What I didn't mention about day one is that we had breakfast at the Blue Dog Diner attached to the Autoport Motel and Lounge where we stayed. They don't really have any info on their website about the diner, but let me tell you it was delicious. Homemade white bread toast, farmfresh eggs and bacon, and really good roasted potatoes. Rebby had oatmeal. When we got to the conference site though we discoved that there was a free continental breakfast so the next two days we opted for that. So Friday we rolled up and got some coffee and bread and yogurt and boiled eggs and cheese and fruit and picnicked in the hallway. (one big problem I would have to mention is the lack of available places to sit and eat for meals that weren't in the main hall. People were jocking for position against the wall) After finishing our breakfast we took our seats in the Presidents Hall for the opening remarks.
Everyone who spoke was very inspiring---the new Dean of the agriculture school at Penn State, the new head of the PA Dept of Agriculture, and the Board President and Executive Director of PASA. The main event for me and Rebby, though was Michael Reynolds, founder of Earthship Biotechture. He gave a wacky, entertaining and inspiring speech that was about a lot of things besides Earthships. Mostly about the fact that government regulations which are supposedly there to protect citizens generally keep citizens from doing what they want to do. I gotta say a lot of what I heard at the conference had something to do with "know the laws, but don't let them stop you from doing the right thing." If I had to pick one message to sum up the conference, that would be it.
Michael got people all riled up and then it was time to grab our bag lunches and head to the first set of workshops.
I went to a really, really informative talk on Biodynamics. I've been interested in it since I somehow stumbled upon this book way back in the late 80s. My first attempts at a garden at the original Melwood house were inspired by this book. Biodynamics has a lot of really intuitive components and some sort of out there components, but it was in general a fascinating introductory lecture. The main thing I took away from it was to think of the whole farm as an organism. Biodynamic farmers believe for instance that if you feed your animals(which could include worms eating scraps from vegetables produced on your land, or chickens and horses and cows and goats grazing it)from your land, they will poop out what is needed to fertilize the land. That's why you should not feed animals grain from somewhere else, and why you should use manure or compost produced on your farm. Fascinating. The whole burying dung in a cow horn for half the year thing is a little harder to follow, but apparently it works. And I really like the idea of paying attention to the spiritual needs of the garden.
While I was learning about Biodynamics, Rebby went to a talk on edible forest gardens. She was definitely convinced by what that man was saying and has a lot of ideas to incorporate in our garden once we officially get the deed to the land. I can't wait!
We opted out of the PASA awards banquet and instead headed off on our own for dinner to Otto's Pub and Brewery for dinner and some local brew. By the most magical of coincidences, my old Albuquerque roomie Sean was there having dinner with his family! Also magically, his parents are the owners of the restaurant. What?!? I totally picked it based on the fact that we wanted some local beer and local food. In chatting with Sean, we uncovered the fact that his college buddy Jeff designed the menu at Otto's, at the Autoport, and the original menu at the Quiet Storm back before I was involved. And, he is currently in the kitchen at the Penn Stater where the conference was being held. I couldn't make this stuff up. Anyhow, we had an awesome talk with Sean and some incredible food and beer. I drank the Schwarzbier at the restaurant with my steak frites and local mushroom and cheddar puff pastry appetizer, and then we brought home a couple bottles of Jolly Roger Imperial Stout. Holy moly is it good. Rebby had a brisket sandwich and a Red Mo which she then brought home a bottle of as well. Amazingly good times.
We made it back to the hotel before it got too snowy and turned in early.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
What I Learned
So, we made it back from the PASA conference yesterday despite SNOWMAGEDDEON 2010.
