But what about the food???

SAC Guest Blogger: Sarah Sinning

If “no man can be a patriot on an empty stomach,” as William Cowper would have us believe, then the same logic must be true for local food advocates, right?  This idea certainly seems to have been behind Kris Reid’s delicious offerings at this year’s SAC, for the variety of dishes at every meal was simply staggering.  For those of you who couldn’t make it this year, here’s a little sampling of the goods:

Sweet potato bisque, collard wraps with winter vegetables and honey pecan dressing, shrimp and grits, autumn vegetable strudel, braised greens with apples and caramelized turnips, spiced pumpkin with Sea Island Peas and goat cheese salad, whole pork braised in rootbeer, carrot cake with goat cheese frosting…and trust me, the list goes on!  Are you hungry yet???

But while this autumnal feast was certainly impressive given the fact that Reid had to source enough food to feed over 600 attendees more than 5 different meals over the course of a weekend, one of the biggest challenges was simply in finding it all!  For those of you who are not familiar with how the food service industry typically operates, here’s a quick crash course.  For most major hotels and restaurants, the most difficult part of ordering food for an event is generally in crunching the numbers.  Once you have a menu drafted with the amount of prospective guests, placing your order can be as simple as filling out an online form with your distributor and hitting “send.”  While a lot of establishments actually use a variety of distributors to assure the best quality and price, the key word here is DISTRIBUTOR.  When Reid was asked to source the food as locally as possible, the luxury of using a pre-established distributor network pretty much went out the window!  The problem is simple: although there has been a dramatic increase in the demand for local food across the state, we still lack an adequate infrastructure to make it truly accessible across all avenues.  When CFSA introduced Eastern Carolina Organics a few years back, this was a huge stride in the right direction, for it finally gave time and cash-strapped restaurants and retailers access to the local food producers they desired.  While it has certainly been no secret to professional and home cooks alike that local, seasonal ingredients taste better, most restaurants simply couldn’t afford the time and extra cost associated with not only tracking down the products, but also coordinating their delivery on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.  But today the tides are changing, and as ECO and businesses like it continue to grow and more and more farmers are contributing to the overall supply, the infrastructure is slowly but surely filling in the gaps.  This doesn’t unfortunately mean that Reid had the luxury of simply filling out an online order form and hitting “send,” but it’s because of the tireless efforts of chefs like her that the rest of us will one day be so lucky.     

Good Meat: Cooking Secrets

Good Meat author Deborah Krasner (right) stands proudly with her book and a representative from Animal Welfare Approved. The glorious irony of sustainability!

SAC 2010 Guest Blogger, Victoria Bouloubasis

Author Deborah Krasner spoke to a small crowd of farmers and cooking aficionados on Sunday with cheery enthusiasm and expertise on sustainable gourmet. The James Beard Award winner discussed her latest book, Good Meat: The Complete Guide to Sourcing and Cooking Sustainable Meat, the first published guide and cookbook to take an unadulterated look into how we raise, source and (better) cook grass-fed and pasture-raised meat.

Attendees were just as excited as Krasner about Good Meat. “A lot of the other books out there [on organic meat] are dreadful,” said one farmer.

“I wrote Good Meat for a number of reasons,” Krasner told the room. “One of which, I really understood that cooking pastured and grass-fed meat is very different than conventional.”

She also recalled an article she read in the New York Times in which the writer didn’t know what to do with lamb shoulder. “Wow, we have really dumbed down cooking if nobody knows how to cook anything except for a steak or a chop,” she said.

She was also a bit irked that sustainable meat was difficult to find in most U.S. cities. “I was angry that good meat went from being a birthright to everyone, to good meat being something that we have to search out.”

Her book, however, is anything but angry. After one brief peek into the pages of gorgeous photographs, beautifully executed recipes (lamb with ginger, cinnamon and apricot, anyone?) and recommended, affordable kitchen equipment, it’s no wonder this book is being touted as a complete how-to guide for sustainable meat. For three years, Krasner cooked meat from various farms out of her Vermont home to compile a tested recipe collection of beef, pork, lamb, rabbit, poultry (ducks, chickens, turkey, pheasant). Aside from retail cuts like flank and chuck, her book also features the bits and pieces many of us are hesitant to try cooking: lamb’s tongue, pig’s ears and tails, chicken feet, hearts, gizzards, sweetbreads and more.

Fisherman or farmer, everyone was intrigued with Good Meat.

“You’re obliged to honor the animal’s sacrifice by cooking the whole animal,” said Krasner. “That means cooking every part that is edible, not just cherry-picking the choicest cuts.”

