The Food Project blogs

More about our new plot in Lynn

joe — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:03:46 +0000

This year, in collaboration with Oasis Development and a great cast of volunteers, The Food Project has started up a new plot of land in Lynn. It's on Munroe Street, right by our North Shore office and directly across from the Lynn commuter rail station. Here's a slideshow of the plot's progression from grassy field to working farm:

If I'm looking at the farm data correctly, we've harvested almost 3,000 pounds of herbs and vegetables from the Munroe land this season. That's in addition to the bounty of the 15 raised beds being used by community gardeners. This food stays in Lynn; some is sold at our Central Square farmers' market just a few blocks away, and the rest is distributed to local hunger relief organizations.

In addition to the food, the Munroe plot has been a great success in raising the visibility of our work in Lynn. People stop by every day asking what we're doing and expressing amazement that something like this is happening right in downtown.

Our Gigapan master went to work a few weeks ago, so you can now visually explore the plot as it was in late November. Just click on the image below & you'll be taken to the full panorama, where you can zoom in and identify vegetables to your heart's delight:

Charity event to benefit TFP - Nov. 19th

joe — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:30:02 +0000

On Thursday, November 19th, The Living Room will be going “All-In” for a good cause! The waterfront restaurant, bar, and lounge will be partnering with Boston Charity Poker to host a charity poker tournament benefiting The Food Project.

The Living Room’s back dining room will be transformed into a five-table casino room for the Texas Hold’em Style Poker Tournament. Players will place their best bets to reach the final table, giving them a chance to win Celtics Tickets, Bruins and Red Sox Memorabilia, and hundreds of dollars in gift certificates.

Tickets are $100, and can be purchased on location at The Living Room or
by phone at (617) 723-5101. This event is limited to 50 players.

The tournament will begin at 7pm, and last until all the cards have been laid on the table. Players will enjoy cocktail service and free passed appetizers, provided by The Living Room.

At The Food Project, food and community are what it is all about. The Living Room is putting this concept to work every day and this event is a great way to see us both in action!

MSN/Kashi video with Anna Lappé features TFP

miceland — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:17:54 +0000

The Food Project has had a lot of exciting visitors over the last few months and our youth have been the hosts for so many of them. As our season winds down and our last groups of volunteers visit the farm, it's exciting to show how much we can accomplish in just one day in the fields.

Please take a few minutes to watch this inspiring new video and think about the impact that a whole season at The Food Project has on our local food system and how you can be a part of it. Anna Lappé offers a great introduction, and this year's D.I.R.T. crew really shines.

Final Week of the North Shore CSA

joe — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:19:22 +0000

CSA Survey

Please help us by filling out the CSA Survey. Part of what is nice about community supported farming is that you have a voice in the process, so let us know what you think. Thank you!

Final News from the Farm

With our last harvest fast approaching on Thursday, Tim and I have been working hard to get beds ready for winter. We've been cleaning up the farms, spreading compost and planting rye as a cover crop (to hold soil and add organic matter to it) so next spring we can hit the ground running.

On Saturday, our DIRT (Dynamic Intelligent Responsible Teens) Crew prepared our garlic for planting, breaking the hundreds of heads into thousands of cloves. As we worked, I had the pleasure of listening-in while a graduate student named Sarah interviewed our teens about what they have learned about themselves and their planet from their The Food Project experience. As I listened I was inspired by the depth of thinking and knowledge of the food system that my young coworkers exhibited, and by their ability to articulate their ideas. I look forward to seeing them continue to grow and learn and wish great things for them over the next 7 months in our Academic Year Program.

-- Farmer Ben

Recipes of the Week

Baked Beet and Carrot Burgers with Brown Rice, Sunflower Seeds and Cheddar Cheese
Portuguese Kale Soup

Baked Beet and Carrot Burgers with Brown Rice, Sunflower Seeds and Cheddar Cheese

joe — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:14:02 +0000

These burgers are delicious. They are a little labor-intensive, but you can freeze and reheat them for a quick, nutritious meal when you're running behind schedule. Enjoy!

From “Farmer John’s Cookbook: The Real Dirt on Vegetables.”

½ cup sesame seeds
1 cup sunflower seeds
1½ cups grated beets (2 medium beets)
2 cups grated carrots (about 4 carrots)
½ cup minced onion
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup cooked brown rice
1 cup grated Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup vegetable oil
½ cup finely chopped parsley
3 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons tamari
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet.

2. Place a small, heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the sesame seeds and stir them until lightly browned and fragrant, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer to a small bowl.

