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Classes in Canning and other Pioneer Arts

"Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food." --Michael Pollan, Food Rules

Eating like our ancestors, whether Paleolithic or pioneer, is increasingly coming into vogue. For the true enthusiast, efforts to eat local food can be supported through the recovery of traditional practices, from fermentation to backyard gardening to canning.

While skills like canning, bread-making,freezing, and menu planning used to be handed on as "secret family" recipes and tips at grandma's stove, these days many grandmothers are as lost in the kitchen as the millennial generation. Enter Leni Sorensen, a local blogger, contributor to In the Kitchen online, and culinary historian, who wants to be your stand-in grandmother for instruction in the pioneer arts.

Leni teaches classes in traditional culinary techniques on summer weekends at her home, nestled in the nook of a mountain stream outside of Charlottesville. The opportunity to marvel at her productive garden/micro-farm is reason enough to take her classes!




Leni has seen food movements come and go. Peppered with the practical wisdom of her family and lifetime ("if you only offer your kids food that is good, you don't have to worry about what they eat"), her conversation celebrates eating while eschewing false solemnity and faddish pieties about food. Having farmed with her husband in South Dakota for a number of years, she embraces the authenticity of real food and friendly gatherings -- her reminiscences about potlucks of barbecue ribs and rich pies are still making me hungry a week later!

Equally at-home with the cerebral (how historically zoning restrictions for local markets reflected racial tension and the rise of supermarkets) and the practical (how would you prepare the meat if you bought half a pig?), Leni exudes curious engagement with the world and instructs with a captivating interweave of anecdote, fact, and maxim.

And of course she leads by delicious example with her mouth-watering canned goods, her bountiful garden, and the details of her own choices ("We only eat tomatoes when they're in season--and then we eat them every day").

Leni's Classes

Leni offers classes all summer, and is happy to create unique classes to suit your needs and curiosity. It's best to contact her and sign up through her blog.

May 21 / 22: Breadmaking
June 11 / 12: Breadmaking
July 16 / 17: Canning tomatoes and peaches
July 23 / 24: Canning tomatoes and peaches
August 13 / 14: Canning tomatoes and peaches
August 27 / 28: Canning tomatoes and peaches
September 10 / 11: Canning tomatoes and pickles
September 24 / 25: Canning tomatoes and pickles
November 12 / 13 / 19: Freezing meat, making sausage

Hope to see you there this summer!

And if you'd like to try out food preservation on your own before going to visit Leni, check out this fantastic one-click recipe for Spicy Pickled Carrots (or any other veggies, really) from our very own Bella Eats!

Relay products related to this post:

Local Hydroponic Greenhouse Tomatoes, about 1 lb.	Horse and Buggy Couples Share	Local Whole Wheat Bread Flour, 5 lbs
$3.49 per Item	$23.00 per Item	$5.71 per Item

School lunches: you CAN take it with you

"Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does." --Michael Pollan, Food Rules











Today's post on the Fooducate blog illustrates another good reason to avoid airplane food (as if the quality isn't reason enough...). As I've grown to love healthy, local food, I find myself wanting to transport homemade meals in an increasing number of situations: to work, on the way out the door to an event, and especially on plane rides or long trips in the car. Gas station food, as Michael Pollan points out, is equally as questionable as airplane food.

Given all the furor surrounding horrible institutional school lunches, and despite some signs of improvement, school is another place where taking a homemade lunch is probably a good option. Relay customer Lisa asked on our Facebook page,

Do you have any suggestions for school lunch alternatives? My middle schooler hates sandwiches, and prefers a hot lunch (they have a microwave in the lunchroom). What can she take that is easy to prepare, travels well, and doesn't involve a sandwich?

While individual tastes, especially for picky eaters, ultimately determine what works best in a school lunch, I've outlined a few strategies and suggestions below based largely on my own experience and ideas found around the web.

The Bento Box: As artistic or slap-dash as you like, the bento box emphasizes fresh foods packed creatively into one box, sometimes divided into sections. Think TV-dinner but prepared with fresh foods. The possibilities are endless; type "bento" into Google or Tastespotting and you'll find inspiration that will last for years. Lunchinabox.net and JustBento.com are fantastic resources as well. A few ideas:

1. A simple bento consisting of steamed rice, salmon, and fresh veggies. Obviously a combination that could be taken in a lot of directions to use left-overs, suit tastes, etc.
2. A summer-themed bento with fresh fruit, sausage, and seasonal vegetables.
3. A creative bento decorated with "spring flowers" made from plums and carrots.
4. An irresistible "brown bear bento."

