Recently read: Farmer Jane

 

Farmer Jane: Women Changing the Way We Eat, by Temra Costa

Farmer Jane introduces various approaches to creating and supporting sustainable agriculture, that can be taken whether you are an eater, a farmer, or working in the food business. The book profiles 30 women across the USA who are farmers, social advocates, entrepreneurs, educators, and innovators working to change the way food is grown, distributed, and consumed. The book focuses on women in order to show the influence femininity is having on an industry that is typically thought of as male-dominated, and to show the enormous impact that women as caretakers have on making food decisions and setting directions for the food industry.

But regardless if you are a woman or a man, if you are looking for recommendations of steps you can take to contribute to the growing sustainable agriculture movement, this book will give you inspiration and concrete actions on everything from getting financial aid to start a farm, to starting a CSA point for your area of the city, creating a farm to school program, how to get into urban farming, as well as comprehensive lists of organizations involved with everything from policy advocacy to educating children.

Some quotes to ponder, and hopefully hook you into reading the book:

"We need to become independent of the world market economy because the world market economy is ultimately controlled by interests which seek power or profit and which do not respond to the need of the world's peoples."

Native American (Haudenausaunee) saying

The true cost of food: This cost is the real monetary value that is required to produce food that is free of pesticides, that pays a fair working wage to farmers and farm workers, and that produces food on the land with future generations in mind. What we see in conventional grocery stores hardly reflects conventional food production, whose "negative externalities" of excessive water use, soil erosion, pollution via shipping and chemical application are not equated for. 

Building New Farm-to-Eater Relationships, p. 35

...we don't really understand the value of our ecological systems and food is the basis of this. "If we care about our local ecosystems and our local economies, we have to be willing to make real food a priority... People kick and scream, saying that local or organic foods are too expensive. But what about cell phones, cable TV, fancy cosmetics and all these other things that we spend tons of money on in this country? Paying $2.50 per pound for peaches is branded 'elitist', but for some reason paying $250 for tennis shoes is not. Why? I would argue that food is something that is completely essential and these other things aren't. They're optional."

Jessica Prentice, Three Stone Hearth cooperative food business

Promoting Local and Seasonal Food, p. 104

The sounds of crop planes were omnipresent in the sky as the workers would watch them sweep low and release their poison. Milly remembers the first time it happened to her while in the fields. "I tried to run away; it was terrible. There was sulphur in our eyes and they would get irritated. There were other chemicals that were sprayed and smelled worse, those experiences and memories will never go away," says Milly... Today the negative health impacts of pesticide exposure--including asthma, various cancers, and birth defects in children--are well documented, yet workers continue to be exposed to chemicals and aerial spraying.

Milly Trevino-Sauceda, Founder, Organizacion de Lideres Campesinas

Networks for Sustainable Food, p.147

Food desert... 1 grocery store to serve 23,000 residents (more affluent areas average 1 grocery store per 4000 residents). Food that is sold [in these areas] is largely processed junk food easily accessible in liquor stores (1 for every 625 residents), with only a handful that carry any sort of fresh fruits or vegetables.

Urban Farm Women, p. 174

"...and [the greenhorns, ie. young farmers] all have the same story. They are fierce and they all had naysayers, but they all did it anyway. It gives me a lot of courage. There's a certain amount of ballsiness that goes along with it and you feel driven to make change and initiate like a pioneer. I really cherish that sense of independence."

Severine von Tscharner Fleming, Filmmaker, The Greenhorns

The Next Generation of Sustainable Farmers, p. 192

"To be a good diversified farmer you have to be a systems thinker and that's something that doesn't come easy. Farming is one part intellect, one part intuition, one part muscle, and one part heart. And beyond that, it's mostly out of my control."

Zoe Bradbury, Farmer Valley Flora Farm

The Next Generation of Sustainable Farmers, p. 201

For more, check out the website and blog on the book here: http://www.farmerjane.org/book.html

• Books on sustainable agriculture and learning about where our food comes from are on the rise, have you read a good book on this topic that you would recommend?

• Likewise, films and documentaries on this topic are also increasing. Which would you recommend and why?

