Stone-Buhr / Shepherd's Grain Flour

I often attempt to buy at least some of my food from trace-able sources, and this is often not easy to accomplish. Mega-stores like Whole Foods are probably no better, and it could be argued are actually complicit in the attempts to reduce traceability and consumer knowledge of food sources and composition. Many so called organic products are actually distributed and packaged by some of the largest agricultural entities in the world. Just look at the organic spinach fiasco from 2 years ago propagated by some of the biggest food companies. All you have to do is look at who owns who and you realize that real spinach grew in the ground and needs to have the dirt and sand washed off in a sink.  It doesn’t come pre-washed, in little plastic bags pumped full of just the right amount of inert nitrogen and product, then shipped from the Salinas Valley in California to Washington state via Texas. Similarly the peanut butter fiasco of a couple of years ago doesn’t lend any feeling of a safe or trace-able food chain … even companies like locally owned Cougar Mountain cookies were misinformed about the provenance of the peanut butter they were purchasing.

A few years ago, I tried to alter at least some of my buying habits to enhance my knowledge of the products I was purchasing, and the companies that made them, and the chain down to the farmer level. As at least some of you know, I make bread, and lots of it. A natural place to start, no?

50 pound sack of unbleached or bread flour from Costco … good price, wow that stuff is cheap … bakes up pretty good too … but ConAgra foods … located pretty close by in Kirkland … “one of North America’s largest packaged foods companies … spent heavily to defeat Oregon’s measure 27, which would have required food companies to label products that contain genetically modified ingredients” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ConAgra_Foods) … need to look elsewhere. The bulk bins offered no comfort, just exorbitant prices and no labeling I could take home and investigate … no lot codes or expiration dates. This is going to be tougher than I thought.

Wheat Montana Flour

Five or six years ago, as I was perusing the bulk department at Central Market in Shoreline (http://central-market.com/), out of the corner of my eye, I spotted clear 10 pound plastic bags of flour from Wheat Montana (http://wheatmontana.com). I checked ‘em out … family farm (Folkvord), operate their own mill … 12000 acres … Montana … sustainable farming practices. It’s very nice flour (Natural White, Prarie Gold, Bronze Chief). The Natural White, an unbleached flour has more gluten than a lot of “bread” flours, and the baked goods are great. The mill uses an impact milling process, so the flour only gets to about 95 F during milling. The ingredients list is really short and sweet. Great example of complete control of the growing, milling and distribution chain. And I can find the entire operation on the map. This one’s a keeper.

I recently learned that Stone-Buhr (http://stone-buhr.com) sources the wheat berries for its flour from sustainable, independent, small growers right here in the Northwest. Stone-Buhr’s original mill used to be in Fremont (http://stone-buhr.com/story.php). Their all purpose flour is made with wheat from Shepherd’s Grain (http://shepherdsgrain.com). Shepherd’s grain is an alliance of Northwest family farms that promotes something called “sustainable agriculture.” Stone-Buhr has a bit of a checkered past. It began in 1908 and was independently owned and operated until the early 1980′s when it was sold off. Through a series of sales, mergers, acquisitions it ultimately became a brand of Unilever. Josh Dorf and his company JOG distribution acquired it and have partially returned the brand to its roots. JOG is headquartered in San Francisco. The Washington White, Shepherd’s Grain All Purpose Flour has a date code on every bag which allows you to find the farmer (http://findthefarmer.com) who grew the wheat used to make the flour in the bag. The flour is relatively low in gluten content in comparison to Wheat Montana’s offering, so it works very well in cakes, cookies, muffins, pizza dough and other baked goods which don’t require the development of massively elastic doughs.

As a baker, I have noticed significant differences between flours, and this is exactly what you should expect when buying from smaller operations. Wheat berries grown in Montana or Washington have different characteristics than if grown in North Dakota, Nebraska or Manitoba. When buying from the the little guys, grains aren’t blended into an anonymous, untraceable mish-mash of pulverized grain speculated on by commodities traders from all over the world, then delivered to your supermarket shelf in a tidy little paper package.

In short, we have here, two great examples of traceability, and smaller operations making a difference. Both of these products cost more than the non-traceable product. In both cases, its nice to know there are companies out there, not part of the merger mania interested in delivering quality food grown by farmers and processed by real people at identifiable places.

Halloween 2009 Flyer

Come to the Third Annual Crown Hill Halloween Celebration. For kids of all
ages (from 0-100) and adults too. Come in costume, prepared to feast with
your neighbors. Bring something to share with everyone. Flashlight
treasure hunt at 6:30. Please RSVP to halloween@sustainablecrownhill.org
with the number of adults and kids so we can plan for the treasure hunt.
Bring a flashlight.