The Salad: While eating a Caesar for lunch every day probably wouldn't get anyone too excited, with the onset of Spring, the possibilities for salad and salad-related meals only continue to become more deliciously appealing. A few ideas to spice up traditional salad offerings:

1. Mark Bittman's Minimalist column on 101 Summer Salads. Definitely a classic in my book, this article outlines quick salads that require minimum cooking. Everything from a classic five-bean salad to watermelon and tomato.
2. Make lettuce cups or wraps: fill a lettuce leaf with leftovers like stir-fried vegetables, the meat-cheese-rice-veggie fillings of a taco, or fruit, cheese, and nuts. Romaine, Bibb, and Escarole work well. Here's a beautiful example. And another.
3. Grains, beans, and veggies: while it might not be everyone's idea of a salad, mixing whole grains with a high-quality protein and some vegetables is a terrific lunch that carries in one container. Added bonus? Make large portions of grains, beans, and prepped vegetables ahead of time, then toss together the day of. This lentil salad could be re-heated and served over rice at school. My roommates and I made the salad below, with lentils, carrots, cabbage, mozzarella, onion, and balsamic glaze over brown rice. Easy and delicious.

Leftovers: While most leftovers can be brought along and re-heated, having glass tupperware with locking lids (see the picture at the top) makes it significantly easier. Make your or your child's favorites in bulk, then send them along to school all week.

1. Miso vegetables and tofu: pack the tofu separately so that it doesn't get soggy when the vegetables are re-heated. Sauce could also be packed separately for freshness.
2. Vegetable fried rice from Bella Eats: probably one of the best ways to bring an egg along and not have it end up soggy. Also infinitely adaptable. Click here for the recipe if you're reading in Richmond.
3. Sicilian Broccoli and Cauliflower over Pasta: this recipe highlights pasta as another great take-along and re-heat option. Add chicken or another protein if you like.

These ideas are just the beginning! As we at Relay continue to build out our website's capabilities, I hope we'll be able to provide you with even more tools to make school/work/airplane/in a hurry lunches easy.

As always, please share your ideas, questions, and comments to the comments section, to our Facebook page, or to Twitter!

Your Questions: What's in Season?

"A significant part of the pleasure of eating is in one's accurate consciousness of the lives and the world from which food comes." --Wendell Berry, "The Pleasures of Eating"






From Kristy: We've recently started eating more seasonal and local produce... what are the different fruits and veggies available locally and when are they available?

First of all, Kristy, kudos to you. As your family is already discovering, eating locally and seasonally positively impacts many facets of daily life, from your health, to the environment, to the enjoyment of your food. If you don't already read Wendell Berry, I'll link to his essay, "The Pleasures of Eating," quoted above, a second time for emphasis. He eloquently describes how intimate knowledge of the place in which our food is grown can enhance our pleasure in food.

Lucky for us, Virginia is a fantastic place to live if you love fresh fruits and veggies. According to the Virginia Department of Agriculture, the Commonwealth's agricultural output is amongst the most diverse in the nation. Central Virginia is particularly Edenic, as we can draw draw fresh produce from farmers in the fertile Shenandoah Valley as well as from farms surrounding Charlottesville and Richmond.

Further adding to the richness of our produce choices is Thomas Jefferson's example. Charlottesville's favorite gardener constantly experimented with a vast range of plants, both from the Old World and the New World. Today, there's a thriving culture of gardeners and farmers in Central Virginia who want to preserve the seeds of rare and unique heirloom varieties for generations to come. For us, that means myriad heirloom varieties of apple, tomato, lettuce, and a spectrum of rich flavors to enjoy.


So what's in season, then? The Virginia Department of Agriculture puts out a handy chart outlining the basics. For now, I'll highlight what's available in the Spring, and then give you updates as the year progresses!

• Greens and spinach: early on, heartier winter greens are your best bet (kale, Swiss chard, collards). Some producers also grow hydroponic varieties of salad greens, such as arugula, salad mixes, tatsoi, baby romaine, sorrel, and mizuno. As Spring progresses, look out for increasing varieties of spinach and spring salad greens.
• Onions: spring onions are available, as well as the larger orbs.
• Herbs: oregano, sage, rosemary, tarragon, chives, cilantro, parsley, basil, dill, thyme -- these and others are grown in greenhouses year-round.
  