I am 35

(Title is a riff on Cafe Gratitude recipe book, did you get it? If not, keep on reading :)

12 has always been my favorite number. Maybe this is partly because I was born on the 12th day of January, but my love of the number 12 goes beyond a simple date. When I was a little girl I associated the age of 12 with the final year before one becomes a teenager, the end of a cycle. Years later I would learn that 12 years mark the end of the Chinese horoscope cycle. 12 was also the age when Jesus stayed behind in Jersualem at Passover and Mary and Joseph found him in the temple talking to the rabbis--already amazing people with his truth. 12 is also the number of apostles Jesus called to walk with him, and it is considered the number of completion. 12 is a powerful number, and to me it is aesthetically beautiful. 

On January 12, 2012 I celebrated my 35th birthday. I am not exaggerating when I say that I had been looking forward to this specific date since I was young. The two 12s made the date even more beautiful, plus it marked a semi-milestone year of the age 35, *and* it would be just before the start of the Year of the Dragon, which is my astrological sign. So it was a special birthday date for me this year. Throughout the 24 hours I was conscious of the day's existence and passing. As I went to bed early on the morning of Jan. 13 I felt I understood the passing of time. January 12, 2012 was over and would never be again.

My birthday wish

This year I vow to be courageous and grateful. To live my life with honesty and compassion. To harness the energy and transformative power of the dragon to fully become who I am created to be. As with all great achievements, I lean upon the support of my friends and family who enable me to create, love and persevere.

Now on to some recent raw culinary adventures!

Irish moss

Almost all of the desserts in the Cafe Gratitude recipe book call for irish moss. Even after googling 'irish moss' and reading about how to use this aquatic ingredient, I was still intimidated by it and left the Cafe Gratitude dessert creations to the more advanced raw chefs. But this year my sister gave me a bag that she had picked up from the One Lucky Duck takeaway store.  "I have no idea what that is," she said, "but the lady said it was cool and I figured you would know what to do with it." Well I had no idea, but was happy that she was inadvertently pushing me to discover it! Aren't siblings the best?

Irish moss is a type of algae that is used as a thickener. For nutritional info on Irish moss, check this link here. To learn how to use the material, I turned to my reliable online source Carmella and her Sunny Raw Kitchen blog which has such a great wealth of information on it. Sure enough she has a post dedicated to instructing us how to work with irish moss, complete with video. 

Definitely check out the video, but to summarize: clean with cool water, let soak between 2-12 hours, snip, place measured amount in blender with the liquid called for in the recipe, and blend. It is the heat during the blending that causes the Irish moss to pop and become gelatinous. The moss needs heat to release its gel-like qualities, so don't let it warm up before it is put in the blender. And a little insight that I discovered when making the two recipes below: you will hear the moss pop and the blender will behave differently afterwards. And when you open the top of the blender, it will smell like warm ocean and the gel will be quite warm. That is what you are looking for! Don't worry, the smell will not be noticeable in your dessert.

Irish Moss step-by-step in photos

Irish moss post cleanse, soaking in spring water

Irish moss 12 hours later, soaked and ready to be used

Close-up of the Irish moss gel

I Am Grateful for raw desserts!

Now that I felt confident working with Irish moss, first up was the Cafe Gratitude I Am Perfect Pecan Pie, then the I Am Magnificent Chocolate Mousse. Below are the recipes from their I Am Grateful recipe book, I note where I changed the recipes.

I Am Perfect Pecan Pie

Crust: 
2 3/4 cup macadamia nuts
1/8 tsp salt

Process nuts in a food processor until it is a dough-like consistency. But do not overprocess or you will end up with nut butter. Once the ground nuts start rolling into each other to create what look like balls, and you feel confident that you can press the mixture into a form, it is ready.

The recipe calls for macadamia nuts, but to keep my expenses down I substituted cashews. Macadamia nuts would have created a lighter, more buttery pastry-like crust. Cashews are a bit heavier.

Pecan pie ready for wishes to be made

What was different to me about this crust recipe is that it did not call for any sweetener - either for taste or to bind the nuts. I usually add a dried fruit or dates to the nuts and was concerned that just packing cashew crumbs together would not work. Well, it did! And now I know a new trick for making a pie less sweet.  I did put the crust in the freezer while I prepared the filling.

Filling:
1 1/2 oz Irish moss
1/2 cup H2O
3/4 cup agave (I only added 1/4 cup - could not get myself to pour 3/4 cup of agave into one recipe, that is toooooo sweet!)
Blend the above ingredients together in the blender until you have a warm gel.

1 cup pecans

Blend in food processor to a paste-like consistency.

2 T vanilla (if you are using vanilla bean, make it a liquid first by blending the bean with water in a high-speed blender)

Ben ready for pie, jasmine tea, and lychees

1 T yacon syrup (I substituted maple syrup as I do not have yacon, and increased it to 2 T)
1/8 tsp salt
Add the Irish moss gel and the above liquid ingredients to the pecan mixture and process until smooth. 