I just have to say that even though State College and surrounding areas got almost 2 feet of snow, all the roads were completely clear all the way to Cranberry. Granted we were mostly on highways, but even the little roads through tiny farming communities on the way to I-80 were absolutely clear. Once we hit the "big city", it was like no efforts had been made whatsoever. That's all I'm gonna say about that. Except that despite the harsh weather and the fact that we were completely unable to get the truck anywhere near our street once we got home (we had to hike in with our bags, and then rebby took the truck over to Melwood and got dropped off by a friend)Rebby is getting on a plane to Atlanta in fifteen minutes. I on the other hand am stewing a chicken, making bread and pizza dough, making saurkraut, taking down the Christmas decorations, and writing to you.
I don't really know where to start. I think that the PASA conference was a game changer for me, and it isn't even all about the workshops or speeches. Just being around all those farmers who care about the earth and the future was inspiring in a way I can't really describe. Walking down the hallways past people selling seeds and tools, past Amish farmers and Mennonite women, past other urban squatters like us. I learned about a new Food Studies program at Chatham, and got a big bottle of liquid fish emulsion for free from a nice guy who got really excited about our future farm.
There were a lot of people there, and there were plenty of times when it seemed overwhelming. For the most part though, everyone was friendly and we met and talked with and learned about people doing similar and very different things with the land.
We ate amazing local foods, and got to bring home some lacto-fermented ginger carrots and daikon in a glass jar, and sprouted spelt pita chips with black bean hummus, and roasted tamari almonds and chocolate covered raisins, and perhaps the best cheese I have ever tasted (or at least it seemed like it at the time) from an Amish man who conveyed his love for his cows and dedication to making the world better wordlessly as he handed me a sample. I picked up an obscene number of seed catalogs (especially for someone who has already received two seed orders!) and we got a pile of informational booklets from the cooperative extension and others. We bought some books too---CheeseMaking and Chicken Keeping and Country Skills. I've got a lot of reading to do.
Our first day at the conference was an all day food preservation seminar, broken up into four parts. The first part was all about canning, and the woman who delivered the talk was so down to earth and excited about it that she really took away my last vestige of fear. We are gonna can the hell out of this garden next year, lemme tell ya! Next up was freezing and drying, with which we were largely familiar. Except this woman takes drying to a whole other level by making her own soup mixes and drying refried beans! Cool. She showed a very simple solar drying rack that rebby could build in an afternoon. She advocated the use of silpats, which thanks to Juli I now have two of, for drying herbs and fruit leathers and other small or liquidy items. Woo! I am excited.
The woman giving this part of the presentation as well as the next (on lacto-fermentaion) is a hard core Price-er, so some of what she was saying got slightly cult-y. I am generally pretty aligned with what they believe but I get a little creeped out by the way their eyes get when they are talking about bone broths and raw milk. Anyway, the next part of the talk after lunch was about lacto fermentation and we are already totally on board with that. I am a saurkraut master, though I haven't made any in a while (I'm changing that today!) I was pretty excited about her super easy instructions for making yogurt using raw milk and a thermos, though. I might try that today too. She shared with us some ferments she had done including a pineapple chutney and a ketchup which were interesting ideas. It got kind of awkward when she insisted that since it was a "hands on" workshop people had to come up and make saurkraut and salsa and chutney even though she had left behind some of the ingredients and most of the audience was clearly losing focus. Plus, it was wicked hot in that room. But we survived, and then came the session about curing meats. Justin Severino was supposed to give the talk but couldn't make it, so a really awesome young farmer named Brooks put it together and laid down some serious knowledge. He and his wife and son have a farm with a meat CSA, and they cure mostly pork but also some beef products. He made simple meat curing sound just as easy as the gravlax I made twice last year---and really it's the same thing. Meat, salt, spices, and time. I can't wait to give it a try!
The last session of the day was our old friend Don Kretschmann talking about root cellaring. He shared some really useful ideas and information, including the fact that most things (root vegetables, at least) do best with high moisture. I was convinced of the opposite! So basically we can put our root vegetables in the little room at the bottom of the storm cellar stairs and we should be fine. Crazy. We do still want to fix up the storage room at the front of the house under the porch at some point, though. It's got shelving in there already and (I think) a dirt floor which is apparently best for regulating humidity. He also suggested burying your roots in layers of dry leaves. Wow. It was all so exciting and applicable!
