AUTUMN AND THE HARVEST

Image by Tony Libby

Autumn’s crisp blue sky and the brilliant reds, yellows and oranges of the trees make it a special time of year.  Fall is also harvest time when the growing season ends and mature crops are gathered.  The cranberry harvests on Cape Cod are a sight to behold. CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) and Farmer’s Markets are winding down and farmers put their fields to bed and get some much-needed rest from the busy season.

This year, think about eating locally as much as possible throughout the fall and winter.  Stock up on fresh fruits and vegetables at the Farmer’s Markets, mostly root vegetables, apples and cranberries in New England,  and store them in your basement or cold storage area.

Canning and freezing are great ways to extend the life of fresh fruits and vegetables. If you have a garden, you probably already know how to make and can fresh tomato sauce, applesauce, jellies and jams with the abundance of summer fruits. Herbs freeze well too, so gather some before the first frost. “Fresh” herbs are a welcome surprise to winter dishes.

Eating locally all yearlong is getting easier with winter CSAs and winter Farmer’s Markets.  Many communities now offer them.

Eating organic food grown locally is important for many reasons – its fresher, more nutritious, supports local farmers and requires less oil because it is not transported far and grown organically.  As Barbara Kingsolver says in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, (a wonderful book about her family’s experience eating only seasonal and local food for one year – I highly recommend it.),  “If every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country’s oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week. …  Becoming a less energy-dependent nation may just need to start with a good breakfast.”

Celebrate autumn and the harvest this year and enjoy great food all year long.

AN “ECO-CORRECT” LABOR DAY COOKOUT

This Labor Day, think green and have an eco-correct cookout.  How?  It’s easy —

Visit your local farmer’s market for fresh local fruits and vegetables so abundant this time of year.  A charcoal chimney is an easy way to start your grill and much safer than lighter fluid if you don’t have a gas grill.  Make sure you use natural, hardwood charcoal instead of the conventional briquettes.  Fill at least half your grill with produce.  Produce is not only healthy and low calorie, but also doesn’t produce the carcinogens that can form on grilled meats.  Always cook over a low-to-medium flame and avoid over-charring.  Flare-ups and smoking oil create carcinogens.  Marinating or basting with oil, honey or a barbeque sauce will provide a barrier and help prevent charring.  Add delicious and nutritious vine ripened tomatoes and watermelon to your meal – they contain lycopene, a powerful antioxidant, which may also help ward off sunburn!  If possible, serve organic food.

I prefer reusable dinner plates and utensils, but if you are having a crowd it is easier to use disposable.  Make sure they are biocompostable or made from recycled plastic.  Preserve Products makes plates, utensils and storage containers that are made in the US from 100% BPA-free recycled plastic and are dishwasher safe.  (They also make great toothbrushes and razors made from recycled yogurt cups.) Whole Foods carries the line, but you can also order them from PreserveProducts.com.  Cloth napkins are a nice touch, but if you prefer disposable, you can easily find them made from recycled paper at most supermarkets.

Chemical free sunscreen and insect repellants are a much healthier alternative than conventional products.  Badger makes effective, non-toxic, biodegradeable repellants and sunscreens.

Plan activities to get your guests moving and not eating and drinking so much.  If your cookout is near the water, swimming and kayaking are fun. If not, set up a volleyball/badminton net and get the teens involved in a tournament.  Croquet appeals to all ages and a nature walk or an outside scavenger hunt is a great way to get the kids interested in the outdoors.

And, of course don’t forget to recycle cans, bottles and other recyclable items!

Image by Peter Wild

Whatever you do to honor the end of summer, make sure you are good to the earth.  Remember, what is good for the earth is good for you and what is good for you is good for the earth.  Have fun!

 

 

WHY LOCAL FOOD?

 

Image by Elizabeth Buie

 

The average food travels 1500 miles from farm to plate, consuming large quantities of fossil fuels and generating major CO2 emissions. It is picked unripe, then gassed to ripen it. Or it is processed using preservatives or irradiation. Scientists are experimenting with genetically modified foods to extend the shelf life, but what about the unknown long-term effects? Local food is usually transported only 100 – 200 miles, has fewer pesticides and can be picked when ripe, making it fresher, more flavorful and more nutritious.

You want to eat seasonally as much as possible – lettuce, asparagus, new potatoes in the spring, peaches, plums, summer squash, peppers, berries, melon in the summer, apples in the fall, root vegetables in winter, citrus fruits in the winter, etc. In other words, don’t buy strawberries in the dead of winter.  You know they have been shipped from thousands of miles away.

The New England growing season is short, so how do you eat locally the rest of the year?  It’s a challenge, but summer’s bounty can be canned, preserved or placed in cold storage.  Early fall is a great time to buy local food for preserving – farmer’s markets, farm stands and even supermarkets have an abundance of just picked produce.  It’s important to eat lots of fruits and vegetables, so off-season, “local” might mean the East Coast.