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Lentils (those tiny little legumes often displayed in the “healthy grains” section of the supermarket) are not commonly on the dinner plate in most American households, even though they are a key element in the healthy – and highly recommended – Mediterranean diet. 
I recently avoided disaster, thank goodness! It was Saturday – and we have homemade pizza every Saturday or every other Saturday. So I stirred yeast into some water, let it sit; next added flour and salt. After kneading for a bit, I covered the bowl to let it rise. Then… Life got in the way. It was not to be Pizza Night! 
Bread was truly the “staff of life” for both the peasant and the nobleman for centuries. In the Middle Ages, for example, a majority of the population – mostly peasants – ate 2 to 3 pounds of bread a day. Today, even with government recommendations of 6 to 8 ounces of “grain equivalents” a day, most Americans are eating about half as much bread as they did just 40 years ago. 
2019 ApplePalooza: 1720 pounds of apples, 43 cartons to share, and 60-some of your closest friends: a do-it-yourself buying club. Here’s how Sarah Oien Page did it. 
If you see fudge sauce or marshmallows on the dessert menu, you can bet they’re made from-scratch. No food dyes, corn syrup or hydrogenated oils. Fruit is used when it’s in season and bulk ingredients are organic. No, the sugar’s not local and neither is the chocolate; these are fundamental building blocks of dessert as we know it. I can’t figure a way around that one, but considering everything else we do I’m comfortable with the compromise. 
My job description now looks a lot like Western Maryland’s local food scene at a glance; I’ve pieced together full-time work by reaching out to surrounding small towns. Between the farm, the hotel, the restaurant, and the creamery, it involves a lot of driving, plenty of good people, and a whole lot of good food. 
What do you really know about the food on your plate and where it came from? Today’s exercise in the provenience of our food – who grew it, who processed it, who sold it? 
Spring on the farm turns Kate poetic! |
The Voice of Eco-Agriculture North America’s premier publisher on production-scale organic and sustainable farming. Learn more here Clara Coleman, daughter of renowned farming pioneer Eliot Coleman, has a clear plan for a new collaborative farming model called the ARC Farming Project—Agrarian Resource Collaborative Farming. 
It is in response to today's particular agricultural challenges and embraces farmer entrepreneurial diversification. Watch the video here. |
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