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What's new
Spring fever hits early, jump-starts local gardening activities
The unseasonable warmth of the past few weeks has our planting fingers itching. A new crop of vegetable seeds has appeared at Bay Hay and Bainbridge Gardens. And there are a couple of classes coming up at Bainbridge Gardens: "Growing Your Own Food" on March 7 at 1 pm with Leda Langley and garden author Lorene Edwards-Forkner. There's also a class about Mason Bees on March 13 at 1 pm, and "Unusual Edibles for your Landscape" (think goji berries and tea camillias) on March 20. Check out the Bainbridge Gardens website for details. There is also a special day of workshops on Permaculture with Michael Pilarski on February 21 in Spokane. Click here for more info.
What we're reading
Eat Where You Live by Lou Bendrick
 Finally--a fresh, funny and positive approach to eating locally!
By now you know that everyone is eating locally and sustainable and maybe you want to do it too--to reduce your carbon footprint or just to ensure the freshest, healthiest food for yourself and your family.
Whatever the case may be, this easy-to-read, hilarious and informative national guidebook will help you find it, cook it, and enjoy it.
Archive of "What we're reading"
Highlighted events
"Island to Island" benefit for Haiti January 31
On Sunday, January 31, there will be an "Island to Island" fundraiser for Haiti at the Bainbridge High School Commons, from 6 pm to 8:30 pm. Local chefs and businesses are donating a Caribbean-themed selection of desserts and finger-foods. Live Latin American music with Grupo Meridianal will be featured, and Jay Inslee will be joined by Former World Vision president Dean Hirsch to give an update on the Haitian Relief effort. Suggested donation is $10 per person, or $25 per family.
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Written by Mary Ann Tollefson
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Thursday, 25 February 2010 11:38 |
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Much like the yellowed newsprint photo in my pantry of smiling faces seated around a table, my memory of that gathering over thirty years ago is a bit faded. But an autographed chef's apron tucked away at the bottom of my kitchen drawer, and the nearly 700 page cookbook inscribed in magic marker to "the duck breast broiler supreme", are tangible reminders of the  sweet pleasure of a winter lunch long ago with the remarkable Julia Child. Seeing the recent film of "Julie and Julia" brought those memories back to the surface once again for me.
It all began as an intriguing proposition - an opportunity to submit recipes featuring Pacific Northwest ingredients to a contest sponsored by a local newspaper. The timing coincided with a visit to Seattle by Julia Child to conduct classes in classic French cooking at St. Mark's Cathedral. The contest prize winners would be invited to a private lunch with Julia! It was too inviting to pass up. I was certainly a novice cook, but I had grown up loving the full flavors of fresh produce from our family garden, the thrill of finding morel mushrooms with my dad, and later having access to wild duck that my husband, Val, hunted in the Skagit Valley. The challenge sounded like great fun!
While stoking the wood stove to keep the January north winds at bay (that memory is vivid!), I settled on the idea of submitting recipes in two categories - a creamy soup featuring hand-picked wild morels, and an entrée of broiled wild duck breast. Painstakingly composed and typed on the Smith-Corona, I'm sure the recipes were mailed in barely before the deadline. Much to my surprise and delight, I was informed that both entries had passed the first step in the selection process. Step two, however, posed a much more intimidating challenge. Each of the preliminary winners was required to prepare their recipes in the huge institutional kitchen at St. Mark's for tasting by a panel of judges. Fortunately, that group would not include Julia! I retrieved my very last (to this day!) container of morels from the freezer, along with several of Val's carefully filleted duck breasts and found my way to |
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CSA programs offer shares of the local harvest |
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Written by Carolyn Goodwin
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Thursday, 25 February 2010 00:02 |
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There are two ways to ensure a steady supply of fresh-picked, locally-grown veggies throughout the growing season. You can buy some seeds and start digging. Or you can sign up for a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program and reap the benefits of a local farmer’s hard work. Spring is CSA sign-up time, and at least one local program is already fully subscribed for the year. So if you’ve decided that this is the year you want to buy your share of a farm’s harvest, read on and make your choice soon!
CSA programs use annual subscription fees, paid in the spring, to help cover the cost of supplies needed at the start of the growing season. “The CSA money that we make early in our season gives us the money to pay for seeds, compost, labor costs and countless other farming expenditures -- the majority of our farm costs occur between January and the beginning of June,” explained Anne Weber of Farmhouse Organics. In exchange for their investment, subscribers get regular weekly shares of the harvest. Most CSA programs offer these shares for a set fee, and the food is either delivered to the customer or picked up at the farm throughout the growing season. The average weekly cost works out to around $25 to $35.
Below is a list of CSA’s and their contact information. You can also look at the Sound Food Farm Map to see exact location and find additional information.
Butler Green Farms
Brian MacWhorter is the master farmer who, with his wife Amy Kuhl, owns Butler Green Farms. For the past 26 years he has been farming on Bainbridge, he now works six different farms on the Island. Butler Green’s CSA program has over 150 members, and will expand this year to make room for more.
Butler Green CSA members are invited to shop at the CSA store each week, with the amount of their purchases deducted from their remaining balance. This year’s CSA choices will include an expanded selection of pasture-raised meats, such as lamb, beef, chicken and pork, which MacWhorter will raise on |
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