Farmers Market Saturday Shout Out for June 18

This weeks shout out goes to some very cool people growing some very cool plants and food...

Fat Blossom Farm - www.fatblossom.com

I absolutely love this group of people. They were the first organic growers we met at the HFM and they have been such a huge help to us. We have purchased many of our plants from them and they share their knowledge of growing organic plants with anyone. They are the most friendly group of people and we make it a point to stop by their booth every week. They have the best selection of organic plants making them a one stop shop for organic gardeners like myself. Check out their website and look into their CSA membership details as their prices are comparable to other CSA memberships out there. Check them out on facebook here ----->fatblossom facebook page. Please check them out and buy something from them if you are ever at the HFM.

~Matt

Look for their sign and all the awesome plants!

Organic Strawberries!

My son showing some Fat Blossom love for the free strawberry!

Our purchase for today!

Our tomato purchase from a few weeks ago.

1 of the 9 pepper plants we picked up a few weeks ago.

Who Let The Dogs Out? or Organic Varmint Solution...Kinda; You vote and decide!

Meet the enemy: Rabbits (or, colloquially, bunnies) are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world. There are eight different genera in the family classified as rabbits, including the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), cottontail rabbits (genus Sylvilagus; 13species), and the Amami rabbit (Pentalagus furnessi, an endangered species on Amami Ōshima, Japan). There are many other species of rabbit, and these, along with pikas and hares, make up the order Lagomorpha. The male is called a buck and the female is a doe; a young rabbit is a kitten or kit.

The war rages on! It has been a month since the last attack but last night our garden suffered some casualties. We were attacked by the rabbits and they managed to eat ALL my leaf lettuce, ALL my romaine lettuce, a whole row of broccoli plants, and one of my jalapeno plants! We will not take this lying down. Tonight I beefed up our fence around the garden by adding more chicken wire and digging it deeper into the ground. I also buried some plywood sheets to make a wall as well. I did find their entry point and made sure they could not get through again. I do think that all my work will be in vain and they will breach my gates and walls eventually, but when they do I'll have a little something waiting for them....

"Say hello to my little friend!"

The solution is standing before you: The coyote (US: /kaɪˈoʊtiː/ or /ˈkaɪ.oʊt/, UK: /kɔɪˈjoʊteɪ/ or /kɔɪˈjoʊt/;^[2] Canis latrans), also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf,^[3] is a speciesof canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada. It occurs as far north as Alaska and all but the northernmost portions of Canada.^[4] There are currently 19 recognized subspecies, with 16 in Canada, Mexico and the United States, and 3 in Central America.^[5] Unlike its cousin the gray wolf, which is Eurasian in origin, evolutionary theory suggests the coyote evolved in North America during the Pleistocene epoch 1.81 million years ago^[6] alongside the Dire Wolf.^[7] Unlike the wolf, the coyote's range has expanded in the wake of human civilization, and coyotes readily reproduce in metropolitan areas.^[8][9]

I am a coyote hunter. Before all the animal loving people out there attack my blog and call me names, I just want to say this is not the place for that. I will erase your comments so save us both some time. Back to what I was saying... I am a coyote hunter and this is one of my decoys I use while hunting. It has fooled plenty of coyote so I am hoping it will fool ol long ears also. I plan to move it around everyday. I sprayed coyote urine on the tail to add some more "realness" to it all. If this does not work I will move to plan B...

What are your solutions for rabbit control? I would love to hear them so please post them in the comment section below.

One last thing, I did not know what to name this post so I am letting you decide. In the comments below cast your vote for #1 - Who Let The Dogs Out? or # 2 Organic Varmint Solution, or you could give your own suggestions. I'll officially change the post title next week Wednesday to the one with the most votes.

~Matt

Farmers Market Saturday Shout Out for June 11

Eaters Guild Has Good Eats

I love these guys! First off can you say "organic strawberries"! They are the only ones at the HFM that has them. Also their produce looks amazing! Very eye catching . I was looking over the various veggies and ask about the taste of some leafy spinach looking veggie and the guy behind the both tore off a piece and said "here try it". What do you think the clerks would do if they saw you do that at Wal-mart? Plus the fact that the produce was only a few hours old and cut that morning is just something you can not get at the big box stores.

The guys at Eaters Guild Organic Farm <------LINK------- are great to talk with. They always have a smile and do not rush the conversation. I really like these guys and what they are doing. If you are down at the Holland Farmers Market please stop buy their booth and pick up some of the most tasty veggies you will ever have. Their prices are fantastic and the product is even better. We had the leafy spinach looking veggie and some free range chicken salad tonight and it was out of this world! Thanks a ton Eaters Guild Organic Farm!

