Fall Flavors With Jami from Slocal

by Jas Faulkner

Many novice kitchen gardeners see the cooler months as a time to wind down the garden and subdue the flavor profiles that make summer so vivid.  Actually, nothing could be further from the truth.  Fall gardens offer a tremendous amount of satisfaction both in terms of the spiritual and psychological benefits that come from gardening and the healthy boost that comes from eating locally and with the seasons.

According to  Jami Anderson from Slocal Foods, the bright notes herbs can add to your Fall cooking:

Jami:  As we approach the cooler months, look for cilantro again as it bolts and goes quickly to seed during the summer heat. A second harvest of dill and fennel will also be available soon since any planted in the spring will have since run it's life span. Herbs with continuing availability until the cooler weather hits are basil, lemon balm, mint, oregano, parsley, purslane, sorrel, tarragon and thyme. These will die off for the winter but oregano, thyme, sage, winter savory & rosemary will keep going somewhat during the coldest months. 

Many fledgling gardeners and localtarians want to find ways to keep things growing all year long.  Sometimes even the owners of the prettiest raised beds on the block suffer from a secret shame known as Brown Thumb Syndrome.  Buried in their compost piles are the bodies of violets, orchids, and yes, even cacti  that they or someone else couldn't pass up.  With those dessicated bits of decay in mind, many forgo fresh herbs in the winter.  Should sufferers from BTS reconsider bringing plants inside for the colder months?  How hard is it to tend a kitchen garden in the kitchen?  

Jami:  Herbs will grow only a large as the container you plant them in so plan your pot size accordingly for the amount of each herb you wish to use regularly. Make sure you have a sunny window that gets at least 4-6 hours of sunlight daily, more is preferable. Our customers have had success growing basil, cilantro, dill, fennel, oregano and rosemary when they start with strong, well-established seedlings and don't under- or over-water them. If you are looking to use large amounts of these herbs for pestos & such, you may want consider growing them outside as a window garden usually yields only enough of an herb for accent and flavoring.

Of course this means that space is a big concern.  Never fear!  Herbs can be stored in a variety of ways.  Drying and freezing are two of the easiest methods:

Jami: One way to get that fresh taste once winter arrives is to freeze your fresh herbs and thaw when needed. Wash, pat dry and freeze in freezer bags. They won't be the same texture or color once they thaw but the flavor will be there. You can also suspend them in olive oil and freeze in ice cube trays. This preserves the structure of the herb a little better and cuts down on some of the color change.

You can dry any herb you wish by either spreading it out on a mat, hanging it upside down out of direct sunlight, or drying it in a dehydrator or oven set to a very low temperature. To decrease the chance of mold, strip the leaves from the stems and discard the stems unless you are hanging the herb to dry. Herbs that taste better by freezing are basil and chives although you can freeze most other herbs as well. Experimentation is the key for determining which method you like best for your taste preferences.

Flavor and texture combinations between Summer and Fall are distinctive.  While canning and freezing are a great way to cut food costs once the days get shorter, it's still a good idea to incorporate seasonal produce into the household menu.  How to apply all of this?  Anderson shares some of her favorite combinations and applications:

Jami: Garlic dill pickles - hands down, my favorite! One of our customers gave us a jar of peach preserves she made by adding some of our lemon verbena leaves during the canning process - exceedingly tasty! Russell teaches a canning class twice a year which has been a great laboratory for recipes he is developing and he is working on a pickle relish recipe right now and I'm working on the perfect pickled egg. All customers get a free recipe with any herb purchase at our booth which features the herb in various dishes, both fresh and preserved, and the combinations are endless. 

The ENFM runs through the end of October.  Does that mean Jami and Russell go on an extended vacation?  Not by a long shoot of cilantro!

Jami: We have a website at http://www.slocalfoods.com where we post herbs and other produce we currently have available. Customers can email us from the site to request herbs and we'll hold them back separately at the booth on Wednesdays (we sell out of some herbs every week so this is a wise thing to do.) Customers can also request large quantities needed for catering, parties, etc. This service is available year-round and customers can either pick up what they want at our local garden in east Nashville or we will deliver large herb orders placed during the non-market months (November - April.)