The world famous Bucket Brigade (headquartered right here in [drumroll
here] Crown Hill) will make a rare public appearance to entertain us with
drumming and dancing. And, for all you closet drummers, there will be a
fantastic chance to try out your rhythmic skills on the same buckets using
the same drum sticks as the pros.

October 24th 6:00-8:00 PM
Crown Hill School Play Field
South end of Crown Hill School
(in case of rain, we’ll move inside the building)

See you there!

First strawberries of the season

Woohoo! The first strawberries of the season are now maturing in our yards thanks to the heat of the last few weeks. We can soon expect to see Washington state berries in our local supermarkets and farmer’s markets. The imported California strawberries have suffered long enough on their journey up here and are far from their prime by the time they reach our mouths.  Strawberries lose flavor pretty quickly after picking, so the ones from your garden can’t be beat. Though usually smaller than the monster berries from the supermarket, the flavor of those freshly picked from your garden trump all.

Strawberries are pretty easy to grow from bare root starts available in February and March, and may even show up as volunteers in your yard like the plant these berries were found on. They can be grown in containers too. So put this plant on your list for next year. If you know someone with strawberries in their garden, you can also pick up plants from their runners.

Snail (Helix aspersa on Hosta leaf)

Caught this not so little snail (25 mm high, 35 mm diameter) in the garden this morning rapidly devouring a Hosta leaf. Looks like the snail found all over California brought to this continent for eating purposes.

I wasn’t aware we had them here in Seattle. A quick trip to the “Identification Guide to Land Snails and Slugs of Western Washington” (http://academic.evergreen.edu/projects/ants/TESCBiota/mollusc/key/webkey.htm) and following the dichotomous key I ended up at Helix aspersa (http://academic.evergreen.edu/projects/ants/TESCBiota/mollusc/key/hel_asp/hel_asp.htm). Indeed it is a European intruder.

Hey that was fun, following a branching (dichotomous) key answering one question at each step to arrive at a definitive ID.

Couple of questions here: 1) Are you seeing these voracious land molluscs in your yards? and 2) Ecological/Organic control methods?

I recall as a young lad in the Silicon Valley getting 50 cents a bucket for collecting them by hand, and there was a never ending supply. We then poured rock salt into the bucket to keep the snails from ending up back in the yard.

I recently learned of another way to enjoy potatoes that doesn’t involve eating or growing them. A friend shared the following suggested exercise for seniors to build muscle strength in the arms and shoulders.

The original article suggested doing it three times a week. It’s so easy, I thought I’d pass it on.

Begin by standing on a comfortable surface where you have plenty of room at each side. With a 5-pound potato sack in each hand, extend your arms straight out from your sides and hold them there as long as you can. Try to reach a full minute, then relax. Each day, you’ll find that you can hold this position for just a bit longer.

After a couple of weeks, move up to 10-pound potato sacks. Then use 50-pound potato sacks, and eventually try to get to where you can lift a 100-pound potato sack in each hand and hold your arms straight for more than a full minute.

After you feel confident at that level, put a potato in each of the sacks.

And if you’re looking for music to memorialize the death of the PI,  former Seattle-ite Heidi Muller has this finely crafted contribution “Goodnight PI” to mark the passage.

Join your neighbors for a post Thanksgiving leisurely paced walk to Carkeek Park. Neighbor Doug Gresham will be on hand to talk about and answer questions on the salmon restoration in Piper’s Creek. Doug has worked extensively for the restoration of Salmon spawning habitat in the creek.

Meet at the big oak tree at 13th Avenue NW and NW 95th Street.  We’ll leave at 10 AM and enter the park at the 12th and Norcross.

This will be kid friendly and paced appropriately. Come for the stroll with your whole family from new-born to 90, there will be something for everyone. This is a rain or shine event.

Information kit@crownhillneighbors.org

Please send agenda items to carolbarber@comcast.net

Now that the election is over, lets get back to the local activities. The food is fabulous and the company even better!

Sunday, September 7, 2008
5 PM – 7 PM
Danielle and Michael’s House
9240 Mary Ave NW

Agenda items to Carol Barber (carolbarber@comcast.net).

Potluck dinner 5-5:30, meeting from 5:30-7

Last month’s meeting included a pre-meeting session for a few of us learning to build with cob, and a celebratory inauguration of Bert’s cob oven. Great fun, stone baked pizza, not a lot of meeting. Back to serious business this month (but not too serious). Come share your announcements of things sustainable, ideas on locavory, energy for solar pursuits, and your (optional) fabulous potluck contribution.

