Vermont's Local Banquet Magazine Spring 2015

vermont’s

local banquet spring 2015 | issue thirty-two

The Taste of Grass-fed • Infused Vinegars • The Seeds of Renewal Project

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C ON T E N T S s

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6 Editor’s Note 8 Set the Table with…

Cultured Foods

10 Garden Pathways Spring Vinegars

12 The Seeds of Renewal Project 14 The Taste of Grass 16 Dorchester’s Daily Table 19 Our Meat, Made Visible 22 Vermont Veggies Find New Markets 29 Farmers’ Kitchen Porcine Preparation

31 Calendar 34 Last Morsel Farming Solo

Editor’s Note When Paul McCartney popped up on my computer screen recently, I wanted to believe him. Who wouldn’t be prepared to trust a man who wrote and sang “Blackbird” and “Good Day Sunshine” and “Penny Lane”?

What he said, though, was this: “If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian.” Oh, Sir Paul! I’ve known for a while that he is active in vegetarian causes, so it wasn’t a surprise that he was appearing in an online ad for a vegetarian organization, but this bit of hyperbole was too much, even for a guy who writes pop songs.

The fact is, many of us in the local food community who have watched animals’ lives ended for food, or who have participated in slaughtering ourselves, haven’t become vegetarian. In many cases, it has strengthened our appreciation of the meat we eat and resolved us to support local processing plants that do things right. (Perhaps Paul was referring to the worst industrial slaughterhouses, in which case, he might have a point.)

What’s more, if seeing animals processed turned everyone off of meat, then slaughterhouses wouldn’t be embracing the idea of installing public viewing windows—as the new Vermont Packinghouse has. As you’ll read in the story on page 18, the choice to invite the public to view all that takes place at Vermont Packinghouse was made in the spirit of transparency. Echoing this spirit, humane farming advocate Temple Grandin recently said that the future of the livestock industry requires “opening up the doors.”

I would say, though, that we need to open all the doors within our Vermont food system. We need to see the farmworkers from Mexico who labor on our dairy farms, need to observe the hay baler and the truck driver and the line cook hard at work, need to watch (if only in our mind’s eye) beginning farmer Ryan Demarest collapsing from exhaustion in his broccoli field, as he describes in an essay on page 34. Only when we see all the work that goes into the making of our local food will we truly appreciate it (and understand why it costs more).

In January, a group of Williams College students spent a week at Green Mountain Girls Farm in Northfield as part of their Winter Study. They visited all sorts of Vermont agricultural ventures, meeting the people who run our food system. One of the students later wrote, “We fittingly saw the faces of the farmers and workers who are often invisible to American consumers. Rodney, Mary, Karen… memorable personalities, and their stories gave me more than systemic understanding. They described motivations, morals, values, and missions that humanized the material and highlighted that any grand system is made up of many tiny individuals with distinct histories.”

How, in our busy lives, can we “see” all the people in our grand Vermont food system? We can’t, of course, but we can read articles about them, talk to them when they cross our path, express our appreciation for what they do, and try to understand the challenges they’re up against.

I’m remembering that Paul McCartney also penned a Beatles song called “I’ve Just Seen a Face”… Perfect.

— Caroline Abels

On the cover : Calves let out for a brief lawn grazing at Tangletown Farm, West Glover; photo by Caroline Abels.

Contents page : March maples; photo by Meg Lucas.

Publisher Schreiber & Lucas, LLC Editor Caroline Abels Art Director

Meg Lucas

Ad Director

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Marisa Crumb Contributors Juliette Abigail Carr Ryan Demarest David Hull Helen Labun Jordan Alissa Matthews Leda Scheintaub Glenn Scherer Sarah Waring Fred Wiseman Printed with soy ink on FSC certified 50% recycled chlorine–free paper Subscriptions, $22 Subscribe online or send checks to: Vermont’s Local Banquet PO Box 69 Saxtons River, VT 05154 www.localbanquet.com 802-869-1236 we welcome letters to the editor info@localbanquet.com vermont’s LOCAL Banquet Mission Statement The purpose of our publication is to promote and support our local communities. By focusing on fresh, local, wholesome foods grown and made in Vermont, we preserve our environment, grow our economy, and enhance our nutrition.

Vermont’s Local Banquet (ISSN 1946–0295) is published quarterly. Subscriptions are $22 annually and are mailed in the spring, summer, fall, and winter. Please make checks payable to Vermont’s Local Banquet. Thank you.

Copyright (c) 2015. All rights reserved. No part of this periodical may be reproduced without written consent. Opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publishers or editors.

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Set the Table with…

Cultured Foods

by Leda Scheintaub Salty, sour, tangy, tart—I’m in love with the flavors of fermentation, and I celebrate this passion with most every meal that I bring to the table. Introducing bold-flavored ferments—from the spicy kick of kimchi to the sour tang of kefir and the refreshing effervescence of kombucha and beyond—into your culinary repertoire opens a new world of taste sensations. Fermentation becomes a happy compulsion.

Fermenting is a traditional way of preserving food common to every culture, from sauerkraut in central Europe to miso in Japan and pickles in the United States. In this process, bacteria and yeasts are allowed to feed on the nutrients in food, which creates lactic acid, a preservative, which in turn transforms the taste and sometimes the texture of the food.

Through the magic of fermentation, cabbage becomes sauerkraut, milk becomes yogurt, tea becomes kombucha.

Fermenting is also a way of getting maximum nutrition from your food: You start with an already healthy food, and through the process of fermentation, beneficial bacteria are produced, imparting even more living qualities. Live cultured foods provide an unparalleled probiotic punch—miles above costly supplements—and ferments are beneficial not just for the digestion but for the whole mind-body system. Ferments can also function as antioxidants and immune boosters, and they can both increase the nutrition in a food and create new nutrients. (When shopping for ferments, look for the words “live,”“raw,” or “contains living cultures” on the label— anything that’s on the shelf is likely pasteurized and contains no living cultures.)

With the advent of the industrialized food system, much of live culture preservation was lost, but with a recent resurgence in the traditional foods movement and a strengthening farmers’ mar-

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ket culture, fermentation is experiencing a revival. We’re foregoing the pasteurized pickles and sauerkraut from a can, instead choosing live brands or making our own. We’re bringing new life to our diets, using probiotic-rich cultured foods as a tool in our recovery from the ravages of processed foods. We’re learning from the past and creating bold new traditions based on the transformation that is fermentation.

While many of us think of fermentation as a fall-centered practice—a way of putting up the bounty of the harvest to last through the winter—fermentation takes to any season, and here I offer two recipes from my recent book. One features first-of-spring baby turnips, the other mid-spring asparagus, to usher in a brand-new season of fermentation. You’ll know your vegetables are ready when they’re crisp-tender and tangy, like a good dill pickle.

Leda Scheintaub is the author of Cultured Foods for Your Kitchen: 100 Recipes Featuring the Bold Flavors of Fermentation (Rizzoli, 2014). She is also the author, with Whole Foods Encyclopedia author Rebecca Wood, of The Whole Bowl: Gluten-Free, DairyFree Soups and Stews (Countryman Press, 2015). You can visit her at ledaskitchen.com. Leda and her husband, Nash Patel, run Dosa Kitchen, a farm-tofood Indian truck based in Brattleboro; visit dosakitchen.com.

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PINK PICKLED BABY TURNIP CARPACCIO © Cultured Foods for Your Kitchen: 100 Recipes Featuring the Bold Flavors of Fermentation by Leda Scheintaub, Rizzoli New York, 2014 Serves 4 While winter turnips typically make their way into cold-weather soups and stews, small, delicate baby turnips are among the first early-season roots that lend themselves to pickling. For this dish I thinly slice the turnip pickles to reveal their rose-petalpink interior and elegantly arrange them on plates so they can be properly admired before digging in.

4 to 6 Pink Pickled Baby Turnips (recipe follows) Extra-virgin olive oil Coarsely ground black pepper Parmesan cheese shavings (optional) Microgreens (optional) Slice the turnips as thinly as possible using a sharp knife. Arrange the turnips on a large serving plate or 4 individual serving plates. Drizzle generously with oil, grind some pepper on top, and scatter some Parmesan shavings and microgreens on top if you like. Serve immediately.

Pink Pickled Baby Turnips Makes 1 quart 8 to 10 baby turnips (about 1 ounce each), greens removed, ends trimmed, and scrubbed well 2 red beet slices About 1¾ cups Basic Salt Brine (recipe follows)

Photos © Cultured Foods for Your Kitchen: 100 Recipes Featuring the Bold Flavors of Fermentation by Leda Scheintaub, Rizzoli New York, 2014

Tightly pack the turnips into a 1-quart glass. Nestle in the beet slices. Pour enough brine over the turnips to cover them, leaving at least 1 inch of space remaining at the top.

Choose a weight that fits snugly into your jar (such as a glass filled with water or a small ramekin with a rock in it) and press down on it until the brine rises over the level of the turnips. Place the jar on a rimmed plate to catch any potential overflow, cover with a clean dish towel, and set aside in a cool place away from sunlight to ferment. After a few days, check your turnips, removing mold if any develops (don’t worry if you don’t get all of the mold; you’ve created an anaerobic environment in which it is almost impossible for bad bacteria to take root).

Your turnips will be ready in about 1 week, depending on the season and kitchen temperature and how tangy you like them. Remove the weight, cover, and place them in the refrigerator, where they will keep for about 6 months.

Basic Salt Brine Makes 2 quarts 2 quarts filtered water

PROSCIUTTO-WRAPPED PICKLED ASPARAGUS © Cultured Foods for Your Kitchen: 100 Recipes Featuring the Bold Flavors of Fermentation by Leda Scheintaub, Rizzoli New York, 2014 Makes 16 spears This is the perfect make-ahead party food: Have your pickled asparagus spears on hand and it takes just minutes to wrap them, rewarding you with an elegant presentation and a salty, tangy take on the classic app.

