polyface farm

Leave a comment October 1, 2013 nourishinggrace

This is Joel Salatin, owner of Polyface Farm, located right here in Virginia. He runs a transparent farm… that means he welcomes visitors! He also keeps it local and won’t raise more animals than his land sustains and so therefore tends a vibrantly healthy livestock which require no daily cocktails of antibiotics or medicines. They are raised in nature, roaming free ~ where they can forage on the very foods God intended, living peacefully in the very manner God intended, rather than penned up wing to wing without any access to daylight or fresh air. He sells his food only to those within certain geographical limit of his farm – he says it’s good for the environment because, among other things, it saves fuel.

Thankfully there are farmers like Joel Salatin across this country (most of them sell at farmer’s markets or have local drop off points). Due to his humane and sustainable method of farming, farmers from across this land come to apprentice on his farm and learn his techniques. These farmers are feeding the future.

People call Joel Salatin a pioneer, but he just considers himself a lunatic farmer.

Why Food Matters

Leave a comment October 1, 2013 nourishinggrace

Improving Wellness with Holistic Nutrition

“Give the body discipline and you will see that the body is for Him who made it.”

Amma Theodora – Sayings of the Desert Fathers

A holistic approach to nutrition focuses not only on a healthy diet, but considers that each person is unique, addressing them as a whole. This includes emotional, and physical health. In fact, the very word diet comes from the Greek word diata, which literally means “our manner of living”.

You can have the healthiest diet in the world but if you are not digesting and absorbing nutrients, it’s simply not nourishing you. Holistic nutrition considers the stomach and digestive system the core of whole body health, because every system in the body relies upon it.

As Orthodox Christians we also believe that each person is unique, created in the image and likeness of God. And…. we also believe that our spiritual life and health begins with our stomachs. So, as we consider steps we can take to improve our health, let us first and foremost consider our Faith. The Church gives us guidance, applicable throughout the ages, about the right role of food in our lives. From an Orthodox perspective, “eating right, or eating well is also about eating for the right reasons”.

“Our initial struggle must be to gain control of our stomachs…

Food is to be taken in so far as it supports our life”

(Father John Cassian – On Control of the Stomach – 4th century)

In other words, we should eat to live rather than live to eat!

So why is this generation so worried about diet and nutrition? Some background is required. While we might say “we are what we eat”, there is a great irony that we, as a nation, eat quite poorly and deficiently.

How did we get in this situation? For one thing, at no other time on the earth, have we been so disconnected from the sources of our food. And from that perspective, it’s easy to be unaware of the the ill health of livestock within modern “industrial” animal husbandry, the unlabeled genetic modification of our seeds, and the pesticide and herbicide laden nature of our produce.

These issues, however, are worth our attention, because “we are what we eat”. There is a complex and symbiotic relationship between the quality of our air, the health of our soil, the health of plants and animals, and our own health.

Nutritionally, we have traded in wisdom for knowledge and traditional foods for overly processed convenience foods. Our ancestor’s cultural eating habits were determined by tradition and despite their varied ethnicities, their diets had one thing in common – they ate a whole foods diet, one that was local, seasonal and organic.

The last century has shown serious trends away from nourishing foods. Now, there is much uncertainty about what even embodies a wholesome diet. People are concerned, and justifiably so.

Humanity has an intimate relationship with food, for our food becomes our very bodies – flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone. “Our genes make their day to day decisions based on the information they receive from the food we eat… in that sense, food is less like a fuel and more like a language conveying information… that information programs your genes, for better or worse.” (Shanahan MD,Catherine, 2011: p 7)

A calorie isn’t just a calorie and nutrient density and quality really do matter. How you nourish yourself over the long run has either a negative or positive affect on your health.

We routinely eat ingredients in our foods which have been created in laboratories and are not even pronounceable, but how often do we question them? The petroleum based preservative BHA, found in beer, butter and cereals, has been classified by the Department of Health and Human Services as “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen”. Another is titanium dioxide found in your salad dressing, coffee creamers and icing… guess what – it’s also used in paints and sunscreens!

There are many processed things called “food”, but few that are worthy of keeping us vibrant and well!