After all that learning we had an amazing local foods dinner and then we were pretty exhausted, so we went back to the hotel rather than staying for the band. A pretty sound sleep and then it was day two, featuring a keynote by Michael Reynolds. My Hero.
I just have to say that even though State College and surrounding areas got almost 2 feet of snow, all the roads were completely clear all the way to Cranberry. Granted we were mostly on highways, but even the little roads through tiny farming communities on the way to I-80 were absolutely clear. Once we hit the "big city", it was like no efforts had been made whatsoever. That's all I'm gonna say about that. Except that despite the harsh weather and the fact that we were completely unable to get the truck anywhere near our street once we got home (we had to hike in with our bags, and then rebby took the truck over to Melwood and got dropped off by a friend)Rebby is getting on a plane to Atlanta in fifteen minutes. I on the other hand am stewing a chicken, making bread and pizza dough, making saurkraut, taking down the Christmas decorations, and writing to you.
I don't really know where to start. I think that the PASA conference was a game changer for me, and it isn't even all about the workshops or speeches. Just being around all those farmers who care about the earth and the future was inspiring in a way I can't really describe. Walking down the hallways past people selling seeds and tools, past Amish farmers and Mennonite women, past other urban squatters like us. I learned about a new Food Studies program at Chatham, and got a big bottle of liquid fish emulsion for free from a nice guy who got really excited about our future farm.
There were a lot of people there, and there were plenty of times when it seemed overwhelming. For the most part though, everyone was friendly and we met and talked with and learned about people doing similar and very different things with the land.
We ate amazing local foods, and got to bring home some lacto-fermented ginger carrots and daikon in a glass jar, and sprouted spelt pita chips with black bean hummus, and roasted tamari almonds and chocolate covered raisins, and perhaps the best cheese I have ever tasted (or at least it seemed like it at the time) from an Amish man who conveyed his love for his cows and dedication to making the world better wordlessly as he handed me a sample. I picked up an obscene number of seed catalogs (especially for someone who has already received two seed orders!) and we got a pile of informational booklets from the cooperative extension and others. We bought some books too---CheeseMaking and Chicken Keeping and Country Skills. I've got a lot of reading to do.
Our first day at the conference was an all day food preservation seminar, broken up into four parts. The first part was all about canning, and the woman who delivered the talk was so down to earth and excited about it that she really took away my last vestige of fear. We are gonna can the hell out of this garden next year, lemme tell ya! Next up was freezing and drying, with which we were largely familiar. Except this woman takes drying to a whole other level by making her own soup mixes and drying refried beans! Cool. She showed a very simple solar drying rack that rebby could build in an afternoon. She advocated the use of silpats, which thanks to Juli I now have two of, for drying herbs and fruit leathers and other small or liquidy items. Woo! I am excited.
The woman giving this part of the presentation as well as the next (on lacto-fermentaion) is a hard core Price-er, so some of what she was saying got slightly cult-y. I am generally pretty aligned with what they believe but I get a little creeped out by the way their eyes get when they are talking about bone broths and raw milk. Anyway, the next part of the talk after lunch was about lacto fermentation and we are already totally on board with that. I am a saurkraut master, though I haven't made any in a while (I'm changing that today!) I was pretty excited about her super easy instructions for making yogurt using raw milk and a thermos, though. I might try that today too. She shared with us some ferments she had done including a pineapple chutney and a ketchup which were interesting ideas. It got kind of awkward when she insisted that since it was a "hands on" workshop people had to come up and make saurkraut and salsa and chutney even though she had left behind some of the ingredients and most of the audience was clearly losing focus. Plus, it was wicked hot in that room. But we survived, and then came the session about curing meats. Justin Severino was supposed to give the talk but couldn't make it, so a really awesome young farmer named Brooks put it together and laid down some serious knowledge. He and his wife and son have a farm with a meat CSA, and they cure mostly pork but also some beef products. He made simple meat curing sound just as easy as the gravlax I made twice last year---and really it's the same thing. Meat, salt, spices, and time. I can't wait to give it a try!
