Seacoast Eat Local

If you’ve been to a farmers’ market, you’ve probably noticed the inspection sticker on the farmer’s scale — it ensures the accurate weight of what we’re paying for. Now imagine what happens when the scales are off by a measure or two, and what’s being weighed is by the truckload. Whether a small handful of potatoes or a large load of grain, farmer and consumer alike lose when scales are out of balance.

Independent third party inspection of weighing and measuring devices used in commerce — this includes scales of all sizes and meters for fuel — is conducted through the NH Department of Agriculture, Markets & Food, and is under immediate threat of being privatized with the passage of SB157. With the resulting loss of licensing fees, SB157 will also reduce departmental resources for monitoring and enforcement. The House will vote on this bill on Wednesday, April 27.

Now is the time to call or email all state representatives and ask them to vote NO on SB157, the bill that would give authority to private technicians to place seals on scales and meters.

To find and contact your NH state senator: www.gencourt.state.nh.us/senate/

At the same time, the House budget, HB1, eliminates the three remaining weights and measures inspectors from the budget of the Department of Agriculture, Markets & Food — even though these positions are self-supported by inspection fees charged the businesses that own the devices. So eliminating the inspectors does not save money in the budget — but it is consistent with the SB157 bill to give private service technicians authority to inspect scales and meters.

This privatized inspection plan would put one group of businesses in charge of regulating other businesses, a situation full of conflicts of interest. In some cases, businesses such as fuel oil dealers, gas stations, or stores would be self-inspecting. The Senate is now working on the budget. Now is the time for state senators to hear from constituents about restoring the weights and measures inspectors to the Department of Agriculture’s budget.  

This ‘privatization’ scheme will really affect farmers who purchase grain, silage, fertilizer, lime, sand, etc. by weight. Not to mention fuel purchases. Towns will also pay a steep price without knowing it, with all their sand, gravel, asphalt, road salt, and solid waste transactions that are weighed on the vehicle scales that the Department of Agriculture inspectors found failed inspection at a rate of 36%.

One out of three gas and diesel pumps tested were shorting the customer. People say that NH had private inspectors for 20 years “and it worked well.” It did not work well, as these test results from the first year that we reinstated state inspection demonstrates. Report of the first year of the state inspection program: damf-wm-inspection-program-report-3-15-11.htm

Other documents presented to the legislative committees reviewing SB157 include:

• Letter to Sen. Carson from the National Conference of Weights & Measures:

11_02_24_carson_newhampshire-ncwm.pdf 

 

• Letter from the Hanover-Lebanon Co-op Stores:

sb157-co-op-food-stores-letter-to-committe-2-16-11.htm

 

• The Department of Agriculture’s testimony to the House committee that just voted SB157 Ought To Pass by a vote of 11-3:

sb157-house-eda-damf-4-5-11.htm

See also this Nashua Telegraph article on the attempt to eliminate state weights and measures inspection: “Checks show not all’s square at pumps, scales”

From Brookford Farm, a new series of workshops to get you cooking and preserving:

BROOKFORD FARM COOKING AND PRESERVING WORKSHOPS

We’re happy to announce that we’re kicking off a series of cooking and preserving workshops, some at the farm, and some in commercial kitchens. Next month’s workshops are being hosted by LeCreuset in Kittery. Here’s what’s cooking for May!

 

Braised Parsnips with Greens / May 1st / 1:00 – 3:00 / LeCreuset in Kittery

 

Indulge your inner gastronome and learn the art of braising vegetables, where we turn the sweetness of over-wintered vegetables into complex flavors and textures. Mary will demonstrate techniques and explain both the science and ecology of this classic springtime dish. Recipe cards and samples will be available. Free and open to the public.

 

Braising Part II: Meats / May 29th / 1:00 – 3:00 / LeCreuset in Kittery

 

Learn how to use the Maillard Reaction to turn a tough cut of meat into a marvel of tenderness and flavor. Join Mary for Part II of this braising demonstration, which includes variations of the technique as applied to meats. We will discuss appropriate cuts of meat for braising, as well as other ingredients which accent these dishes. Recipe cards and samples will also be available. Free and open to the public.

For more information: www.brookfordfarm.com

Chef Sam Hayward of Fore Street, a Portland restaurant well known for their use of locally sourced ingredients, is the guest chef for the upcoming Gourmet Dinner at UNH. Tickets for Friday’s dinner are still available, however, Saturday’s dinner is sold out.

“Harmonious Flavors” Gourmet Dinner

Featuring Chef Sam Hayward, Fore Street Restaurant

Place: Stillings Hall, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH

Date: Friday, April 29 & Saturday, April 30, 2011

Time: 6 – 9 p.m.