These are big issues, but the great news is that through education – organic foods, Slow Food and Buy Fresh Buy Local movements are popping up across the country and are very available. People are learning about the wisdom and health benefits of traditional and ancestral food. They are returning to Farmers Markets, buying shares in their local Community Supported Agriculture – CSA’s … at heart, connecting and investing, not only in their health, but also in their communities.

Even if you have really bad eating habits, it’s never too late to begin fresh again. God created us with tremendous abilities to detoxify, heal, grow and regenerate!

Below are some easy steps you can incorporate over time to improve your overall wellness. Remember – healthy eating doesn’t mean eliminating the foods we love. A healthy diet is about balance. If 85% of our diet is healthy, then that baklava proves a guilt free pleasure!

And one last thing… as you begin steps toward wellness, embrace and enjoy the journey! Don’t just eat healthy, eat well. Take pleasure in your meals and dine with family and friends whenever possible… it’s just more delightful together!

Let’s eat to live and make every bite count ~ one morsel at a time!

[box] Make a Diversity of Whole and Plant Based Foods the foundation of your diet. That doesn’t mean you need to give up meat, but strive to make produce the foundation of your eating. Whole foods are those as close to their whole natural state as possible. They look like what they are like an apple or a carrot. Whole grains, and brown rice are also whole foods. They come perfectly packaged with the fiber and nutrients essential for their optimal absorption by our bodies. There is a synergy in the combination of nutrients found in each whole food, in other words, they are more effective in their whole food form.

Avoid refined and processed foods. Reduce sugary snacks, sweets and sodas. Simply stated, refined and sugary foods are very depleting for the body. At the turn of the century, the average american consumed about 2 pounds of sugar per year; we now routinely consume upwards of 100 pounds per year. Last year 60 Minutes did a great expo titled “Is Sugar Toxic”.

Stay adequately hydrated! Good clean water is vital for life and involved in almost every function our bodies perform. Get at least 8 – 8 ounce servings/ day.

Exercise regularly. It reduces stress, increases circulation, releases those good feeling endorphins and promotes weight loss. Moderate your exercise to your ability.

Reduce and Manage Stress. Prayer, a positive outlook and exercise are most helpful in mitigating stress. Stress is a great challenge to our immune system, taxing nearly every organ in our body. It takes a high toll on health.

Add Probiotic rich foods to your diet: These foods are alive, and quite symbiotically, their life gives us life! Probiotics work with our immune system to keep us healthy, but they need to be continually replenished. “Studies have shown that live-cultured foods containing probiotics help to prevent a whole range of allergic, autoimmune, and inflammatory diseases.” (Shanahan MD,Catherine, 2011:pp. 147-148) Click here for a list of probiotic rich foods.

Know thy fats! Essential fatty acids are an important part of a healthy diet and should be included. More about them can be found here and here. Also, learn more about the traditional fats which have nourished civilizations well.

Watch your portion sizes. Saint John of the Ladder sums it up well, “Master your stomach before it masters you.”[/box]

The ultimate goal is to Go organic, local and seasonal! You can do it! Buy free range -pastured meats, pastured eggs and dairy and produce as close to their source as possible. Their nutrition is superior. Looking for a farmers market near you? Local Harvest has a nationwide list!

It’s taken our family over two years to dramatically change our diet and we have enjoyed the adventure and the journey ~ slowly making changes, one morsel at a time.

Above all, whatever your diata, keep the Feasting and Fasting cycles of the Church. In her wisdom, she provides this rhythm for the nourishment of body and soul. And in this life, our journey in Christ, through “prayer, daily Christian living, and worship, which ultimately lead to union with the divine uncreated Light” is the ultimate source of our wellness.

about the author

Victoria Cherpes is a wife, and homeschooling mother of three beautiful daughters and Sunday School teacher. On their small urban family homestead, they enjoy tending their Victory Garden full of lettuces, berries and vegetables, weeds and bugs; raising figs for the local market and amateur beekeeping.

She is currently pursuing her Master’s Degree in Holistic Nutrition at Hawthorn University and is a student member of the National Association of Nutrition Professionals (NANP).

If you have any questions, you can reach her at nourishinggrace@yahoo.com

[box] Sources:

Shanahan MD, Catherine (2011-04-22). Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food. Big Box Books. Kindle Edition.

