Tag Archives: sustainable eating

How local beekeepers manage through winter’s cold

Bees and Pollinators
Bees and Pollinators
How local beekeepers manage through winter's cold
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I love walking by the bee hives kept on my farm by Arlen and Mona Ziegler, owners and operators of Plum Branch Honey, Clear Lake, WI.

The hive boxes are stacked on top of one another, their area encircled by electric fence to ward off any curious bear.

During summer, hundreds of bees swirl around the hives and travel to the wild flowers and tree blossoms across the farm, and miles beyond. My husband Dave Toftness and I don’t use pesticides on the farm, so clouds of bees float through the succession of wild flowers and tree blossoms across the pastures. 

In the winter, the hives are wrapped in insulated pads that are silver colored on their outer surface. I caught up with Arlen during a winter-time visit to the bees. He generously opened the lid to show how the bees are kept in a supply of sugar for the cold months.

Dave and I really appreciate the work Arlen and Mona do to keep bees healthy and available despite the challenges of weather and pests. We need bees to pollinate the hundreds of vegetable, fruit and herb plants that feed us.

Co-host Dave Corbett and I enjoyed this in-studio chat, and we hope you’ll enjoy this podcast. You can message Arlen and Mona via Facebook.com/plumbranchhoney

Sylvia

In time of need: delish, nutritious pastured meats and veg from local sustainable farmers

Looking for nutritious foods? Meats and veggies that will boost your health – and just when we need it the most? Look to your local, sustainable farmers.

We’re here to help as we face today’s challenges, and as we prepare for a better future. Today, we can offer healthful, delicious foods – as supplies last.

If you’re in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area, and in Wisconsin’s Polk and St. Croix counties, here are farmers ready to help with foods grown for health: of the land, of the livestock, and of the meats and vegetables themselves. Contact farmers directly. We deliver, or you can pick up at the farm. Our farms are clustered closely – you can visit two or more in a single trip. We’re an easy drive through beautiful countryside.

We’re the sustainable farmers of the St. Croix Watershed Midlands. We’re committed to great taste, quality and high nutrition. We use organic practice, livestock is pastured, and meats processed at nearby custom USDA facility.

BueLingo cattle graze lush pastures

Bull Brook Keep: grass-fed-grass-finished beef grown without grain, subclinical antibiotics or hormones. Available now —  #1 ground beef packages, soup bones, summer sausage (without artificial nitrates or nitrites), and variety packages of ground beef, cuts and roasts. Variety packages start at just 15 lbs. See my order page here. Call or text with questions, Sylvia@bullbrookkeep.com, 651-238-8525.

Blackbrook Farmstead: pastured pork and fresh spring spinach. Other products may also be available. Contact Ayla or James, 651-343-2595, blackbrook.farm.llc@gmail.com 

Whetstone Farm: pastured lamb and mutton, stored root vegetables, fleeces. Other products may be available. You can also sign up for their organic vegetable CSA. Contact Emily or Klauss: cell 612-354-6282, home 715-268-8454, whetstonefarmers@gmail.com

Turnip Rock Farm: pastured pork, and to sign up for their organically grown CSA. This farm also raises and milks a grass-fed herd that supplies the wonderful milk for Cosmic Wheel Creamery for fresh and aged artisan cheeses that are out of this world. Contact Josh or Rama, 715-268-9311, turniprock@gmail.com.

Additional farms and resources will be added. Check back often. Thanks.

Sylvia

Sat., Dec. 14, 9-9:30AM CT – Deep Roots Radio – getting spiced

Whole & ground spices

It was time: This morning, I hopped onto a stool and reached into the back recesses of my highest spice cupboard. I pulled out several dusty bags and jars, spices I hadn’t visited in ages. (The big downside of keeping things in out-of-easy-reach spaces.)

Out went a jar of 2016 sage.I tossed a quarter cup of dusty oregano, half a jar of tasteless ground turmeric, some fennel from I don’t know when, and star anise that looked good but didn’t have a hint of fragrance. They were old and tired out. Their fragrances, and, therefore, their flavoring power was gone, gone gone.

Out went that big jar of ground ginger. It had seemed like such a bargain three years ago, but today it would pack just a fraction of its original punch. It’s essence had evaporated. An initial reaction to faded spices is to double or triple the amount used in any recipe. Guess what, it usually doesn’t work!

Favorite spice tools

So how do we keep spices in fighting shape for great flavor and good value? I mean, why buy terrific vegetables and fruit, or pasture-raised beef, lamb, pork or poultry and then diminish them with dusty pepper, paprika, cumin or allspice?  Fresh spices will enhance the work you’re doing to put great and sustainably-raised food on your table. Spices also bring a wide world of flavor to local food, no matter where you live. (Our own grass-fed-grass-finished beef can be infused with the tastes of Korea on day, Mexico the next, or carry the fragrances of India next week. And what about the great Upper Midwest aroma or cadamom in cookies and coffee cake.