Here’s my contribution to what to do with the proceeds of a particularly productive day of picking. Not so much a recipe, but a process.
Intense Blackberry Sorbet:

Equipment list:

• Inexpensive one quart ice cream freezer. Ours is a Donvier hand cranked model, but apparently some Cuisinart attachment can be had to accomplish the deed with electricity.
• Means to separate the seeds from the pulp and juice. I use an old fashioned conical potato ricer with a wooden pestle, though a strainer and a rubber spatula can be used with equal result.
• Stainable clothing or means to keep nicer togs blackberry stain free.

Things to do ahead:

• Freeze the cylinder of your ice cream maker. This can take from one to three days depending on how cold your freezer is, how often the door is opened, and whether the planets were correctly aligned.
• Make up some simple syrup to sweeten the mix. Simple syrup is traditionally a one to one (by volume) ratio of sugar and water. Honey can also be used as a more locally found sweetener for the syrup. You’ll need about 2/3 to 1 cup of syrup for each quart you will make depending on tartness. Bring the syrup to a hard boil for a minute or so, stirring vigorously after it boils. Let cool, and put in the refrigerator.

Day of picking:

• Collect a large bucket of ripe blackberries.
• Rinse the berries (particularly important for berries from roadside or otherwise dusty environments).
• Separate the seeds from the juice and pulp with the ricer or strainer.
• Place the juice and pulp in the refrigerator until thoroughly chilled.

When ready to make sorbet:

• Mix fruit juice and pulp with syrup until desired balance of sweetness and tartness is achieved.
• Take cylinder from freezer and assemble the ice cream maker. Pour about 3-1/4 or so cups of the berry and syrup mixture into the ice cream maker.
• Every minute or two, stir with the crank two or three revolutions for about ten minutes.
• As the mixture begins to thicken, increase the number of turns, until the sorbet is mostly frozen. You should not be exerting great amounts of force, or the plastic paddle will break.
• Scoop the semi-solid sorbet into a plastic container, and place in the freezer until ready to consume.

When fully frozen (assuming you can wait):

• Serve by shaving thin peels with the side of a sturdy soup spoon into small bowls.

In Seattle, we often wait quite a while for that first “real” tomato from the garden while our friends in California, Eastern Washington, and climes warmer have been enjoying fresh, homegrown tomatoes since early June. And cherry tomatoes really don’t count — try slicing cherry tomatoes for a sandwich . This year’s first tomato was plucked from the garden on August 8th. Finally, we can have truly local tomatoes when they are the sweetest and far better than even the Eastern Washington tomatoes available so far at “local” farmers markets. We have enough plants to can the surplus fruit we cannot eat as quickly as it ripens. There is nothing like opening a jar of homegrown tomatoes in the doldrums of February to cook into a marvelously sweet pasta sauce.

This year’s exercise in growing tomatoes began at the Central Market in Shoreline, the weekend before Memorial Day where eight very large “starts” were purchased at four plants for ten dollars. There were even already a couple of small tomatoes already on the plants. Perhaps one year, I will grow my own starts from seed. I bought 2 each of Taxi, Early Girl, “Roma”, and “Black”. The Taxi plants are determinate, while the others are indeterminate cultivars. The plants did not move out to the garden for a week, as the evening temperatures were still less than fifty degrees. Upon planting in the garden we were treated to what must have been the coldest month of June on record. The bumblebees and honeybees crawled over the flowers extracting nectar and pollen hitch-hiking along in the “combs” of bristles on their legs. It wasn’t until a number of successive warm days in July that the plants succeeded in their march toward the top of their wire cages, and soon set much fruit.

As we tended and watered the plants, the green fruit elongated and widened, and we kept checking for the slightest blush of color in the green tomatoes. Our (im)patience was finally rewarded last weekend as one of the Taxi’s lost its deep green color, yielding a light blush of yellow (the Taxi cultivar produces taxi-cab yellow, smallish fruit of about 2 to 2-1/2 inches). A few days later the intensity of yellow color deepened, and the tomato was snatched to be admired on our kitchen window sill as it ripened a day or two, rather than consumed by a member of our local herd of marauding raccoons.

Our (im)patience continues to be rewarded. This morning a three inch Early Girl was noticed with decidedly pink coloring, and a few “Blacks” and “Romas” will no doubt follow suit.

Happy urban gardening!