PASA Classifieds Tempt Those with Farm Dreams
If you’re really interested in food and farming, check out Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture’s classifieds and opportunities link. It’s on the left side of their site at www.pasafarming.org. But beware, you may find yourself traveling to farms in Venezuela, buying an adorable sounding llama, or collecting goat milk cheesemaking equipment. Last year, I seriously considered applying to work for a Massachusetts farm that needed a chef to show customers what to do with its vegetables. Today, these are some of the ads that lept off the page:<br>FRIENDLY, SMALL-GROUP TRAVEL IN RURAL VENEZUELA - Visit farms, ranches; sustainable agriculture, small producers, value-added enterprises, recycling, environmental education. Special attraction: TRADITIONAL VENEZUELAN HARP MUSIC! ...<br>I’m so there!<br>FOR SALE - Home Scale Milk Goat and Cheesemaking Equipment. 1 Montgomery Ward Cream Separator (Electric) w/ components and replacement parts manual $150. 1 Montomery Ward Cream Separator (Hand Crank) w/ components, replacement parts manual…<br>Montgomery Ward! A hand-cranked cheese separator! It brings back memories of my grandmother’s old heavy metal meat grinder that my mom used to make ham salad.<br>FOR SALE - Llama, Born 9/1/08. Cria is from purebred registered show parents – papers available. Great as pet, livestock guardian animal, show animal or for fiber. Chocolate brown with white hooves, face and neck. What could be cuter. Well, perhaps a llama that doesn’t spit. Of course there are larger purchases – entire homesteads, and commitments – 2 year jobs on farms. Happy searching.
Posted by Jennifer Szweda Jordan on 11/13/2008
Nature Imposes Food Safety Lessons
I've long prided myself on being a good cook. But my current experience with food poisoning has humbled me. I've caught campylobacter, a bacteria carried by chickens that doesn't make the birds sick. I can't say for sure, but I think it was from a fresh chicken purchased from a farmers market. I'm guessing that's the case because freezing would have killed this bacteria. I used a meat thermometer I didn''t completely trust in roasting the chicken. So I moved the legs and thighs around to test for doneness and probably licked my fingers. Bad move. One drop of the bacteria can cause illness, which I've had for 11 days, including three in the hospital. So I sound like my parents now. Don't do as I do, but do as I say. Get a good meat thermometer, and be extra careful. Or freeze your chicken first. Secondly, I've had a batch of sauerkraut fermenting in the basement for six weeks or so. I spent a full day cutting up cabbage. During my absence, the kraut grew an egg yolk colored mold and I don't know if it's safe. Naturally I want to save this huge batch, but then there's my recent episode. There's still so much about food I wish I knew. In my dream world, I would attend an upcoming weeklong class on fermentation at the John C. Campbell Folk School in North Carolina. Sandor Katz, who spoke in Pittsburgh this year, will teach. He'll discuss how to make tempeh, mead, vinegar and more. If you can be my surrogate, go and live this dream for me! Happy - and safe - cooking.
Posted by Jennifer Szweda Jordan on 10/14/2008
Slowly Produced Notes From Slow Food Nation
It's almost a month after Slow Food Nation, and I'm realizing I'm just not going to produce some stories from the recordings I made. But I wanted to post about a few of the folks I met, ideas I heard.<br>David Mas Masumoto, a California peach farmer, and his daughter Nikiko described through poetry and drumming the experience of farming. Masumoto's first book, Epitaph For A Peach is about his struggle to save the Sun Crest variety of peach, which has a short shelf life. It launched his writing career. On the same day his book was released, his family tree orchard experienced a devastating hail storm. I asked Masumoto whether writing helps his farming. He answered yes, that it helps him in a practical sense, much like a business journal, to remember what to plant, prices, what went wrong and right. And it helps him to deal with devastating events, like the storm.<br>Also at Slow Food Nation were movie stars, though not of the Brad Pitt variety. My celebrity sighting was with David Lee Hoffman, mentioned on this page for his leading role in the documentary All In This Tea. He's an importer portrayed in the movie as being able to discern pesticides in tea with a simple sniff. He pointed out that what he loves about tea is its simplicity - it's just a dried leaf. I asked what we should look for in tea and he suggested the simpler, the better. Something mixed with peach flavorings, and essence of ginger, he said, is 'not my cup of tea.'