~Matt

Butter vs. Margarine: A Little Change That Makes a Big Difference

Thanks to Grassfields LLC, here is a rundown on the difference between butter and margarine. I admit I fell into the "always buy margarine" category but have since switched to butter and here are some reasons you should too (copied from Grassfields website, see link above). Also? You can leave butter out for a few days so it's nice and soft when you want to use it.

Do you know the difference between margarine and butter?

Butter... Both have the same amount of calories. Butter is slightly higher in saturated (good) fats at 8 grams compared to 5 grams. Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter according to a recent Harvard Medical Study. Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in foods. Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few only because they are added! Butter tastes much better than margarine and can enhance the flavors of foods. Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less than 100 years. Margarine... High in Trans Fatty Acids which gives a higher risk of Coronary Heart Disease Increases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) Lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol) Increases the risk of cancers Lowers quality of breast milk Decreases immune response Decreases insulin response

The Good, The Bad and The Over-priced

I've been meaning to blog for some time, but life with a newborn and 2 toddlers is just a little busy. I think in a previous post I mentioned that I was stuck on the thought that it was too expensive to eat healthy and that we couldn't do it on our budget. Not true, we're totally doing it! I follow Organic Connections on Twitter and they had an interesting article yesterday, you can read it here but the quote that I like best is this: "After going to McDonald’s recently and putting together a typical meal for four (mom, dad and two kids), I came up with a total of about $14.00 (I didn’t actually buy anything, though). For that money, you get almost nothing of nutritive value, but bland white bread, greasy burgers and fries with a sugary soda. That same $14.00 will purchase two pounds of lean ground beef, a pack of eight whole wheat buns, lettuce, tomato and enough potatoes to make oven-baked french fries and salad ingredients with money left over for some fresh fruit. The best part is that this is twice as much food as at McDonald’s, so there’s plenty for leftovers later. Better food at half the price: that’s pretty simple. I’ll allow that there’s no soda included in the home cooked meal, but no one should drink soda anyway and a full pitcher of iced tea costs pennies to make." After I read that I was like "hm, interesting point". Not that we ever really ate at McDonald's, but the point is that you can eat healthy on a budget. Matt and I have decided to go organic, or at least as organic as we possibly can, because some of the side-effects and conditions caused by the pesticides and hormones in our produce and milk just isn't something I want to give my kids. So we tighten up. If you're looking for a few areas to make a switch, because I think even changing a few things will cut out the stuff you don't need, I'll let you know what I've found. We switched to organic milk, which my kids didn't even notice and if they did it wasn't worth whining about so they're cool with that. It's around $5.69 a gallon (I know, right?) but my kids are young and developing so it's a small sacrifice now for the bigger picture. We buy Meijer brand organic whole wheat bread, and while it's $2.50 for a loaf that is smaller than your regular cheap loaf, it is seriously delicious and it's great not having to worry about what's in it! Natural Jiff and WalMart's version of it are so so good, even better than regular! The WalMart one was a bit runny but not that big of a deal. We keep it in the fridge until you get near the bottom. I bought a jar of organic jelly and while it was delicious it runs about $3.60 for a little jar so I'm going to make a bunch of jelly and freeze it to get the same basic results. The organic pasta and sauces from Meijer are also delicious, their Tomato and Basil pasta sauce is great and I haven't tried the other flavors because I love that one. Meijer has a great selection of organic produce, we're regular buyers of the bananas, Gala apples and whatever else we can't buy at the market. Meijer organic yogurt is also great, but I bought the big container of Stoneyfield blueberry for the kids and the individual ones for me and Matt. I have to say that I like the organic layout at D&W in Holland better because they have a banner over one section that says "USDA Certified Organic" (or something like that) and it's all there, where at Meijer it's next to it's regular counterparts so you have to search it out. However, D&W is much more expensive so I won't be buying anything there. Family Fare on the North Side of Holland has a great aisle with organic food, but only a few produce items. My biggest downfall is that I like to snack and I like chocolate. I did splurge on a package of organic chocolate chip cookies from Meijer and they were so good! But they were like $3.50 for the package so probably not a regular staple but surely I deserve a treat from time to time :-) So hopefully my rambling gives you some ideas on how to make small changes. I tried another new recipe the other night and it was so great that I even took a picture of it :-) It had multiple steps, which I usually don't attempt to make, but it turned out great so we'll probably eat it every week! Here's the recipe:

Lemony Broccoli Pasta with Chicken

Hands-On Time: 10 minutes
Ready In: 30 minutes

Ingredients
12 ounces dried pasta shapes (fusilli, wagon wheels, rotini, etc.)
1 pound (4 small or 2 large) skinless, boneless chicken breasts, preferably naturally raised
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons butter (divided use)
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, pressed through a garlic press (I didn't have this so I skipped it)
1 large bunch broccoli, stems peeled, and stems and florets cut into small pieces
1 cup chicken broth
juice and finely grated zest of 1 large lemon
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped and toasted at 350ºF for 5 minutes (didn't have so I skipped)
1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of pasta-cooking water to a boil and salt it heavily: it should taste as salty as seawater. ***I forgot to salt the water and it turned out fine.*** Cook the pasta (if you add it when the chicken is about half cooked, the sauce and pasta will be done at the same time), drain it, and return it to the pot with 3 tablespoons of the butter.
2. Pat the chicken dry and season on both sides with salt and pepper. In a very large skillet, heat the olive oil and remaining 1 tablespoon of butter over medium-high heat until foamy and very hot, then add the chicken and sauté until well browned and cooked through, around 4 minutes per side (thicker breasts may take longer; turn the heat down as needed to keep the chicken from burning). Remove the chicken to a cutting board.
3. Turn the heat to low and add the garlic to the pan, stirring for a few seconds until it is fragrant but not browned, then add the broccoli, the broth, and 1 teaspoon of salt, stirring to dissolve the browned bits on the bottom of the pan.
4. Cover the pan, turn the heat up to medium, and cook/steam until the broccoli is just tender: 3-4 minutes.
5. Add the chicken, which you've sliced thinly, back to the pan, along with the lemon juice and zest, the walnuts, and the buttered pasta, and stir to combine well (if the skillet isn't large enough, combine in the pasta pot).
6. Now taste a piece of pasta: it should be lemony and flavorful; add more salt, pepper, and lemon juice to taste. Stir in the parmesan cheese, then serve, passing more parmesan at the table.

And voila! It's also really good the next day cold with romaine lettuce and Caesar dressing, homemade bread and homemade lemonade!

-Keely

Farmers Market Saturday Shout Out for June 4 {For Angie}

I have a confession to make... we did not make it to the market this week! We had chicken and beef left from last week and still doing good on the veggies. Keely wants me to chill a little on buying seed and plants for the garden so we decided not to go. The main reason for not going had to do with my son's birthday party today. But we still have a shout out...

The Shout Out for June 4 goes to Otto's Chicken![ <--LINK--] Otto's Chicken is the best chicken I have ever had in my life! All natural, no hormones or other junk. You have not had chicken if you have never tasted natural chicken. Let me show you what chicken you are eating if you buy it from a store.

Take a look at the chickens at this farm. These chickens are raised in the same likeness as Otto's Chickens.

Otto's Chicken does cost a lot more then your store bought "chicken". But I promise you that you will taste the difference and never want to go back! You get what you pay for and with some adjusting of priorities and how you spend your money you can afford this chicken. You should be eating real food. You deserve to! Thank you Otto's Chicken!

~Matt

Netflix = Great Food Movies

This Is Where It All Started

It is crazy to think that being a consumer of instant gratification is what brought us to the organic, real food, locally bought lifestyle that we live now. For real that is crazy! Keely and I have Netflix. We LOVE it! It streams through our Wii and cost about 8 bucks a month. At our greedy little finger tips are hundreds and hundreds of movies and tv shows that can be played instantly. Our children have a library of kid friendly movies and tv shows that they are allowed to watch for 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes at night. One night while drinking diet coke and stuffing my face with high fructose corn syrup, Keely and I stumbled upon Food Inc. a documentary about our food and where it comes from, who's making it, how it is made, and what it really is. Food Inc. will shock a lot of people into making the change. We were such consumers of instant gratification that it took a few more documentaries before we made the change. I thought I would list my top 5 food movies that you can find on Netflix for you. If you are curious about organic and eating real food, these movies are a great starting point.

I suggest watching these in the order they are ranked from 1 - 5 starting with Food Inc. Click on the names of the movies to go to their sites.

#5 Ingredients

#4 King Corn

#3 Food Matters

#2 The Future of Food

Side note about The future of Food, if you don't have Netflix you can watch the whole movie on their site for FREE!

#1 Food Inc

~Matt