Ballentine M.D., Rudolph (2007-01-25). Diet and Nutrition: A Holistic Approach. National Book Network – A. Kindle Edition

Lipski PhD, Elizabeth (2012). Digestive Wellness: Strengthen the Immune System and Prevent Disease Through Healthy Digestion (4th Edition)

Mandell, Catherine (2005) When You Fast: Recipes for Lenten Seasons

Ward, Benedicta (1975). Sayings of the Desert Fathers. (http://www.scribd.com/doc/75385925/Apoftegma Fallon, Sally (2001).

Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook That Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats. (2nd ed)

http://www.nj.goarch.org/resources/spirituality.htm%5B/box%5D

This article was original posted at Orthodoxmom.com and has been slightly revised.

late summer bounty

Leave a comment October 1, 2013 nourishinggrace

This late summer time of year has left our Victory Garden looking a little more battered than victorious, but despite the waning summer growth we still managed to pick a great large bowl of summer cantaloupes, english and lemon cucumbers, beautiful tomatoes and some peppers. And as it goes with the garden, the season of harvest blends with the season of planting.

At some point you make the decision rip out the plants that are not producing or that won’t have time to ripen (a great time to enjoy fried green tomatoes) and prepare the beds for fall planting. We’ve added our freshly composted soil to the beds, turned them over and sowed several rows of beets and Russian Red Kale which are sure winter producers in Virginia – the kale is also an excellent edible winter cover crop that will become a valuable green manure in the spring.

Upcoming plantings are garlic and carrots. The garlic is from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, and their garlic always grows fabulous in our garden.

There are swiss chard and cabbages peaking their way through the dirt too..

Thanks to the bees hard work, once these little guys below ripen, we will also have a plentiful tabasco pepper harvest and that means our first batch of Tabasco sauce!

harmony of the harvest

Leave a comment September 30, 2013 nourishinggrace

Eating with a conscience – stewardship eating – puts one between the industrial food chain, and the pastoral one. Local heritage foods, in season, are surprisingly not always easy to come by. Unfortunately, there exists also the misperception that it’s more expensive to eat this way, but it’s actually not .

Over time, within the industrial food web, somehow we lose our connection and appreciation to the goodness and diversity of creation, the fruits of our local land and in some ways, even our connectedness to the seasons. What’s local right now in Virginia, is not what is local right now in California – and that is a very good thing! Our bodies are linked with our environment, and therefore what is growing here locally provides me the local nutrients that my body needs and craves for the current season surrounding us.

In the winter we crave hearty soups and stews with root vegetables which provide rich nourishment for the winter chill. However, with the beginnings of spring and the emergence of the first tender shoots of asparagus and lettuces, nature offers us the very foods which will cleanse our bodies from the winter bulk. There is a wonderful synergy within the local environment but in our modern world an effort to make the connection, one that should be so natural, is required.

It’s interesting that this local food movement is often called an alternative approach to eating, but those who eat local and seasonal are truly not pioneers, radical or attempting anything new. It’s a return to traditional whole foods-the ones God created; grown humanely and sustainably, the way they were intended-and then trusting that they are good! There’s a harmony in the local food chain, a harmony that the industrial one erodes. Enjoy it for only a little while and the abnormality of eating ingredients, discovered and then isolated in a science lab ~ ingredients difficult to spell or pronounce ~ makes one pause. If you can’t pronounce it, can you be sure your body knows what to do with it?

True, it can become difficult to find local foods in the winter – but the search can be fun! In a fast paced city, local food helps us slow down in a way that brings the beauty of the local environment into view which our busyness blurs. Will you find local olive oil in Virginia, probably not. Thomas Jefferson tried to find a variety that would do well and was unsuccessful. There are also times your kids want to make fresh squeezed orange juice and those will never be local where you reside – so of course you make exceptions, because you want your family to enjoy the practice and those treats also give them a greater appreciation for what’s on the table and the reminder that our daily bread is always a blessing from the Lord.

harmony of the hive

Leave a comment September 30, 2013 nourishinggrace

Last spring was an exciting time ~ our family began a new journey raising honeybees. It’s a seed planted years ago while reading the The Secret Life of Bees. The story is a wonderful wisdom about the coming of age of a young girl, Lily, who is motherless, abused and runs away from home. It is set in the South, during the 1960 Civil Rights Movement – a time when America forgot that all are created in the image of God. Underlying the journey is a mother lost and new ones found, the essence of maternal love, the beauty of forgiveness – and the transforming power of love.