On Sunday, Krasner unlocked a treasure trove of cooking secrets when dealing with meat. Among them: cook low and slow (with a tight fitting lid) or fast and hot; don’t cook anything past medium rare; distilling a half cup of red wine, apple cider, vermouth or beer into a hot pan of caramelized leftover meat bits makes for a “baseline fabulous” reduction; a $10 Chinese sand pot from an Asian grocery is just as good as a fancy Le Creuset.

The retail price for Good Meat is $40, though Krasner is offering wholesale prices for farmers. E-mail her at goodmeatbook@gmail.com for more information. For an online excerpt, click here.

“In the end, what matters to me is that we make a sustainable meat movement in this country and we help everybody get healthy. It’s good for the health of yourself, your family, and guests at your table. It increases the health of small farmers and diversified farms, preserves your land from development. It saves the planet; its carbon footprint is correct. Land that cannot be used for farming can be used for grazing animals. I don’t care if you eat a lot of meat or a little bit of meat, whenever you choose to eat it, eat good meat.”

For gourmand folks looking to learn more about cooking sustainable meat, NC Choices Casey McKissick informed the crowd that there will be artisanal cooking classes for home cooks at the Carolina Meat Conference, March 25-27 in Concord, N.C.

Canning 101: for folks of all ages

SAC 2010, Guest Blogger Lisa Poser

I thought canning was for old ladies. Like sewing and knitting is…. right?  Wrong. On both assumptions.

First of all, knitting has actually made its way into the spotlight over the past few years as a hobby for people of all ages. For evidence, see this fun site that has successfully helped to form social knitting clubs all over the world!

Canning is also arguably making its way into the spotlight as the push towards local food and gardening gains momentum. (After all, we need something to do with all that fresh, local, nutritious produce we’re growing!) Evidence? For starters, the Canning 101 workshop at this years Sustainable Agriculture Conference.

Dr. Anne Marie Scott

Granted I don’t know too many canners other than my Mom who use to make strawberry jam every summer and the lady at the farmers market who I buy pepper jelly from, but Dr. Anne Marie Scott, Kitchen Educator at the Edible Schoolyard Project, is definately one of the most passionate canners I’ve ever met! During this session she gave us a run down of what it takes to start canning. For those of you who are like me and haven’t tried it yourself yet for various reasons (don’t have the time, don’t know how, are scared of a pressure canner) read below and then give it a try. You may be pleasantly surprised!

Dr. Scott’s Main Message about canning was pretty clear and simple. Just do it! And don’t let that pressure canner scare you! If you follow the recipe directions to the T, your end product will be safe to eat.

Take homes.

• There are two approved canning methods. The type of food you want to can decides which method you use. Use Boiling Water Canning for high-acid foods like fruits. Use Pressure Canning for low acid foods like vegetables and meats.   
• Start with Boiling Water Canning because it’s less complicated than using a Pressure Canner.
• Bad things like botulism can happen, but rarely do. If you follow the directions exactly, your product will be perfectly safe to eat.
• If you unintentionally make syrup instead of jelly, just smile and enjoy….it will taste equally as yummy!
  

  Tasting the final product

• A tested preserving recipe
• Canning jars (like Ball Mason jars) with appropriate lids and bands
• Deep saucepot with a lid and a rack (for Boiling Water Canning)
• A ladel
• A jar grabber to remove jars from boiling water
• A magnetic wand to remove lids from boiling water

Where To Buy Canning Tools and Equipment? Online, your local hardware store, or your local grocery store (Weaver Street Market, Food Lion)

Canning tools and resources

Where To Get More Information.

You can find everything you need to know including How-To Guides and Videos, a Problem Solving Guide, Recipes, Tools, etc  to start canning at Ball’s website.  The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving and The Big Book of Preserving the Harvest are also invaluable resource books.

Happy canning!

Labor Issues for Farmers

Dept. of Labor Rep. Rick Blaylock addresses important labor issues.

SAC 2010 Guest Blogger, Victoria Bouloubasis

CFSA made a good call in including the Labor Issues for Farmers session at SAC 2010. The issue may not be riveting (it wasn’t a packed house like the Why Farms Fail session down the hall), but it’s a very important one, both in complying with state labor laws and treating farmworkers justly, running your small farm fairly and smoothly.

Digesting all the information given to the group by Rick Blaylock of the NC Department of Labor can be a headache, though the department’s Web does a pretty good job in providing resources. We were all given a packet of detailed information (see links below) regarding wage laws, employment laws concerning migrants, youths and volunteers and farm labor contracting (FLC).

FLCs were the first big topic. “If you’re a farmer and you need workers, a lot of times you’ll contact somebody that can supply you with workers. That person is a Farm Labor Contractor,” explained Blaylock. “I really appreciate you all being there today, because I wish I could get this out to every farmer. We investigate farmers independent of FLC leaders. We revisit farmers we found violations with in the past. “

The discussion quickly led to a Q&A session with Mr. Blaylock.