1 1/4 cup dates (I used 1 cup = 8 medjool dates)

While processing, add in the dates in small amounts until smooth.

Spoon mixture into pie crust, and top with cashews. Chill in fridge before serving.


I Am Magnificent Chocolate Mousse

One of my first raw creations when I started experimenting with this way of eating was raw chocolate mousse using avocado as a base. That has consistently been one of my favorite raw desserts. The Cafe Gratitude version does not use avocado, and instead relies on Irish moss, lecithin and coconut oil to create the right texture. The result is a lighter mousse with great chocolate flavor. I tried to capture the texture of the mousse in the picture below. See the air bubbles?

Chocolate mousse

1/2 oz Irish moss
1/2 cup water
Blend in blender til it pops! and you have gel
 
2 cups almond milk (I had a stash of amazing almonds that made a beautifully scented almond milk that added a nice perfume to the mousse).

1/4 cup dates
1/3 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup + 2 T cacao powder
2 t vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
Add all of the above to blender and blend til smooth
 
2 T lecithin (I did not have lecithin and omitted this ingredient)
1/2 cup raw coconut butter (I used 1/4 cup)
Add to blender and blend until smooth.

I poured the mixture into 6 cups and let them set in the refrigerator. And I learned another trick about Irish moss: consistency of the dessert depends on using just the right measurement of it. I used a little less than 1/2 oz which made the mousse a little less dense than it should have been. But it was still a good texture and delicious!
 

• Do you have an Irish moss tip to share?
  
  
• Have a favorite Irish moss recipe to share?
  
  

Strawberry coconut basil ice kream!

Making ice cream chez moi

This Christmas my wonderful grandmother gave me a Cuisinart ice cream maker! Wahoo! Isn't she a stylish beauty? (The ice cream maker, see picture on the right. My grandma is a stylish beauty too, but I don't have a photo to share with you). I couldn't wait to experiment and make a rawkin' ice cream, despite the weather in Connecticut being below zero.

At the same time, my sister was in from Manhattan and kindly scoured the city to bring me two young coconuts. Did you know there is a shortage of young coconuts in NYC? Well, there was in mid-December. I was equally excited to experiment with coconut, as it is not an ingredient I commonly have on hand in Paris.

First step was figuring out how to open the coconut. In my excitement I started hacking at the first one, and finally found the soft spot on the bottom of the nut. While this enabled me to drain the water, it did not help me open the shell to get the meat out. My dad came to the rescue, wrapping the nut in a bag and smacking it with a sledgehammer. Ah, yes, preparing raw food can be entertainment for the whole family! To open the second coconut, I took a more judicious approach and pulled up The Raw Chef YouTube channel for some video schooling. Here is a super resource for how to open a young coconut, thanks to Russell James.

And to complement the video, here is a step-by-step photo stream of a successful, and less eventful, coconut opening:

Finding the soft spot after shaving the top of the husk, and pouring out the water.

Cracking open the top of the coconut to be able to scoop out the meat.

Fresh young coconut meat cleaned and ready for tasting!

First Mix of Raw Ice Kream
Why is it spelled kream and not cream? It's a raw vegan thing, a way to differentiate from animal products (like saying nut cheeze and mylks).

Again, in my excitement to see how the ice cream maker worked, I did not follow a recipe, and instead threw a bunch of ingredients into the mixer: coconut meat + water, handful of cashews, big handfuls of strawberries, 1/2 T of coconut oil, raw agave and vanilla. I was concerned that I did not have enough mylk for a creamy consistency, or enough liquid, but I thought, well, let's just give it a mix and see what happens. Once I had poured the mixture into the ice cream maker, I added in the chopped basil.

You can see the blended concoction in the picture below, and the following pictures of the mix being turned into ice cream; the machine took 25 minutes from liquid to frozen block.

Liquid concoction in the blender

Ice cream maker starting to mix the liquid

After mixing for 15 minutes

Completed ice cream spread in a glass pan

Two scoops!

 

The end result was a delicious ice kream, which was easy to make. It tasted great, though I will work on improving the creaminess of the texture the next time. Perhaps I will follow a recipe.  :)

• If you have a yummy raw ice kream recipe, please share! You can share it in the comments section.
  
• Do you have a tip on how to increase the creaminess of raw frozen desserts?