Synergy in the Soil

Met some more wonderful people at the market yesterday. (I forgot to write last night.) We feel very blessed that they find their way to the market so that we can meet them. There are so many venues for organic food these days (and man, isn't that an amazing blessing), that it is a wonder we get to connect with so many people seeking those choices.

We brought some of our concoctions to the market including kale salad and ranch dressing/dip as samples. They seemed to be a big hit. We also brought cucumber salad, honey almond butter, East Indian sprouts, zucchini chips, and banana bark for sale. We are wondering how we will keep up with the demand when we get a lot of customers. I guess we will deal with that when it happens. We know this is what we are supposed to be doing at the present time, and we know it helps people to have support when they are trying to change from destructive habits, so that being the case, He will help us do it just as He always has when He directs the path in which we are to travel. He never leaves us high and dry. We just can't imagine what that path might be. We are ALWAYS amazed at it when it does become evident.

One of the greatest benefits of this has been the wonderful produce WE are blessed to eat. When we were buying it at stores hit and miss, much of it was older and not as good. We are being blessed to eat the best possible food available to us right now, and I am so grateful for that. Some of it is so incredible, and I am so thankful to the growers that produced it.

Speaking of growers, Roger added 40 tomato plants to our farm yesterday. We will soon be swimming in cherry tomatoes, and that is a wonderful thing. Last year I would pick our tomatoes, bring them into the sink, and could hardly resist eating them as quickly as I washed them. Most of them never made it to a salad, sadly for Roger. He has no idea how wonderful they were! There was a sweet tangy thing going on, definitely yen and yang. I am salivating to think of them. I can hardly wait for this year's crop. In the meantime, I will enjoy other farmer's versions.

Saying that reminds me how personal and distinct each garden's output is. I don't believe any 2 gardens or farms produce could be identical. That is all the more reason to have a greengrocer who wants delicious produce as much as you do. I was thinking that at the market yesterday. So many people turn their nose up at organic. I can't even tell you how many people walk by and say, "Oh, that's organic...", and walk by as though it is something to be avoided as much as possible. The sign we have which designates us as organic is as much a detriment as it is an attraction. That is okay. It is the great divider. We don't want to force our idealogy upon anyone. We just want to help those who have come to believe it is important.

I am becoming more and more passionate about buying only those fruits and vegetables produced by farmers who care about their soil and the organisms they encourage to live there in a symbiotic relationship. I can tell by how a fruit or vegetable tastes how much effort was put into this. I know that sounds strange to some. There are even organics for which this is true. There are non-organic (conventional) foods in which I have tasted this, but it is rare, and not worth the chance since most conventional produce is mass produced with little thought put into the life of the soil.

Some farmers accomplish this unknowingly. I think of this when I drive through Hastings and see the silage growing. Farmers grow this as a way to enrich their soil the cheapest way possible, but it is also a great way to accomplish the synergistic relationship that makes for great tasting produce.

I have been thinking of how this is true of our food preparation as well. When we combine fresh, organic, and whole fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds into foods, we must keep this concept going. They must compliment each other. We must keep the synergy going. That is why some combinations are so delightful and others aren't. If we begin with foods that are substandard to begin with, we have little chance of coming up with something wonderful. When we use only great products, and feel what would go well together, we can't lose. I realize too, that what is good for me, may not be good for everyone, but apparently I have a pretty generic sense of this since most people like my preparations.

So no new recipes at the market this week, just some oldies but goodies. We are already excited about what we will be making next week: spinach alfredo stuffed mushrooms, caesar salad, and waldorf salad. We had the most beautiful romaine this week I have seen in a long time, and we can wait to make these delicious salads with them. Our celery was gorgeous too. Oh how blessed we are...

Change in Repetoire

It's fun to take a lot of samples for people to try at the market, but we have decided it is a little too labor intensive for us this early in the game. We decided to bring 2 new recipes each week for people to try which highlights some sort of seasonal produce we've been able to get. Then we can have other prepared foods we've passed out samples for before if anyone wants anything. We'll see how it goes tomorrow.

This week we made some kale salad and ranch dressing, raw vegan style. Both are delicious. We have celery sticks to go with the dressing/dip. I've already posted both recipes, so nothing new there.

We had a delicious fruit salad for breakfast with some cashew yogurt. For lunch, because the children both "graduated" today, we went to Present Moment for lunch. They had a great corn chowder today for their special. Darius and Alicia liked the jalopeno poppers, but they were too hot for me. There was also a scampi zucchini pasta dish with a Caesar salad, but it was nothing too special. We did like the addition of sun-dried tomatoes to it. It was nice to see Yvette and Sandy again.

"Sufficient for Our Needs"

Today it was Alicia's turn to forget something...she forgot the agave when she made her smoothies. Like I said, it is really hard to mess these things up. Darius said they were fine. I had watermelon. It was ok, but I am really looking forward to having one of the organic ones from Lady Moon Farms we will have at the market this weekend. All of their produce is top of the line.

We picked up our cherries today. They have been so outrageously priced, we have not been able to get any before today. They are still high, but this is the price they tapped out on last year. We bought some conventional ones last year, and they just aren't that tasty, so we held off getting cherries until we could get the organic ones. They seem hard to come by in general this year though. I haven't even seen any conventional ones at the market.

I have been thinking alot about why organic fruits and veggies taste better than conventional. (There is no doubt that they do. If you don't believe it, eat only organic for a couple of weeks, and then eat a conventional apple.) I believe it has to do with the life of the soil. When the soil is being nourished, there is a magical mix there, and all of the components are able to work together to make for a very desirable fruit or vegetable. Any other theories?

