Rhubarb Crumble

My first CSA share was pretty small, comprised of asparagus, green onions, and rhubarb. I had never tried rhubarb before, but my mother-in-law had coincidentally just given me a recipe from a magazine for rhubarb crumble. It was basically chopped rhubarb covered in A LOT of white sugar and a smidge of flour and then topped with a lot of brown sugar, butter, and flour that had been blended together and crumbled over the top. My rhubarb was green instead of the traditional red (the red is not an indicator of ripeness, just the most popular commercial breed of rhubarb) so the whole crumble turned out a kind of caramel color. The color was fitting because the brown sugar and the butter melted into the rhubarb and the whole dish tasted like tangy caramel. It was delicious, and definitely a good use of my first CSA share. The remaining ingredients went into an asparagus and prosciutto risotto that I will be reporting on soon.

Refugee Garden Opens on 19th Street

A new community garden opened on 19th Street. The garden is being coordinated by People United for Sustainable Housing (PUSH), who have been working with several refugees from Burma to develop this vacant lot into the pictures you see above. Ten Burmese families will each have their own plot to cultivate with whatever they choose. I spoke to a gentleman named Za, who is a refugee from Burma and who spent time in a Burmese prison before coming to America. I wished him success on his garden and he said that it was what he dreamed of when he was in prison--having land he could cultivate. It made me think of Nelson Mandela's story in his autobiography about how, in his final years of imprisonment, he was able to garden. It was basically what helped him get through the last difficult years before he finally became free. I think both of these stories say something about how essentially human it is to want to grow things.

This will also create economical, fresh local food for other residents on 19th Street. At yesterday's ceremonial planting a young family planted okra and broccoli. More vegetables, including some traditional elements of Burmese cooking, will be added soon.

Our CSA Has Begun!

Today was the first day that my CSA offered produce for pickup. I am a shareholder with Promised Land (the Oles). Whitney was a shareholder last year, and has re-upped for this year as well. This is my first experience with a CSA and I am very excited.

So, now I have two pounds of asparagus, a bunch of green onions, a lot of rhubarb, and a cob of real popcorn. Looks like I will be making pie and risotto this weekend. I'll save the popcorn for football season.

Also, I just want to say thanks to everyone for your patience while posting has been light here at Locavore. All of us have been just swamped with work and finishing school and other essential things that had to take priority. We all just got together to talk about features we want to focus on for the future and I think I can safely say that we have a renewed focus and are ready to get back in the blogging groove.

Community Gardens Growing In Buffalo

The Buffalo News has a great feature today on the rise in community gardening and urban farming in Buffalo. Check it out here.

Wilson Street Urban Farm Approved?

Please see this article from today's Buffalo News about a possible agreement between the Stevens family and the City of Buffalo to create their two acre urban farm in the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood.

The Garden Is Growing

I know we have now quite shaken off the final grasp of winter, but we are definitely getting close. About a month from now, many of us will be taking to our yards to start digging and planting in earnest--finally free of frost worries we can start putting our plants and seeds in the ground. In our house, this process began around mid-March.

My husband came home with a few packets of seeds, some seed starting soil (more peat than soil--a nice mix) and some small plastic trays. He spent the day planting the seeds for his tomato and pepper plants. We also have onion and pumpkin seeds that will go right into the ground in mid-May. Whenever Dan comes come with his seed envelopes and little bag of potting mix I always know that winter won't last too much longer--that we are going to make it through the cold and windy days and enjoy sunshine and Buffalo's incomparable summers soon.

I love watching the sprouts grow on our table before we can plant them outside. It always seems like such a time of hope. Every day they are different. At first, just black soil. Then maybe just the faintest hint of green breaking through the top of the soil. Before you know it, you come home from work one day and there is an explosion of green shoots all climbing toward the sun streaming in your kitchen window. All the plans made in the dark of winter when poring over the Burpee catalog and dreaming of a world turning green and then bursting with life are slowly starting to become reality. I am already looking forward to biting into that first sun-warmed tomato and slicing up that first pepper. This year will be particularly exciting in our house as my husband and I try to learn the lost arts of canning and preserving.

Easter = Polish Food & Springtime!