• Potatoes: you're likely to find small new potatoes still available from earlier harvests, as farmers can keep them fresh for several months.
  
• Greenhouse-grown produce: Virginia has a growing scene of greenhouse and hydroponic growers who can make delicious vegetables available even when the weather is frigid. Greens, tomatoes, and herbs are all available grown in this way.
  
• Asparagus: Along with daffodils, a great harbinger of true Spring!
  
• Beets
• Strawberries: available later in the Spring. Also look out for opportunities to pick your own!
  

Most of these locally-available items can be found through Relay's farmers. A great introduction to what's truly local and seasonal is a produce share from Horse and Buggy, available for pick-up from Relay with the rest of your groceries. This week, you would get gourmet greens, lettuce, asparagus, maple syrup (yum!), and mushrooms, amongst other goodies. Produce shares make a great introduction to seasonal eating, as they force you to experiment with foods you might not pick up at the grocery store.

Other Relay vendors who make local, seasonal produce accessible in Charlottesville include Down Branch Farms, Planet Earth Diversified, Meadow Run Farm, and Hardy Farms. Richmond has Down Branch Farms, Planet Earth Diversified, Kruize Farm, and Rain or Shine Greenhouse Gardens. We're talking with more farmers every day to get their produce to you as the season progresses! Be on the lookout for farmer profiles on this blog.


One final suggestion? Try some local Swiss chard before it goes out of season. My favorite winter green, it's as beautiful as it is nutritious. The stems are a rainbow of gem-tone colors. Below is a simple recipe for two:

1 tsp. olive oil
3 shallots, chopped
1 bunch rainbow chard, stems chopped and reserved, leaves in coarse chiffonade
1 cup brown rice, cooked
1 1/2 cups beans, cooked, preferably white or heirloom variety
Hard cheese, like sharp aged cheddar, for grating
Sausage (pre-cooked) if desired

Saute the shallots in olive oil for 30 seconds. Add the chard stems and cook until they are soft. Toss in the sausage, if desired, and cook until thoroughly heated through. Stir in the brown rice and beans, heat through. Grate cheese on top and serve warm.

Meatless Mondays

"Every passing minute is another chance to turn it all around..."
--Vanilla Sky

Each Monday in Springtime holds the same kind of promise that I feel on the brink of a New Year. On the threshold of the week, I serenely contemplate a blank slate to be filled with goals that seem freshly attainable. Finally organize my refrigerator. Eat the fresh foods I love in the company of good friends and family. Get outside for exercise. Learn new skills. Delve deeply into fascinating topics. Simply savor each moment as it passes.
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A little like the myth about New Year's (whatever you're doing at midnight, you'll be doing all year), Mondays seem to set the tone for the rest of my week. Maybe that's why Meatless Monday has garnered popular enthusiasm. If you can start the week on a high note of health and environmental benefits encouraged by nutrient-dense, plant-based food, then perhaps your food choices for the rest of the week will be seasoned with those good intentions. And luckily for those of us in food-friendly Charlottesville and Richmond, good intentions can also pave the road to delicious, sustainable local meat choices from producers like Tall Cotton Farm, Wolf Creek, and Babes in the Wood!

Myths regarding “going meatless” abound, and one of them is that it’s all or nothing. Be a vegetarian every day, or it's not worth it. False! Meatless Monday emphasizes that meatless meals can bring variety to a full repertoire, even for dedicated carnivores. Mark Bittman practices daily veganism--except at his evening meal. Part-time vegetarianism forces reliance on and discovery of vegetables and fruits you might otherwise shy from.

Just as ethical meat producers in Virginia make carnivorous choices healthier and easier on the conscience, producers of delicious vegetarian options make Meatless Mondays exciting.

• Twin Oaks Tofu (I love what Revolutionary Soup said in its Facebook feed a few months back -- “Oh yeah and Twin Oaks Tofu is totally Organic and the best Tofu I have ever had. Really, it will change the way you think about Tofu and cubed and seared it makes a darn fine Vegan Chili...”)
• A whole range of local growers, from Planet Earth Diversified to Down Branch Farm Produce to Richmond's Rain or Shine Greenhouse Garden to Cville's Hardy Farms.
• CCNO Vegan Food Bars (for a quick snack on a busy day)
• Fresh pastas from Mona Lisa Pasta and Cavanna Pasta make a delicious, gourmet base for serving up top-notch veggies.

