Every year, the United States wastes 40 percent of the food it produces!

 

 
 
 
Couldn't resist re-copying this great article that I found at FoodDeclaration.org. Great web site. Look at this great WWI poster......... This poster is about 100 years old but its message is no less pertinent. Why? Because every year, the United States wastes 40 percent of the food it produces. That's enough food to fill the Rosebowl every day.

The U.S. Wastes 40 Percent of All Food Produced Per Year. How About We Stop Doing That?
  by Allison Arieff

Jonathan Bloom, whom we introduced you to earlier this year, has been obsessing about that stat for a long time. Indeed, his book, American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half of Its Food (and What We Can Do About It), points to food waste as one of the larger threats to our food supply.

Since the book's publication Bloom has been increasingly focused on reporting not just on that mind-boggling amount of waste but what we can do about it. I (Arieff) caught up with him at a brown bag lunch presentation at San Francisco's 18 Reasons earlier this week (where nary a sandwich crumb was left at the end). He suggests that there is legislation that could help stem the flow of food waste, by including language on food donation in the new Farm Bill, for example, or to streamline the tax deductions for food donation.

But, as Bloom points out, there are incredibly simple things we all can do to break the cycle of throwing out an average of 15 to 25 percent of our food annually per household (and the $1300 to $2200 we spend on it).

1. Shop smarter. Make a list to reduce your purchase of unnecessary items, plan meals, bring less food into your house. Since 25 percent is wasted, commit to buying 25 percent less food.

2. Focus on sensible portions. Portion sizes have increased as have the diameter of dinner plates. Pay attention to what's on your plate and think about equating value less with quantity than quality.

3. Ignore expiration dates. OK, so don't ignore them but approach with a fair amount of skepticism. If something is spoiled, you'll know it by the way it looks or smells not by the date on its packaging.

4. Love your leftovers. Don't just save them, eat them.

5. Befriend your freezer. It's a waste delayer.

And of course, there's always canning and preserving. For more tips including 17 Uses for Stale Bread, or to share some of your own, visit Bloom's blog, WastedFood.com .

Image from Library of Congress hington, D.C.

New Year's rant 11 DUMBEST GROCERY STORE ITEMS THAT YOU CERTAINLY DON’T NEED TO BUY

SOAPBOX TIME. Ok, it’s the first month of the new year—you know, where we look back at the past year and wonder how in the heck it came and went so fast. Also, people seem to do the ’10 most……..’ thing and I finally couldn’t stand it so I decided to harp on one of my 'I can't believe we do this' subjects.  Yes, I find both hilarity and sadness at the grocery store. Not only are the items below filled with preservatives, they don’t really save time, they are expensive and downright lazy. Also, I do realize that I have 11 items listed, not 10.  Believe me, I have more.  So here is my


11 DUMBEST GROCERY STORE ITEMS THAT YOU CERTAINLY DON’T NEED TO BUY

No particular order, you can decide on that...........................
Dumb Item #1 Cornmeal mush in a plastic bag ready to cut and fry (really, really hard to make at home, cornmeal, salt and water)

Dumb Item #2 Congealed sausage gravy in a plastic bag (ready to squeeze out and reheat.  Yum, yum —wouldn’t your grandma be proud!)

Dumb Item #3 Seasoned bread crumbs (won’t even address this!)

Dumb Item #4 Pre-cooked bacon that costs as much for 2 oz as it costs for an entire pound of unpre-cooked bacon (ok, so the ones who are buying this spent thousands on a gourmet kitchen?)

Dumb Item #5 Individually wrapped potatoes (potatoes last a long time in the kitchen, no need to buy just a few—this is just wrong and certainly expensive)

Dumb Item #6 Pre-made pie crust (another difficult problem, flour, shortening, salt, water and a little practice)

Dumb Item #7 Tiny carrots in a bag (these are not baby carrots which would be a waste of garden/field space, these are large carrots sanded down to small carrots –lots of waste, people. Do we really have to have mini-carrots—Come on!)

Dumb Item #8 Already mashed and refrigerated potatoes in a butter tub (two things—container waste and how hard is it to buy instant potatoes – oldest form of food preservation—if you really can’t mash your own?). This also applies to macaroni and cheese in a tub.

Dumb Item #9 Already mixed cinnamon and sugar in a shaker (speechless)

Dumb Item #10 Tomatoes on a vine (you really want to pay for the vine while buying transported tomatoes that taste like water?—needless eco-miles. Grow your own if possible and don’t eat these out of season. The anticipation of really good tomatoes in July through October is worth it!)

