"local produce" news and stories

When I was growing up, we ate a whole world of vegetables. Artichokes, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, onions, potatoes, cabbage, string beans, beets, spinach, squash and mushrooms regularly crossed our plates. Because of this early initiation into the world of veggies, when I moved out into the world on my own, I cooked for myself happily and with great variety.

However, as I started shopping at Farmers' Markets and local produce stands, I discovered that for as many vegetables that were old friends, there were still just as many I had yet to explore. So I made a point of trying out new veggies, trying not to be turned off simply because things were unfamiliar (my grandmother Bunny would have been so proud).

Earlier this week, I decided to take on the fava bean. Favas first entered my awareness when I was nine, because that was the year that Silence of the Lambs came out and even though I didn't see the movie until years later, it was hard to avoid the infamous line in that movie that includes a reference to fava beans. I'd seen the beans, in their huge, fuzzy pods, at my local produce market for the last couple of springs, but I'd never purchased them, mostly because I had no idea what to do with them. But on Monday, I decided to be brave and bought two pounds.

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The University of California at Santa Cruz (my dad's alma mater!) has just taken their commitment to serving good food on their campus to a new level. In a revolutionary (for the University of California system at least) farm-to-college program, they've contracted to buy organic produce from seven local farmers for their five on-campus dining facilities.

Since the Santa Cruz purchasing department wasn't set up to buy individually from smaller farmers, they've created a consortium called the Monterey Bay Organic Farming Consortium (MBOFC). One of the member growers acts as coordinator, "delivering the produce to the campus dining halls three or four times a week, invoicing the university and distributing payments to the growers." Colleges and universities have a huge amount of impact on food purchasing, if a good number of other institutions were to start sourcing their food in this way, it could have a huge impact on the food production market in this country.

[via The Ethicurean]

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The blackberries and cherries are the thing that make me salivate the most in this picture, although I can also imagine diving into a salad bowl filled with that pile of baby greens. I can just taste them, so tender and fresh. Sorry, I got a little carried away with gorgeousness of those veggies. The 21st Century Citizen posted this photo, along with a short blog post about joy of buying your veggies as fresh and as local as you can get. After my experience at the Farmers' Market yesterday, I'm inclined to agree that buying your veggies directly from the people who grew them is a pretty heady joy, indeed.

Photo by Shawn Schreiner

On a whim I threw a little salad together tonight that turned out to be one of the best things I've made lately. it was almost all ingredients I picked up yesterday at a local Farmers' Market. It was half a pint of orange cherry tomatoes sliced in half, three blondie cucumbers (like Kirbys, only yellow instead of green) peeled and chunked, four ounces of cubed feta and ten shredded lemon verbena leaves. I drizzled a little olive oil on top of it and gave it a good shower of ground pepper.

The lemon verbena tastes like both green freshness and lemon zest. It's not an herb that you find in every market, but if you can get your hands on it, it is well worth the price and search.