Every year for Easter, my husband and I host dinner for his family. We don't really celebrate Easter as either a religious or chocolate bunny-oriented holiday, but we do use it as an excuse to have a little feast of Polish food (makes sense, as my husband's family is Polish). My contributions are usually more traditional American fare--ham, some sort of cheesy potato dish, and green bean casserole (I'm from the Midwest--it's practically mandatory). My husband spends two days before Easter making pierogies from scratch--one batch using farmer's cheese as the filling, and one batch stuffed with sauerkraut. I abhor sauerkraut, but adore the cheese stuffing. I have also heard of pierogies stuffed with potatoes, onions, or prunes. Can't say the prune ones sound too appealing.

We serve the American stuff I make along with pierogies, polish sausage, lots of rye bread, and of course a butter lamb. I had never heard of butter lambs before I married a nice Polish boy, but now I can't imagine an Easter table without one. One of these days we may even get around to making our own butter lamb for the table instead of just buying the ones Wegman's sells (which are made by a vendor at the Broadway Market, which we know we should visit in person but the crowds are just too crazy this time of year).

I hope everyone has been enjoying the lovely weather the weekend, and celebrating this weekend's holidays if that is what you do. I think Spring is definitely on the way, and I love Easter as a way to welcome the new season. The world is starting to bloom again, and soon it will be time to start planting the summer garden.

Support Grows for Wilson Street Urban Farm

Check out the following blogs, opinion pieces, and articles for the latest on what is going on with the Stevens family's proposed urban farm on Wilson Street:

http://www.buffalonews.com/149/story/634587.html

http://www.buffalonews.com/opinion/editorials/story/634582.html (This includes information on how you can reach out to City Hall and express your support for both the Wilson Street proposal and the chickens in the city proposal that Councilman Rivera is considering.)

http://www.fixbuffalo.blogspot.com/

http://buffalopundit.wnymedia.net/blogs/archives/8599

http://www.buffalorising.com/2009/04/urban-farm-vs-housing.html#SlideFrame_0

Also, if you are a Facebook user, you can join a group supporting Wilson Street Farm.

It's great to see all this buzz about urban farming in Buffalo. I hope it leads to a real discussion of how we can creatively reuse our vacant parcels of land.

Urban Farm Story Updated

Here is the latest from the City of Buffalo, Habitat for Humanity, and the Stevens family on the proposed urban farm near the Buffalo market. Go Councilman Franczyk!

City of Buffalo Turns Down Urban Farmers

Please see this article in today's Buffalo News about the recent decision made by the City of Buffalo to reject an application by a family wishing to purchase two acres of land near the Broadway Market to convert 27 vacant lots into a small farm. Two acres in an area that could be described as part of Buffalo's "food desert" no less.

Typical of Buffalo's current "leadership" they have turned down the farm proposal because they hope they'll be able to find someone else who wants to develop the land.

This blog has not been much of a political forum, and I don't intend to turn it into one, but I am going to digress from that for a brief moment because I am outraged. This decision is very typical of the short-sighted way the City of Buffalo is currently being run. Buffalo has approximately 3,200 ACRES of vacant land, many owned by the City itself and poorly kept. I do not understand what is so important about these two acres that they would turn down people with an actual PLAN for productive reuse in favor of potentially having another developer express interest in the future. Commissioner Brian Reilly reasons the decision out by saying that Habitat for Humanity may be interested in building on some of those vacant lots, as if there are no other vacant lots or properties even within that immediate vicinity that would be suitable.

The City of Buffalo seems to be waiting for some goose to lay a golden egg in that neighborhood. A plan for productive use that is workable now should trump any notion of luring some new enterprise (one perceived as likely more profitable and prestigious no doubt). The City of Buffalo doesn't exactly have a set of laurels to rest on in terms of promoting large scale development within City limits so lets turn some of our excess land over to entrepreneurs who have a chance of making this city better street by street and block by block. That is how we will achieve real progress and finally deal with the city's immense vacancy crisis.

People with such a narrow view of what is possible for this city have no business running Buffalo's government.

(Please note that this post reflects my views, and my views alone--I am not speaking on behalf of any of the other four contributors to this blog in any way.)

Councilman Rivera is Pro-Poultry

The Buffalo News continued its "chickens in the city" coverage with an article today about Buffalo Council Member David Rivera's visit to Monique Watts' chicken coop on Rhode Island Street (in David's district). Rivera's office is looking into changing Buffalo law to allow for small urban coops. You can read the story here.

