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From GRIST

A recent article in the New York Times documented the growing competition among New York chefs for the highest-quality food from local farms — whether it’s heirloom cabbages or pastured poussins. Opining that “top chefs can’t be lip-service locavores any longer,” writer Glenn Collins offers this mini-food fight as evidence of a “farm-to-table revolution” among restaurateurs.

These chefs’ approach fits nicely into the haute cuisine concept that the chef’s job is to hunt down the absolutely perfect ingredient. The fact that more chefs are looking in their relative backyards may somewhat be a testament to the fact that globalization of the food chain has reduced the variety and diversity of food. It used to be that chefs would explore the farthest reaches of the globe for the obscure and the delicious. But now, the obscure and delicious is more likely to be grown in a peri-urban farm than on a tropical plantation.

I recently spent a morning with a Philadelphia chef who takes the concept of farm-to-table a step further. Mitch Prensky has contracted with nearby Blue Elephant Farm to produce exclusively for his well-regarded restaurant Supper under his direction. In turn, Prensky will limit the fruit and vegetables he uses to the output from Blue Elephant — pickling what he doesn’t serve fresh to his customers. He fully intends to continue cooking from the farm all through winter — Philly has an almost perfect climate for year-round hoophouse growing. What he can’t get from Blue Elephant, he gets from other local providers — including beer, which in Philadelphia results in a fabulous selection of microbrews. The seafood he serves, while not local, is sustainable — a lamentable rarity in high-end restaurants.

A graduate of New York City’s French Culinary Institute who’s cooked at New York’s famed Lutece and Provence restaurants (and an early stint as kitchen assistant for Jacques Pepin), Prensky hasn’t gone locavore to make a political point. As he likes to say, “I’m just here to make you dinner.” Working with a single farm has enabled him to achieve something that all chefs desire: total control. And he’s not stopping with fruit and vegetables. He’s working with the farm to add meat and poultry (Prensky makes his own charcuterie), and ultimately expects to produce cheese and other value-added products off the farm. He even is toying with the idea of his own CSA for a few select customers; included in the box might be his own pickles or other “homemade” products.

Some may wonder about the benefit to the farmer from this arrangement. Luckily for Prensky, Blue Elephant is not your typical farm. Organic in spirit if not certification, it’s in some ways a hobby farm, owned by a wealthy couple who keep a low profile — Prensky wouldn’t tell me their names — but Prensky’s ambitious vision may result in this “hobby” becoming a booming business.

This unconventional partnership represents an alternative model for high-end restaurants and small farms. Take a closer look, through this slideshow:
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Organic Recipes, Organic Food, Local Food, Small Farms, Family Farms, Edible Landscapes, Shop Local – OrganicToBe.org

Driftless Organics - Soldiers Grove, WI
For the owners of Driftless Organics, farming is their dream job. When you grow everything from Asparagus to Zucchini, it’s vital to love what you do. To them, healthy soil is the foremost reason to farm organically. But, of course, the taste is another good reason — they’re confident their products taste better!
Learn more about Driftless Organics in this short video.

Don’t live close enough to experience their produce yourself? We’ve got local vendors all around the country growing great food just like this. Check your local store for what’s available in your neck of the woods.

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Thirty years ago Whole Foods Market opened to make people happy—with better, healthier food choices. We’re still listening to our customers’ needs and desires and with your help every year these choices are better and more affordable. To prove our point, all of the manufacturer coupons in The Whole Deal value guide are now available online. That’s over in savings!