So, have I convinced you to give Meatless Mondays a shot? Below are a few of my favorite recipes to get you started. Please use the comments to share YOUR favorite Meatless Monday recipes!

• Spring Pasta
  
• Sushi Bowl
• Mark Bittman's Best Vegetable Soup Ever
• Whole Wheat Cous Cous with Spring Vegetables
• "My Husband is not a Vegetarian" -- Community forum on SeriousEats for vegetarian recipes enjoyable even for non-vegetarians
  
• Lentil and Brown Rice Salad (One-Click Relay Recipe): In Richmond or In Charlottesville
• Kale and Cabbage Gratin -- Think you don't like kale? Try this! I dare you!
  

If you're interested in finding more recipes to inspire your vegetable love, check out How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman, The Candle Cafe Cookbook, or Chez Panisse Vegetables.,My go-to online sources are Recipes for Health from the NY Times and 101 Cookbooks.

There is a Certain Celebration

In the north country it is spring and there is a certain celebration... --Mary Oliver







Forget the calendar. While it's been "Spring" for almost a month now, this week has treated Virginia to the kind of sunny, warm weather and lingering evening light that makes me confident we're irreversibly on track towards Summer.

Springtime hosts its own celebration. Bedecked in flowery finery, bathed in gorgeous, glowing lights, the earth beckons us to leave our desks, our stovetops, and our television sets to breathe it all in. Then out come the delicious seasonal treats -- fresh greens, herbs, beets, radishes, strawberries -- our hors d'oeuvres for the party.

In honor of Spring and all the outdoor activities on offer, including Garden Week, soccer games, and the first Fridays after Five, here are a few of my personal favorite portable picnic recipes. Even if they're destined for a tupperware lunch at your desk as you gaze wistfully out at dogwood blossoms, they're a delicious way to partake of Springtime's feast!

Please take the time to post any of your favorite springtime recipes (or activities) to the comments, especially those that fit well into a picnic basket!

Radish and Avocado Salad (One-Click Relay recipe)*

Spinach with Peas and Scallions (One-Click Relay recipe)*

White Bean Burgers (with parsley, carrots, and spring herbs)

Honey Balsamic Bean Salad (delicious with Down Branch’s delicate romaine)

Grilled Cheese and Fried Egg Sandwiches (perfect for fresh free-range eggs!)

Coconut Macaroons (look great for a portable picnic treat)

*You may have noticed on our Facebook page that Relay has just launched one-click shopping recipes in concert with Bella Eats, a beautiful cooking and photography blog by Charlottesville's own Andrea Hubbell. If you check out the new recipes tab at Relay, you can find Andrea's gorgeous recipes linked up to Relay's best local ingredients!

Some Fresh Sausages

There was a great article in the New York Times the other day discussing whether the old saying, “If you like laws and sausages, you should never watch either one being made” is still true. The comparison is hilarious! My favorite was a quote by Alan Rosenthal, who said, “In a real sausage plant, everybody is on the same team, trying to produce bratwurst or knockwurst. In the legislative sausage factory, at least half the people don’t want to make sausage. Or they want to make a different kind. For the last few years, Republicans have said, ‘We won’t make sausage unless we control the recipe.’” Haha!

Fortunately, the factory was able to churn out a couple of tasty-sounding sausages, er…laws recently: one on food safety and the other on child nutrition. For those of you who are interested in food policy, these bills are a pretty big deal! Here they are:

The Food Safety Modernization Act: this bill is meant to strengthen the FDA so they can do more to prevent outbreaks like the recent scandal involving (billions) of salmonella-infected eggs. Here are some interesting facts I learned:

• this is the first time in over 70 years that the FDA food safety laws have been updated
• only about 1 in a million pounds of imported food is inspected by the FDA (!!)
• before now, the FDA could not actually demand food recalls. The could just ask for them. Hmm.
  

This next part may be of particular interest to Relay-ers who like buying local: the contentious part of this bill was the amendment that allowed certain inspection exemptions for small farmers. Some senators got their panties in a bunch saying people were just as likely to get sick from food from little family farms. I guess they’ve never seen how an industrial sausage plant might differ from a local family-owned sausage joint.

Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act: this bill sets new standards for school lunches, stipulating that they should include more fruits and vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy products. It also expands school lunch and after-school meal programs to include more children. Although the name of the bill makes it seem like a no-brainer, it also had its sticking points. One was that the money to fund this program involves cutting spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, also known as food stamps) and raising the price of school lunches for families over 185% of the poverty line. A vocal dissenter, Representative Paul Broun (he’s also a physician), said, “This bill is not about child nutrition. It’s not about healthy kids. It’s about an expansion of the federal government, more and more control from Washington, borrowing more money and putting our children in greater debt. The federal government has no business setting nutritional standards and telling families what they should and should not eat.”

My personal opinion is that, since schools are funded by public dollars anyway, the government has the right to stipulate that those schools are feeding students high-quality food. Unless I’m misinterpreting the extent of this bill, it seems that the government is just trying to ensure that students are fed well in school, not trying to determine what individual families do. But I’m interested in what you all think! I know there are a lot of parents with young kids who use Relay, so how do you all feel about this?

Where do you get your recipes?

I love trying new recipes, but just like most people, I have a few trusted sources that I always go to. Here are some of my favorite food blogs and cookbooks…I hope you’ll check them out! Please share some of your favorites in the comments section…there can never be too many good recipes to go around.

Websites:

http://simplyrecipes.com/ - One of my primary go-to sites. Great variety of recipes (especially Mexican/Tex-Mex), I’ve never gone wrong with Elise’s advice. She also has excellent photography tips.

http://smittenkitchen.com/ - Another great go-to. Good recipes and hilarious commentary.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/ - If you aren’t afraid of butter, you’ll love the Pioneer Woman. Her recipes are simple, delicious artery cloggers ;). If cooking isn’t your thing, she also blogs about gardening and homeschooling, among other things. Lots of fun giveaways too!

http://www.101cookbooks.com/ - Blog by Heidi Swanson, author of the cookbook “Super Natural Cooking”. That pretty much sums it up…awesome vegetarian recipes.

http://annies-eats.com/ - I don’t understand how Annie, a doctor, has time to cook this much. I aspire to be this put-together one day. Lots of delicious baked goods and tips on meal and party planning.

Cookbooks:

How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman – Mark Bittman is all about simplicity…recipes that you can look at once and just remember. This is a great reference if you’re unsure how to use a particular ingredient or make basics like vinaigrettes.

Local Flavors by Deborah Madison – Some of her recipes are a bit complex and others use unusual ingredients, but if you cook seasonally there are lots of gems in this book. Carry it to the farmers market with you and you’ll never be at a loss for what to do with all those colorful veggies!

I’m Just Here For the Food by Alton Brown – Alton Brown in the Bill Nye of the Food Network, and in his book he explains the science behind cooking…good to know, since cooking is essentially a science!

Magazines:

Cooks Illustrated – I just recently started getting their magazine and love it! Like Alton Brown, they use science to explain why certain techniques work and others don’t…like how the saturated-to-unsaturated fat ratio in a cookie determines its chewiness…who knew!

Again, please let all of us at Relay and around Charlottesville/Richmond where you get your favorite recipes and tips!

Buy local eggs, save Virginia agriculture

I wasn’t lucky enough to get to attend the Monticello Heritage Harvest Festival this year, but I recently watched some of the “Meet the Farmer TV” videos that were made at the event. Relay’s very own Neal, Lindsey, Cameron and Brittany were interviewed! Neal made some really good points about what the Relay business model can do for the community. Of course we want Relay to be convenient for our customers. That’s why our founder, Zach, came up with the idea…so he could spend more time with his kids and less time at the grocery store. But what can Relay do for our communities in Charlottesville and Richmond?

After the election on Tuesday, there is no doubt it anyone’s mind: it’s all about the economy these days. Creating jobs, stimulating growth, etc. etc. It seems like a daunting task, but many knowledgeable people at the Heritage Harvest Festival mentioned the same thing…that we can do a lot, just by keeping some of our food dollars in the local community. After doing a little of my own research, I stumbled across this article from the Virginia Cooperative Extension (an incredible resource for anything agriculture-related). First of all, agriculture is huge in Virginia, accounting for around 357,000 jobs in 2006. Second, many small- and medium-sized farms are struggling to survive, especially due to the tough economic environment. But here’s the kicker, in a direct quote from the article: “A similar study by the Virginia Cooperative Extension showed that if each Virginia household would spend just $10 of their total weekly food budget on local food and farm products, this purchasing decision would annually generate $1.65 billion in direct economic impact for Virginia’s economy.”