16 spears Pickled Asparagus (recipe follows) 16 paper-thin slices prosciutto Freshly ground black pepper Remove the asparagus from the brine and pat dry with paper towels. Wrap each spear with a slice of prosciutto. Arrange decoratively on a platter, grind some pepper on top, and serve.

dill seeds. Pour enough brine over the asparagus to cover it, leaving at least 1 inch of space remaining at the top.

Cover the jar, shake it a few times to disperse the seeds, place it on a rimmed plate to catch any potential leakage or bubbling over when you open the lid, cover with a clean dish towel to keep out insects, and set aside in a cool place away from sunlight to ferment. After a few days check your asparagus, removing mold if any develops. Your asparagus will be ready in about 1 week, depending on the season and kitchen temperature and how tangy you like it. Cover and place in the refrigerator, where it will keep for about 3 months.

Pickled Asparagus Makes 1 quart This is one of my favorite ferments, hard to stop eating after the first taste; I suggest doubling the asparagus so you’ll have some left to snack on or serve on an antipasto platter later. The asparagus will shrink a bit, so pack it in the jar well. The seasonings here are suggestions; feel free to mix and match with whatever herbs or spices call to you.

1 bunch thin asparagus spears 2 teaspoons coriander seeds 2 teaspoons dill seeds

5 to 6 tablespoons fine sea salt

About 2 cups Basic Salt Brine (see above)

In a small saucepan, combine 2 cups of the water and the salt and bring to a simmer. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the salt is dissolved.

Pour into a glass jar and add the remaining 6 cups water. Cover and store in the refrigerator, where it will keep indefinitely. Stay clear of table salt and tap water for your pickling brine, as the two can interfere with fermentation. Stick with pure sea salt and filtered water.

Trim the asparagus of its woody ends, then cut them into lengths that fit into a glass 1-quart jar, leaving 1 inch of space at the top. Lay the jar on its side and stuff the asparagus into the jar. If there’s room remaining, wedge in other vegetables such as carrot sticks or turnip slices so there’s a tight fit and you’ll have some bonus pickled vegetables when fermentation has been completed. Add the coriander and

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garden pathways

Spring Vinegars:

Herbal Infusions for Health and Flavor

by Juliette Abigail Carr

As the earth reawakens from winter’s slumber, it takes time for the sun’s warmth to turn the earth over to spring, coaxing new growth out of last year’s seed. The same is true in our bodies: It takes time to transition from the inwardness of winter to spring’s explosion of vitality. Often in early spring we feel a little sluggish under the weight of a long, cold season, even as our minds anticipate the coming warmth.

Thankfully, the natural world provides early-season weeds that awaken our bodies and help us shake off winter’s lethargy in preparation for the energeticness of spring. These plants are known as “spring tonics,” and infusing them in vinegar makes a delicious medicinal brew.

Infused Vinegar: Why Bother?

Infusing herbs in vinegar is a longstanding practice—probably as old as vinegar itself—one that extracts and even increases the medicinal properties of herbs. And raw vinegar is itself an excellent digestive aid: Its acidity mimics stomach acid, and it contains the healthy bacteria that live in our gut and are essential to our bodies’ function.

There are also many culinary applications for infused vinegar, making it easy to incorporate the health benefits of herbs into our daily lives. Substitute infused vinegar for plain vinegar in salad dressings and marinades, or to massage that first batch of kale, and you’ll easily enjoy the added flavors and gentle medicinal properties.

Vinegar is also a versatile and forgiving base that rewards improvisation. As you experiment with infused vinegars, go beyond spring tonics to any herbs that taste good in food, such as garlic, rosemary, thyme, and coriander, or flavorful tea herbs like lemon balm and hyssop. Dried herbs work fine. The potential combinations are only limited by your creativity.

If vinegar just isn’t your thing, try simply adding dandelion leaves or chickweed to your salad, or chop up some burdock root instead of potatoes in tonight’s soup for an easy health boost.

The Medicine of Spring Tonics In the language of herbal medicine, a tonic is a mild herb that is taken daily over a long period of time to improve overall health or specific chronic problems. Tonic herbs are the gentlest of medicines, normalizing and balancing body functions as they ease us to our most healthy state.

Spring tonics are a subclass of this category, and they rejuvenate the body after a long, sedentary winter of limited fresh produce and sunshine. They act on our bodies’ digestive and filtration systems, encouraging healthy organ and immune function and cleansing impurities. This gentle stimulation makes us feel more alert, energetic, and present in our daily lives, stron-

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chickweed

dandelion

ger and ready to face the challenges of the coming year with excitement instead of stress.

Spring tonics taste bitter, a flavor that was a pillar of our diet throughout human history. But as the modern diet has reduced variety in favor of sugary, starchy foods, bitter has gone missing—foods like arugula, endive, and European aperitifs are holdovers from a more varied, healthful diet. The bitter taste of spring tonics stimulates activity throughout the digestive tract, improving the health and function of the system—which translates into improved health and function for the whole body.

Many spring tonics are also high in soluble fiber, which keeps the good bacteria in our gut healthy; aids in healthy cholesterol metabolism; and is protective against heart disease, reproductive hormone imbalance, and inflammatory conditions of the gut. Additionally, spring tonics stimulate kidney function, and they have a high mineral content, that improves fluid balance and nervous system function.

As traditional food herbs, spring tonics are considered quite safe. However, if you take a daily medication, especially one that is life-sustaining, be sure to check with a natural health professional before using these herbs: Stimulating the liver and kidneys can clear medications from the body faster than normal, so the medication might not last as long. Additionally, stimulating the kidneys can lower blood pressure, so use caution if you are on blood pressure medication or diuretics (water pills).

Herb Profiles & Harvesting There are many spring tonic herbs; here are some of the easiest to identify in our area. (Do not harvest these herbs from

Spring Vinegar Feel free to substitute other herbs and adjust the amounts as you see fit. ½ cup each: dandelion leaf and/or root burdock root

nettle leaf

chickweed leaf and flowers nettles leaf 1 quart of raw apple cider vinegar Wash and chop herbs. For roots, use a cloth or brush to gently remove dirt.

Mix herbs together in a quart jar. Fill with vinegar.

Cover the mouth of the jar with waxed paper or cloth before putting on the lid. This prevents the lid from corroding due to the vinegar’s acidity.

Shake well.

Label with the date and ingredients, and store in a cool, dark place.

Shake the jar daily (or as often as you remember).

The motion helps extract the medicinal properties more thoroughly.

illustration by meg lucas

burdock waste places like roadsides and train tracks, as they can uptake heavy metals from the soil. Harvest in the morning, when the water content is highest.)

Dandelion is a drying tonic for the digestive system, liver, and kidneys. It stimulates sluggish digestion and balances intestinal activity, improves the function of the liver and gall bladder, and increases kidney activity. The flower is gentlest, followed by the leaf, which is the most stimulating to the kidneys, and then the root, which is the strongest for gut problems. Avoid in pregnancy because of the strong intestinal stimulation. Dandelion should not be used by people with Crohn’s disease or serious gall bladder problems, as it is very stimulating.

As the weather warms, dandelion gets increasingly bitter, but in early spring it has a sharp, peppery bitterness reminiscent of homegrown arugula. Add flowers to salads for an intriguing burst of color and flavor. Leaves are tastiest before the plant has bloomed, use in vinegar or as part of a salad mix; cut leaves of young plants with pruners or scissors. Roots are easy to dig with a trowel and are generally too strong-flavored for food, although they add a nice kick to vinegars.

Burdock is a cooling, moistening, calming root that nourishes the deep tissues of the body, helping us reground from the inside out. It is used to improve digestion, kidney, liver, and lymphatic function. Its ability to cleanse the body’s filtration systems makes it an invaluable remedy for skin conditions and chronic inflammation. Burdock is an excellent kidney tonic and is anti-inflammatory to the lining of the gut, so it can be useful where dandelion is too strong; however, it is often considered too stimulating to use

The longer your vinegar infuses, the stronger it will be. You can start using it after about a week, but I recommend letting it brew for at least a month to develop the flavor. I put one jar aside every spring for next spring, when it packs a powerful punch.

To strain, pour through a mesh strainer or cheesecloth into a clean jar. Squeeze out the last, strongest goodness from the plant matter before discarding.

Label and store in a cool, dark place. It has a shelf life of forever.

Spring Cider Vinaigrette Combine the following ingredients: ¼ cup infused vinegar 2 tablespoons honey 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard 1 teaspoon salt ¼–½ teaspoon pepper, to taste 1 teaspoon chopped garlic Whisk in until well blended: ¾ cup olive oil Tweak to suit your taste and enjoy. Makes a nice marinade, too.

Continued on page 26

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The Seeds of Renewal Project Renewing Abenaki agriculture, one seed at a time

by Fred Wiseman

Back in the 1950s and 60s, I often visited my grandparents in northwestern Vermont during the summers. I remember children and teenagers enthusiastically riding their bikes with bucket and spinning rod, heading down to the Missisquoi River to fish. I remember Abenaki families, who were often very poor, living off the waters and lands by hunting and fishing. I remember children and adults gathering edible plants: marsh marigolds, wild onions, and fiddleheads in the spring, wild herbs, roots, and nuts in the summer and fall.

Today I live in Swanton, and it’s clear that this rigorous but ultimately healthy outdoor lifestyle has largely been replaced by the intake of commodity food, which is heavily reliant on refined carbohydrates, fats, and processed items. This fundamental change from a land-based to an industrial food system is most certainly contributing to our region’s childhood obesity problem, and I have found that Vermont’s indigenous Abenaki communities have been particularly hard hit by this cultural transformation.