Q: Can farmers pay in cash?

A: Paying in cash is fine, but it’s hard to document. If you have a list, fine. But if the people say, no they weren’t paid, then the records are tough.

Q: I’m hiring some people right now and I’m using a receipt book on a carbon form. I need to get them to sign it?

A: Cash is perfectly legal. My only concern is documentation for yourself if they get amnesia.

Q: Can you pay FLC directly? So long as there’s a paper trail, is that perfectly fine?

A: Make sure there is a good paper trail. You need to show us how many hours these people worked, and how much they got paid.

Q: Do you pay FLC directly or farmers directly? Is that something you negotiate with them in providing the service?

A: If you’re dealing with a reputable FLC, and everything works out, then you’re good.

Q: What prompts an investigation? Is it a random audit?

A: We are doing large investigations during what we see are the peaks of that industry. In the four years I’ve been here [in North Carolina], I’ve been very fortunate to develop a great list of resources who contact me often to see if it’s a concern. If it’s safety related, we go that day or the next day.

Q: Does the DoL check the immigration/legal status of farmworkers?

A: When we interview migrant workers, we do not ask if they are here legally or not. Regardless of if someone is here legally or illegally, they are required to be paid fairly. People know that when they talk to our agency, they are protected. Many workers are subject to human trafficking. We have a real problem here, and it’s our job to help the people who need our help – whether they are here legally or illegally. I don’t know if they’re illegal. I don’t care that they’re illegal.

For those of you unable to attend, here are links to all the information we received:

The Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA) http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs49.pdf

MSPA Transportation http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs50.pdf

MSPA and Farm Labor Contracting (FLC ) [Go to EDIT in the tool bar and use the FIND Tool to search for FLC certificates] http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/statutes/FLCList.htm

MSPA Ineligible Farm Labor Contractors http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/statutes/mspa_debar.htm

Wage and Hour Division http://www.dol.gov/whd/

Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) http://www.dol.gov/whd/flsa/index.htm

MSPA, FLSA and Farmworkers Rights http://www.dol.gov/whd/FLSAEmployeeCard/FarmWorkerEnglish.pdf

General Agriculture Page http://www.dol.gov/whd/ag/index.htm

Compliance Guide/Worker Protections in Agriculture http://www.dol.gov/compliance/guide/mspa.htm

Starting a Successful CSA

SAC 2010 Guest Blogger, Victoria Bouloubasis

“Just-hatched” young farmers and seasoned producers packed Farm Marketing 101: Starting a CSA and Other Hot Topics on Saturday. Led by Judy Lessler of Harland’s Creek Farm, the slide show presentation quickly led to a dynamic dialogue, Judy lending her expertise to farmers and market managers interested in expanding into a successful CSA.

Ana Parra, Executive Director of Hub City Farmers’ Market in Spartanburg, S.C., attended the session to help her market’s farmers. “We did a pilot CSA, but I felt like there was a lot of room for improvement. I wanted to learn the basics of a successful CSA and take that information to farmers in Spartanburg County to plan for a successful collaborative CSA for 2011.”

Harland’s Creek started a flour CSA ten years ago and a produce CSA just one year later, both highly successful. The trick? Direct marketing strategy, collaboration and communication.

“Your customers have paid. Even if promised crops are not available, be up front about what could happen,” she said, citing examples of a hail storm creating a limited variety, or even better weather causing an extra production of one crop in the mix. “Have you communicated with the customer? If you continually say, ‘I can’t do this, I can’t do that,’ they are gonna leave you.”

Other tips:

· Make sure you have enough products every week – Judy actually grows 50-60% more than she needs for the CSA, just so she has enough to sell at markets and to restaurants.

· Collaborate – you need a variety in your basket. If you only specialize in five items, collaborate with three or four other farms with their five specialized products for market variety to customers.

· Throw in a “piece of gold” – Judy includes value-added products, like recipes and a meal plan to help people figure out how to transform a basket of produce into meals for the whole week.

· Detailed planning required – determine how far you’ll travel to deliver, how often you’ll communicate, how many customers you’ll take each season, the additional costs to special products (meat, dairy, etc.) – and stick to it.

· BIG decision: customer choice or farmer choice? Judy suggests tailoring the box as a farmer and educating your customers on what to eat seasonally

Direct thoughts from Judy Lessler:

On what to grow: “What I would recommend, if you are starting out, is to set the share items yourself. And grow some products that can be stored. I love it when potatoes are harvested. They’ll have that fresh new potato taste for about 4 months. Other things, garlic, sweet onion can store for about a month. Carrots, beets can be stored. A lot of things like that are good to have available.”