Posted by Jennifer Szweda Jordan on 09/26/2008
After the Meal: Trimming Waste In Slow Food Nation
Slow Food Nation's trying to be a zero waste event. It's a particular challenge at its food booths. It's your basic mixed ethnic festival style food setup, with Indian here, Mexican there, except that it's all super high quality. Food is served on paper plates, and compostable potato starch cutlery is on hand. After I finished my tamale, I headed over to the disposal can marked compostables to toss my plate and fork. I wondered if others knew these products were compostable, so I peeked into the adjacent "recyclable bottles and cans only" and "garbage only" cans. Sadly, these green foodies aren't as savvy as I thought. Perhaps they should have taken a cue from Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Arts Festival this year. Similar food kiosks, but young people were hired to stand at the waste stations and let people know where to toss their leftovers. This isn't to trash SFN or the city. This event offers free water instead of gouging folks for plastic bottles of H20. And they encouraged Slow goers to bring recyclable bags for shopping. Plus, the city has an interesting compost program going on with curbside pickup at homes and restaurants. They haul the compost to nearby Wine Country. I wondered why my Merlot had hushed notes of rotten spinach.
Posted by Jennifer Szweda Jordan on 08/31/2008
Slow Food Nation or Selective Food Nation?
Will Slow Food be able to shed its reputation as an elitist organization? Or, as the New York Times' Kim Severson put it, will the group prove that it "is not just one big wine tasting with really hard to find cheeses that you weren’t invited to." That's what a lot of folks are chewing on as the first major gathering of Slow Food USA, Slow Food Nation, gets underway. I overheard a photojournalist's response to the charge. He and his wife went around the world, taking pictures of families with their weekly food input laid out on tables. (I hope to have a story on this next week.) The photog, Peter Menzel, suggested that change must come at the margins, among the educated and those who can afford organic chicken and fine cheese. Some skeptics wonder. Or maybe we're just jealous nobody offered us any of that pig on a spit tonight.
Posted by on 08/29/2008
Slow Moments on the Way to Slow Food Nation
I'm en route to the Slow Food Nation event in San Francisco. It's a celebration of food that's sustainable, locally raised, and savored. Even though I'm taking a quick plane, two mosaics at Pittsburgh's airport stopped me in my tracks. In the train terminal, that hurried place just after security, are two works by local artist Daviea Davis. One represents old Pittsburgh. It's primarily dark, though in various spots flames rise out of industrial buildings representing the smoky city's steel-making heritage. On the opposite wall is a brighter image of new Pittsburgh. An elephant and giraffe are tucked into greenery representing the zoo in Highland Park. And, noteworthy here, there are two images of food. One, hardly noticeable, is the can and apple icon that symbolize the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. And at the top is a long table of food with folks gnoshing at either end. Davis says that's our food-centric Strip District. Stop and stare next time you're there.