Perhaps one of the greatest lessons in the book is the redemptive simplicity of “choosing what matters”. Moments of being human…

“You know some things don’t matter that much… Like the color of a house. How big is that in the overall scheme of life? But lifting a person’s heart – now that matters.” (Secret Life of Bees)

At the beginning of each chapter and sprinkled throughout the book are fascinating anecdotes about bees and little tidbits about the secret lives of these tiny buzzing insects. These were truly just as captivating to me as the story itself.

“Honeybees depend not only on physical contact with the colony, but also require it’s social companionship and support. Isolate a honeybee from her sisters and she will soon die.” ~The Secret Life of Bees~

early summer blackberry pollination

Biologically, a hive is classified as a single organism – one body – whose sum is greater than it’s individual parts. As such, bees lives are all interconnected, in unison and harmony – their sole purpose is to do what is worthy for the hive. Within a hive are the queen, the female workers and the male drones. Despite her prestigious title, the queen is not in charge. Her true role rather is mother of every bee in the hive and they all depend on her to keep it going. She emits a substance, called the queen substance – kind of like a little bee love, the bees receive it through touch, and it unifies.

“The queen for her part is the unifying force of the community; if she is removed from the hive, the workers very quickly sense her absence. After a few hours or less, they show unmistakable signs of queenlessness.” ~The Secret Life of Bees~

Without intervention, a queenless hive will die, so the queen’s presence literally holds the life of the hive together, just as a mother her home.

After the queen come the worker bees, female sisters. These girls are the heart and soul of the colony. Thousands of little worker bees with tireless hearts nurse, clean house, forage pollen and nectar, attend to the queen and the security of the colony – each one living selflessly for the others.

The male drones, larger than the workers, interestingly have no stinger. While they contribute a lot to the morale of the hive, they do not forage or provide protection. My apiary mentor- a very very kind and salty old man said, if you want to give your daughters a bee to play with, give them a drone…! My oldest daughter who is absolutely petrified of bees is willing to give it a shot!

Our bee populations are suffering and disappearing. We depend upon bees for much ~ and they are an indicator species, which is a mirror of the health of the environment. Within the hive of the world’s ecosystem, all creatures have a role, and while we might not fully understand it ~ even the smallest of insects make a contribution.

summer 2013 weed pollination

A bit of a reminder that all life on our planet is interconnected. It reflects a balance and so, the gentle remembrance that our God given role is not that of swatter or exploiter but as tillers and keepers of the earth – healers and stewards of our planet.

“Love all of God’s creation, the whole of it and every grain of sand. Love every leaf, every ray of God’s light. Love the animals. Love the plants. Love everything. If you love everything you will perceive the divine mystery in things.” ~ Brothers Karamazov ~

leaven and life

Leave a comment September 30, 2013 nourishinggrace

The inspiration of this post is the intersection

of two books currently actively used in our kitchen :

The Foods of the Greek Islands – Algaia Kremezi

and The Art of Fermentation – Sandor Ellix Katz

sour·dough – (noun) leaven for making bread, consisting of sour fermented dough, typically that left over from a previous batch

“The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.” – Mother Teresa

In the beginning, all risen breads were sourdough. Bread was a great mystery but the women knew that if they blended warm water, flour and time, then nurtured the mixture through regular feeding, that eventually the dough would become alive, bubbles would form mysteriously in the mixture and when it was baked the texture would be lighter with an intriguing taste. Commercial “fast acting” strains of yeast were unavailable and so the only leaven was the natural product of the fermentation of wild yeast and bacteria, which transformed into a sourdough. The Latin fermentāre means to rise.

As often happens, the first fermentation of sourdough likely occurred by chance. How many of you would think to bake (or brew into beer) the accidental fermentation of grain, left unattended, souring on your kitchen counter? In this day and age, probably not many of us, including me – especially considering how germophobic we are… we’d rather not deal with the naturally present bacteria on any surface!

But fermentation is an age old method of preservation, that involves cooperation with a community of microbes we can not even see. And that cooperation enhances the nutritional quality of the foods fermented. It was a surprise for us to learn that a natural sourdough will not mold, instead, due to the lactic acid (this wonderful preservative produced in the sourdough) it keeps longer than commercial bread. Sourdough breads are also what is known as predigested, and therefore easier on our digestive systems, reducing gluten content and allowing absorption of more nutrients.