For lunch we had a delicious salad with romaine and heirloom tomato, cucumber, and alfalfa sprouts with some of the fantastic ranch dressing. I also sprinkled on some blueberries and capers. Yummy.

For dessert, we sliced up celery to have with the raisin cheese. Darius convinced me to try a banana with the raisin cheese, and that was good too. Seems like it combines well with all fruit. I had it with strawberries the other day.

Put some bananas in the dehydrator today. Alicia had some slices in there when I pulled something out of there, and they were so good, it motivated me to get more bananas in there. There is just too much good stuff to eat and not enough time to eat it!

We are going to pick basil and parsley and rosemary from our "farm" to take to the market this week. The basil is going crazy! Pesto time!

Messing Up is Hard to Do

I made smoothies for breakfast, but I was in a hurry, so I forgot the juvie base. It was a very thick smoothie! It's really hard to mess this stuff up even when you're trying!

Worked many hours today, so I didn't have time for much cooking. Alicia made a salad for us for dinner to go with yellow squash noodles and cheddar cheeze sauce. The ranch dressing is so good it makes me want a salad every day.

Darius made a fruit salad for lunch with some of all our fruit we still had. It was delicious with some of our yogurt dressing.

We were making more juvie, of course, and this time I used 2 cups of wheat berries so we could make a bigger batch of Alicheezits. We decided to make our own version of the Greek seasoning. We looked on the bottle of the one we got from Penzey's and concocted our own ratio based on the listed ingredients: coarse salt, garlic, lemon, black pepper, Turkish oregano, marjoram. It smells really good dehydrating, so maybe we got it right.

Patterns

Since we started a new work month today, there is not too much time for me to prepare food, so a lot of that fell to others. Darius made a mango milk shake for breakfast. Gotta love the mangos.

I had leftover kale salad for lunch with a lemonade. Good stuff. For dinner I was wanting a salad, so I made some ranch dressing from my giant bottle of cashew cheeze. After 3 1/2 quarts, there was still some cheeze, so I made 2 quarts of yogurt. I also started another bottle.

We are kind of getting in the groove with sprouting and fermenting. When I finish one, I start another. That seems to be a good pattern. I think it is essential to get some kind of pattern if you want to keep the food in your fridge that you want to eat.

Waldorf Salad

We went to Jacksonville last night for seminary graduation and our granddaughter Brooklyn's 1 year birthday, so I was pretty beat last night when it came time to get the old quill out for record keeping. Let's see how much I can remember about yesterday...

I know we had a Waldorf Salad for lunch after church. This is one of my favorite salads, and we don't have it often. I'm not sure why. I guess we don't want to get tired of it...

I like to serve this salad over a head of lettuce.

Mix well in a mixing bowl:

1 cup of chopped apples
1 cup of chopped celery
¼ cup raisins
¼ cup walnuts (I use soaked & dehydrated walnuts)

Mix together and dress with the following mayonnaise:

Blend in a blender till creamy smooth:

1/2 cup water
4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons raw agave or honey
2 teaspoons sea salt

For creaminess choose one and add to the blender mixture, creaming well:
1 1/2 C chopped young coconut meat
1 1/3 cup raw cashews
1 ripe hass avocado

This mayo can be used as a sandwich spread or as a delicious dressing for any kind of salad. I've made it with each of the three "creamers", and they are all good. Just go with whatever you have on hand. I'm really into the avocado one right now.

Before church everyone munched on their fruit of choice, and you already know what I chose (mangos). After we got home from Jacksonville, I had some celery and raisin cheese after I ate some of the watermelon Alicia cut up for dinner. It wasn't a truly great one, but it was adequate and hit the spot.

Today Wyatt and Angelina made a fruit salad for breakfast. I took a picture but will have to post it when I have more time. More fruit for lunch for most of us, and then for dinner we had another kale salad, cucumber salad, and an save-the-tuna salad served over romaine lettuce with a tomato/pineapple/red pepper/onion/parsley salsa. It was very good. I made the above mentioned mayonnaise instead of the one I've made with it before. I think it was good. We had a dinner guest, Stephen Miracle, one of Darius' oldest friends. I think he liked it as well.

After dinner we had some delicious strawberries, some raisin cheese, and some more celery. Strawberries really taste good with raisin cheese, a little like that dip everyone makes with marshmallows.

Hale the Almighty Kale

What a great day at the farmer's market! I can't believe all the really neat people we get to talk to each time we go. We especially like talking to the ones who have adopted a vegan lifestyle. There aren't too many, but we really enjoy the ones we do meet. We feel very connected to them.

Several of our customers have recommended we go to the Riverside Arts Market, so yesterday I submitted an application to it. I don't know if we will be accepted or not, but we will see. If we are accepted, 2 of us will go there, and the other 2 will stay at Beaver Street.

Darius and I took lemonade for breakfast, and then we had some grapes. I made kale salad before we left, so we had that for lunch. It was very popular amongst the people at the market. I think I posted the recipe for that on Thursday. We also had some pesto pasta I mixed up for us and the customers. It wasn't as popular as the kale. We took 12 heads with us and sold 10 of them! That is pretty amazing based on our past track record.

For dinner, Alicia made a salad. We haven't had too many salad meals lately, so it was very good. I love salad meals. She made kind of a Caesar-like dressing.