This is in large part why, after more than 30 years of getting to know Vermont’s Abenaki tribes—from Lake Champlain to the Connecticut River Valley—I launched a new project, called Seeds of Renewal. Its mission is to assist and encourage the Abenaki tradition of seed saving and indigenous gardening by helping to track down rare or long-lost seeds native to northern New England. I am proud to share the story of this project with the greater Vermont local food community, which may not be aware of all that is taking place within Abenaki agriculture. uuu Seeds of Renewal took root while I was working with Vermont’s Native American communities in 2006 to record their cultural, geographic, and historical information in preparation for their applications for Vermont state recognition. Success was finally achieved in 2011 to 2012, when four bands were acknowledged by the Vermont Legislature. As part of this work, I discovered that agricultural engineering and horticultural techniques recorded by early explorers such as Samuel de Champlain were still being practiced by Abenaki farmers in Franklin County, the Northeast Kingdom, and the Connecticut River Valley. When I visited these farmers, I found rare and supposedly “lost” aboriginal crops still growing on hill farms or escaped and spreading along valley river banks.

I quickly discovered, in talking to Abenaki farmers, that there were a few distinctive native-origin crop varieties still being grown locally, some of which were extremely endangered. Also, discussions with indigenous food activists such as Steve McComber of Kahnawake (a Native American reserve

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outside Montréal) led me to other ancient crops used by Vermont’s indigenous people. So in 2011, I began an intellectual quest: to gather these rare seeds and other agricultural information and deposit them in one place.

At first, it seemed impossible to track down the crops that I had learned had ancient roots in Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire. People had heard of this bean or that squash, but by the summer of 2012, it seemed there was little hope of obtaining acknowledged aboriginal seed, except for one variety of corn and a couple of minor crops.

But after talking with indigenous seed savers and food activists in late 2012, I eventually tracked down Native American sources for some crops as far away as Manitoba and Colorado, while others were fortuitously discovered in rural farm stands and food co-ops, or discovered growing wild in their original habitats. The seed hunt, with its extraordinary cast of characters and the exotic places that served as refuges for the crops, was as captivating to me as the seeds and data themselves. I was

Wabanaki squashes and pumpkins, 2014 harvest

also able to re-locate the seed of crops that had been collected by a defunct Native American organization in central Vermont that had had a seed-saving program in the 1990s. By the 2013 spring planting season, I had tracked down 14 crop varieties that had a possibility of ancient Native origin in northern New England and adjacent Canada, and had leads to many more.

Of course this labor could not be merely an academic exercise: the seeds had to be planted or properly conserved, or else their genetic lineage would be lost forever. But I did not have a large enough garden to even experiment with the crops, so I had to find partners with both land and the appropriate knowledge and commitment to care for the precious germ plasm.

From my work in ethnobotany years ago, I knew that many of the seeds in my care, especially those of corn and the cucurbits (squash, pumpkins, and gourds) had to be planted in such ways that they could be properly pollinated by plants of the same cultivated variety, but not by others. This botanical mandate would require a lot of land, and I had to find a solution to this challenge quickly.

I first went to the four Vermont state-recognized Abenaki bands in the fall of 2012 and offered them the seeds in my care, with the caveat that they needed to be planted in such a way as to preserve their genetic purity. The tribal response was varied, ranging from eager to nonexistent, so I realized I needed additional collaboration. Shelburne Farms in Shelburne and the Abenaki Heritage Garden at the Intervale Center in Burlington offered to “grow out” the seeds. However, I soon learned that the seeds could not be grown in conditions that would

Seeds of Renewal cultivars as of Spring 2015 (year) = Year of first planting of noncommercial varieties (C) = Commonly available commercial varieties Calais Corn (C) Koas Corn (2007) Gaspé Corn (2013) Abenaki Rose Corn (2014) Tom Thumb Popcorn (seed in hand) Jacob’s Cattle Bean (C) Vermont Cranberry Bean (2013) Skunk Bean (2012) True Cranberry Bean (2013) Dolloff Bean (2014) Marfax Bean (2014) Low’s Champion Bean (2014) Norridgewock Bean (2014) Connecticut field pumpkin (C) White Scallop Squash(C) Curtis/Penobscot Pumpkin (2013) Algonquin Squash (2013) East Montpelier Squash (2014) East Montpelier Turk’s Cap Squash (2014) Boston Marrow Squash (seed in hand) Worcester Pumpkin (seed in hand) Cambridge Jerusalem Artichoke (2012) Hardwick Ground Cherry (2012) Morrisville Sunflower (2013) Note: Some semi-commercial cultivars such as Vermont Cranberry and Marfax Beans are sold in farmers’ markets or by specialist seed companies. When possible, we selected varieties preserved by Indigenous or Métis people.

preclude cross-pollination—a major problem for the preservation of genetically uncontaminated corn and squash varieties.

But the organizations helped immensely with growing out the seed of self-pollinated or single-cultivar types, and this yielded large stock of usable sunflower, ground cherry, Jerusalem artichoke, and several bean varieties in the 2013 harvest. uuu Eventually, one of the original state-recognized Native American tribes slowly became the focus of the Seeds of Renewal revitalization program. The Koas (or Koasek) community is relatively small and is still located in its old homeland in the Continued on page 25

photo by Fred wiseman

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The Taste of Grass How farmers are improving the flavor of grass-fed beef, with fat

by Helen Labun Jordan Fat tastes good. Whatever your other feelings about fat and health, good fats and bad fats, let’s agree that fat improves a food’s flavor. Our salivary glands respond to fat’s aromas during cooking (think frying bacon or browning butter) and its presence changes the way food feels on our tongue, adding a satisfyingly rich texture. Fat is an essential nutrient and, in fact, scientists have found receptors in our mouths that send us a pleasure signal when they detect fat’s arrival. We’re also conditioned culturally to associate fat with deliciousness, particularly when it comes to meat.

“When you smell a great burger, is it a lean, dry burger in your mind? No, it’s juicy and full of flavor. Depending upon what your memory is, or your expectations are, that will change the overall experience,” says Sean Buchanan, president of Black River Produce, which owns Black River Meats in Springfield.

The relationship between fat and flavor has set up a particular challenge for Vermont’s producers of 100 percent grass-fed and grass-finished beef, a famously lean meat. How can they deliver all of the benefits of grass-fed meat—from environmental stewardship to animal welfare to improved human health—while also selling customers a tasty, marbled steak, something that conventional, grain-fed cows produce so easily and consistently? uuu

Solving the challenge of producing delicious grass-fed beef began a couple of decades ago with the basic question of what the flavor goal for grass-fed should be. After all, farmers knew that the USDA’s standard measurements for quality beef didn’t fit quite right. Cooking to USDA-dictated temperatures leaves grass-fed beef closer to shoe leather than tasty steak—they’re too high. The USDA system of grading doesn’t really take into account the possibility of complex flavors, either. Many grass

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farmers hope that their farming methods can provide meat with a nuanced character that stands out from beef coming from large feedlots, where cows are placed on a steady ration of cheap commodity grains for the majority of their lives. As Beth Whiting of Maple Wind Farm in Huntington puts it, “I don’t like to use the word terroir because then it gets overused, but when you finish [cows] outside, on grass, you know they’re getting those proteins and solar energy.”

On the other hand, even if the conventional standards for beef aren’t perfect, they do get to one basic truth: most consumers desire tender, juicy, flavorful cuts. And that requires intramuscular fat, also known as marbling.

“To truly finish a beef, that means the animal has some fat on it,” says Jenn Colby, pasture program coordinator at the UVM Center for Sustainable Agriculture. It isn’t that nobody likes ultra-lean meat or that we can’t learn to like it. However, ultra-lean meat can have flavors that consumers perceive as tasting like “liver” or “gamey,” off flavors that aging the meat (a recommended practice) can concentrate. Home cooks might be able to cover up problems in meat flavor through cooking techniques (a potent chili can hide a host of ills) but grass farmers wanted people to enjoy an unadorned rib eye, too. No one should have to “settle” for grass-fed; farmers wanted people to seek it out.

To provide consumers the option of marbled meat from an animal fed entirely on grass required research and changes in production practices.

“Over the last 10 years we’ve seen an upswing in very sophisticated grass-fed, grass-finished, highly managed systems,” Jenn says. “It’s no longer the impression that you can throw a few cows on the back forty and have grass-fed beef.”

One major change has been in how intensively farmers

photo by caroline abels

manage their cattle’s grazing patterns. Grass grazing emphasizes achieving a high ratio of carbohydrates relative to protein in the forage. That means paying attention to the types of forage in a pasture, whether the pasture fully recovers between grazings, and ensuring that the cows move frequently enough that they’re only eating the highest quality food available in their paddocks.

Jenn remembers: “People used to think it was crazy to move your animals throughout the day, but it’s not crazy… we’re looking at four or five times a day now,” depending on how large an area is being grazed per animal. Or, as Beth Whiting emphasizes, “Grass farmer means grass farmer.”

At Maple Wind Farm, Beth and her husband, Bruce Hennessey, carefully monitor the forage available. Bruce explains.

“We have a mix of cool season grasses (orchard grass, timothy, ryegrass, fetulolium) and ideally about 30 percent legumes (clovers, alfalfa). At times we have frost-seeded 5 percent forage brassicas (turnips) to round out the mix.” Bruce extends the season beyond when fresh grasses are available by no-till seeding rye for late season grazing.

Also, instead of grazing to the “last blade” at the end of the season, when grasses are higher in protein and lower in carbohydrates, then sending cattle to slaughter, they ensure that cattle finish on fresh pasture with high carb, high energy food. “This provides adequate marbling and superior tenderness and taste,” Bruce says.