Posted by on 08/28/2008
Mark Your Calendars: Local and Slow Food Events Abound
As the summer growing season continues, many celebrations are scheduled to bring in the bounty. In Pittsburgh, the East End Food Co-op's Local Food Challenge continues with a work party at the Braddock gardens tonight, a discounted tasting at Legume Bistro tomorrow, and an End of Challenge Celebration and Potluck Weds. Aug. 13. Email outreach@eastendfood.coop for more information. They're also rescheduling a canning demo that got derailed when the store flooded last week.<br><br>Pittsburgh's Slow Food group also hosts parties and tastings regularly. It sends out weekly emails on what's available at the Strip District's mostly organic, Farmers at the Firehouse market on Saturdays. To get on their list, email marleneparrish@earthlink.net <br><br>Slow Food Central Pennsylvania Convivium frequently has tastings, too, and mushroom identification workshops. It's raising money now to send an area buffalo farmer named Crystal (really) to a shangri-la of food event in Terra Madre, Italy. For more about their work email annequinncorr@gmail.com.<br><br>And the big cheese of Slow Foods events, is coming up at the end of this month... the first ever Slow Food Nation event in San Francisco. There will be harvest music by immigrant farmers, panel discussions on such things as climate change and food, and a dizzying array of delectables. Check it out: slowfoodnation.org
Posted by Jennifer Szweda Jordan on 08/05/2008
Pressure Cooking: A Cool Kitchen's Best Friend
As the next step in my lifelong cooking evolution, I turned to an invention that debuted at the 1939 World's Fair. I purchased two pressure cookers at a kind of vast permanent Saturday flea market in a Mt. Washington church (they may in fact be from the '39 fair). I never got around to using them, mainly because I understood that you have to keep them tested and in good shape so they don't explode. Then the other day I went to cook some beans. The package instructed: cook 1-1/2 to 2 hours or -- get this -- five to six minutes in a pressure cooker. That's quite a difference. Can you imagine the energy savings AND the vanishing complaints about hot kitchens from people who just don't get the urge to cook and can on a hot summer day? So today I made a call to the city's Penn State Extension office to see if they check pressure canners. Indeed they do. The woman I spoke with said they've been getting more calls for this service -- she surmised because of the economy. And the office is considering classes in using pressure cookers. So get yourself a pressure cooker, turn on your Queen "Under Pressure" or David Bowie, whichever you like, and get cooking.
Posted by Jennifer Szweda Jordan on 07/10/2008
Food and Faith: Justice, Joy and Daily Bread
I just finished participating in a group that discussed essays in the book 'Food and Faith: Justice, Joy and Daily Bread.' We all shared a lot of fun food memories - my second cousin who is in her 50s told of a childhood memory of a milkman traveling by horse. And each week brought a different seasonal or local dish - which meant three weeks of rhubarb desserts. But there was also the reality of the dark side of the food system today we confronted together. We were especially discouraged when we read about the high rate of farmer suicides - that some farmers were ingesting pesticides. In 1998, 300 farmers in a community in India died this way. Other farmers, according to suicide hotlines, called to ask what kind of death would appear more likely to be accidental so that survivors could collect life insurance. A couple of us concluded that the more you know about such consequences of industrial food production - about additives, pesticides, worker treatment - the harder it is to not sound elitist and strident when someone innocently offers a burger and fries. One member of the group shared that when people say 'Isn't it expensive to eat organic foods?' She responds that it's 'Cheaper than cancer.' That may be the case for laborer as well as consumer. If you'd like to participate in a Food and Faith group at a later date, please contact me at Jennifer@alleghenyfront.org with Food and Faith in the subject line.