In the interest of full disclosure, I will say that Council Member Rivera is a friend of mine, and someone whom I admire very much. So, I am admittedly biased. However, I think it is great that Rivera is taking a serious look at this issue and I hope his colleagues address this issue with the same thoughtful consideration as Council Member Rivera. I think allowing small chicken coops in the city will add to our quality of life and increase access to delicious, nutritious free range eggs. My nieces have raised chickens at their house out in the country for years (since before the youngest was in kindergarten) and I have seen firsthand what a fulfilling experience it is for the whole family, in addition to providing food.

More on City Chickens

Donn Esmonde's column today comes out in favor of allowing chickens in the city. You can read it here.

Get Out, Chickens!

The Buffalo News has a story this morning about a woman on Rhode Island Street who received a visit from animal control asking her to remove her illegal chickens from her backyard. As anyone who has spent a decent amount of time on Buffalo's West Side knows, this is far from the only "illegal" chicken coop in the city. Perhaps this will be the impetus for the City to go back and reconsider the 2004 ordinance that created poultry prohibition. You can read the story here.

Tag Team Spaghetti

My husband makes amazing spaghetti sauce. It has been one of our standard household meals for almost as long as we've been married (9.5 years). I used to pride myself on making good spaghetti sauce, but he has spent years perfecting his and I just can't even try to compete with it (wouldn't want to). He also adds in delicious meatballs that at one point were probably the size of baseballs, but have shrunk a bit since we have become more health conscious. He's been using leaner beef, too.

So, last night was spaghetti night in the Glanowski household but this time we decided to make it a more cooperative effort. Dan started making the sauce around lunchtime and I was put in charge of making the spaghetti noodles from scratch. We had it timed perfectly so the pasta finished just as the sauce reached its simmering peak of perfection.

I have only newly started making pasta from scratch, and I love the process. It is like magic how a mound of flour and a few eggs can turn into ribbons of delicious noodles. It took me about two hours to make a pound of spaghetti noodles, but that is because I had to let the dough rest for an hour after kneading. I am thinking about giving homemade bread a try just because I think kneading is such a fun, stress-relieving activity. The pasta machine does most of the work for the second round of kneading and then making the pasta sheets thinner and thinner until they are just what you want. My pasta machine also has cutting attachments for both fettucine and spaghetti, and it worked beautifully. A few simple cranks of the handle and I had silky, fine heaps of spaghetti noodles. A quick bath in boiling water (less than half the time of dried pasta) and we ended up with smooth, fresh pasta for our sauce. There is such a difference between fresh and dried pasta--the fresh retains some essential softness even when al dente, and has a slightly different, starchier flavor. It is well worth the effort to make your own.

Our dinner was perfect--a delicious example of teamwork.

Local Restaurant Week, a Review

Local Restaurant Week, which Whitney posted about a couple of weeks ago, is wrapping up and I hope it has been a huge success for all of the restaurants who participated. My husband and I went out to The Blackthorn (on Seneca Street in South Buffalo) last night in celebration of Local Restaurant Week. The Blackthorn is close to our house, and every time we go there we have had good service and good food. It also has the added advantage on Friday nights of having one of the best fish fries in Buffalo. The Local Restaurant Week special was a glass of wine/pint of beer, an entree, and a dessert for $20.09. We bypassed the special in favor of the fish fry.

Dan got the full works--beer battered with french fries, cole slaw, and pasta salad on the side. I went for the "lighter" option of broiled fish, steamed vegetables, and a baked sweet potato. That is the great thing about the Blackthorn fish fry--you get a real choice for what kind of fish you want (they also have breaded, lemon garlic, and something else I can't remember off the top of my head), and what kind of side dishes you want. They also have a real variety of dishes on their regular menu, so there are options for everyone whether it is a Friday night or not. Plus, the main bar is known for its selection of whiskey and of course they always have Guinness on draft. It has a family-friendly Irish pub atmosphere and though it is always busy the service is always good.

The Friday night fish fry is definitely a very Buffalo thing. Growing up in St. Louis I remember it as something the Catholic churches would have during Lent but that was about it. It always seemed weird to me to go to church for a fish dinner, and my family wasn't Catholic, so I never had a real fish fry until I moved here ten years ago. While I certainly couldn't eat one once a week (though I know there are some folks who do) it is a food tradition in this town that I enjoy.

I give The Blackthorn my thumbs up as having the best fish fry in town. Does anyone else have a favorite?

Grassroots Feeding A Food Revolution?

The New York Times ran an interesting article yesterday about both the decision by the Obamas to install a food garden on the White House lawn and the rippling changes being felt throughout Washington toward the way our elected officials and policy-makers think about food policy. It's an interesting read, you can find it here.