Care isn’t only taken in the fields. Bruce and Beth also look closely at the genetics of their cattle, paying attention to which have tender meat and which lay down fat most efficiently on a grass diet, and noticing the differences between breeds and within breeds. Their line is an Angus-Devon mix. (British breeds tend to work better for grass finishing.)

Another challenge is knowing when a particular cow has reached that fully fattened, marbled stage. The solution of bringing animals to slaughter when they have no more fresh grass to graze doesn’t suffice. Some study of beef marbling and overall quality requires testing meat after slaughter, but farmers can use various indicators to make the call on properly fattened, tender beef before then.

An ultrasound between the 12th and 13th ribs of a live animal will give a strong indication of marbling, for those who have access to the equipment. Joe Emenheiser, livestock specialist at University of Vermont Extension, recommends looking at certain pockets of subcutaneous fat. This fat, while not mixed in with the lean muscle, can give a sense of what’s happening inside the meat. When a cow starts building fat deposits at the base of its tail—one of the last places to fatten—that’s a sign that it’s probably fully fattened.

Joe notes that you can’t take this measure in isolation, though; all production practices matter, especially when discerning how long it can take grass-fed cattle to fatten, which introduces the problem of tenderness as animals get older.

“You can deal with this via grass quality, targeted grazing, and finding the optimal point in foraging, when beef have an appropriate growth curve.” Tenderness is also a genetic trait, so farmers can improve consistency in tenderness by evaluating their cattle’s genetic lines.

uuu

Joe is one of the people Sean Buchanan works with when inspecting a farm interested in selling to Black River Meats. They check soil quality, feed quality, whether the farmer is able to monitor the rate of weight gained by the cows, the genetics (tenderness is partially a genetic quality), plus what happens to the meat later in processing.

“You can look at the romantic side of eating grass-fed meat, or the analytical, scientific side,” Sean says. “I’m looking at that analytical side…this is where your flavor comes from.”

Using objective measurements to quantify something as variable as taste lets Sean, who is also a chef, speak to what will make a positive dining experience for his customers, and his customers’ customers.

“What Sean says about the samples he gets from farmers gives them something to shoot for,” says Jenn Colby. “It’s learning from the marketplace.”

In some ways, Sean’s feedback illuminates the fact that Vermonters are learning to be better customers for grass finished beef. We’re starting to undo some of the past confusion about the flavor of “grass-fed.”

“Consumers had been led to think that grass-fed beef doesn’t have that marbling, so they look for a lean beef, and [if customers look for lean] then the farmer perception is that they ‘should’ have a very low fat product,” explains Jenn Colby.

In other words, we ended up with a cycle of incompletely fattened cattle partially because a generation ago so many people believed that grass-fed must mean low fat. The customers who didn’t enjoy that ultra-lean flavor may have given up on grass-fed meat as not to their liking, or vowed only to use ground beef with other flavors added, often without talking to farmers about their concerns.

Ridge Shinn, a farmer, grass-fed meat consultant, and co-founder of Hardwick Beef, based in Hardwick, Massachusetts, compares the consumer’s experience of grass-fed beef to other alternative agricultural products that eventually made their way to a broader audience. “It’s not a long-term problem,” he says, “This is like when organic [vegetables] got started: people were figuring out what to do.” He admits that grass-fed beef has had an “intermittent” flavor in the past, but with what we’ve learned in the last few decades, with the help of workshops, conferences, and professional organizations, he sees that changing.

Ridge remembers when Dan Barber, a New York chef known for studying how on-farm production practices affect the final flavors of ingredients, first sampled Hardwick Beef. “He called me up, amazed at the fat and the flavor,” Ridge recalls.

Hardwick Beef is still the featured beef at Barber’s Blue Hill restaurant, and it has been mentioned in articles the chef has authored since.

“The meat is phenomenal and will rival any meat,” Ridge promises. Meaning that today, we can have our grass-fed beef and our juicy steaks, too.

Helen Labun Jordan writes about food and agriculture from Montpelier. Her first book, Discovering Flavor, will be published this year by 99: The Press.

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Dorchester’s Daily Table A Gleaning Oasis in the Urban Food Desert

by Glenn Scherer

Chef Ismail Samad first made his name in New England when he and business partners Alice James and Liz Ehrenberg opened the Gleanery Restaurant—a Putney eatery that serves first-rate fare made from farm-gleaned “seconds.”

When launched in 2012, the Gleanery created an immediate sensation with such upscale dishes as jasmine-beet purée served with scallops and jalapeño, venison-rutabaga stew, and seared chicken, lemon-rosemary gnocchi, mushroom purée, and roasted Brussels sprouts. All these recipes are sourced in part with surplus seasonal produce from Vermont farms—slightly bruised or misshapen but still-delicious veggies rejected by farmers’ market shoppers—and local cheeses aged a bit too long, but still very flavorful.

Ismail hails from Cleveland, where he trained first as an

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environmental biologist, then as a chef. His work in fine Cleveland and New York restaurants opened his eyes to the “crime” of food waste. Gleaning, he says, is an idea whose time has come. “The success of our restaurant proves that the concept of gleaning really works!”

Now he regularly commutes between two jobs: as partner and executive chef at the for-profit Gleanery and as executive chef in a new venture, Daily Table, which is about to take the gleaning revolution to a whole new level. uuu

When Daily Table opens its doors this April in Dorchester, Massachusetts, just outside Boston, this urban nonprofit retail grocery will offer fresh produce and a selection of healthful, tasty, oven- and microwave-ready take-home meals, mostly at a price

photo of ismail samad by barbi schreiber

that beats McDonalds or KFC: $3-5 per entrée, allowing a family of four to eat for $12-$16. And the meals will all be made with recipes created by Chef Ismail.

This new and unique foodie venture isn’t found in an upscale locale, but in the urban food desert of the Codman Square District of Dorchester—a low-income, working-class, ethnic neighborhood long deserted by big national grocery chains. Residents previously forced to choose among the empty caloric offerings of burger, pizza, and takeout joints, will now find all the basics at Daily Table: fresh veggies, fruit, meats, convenient take-home meals, and a gallon of milk or loaf of bread for $1 or less.

The secret to those low prices is gleaning. Daily Table is the brainchild of former Trader Joe’s president, Doug Rauch. He’s fond of telling the media that 31 percent of all food produced annually in the U.S goes uneaten—$161 billion thrown away every year.

Rauch’s Daily Table turns this negative into a positive by gleaning excess and overstocked food from Boston-area producers and distributors, and collecting food that’s near, or just past, its “sell by date” from grocers. Blemished apples and oddly shaped peppers, and donated meats, dairy, and breads nearing expiration, will be expertly prepared and repackaged for sale at fast food prices.

Ismail sees this as a groundbreaking new model to provide Americans with inexpensive, healthful food choices that, among other benefits, could help curb the U.S. obesity and diabetes epidemic. “If you stop seeing the $161 billion surplus as ‘food waste,’ and start seeing it as not wasting perfectly good food, there’s a huge shift in mindset,” he says.

“One of our biggest challenges is people’s concerns about ‘sell buy’ dates,” he admits, “But those very conservative dates are arbitrarily set by producers, which means that a great deal of safe, high-quality food ends up in landfills. It’s a matter of education, of not throwing out the whole basket of berries because of one bad berry.”

However, Ismail stresses that the goal of Daily Table isn’t food recovery. “It is to retail healthy foods cheaper than fast foods. To do that, we must keep costs extremely low, which means we source 60 to 70 percent of our supply via gleaning.”

“Our second goal is to make people happy with what’s on our shelves, assuring it’s tasty without being super-salty or sugary,” Ismail says. “Most of us Americans are addicted to sugar, and we expect it in food we buy. At Daily Table we’ll nudge behaviors in a more healthful direction—a huge educational challenge. But we ultimately want people coming back not because our food is healthy, but because it’s delicious.” uuu

Daily Table’s doors at 450 Washington Street open into 10,000 square feet of retail space rented from the Codman Square Health Center. Wide, brightly lit center aisles will be lined with beautiful fresh produce, gleaned and sourced from the Chelsea Produce Terminal, South Shore Organics, and other providers. Locally hired employees and volunteers will carefully sort gleaned produce to assure quality.

That same on-site crew will convert produce into tomato sauce, salad dressing, a line of smoothies, and cold-prepared

entrées ready to take home, heat up, and eat. You might find Daily Table lasagna, or beef stir fry, but attention will also be paid to the diverse ethnic tastes of Codman Square, a neighborhood shared by African Americans, Haitians, Jamaicans, Cubans, Vietnamese, and other nationalities.

Daily Table will boast two chicken and two beef dishes daily, a vegetarian and seafood offering, plus stews and soups.

Using the example of a kale, white bean, and sausage soup, Ismail explains how the ingredients might be procured and enjoyed. “The kale is gleaned from Clarke Farm in Carlisle, Massachusetts. The sausage might be a short coded item, which we freeze before it expires. You can sample the soup at our tast-

‘Hey, it’s cheap, it’s tasty, it’s good for your kids, you gotta go there!’ ing counter and take home a quart for around $2. That’s a big plus: instead of grabbing a bite, we’re helping families reestablish the tradition of gathering around the dinner table for good food and conversation.”

If you want to make your own soup, the ingredients will be available at a great price, and the free recipe, too. Don’t know how to cook? Daily Table will have a teaching kitchen where locals learn to prepare healthful and flavorful meals.

What do people think of the Daily Table concept? The principals—founder Doug Rauch, executive director Rudy Rubenis, senior director Fredi Shonkoff, and executive chef Ismail Samad—are making the rounds of community meetings to find out.