Tickets: $60.

Hospitality Management invites you to join us for our widely reputed Gourmet Dinners. The events will provide you the chance to share a glass of wine with old and new friends and eat beautiful food, all the while helping to support UNH hospitality management students.

At multiple times during the academic year, Advanced Food and Beverage students majoring in Hospitality Management delight the University community with themed Gourmet Dinners. The Gourmet Dinners are an opportunity for students to apply fundamentals learned through classes in the program, and give the students real-world, hands-on experience. Students are responsible for all aspects of the event: planning and preparing the menu, selling and marketing the event, managing finances, and creating an enjoyable night for all who attend.

For more information, to view menu, and purchase tickets: wsbe.unh.edu/gourmetdinner.

Stout Oak Farm, an organic vegetable farm in Epping, NH, will have seedlings available by order. They have an amazing variety of tomatoes and peppers, as well as herbs and eggplant. Orders are due May 10th for pick up in late May:

This Spring we are offering organic seedlings for your vegetable garden – 20 varieties of tomatoes, plus peppers, eggplant, and culinary herbs. To see our full list of seedling varieties and downloadable order form, click here (.pdf).  The deadline for pre-orders is May 10th. Plants will be ready for pick-up at the farm in late May.  Get your orders in soon to ensure that we have the varieties you’re looking for!

We are especially excited to be offering a few Italian heirloom tomato varieties that are traditionally used for drying. We are growing these from seed brought back from Italy by our friend Debra. These tomatoes can be sun-dried, dehydrated, or hung to dry on the plants at the end of the season. They bear small, relative low-moisture fruit, which makes them particularly suitable for drying. They can also be eaten fresh! Here are the three we’re offering as seedlings this year:  Principe Borghese (small red plum), Inverno a Grappoli (“winter grape”), and a yellow variety from Puglia called Ponderosa sel Oro.

Slow Food Seacoast’s Sunday Dinner heads to Blue Moon Evolution in Exeter!

Slow Food Seacoast Sunday Dinner:

Wild Edible Greens & Flowers

Place: Blue Moon Evolution, 8 Clifford St, Exeter, NH

Date: Sunday, May 1, 2011

Time: 5:30–7:30 p.m.

Bring a potluck dish that includes spring flowers or other wild edibles to Blue Moon Evolution, a restaurant committed to supporting organic and local food producers. Their newly renovated space is a perfect place to come together and share a meal.

After dinner, Nancy Randolph will speak about two books from Just Write Publishers, a Maine-based company that focuses on books of local interest, that are relevant to our evening’s theme:

• How to Fix a Leek … and Other Fresh Food from Your Farmers Markets, by Sandra Garson. Originally written in 1991, the 20-year anniversary reissue comes out on May 1, just in time for the 2011 market season.

 

• Wild Plants of Maine: A Useful Guide, by Tom Seymour (a guide to Maine’s wild edibles and other useful plants).

For more information about Slow Food Seacoast, visit: www.slowfoodseacoast.org.

Join the challenge, sign up to commit yourself to one week of lower-impact living! Global Awareness Local Action (G.A.L.A.) in Wolfeboro has initiated a state-wide No Impact Week, May 1st through May 8th:

The NO IMPACT EXPERIMENT is a one-week carbon cleanse, inspired by the book and film No Impact Man. It’s a chance for you to see what a difference low-impact living can have on your quality of life. Test whether the modern conveniences you take for granted are actually making you happier, or just eating away at your time and money!

Each day of No Impact Week focuses on a different challenge, from finding fun and creative ways to reduce and reuse to eating healthy, sustainably-grown food:

• Sunday: Consumption

• Monday: Trash

• Tuesday: Transportation

• Wednesday: Food

• Thursday: Energy

• Friday: Water

• Saturday: Giving Back

• Sunday: Eco-Sabbath

GET FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS INVOLVED Partnering with other participants empowers you to support each other in your efforts and share your experiences, questions, and challenges. We will teach you how to host guided exercises and how to plan a group action for Giving Back day. For educators, we can even give you curriculum to use in a classroom!

The No Impact Week is a program of the No Impact Project and was conceived by Colin Beavan, aka No Impact Man, following the success of his family’s year-long, zero-waste experiment living in New York City. During the year, Colin’s family used no electricity, produced no trash, travelled solely by foot or bike, and bought nothing but locally-grown food. By the end, they discovered these changes were not only good for the environment, but also made them healthier, happier, and richer in ways they never expected.