Dumb Item #11 I am a big fan of crockpots since I work outside the home but Crockpot meals (frozen in a bag, just add water) are just plain expensive and just silly-- (is it that difficult to put a piece of meat/whole chicken, some veggies, seasoning and water in the crockpot?--takes 5 minutes in the morning as you get ready for work) My husband found me almost hysterical in the store aisle.  Imagine how interested I was in finding out that you can also buy crockpot liners--another piece of stuff to recycle!

There's a lot more.  I could go on and on and on and on, but you get the message!

Yes, we should be very, very embarrassed. The foods (and I use the term loosely) that I have listed above don’t really save time and we certainly don't really know what is in them. Don’t tell me that no one really buys them because this is America and our business is making money and those products wouldn’t be there unless someone is buying them. Most of us have refrigerators, stoves, etc and half a brain. Indeed, some of us actually have kitchens to die for, but SOMEONE is buying this stuff! While we talk about ecology and eco-footprints, we go to the store and forget everything regarding packaging and eco-miles and things we can do for ourselves. Is it any wonder that the rest of the world thinks we are greedy, self-serving, and lazy with no regard for the planet? 

The Day after Thanksgiving

Our garden is still feeding us on Thanksgiving.  Beautiful fresh broccoli.  Haven't checked yet today, but the super frost and cold that began last night has probably finished the broccoli, but how great that it waited until the day after!  Another thing to be thankful for.  I finished picking the meat from the remains of the gigantic Thanksgiving turkey just a bit ago.  The bones, skin and gelatinized juices from the bottom of the roasting pan are already simmering in my 20 qt. stock pot. The meat has been chopped and put in freezer bags for soups, stews, casseroles, etc.  I will let that cook for 3 - 4 hours, then strain the stock into 2 qt plastic tubs to freeze outside the back door.  Then I will put them in the barn freezer until needed. I make a lot of chicken stock through the year, but turkey is the richest and most flavorful.  I think I have written it before, but nothing is so easy and free and has so many uses as homemade stock.  Lots of turkey, mashed potatoes, noodles, green bean casserole and pumpkin pie left in the refrigerator.  I won't be cooking much all weekend.  Back to the reasons to be thankful---we all have our jobs (except for middle daughter who was laid off from Lily's when it changed hands to another pharmaceutical company--she is taking this opportunity to get a second associates degree --this time in nursing using some financial aid made possible by Pres. Obama's stimulus $$--thank you, Mr. President), all of us are healthy (Dad will be 83 next month and just had a great physical report!), all have homes to live in and food on the table..............can't ask for much more than that, especially now! 
      Already have received some seed catalogs to begin planning the farmers' market gardens.  Lots of stuff to do before Christmas.  Have already received orders for knitted items for next year--socks, fingerless gloves, hats, mittens, scarves, etc.!   

deer season, greenhouse is here! past year assessment

This past weekend always marks the beginning of late fall for us at home. Saturday was opening day for firearms deer season. As usual, middle daughter got her first one that day and so did husband, which means that Sunday was butchering day. We started at 8:00 in the barn, skinning, and taking the meat off the bone. Then we bring the meat to be processed in the house (trimmed, washed, ground into burger meat or cut into roasts, steaks and wrapped). We were finished at 7:00—kitchen cleaned up, hide and bones buried, meat in the freezer. And when I say finished—I mean FINISHED! We were so tired—even my hands hurt! But it is worth it to have good meat for very little $$. Right now, I have a large venison roast in the crockpot and all I have to do for supper is cook and mash potatoes, make the gravy and add a vegetable and supper is served.


Today our greenhouse is being delivered on a semi-truck so husband is at home waiting for that delivery. Then the foundation will be set and the assembly/building will begin. Rather exciting. For all the decades that my family has gardened and farmed, this is the first greenhouse we will have. Broccoli almost done in the fall garden. I will probably serve my last bit at Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is always the bench mark of a fall garden. The rule of thumb is 'if it can be grown in the early spring, you can grow it in your fall garden.' We are always amazed when stores put away their seed displays in July! We have pumpkins stacked on the flatbed trailer waiting for the brooder house to be cleared out for the season. Then we will line the little building with straw and store the pumpkins in there for as long as they last. Gourds are drying.