The The Whole Deal value guide is designed to make bargains easy to spot:

• Coupons – print the coupons you want, when you want
• Sure Deals! – high-quality products where you get more of the good stuff for less than you think
• Three Under – at .99 or less, you won’t find a better value than our selection of Three Under items
• Money-Saving Meal Plans – these meal plans offer a week’s worth of menu ideas and recipes for one, two or four
• Budget-Friendly Recipes – recipes that satisfy your hunger and your budget

Plus, the August/September issue of The Whole Deal in-store value guide is packed with tips and ideas to help you succeed in the budget business.  Just take these money-saving, better-eating back-to-school tips, for example:

1. Prep raw veggies ahead and portion out into sandwich bags (our 365 Everyday Value® reclosable bags are under !) or reusable containers for a week’s worth of snacks and lunches.
2. Go with graham crackers instead of cookies; top as in the Apricot Graham Snackers recipe or with nut butter and raisins or fresh fruit. The 365 Everyday Value® Organic Honey Graham Crackers are a Sure Deal!
3. Save stale bread to make toast, croutons, stuffing, bread crumbs, bread pudding or bread salad.
4. Use the freezer for leftover portions, bread crusts, stock makings…and frozen peeled bananas to make Banana Nice Cream.
5. Stretch the animal protein by filling your plate mostly with healthy whole grains and vegetables, and about 3 ounces of meat, poultry or seafood per person.

Got any more back-to-school budget tips? We’d love to hear them.

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From GENE LOGSDON

How many slick tricks have you learned about farming and gardening more or less by accident? My favorite example happened because of laziness. I didn’t clean out the roof gutter on the barn for over a year. I have a longstanding prejudice against roof gutters anyway. Why not just let the water run off the roof onto a layer of gravel or stone along the wall? The gutters plug regularly and the water overflows anyway. This is especially true of my barn which sits in the woods. All sorts of tree leaves, twigs, and seeds end up in the gutter. Five tree leaves can plug a downspout no matter what kind of contraption you install to prevent it. And those screens that are supposed to keep debris out of the gutters become clogged and the water cascades right on over and down to the ground. That is, in any event, how I justify my laziness. Water running off the barn roof (as opposed to running off the house roof) is certainly not of any consequence as far as looks are concerned. In fact that water off the roof keeps the whole barnyard lawn nice and green all summer.

Now the plot thickens. Last year I decided to turn one of my pasture plots into woodland as you know if you have been reading this website. I figured I would just scatter all kinds of tree seeds over the plot and by and by some of them would sprout and grow. That does work, but I could see right away that nature’s way was going to be too slow for this old man. So I started transplanting seedlings. That too has proven not to be as easy or automatic as it sounds. Digging up seedlings is hard work and some of them die no matter how careful I try not to disturb the roots.

I was thinking about this situation one day in June when I happened to be walking past the barn. I looked up at the gutter and was startled to see that it looked like one very elongated pot of plants. All sorts of things were growing ludicrously out of it. But of course: maple, oak, ash, elm and wild cherry seeds had been washing into it for over a year. Some of them had sprouted and were growing with the abundance of rain that had fallen. I could lift them out with all their roots intact without straining one muscle, carry several dozen in a bucket at once, and plant them with only minimal effort.

Sometimes laziness pays. Happy happenstance farming!

Another example of learning by accident is something my sheep taught me earlier but never more graphically than this summer. On the strips where I grew corn last year, I disked and broadcast red clover this spring. It came up fine but then in our very wet May and June it faltered in the water-logged soil. I grazed it anyway, thinking it would come back with drier weather. But by mid-June, and after I shifted the sheep on to other plots, the clover was completely blotted out by crabgrass and quack grass. I moaned and groaned. By mid July, time for that plot to be grazed again, the strips that had been clover were bright green with these two grasses. But the sheep went after them like a child after chocolate.

So now I can tell you how to have good lush pasture in the hot dry days of summer. Pretend that you are going to grow corn. That’s really all you have to do. Plow and/or disk some land, then go away. It might even help to plant some corn if you have some cheap seed since I am convinced that quack grass and crabgrass will grow even faster and denser if they think they are competing with corn. Or broadcast clover like I did which also seems to bring out the villainy of these two weed grasses. Then pray for bad weather. Crabgrass and quack grass love it wet and love it dry. They are genetically engineered by nature to cover bare land to protect it against erosion and by hickory they will cover it come hell or high water. Where all those grass seeds came from to make such a magnificent stand, I do not know. Life is full of mysteries.