Look for our fresh, organic and locally-grown herbs at the ENFM Slocal booth along with the herbal tea we brew fresh every week. Herbs are sold by the stem AND by the bunch now!  For more information on Slocal Foods, visit their website at http://slocalfoods.com or call  615-480-5347.

Living Clean and Green

by Jas Faulkner

My writing for ENFM is usually oriented towards news features as opposed to a confessional style.  However, I am making an exception after getting a very interesting personal message via Facebook.

The letter writer in question wanted to know what my family eats, how we eat, and how we afford to eat the way we do.  They had been to the East Nashville Farmers Market and the Turnip Truck and Whole Foods and had seen the cost of a can of soup and a loaf of bread and a dozen eggs and from their standpoint, it looked like a prohibitively expensive may to manage a home kitchen.

I thought about her letter the other day when I was at Publix to refill one of our water jugs.  I realized I'd left my cash at home and decided to buy something at the store and just get some cash with my purchase.How hard would it be to buy something useful at Publix?  It used to be my go-to for all manner of green, sustainable products for the household pantry.

The produce section was my first stop.  What was in season was trucked in from another part of the continent, sometimes another part of the hemisphere.  If it wasn't, it was something my family grew or we bought from a local farmer.  Bread and pastries?  We bake our own. As for the middle of the store, we usually follow the advice given by Michael Pollan and Chicago Chef, Rick Bayless and keep to the periphery of the store as much as possible. When I did venture down a given aisle, I found that what they had to offer was either something we bought from a family owned, fair trade, or local producer (cereal, staples for baking, oil, crackers) or it was something we already made ourselves (nut butters, mayonnaise, most of our pickles and relishes).  I finally settled on a block of organic cheese, took  my change and got my water.

You might be reading this and thinking, "The woman walked all over a Publix and acted like my nine-year-old in front of our semi-filled refrigerator on a Thursday after a Saturday grocery run.  What DO you eat? Tofu and lawn clippings?

The truth might surprise you. While I am not completely meat-free (yet), meals at my house consist of a starch, a protein and vegetables.  I know. How exotic.  Here are some other facts about how we live:  There is little in my household that is processed and has more than five ingredients.  One of the goals everyone in the household keeps when shopping is to avoid foods with more than five ingredients or ingredients that would not be recognizable to most great-grandmothers as a food item or a pantry staple.  What meat remains, our dairy, our eggs, our produce, are all local.  We dehydrate, can, and freeze our surplus as a hedge against high prices in the winter.  We use as much of everything as we can. .  All food waste is composted or fed to animals who live in the small wooded area behind the house. Putting out the trash for us usually consists of one small bag a week for the people who are contracted by the city, a box of glass bottles and a plastic storage box of paper,boxes and recyclable plastics for a private recycling company.

One final fact:  Our monthly food bill averages around three hundred and fifty dollars a month.

Want to know more?  Here are some websites that have served as valuable resources for us.  We recommend the books and magazines attached to these sites as well and encourage you show your support for these individuals and organizations by buying what they publish.

Michael Pollan's Website                       Food Politics - Marion Nestle's Website

 Mother Earth News                              Grit

Urban Farm Online                                Earth 911

ReadyMade                                          Instructables

Slow Food International                        Rodale

Slocal: Yes, It's Local and So Much More

by Jas Faulkner 

The Slow Food Movement might be new to you, but it has been around since the late eighties, first as a grassroots effort to move away from the increasing presence of fast food in the diets of working Italians and eventually in the US, where prominent localtarian proponents such as Michael Pollan and Alice Waters took up the cause of promoting a way of eating that was smarter and gentler on us and the planet.  

Slow Food promotes the idea that local, sustainably grown and homemade are always the best choices.  If Nashville Master Gardeners Jami Anderson and Russell Kirchner have their way, it could be the approach we all take towards filling our plates and pantries.