Many locals are excited about Daily Table’s potential. “As a resident of this neighborhood for 25 plus years, I am delighted that we continue our tradition of innovation,” exclaims Candice Donahue Gartely on the Dorchester Reporter website. “I will be the first to take advantage of this new model of healthy eating.”

The Dorchester Codman Square Daily Table is the first to open in the pilot phase. If successful, Daily Tables will open in Boston, New York, and other cities.

When asked if the innovative retail nonprofit gleaning model will thrive, Ismail answers, “Yes! If we keep our conscientious commitment to quality at a fast food price, then people will keep coming back. They’ll trust our product and be proud to have us in the community. They’ll be our advocates and become the drum majors for Daily Table.

“They’ll tell their friends and family: ‘Hey, it’s cheap, it’s tasty, it’s good for your kids, you gotta go there!’ We all—the entire society—choose unhealthy food options because we don’t have the time or money. Daily Table is an opportunity to start changing that.”

Freelance journalist Glenn Scherer’s reporting on the environment and sustainability has been featured on ScientificAmerican.com, Salon.com, and Grist.org, in Yoga International, and in more than 150 U.S. newspapers. He lives in Rochester and can be reached at scherer@blueridgepress.com.

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Our Meat, Made Visible The new Vermont Packinghouse allows visitors to observe how animals become food

by Caroline Abels

Ironically, for the only slaughterhouse in Vermont with public viewing windows, the new Vermont Packinghouse doesn’t have a single window on the outside, save on the front door of the main office. I peered through that office window when I visited the newly opened meat plant last fall, looking for managing partner Arion Thiboumery, but all I spotted were a couple of desks strewn with files.

A few back issues of Meatpaper, the now-defunct Bay Area magazine for meat-loving hipsters, lay on a side table in the office, indicating this wasn’t your traditional Vermont slaughterhouse—the kind worked by old-time Vermonters for whom animal fabrication has been such a longstanding part of life that who needs a magazine about it?

The office door was locked, so to find Arion I circled the entire building, which is located in a light industrial park in North Springfield. The dull, massive structure, painted a pallid gray, looks more like a Soviet-era apartment complex than a meat packing plant—you’d never know that Ben & Jerry’s Peace Pops were once made there. Around the back, I eventually found an unlocked door and stumbled into a small room next to the slaughtering area—an area that in most meat plants is quite off-limits to visitors.

I spotted a sanitation worker who offered to find Arion.

Eventually the 33-year-old managing partner of the plant came by, wearing bright yellow muck boots and a hair net. Arion makes up in charm for what the building lacks of it, and after greeting me cheerfully he took me on a tour of the plant and showed me what might be its most unique feature: the public viewing windows.

photos by barbi schreiber and meg lucas

uuu

“The mood was sober and respectful, but stopped short of being either sad or sentimental.”

This is how a Minneapolis blogger described her 2010 visit to what is possibly the only other slaughterhouse in America with “glass walls”—Lorentz Meats in Cannon Falls, Minnesota.

She wrote online that during her group’s guided visit, “Most of the tour-goers were impressed with Lorentz’s dedication to both humane animal treatment and clean, safe food, and told our tour leader so as they left the room.”

Top: Arion Thiboumery, managing partner of North Springfield’s Vermont Packinghouse, stands next to the public viewing windows at the meat plant.

Below: Workers packaging cuts.

One person, she went on to write, was visibly shaken by seeing activity on the kill floor, but others were parents who brought their children along, “clearly intending for them to learn the whole story of where their food comes from.”

It’s no coincidence that Lorentz Meats and Vermont Packinghouse could be the only meat plants in America with viewing windows (and there could be more; as Arion says, “I can’t imagine there aren’t other people out there who have thought this was a good idea.”) Vermont Packinghouse is co-owned by Lorentz Meats, and Arion, the other co-owner (and the plant’s “jack-of-all-trades”), worked at the Minnesota meat company for five years and became its vice president before moving to Vermont to launch the Packinghouse.

Located southeast of Minneapolis, Lorentz offers a full slate of services, just as Vermont Packinghouse does, from slaughtering to sausage production. It’s lauded for being a state-ofthe-art facility that helps medium-size meat producers break into larger markets (think Price Chopper, Whole Foods).

When Lorentz staff was invited to Vermont in 2012 to give feedback on the state’s meat plants, they ended up meeting the leadership team at Black River Produce, a Springfield-based local food distribution company that, at the time, was developing its own line of New England-raised meats (now called Black River Meats). According to Sean Buchanan, president of Black River Produce, the Lorentz folks convinced Black River of the need for its own slaughter and butchering facility if it wanted to provide consistent fresh products to grocery stores. Getting a high volume of meat processed at half-a-dozen existing Vermont slaughterhouses would introduce too many variables.

Seeing an opportunity to expand its vision and ideals beyond Minnesota, Lorentz struck a deal with Black River whereby Lorentz’s new Vermont Packinghouse would lease, for 10 years, a portion of the renovated building, which Black River owns. With the $9-million project now off the ground, and a staff of 24 currently working there, the Packinghouse processes for Black River Meats, while also offering slaughtering and butchering services to local farmers who raise cows, pigs, lambs, and goats.

Uber-transparency is the norm at both the Vermont and the Minnesota facilities because the owners are serving customers of the 21st century local food movement, who expect openness about all facets of food production. Other Vermont slaughterhouses are open about their practices, too—they just don’t have windows. “In a lot of the older plants in Vermont it would be hard to make a structural change like that,” says ChelContinued on page 20

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OUR MEAT Continued from page 19

sea Bardot Lewis, business development administrator at the Vermont Agency of Agriculture. But she adds that a number of local slaughterhouses would not turn away someone with a genuine interest in seeing their process.

Arion, for his part, used to be a self-described “do-gooder academic type,” having earned a PhD in rural sociology and sustainable agriculture with a minor in meat science, but he turned to more hands-on projects at Lorentz because, “At the end of the day, if new food systems are going to happen, people have to come in and run businesses.”

Especially businesses like slaughterhouses. They’re desperately needed by small-scale livestock farmers, but they’re the least understood and least attractive of places to the average local food consumer. According to interviews conducted for a 2014 Vermont report on consumer valuation of meat processing, a handful of local meat professionals agreed that “consumers don’t want to think about the slaughterhouse, regardless of whether it is local or not,” and they’re definitely not interested in the details of animal processing.

But for those who want to observe it—an act that can require courage and vulnerability, but that can ultimately spark greater respect for animals, for meat, and for meat industry workers—Vermont Packinghouse quietly offers the opportunity, and with some degree of pride. Says Arion: “This is a clean facility, we’ve got good animal handling, and we’re committed to having people come here…. It’s not like were running some shady operation.” uuu

When Arion took me back into the building, I realized that the “glass walls” were in the very room I had accidentally stumbled into earlier, just above the kill floor. The door is kept locked when it’s unattended, but anyone who calls in advance or stops by during business hours can be let in to observe, through two small windows, the process by which live animals become food: the quick shot that renders the animal desensitized to pain; the hoisting of the animal by its legs, so it can bleed out; the splitting of the carcass; the removal of the hide and the insides.

No animals were being slaughtered on the day I visited, but on a second visit I watched a large veal calf from Lisa Kaiman’s Jersey Girls Farm in Chester going through the process.

The chute in which the cattle are stunned has very high metal sides to keep critters from getting stressed, and there are bars at the top to prevent the more jittery ones from jumping out, so you can’t actually see into the chute from the public viewing area. (With the pig chute, you can.) But you can watch the person doing the job, and on the day of my visit, that person was Cory LaCroix, the foreman on the kill floor.

After he guided Lisa’s calf into the chute, it was less than 30 seconds before he managed to quiet the animal enough to place the captive bolt gun to its forehead and immediately desensitize it to pain. The animal did writhe, but Arion explained that this is because the cells and nerves in the individual muscles of an animal can remain active for two hours after death, even though the central nervous system is no longer living. (Workers confirm whether a stun was successful by

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touching the animal’s eye—if the animal doesn’t flinch, the stun was a success.)

The calf was then shackled by its hooves and hoisted upside down. As “Sweet Home Alabama” played on a radio, Cory and other workers bled out the carcass, split it in two, and removed the hide. Arion likes to say the Packinghouse uses “everything but the moo,” so the hide would go to JC Rendering out of New York State, the insides would be turned into offal, and anything not given back to the farmer would be rendered and turned into pet food.

Beyond the kill floor there are massive coolers in which carcasses hang for their allotted number of days. There are processing rooms in which meat is trimmed, turned into sausage, or aged. There is a smokehouse, fired by hickory and maple chips, and sophisticated packaging equipment. Beyond all that is a massive freezer shared by Black River’s seafood division.

Outside, there are holding pens for the animals that were designed by Temple Grandin’s firm, so they meet the high standards that Grandin, a pioneer in humane livestock handling, has set. High walls and a horseshoe design keep animals calm as they walk through. The entire plant is Animal Welfare Approved.

As I spoke with Arion after observing the processing of the veal calf, Cory came walking into the observation room. I pointed to the viewing windows and asked, “Is it weird to have people watching you as you work? “Naw,” he said. “This isn’t our first tour comin’ through!”

Indeed, since the plant opened last fall, the largest tours have consisted of a few dozen students from Burr and Burton Academy in Manchester and UVM’s certificate program in food hub studies. But visitors have also included farmers who want to observe the facility that will bring their animals’ lives to an end.

“My whole thing is, I want the best start for them and the best life and the best end—then I know I’ve done my job as a responsible farmer,” says Lisa Kaiman, who is well-known in farming circles for totally babying her animals. “So to find someplace that has also thought through that whole process is really important.”