Here are a few spice blends (PDF) that can bring a world of flavor and wonderful aromas. SpiceBlends

 

Tune in to Deep Roots Radio Saturday, Dec. 14, 9-9:30AM Central Time.

Tune in!

If you’re in and around Amery, Wisconsin, you can tune your dial to WPCA Radio 93.1FM. Everybody else in the world can listen live at www.wpcaradio.org.

See you on the radio!

Sylvia

 

Jewelltown Roastery: brewing coffee, building community and raising music in farm country Wisconsin

Deep Roots Radio
Deep Roots Radio
Jewelltown Roastery: brewing coffee, building community and raising music in farm country Wisconsin



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I haven’t done it often, but when I take Deep Roots Radio on the road, I’ve always loved it. This episode was filled with the sounds of a busy new coffee shop and music venue called Jewelltown Roastery, Star Prairie, Wisconsin, population 561.

Just 15 minutues from our farm, Bull Brook Keep, my husband Dave and I became fans with the first jingle of their front door. We stepped into a place where the espresso machine was busy, lunches were freshly made, and live music was captured by the tall tin ceilings and burnished wooden floors. We’ve become regulars for the excellent coffee, delicious meals, and growing sense of community rooted in friendly faces, local music and commitments to local foods and friendships.

Saturday morning jam session

Quinn Wrenholt and Liana Bratton at Jewelltown Roastery

 

 

 

JewelltownRoastery1 (tap for video of a recent session)

 

 

 

I hope you enjoy this Deep Roots Radio interview with Quinn Wrenholt and Liana Bratton, and make a point of visiting Jewelltown Roastery.

Sylvia

OK, so technically, I’m not from Puerto Rico. It was my grandparents who sailed to the mainland in the early 1900s landing in Manhattan and Pennsylvania (not sure of the city). They carved lives, worked jobs and built families. Me – I’m a Newyorican transplanted to the Upper Midwest in the early 1970s.

I’m just back from visiting my Mom (now in assisted living in New Jersey) and my younger sister and brother. I never laugh as much as when I’m with them. It’s absolutely raucous. Always is. Cathy’s a great cook, brother Chris is a CIA-degreed chef. Both are married to great cooks and gourmands, so it was no surprise that they chose an over-the-top restaurant for our Saturday night out. Reyla, a modern Middle Eastern restaurant in Asbury Park, NJ exceeded expectations. Mutliple dishes dotted the table, each rooted in Mediterranean cuisine: Greek, Israeli, North African. The ingredients were fresh. The sauces distinct, layered and deeply flavored. The Italian wine proved a perfect complement. Joined by yet another family couple, the conversation was easy, the laughter frequent, and the joy evident. An evening to remember.

And now, I’m home. Ahh. The sun’s bright on the fields, and the cows are reclined on a south hill out of the wind. Soon I’ll switch on the tractor’s engine block heater and prepare to move a 1,000-pound bale of hay out to the herd. Then I guess it’ll be paper work for this coming season’s Bull Brook Keep beef sales, sourdough bread-baking classes, and the next Cowgirl High Tea.

Siggy

I’ll get to it in a few minutes. Right now, things are quiet. Dave is reading. Each of our three dogs has found his own shaft of sunlight, and I’m finishing up a cup of tea.

I’ll make my brunch, and then get a move on.

Today’s morning break: Blackeyed peas in a hoppin’John stew flavored with organic pork hocks, organic brown rice, Italian roasted red peppers, and a forkful of spicy kimchi. (Sorry, no photo. It just disappeared too quickly!)

Tomorrow: Israeli hummus and shakshuka.

Sylvia

Strategies for holiday cooking/baking and loving leftovers. And keeping down the stress.

Holiday cooking is all about sharing love, hospitality, food…and stress!!?

You never want to find yourself without enough for seconds. And you don’t love the thought of piles of food languishing in the back of the fridge. So, some thoughts:

About those leftovers. First, make sure all your dishes were cooled and stored well. You don’t want to get queasy from food left out on the table too long.