Posted by Jennifer Szweda Jordan on 06/26/2008
Pork Necks and German Chamomile
Twice recently people have given me some unusual foods. Last weekend I helped plant a garden at a group home for adults with special needs. Some of the residents joined in planting tomatoes, German chamomile, celeriac, cucumbers, zucchini, squash, and more. Mildred's Daughters farm in Lawrenceville donated many of our seedlings. <br>There was too much in the garden so I took a few seedlings home. The German chamomile in particular caught my eye as I'd never heard of it before and it looked so much like dill. Wikipedia says it's sometimes known as "the plant doctor", because it's thought to help the growth and health of many other plants, especially ones that produce essential oils. On the other hand, the website says it can also become an invasive species and an allergen. I'll take my chances, keeping it in a container and hoping for the best. <br><br>Another night a friend who delivers farm-fresh food offered 20 pounds of pork necks. I'm looking forward to what fun I can have with these. Internet recipes range from simply cooking with sauerkraut to braising with milk, rosemary and lemon. I'm already feeling like Iron Chef, challenged to make the most of this windfall. <br><br>
Posted by Jennifer Szweda Jordan on 06/05/2008
The Lazy Gardeners Journal: Volunteers and Perennial Goodies
LOVE the IDEA of gardening. Don't like the part where you take care of the garden -- watering, weeding, and so on. So my favorite plants are the ones that do well without any help from me. Probably four years ago, I was given two French sorrel plants at the end of the season at a garden center. I brought home the plants, withered leaves and all, mainly to make my grandmother one little bowl of soup. This is a soup her Polish immigrant mother made from the lemony green leaves. Now the little plants have grown into healthy stalks that are some of the first things to emerge in my yard each year. And I can make much more than one little bowl of soup. It's great as a salad green, on sandwiches, and in omelettes. Today I walked around to find several other plants that overwinter well -- collards, leeks, chives, tarragon, strawberries. When you invite plants into your life, they take on lives of their own. And I like that. I discovered some new goodies that weren't planted -- a wild rose bush that I think I'll let stay in the raised bed. And lots of dill sprouts from seeds that must have made their way through the compost. This year when my mother and I make pickles, we won't have to be disappointed if we can't find the freshest herbs at the farmers markets because we'll have plenty of our own. Without even trying.<br>Here's a recipe for Zupa Szczawiowa, translated as Sorrel Soup with Sour Cream<br>1 lb. sorrel leaves, cleaned, washed, dried<br>2 T. butter<br>6 cuts light soup stock <br>2/3 cup sour cream<br>1 T. flour <br>salt and pepper to taste <br>4-6 hard-cooked eggs (optional)<br>Chop sorrel raw; add salt to taste, saute in butter until done -- about 20 minutes. Combine with strained soup stock. Beat flour into sour cream and combine with soup; stir thoroughly and let simmer 5-10 minutes. Serve with quartered hard-cooked or deviled eggs on strips of toast. Serves 6-7<br>(Polish Cookery: The Universal Cook Book by Marja Ochorowicz-Monatowa)<br><br>
Posted by Jennifer Szweda Jordan on 05/20/2008
It's All In The Tea AND King Corn
Several of us at The Allegheny Front won awards last night from the Western Pennsylvania Press Club (including me for the Earth’s Bounty series). So I used that as an excuse to rest on my laurels a bit by checking out the movies on Comcast On Demand. I found a great Sundance film called All In This Tea. The star is tea importer David Lee Hoffman. He is lucky enough to taste teas in China that few Americans ever will. The teas are produced by farmers and artisans, whose methods have been increasingly lost to government-promoted factory methods since the Cultural Revolution. Hoffman says that unless a big effort is made, these teas will be lost forever. Hoffman is a noted tea importer who encourages buying direct from farmers, a model that doesn’t currently exist in China. Go to allinthistea.com for more information. There's also another great documentary that will be shown at the Carnegie Library: King Corn. Billed as a film "about two friends, one acre of corn, and the subsidized crop that drives our fast-food nation." It'll be shown Thursday, June 19, 7 pm, Center for Museum Education - Classroom A<br>4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Posted by Jennifer Szweda Jordan on 05/13/2008
What's Sprouting in the South Side
I finally got myself over to Mung Dynasty's steamy headquarters in the South Side and what a treat! When I buy their salads at the East End Food Co-op or Kuhn's, sometimes they've been in the cooler too long, and, well, it doesn't take much with the delicate mesclun and sprouts to get a little slimy. To get sprouts, wraps, and wheat grass as fresh as can be, head to the back of the old brewery building with the big blue Equitable Gas clock. Call ahead to order and don't block in their driveway -- lined with wheatgrass "mulch" and a big ole pile of compost. Mung Dynasty's super-nice owner Chris Wahlberg and his hip young crew are very helpful. 2200 Mary St., Pittsburgh, Pa. 15203. 412-381-1350
Posted by Jennifer Szweda Jordan on 05/06/2008
‘Tis the Season for Wild Edibles
With food prices going up, you might want to look to your yard for dinner – even if you don’t have a garden! I’ve been picking dandelions and violets. The other day I made a crustless quiche with these and some pork breakfast sausage. And on a beautiful spring hike, I gathered up the wildly invasive garlic mustard – I’m going to try a pesto that I’ve heard others mention. My yard also gets tons of tiger lilies later on in the season. The dried buds are apparently popular in Chinese food, while the bulbs were eaten like potatoes by Native Americans. Check out The Allegheny Front on May 7 for our spring show featuring a 97-year-old grammy who still makes a mean dandelion salad!