Lisa used to take her big, stout calves to the Royal Butcher in Braintree—a slaughter facility that is also Animal Welfare Approved and welcomes visitors. But though she praises Royal’s, it is two hours from her farm, while Vermont Packinghouse is just 10 minutes away. Also appealing was the fact that the Packinghouse has a sausage link machine and was able to make Lisa’s custom recipe for veal sausage—which she now sells in food co-ops throughout the state. uuu

Vermont Packinghouse isn’t the only new slaughterhouse on the Vermont food scene. Northeast Kingdom Processing in Lyndonville recently opened, the Adams Farm in Wilmington launched last year, and Westminster Meats is a relative newcomer at five years old. Plus, there is new ownership at Over the Hill (now Maple Ridge Meats) in Benson.

According to the Ag Agency’s Chelsea Bardot Lewis, what the Packinghouse represents, with its state-of-the-art facility and close partnership with Black River Meats, is a statewide

move toward greater collaboration between meat producers (the farmers and food companies) and meat processors (the slaughterhouse owners and butchers). In Vermont’s small meat plants, Chelsea says, “processors are more in touch with what’s going on at farmers’ markets and what the end user wants, and producers are realizing there are skilled meat cutters across Vermont with whom they can create deeper partnerships…. We’re definitely seeing greater professionalism and customer service.”

In the meantime, the daily work that goes into putting humanely raised, ethically slaughtered, beautifully cut, delicious meat onto our tables goes on, all of it very much on display at Vermont Packinghouse.

As I left the small observation room from where I had observed my first industrial slaughter, I spotted a small sign that said photography of the processing area was not allowed— which made sense. It’s always better to see new things with your own eyes.

Caroline Abels is the editor of Local Banquet and the founder/editor of Humaneitarian.org.

Clockwise from upper left: Farmer Lisa Kaiman dropping off her animals at Vermont Packinghouse; the office entrance; holding pens for animals; Black River Meats boxes; a cooler with sides of pork; and the staff boxing meat.

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seeds for change

Vermont Veggies Find New Markets

by Sarah Waring and Alissa Matthews Center for an Agricultural Economy

There’s no vegetable more basic than a potato. This humble, tuberous root crop, Solanum tuberosum, grows in the dark, hidden from view most of the year, and emerges late when the air is frosty. It’s not as exciting as kale, not as exotic as kohlrabi, and even has relatives that seem nicer—the sweet potato and the yam. But when it comes to taking our local food system forward in the state of Vermont, the potato—and other staple vegetables often seen as routine and dull—may be the next big thing.

In 2013, Annie Rowell of the Center for an Agricultural Economy started working on a pilot project that would move pre-processed potatoes, carrots, beets, and other vegetables into Vermont schools. The purpose of the project, funded by the Vermont Community Foundation’s Farm and Food Initiative, was to get more local food to local institutions so that cafeterias around the state would have access to more local produce that’s all ready to use, while expanding a new market for farmers.

A number of programs exist in Vermont to get local foods into institutions, and Annie consulted with many of them. But the unique focus of this project was on minimal processing: How could raw veggies be processed for school cooks and food service directors in advance, given that for them, peeling, washing, and prepping a root crop often takes a lot of valuable time?

“Minimal processing addresses the issues of usability and utilization,” says Annie. “These are simple procedures—washing, cutting and packaging—but they can turn a raw ingredient into something immediately usable—and save time for the small local school.”

The key link in the project was relying on the shared-use kitchens of the Vermont Food Venture Center in Hardwick to process the vegetables. Normally the Food Venture Center is used by food entrepreneurs to create processed products for retail sale, or by local farmers who need co-packing services.

The idea here was to use the Center to research the feasibility of processing vegetables for use in schools and other institutions and to learn more about the potential for this new market for local farmers.

Annie traveled around the state with her colleague Alissa Matthews, both of whom are based out of the Center for an Agricultural Economy (CAE) in Hardwick, and between them, they spoke with more than 150 schools about which specific crops could be grown well in Vermont, processed at the Food Venture Center, and delivered throughout the state.

They settled on broccoli, carrots, beets, and potatoes, but were particularly excited about potatoes, which tend to sell for very low prices through most wholesale markets. In this project, farmers could instead receive more value for this simple crop, and the Center could buy thousands at a time (a number that can’t be sold at a farmers’ market). uuu

Bob Chappelle, of Chappelle’s Potatoes, understands why the added value is important. He started growing potatoes on his farm in Williamstown as a hobby 40 years ago, while working as a teacher, and quickly found he loved growing potatoes. He and his wife, Barbara, now cultivate close to 50 acres.

Harvesting potatoes at the Williamstown farm of Bob and Barbara Chappelle (third photo from left).

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Photos by Bethany Dunbar, © 2014

The Chappelles have very diversified markets. Roughly 10 percent of their sales come from neighbors and walk-in traffic, people buying potatoes directly. But most of their tubers can be found at 8 to 10 Hannaford retail outlets, along with some other wholesale accounts and chefs, and 20 percent are certified by the state to sell to smaller market growers as seed potatoes. “We truly depend on all of the various types of customers and enjoy being able to interact with so many different people,” Bob says.

Philosophically, the Chappelles believe in the work CAE is doing and are passionate about getting local food into schools and institutions. “We know that the easiest thing for institutions to do is order from one wholesaler, every day or multiple times a week, so we appreciate the openness of our new market partners in working with us on this level.” They’re already recognizing substantial growth in their business from the efforts of the local food movement and are now able to get a much more viable price for their potatoes. “In this project, the Center for an Ag Economy got my potatoes to folks who wouldn’t have eaten them,” Bob says.

Peaslee’s Potato Farm in Guildhall, run by Karen Guile, the third generation of her family in the potato business, is another potato farm that CAE has worked with. Right now, Peaslee’s potatoes go to a variety of markets through distributors, independent grocery stores such as White Markets and Shaw’s, and some smaller accounts. Now they also sell potatoes destined for Vermont schools and universities through the work being done at the Food Venture Center.

So far, UVM has been the biggest purchaser of vegetables that have been processed through this pilot program.

The Brennan’s Café outlet on campus orders more than 4,000 pounds of local potatoes a month in the form of freshly cut fries, thanks to the Food Venture Center and their new partnership with Peaslee’s and Chappelle’s.

Other purchasers of the processed vegetables include Rutland School District, various schools served by Green Mountain Farm Direct, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, and UVM Medical Center. Processed products include carrot sticks, shredded carrots, whole peeled and diced beets, and frozen broccoli florets. “The demand for products that this project has generated has been a testimonial to the many years of hard work that went into developing the local food movement, and this project’s continued success is thanks in large part to the awareness that has been cultivated by our many partners,” says Alissa. uuu

As the local food movement grows and farmers’ markets become more saturated with products, farmers need more market outlets. Adding value to raw vegetables is a great way to get more locally grown produce into local hands while giving farmers access to new markets and higher prices for their labor. It might be that our simplest vegetables offer the easiest way for folks to eat more locally. What can be more familiar than a carrot stick? More comforting than fries? By all accounts, Vermonters already are glad to see their everyday comfort food coming from a source closer to home.

Sarah Waring is executive director of the Center for an Agricultural Economy in Hardwick. With a background in natural resource management and land use, finding her way into the local food and farming system was a good fit. She’s originally from the NEK and is happy to be working on behalf of rural Vermont.

Alissa Matthews grew up farming vegetables with her family in southwest Pennsylvania. As a teenager she moved to Vermont with her family, attended UVM, and fell in love with the people and landscapes in the state. After leaving briefly to study community development and social geography back in Pennsylvania, Alissa is thrilled to have found her way back to Vermont working in a field she loves.

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Dayspring Farm

We s t R i v e r Fa m i l y D e n t a l Jared V Rediske DDS · Jeffrey W Wallace DDS

Rockingham Vermont

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A Wood-Fired Artisan Bakery In Alstead, NH Available in Stores & Farmers’ Markets Throughout the Region

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photo by Fred wiseman

SEEDS Continued from page 13

Connecticut River Valley, in the Newbury, Vermont/Haverhill, New Hampshire area. In 2006, the community had been given an ancient strain of Abenaki corn that was originally given by their ancestors to Anglo farmers in the 1700s. This seminal cultural event led the Koasek community to focus on agriculture and to rally around “their” corn as an integral component of their native identity.

When I offered the Koaseks the seeds that I had collected in early 2013, they eagerly accepted all but one variety of corn (which they could not grow, because of the cross pollination problems alluded to above). One farmer, Peggy Fullerton of Piermont, New Hampshire, planted the crops in gardens heavily fertilized with manure from her cattle, and they grew extraordinarily well in the New Hampshire summer sun, producing huge sunflowers, squash, and pumpkins—an exciting sight to behold! A community harvest supper organized for the fall equinox of 2013 saw the first fruits of the Seeds of Renewal project prepared as three sisters soup, Koasek corn-on-the-cob, squash muffins, and a host of other special heirloom recipes using these ancient crops. The meal, held at a church in Piermont, New Hampshire, was attended by numerous of members of the Koas community.

Of course, most of the seed crops, such as sunflower, beans, and corn, did not yet produce enough for anything more than display or experimental dishes. That fall, the Koaseks indicated they wanted to create a specialized field, away from other gardens, specifically to grow the Seeds of Renewal crops.

They needed a little financial help, which I provided, and they were able to open a large garden in a former hayfield, ready to plow in early 2014. The saved seed, augmented by 10 new varieties that I had tracked down over the summer and fall of 2013, was planted, and once again the crops grew luxuriantly. The September 2014 Harvest Supper finally had enough indigenous produce to put on a spectacular feast. Once again, neglected recipes that had faded over the years were being dusted off, ready to influence the re-emergence of an Abenaki cuisine.