I find it interesting that The Omnivore's Dilemma seems to have become the manifesto of sustainable agriculture. I enjoyed reading it, but I didn't really think of it as a rallying cry that would spark a national movement like Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. Anyone else out there feel the same way, or did I just not read it as deeply as others?

Michael Pollan Seeks Food Rules

In today's online edition of The New York Times Michael Pollan is reaching out to readers to ask for their food "rules" as part of a new project he is working on. You can contribute here.

Also, on a somewhat realted topic, I spent a chunk of my weekend reading The World Is Fat by Barry Popkin. While I appreciated that it had information from different countries and cultures than other similar books about food systems and the global obesity pandemic, I found it rather preachy and not particularly insightful. Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food was a much better read.

Flapjack Fun

Yesterday morning, the Growing Green program of the Massachusetts Avenue Project hosted a Flapjacks for the Farm fundraiser at Trinity Church on Delaware. I went around 11am for the second seating of breakfast, and it was a great time. The sausage was provided by Spar's, my favorite local source for sausages (located on Amherst Street, between the Wegman's and Grant Street) and the pancakes were cooked and served by the young adults who are participating in the Growing Green program. They had blueberry, strawberry, chocolate chip, and original variety pancakes, as well as fruit and a variety of beverages. It was well-attended and the table I was sitting at (including Assemblyman Sam Hoyt--who also happens to be my boss--Michael Gainer of Buffalo ReUse, Kevin Connors and Aaron Bartley of PUSH Buffalo, and Kelly Ganczarz from the UB School of Urban Planning) had a lot of fun laughing and telling stories, but also talking about Buffalo's potential to really expand and promote urban agriculture. We also discovered that Earl Grey tea looks remarkably like maple syrup. Whoops.

They do great work in their community, and I encourage you to support them however you can. Here is a list of what Growing Green will be growing this year:

Basil, Beets, Roma Tomatoes, Onions, Green Beans, Sugar Snap Peas, Jalapeno peppers, Pickling Cucumbers, Broccoli, Sweet Peppers, Chives, Thyme, Sage, Carrots, Zucchini, Radish, Dill, Spinach, Potatoes, Collards, Blueberries, Strawberries, AND MORE!

White Cow Dairy and Rene Russo at Wegmans

So, fellow Locavore blogger Ann and I went to an event this morning at the McKinley Wegmans today featuring Patrick, the farmer from White Cow Dairy, and Hollywood actress Rene Russo (Major League, The Thomas Crown Affair, etc). As we arrived we ran into Lisa Tucker of Edible Buffalo with whom I'd shared e-mails and a phone conversation, though we'd never met in person. We had a great conversation about some exciting local food things coming up (what I'm most excited about? maple weekend in March--check it out in the winter issue at http://www.ediblebuffalo.com).

Then Ann and I went over to the sampling area where Ms. Russo was greeting people and helping pass out samples of yogurt from White Cow. Apparently, she is a friend of Patrick, the farmer/owner of White Cow, and came out to Buffalo to help him promote the expanded sales of his yogurt at Wegmans. If you are a regular at the Bidwell-Elmwood Farmer's Market you have probably met Patrick before--a rangy, friendly guy who is very enthusiastic about his work at the dairy. Patrick's farm also produces maple syrup, though he is not the maple expert--he has an arrangement with his neighbors where they take on the maple syrup processing.

White Cow Dairy yogurt is delicious. Tangy, almost like Greek yogurt, and made in small batches in a variety of flavors. There is even a new flavor named in honor of President Obama. The yogurt is sold in glass containers, which helps keep the flavor fresher. The yogurt is sweetened with maple syrup from the farm.

Ann and I had the chance to talk with Rene Russo for a few minutes and she seemed truly delighted to be in Buffalo, despite the cold. She said it was a nice break from LA. A really pleasant and lovely woman, and nice to see her putting some star power behind a Buffalo-area product that she believes in.


Here are some pictures from this morning's event:

Patrick, farmer and yogurt genius

Rene Russo

Lisa Tucker and one of the interns from Edible Buffalo

Brooklyn is the New Berkeley

The New York Times has a fascinating article today about Brooklyn as an incubator for loacally produced foods that goes beyond urban agriculture to artisanship. A great read, and hopefully we will see something similar develop in Buffalo someday. We already have Spar's Sausages, Choco-Logo, and many other promising shops. You can read about Brooklyn as the new artisanal foods incubator here.