3. Return the skillet to the heat and add the sunflower seeds. Stir them until lightly browned and fragrant, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer them to the dish with the sesame seeds.

4. Combine the beets, carrots, and onion in a large bowl. Stir in the sunflower and sesame seeds, eggs, rice, cheese, oil, flour, parsley, tamari and garlic (your hands work best here). Add cayenne and mix until thoroughly combined.

5. Using your hands, shape the mixture into 12 patties and arrange them in rows on the baking sheet.

6. Bake the patties until brown around the edges, about 20 minutes. Unless they are very large and thick, it should not be necessary to turn them. Serve alone or on buns.

Final Week of the Lincoln/Boston CSA

joe — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:29:18 +0000

Closing this Season

We've done it! Together we've weathered another growing season in Lincoln, Massachusetts. We ate carrots small and tender in spring, long and fragrant in summer, and large and crisp in the fall. In this cool, damp year we may have discovered a love of bok choy, or perhaps come to resent it. Spring spinach was abundant. It rained, it rained, it rained. We all mourned the loss of the tomatoes and cheered the survival of the potatoes hit by Late Blight. The eggplant came in heavy, the melons were reluctant. There were beautiful cabbages and tiny ones. The onions grew slowly, but sized up in the end. The broccoli was beautiful. Beets grew large, celeriac hairy, rutabaga heavy. As usual the kale was endless (see the recipe below for a way to use up the last installment of it.)

I hope you savor this last week of produce fresh from our sandy farm, appreciating the taste of this late October. Next year will be another adventure. By joining us for this season you've not only supported our small band of farmers and the conscientious use of our 31 acres of conservation land, you've helped to provide hundreds of young people and adults with a life-changing experience interacting with food, the land and community in the unique setting that is The Food Project. As part of this CSA you stepped out of the current of our global food system and helped to strengthen our little counter-eddy of local sustainable food production. We hope you'll continue to actively support a more just and sustainable food system during the winter months by asking at supermarkets for locally sourced products and fair trade alternatives when possible. Thanks for sharing this season with us! May you enjoy it down to the last turnip.

Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are tropical plants that don't always thrive in our temperate climate. They take a long time to grow and must be cured before eating, making them late season treats. Though they like warm nights and abundant sunshine, not something we had a lot of this year, they still made a decent showing compared with the last two years when woodchucks and deer munched away much of our crop. While our sweet potatoes of the orange-fleshed variety are sometimes called yams in the United States, they are no relation to the true yams which are large, white-fleshed starchy roots grown in Africa and Asia. Baked or roasted, eaten as fries or pies, sweet potatoes are not only satisfyingly delicious, but are also said to have the highest nutritional value of any vegetable, full of complex carbohydrates, proteins, iron, calcium and vitamins A and C. They add sweetness to root roasts, curries and soups.

Recipe of the Week

Portuguese Kale Soup

Final Week at our Boston Markets

Jess — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:13:07 +0000

Dudley Town Common Farmers Market

Intersection of Blue Hill Ave and Dudley Street
Tuesday and Thursday
new time: 3-6pm
LAST WEEK!!!

Bowdoin Street Health Center Farmers Market

230 Bowdoin St, Dorchester
Thursday
new time: 3-6pm
LAST WEEK!!!

We'll have

Leeks, Cilantro, Beets, Carrots, Turnips, Potatoes, Shelling Beans, Cabbage, Collard Greens, Kale, Spicy Salad Mix, Lettuce Mix, Arugula, Turnip Greens, Radishes, Parsley, Apples (and, if our luck continues, Corn, on Thursday)

Well, this is it: The last week of Farmers Markets for the season. It’s always a little bittersweet when the growing season comes to a close. On one hand, we won’t have to roll out of bed quite so early. Trips to the washing machine will become far less frequent, and we will have more time to cook slow, elaborate meals at the end of the day. But I will miss the lively groups of volunteers, the beautiful mornings harvesting, and the fun afternoons at the market with our interns...and you.

"But what will we eat now?" worried customers and co-workers have asked me. Luckily, we have grocery stores. We don’t have to rely on the careful preparation of reserves to survive the cold months, which is one positive thing about the prevailing global industrial food system. While we can enjoy the benefits of year-round food supply, some of the symptoms of the broken food system keep popping up in headlines. There are lots of things we can all do this winter to incorporate more local, sustainably grown produce into the food supply. You could start thinking now about planting a container garden or building a raised bed in the spring. You can talk to your grocery store manager and asking them where their produce comes from and telling them the kind of food you’d like to see them offer. We can push policy-makers in local and federal government and schools to support more smaller, regional farms, rather than just large agri-businesses.