Trying to put together family gifts for the holidays as well as finish my handmade orders. It's been a great year for our vegetables, eggs, breads, barbecue sauce and handmades at the farmers’ market and at home. We experimented with a CSA customer (Community Supported Agriculture) who tells us she was very satisfied and will do it again next year (we will take on 4 customers next year, as well as the farmers’ market and vegetables sold at work). I have made and sold socks, scarves, neckwarmers, fingerless gloves, mittens, dishcloths, etc. as far away as Boston and lots of soap this year at both the farmers’ market and from home. Everyone loves socks, especially now since we are all turning thermostats down! I make the ones with fine wool sock yarn for wearing inside shoes and make thicker ones for boots and bed socks (also, just padding around the house). Noodles for the holidays are in high demand and my chickens produce eggs that make the best so I sell a lot of those, too! Next year, I will also add woven rag rugs, etc. to my line of handmades.

End of season chores, knitting, chicken stock and soup recipe

Our last Saturday at the Attica Farmers' Market was last week so now I can begin the Fall food 'putting by', more soap making, finish some knitting and start some knitting orders (hope to have some pictures on my blog soon) .  I put laundry on the line at 7:00 today which seemed strange since, during farmers' market season, I do all the laundry on Sunday.  Tomorrow, however, I will be making soap so that it has time to age by the holidays and noodles to replenish my supply in the freezer.  I also have a new soap mold that I am anxious to use.  Two more batches of soap, along with the batch that I made 3 weeks ago, will see us through the winter with some left over for gifts.  I promised myself that during this long Labor Day weekend, I would finish Liberty's purple cardigan sweater which, if today is any indication, she will need for school soon.  For the first time in months, I feel the need to wear socks in the house--it got down to 49 F degrees last night!  Dad has a large bucket of pickle-size cucumbers ready for me to put down in one of my crocks.  My prolific morning glories decided to strangle my dill in the herb garden, but I will see how much survived.  If not enough, I'll have to buy some somewhere.  Still have a lot of apples to peel, slice, and freeze.  Pumpkins ripening fast and fall broccoli and cabbage (think crocked sauerkraut) doing well.  Deer season will be here before we know it and since I help with the butchering, it is a good idea to have everything done and canned, dried, or in the freezer before that begins.

Made a 'green soup' this a.m. for supper (most farm people still refer to the noon meal as Dinner and the evening meal as Supper. To us, it is the right way---but to each their own!)  For those who care, here's the recipe.  Add some really good homemade bread and butter and you've got yourself some really healthy stuff (I am sure in a New York restaurant somewhere it would be on the menu  for some ungodly amount of $$).

Peasant Green Soup

1 medium or large crock pot
5-6 large swiss chard leaves, de-ribbed and chopped coarsely
(frozen on fresh spinach will do, I am sure)
2 cups dry great northern beans (or your favorite dry bean)
4 cups homemade chicken or turkey stock (more on this big saver below)
4 cups water or 4 more cups stock if you have it
handful fresh basil leaves, chopped coarsely
3 large cloves garlic, chopped coarsely
2 T salt (I make a sea salt, garlic powder, coarse black pepper blend that I keep on hand for everything so I use it for this also--increase the quantity to 3 T of the mixture)
I also found 1/2 cup chopped turkey in the frig left over from cutting meat for sandwiches the other day so I added that--what the heck!
Cook on high until beans are done.  Mash a bit of the mixture to thicken.  Stir and serve.  Also, freeze the remainder for work/school lunches.

Now, about that stock.  Nothing costs so little, takes so little time, and does so much to save on your food bill than stock.  No excuses--you'll be using up stuff you have probably been throwing away!.  It's ecological and free!  Two of my favorite things. Come on, the stove does all the work! 

Chicken or Poultry Stock Primer (variations at the end)

1) Save all your cooked and uncooked backs, wings, skin, carcasses of turkey (I collect the families turkey carcasses during the holidays and freeze them) or chicken in a bag in the freezer so that when you have a weekend afternoon when you are going to be home, you will be ready.  Also save the bottoms of celery stalks, old carrots, bits of onion and their skins (all in the freezer), garlic, bunch of parsley, etc.

2) Put the poultry pieces and vegie material in the bottom of a 20 quart pot (invest in one of these---VERY multi-purpose), add 6 - 8 whole peppercorns if you have them, enough water to cover everything, add about 2 T of salt (careful, this will boil down and concentrate a bit). 

3) Now put the pot on the stove, put the lid on the pot, and turn the heat to high and bring to a boil.  As soon as it comes to a boil, skim off any scum if there is any, and turn the heat down until you see just the hint of rolling boil under the surface.  Put the lid kind of slanted so that some steam can escape, then set your timer to about 4 - 5 hours.   The stove will heat your kitchen for you that day. 

