From Dave Smith

Trick or Treat - Celebrity Pumpkins from History (The Ladybug Letter)
As a pumpkin farmer, I’m unqualified to draw a psychiatrist’s conclusions from these two stories, but hollowed out gourds have a long and honorable history of being used as vessels to carry water and food stuffs, so it’s no surprise they should also be filled with romance, myth and contradiction.

Cheese By Hand visits CKC Goat Dairy in Blanco, Texas
The whole family pitches in to support the CKC business. When we stopped by Chrissy’s father was busy painting the tasting room area that had just been completed. One of their local food heroes, Sibby Barrett is bringing a group of her culinary students out to the farm next weekend as part of her “Random Acts of Cooking” courses where the students visit a number of local farms and producers to gather the goods for their cooking lesson.

Tana at I Heart Farms Writes About Her Friends in San Diego
Just as I felt when watching images of Katrina flooding a city I love, I’m shaking and sad about the fires in San Diego, where I lived for six years. And where I’ve visited twice in the past two years, including visits to three beautiful little farms. I’ll show them here in more peaceful times, and may the prevailing winds soon shift.

Moo Juice - The Raw Versus The Cooked
I’m not much of a milk drinker. I rarely drink it by the glass, but I try to be mindful of what I put in my cereal or my coffee. I buy organic, I buy as local as possible, and I feel good about my choices. Early this fall, however, I found out that I was pregnant with my first child. And I started thinking about milk a little differently.

Organic Food a Far Better Health Option
Food produced organically have up to 40 percent more disease-fighting properties than non-organically grown produce, researchers have found. The research has revealed that milk from organic herds of cattle contained 90 percent higher levels of antioxidants than the milk from non-organic cattle - antioxidants are thought to prevent cancer and heart diseases. The study also revealed that organic food contained more beneficial minerals such as iron and zinc. According to Professor Carlo Leifert, the coordinator of the four-year study, the results of the research are useful because it demonstrates a way for people who do not eat the recommended portions of fruits and vegetables a day, to increase their intake of nutrients.

Why Healthy Foods Is The Least Expensive Option
If you haven’t already, I recommend that you read Michael Pollan’s book, the Omnivore’s Dilemma. Although I have some issues with the book, I believe Pollan has made some important contributions in raising the public’s awareness about our food chain, factory farming and how corn is in everything we eat and drink. Even the animals raised for meat are fed corn, with 80 percent of corn produced in the U.S. ending up as livestock feed. The rest is added to soda, burgers, chicken nuggets, chips, white breads, candy and all junk food in fast food restaurants and processed foods in grocery stores.

Winemaker a Pioneer in Organic Grapes
When Nick Lolonis used the powerful pesticide DDT in his vineyards in the early 1950s, it troubled him. He wanted to kill the bad bugs eating grapes in his Redwood Valley vineyard in Mendocino County, but the poison killed the good bugs, too. That’s when the seed was planted… to become a pioneer in growing organic grapes.

A Brief History of the Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems
The Center’s history dates back to 1967, when English master gardener Alan Chadwick was hired to create a Student Garden Project on the fledgling University of California, Santa Cruz campus. Working only with hand tools and organic amendments, Chadwick and his student assistants transformed a steep, chaparral-covered hillside into a prolific garden bursting with flowers, vegetables, and fruit trees. The informal “apprenticeships” that students served with Chadwick would eventually lead to development of the Center’s current Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture training program.

Apartment Composting 101

Susan at Farmgirl Fare Does Onion-Rye Beer Bread
“Okay, you know I’m making this new beer bread. So I get the exploded beer all cleaned up off the counter and the floor, add enough water to the batter to make up for the beer I lost, put the pan in the oven, and am halfway done washing the dishes when I realize I forgot to put any rye flour in the rye beer bread.”Organic Earth Day Recipes
BBQ Peanut Butter Chicken
Braised Chicken in a Black Cherry Sauce
Corn Chowder
Grilled Spiced Apple Jamaican Jerk Chicken
Kid-Pleasing Macaroni & Cheese
Lomo de Puerco en Salsa Verde (Tomatillo-Braised Pork Loin)
Orange Mango Chicken
Organic Shrimp Louis
Papaya Marinated Tandoori Chicken
~~Dave Smith is author of To Be Of Use - The Seven Seeds of Meaningful Work and lives in Mendocino County, North California.
Photo Credit: The Ladybug Letter
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From Lisa Barnes

You might think someone that promotes healthy eating wouldn’t like a holiday where begging for candy is involved. But I do. The “trick” at my house to avoid the (what’s on sale in the big bag) candy “treats” is that the Halloween candy gets “turned in” to mom and traded for a non-candy item of choice (usually a toy - but this year my son has already earmarked a pair of sweat pants). The practice of dressing up in costumes and begging door to door for treats on holidays goes back to the Middle Ages. Trick-or-treating resembles the late medieval practice of “souling,” when people would go door to door, receiving food in return for prayers for the dead on All Souls Day (All Hallows Day).