Posted by Jennifer Szweda Jordan on 04/29/2008
Yes, We Have Bananas, But at What Cost?
I may have bought my last bunch of bananas. Conventionally grown ones, anyway. For the last several years, when buying produce I've been faithfully following the Environmental Working Group's Shoppers Guide (http://www.foodnews.org) to avoid the most pesticide laden fruits. But the other day, The Allegheny Front's executive producer told me about a New York Times editorial that links the deaths of songbirds with pesticides used on bananas in Latin American countries. Apparently pesticide use has gone up five-fold since the eighties to meet our demand for off-season produce. And, in the last 40 years, the chemicals have cut in half the numbers of birds like the bobolink. So you may want to read this NY Times article, from March 30, 2008 entitled "Did Your Shopping List Kill a Songbird?" and think again before you reach for another banana or out-of-season melon.
Posted by Jennifer Szweda Jordan on 04/10/2008
Oh Happy Day! An Organic Farmer Is Born!
I just got the most thrilling news. It's personal but hey, it's my blog. A cousin has announced his intention to be an organic farmer. This is a person I feel a special connection with because we were born on the same day, 16 years apart. We have no real family background in farming, that I know of, except for my great-grandfather, a steelworker who died before my time. He sounded like the original DIY gardening guy, tying soup cans on sticks to reach up and pick peaches from trees in the backyard of the house in urban Steubenville, Ohio. This great grandfather planted corn and tomatoes from seed and the family did canning. Oh, and my great-grandmother had chickens! Fresh eggs! I'm oh so jello!
Posted by Jennifer Szweda Jordan on 04/03/2008
The First Greens of Spring
The warmer temperatures of recent days are all well and good. The longer daylight is lovely. But I think what's best about spring are those first bits of green. And I'm not really interested in daffodil leaves. It's the locally grown pea shoots, the leaf lettuce, and the rosemary I bought the other day that sent my spirits soaring. The Allegheny Front staff was part of the Farm to Table conference last weekend in Pittsburgh. Also in the house were farmers, health nuts, and food enthusiasts. I snatched up the last two bags of red leaf lettuce, pea shoots and a couple rosemary pots from Penns Corner Farm Alliance. The lettuce I snacked on in the car on the way home. (It seemed a sin to put dressing on such a delicate leaf.) The tender pea shoots garnished a gorgeous white bean and wheatberry salad flavored with the rosemary. (I modified this recipe http://www.bobsredmill.com/recipe/detail.php?rid=1271 -- swapping sundried tomatoes for fresh, red onions for shallots, and adding the pungent rosemary). The red tomatoes, the white beans, and yes that perfectly fresh green. You may have missed the conference but you don't have to miss the first fruits of the season. The Sewickley Farmers Market opens this Saturday. Check out buylocalpa.org for more information on farmers markets near you.
Posted by Jennifer Szweda Jordan on 03/31/2008
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Produced by:
Jennifer Szweda Jordan
I'm working on a public radio series of stories I hope will appeal to listeners on a gut level. Called Earth's Bounty, it's about food and the environment. This follows about a dozen years of work as a journalist that were preceded, and often supported, by stints in restaurants and catering businesses.