Educating themselves about the true nature of mainstream corporate food production in this country inspired them to start producing their own food five years ago.  As they learned how much of the value of real food is lost in the process, they began see the importance of local food production.

"Learning from many illuminating documentaries about the food industry (and reading enormous amounts about it as well) reinforced our desire to grow healthy fruits and vegetables that are pesticide-free, fresh, and have as much of their full complement of original nutrients as possible. Likewise, learning about the triggers of a fast-food diet to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease piqued our dedication to the slow-food movement. The continuing depletion of fossil fuels and air quality due to the transportation of food from far-off places to the table made us even more aware of the importance of growing food that is local."

This was also the inspiration for the name and mission of their company. Slocal Foods is more than just a pretty herb stand situated among the vendors at the East Nashville Farmers Market.  Of course you can get basil that will make your kitchen (not to mention your pesto,) smell like a little bit of culinary Nirvana and move on to the rest of your visit. Before you do, take a few minutes and look around.  You'll see herbs you might not recognize.  You'll see plants that, if you let them, will help turn your home into a greener and maybe tastier sanctuary. All that from a fresh sprig or a live plant?  Really?  

For you salt and pepper cooks, Anderson will attest that expanding your taste vocabulary can be daunting. 

 "...cooking with herbs can be intimidating to people who aren't chefs and may not have even heard of some of them. That's why we offer free recipes with the purchase of any herb that uses that herb as a main ingredient, fresh, dried, or live at our Farmers Market booth.". 

Still need some convincing?  Take a look at one of the many recipes you'll find this season at Slocal:

 Rosemary Ginger Chicken

2 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary

1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

1 Tbsp chopped fresh sage

1 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme

3 Tbsp minced garlic

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp ground red pepper

1 tsp chopped peeled fresh ginger

1 tsp grated lemon rind

2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

4 chicken breast halves

Combine all ingredients well. Rub over chicken pieces. Let marinate for at least 2 hours or more. 

Place chicken pieces on the rack of a roasting pan coated with cooking spray. Add water to pan to a depth of ¼ inch. 

Bake at 425 degrees until done for 30 - 40 minutes, depending on the thickness of the pieces and whether they are bone-in or boneless.

Aside from their interesting history and the sensory delight herbs offer, Anderson went on to explain why she and Kirchner focused on herbs as part of their life work as teachers and activists for Slow Food: "Farmers markets are great resources for fruits and vegetables that are local but we noticed a gap in the supply of fresh herbs. You can buy some herbs at chain groceries but often they come in plastic (yuck) clamshells and sell for around $3 for just a few (often moldy) sprigs. Neither freshness nor quality is guaranteed in most instances. Selection is also limited to a few mainstream herbs as well. Our herbs are raised organically from seed in rich, composted soil right in our own backyard and we offer many herbs you won't find for sale in a store. (For our fresh-cut herb inventory, see below.)"

FRESH:
basils (sweet, lemon, lime) • borage • catnip • catmint • garlic chives • cilantro • dill • fennel • feverfew • lavender • lemon balm • lemon grass • marjoram • mints (chocolate, spearmint) • nasturtiums • oreganos (spicy, regular) • curly parsley • italian parsley • rosemary • sage • savory (summer, winter) • sorrel • stevia • tarragon • thyme 

DRIED:
catnip • dill • fennel • lavender • lemon balm • oregano • rosemary • sage • thyme

PLANTS:
aloe vera • catnip • cilantro • dill • fennel • mint • oregano • peppers • purple heart • pumpkin • rosemary • sage • thyme • tomatoes • mixed pots (4-5 herbs apiece)

With that, I'll leave you with the details:

You can find Slocal Foods at the east Nashville Farmers Market on Wednesdays. See what we are offering each week athttp://slocalfoods.com. Call Slocal at 615-480-5347 for restaurant herb supply accounts.

and give Jami the final word:

"We are all about fresh, organically grown herbs raised with love and a little help from our chickens."  

                                                                                                                               -Jami Anderson