Fast forward to little ghosts and goblins (or firemen and princesses) going door to door expecting candy. A lot has changed! If you want to see something scary on Halloween read some of the wrappers on your child’s candy. There you’ll see partially hydrogenated oil, high fructose corn syrup, alkali, chemicals, artificial colorings and more. To decode these items and see a list of healthy sweet alternatives read the full story at Kiwi Magazine.

If you have ideas of a greener holiday check out this great article from the Lansing State Journal for suggestions on recycled costumes, fair trade chocolate treats, partyware, decorations and battery-free flashlights. For those looking for greener, non-candy items to pass out to trick-or-treaters here is an abbreviated list of suggestions from GreenHalloween.org:

• seed packets
• coins
• pencils
• stickers
• polished rocks, sea glass or seashells
• card games, tricks, jokes
• barrettes
• balls and spinning tops
• mini pumpkins

Speaking of pumpkins and staying away from candy…how about making the most of the jack-o-lantern by roasting the seeds…

Roasted Organic Pumpkin Seeds Recipe

My favorite part about carving a pumpkin at Halloween is getting my hands into the pumpkin to pull out the seeds and stringy goop. My son does not share the enthusiasm for the slimy, gooey mess. And my daughter just wants to eat the goop and seeds right out of the pumpkin. The reward for mom picking thru all the stringy stuff is enjoying the roasted pumpkin seeds while watching the candle flicker in the jack-o-lantern.

1 cup organic pumpkin seeds
1 teaspoon olive oil

Seasoning options:

½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon curry or
½ teaspoon granulated sugar and ½ teaspoon cinnamon

Heat oven to 300°F. Cut off top of pumpkin and scoop out insides. Rinse pumpkin seeds in colander with cold water. Remove as much of the pumpkin strings and flesh from the seeds as possible. Try to blot excess water with a kitchen or paper towel. In a small bowl combine seeds, oil and seasonings of choice. Stir until coated. Spread out seeds in a single layer on foil lined baking sheet. Roast until golden brown and dry, about 40 minutes. Stir seeds with a spatula, every 10 minutes during cooking. Let cool on a paper towel and store in an airtight container.
~~
Lisa Barnes is author of The Petit Appetit Cookbook: Easy, Organic Recipes to Nurture Your Baby and Toddler and lives in Sausalito, California.
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From Jesse Cool

This recipe was developed by Christine Guiterrez, a former pastry chef at my Flea St. Café. A twist on the classic Cheddar cheese and apple pie, this combination of apples with salty cheese and pepper may sound a bit unusual, but to me, it’s even better than the traditional.

Crust
1 1/2 cups organic whole grain pastry flour
1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup very cold organic unsalted butter
1/2 cup organic milk

Topping
1 cup organic whole grain pastry flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup (2 ounces) grated Asiago cheese
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 tablespoons very cold organic unsalted butter

Filling
6 large crisp organic apples (such as Granny Smith), peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

To make the crust: In a large bowl, combine the flour, thyme, and salt. Grate the butter into the mixture. Using your hands or a pastry blender, work the butter into the flour mixture until the pieces are about the size of peas. Add the milk, 1/4 cup at a time, and blend until a soft, moist dough is formed. Add a few more tablespoons milk if the dough seems dry. It should be somewhat sticky.

Form the dough into a ball, then flatten into a round disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

To make the topping: In a medium bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, cheese, and pepper. Grate the butter into the mixture. Using your hands or a pastry blender, work the butter into the flour mixture until the pieces are about the size of peas. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. When the crust dough is chilled, place it on a well-floured surface and roll to about a 1/8″ thickness, turning and flouring the dough often to keep it well-floured. Fold the dough in half and place in a 9″ or 10″ pie plate. Turn under and crimp the crust.

To make the filling: In a large bowl, combine the apples, brown sugar, cornstarch, and nutmeg. Place in the prepared crust. Crumble the crumb topping over the apples.

Bake for 1 hour, or until the crust is browned and the apples are soft. Place on a rack to cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing.

Makes 10 servings.
~~
Jesse Cool is author of Simply Organic: A Cookbook for Sustainable, Seasonal, and Local Ingredients, owner of CoolEatz Restaurants and Catering, and lives in Menlo Park, California.
Photo by Lisa Koenig
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