I was invited to lead a workshop on urban farming Friday at my alma mater---American University here in D.C. I was surprised to learn that this all-day "Eating Green" conference was sponsored by the university's philosophy department. But when you think about it, what could be a more existential question than the one that concerns our future survival in a world where fertile soil and water are being rapidly depleted and we've come to depend on an unsustainable supply of fossil fuels to feed the growing multitudes?
Although it is often sold as an ornamental flower in the U.S., the lablab has numerous benefits. This legume, native to sub-Saharan Africa, is both a versatile food staple and tool for land restoration.
From humid lowlands to dry highlands, the lablab is easy to plant and even easier to care for. It stays green and productive throughout the dry season when food is generally hard to come by. It is popular as a food crop in many other parts of the world, in addition to sub-Saharan Africa, including India, the Philippines, and elsewhere in the Asian tropics.
Might as well say it straight up: Kids don't like vegetables.
At least most kids don't like most vegetables most of the time. That's the ultimate lesson I draw after spending weeks in school kitchens from Washington, D.C., to Berkeley, CA. And that certainly challenges the idea of produce as a magic elixir for the childhood obesity epidemic. Is the clamor for additional government standards requiring more vegetables in school meals really justified? Or even a good idea?
Continuing on our virtual world culinary tour, our food appreciation classes last week bade adieu to West Africa. But we could not leave without sampling a staple food item there: palm oil.
Palm oil, derived from the fruit of the oil palm, is immediately recognizable by its deep, red color. The color comes from a heavy concentration of beta-carotene--the same nutrient in carrots, tomatoes and other fruits and vegetables with red coloring. Palm oil is a saturated fat, but unlike saturated fat from animal sources. It is full of vitamins, antioxidants and other nutrients essential for good health. It has a distinctive, assertively nutty flavor that has led to a reputation for being perhaps too strong for some tastes. But we did not find it so.
In Angola, palm oil is a key ingredient in a signature stew called muamba de galinha, incorporating simple, fresh ingredients: chicken, onion, garlic, tomatoes, squash, okra. But you probably will need to find an African grocery in order to purchase the palm oil. There's quite a lot of it in the stew. To soak up all the juices, we made our first attempt at fufu, the traditional West African starch, in this case made from manioc (cassava) and plantain.
Start with either a whole chicken cut into pieces or 1 pound boneless chicken breast cut into large dice. Season the chicken with salt, crushed red pepper to taste, and the juice of 1/2 lemon. Refrigerate the chicken to marinate for about an hour, then brown it all over in a heavy pot coated with palm oil. Remove the chicken and reserve.
Now heat 1 cup palm oil in the pot and add 2 medium onions, cut into medium dice. Season onion with 1 teaspoon salt and brown lightly. Then add two cloves or more garlic, finely chopped; 1 14-ounce can diced tomato; 1/2 acorn squash peeled, seeded and cut into medium dice; crushed red pepper to taste; the pieces of whole chicken, if using; 1 cup canned palm soup base (or substitute chicken broth). If using boneless chicken breast only, wait until the stew is almost finished before adding it to the pot.
Cook until the chicken is almost cooked through (if using whole pieces), about 30 minutes, then add about 1 dozen (or more) fresh okra pods, stemmed and cut into bite-size pieces. If you are using chicken breast, add that at this time as well. Cook another 10 minutes, or until the okra is tender, then serve the stew hot as is, or with fufu.
Traditionally, fufu is made by pounding starchy tubers in a big wooden mortar until they turn into a fine paste. Starchy plantains or corn can also be added. We don't own a suitable mortar for making our own fufu, so we opted for instant fufu from the African grocery consisting of a mix of manioc and plantain. In West Africa, fufu is typically served by rolling it into balls. It looks like cream of wheat, but it is extremely sticky, with a very benign flavor. Though high in fiber and potassium, fufu is not terribly nutritious. But it does provide an inexpensive source of calories.
The finished muamba is unlike anything we've made before: bright red. It's also delicious. The kids wolfed it down and begged for seconds. Now that's one way to get kids to eat their vegetables.
It's been a while since I shared garden pictures. We've been in a rebuilding stage after the deer striped a majority of the garden. I've been set back a few weeks on some things, tomatoes, strawberries, beans, swiss chard, eggplant and tomatillos. Some things are lost for the year, like blackberries, raspberries, boysenberries and grapes. The rest were left pretty much untouched citrus, peppers (bell, jalapeno, cayenne), basil, onions, beets, watermelon, and honeydew.
Right now I've been eating the basil, beets, swiss chard, cherry tomatoes, strawberries and green beans. I'm really hoping my watermelon and honeydew step up their game and start putting out melons.
Hi friends. Today was a hot beautiful day here in the peninsula (midwest Bay Area). I'd imagine it got up to 100F which is a little hot for the garden. I took some photos today I'd like to share.