On how to gain customers, and keep them: “Start by advertising at the farmers market. Now CSAs are so popular, people are Googling. I don’t think you’ll have trouble if people know of your farm. Once you have them, you gotta treat ‘em well. It doesn’t mean if there are flea beetles on your arugula, and it’s perfectly fine to eat, you just put them in the box. You have to tell them it happened, that it’s fine. It’s really important not to just slip something in, you have to let them know. Offer farm visits, cooking classes. Lots of people do potlucks and dinner for their CSA customers. And that value-added product; for example, meal preparation booklet 2009:“How to cook a pizza no matter what is in your CSA box.”

Scaling Up Without Losing our Souls

SAC 2010 Guest Blogger, Victoria Bouloubasis

SAC 2010 did not skirt around any issue. The soul of the movement is on the line, and on everybody’s mind. And 8:30 a.m. on a Saturday was a perfectly acceptable time to address it, first thing in the morning.

THE PANEL: “Taking Sustainable Agriculture to Scale without Losing our Souls”

THE PURPOSE: Local and organic is a growing movement. But can we grow the supply of sustainable food and fiber in this country without losing our values?

THE MODERATOR: Scott Marlow, RAFI-USA

THE PANEL:

Rick Larson – Natural Capital Investment Fund

Ruffin Slater – Weaver Street Market

Matt Boulanger – Enterprise Farm (Massachusetts)

Sandi Kronick – Eastern Carolina Organics

Uli Bennewitz – Weeping Radish Brewery

Phil Barker – Operation Spring Plant, Prize in the Harvest Coop

If any of the audience members in the Grand Pavilion that morning felt groggy, they masked it perfectly with wide-awake faces and an eagerness to listen. The farmers, consumers, organizers and activists among the attentive audience and experienced panel discussed the changing, growing market and how the smaller players can win. The bottom line: yes, the game is changing. Buzz words saturate brands and media, and the movement has become a trend. For everyone involved from the beginning, “shouting into the wilderness” as Scott said, it’s their job to protect the values behind it, so as not to “lose our soul”. At the end of the day, everyone in that room, at the conference, is considered “an activist entrepreneur with the power to bring about social change.” Below is a list of highlighted topics and tips from the panelists, in their own words.

Protect our values. Scott Marlow: “Markets do not stay static – ever. As there becomes more and more value in what we do and what we’ve created, and we address certain problems [climate change, peak oil, obesity] there will be more and more people who want to take advantage of that value and cut out the piece themselves. So the big question is: How do we do this and make it real?” [After the panel, he added]: “If we don’t protect our ground, our values get syphered off, our integrity gets eroded, it all goes away.”

Keep it local. Ruffin Slater: “It’s important to look at the supply chain. I think we have amazing success stories at every part of that chain. When these parts of the chain are locally owned, there are no problems with values, with the soul of the movement. It’s a big loss when locally-owned stores are bought out by national chains. If we can learn how to grow grapes and produce wine organically, we can learn how to run an institutional cafeteria.”

Know your neighbors. Phil Barker: “I think that we can’t just move in our pastures anymore. We have to look at what our neighbors do, and how do we work together to make this work? There’s a big difference now in the way we think about how we make profit. The dollars are going to begin to drop down for certain growers. As we move forward, I see ourselves as pulling together and investing our dollars in the community.” [Later he added]: “Our small farms are the backbone of our agricultural system. We have to keep our small farmers on the land as owners.”

Drive the volume. Sandi Kronick:” Greatest innovation is the direct market distribution. There’s obviously a lot of challenges in it, but what’s exciting is there’s nothing linear about it. We’re all kind of bumping into each other in the market, but we’re blessed by having the same values. It’s trust, it’s what happens when you’re working with people. We’re all moving in the same direction. How do we maintain the identity of that farm and the integrity, so the prices are what they need to make and not driving it down? It’s ultimately how quickly it can get to the vendor. The fewer steps, the more money goes to the producer.”  [Later she said]: “Network. There’s no reason why the middleman can’t be a food advocate.”

Sell in more than one outlet. Rick Larson: “I think it’s important as growers to have more than one outlet for your product. The market is fluid, it’s always changing. You have to have more than one way to move your product. It helps a lot if you do. If you’re just a CSA farm, and you have a few consumers, that’s it. In coming up with capital, a cost share can be very effective.”

Maintain relationships to maintain integrity (versus the big guys). Uli Bennewitz: “One thing we are completely underestimating is the trust of the public in small farms. That’s the biggest asset we have – integrity and trust. There is no way Smithfield or Tyson can prove where their product came from. “