For me, one of the highlights of the dinner was a performance of the songs, ritual, and dance of Green Corn Ceremony, rites that had languished or become mere theater for paying Euroamerican audiences. This re-emergence of agricultural ceremony was the last piece of the puzzle for the Seeds of Renewal project, for out of 30 or so Native American seed-saving programs in the United States, none seems to have interest in reviving agricultural ceremony and the ritual calendar that organizes it. In talking with tribal elders, I quickly came to the conclusion that an agricultural calendar integrating ritual with agricultural technology was the keystone to the whole program.

So the Seeds of Renewal project began working with historical documents, archival film, and the memory of tribal elders to develop appropriate music, protocol, and choreography for the reviving of the dances and rituals. Historically appropriate ceremonial clothing and ceremonial objects were also made available. Few bands were interested in the hard work of learning and perfecting the musical and dance performance required for the proper execution of revived ceremony,

The Koasek Abenaki Sun Dancer at the 2014 Harvest Celebration, Piermont, NH. but the Koaseks were interested in the whole system and considered a ritual calendar important for the community. By 2013 they had begun to re-arrange their ceremonies away from a typical summer pow-wow format to performing the proper agricultural ceremonies at the appropriate times of the year.

So today, seeds, cropping technique, and ceremony are once again functioning together in the upper Connecticut River Valley, as they were centuries ago. uuu I am amazed by how far Vermont’s and New Hampshire’s Native American community has come in the last four years in re-invigorating its food system. They are doing it in their own way, not by relying on any fashionable outside food trends.

They treat the indigenous food system holistically—from seed, to gardening technique, to ceremony, to cuisine. This is unique in North America and has become a prototype for other native communities in New England.

Last October, some Koaseks journeyed to the Maine towns of Pleasant Point and Princeton to give the Passamaquoddy Indians the Seeds of Renewal seed. In addition, the two Passamaquoddy museums sponsored Seeds of Renewal training seminars on proper planting, ceremony, and cuisine. Other Native American nations have asked to be included in 2015, and so the program is moving out of its cradle and has a bright future.

Fred Wiseman, a retired professor and former department chair of Humanities at Johnson State College, is a paleo-ethnobotanist who has studied the Maya people of Mexico and Central America and the modern ethnobiology of the Sonoran Desert. His interest in the Abenakis began in 1985, after he learned that he had Abenaki ancestry. To learn more about Seeds of Renewal, contact Fred at wisem@vtlink.net.

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VINEGAR Continued from page 11

Together, Better Choices …like partnerships with local farmers.

, Burlington

Diggers’ Mirth Collective Farm

Photo by J.Silverman

City Market is dedicated to strengthening the local food system.

We’re grateful to our local farmers who provide our Co-op’s members and customers with nourishing food all year long!

Read our Producer Profiles: 82 S. Winooski Ave. Burlington, VT 05401 Open 7 days a week, 7 a.m. - 11 p.m.

(802) 861-9700 www.citymarket.coop

Newfane, Vermont (802) 365-0251

Herbal Education, Remedies, Unusual Plants, & More Upcoming Classes in our Forest Classroom:

The Home Medicine Maker Making Mushroom Logs Free Plant Walks

Medicinal Herbs in the Garden Plant Medicine for Children Bark Harvest

www.OldWaysHerbal.com

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in pregnancy; use caution. Burdock has a high soluble fiber content. This is an anabolic herb that helps us rebuild our core strength, so it is perfect for people who feel frazzled or depleted.

Burdock is a biennial, which means it has a two-year flowering cycle. Choose plants that are entering their second year and haven’t bloomed yet (no flowering stalks and burrs lying on the ground). Burdock roots can be quite large, so dig them with a shovel. It has a mild, starchy, nutty flavor that provides low-note depth to your vinegar and is appropriate as a food— use it like any starchy root.

Chickweed heals and nourishes the tissues of the body that relish moisture, like the lining of the intestinal tract, kidneys, and skin. It cleanses the blood, lymphatics, and kidneys and leaves a cool, moist, healing feeling in its wake, making this herb very helpful for improving kidney function and skin conditions. It is healing to internal skin (mucosa) conditions also, helping relieve ulcers and inflamed sinuses. Chickweed is very high in minerals.

Chickweed is also delicious as part of a salad, with a bright, crisp flavor; in the vinegar recipe, it provides the high notes. Simply cut chickweed stems with scissors or pruners, selecting for the brightest green parts. Flowers are fine; leave them on.

Nettle balances the moisture in our bodies, so if we’re too dry it will moisten us and if we’re too moist it will soak up the excess. This plant has a high mineral content and an affinity for energy deficiency, so it is extremely helpful for deep-seated, chronic fatigue and frazzled or exhausted depression, in addition to other conditions of mineral deficiency. Nettle’s stimulation of the kidneys and lymphatics makes it one of the most useful herbs for skin conditions and conditions relieved by improved kidney function. Nettle is particularly famous for its effect on tempering allergies, as well as its role as an ally to new mothers, stimulating milk production and lessening postpartum depression. It is the kale of the wild foods world, or possibly the mustard greens; it is strong-flavored for a green and can take anything you throw at it. In infused vinegar, it yields a mineral-heavy boost with a mid-note flavor.

Wear gloves to harvest nettles! Be sure to harvest before they bloom, with tiny green flowers hanging from their armpits. Use pruners to cut stems above a leaf node, like you’re cutting flowers from the garden. Hold one end of the stem in your (gloved) hand and run the other up the stem to remove the leaves. Cooking, drying, or infusing in vinegar takes care of the stingers. Stems can go in the compost—chickens like them—or you can use them for papermaking or spinning if you’re feeling really creative.

Juliette Abigail Carr is a clinical herbalist in South Newfane and the proprietor of Old Ways Herbal. She teaches about family herbalism and homesteading at her family’s farm and locations around the state. Read more and contact her at oldwaysherbal.com.

The Food System Our current food system is out of balance. We are far too reliant on food grown and distributed outside our region and on decisions made outside of our control. Even in locally conscious Vermont, only an estimated 5 percent of the food consumed by Vermonters is actually produced here.

To increase the amount of locally produced food available for Vermonters to purchase, the following food system components need to be working in harmony together: Nutrient management is the effective use of minimizing negative environmental impacts derived from food waste, livestock manure, cover crops, and synthetic fertilizer while providing sufficient nutrients for crop and animal growth life cycles.

Farm inputs are resources such as land, soil, fertilizer, animal feed, seed, labor, equipment, and energy that are essential for food production.

Production is the actual activity of growing and raising food, which includes different scales of production for different markets. Major categories include dairy production, livestock grown for meat, maple syrup, fruits and vegetables, grains, honey, beer, hard cider, spirits, wine, and fish.

Processing converts raw produce and animal products into addedvalue food that can be transported longer distances, keep longer on store shelves, and meet consumer demands.

Wholesale distribution is the aggregation and resale of food to institutional, commercial, and retail markets.

Retail distribution is the selling of food direct to either consumers through CSAs, farmers’ markets, and farm stands or direct to retail locations including grocery stores, country stores, food co-ops, schools, hospitals, and restaurants.

Consumer demand drives the marketplace. Where our food comes from and where people buy food are key variables for understanding how to boost consumer demand for local food products.

Broader issues that affect these core components include food access, energy, financing, labor, and health—all of which are part of Vermont’s Farm to Plate statewide initiative to develop Vermont’s farm and food economy that builds upon the Vermont brand and our working landscape.

Learn more about how Vermont is relocalizing how food gets from farm to plate, both in our state and the region, at VTFarmtoPlate.com.

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far mers’ k itchen

Porcine Preparation

by David Hull Snow Farm

Roasted Pork Shoulder

photos courtesy of Snow farm

At our farm here in Newfane, the pigs are the favorites of all of us.

The lambs and goat kids don’t really give us the time of day, and our girls get a little nervous trying to pet the steer like I do. But the pigs are always happy to have us around. A good belly pat, a chuck under the chin, or an ear scratch can get a pig grunting contentedly, flopping on its side, and kicking a back leg.

Although my wife, Apple Gifford, is the bookkeeper, the rest of the farm is run by me. I’m always telling people that running a meat operation is much easier than a veggie farm, but the care and responsibility of animals is not for the faint of heart. Neither is sending them to be slaughtered.

We’ve had animals since Zinnia, now 9, could form memories; it’s just part of our girls’ lives. When our youngest, Lucy, now 7, turned to me while watching Babe for the first time and asked if we could keep just one of the pigs—if we could allow one to skip the slaughterhouse—I told her that I was sorry, but we couldn’t. We needed them for our customers. She sighed, then returned to the movie. The girls know that I don’t enjoy anything about the slaughtering process; both have piled in the truck and made the trip with me. However, like many people who like to carefully source their food, our girls will sit down to a meal, express their pleasure that our animals had good lives, thank them for their ultimate sacrifice, and then tuck into a tasty dinner.

I guess there’s always a chance that one or both of our girls will one day take real issue with raising animals for meat, but for now they are willing to let it happen because they, like many others, enjoy eating good food from animals raised with compassion. We especially like preparing pork shoulders because we tend to have a bunch of them in the freezer; the meat can easily be added to dishes over the following days, and the girls love it (Lucy calls it candy pork).

I love cooking pork, but I’m not going to give you much of a recipe here. As a finished product, what you’ll get from this is a pile of pork that is salty and delicious. You can turn it into pulled pork, Bo Ssäm, some Italian gravy, or hundreds of other dishes. That part will be up to you.

In New England, these are often cut and called a Boston butt. Ours are bone-in with a nice fat cap on them, but this recipe can be made with a boneless piece or a picnic ham (fresh, not smoked). As long as you have a big piece of meat from the shoulder, it’ll be fine.

1/2 cup salt 2/3 cup sugar a big piece of pork shoulder, approximately 6 pounds Heat oven to 300 °F. If you have a fat cap, leave it on and cut a cross-hatch pattern into it. Mix salt and sugar and press all over the meat (and fat cap), but don’t bother on the bottom of the roast. Put roast in pan and set in oven.