Since we just celebrated Thanksgiving and you may have already had your fill of turkey sandwiches

  • Think of changing the taste or texture of your dish so that it’s something really different, and not a replay. Think Asian spices – ginger, soy sauce, chopped scallions. Or go Italian with oregano, fragrant basil and parmesan cheese. Or Indian with oregano, cardamom, black pepper, mustard and cumin seed.
  • Got slightly stale dinner rolls, bread ends, sad slices from an appetizer tray? Make bread pudding! Scroll down for recipe.
  • Chucks of turkey are great for lots of dishes.
    • If adding to a soup or stew, be careful not to overcook the poultry. Make your broth or stew first (with all the veggies), then add the poultry (diced or shredded) to warm thoroughly.
    • Dice or shred and make creamed turkey on biscuits. Yum. Make a white sauce (first a butter and flour roux, add milk or broth, white pepper, cook for 20 minutes at lowest simmer), then add the poultry).
    • Sauté chopped onion and green pepper will just becoming golden. Add diced turkey and warm through. Add several beaten eggs and you’ve got an omelette.
    • Make bone broth. Pull all the meat from the carcass and place all the bones into a slow cooker along with a couple of large carrots and celery sticks (broken in two) and an onion cleaved in half. Add a generous teaspoon of black pepper corns, 2 bay leaves, a teaspoon of salt, and a tablespoon of vinegar (to pull minerals from the bones). Cook on low for 8-10 hours. Remove all the solids. Cool and store in the fridge or freeze. Don’t toss out the fat!!! It’s got loads of flavor.
    • Use leftover wild rice in soup or stews.
    • Or combine with a bit of flour, an egg beaten with a dash of milk, salt and pepper to taste, and some finely diced turkey. Shape into patties and fry in a thin film of butter. Yum!
  • Make a creamy soup with leftover squash/pumpkin/sweet potatoes or cooked carrots. Some proportions to consider if you’ve got 2-3 cups of leftover veg.
    • First sauté an onion or two in butter. Add 1-2 cups chicken, turkey, or vegetable broth. Simmer gently for 20 minutes. Smash squash/carrots and add to soup. Add a bit of grated nutmeg, salt and pepper. If you want a cream soup, add 1/2 c milk/cream/coconut cream now and simmer gently for another 20 minutes. Be careful not to boil. Taste and add seasonings. If you’d like a curry soup, add 1 tsp curry powder along with the squash.
  • Add 1/2 c leftover wild rice or brown rice, or 1/4 c cheese to you next bread loaf.
  • Combine mashed potatoes, stuffing, a couple of eggs and splash of milk to make waffles!

Now for just a few holiday entertaining strategies

Cranberry-almond frangipane tart

  • Bake ahead. In addition to those wonderful holiday cookies, consider making and freezing bundt cakes!  They’re easy to bake, look beautiful and freeze and thaw like a dream. There are great recipes all over the internet. Cakes can be stored at room temp for 3 days. To freeze, be sure cakes are completely cooled but not glazed. Wrap the cooled cakes first in plastic and then in aluminum foil. Allow frozen cakes to thaw overnight in frig, and then give them a couple of hours to come to room temperature. If you’re going to glaze the cake or drizzle icing over, do so when completely cooled. My favorite right now is Mexican chocolate (made with cinnamon and ancho chili powder) with a dulce de leech glaze. It disappears.
  • You can also freeze cupcakes once cooled, wrapped in plastic and then in aluminum foil.
  • Make and freeze soups, chilis, and stews. Store in deli container or pint-sized canning jar, just be sure to leave a good 1-1/2 inch space at top. They’re quick to thaw when company shows up.
  • Think cornbread. It’s fast to make when company calls.
  • Make liver pate. Mine includes freshly cracked pepper, fragrant brandy and luscious butter. It freezes like a charm and I’ve watched kids lick the spoon.
  • Spices. If those jars of ground spices are over two years old, you’re note getting the best flavors into your dishes. Consider buying whole spices – peppercorns, cinnamon sticks, cardamom, nutmeg – and grinding them yourself in a cheap little coffee grinder. And keep those herbs and spices in a cool, dark spot. Not out on a shelf where heat and light degrade them very rapidly.
  • Oils. Store in dark and cool places. Light and heat degrade oils. If possible, store in your frig to keep them from becoming rancid. If your olive oil is more than a year old, toss. It’s bitter and probably quite rancid. Better to buy smaller amounts and can be used up quickly.

Bread pudding

  • 3 1/2 c day-old (or older) bread cut into 3/4-inch cubes
  • 2 c whole milk
  • 1/3 c sugar
  • 3 large eggs 2 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 tsp almond extract (or add more vanilla)
  • 2 T unsalted butter, diced
  • 1/4 c sliced nuts, or sunflower seeds, or raisins, or combo of any and all

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place bread cubes on baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes.  Place in a  large bowl.

Lower temp to 325 degrees F.   Butter a 8×8 baking pan.

Scald the milk in a sauce pan. Pour over the bread cubes and let stand 15 minutes.

With an electric mixer, beat the eggs with the sugar till thick and light. This can take up to 8 minutes. Add the extracts.

Pour into the bread mixture, add whatever nuts/raisins you’d like. Stir briefly. Scrape into the baking pan. Dot with the butter.

Cover the pan with aluminum foil that has been buttered. Bake 35-40 minutes.  The custard will still look a bit moist.  Serve warm or at room temp.