First I'd like to start with a request for your help. My friend Martin W, aka Alpolitics on dKos is taking a well deserved vacation with the family. He needs (and I would love to see) a few crossposts over to his site the Progressive Electorate. It's focused on elections, politicians and issues. Please come on by and crosspost something you've written, either recently, or something you wish had gotten more attention. There is no 3 paragraph rule so your diaries can be a link and a comment. It would be amazing if we could leave a nice little present at the Progressive Electorate in the form of ten to fifteen crossposts.
Here's a tiny rose I took a picture of, as I skillfully maneuvered the camera to avoid the thorns.
These are the best of the pictures I took today in my garden and around my house. I didn't plant most of these flowers so I can't tell ya what they are. But I'll start in the garden, which is all me. Then I'll finish with three great videos about the environment, gardening, comedy and the local sustainable food movement.
This is a strawberry flower. These are my top performers in the garden right now. They have gotten quite tall and are just reaching up towards the sky.
Hello friends! This is a followup diary to Climate Change-Tree Decline and my Obama Inaugural Orchard where I told y'all about how I planted a few fruit trees and vegetables in honor of our new President. Well, I also did it for myself. I love gardening. This is my third year at it, and I've learned quite a bit. I think I might actually produce something good this year ;D. I make no apologies for scoring cheap points by including dog and cat pics.
fullsize This is my newest addition, it's an avocado tree. I brought a Mexicola variety down from Chico about five years ago. But the gophers ate the roots. This is a typical Haas avocado tree.
Follow me below the fold, and I'll show you how my garden has been doing.
Goose feet! What sort of gardening diary is this, you might ask, with this talk of bird appendages? Are you sure you haven't accidentally clicked on some Asinus Asinum Fricat diary about strange soup?
Rest your mind - this is about the Chenopodiaceae, the goosefoot plant family.
Ackkkkk! you say. Long word! Long word! Do not fear, there won't be a lot of this. Amaranthaceae, the pigweed family, is the other one, and they are related families, and there's some debate as to whether they are really all in the same family, the Amaranthaceae.
About 50% of the acres harvested in the U.S. in 2007 were planted in corn and soy. Another 36% of the acres harvested were planted in wheat and hay. Veggies made up only 1.5% of the harvested acres in the U.S.; orchard crops (fruit and tree nuts) made up 1.6%. So who's growing all this fucking corn? Are small farmers equally as guilty as the biggest farms out there? Take a look:
Farm Size
% of Sales($) From Corn
% of Sales($) from Wheat
% of Sales($) from Soy
1-9 acres
0.2%
0.0%
0.1%
10-49 acres
0.8%
0.1%
0.5%
50-69 acres
1.5%
0.2%
0.9%
70-99 acres
3.0%
0.3%
1.7%
100-139 acres
3.9%
0.4%
2.3%
140-179 acres
5.2%
0.8%
3.5%
180-219 acres
6.2%
0.7%
3.7%
220-259 acres
7.4%
0.8%
4.4%
260-499 acres
10.9%
1.3%
6.1%
500-999 acres
16.2%
2.0%
8.8%
1000-1999 acres
21.1%
4.0%
11.2%
2000+ acres
18.2%
8.6%
8.0%
All Farms
13.4%
3.6
6.8%
Because this table is measured in sales dollars as a percent of all sales dollars, you can't tell how many acres were planted of each crop. You CAN tell whose business is more reliant on corn, wheat, and soy though. And that's obvious: the bigger you are, the more likely you are to grow corn, wheat, and soy.
Two days ago I posted my 08 Food Awards Hall of Shame and since every coin has two sides here's the flip: the best foods you can eat and why. Though it doesn't take a rocket scientist to tell us that fruits & vegetables win hands down on the health scale but there are still quite a few surprises in the nutrient quiver!
There are basically two groups of foods that you can eat ad nauseam without piling on the dreaded calories: vegetables and fruits. Eat your fruits and vegs with fiber and you get nutrients. Another super-nutrient is protein. It's becoming more scientifically accepted that protein helps to control appetite. Protein also offers greater staying power, and can boost your metabolism. Come check my list (not in alphabetical or preference)
The USDA measures how much we produce of each food and attempts to capture how much we actually eat (subtracting exports and spoilage, adding imports). I find it very interesting! Follow me below to see which veggies we're eating in this country.
(Steve Young is a fantastic friend of our movement. If you click on our ActBlue page (left column of the site) you will see him listed on there as someone we oughta support! - promoted by OrangeClouds115)
The passage of time enlarges perspective. I grew up green and did not know it. I'm not talking about conservation and recycling (though my parents did and still do) nor do I mean opposing the war (we did vigorously). Instead, I am talking about green from the stand point that we grew our own food.
I grew up in Utah. My family did not have a farm. We lived in town. The quarter acre lots were big by today's suburban standards, but that was not enough land for my father, he "rented" the next door neighbor's back yard every summer and "farmed" the property. On our property, we had a cherry tree, an apricot tree, an apple tree and a plum tree. We also had a raspberry patch. On the neighboring property we grew corn, squash, beans, watermelons, beets (I still don't like beets), pumpkins, onions, tomatoes, potatoes, and cucumbers.