Stories in the Series:
| Air Date |
Story Title |
| 11/13/2008 |
PASA Classifieds Tempt Those with Farm Dreams
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| 11/12/2008 |
Earth's Bounty: Vacationing on the Farm
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| 09/26/2008 |
Slowly Produced Notes From Slow Food Nation
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| 09/24/2008 |
Earth's Bounty: Religious Sister Plays Role of Farmer, Beekeeper, Vineyard Worker
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| 09/17/2008 |
Earth's Bounty: Touring A Classic Market House
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| 09/03/2008 |
Victory Gardens: Wartime Vestige Blooms Again
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| 08/31/2008 |
After the Meal: Trimming Waste In Slow Food Nation
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| 08/27/2008 |
Earth's Bounty: Latest Table Magazine Offers Ways to Preserve Harvest
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| 08/13/2008 |
Earth's Bounty: Yes, We Can
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| 08/05/2008 |
Mark Your Calendars: Local and Slow Food Events Abound
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| 07/30/2008 |
Earth's Bounty: A Rare and Sacred Rest on the Farm
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| 07/23/2008 |
Earth's Bounty: Meet Greg Boulos, New Sustainable Ag Leader
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| 07/10/2008 |
Pressure Cooking: A Cool Kitchen's Best Friend
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| 06/26/2008 |
Food and Faith: Justice, Joy and Daily Bread
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| 05/28/2008 |
Earth's Bounty: Young Couple Gets a Hand from Experienced Farmers
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| 05/21/2008 |
Earth's Bounty: At Long Last 2008 Farm Bill Passes Congress
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| 05/13/2008 |
It's All In The Tea AND King Corn
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| 04/29/2008 |
‘Tis the Season for Wild Edibles
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| 04/23/2008 |
Earth's Bounty: Rhubarb, Ramps, and Ferns On Spring Table
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| 04/09/2008 |
Earth's Bounty: Going on a Low-Carbon Diet
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| 03/19/2008 |
Earth's Bounty: Fermenting Food for Fun and Flavor
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| 03/05/2008 |
Earth's Bounty: Federal Agriculture Research Lab Slated to Be Cut
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| 02/27/2008 |
Earth's Bounty: Food Glorious Food? What to Eat Causes Confusion
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| 02/13/2008 |
Earth's Bounty: No Whey! And Other Standards for Naturally Raised Meats
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| 12/19/2007 |
Earth's Bounty: Holiday Table Celebrates Traditions
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| 11/14/2007 |
Earth's Bounty: What's For Dinner? And the New Book, Food
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| 11/07/2007 |
Earth's Bounty: Senate Debates The 2007 Farm Bill
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| 10/31/2007 |
Earth's Bounty: Edible Schoolyards
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| 10/10/2007 |
Earth's Bounty: The Splendid Table's Lynne Rossetto Kasper
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| 08/22/2007 |
Earth's Bounty: Who Knew Milk Was So Controversial?
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| 08/08/2007 |
Earth's Bounty: America's Water Crisis and Agriculture
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| 08/01/2007 |
Earth's Bounty: What Does the Farm Bill Do for the Environment?
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| 07/25/2007 |
Earth's Bounty: Rare Breeds on Farms
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| 07/11/2007 |
Earth's Bounty: Summer Table Includes Flowers, Heirlooms, and More
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| 06/13/2007 |
Earth's Bounty: Conservation Groups Want Piece of Farm Bill Pie
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| 05/02/2007 |
Earth's Bounty: PB and J Campaign
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| 04/11/2007 |
Earth's Bounty: Our Daily Bread
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| 03/28/2007 |
Earth's Bounty: Eating Locally for Good Health
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| 03/21/2007 |
Earth's Bounty: Western PA Food, Culture On Glossy New Table
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| 01/10/2007 |
Earth's Bounty: Local, Organic, Fair Foods Pioneer Frances Moore Lappe'
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| 01/03/2007 |
Earth's Bounty: Restaurants Serve Up Local Foods
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Podcast/RSS Feed