In these modern times, when less than one percent of the population farms for a living, the fact that YOU know who grows some of your food is something special. On behalf of The Food Project, I would like to thank you for shopping at our Farmers Markets. We hope that you have enjoyed coming to the market – and more importantly, cooking and eating your veggies - as much as we have enjoyed growing them, and we look forward to seeing you all next June.

Recipe of the Week

Portuguese Kale Soup

Jess — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:11:25 +0000

This is the soup that I grew up on. In Portuguese, we call it "Caldo Verde," or a green broth. My mom uses collard greens, because it's most similar to the portuguese kale or galician cabbage that she used back home to make this soup. The traditional way of cutting the greens is to stack them flat, roll them up like a hot dog and then slice along the roll to get very thin strips.

1.5 cups of yellow onion, peeled and minced fine
6 large potatoes, peeled and cut into 1” pieces
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
4 cups chicken or vegetable. broth
4 cups water
1-2 bunches kale or collards, stems removed, leaves very thinly sliced
(optional) 3/4 pound linguica, sliced 1/4 inch thick

In a large pot, sauté the garlic and onion in olive oil over medium heat, stirring until soft – do not brown.

Add potatoes, water and broth, bring to a boil and then simmer until potatoes are soft (10 – 15 minutes). While the potatoes are simmering, cook linguica in a skillet over medium to high heat, browning on both sides. Transfer to paper towels to drain.

Transfer cooked potatoes to a blender using a slotted spoon, add 1&1/2 cups cooking liquid and puree until smooth (hold cover tightly, covered with a kitchen towel). Return puree to the pot and add linguica and the red potatoes. Simmer, covered for 10 – 15 minutes until potatoes are done. Correct seasoning with salt and pepper, being careful with the salt if salted broth was used. As with most soups, this one gets tastier the longer it sits.

-- Jess Liborio, Urban Grower

Saturday's Climate Action Day

joe — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:25:51 +0000

Food crops require certain things from our environment to grow, including the right amount of rain (not like this past June!) and the proper range of temperature. Significant changes to the climate threaten to disrupt these conditions.

If, then, you also enjoy eating food, you may wish to join our friends at the Real Food Challenge, Slow Food, and hundreds of like-minded organization in participating in this Saturday's international day of climate action. The basic idea is to show world leaders, a month in advance of the climate negotiations at Copenhagen, that there is widespread support for a treaty that will keep atmospheric carbon dioxide levels down somewhere reasonable.

I had the luck to hear from 350.org founder Bill McKibben this past Sunday at the Boston relocalization conference, and he had some really interesting things to say about what we can expect from Saturday. It's going to be the biggest global day of activism, ever, by a long shot. Many large events all throughout China and Africa. Activists from Israel, Palestine, and Jordan meeting at the ever-shrinking Dead Sea. You may have already seen the kick-off underwater cabinet meeting held by the gov't of the Maldives, one of the first nations that could be expected to lose its land due to rising seas.

Your loyal blogger will be participating in one of the bike rides to Boston's Under Water festival. Mass Climate Action lists other MA actions, and readers worldwide can find events at 350.org's registry.

News from the North Shore Farms

joe — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:16:57 +0000

CSA Survey

We depend on your feedback to help shape next year's planning. In order to make sure we get your input, we have set up an online survey: CSA Survey. It is very short and simple, and your participation helps us a ton. We are also leaving printed surveys at each site this week in case you would prefer to participate this way. Thank you!!!

Blog Note

As you may have already seen, we're experimenting with carving the farm newsletters up into blog posts a little differently this week. Your North Shore recipe is in the preceding post: Simple Miso Soup.

The Food Project blogs

More about our new plot in Lynn

Charity event to benefit TFP - Nov. 19th

Tickets are $100, and can be purchased on location at The Living Room or by phone at (617) 723-5101. This event is limited to 50 players.

MSN/Kashi video with Anna Lappé features TFP

Final Week of the North Shore CSA

CSA Survey

Final News from the Farm

Recipes of the Week

Baked Beet and Carrot Burgers with Brown Rice, Sunflower Seeds and Cheddar Cheese

Final Week of the Lincoln/Boston CSA

Closing this Season

Sweet Potatoes

Recipe of the Week

Final Week at our Boston Markets

Dudley Town Common Farmers Market

Bowdoin Street Health Center Farmers Market

We'll have

Recipe of the Week

Portuguese Kale Soup

Saturday's Climate Action Day

News from the North Shore Farms

CSA Survey

Blog Note

Tickets are $100, and can be purchased on location at The Living Room or
by phone at (617) 723-5101. This event is limited to 50 players.