45th Parallel Distillery – WI, award winning, world-class and committed to local

Deep Roots Radio
Deep Roots Radio
45th Parallel Distillery - WI, award winning, world-class and committed to local



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When you think scotch, whiskey, bourbon, vodka, brandy – what comes to mind? Maybe Makers Mark, Jamison, Wild Turkey, Dewer’s, Korbel? (To name a tiny few.)

And where does your mind go? For me, it’s Scotland, Ireland, Russia and Poland, Kentucky, and California for the brandy.

It was almost two years ago, to the day, that I was visiting organic and sustainable livestock family farms in England, Ireland and Wales, and had the good luck to be treated to a hot glass of slightly sweetened and barely buttered Irish whiskey. My host and I were seated by a small fire after a full day of touring farms and meeting musicians and civic leaders in wet and blustery Wexford.

That experience stayed with me, so it was with great joy that I learned about 45th Parallel Distillery, a craft operation in New Richmond, Wisconsin – just minutes from my farm and a very easy drive from Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota.

I hope you enjoy this Deep Roots Radio interview with 45th Parallel’s founder and CEO, Paul Werni. He brings a passion, commitment to local sourcing and collaboration, and a team to the business that’s proven out in regionally- and nationally-recognized spirits.

Sylvia

Three Wisconsin women farmers battle to legalize sale of home-baked goods

Deep Roots Radio
Deep Roots Radio
Three Wisconsin women farmers battle to legalize sale of home-baked goods



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In this Deep Roots Radio interview, Lisa Kivirist describes the multi-year battle to legalize the sale of home-baked goods in the state Wisconsin. The Badger state has been one of only two in the entire country that has not permitted the sale of home-baked muffins, cookies and breads.
Lisa is one of three women farmers who sued the state in this effort, and recently won a state Judge’s declaration that the ban against the sale of home-baked goods is unconstitutional.Her sister champions in this effort are Dela Ends (Scotch Hill Farm) and Kriss Marion (Circle M Farm and Bed & Breakfast).
Lisa is an assertive champion of women farmers and their ability to build their farm-based businesses. The author of several books on eco-entrepreneurship, she and her husband run the award-winning Inn Serendipity Farm and Bread and Breakfast in southern Wisconsin.
I hope you enjoy this lively interview.
Sylvia

French sourdough boules

Chefs for sustainable food – James Beard Foundation VP Kris Moon on the new Impact Programs

Deep Roots Radio
Deep Roots Radio
Chefs for sustainable food - James Beard Foundation VP Kris Moon on the new Impact Programs



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We all know that chefs can cook, some of them extraordinarily. And we know that what they cook can reflect and flavor local culture. But did you know our chefs can – and increasingly do – play a role in redesigning a more sustainable, healthful food system in America?
I really enjoyed this conversation with Kris Moon, Vice President of the James Beard Foundation because the foundation’s Impact Programs spotlight and promote chef-led efforts to rebuild a more nutritious and regionally-sourced food system in our country.
Experienced and trained in restaurant management, nutrition and major networking events, Moon is leading programs true to the values and heart of the foundation’s namesake, James Beard – the chef and cookbook author who was lovingly regarded as “America’s favorite chef.”
I hope you enjoy this Deep Roots Radio conversation.
Sylvia

Connecting the dots between what we eat and how its grown

Connecting the dots between what we eat and how its grown

Ya gotta have heart!!

Americans love their flame grilled steaks, simmering pot roasts, and juicy burgers. But what about the rest of that 100% grass-fed steer? What do you do with the heart, liver, tongue, oxtail, shank bones and other lesser known cuts? Today, we’ll focus on the heart because it can become a favorite.
The heart of a full-grown beef steer can weight four or five pounds.It’s the most lean cut of meat in the cow. It’s also a muscle that’s worked constantly since conception. Lack of fat and constant use can make any muscle tough if not cooked correctly. Fortunately, there’s a great recipe and approach that makes for a luscious stew of tender morsals.
I adapted this recipe from Jennifer McLagan’s “Odd Bits: How to Cook the Rest of the Animal.” I’ve tapped the unique cooking powers of a stove-top pressure cooker to yield tender beef and a savory sauce. It’s a hearty meal when served over hot rice and with a side of steamed carrots. I washed my dinner down with home-brewed kombucha.

Moroccan beef heart stew with brown rice and home-fermented kimchi.

Moroccan beef heart stew with brown rice and home-fermented kimchi.

Here’s a recipe for a 4 lb. heart. If you have a cut of heart that’s smaller, simply reduce the other ingredients proportionally. Or, you can make the full recipe for the sauce – it’s delicious on eggs, polenta, rice or baked potatoes. Here’s the recipe:
Braised Heart