The last session of the day was our old friend Don Kretschmann talking about root cellaring. He shared some really useful ideas and information, including the fact that most things (root vegetables, at least) do best with high moisture. I was convinced of the opposite! So basically we can put our root vegetables in the little room at the bottom of the storm cellar stairs and we should be fine. Crazy. We do still want to fix up the storage room at the front of the house under the porch at some point, though. It's got shelving in there already and (I think) a dirt floor which is apparently best for regulating humidity. He also suggested burying your roots in layers of dry leaves. Wow. It was all so exciting and applicable!
After all that learning we had an amazing local foods dinner and then we were pretty exhausted, so we went back to the hotel rather than staying for the band. A pretty sound sleep and then it was day two, featuring a keynote by Michael Reynolds. My Hero.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
My Secret Shame
Oh, the humanity.
I've made changes in my lifestyle to the point where I rarely buy food products. I do buy canned tomatoes and beans, Mideast coucous, all manner of condiments, and the occasional Trader Joe's flight of fancy. Rebby likes breakfast cereal a lot, so we buy that too, sometimes. For the most part, though, I deal in whole foods. (lower case) I accomplish this largely by staying out of places where food products are sold (namely the middle aisles of grocery stores)
On Saturday, though, I found myself in a Dollar General in McKeesport. We were there in pursuit of Orange hand cleaner. It would have been very easy for me to a)stay in the truck or b)follow Rebby through the store with blinders on, but instead I followed the siren song of the food products aisle. And there, my friends, was perhaps my ultimate nemesis: Underwood Chicken Spread. One Dollar Per Can.
The experience of opening a can of Underwood Chicken Spread is exactly like opening a can of Fancy Feast cat food. It probably IS the same. The label basically insinuates chicken parts (only white meat though!) mixed with fat and seasonings and, oh, you know CORN SYRUP SOLIDS. This is everything I think is wrong with food in America today. Christ, it even has a DEVIL on the label just in case you weren't sure.
But.
I. Can't. Stop.
There was a summer when I was living alone in Greenfield in an apartment designed for four people. I had moved to Pittsburgh from Ohio for college, and was just getting myself sorted out. I worked at Roy Rogers in the Cathedral of Learning basement in the daytime, but I spent a LOT of time alone. And started to go slightly batty.
The most obvious manifestations of the battiness were talking out loud to myself all the time, and adopting a very peculiar diet. I would go to the grocery store and buy the following items:
Underwood Chicken Spread
Generic Cream Cheese
Peppridge Farms Dijon Rye Bread
Generic BBQ Fritos
Fresca
Then I would eat the chicken and cream cheese sandwiches, BBQ fritos and fresca for every meal (not counting the ones I had at work, and thank the good lord I spent a lot of time at the salad bar) until one element was used up. Bizarre, yes? And why would I want to revisit this battiness in such a Proustian manner? I can't tell you.
All I can tell you is I scooped up all four cans of Underwood Chicken Spread for One Dollar they had on those shelves and I am eating two chicken spread and cream cheese sandwiches for breakfast. And I feel great.
To redeem myself later, I will be making beef stock and a tuna casserole for Rebby's dinner. And going for a snowy shopping trip to the Strip.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Yesterday was my birthday. I turned 43. I've never been one to worry about age too much but I gotta say, my bones are getting WEARY. I took this not necessarily flattering photo in the morning (after coffee but not before trying to deal with the massive cowlick I've developed recently)in an effort to be honest about where I am at this point in my life. I am almost entirely HAPPY. But I am not really HEALTHY, and that has to change. As a birthday present from the gods, I got an email the day before about the new gym opening up three blocks from my house having an introductory special absurdly low membership fee. So I sent in my email. I'm on my way.
