, which includes a discussion about what nutrients plants and people need, a compost relay race activity, and a layered snack meant to represent the different layers of a compost pile.”
She led a pilot program of this curriculum with the Sodexo district dietitian and was able to send students home with the groceries needed to make each lesson’s suggested recipe.
Thankfully, she will be around this coming week at the next downtown Evanston farmers market. Come by and say hello, pick up some delicious and nutritious snacks (like beet and cucumber salad) and learn more about how Friends and the Northwestern chapter of The Campus Kitchens Project has worked to increase awareness on nutritional eating.
Want to learn more about The Campus Kitchens Project? Read our previous blog post!
Northwestern University’s Campus Kitchen branch (CKNU) will be joining us this coming Saturday (May 30th) at the downtown Evanston farmers’ market.
Campus Kitchens is a student-led initiative and a student-run nonprofit that allows students to provide food for food insecure families in Evanston by repackaging unused food from campus dining halls and distributing it to those in need.
Since its founding in 2001, the Campus Kitchens initiative has spread across 42 schools, including Northwestern University, and has been able to recover more than 4,163,052 pounds of food. Like Friends, CKNU has been dedicated to meeting hunger and nutritional needs in Evanston.
This Saturday, they will not only be sharing delicious and nutritious seasonal snacks like tea sandwiches, herbed hummus and spring veggies, but will also be informing our farmers’ market attendees on eating healthy and volunteering with CKNU.
The goal of CKNU has been closely aligned with ours–making it a delight to work with these student volunteers.
Stop by this Saturday to get a snack, say hello and learn more about eating healthy.
Photo Courtesy of CKNU