G.A.L.A. is grassroots nonprofit with a mission to “translate sustainability education into local action that is practical, effective, and fun.” It convened as a group of people gathered around food and drink to discuss how they’d like to make their community a better place. Today, G.A.L.A. offers rewarding programs centered on sustainability education, individual action, and community enrichment. During No Impact Week, G.A.L.A. will host a clothing swap, town-wide clean-up, and other related events.

REGISTER HERE (You will be redirected to the No Impact Project website)

For questions about the week or to get involved in a deeper way, contact Aislinn Johnson at Aislinn@galacommunity.org or visit www.galacommunity.org.

Need another reason to join No Impact Week? For “The Best Reason”:

http://blog.seacoasteatlocal.org/2009/11/10/the-best-reason/

This guest post from Tracey Miller, a health and wellness coach and food educator, will help you in selecting and using some of spring’s long-awaited greens now coming into abundance at the farmers’ markets. Tracey is active in teaching about the benefits of eating locally, and will be leading the upcoming In the Kitchen Workshop: Feeding Families from the Farmers’ Fields. For more information about Tracey, and her new schedule of health and wellness classes based on local food, please visit www.traceymillerwellness.com.

Winter is finally behind us and it’s time trade in our meat and potatoes and welcome the deep, leafy greens that spring brings. Greens like Swiss chard, kale, arugula and spinach, offer a powerhouse of nutrition such as calcium and other essential minerals which most Americans lack.

The green pigment in dark greens also contains chlorophyll which helps increase our beneficial bacteria and strengthen our blood and respiratory systems. The more bitter the better to help eliminate mucous and prevent colds and allergies. Chlorophyll also helps prevent cancer, purifies the liver, and sweetens the breath!

The slightly bitter flavor of greens competes with sweet and savory foods, but you’ll find as you eat more greens, you’ll stop craving sugary treats. Bok choy, dandelion greens, watercress, sorrel, pea shoots are all in season and can be tossed into salads, stir fries or lightly sautéed without much fuss. Here are two simple ways to enjoy some spring greens:

Arugula Pesto

This slightly peppery pesto goes great over pasta, on crackers or as a marinade for chicken.

Blend 4–5 cups of fresh arugula, ½ cup mint, 4–5 cloves garlic, ½ cup pine nuts, and a dash of salt and pepper in a food processor while slowly streaming in about ½ – ¾ of a cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Sprinkle with parmesan and serve. This pesto also freezes well.

Spring “Green” Saute

Use Swiss chard, kale, or beet greens in this simple sauté. One bunch of greens will serve 4  people. They key is not to overcook them or they become bitter.

First, submerge the leaves into some cold water to clean them. Then, fold the leaves in half, and strip the leaves from the stalks. Coarsely chop the stems and the greens. Saute the chopped stems with 1–2 cloves of garlic until soft. Add the greens and a splash of water. Cook for approximately 4–5 minutes on medium heat until the greens are wilted. To change it up, add a squeeze of lemon, soy sauce, or even a dash of toasted sesame oil.

Some other spring recipes from my blog:

• Spring greens with bacon and walnuts

• Asian bok choy coleslaw with ginger dressing

From Rye Eats Local :

 Apple Grafting Workshop

Saturday, May 7th from 9 – 11am

at the UNH Greenhouse in Durham

UNH Professor Rene Gingras will teach you how to graft a scion (a shoot of last year’s growth) onto a dwarf rootstock.

He will also talk about the planting and care of your new apple tree.

Take home your grafted apple tree to plant in your yard.

Bring a sharp knife, like a box cutter or utility knife; all other material will be provided.

Bring the kids and tour the UNH greenhouse after the workshop. Coffee and donuts will be served.

Please sign up with Steve White at 603-964-6586 or steve-white@earthlink.net.

Due to unforeseen construction, the summer Exeter Farmers’ Market, opening on May 5th, needs to move. There will be a selectmen’s meeting Monday evening, April 25th, to consider alternative locations for the season. From the Seacoast Growers Association:

The Exeter farmers’ market is moving. Due to the deterioration of some culverts, the beautiful Swasey Parkway can no longer be home to our market.  On Monday night, April 25th,  the selectmen of the town of Exeter will discuss and possibly vote on where to put the market. We need the people of Exeter to come out and support the best option. The Exeter Farmers’ Market is the second largest farmer’s market in the New Hampshire Seacoast, with 39 farmers, crafters and food artisans selling their fine locally produced wares.  It has become a destination for not only Exeter residents but for customers that come from as far as Sandown and Gloucester, MA weekly to shop. We believe that the market’s success is in no small part due to the hard work and collaboration of town officials, and people of Exeter supporting their downtown farmers’ market. We think that keeping the market downtown is key to its future success. We are optimistic that we can find another great location, but we need to act soon!