4) After about 5 hours, turn off the heat and let it set for a few hours. 

5) Then, take it to the sink and find one of those terrible plastic bags (without a hole in it) that we get from every store.  Open up the bag in your sink.  Using a slotted spoon or strainer, dip out all the solids from the pot and put in the bag.  When you have all the stuff in the bag, tie the two 'ears' together and toss in the compost minus bones (those go into the trash). 

6) Now, put a dishcloth in the bottom of a colander (that thing you drain your pasta into).  Set the colander in a dishpan or some other large container and pour your stock in.  Discard whatever is in the dishcloth and the rest is stock. 

Put into freezer containers (I freeze mine by the quart) and use for soup, noodles, vegies, whatever.  Nothing is so easy and cheap and adds so much flavor!  I do this every 3 weeks or so in the winter and it seems to be enough for us.  P.S.  Also works with venison bones, beef bones (get what is called dog bones at the butcher counter) for a great beef stock for stews, etc.

Forgot to add.  When the open the frozen container of poultry stock, you can spoon off the fat on the top (not all of it--where do you think most of the flavor comes from).  Save this fat--nothing is more perfect to add to a little vegetable oil when you fry or saute--lots of flavor and very pure.  Do not do this with beef stock--THAT fat really isn't good for us at all. 

Got salmonella? Know your Food

So now we have millions of eggs recalled due to salmonella poisoning.  How many times have we (ecologists and other folks who know and care) told them that it is the conditions in which layers are raised that caused this to happen. The big producers say that this is the way to raise eggs so that they will be cheap at the stores.  How cheap is it if it sickens you and can cause death?  Why is it expected that life sustenance should be cheap so that we have enough money left over to go out and buy that which is of no importance whatsover?  In 80% of the world those last two questions would have made no sense whatsover. 
       Chickens cannot thrive in conditions where they stand in a tiny cage in their own waste 24/7 dropping eggs into it and not have the transmission of bad stuff into the eggs.   And then, because they have worn the chickens out using high-powered feed, god-knows-what chemicals to 'enhance' their laying capabilities, the chickens are no longer valuable as layers at 18 months so they are now only good for dogfood and feather protein.  Now, for those who do not know this, chickens do not even begin to lay until they are around 6 months old.  So, these chickens are worn out in 1 year!  An egg a day (or more) is expected from them from the beginning of their laying cycle.  In our flock, that isn't even a remote goal.  If, on the good stuff that ours are fed, we get an egg every 2 - 3 days, that is great!  The egg is quality, it is clean and the chicken leads a good life of generally around 3 - 4 years.  They have the run of a very large area, grass clippings, weeds, and vegetables from the garden and, as an added bonus, they produce compost for us to begin the cycle again. 
    I would love to be able to provide more eggs for more people, but we are a very small operation and that may be the solution.  The big outfits have failed.  Get to know a local egg producer.  Ask questions about how the hens are raised.  Don't expect the eggs to be cheap (the old phrase 'cheaper in the country' was only used by those who thought that somehow country people don't need to make a profit, that they don't have bills like everyone else).  And don't expect a knowledgeable chicken farmer to invite you in to the chicken area. That sounds very quaint and old fashioned, but people spread more diseases than chickens do.  Know your producer and know your food.  Food gives us life, so it really is that important.

A/C??????

So I have had very interesting responses lately when it is known that we do not have air conditioning by choice.  Oh, we could patch the hole in the airconditioning line and charge it with freon or whatever they call the eco-substitute now, but we choose not to.  And, believe it or not, we are surviving (with a much lower electric bill than those with a/c).  We have fans, and windows and screens and trees and, most of the time, a breeze.  Sure, it is hot, especially this year, but we work outside so much in the gardens and with the chickens, that it doesn't seem to matter.  Also, in the back of our minds, we wonder if we had a/c if we would actually go out and do the work we have to do as willingly.  You know, people lived and worked prior to the 'air conditioning age'.  I can remember the first time I went into a home that had a/c.  Thought it was the neatest thing!
     So the comments I hear lead me to believe that people think they actually must have a/c.  In fact, there seem to be those who really believe that they will die, their allergies will kill them, etc.  Is it possible that some have allergies and other conditions because we insist on living against nature instead of with it?  We have tortured our environment so much that it is turning against us--and justifiably so.  Something to ponder.