The organisms necessary for fermentation are usually always present on the surfaces of grain and flour. Unlike commerical strains of yeast, which are similar or the same, sourdoughs cultivated by people in different places can be very distinctive, such as San Francisco sourdoughs.

Our planet was created with great diversity and that’s the beauty of a sourdough – that you can’t pick and choose your naturally present wild yeast. Although all healthy sourdoughs contain lactobacilli and the lactic acid produced by it, each sourdough starter is essentially very unique. Natural sourdoughs are not static microbial communities Instead they are very dynamic. More than that….they become their environment and so, if you begin a sourdough starter it it will develop unique flavor characteristic to whatever yeasts are present in your air and your flour.

Patience is a virtue. A sourdough starter takes days if not a week to mature to the point that it may be used in baking… and there is no such thing as fast acting or fast rising prozymi or starter A sourdough bread rises anywhere from 8 to 24 hours, depending on your recipe and the conditions.

Traditionally, Greek Orthodox women make their sourdough starter around the Feast of the Elevation of the Cross, celebrated on September 14. The starter is called prozymi. In many Orthodox Churches, fresh basil is used to sprinkle Holy Water, a sprig of which is taken home and placed in the prozymi. If the prozymi is started around Pascha (Easter) then the mixture contains a handful of the flowers used to decorate the Epitaphios. This sourdough starter is then used for baking Prosphora – an offering – the bread we make for Communion.

“Concepts create idols, only wonder grasps anything.” Saint Gregory of Nyssa

It’s been said that the elderly Orthodox women in Greece, if asked, will tell you that the transformation of the flour, water and basil or flowers into the prozymi occurs by Gods Grace alone, and well, that is entirely true… for that is our belief ~ that all life is a gift and sustained from a loving God.

These women are grounded in Christ – living within the seasonal rhythm of the Church, anchored but always anticipating the upcoming feasts and living and incorporating the faith into daily life.

Give us this day our daily bread. Laboring a sourdough, this wild yeast fermentation of the prozymi becomes an endeavor of trust and of creation – fashioned through a relationship with God. This becomes our offering- the prosphora – A simple, humbling endeavor, to place God above all, offering up our whole lives to Him.

And all that inspired us to incorporate prozymi into our family traditions too and so we’ve coincided our sour dough starter with the Elevation of the Cross.

Happy Feast!

Below is is a Basic Sourdough / Prozymi Starter

There are slight variations in every sourdough recipe, some call for rye flour, some call for adding a piece of fruit, like a plum or grape which has a little hint of white film -which is yeast and called the bloom, and others – like the Orthodox tradition call for adding our blessings from Church.

Timeframe about 1 week Ingredients

[box] Flour (any kind) water – non chlorinated

fresh basil, fresh organic plum or grapes (optional)

In a jar or bowl mix 2 cups of water and flour. Stir mixture vigorously. Add basil or fruit if using. Cover the mixture with a cheesecloth or any other porous material that lets the air circulate.

Store batter in a warm place in the 70-80 degree range. Visit the batter daily and stir it to distribute the yeast. After a few days you will notice some bubbles on the surface of the batter. The yeast is letting you know it is active.

Remember, your home is it’s own ecosystem. Every ecosystem has its own unique micro-organism communities – the ecosystem in your home plays a role in how slowly or quickly your batter will germinate. Once yeast activity is evident, strain out the fruit.

Add 1 or 2 tablespoons of flour to the mixture each day for three days. The batter will begin to thicken and rise. Add more water when necessary. By about day five your starter should be bubbly. With a clean spoon, remove about half the sourdough starter, if you compost you can throw it in your bin.