Here are three of the options that will be discussed at the meeting:

1. Front Street

This option is to close off the east side of Front Street by the bandstand. It has considerable support from the community and some town officials. We think this is the best option as it would really benefit and bring business to other downtown merchants. It would take up a few two-hour parking spaces, but it would also be beneficial for the Thursday night Summer Concert Series, which will now be held in the small green area on Bow Street.

2. String Bridge

This option is to close off String Bridge between Water Street and the Library. Closing String Bridge would not take up any parking spaces, and also interfere less with traffic patterns as this road does not have heavy traffic.

3. Bow Street parking lot

This option is to close off the back section of the parking lot by Bow Street. While closing off a parking lot would not interfere with traffic, it is not favorable because it would take away valuable parking spaces for both town merchants and the Farmers’ Market, plus decrease the visibility of the farmers’ market.

Join us at the Spring Farmers’ Market in Exeter,  our final indoor market of the season!

On Saturday, April 23rd, 40+ farmers and food producers will be in the cafeteria of the Exeter High School in Exeter, NH, from 10am to 2pm selling their meats, cheeses, milk, eggs, vegetables, baked goods and maple syrup! You can find a full list of participating vendors and the products they will be selling at www.seacoasteatlocal.org.

Exeter High School is located at 315 Epping Road in Exeter. Take Route 101 to exit 9, follow route 27 west 1.8 miles. School is on the right after the United Methodist Church. Here’s a map!

Look forward to: Fresh green vegetables

Early spring brings healthy fresh greens of a wide variety. Greens are packed with vitamins A and C, calcium, iron, fiber, and folic acid. They can be eaten raw, wilted, blanched, sautéed, braised, or even puréed into sauces. You’ll find spinach, lettuce, Swiss chard, bok choy, kale, salad and mesclun mixes, arugula and beet greens, alongside radishes, scallions, fresh herbs, carrots, potatoes, turnips and spring dug parsnips.

Get started with greens: A Visual Guide to Cooking Greens.

Farmers will have milk, cheese and maple syrup. Baked goods and prepared foods will be available, often made from locally grown ingredients. Area food producers have pledged to a high standard of localism this year and will be offering ready-to-eat meals, soups and stews, jams and jellies that contain locally grown ingredients.

Beef, pork, chicken, lamb, and goat will be available from local farmers at the market, providing a delicious, local and more sustainable meat supply for you and your family. Fourteen area farmers will be selling meats, offering amazing choices. Participating chicken, lamb, and goat producers include Coppal House Farm, Harrison’s Poultry Farm, Illneva Farm, Jenness Farm, Kellie Brook Farm, Lasting Legacy Farm, New Roots Farm, Patridge Farm, and Riverslea Farm.

You can find a full list of participating vendors and the products they will be selling at www.seacoasteatlocal.org

Featured food: Eggs

As spring arrived, so did egg season! Chickens respond naturally to the increase in daylight, making eggs just as much a seasonal food as our other farm fresh foods. At the “Eggsetah” Farmers’ Market this Saturday, there will be 12 farmers selling fresh eggs; perfect timing for the egg decorating holiday. Fresh eggs keep up to five weeks in the refrigerator, making it easy to stock up and never be out of local eggs. Many farmers sell eggs in mixes of colors; buy a few dozen and keep the already colored ones for eating in the coming weeks. Purchasing local eggs makes a significant positive impact on our environment, while providing you and your family with a more nutritionally sound, safer food compared to the supermarket variety.

The diverse diet that chickens eat when provided real access to the outdoors means the eggs are high in folic acid, vitamins B6 and B12, calcium, zinc, sulfur, magnesium, carotenoids and protein. According to Sustainable Table, “Egg protein is the most nutritious readily-available, complete protein known-it is the standard of comparison for other proteins.” And the flavor of eggs from local farms is amazing! There is simply no comparing the extraordinary taste of eggs from the farmers’ market to the mass produced ones. Stop by the Seacoast Eat Local table for simple and easy recipes for eggs.

Learn more:

• 5 Reasons To Buy Eggs At Farmers’ Markets

• Worried about bad eggs? How to buy the healthiest ones

Get your garden started 

In addition to fresh foods, farmers will have early season seedlings for gardeners. Spring flowers, herbs, and fresh vegetable starts will be for sale from farmers with experience growing the varieties they are offering. There will also be seeds for sale from High Mowing Organic Seeds of Vermont at the Seacoast Eat Local table.

You can find a full list of participating vendors and the products they will be selling at www.seacoasteatlocal.org.