This method of growing lush pasture in summer is not necessarily a good thing. It requires cultivating the soil, which is what I am trying to get away from in pasture farming. But if you are going to cultivate some of your land every year anyway, a rotation of corn, quack grass and crabgrass is something to consider. Another happy happenstance might follow. It did for me. After the sheep grazed the grasses down to the ground, (they did a fairly good job on some ragweed that dared to dispute the territory with the grasses) I mowed the strips and guess what. Here comes the red clover back again!
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Organic Recipes, Organic Food, Local Food, Small Farms, Family Farms, Edible Landscapes, Shop Local – OrganicToBe.org

From GREG ATKINSON

Tarragon is one of those herbs that takes some getting used to. Before it became familiar to me through repeated exposure, I found its taste jarring. Now, its redolence is reassuring. A hint of anise, a note of basil, the simple fresh green of parsley, all these flavors and more are reflected in what I now consider the queen of all garden herbs. Poached salmon is another acquired taste. The first time I tried it, it seemed insipid compared to the rugged flavor of browned salmon off the grill or out of the sauté pan. Now, I appreciate the unadulterated taste of plain salmon cooked in a gentle bath of its own stock. Here, tarragon and fresh salmon play a nice duet. The flavors are highly complementary and uncomplicated.

4 skinless salmon fillets (about 8 ounces each)
1½ cups Salmon Stock (see below)
2 tablespoons organic butter
2 tablespoons flour
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ cup organic cream
3 tablespoons fresh organic tarragon leaves or 1 tablespoon dried tarragon
Sprigs of tarragon, for garnish

In a large skillet with a close-fitting lid, arrange the salmon fillets, skinned side down, in a single layer. Pour in the stock and place the pan over medium heat. Cover and let the liquid come to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Poach the fillets gently for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer the fillets to a warm platter. Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the flour, salt, and pepper. Stir until combined. Add the poaching liquid, the cream, and the tarragon. Bring the sauce to a full rolling boil, whisking to keep it smooth, then pour it over the poached salmon fillets. Decorate the salmon with sprigs of tarragon and serve at once.
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Image Credit: © Casejustin | Dreamstime.com
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Organic Recipes, Organic Food, Local Food, Small Farms, Family Farms, Edible Landscapes, Shop Local – OrganicToBe.org

When relocating our long-revered Lincoln Park store in Chicago down the street to its new Kingsbury Street location, we made a conscious effort to create an environment that pays homage to the surrounding neighborhood and to the city of Chicago itself. In the process, we gained a talented new Team Member, a one-of-a-kind work of in-store art, and developed an ongoing partnership with a local kid-focused organization. Check out this video to learn the Lincoln Park story, and to see another example of how Whole Foods Market connects to the communities we serve.

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LANCASTER FARM FRESH COOPERATIVE – Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

Since the day a produce manager for Whole Foods Market in New York City tasted his first bite of organic asparagus from Pennsylvania, he was determined to get the product into his store. He traced the asparagus back to a small Amish family farm in Lancaster County and drove down there the next week to seal the deal. With the help of the non-profit cooperative Lancaster Farm Fresh, Whole Foods Market began to work with this farm and 40 other Amish and Mennonite growers from the area. All the produce sold through Lancaster Farm Fresh is raised on small family farms and is certified organic.

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Yep, it’s late July and hot as heck just about everywhere. Doesn’t it sound perfect to cool down with some ice-cold tea? We know! That’s why we’ve just introduced our new line of 365 Everyday Value Organic ready-to-drink teas.

Now these aren’t just your run-of-the-mill ordinary bottled teas. These new teas are organic and Whole Trade®, which ensures the ingredients are grown with a commitment to ethical trade, the environment and quality products. And 1% of the sale of Whole Trade products benefits the Whole Planet Foundation™. That’s doing good twice (three times if you count the good it does you to drink great tea!).