I think the key to getting myself in a better place this year is going to be yoga. At various points in my life I have been more or less into yoga and any time I am, I notice an almost immediate 200% improvement in the way I feel. Considering my job involves pretty much 10 hours of standing in one place moving my hands and arms, I figure I could use some limbering up in other areas. So I've got potential yoga dates lined up for the new year. And I'm also really going to take advantage of all that FIOS ON DEMAND has to offer in the fitness selection. And also---those bellydance workout DVDs I bought two years ago and watched from the comfort of my couch. I'll be rolling with those too. This all sounds very ambitious but I think I will make a sincere effort this year because I HAVE to. I feel more like a grown up this year than ever before and with that comes a certain amount of responsibility for my physical upkeep.
OK, stern words done with. My birthday was a beautiful, sunny day which I spent almost entirely by myself. I did a lot of reading both on the internet and in book form (Farm City which my friend Lisa loaned me sometime in the summer---another resolution has to be to make more time for reading because I have a huge stack of books and magazines I REALLY want to get to!) and then I got a call from my gal telling me that Richie Havens is playing at the Carnegie in Oakland on Saturday night and she wants to take me for my birthday. Woo! My love for Richie is so deep and profound and plus he shares my birthday so it's like we're spiritual twins. I went to see him once at Rosebud after finding out that afternoon that he was playing. It was one of the best evenings of my life, and I'm sure this one will be the same. I am totally given to hyperbole when describing my love for musicians and singers but you gotta believe me, Richie Havens has some kind of special power to instantly make me feel better about the world. His voice is soothing in a way that few other things are. Love.
I also had a little bit of frustrating email communication with the hotel we are staying at for the PASA conference coming up the first weekend of February. (I should talk about the PASA conference a little bit. I will, in a different post. This is already getting long winded.) I had made an email inquiry, and the response was to call for a reservation. So I did, and then I received a call telling me to call for a reservation. So I sent another email to confirm that my reservation was on the books, and they sent an email saying my reservation was on the books for thurs, fri, and sat feb 3rd, 4th, and 5th. So I sent another email saying thank you, but lets be clear that we are coming wed, thurs, and fri, feb 3rd, 4th, and 5th. And they replied that was correct. Unfortunately in the meantime I read some internet reviews of the place which cited more than one reservation screw up, so I was (and am) a little worried. I am not too concerned that the place got negative reviews, because I have learned from personal experience that people who post negative reviews normally have some kind of axe to grind. And plus, we're only going to be sleeping there, not hanging out. I'll post my own review once we return.
Anyhoo, the original plan for the evening was to go to Legume, which I have been wanting to check out forever. Unfortunately, even when Rebby is local her schedule is completely unreliable, so I was not too hopeful about making a reservation for a night when she was working in Aliquippa. So after she called to say things were not going according to plan (surprise!) I decided we would go to La Casa instead. Its close, doesn't require a reservation, consistently awesome, and has a bar. Problem solved. I made myself a tuna salad sandwich and got an Edmund Fitzgerald Porter and settled in to watch Julie and Julia on demand.
The movie is cute--Meryl Streep did a great job as Julia and Stanley Tucci was awesome as Paul. I found the Julie/Eric story to be completely true to the book, and as with the book, I was way more sympathetic to Eric than I was to Julie (and for this reason I don't think I am going to be able to read her next book....)
My favorite moment of the movie, though, came in the opening sequence when Julia and Paul are having dinner in France for the first time. Julia's reaction to her first bite of pan fried fish---her inability to articulate, her rush to share, the gamut of emotion that plays across her face as she savors it---it was absolutely perfect. That one moment conveyed what Julia Child was about more completely than really anything else in the entire film. And it conveyed my relationship to cooking and enjoying food better than any of the shows I've seen on the Food Network. (oh, that's a post for another day!) That moment made me really happy, and felt like a blessing on my birthday.