Stir in 1/2 cup flour and about 1/4 cup water. You now should have an active starter – cover it and leave it at room temperature until it has almost doubled. You can now expand the starter for baking bread or refrigerate it overnight and start expanding the next day. [/box]

If your are looking for some recipes to use with your starter, this is a great resource. And, if you are thinking to bake phosphoro for Church a very well detailed recipe can be found here, on OrthodoxMom.com . What a beautiful post!

summer salsa

3 Comments September 30, 2013 nourishinggrace

This time of year is all about preserving the freshness and bounty of the season… and that usually requires me to act fast, you know what I mean? There comes a week, during the peak harvest, when the farmer’s market surplus of tomatoes reduces their cost to $15 dollars for a 30 pound box – at least around here! Tomatoes for 50 cents a pound! It’s an irresistible sight I both long for and dread. With so many tomatoes, one needs to act quickly or they will go bad – let them sit even overnight and you are guaranteed to loose a few to the compost.

So the season of harvest has me re-thinking our methods of preserving. As a mom and student of holistic nutrition, I want foods teaming with life and nourishment for my very vibrant family. A few years ago I learned about a different method of preservation… fermentation.

Unfamiliar with fermenation?

The art of fermentation is as old as humanity, but one that has largely disappeared from our western diets. Fermentation is fairly simple because it preserves without the use of hot water baths and pressure cookers. Conventional canning methods kill all bacteria; whereas fermentation is actually a cooperation with the bacteria (germs!) that are naturally available on the environment of the produce. In fermentation, the naturally present bacteria feed on the sugar and starch in the food which creates lactic acid and that preserves the food, while also creating beneficial enzymes, b-vitamins, short-chain fatty acids, and various strains of probiotics.

Fermentation not only preserves produce, but also transforms ingredients into a more digestible state and creates more nutrition than it’s original vitamin content.

These foods nourish us deeply because through fermentation, nutrients become more absorbable – pregested like the lactase in yogurt which has been broken down and is why those with lactose intolerance may be able to handle yogurt or aged cheeses.
Ferments are laden with probiotics -which have numerous health benefits. Historically, people would get a large portion of the healthy bacteria necessary for their digestive systems in the form of fermented foods. Studies show that these good bacteria- probiotics are integral and critical to good health. Our modern food industry, instead, has left us as a generation that turns to supplements to re-innoculate our digestive tract. Yet with a traditional ferment, each morsel of can provide trillion of beneficial bacteria- far more that you can get from a probiotics supplements. (Mercola) That’s pretty amazing!

Through the fermentation process, many foods accumulate increased levels of B vitamins, including thiamin (B1), riboflavin (B2) and niacin (B3) as compared with the nutrition of the raw ingredients prior to fermentation.

In a nourishing sense, fermentation is a virtue!

The finished product – through the slowness of time and the inner-working of a microbial community becomes greater than it’s original constituent ingredients. And, it lasts! It’s true to say that ferments and the art of nourishment requires patience and time and nurturing.

In our day, that is a choice, one that more and more of us gladly make – for the very word nourish means to feed or cherish, to preserve, look after or suckle. In that sense, nourishment means relationship… one involving care and love.

Fermented products can be an acquired taste, but some well known examples of fermentation include sauerkraut, kimchee and brined pickles.
Ready to give ferments a try? A great introduction to fermented foods is a fermented salsa that a friend shared with us. It is delicious and a family favorite – even with the kids! For a small batch, you’ll need:

3 lbs of fresh tomatoes – chopped – do not discard the juice
1 bunch of cilantro or basil (our cilantro has died out, so we are using fresh basil)
1 small onion (about 3/4-1 cup)
3 tablespoons sea salt
1 head garlic – peeled and chopped finely
Optional – 1 jalapeño chopped – with or without seeds depending on your tastes
1 lime – I try to use only local ingredients in my ferments – so I usually skip this
2-3 clean mason jars
Clean bowl and spoon.
All your utensils, cutting boards and bowls should be clean. It is not necessary to sterilize them.

Rinse tomatoes and wash your hands.

Chop ingredients to the salsa consistency you prefer. It is not necessary to discard the juice as this becomes our brining liquid. Mix all ingredients well in bowl.

Spoon into jars and either with a wooden spoon or your clean hands press the salsa below the liquid.
Seal tight and leave out of direct sunlight on the kitchen counter for 3-5 days.

Open the jars periodically as this will release some of the gases and also make sure to continue pressing your salsa below the brine line if necessary. Frequent tasting – once the ferment has reached the taste consistency you love, enjoy some and then move it to the refridgerator. The cooler temperature there slows down the fermentation process.