A majority of our tea leaves are grown in China and India — both known for their superior quality in tea leaf production — and our teas are bottled in the USA using 45% post consumer recycled plastic. We’ve created four flavored and lightly sweetened 16-ounce bottled teas and two unsweetened 64-ounce value options. Here’s the rundown:

In 16-ounce bottles:

• Organic Mint Green Tea
• Organic Lemon Black Tea
• Organic Peach Oolong Tea
• Organic Mango Acai White Tea

In 64-ounce containers:

• Organic Green Tea
• Organic Black Tea

We encourage everyone to give these great teas a try, and we’re going to jump start some supercharged cooling by choosing one reader to win a case of these delightful teas. Tell us why it’s sooooo hot where you are and why you think you should win the case of tea. We’re going to choose one winner at random but hey, make your story good ‘cause we want to sit back with a fun read and an ice-cold glass of tea. Enter your comment by August 4th.

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From JEFF COX

Preventing Skewer Twirl

Skewers are a fun and fast way to grill all kinds of food, but unless you spear each chunk of food exactly in the place where its weight is equal in all directions (unlikely), it can have a tendency to twirl on the skewer. This means uneven cooking—the heavy part may get all the heat and the top part little or none.

There are ways to prevent skewer twirl. The simplest is to use two skewers. If using bamboo skewers, soak them for ½ hour in warm water by weighting them down under the surface with a plate. Then they won’t burn on the grill. Metal skewers simply need to be clean.

Push the first skewer through one side of the food, and the second through the other side. For instance, the first skewer might go through the head side of six shrimp, the second skewer through the tail side. Now they can’t twirl. And having two skewer handles instead of one makes them easier to flip.
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Grilled Fish Kebabs

Makes 4 servings

Firm-fleshed fish such as cod, Chilean sea bass, escolar, ahi, and swordfish make the best kebabs, as they don’t disintegrate into flakes when cooked. Chunks of nectarine cut to about 1-inch cubes, the same size as the fish, make a tasty match on the skewers and take about the same amount of time to cook. The recipe below calls for swordfish, but feel free to substitute any of the firm-fleshed options mentioned here.

8 bamboo skewers, soaked in warm water
Canola oil
1 pound swordfish steaks, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 pound ripe nectarines, halved, pitted, and cut into 1-inch chunks

1. Preheat the grill to high for 15 minutes. Scrub the grates with a wire brush, and brush them down with some oil. Reduce the grill’s heat to medium.

2. Use 2 skewers to spear 4 chunks of swordfish alternating with 3 chunks of nectarines. Brush the kebabs all around with oil.

3. Place the kebabs on the grill and cook uncovered for about 4 minutes. Turn them over—be careful when you lift not to pull off any fish that might be stuck to the grates; if you feel resistance, run a spatula blade gently under the kebabs along the grates to loosen. Cook for an additional 3 to 4 minutes, or until the fish is thoroughly cooked through. Serve immediately.
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Organic Recipes, Organic Food, Local Food, Small Farms, Family Farms, Edible Landscapes, Shop Local – OrganicToBe.org

This week’s star is that late summer favorite: heirloom tomatoes. It’s the final week of our collaborative 8-Week Recipe Contest with food52, an online community for home cooks. If you have a great recipe starring fresh heirloom tomatoes, go to the food52 contest page to submit your recipe for a chance to win a 0 gift card from Whole Foods Market.

All recipe submissions must meet Whole Foods Market’s Quality Standards, which means that they must be free of hydrogenated fats, artificial colors, flavors, preservatives or sweeteners.

To enter, go to the food52 contest page, create a log-in account, and then follow their instructions for entering. (While we love seeing your recipes, entering one in the comments section of this blog post will not get you entered into the contest.)

Food52 is accepting heirloom tomato recipes starting today, July 26^th and ending on July 30^th, so make sure to get your recipe in quickly.

Winners of the eight weekly contests will be eligible to win a grand prize of a ,000 Whole Foods Market gift card! Stay tuned for more details about he grand prize voting!

Thanks to everyone who has entered the Food52 contests this summer!

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