Rebby got home right around 6pm, and we got changed and drove over to Ellsworth (which we affectionately refer to as "little P-town") to Casa. I was a little surprised that there was only one other couple there, and more than a little disappointed that our favorite drag queen waiter Jamar was not working. Nadia was fantastic, though--she remembered us (or maybe she just says that to all the girls?) and treated us warmly, and flirtatiously, without being intrusive. It's a gorgeous little space inside and once you get some sangria in you it is impossible not to feel romantic. We ordered the charcuterie--serrano ham, dried chorizo, and little cornichons with delicious fresh baked bread and balsamic reduction for dipping; and a salad with hazelnuts, goat cheese and rosemary croutons, and a delicious savory balsamic dressing to start. The menu has changed a lot since the last time we were there---its really moving more toward Moroccan flavors and away from traditional Spanish, which is an ok thing for me. For our second round we had the amazing Patatas bravas, and tuna and salmon ceviche. I wouldn't really call it ceviche--more like tartare, I think---but man was it good. The tuna was done with a deep smoky sesame oil, and the salmon with capers and parsley and vinegar. So good. There were at least three other things on the menu I really wanted (can I really go to a tapas restaurant and not get shrimp in garlic? I guess I can!) but we were both stuffed. We moved on to profiteroles and Six Grapes Porto thanks to Nadia's suggestion. Luckily we were just finishing up our meal when a couple of dudes came in to sit at the bar and talk loudly about their problems...that was our cue to get out. We vowed to go to the liquor store this weekend and stock up on spanish wine and get some port for home. :)
Today I get another day off! And this evening I'm getting taken to Embury by my BFF. Birthday 2010 continues!
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Haiti
I, like most people I know, feel helpless.
It's hard to look on facebook and see people talking about mundane stuff when such an enormous tragedy is going on.
But look I have, all day long. Argh.
I happened quite by accident and out of character to be folding laundry with BBC International news on the TV on Tuesday evening when I found out about it. I almost didn't think it was real, especially when I turned over to local news programs and saw that there was little to no coverage. So back to the BBC I went.
Facebook has actually been a source of much encouragement, though---videos from the president, friends posting links for donations, and then this afternoon, a message from earthship biotecture that they are getting a team together to go and build new housing.
That coupled with the comments (people literally all over the world offering to go and help them!) made me cry a little bit.
For every twisted Pat Robertson saying shameful things in the name of Jesus, there are hundreds of Michael Reynolds doing work that actually brings to life what he taught.
Gives me some hope.
It's hard to look on facebook and see people talking about mundane stuff when such an enormous tragedy is going on.
But look I have, all day long. Argh.
I happened quite by accident and out of character to be folding laundry with BBC International news on the TV on Tuesday evening when I found out about it. I almost didn't think it was real, especially when I turned over to local news programs and saw that there was little to no coverage. So back to the BBC I went.
Facebook has actually been a source of much encouragement, though---videos from the president, friends posting links for donations, and then this afternoon, a message from earthship biotecture that they are getting a team together to go and build new housing.
That coupled with the comments (people literally all over the world offering to go and help them!) made me cry a little bit.
For every twisted Pat Robertson saying shameful things in the name of Jesus, there are hundreds of Michael Reynolds doing work that actually brings to life what he taught.
Gives me some hope.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Warning!
If you click on the picture in the previous post, it will be ENORMOUS.
Be ready to get very hungry. :)
Be ready to get very hungry. :)
New Year's Breakfast
It wasn't actually New Year's day---it was the day that Rebby and I celebrated New Years Day. Eggs, bacon, fried mashed potatoes, the best biscuits I've made to date, and bacon gravy. Scandinavian Morning Blend coffee and fresh squeezed tangerine juice.
A good start to the new year!
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