A taste of this salsa in winter will unleash the vibrant delicious flavors of summer! It can be enjoyed with your favorite organic chips, with scrambled eggs, on a taco or anywhere that you normally would enjoy it. One word of caution that I offer… if this is your very first ferment or your diet is generally spartan of probiotic rich foods, please start out with just a tablespoon per day for about a week to build up your internal probiotic community slowly.

Fermentation is making a niche comeback and one that has been recognized by culinary mega-giants like Williams Sonoma which now sells vessels for fermenting. This is great news!

the value and challenges of eating locally and seasonally

Leave a comment September 30, 2013 nourishinggrace

While it’s true that it can be a challenge to eat seasonally, it is also a culinary delight rich in freshness, nutritional value and a renewing connection to one another and our land. Real food is seasonal food and seasonal food is real. There is something absolutely fabulous about waiting all summer for the tender sweetness of a ripe fig fresh off the tree – or – the delicious juicy sweet crunch of a local apple in Fall.

Seasonal and local food is good nutritional economy – more vitamins and minerals for the dollar. Locally produced calories are also support local business in your area. While local foods may or may not be “certified” organic, the pleasure of the downright neighborliness of getting to know your local producers is one step in getting more involved with your food and local growers – the priceless act of reconnecting with our communities and building strong local bonds.

There are several key reasons to focus on a seasonal and local diet.

[box]diet the nutrient density of local foods : There is a direct correlation in foods harvested at the peak of ripeness and that foods nutrition profile, freshness and taste. Most foods begin to loose nutrients immediately upon harvest, so the earlier food is harvested and the farther it is transported the lesser it’s nutrition profile. Fresh foods are alive and flourishing with nutrients and this is vital to our physical health.

taste matters : Just compare the flavor a color of a warm juicy tomato from your farmer’s market in July to one from your big chain grocery store. say no to gmo : Small farmers can focus on local and heirloom varieties of produce which reduces your exposure to genetically modified foods.

variety is the spice of life : From summer squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, peaches and beans to fall apples, corn, pumpkins, acorn squashes and into winter cabbages, beets, kales, radishes and leeks, you’ll enjoy the full spectrum of foods your area produces. To find what’s local in your town visit http://www.localharvest.org

environmental benefits : Local seasonal foods lend to reduced pollution as well as transportation costs. Lower transportation costs translates to lower food costs – it’s just less expensive in the big picture to eat the locally abundant food available and to support the local farmers in our communities.

investing in your community and investing in yourself : Hipoocrates once said, “Let thy food be thy medicine and let thy medicine be thy food.“ Along with that goes eating a seasonally based diet with lots of variety throughout the year. This is the “cornerstone of preventive medicine,” says Preston Maring, a doctor at Kaiser Permanente’s Oakland Medical Center in California. Inspired by study after study documenting the benefits of eating an in-season, plant-focused diet—reduced risks of cancer and heart disease, increased longevity, improved cholesterol, improved vascular health, increased bone density and weight loss, to name a few—Maring has actually written prescriptions for patients to buy fresh food from the hospital’s on-site farmers’ market, complete with suggestions about how they can prepare it.” (Mother Earth Living) [/box]

There can be, however, challenges to local eating. For many people – especially those working long hours or otherwise pressed for time, availability is key, and eating local can present hurdles, especially in areas with a long cold winter.

Many farmers markets close beginning in late October or November, so it takes some rooting around to locate the best sources to shop in winter. However, now farm CSAs with local drop off points and even home delivery are becoming more accessible and prevalent. Persistence and a desire to make this wonderful lifestyle change is really the key. Also, a willingness to try new, perhaps unfamiliar ingredients is a plus. My recommendation is always to take the plunge and go local, seasonal and organic – just a little bit at a time.

Despite the challenges, as you learn what’s available, you’ll become more comfortable planning for your regional food cycle. You’ll develop a seasonal eating rhythm that is more nutritious, healthy and very enjoyable!

technical difficulties

Leave a comment September 30, 2013 nourishinggrace

Sometime between last Friday night and Saturday morning the site went down and lost connection to the database. there still seem to be some technical difficulties, but I am working on fixing them and will reload the content I have – pretty much everything except for the series on broth and homemade stocks, during the week.

rebuild… that’s all you can do

Plus, laugh because this endeavor in restoring the database has further confirmed my limited knowledge of the internet and blog-hosting!