Feel free to baste with the melted fat occasionally, but there’s no real need.

It’s ready after 5 or 6 hours, when you can grab a chunk with tongs and it pulls right off. Let it cool a bit, then shred the meat into any size you like. Small shreds are good for carnitas or Bo Ssäm, but larger chunks might be better for another dish. It’s quite good by itself with a splash or two of vinegar on it.

Snow Farm sells USDA-inspected meat, (B)Raised with Love, through CSA shares, as retail cuts, and to restaurants. Beef, lamb, pork, and chicken is available at the farm in Newfane and is delivered fresh, not frozen, to parts of Connecticut and Massachusetts. For more information, email David at snowfarmvermont@gmail.com, check out facebook.com/ snowfarmvt, or call 802.365.7375.

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In the heart of our community for 40 years!

Growers of Familiar and Unusual Spring Plants for Your Garden

1975-2015

Perennials, Annuals and Certified ORGANIC Herb and Veggie Starts Visit our website for info about our Summer Share CSA Program

802–442–4273 clearbrookfarm.com Opening late April for Plants and June for Produce Rt. 7A Shaftsbury

Mon– Sat 7–9 pm • Sunday 9 –9 pm 2 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT www.brattleborofoodcoop.coop

TRULY LOCAL

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Brewery opens at 11:30AM everyday for lunch + supper.

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C A L E N D A R Saturday, March 28 and Sunday, March 29 Saturday, March 7

Garden Design 101 11:30am–1pm Learn easy-to-implement steps for creating ever-blooming, low maintenance gardens. Topics include site assessment; design principles and techniques; arranging plants based on heights; creating focal points; incorporating bulbs and annuals; plus drafting a design to scale and building a plant list. Presenter: Kerry Mendez. Cost $12.50. Gardener’s Supply Company, 128 Intervale Road, Burlington. gardeners.com 802-658-2433

Tuesday, March 10

The Woodchuck Returns to Gardening 7–9pm Ron Krupp will present his new Vermont garden book, The Woodchuck Returns to Gardening. This is a sister-companion to his first book The Woodchuck’s Guide to Gardening, now in its ninth printing. Event is free.

McClure Education Center, Shelburne Farms. shelburnefarms.org 802-985-8686

Saturday, March 14

Vegetable Gardening 101 11:30am–1pm This class is a great introduction to vegetable gardening. Learn how to get organized and successfully grow foods that you enjoy eating. Cost $12.50.

Gardener’s Supply Company, 128 Intervale Road, Burlington. gardeners.com 802-658-2433

Thursday, March 19

The VT Farmers’ Market Conference 9am–5pm We are collaborating with the Vermont Farmers’ Market Association (VTFMA) to host a day of workshops, networking, and the VTFMA Annual Meeting. This event will be for farmers’ market managers, board members, and organizers. Vermont Law School, South Royalton. erin@nofavt.org 802-434-4122

photo by barbi schreiber

Saturday, March 14

Edible Forest Gardens 9:30–11am Join Meghan from Vermont Edible Landscapes and learn how to create an Edible Forest Garden. Discover how to design, establish, and maintain ecosystems that mimic the structure and function of natural forests. Cost $12.50. Gardener’s Supply Company 128, Intervale Road, Burlington. gardeners.com 802-658-2433

Wednesday, March 25

JR Iron Chef VT 9am–3:30pm Jr Iron Chef Vermont is a statewide culinary competition that challenges teams of middle and high school students to create healthy, local dishes that inspire school meal programs. Champlain Valley Exposition, 105 Pearl Street, Essex Junction. jrironchefvt.org 802-434-4122

Maple Open House Weekend 2015 More than 80 Vermont sugarmakers invite you to visit their farms and sugarhouses. See for yourself how maple syrup is made. Because no two sugarhouses are the same, plan on visiting more than one! See website for locations throughout the state. Admission is free. vermontmaple.org 800-837-6668

Thursday, April 2

9th Annual Vermont Organics Recycling Summit 8am–4pm The Vermont Organics Recycling Summit is a one-day event that includes workshops, exhibitors, and networking with organics diversion experts, practitioners, and regulators. It is Vermont’s premier statewide event to learn about current issues, technologies, and practices related to composting and recycling food scraps. Cost $45 Composting Association of Vermont members, $50 early bird, $60 after 3/15. Vermont Technical College, Randolph Center. compostingvermont.org 802-456-1094

Monday, April 6

Farmer-to-Farmer Discussion: Animal Slaughter & Processing 4–6pm Farmers have a diversity of approaches to the slaughtering and processing of their animals and poultry. Hear from these farmers about their choices and systems for slaughtering and processing. Come ready to discuss what works for you, where you have encountered challenges, which policies and regulations you would like to see changed, and whatever else is on your mind. Facilitators will be Mara Hearst and Eben Proft, Someday Farm; BJ Hathaway, Hathaway Farm. Free. Smokey House Center, 426 Danby Mountain Road, Danby. rutlandfarmandfood.org 802-417-1528

Tuesday, April 7 and Wednesday, April 8

Welcoming Customers on Your Farm: Using Agritourism, Education, and Direct Sales to Increase Farm Profits 8am–5pm Spend Tuesday, April 7 touring a variety of farms in the Rutland region. On Wednesday, April 8, learn from peer experts in agritourism, on-farm education, and direct sales, and share your experiences! Downtown Rutland’s Paramount Theater and Community College of Vermont will be the venues for speakers and hands-on workshops. lisa.chase@uvm.edu 802-257-7967

Sunday, April 12

Flavors of the Valley 11am–3pm The 14th annual celebration of local foods in the Upper Valley. Taste the flavors of the Upper Valley at this premier sampling event. Last year attendees enjoyed fresh produce, artisan bread, award-winning cheeses, tasty jams, local pulled pork, berry pie, and handcrafted chocolates, and many other delicious local goods. Cost $10. Hartford High School Gymnasium, White River Junction. vitalcommunities.org 802-291-9100

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We hear it every day:

“No visit to Vermont is complete without a stop a the Putney Co-op!”

Find out what all the fuss is about, the next time you’re in town.

Open Every Day until 8:00 p.m.

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www.nofavt.org 802-434-4122 info@nofavt.org

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Craig Gehly

local banquet 3 3

Farming

Solo

LAST MORSEL

by Ryan Demarest This past summer I embarked on my first foray into agriculture on a small piece of land in Waterbury. While I took some time to get settled, by mid-season I was attending a farmers’ market, selling to various restaurants and stores, and maintaining a small farm stand. With only a smattering of agricultural knowledge, it was a leap of faith into a new world and an exercise in radical self-reliance, as I would be doing the work alone.

With the exception of occasional roto-tilling, all the work I did this summer was by hand and on my own. My decision to farm solo came from a desire to keep costs low and to create a practical, experiential learning environment while operating an actual business on a manageable piece of land. But these drives were subsequently overshadowed by the ending of a romantic relationship in which farming was to play a significant part. I had anticipated some help from this relationship as I began farming, with labor or emotional support, but moving forward with the season and away from my partner revealed an unexpectedly individualistic situation.

In the early part of the season in particular, I was often tormented by personal judgments and fear of failure. In mid-July, as my mind raced through the days, I questioned my capacity to complete the work. But even during a desperate moment in which my body all but collapsed in the broccoli bed under the sheer stress and weight of the farm, I was determined to continue independently.

As the season progressed, I began feeling a level of personal fulfillment and accomplishment that I had never previously experienced. I was utterly grateful for each sale and compliment at the farmers’ market. On one occasion I spoke with a man who mentioned that my heirloom tomatoes were a topic of positive discussion on Front Porch Forum, an online community discussion board. Having not witnessed the thread myself, I blushed, indulging the fantasy of folks in Waterbury singing my praises by the nighttime glow of their computers.

Working alone was also an exercise in acceptance. I created ambitious chore lists, but soon realized that a successful day meant I accomplished half of them. I had the choice to either manage stress or be overcome by it. I could allow my

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mind to run with worry or I could “settle in” as my daily mantra dictated and be with the actions of my hands, allowing the worry to dissolve into the present moment. Each day was a lesson in equanimity, learning to accept plants that succumbed to poor health, pests that commanded their share, and the waning hours of the day.

The farm consumed me. It drove my mind to the point where everything else was secondary and mere background noise. I was only partially present during most interactions unrelated to the land, and I found myself drifting off during conversations, thinking about weeding the lettuce bed or the temperature of the hoop house.

The field was a mirror—an extension of myself. I could see myself in every row, every plant, every seed I sowed. It was a reflection of my strengths and challenges, my triumphs and shortcomings. I could see where I had slacked when weeds I had been watching for weeks finally took over a bed, could see my inexperience in the cluttered broccoli that I planted too close together, could see my complete devotion while gazing at the neatly pruned tomato plants in the hoop house after a weekend of snipping and sweating.

There were moments throughout the summer in which I was able to see it all. My body would stop moving, my eyes would adjust, my hands would fall gently to my sides, and I would smile. The weeds, insect holes, and forgotten beds would fall away, and I could see order, neat rows, and food where there had been nothing only a few months before. I saw in front of me the scribbled sketch I had done long ago in a dirt-stained winter notebook. It was not a picture-perfect farm by any stretch of the imagination, but in those rare moments of recognition, I felt whole and joyful, like I was doing exactly what I needed to do.

Ryan Demarest is excited to be entering his second year of growing vegetables at Elephant in the Field Farm in Waterbury Center. You can find his vegetables at Waterbury-based restaurants and markets, or purchase them through his CSA and farm stand. He writes about his experiences at finaglefarm.wordpress.com.

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