Of course we can’t dismiss the fact that there is a lot more work to be done to both improve the economy and create a truly vibrant regional food system, but that’s a big step! A big step that requires just a little extra effort on the part of the consumer…and here’s where Relay comes in. There are plenty of ways to spend those $10 on local foods if you so choose: farmers markets, CSAs, restaurants that serve local products, but we’re just trying to make it a little easier. So…how would I spend my $10 on local Relay products?

Richmond:

Harmony Hill Farm eggs - $3.09 (fresh and super tasty!)

Deer Run Farm butternut squash - $1.75 (Thought you didn't like squash...HA! This will change your mind.)

Granny Smith apples - $0.77 (Virginia grown. For snacking or in pie!)

Mountain View Farm Swiss cheese - $4.22

Charlottesville:

Meadow Run Farm green onions - $1.75 (I can never seem to have enough green onions…try them in miso soup!)

Hardy Farms Swiss chard - $3.00 (delicious and comes wrapped like a bouquet of colorful, edible flowers)

Belle Haven Farm soft dinner rolls - $2.49 (they smell amazing and taste even better)

Meadow Run Farm pie pumpkin - $2.00 (with the holidays coming, this needs no explanation)

Yum!

Sources and links:

Monticello Heritage Harvest Festival videos:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Virginia Cooperative Extension article

The Hook picture gallery of the Harvest Festival

Baby Carrots

I just about died laughing the first time I saw one of those new baby carrot commercials on You Tube. My first thought was "...REALLY?" The commercials are completely ridiculous, complete with machine guns, carrot ammo, explosions and scantily clad women. I had recently heard a radio report on NPR on the new carrot marketing ploy, so I figured I should see the ad for myself. According to the radio report, "a bunch of carrot farmers" were trying to increase carrot sales essentially by marketing them as a junk food. There isn't a whisper about the health benefits of carrots or meeting your daily 5-veggies-a-day mark. The thing that makes the over the top ads bearable is that they know it's over the top. The machine guns and exploding shopping carts are certainly meant to draw the attention of young people, but they're also very clearly mocking similar commercials by the junk food industry. Their website is just as hilarious...they have a carrot video game (no, I didn't play it...looked tempting though), videos of their ads, another series of short videos called "Munchies" and even a "Karrut Kruunch Track" you can download (yep the sound of someone crunching a carrot...I know I want that as my ringtone!).


After learning more about this new craze, I started thinking...what exactly is a baby carrot, anyway? It took me a while to realize this, but baby carrots are not just miniature carrots. They're pieces of regular carrots that have been cut and peeled into "baby" sizes! When I learned this, I thought, what a waste...I bet a ton of perfectly good carrot is wasted just to make them into cute, peeled bite-sized pieces. Well, shows how much I know about carrots...that theory was also wrong. Baby carrots were actually created in the 1980s by farmer Mike Yurosek who wanted to find a way to use carrots that were too misshapen to sell but perfectly good to eat. Hmmm...makes me feel better about eating baby carrots if they actually reduce waste! (Of course, there are some issues with baby carrots...they cost more than buying an equivalent amount of whole carrots, but we're talking about getting kids to eat more veggies here...got to start small and make it easy! They are also grown from a variety of carrots that ripens faster and has less beta-carotene. Sigh...lower-quality food always seems to end up in schools. We'll save this issue for another time.)


Now that we're familiar with this new generation of carrot farmers who are more adept at social media than I am (not that hard to accomplish, honestly) and have figured out what a baby carrot is, there is one question outstanding in my mind: will this ploy actually work? I am all for healthier food in schools, but will the expensive commericals and new baby carrot vending machines actually make more kids eat vegetables? It's definitely true that brand recognition can have a major impact on food choices, especially if kids are exposed to it at a young age. However, real junk food has a leg-up over carrots: salty, fatty and sugary foods are tastes that are rare, and therefore valuable in nature. Biologically our brains are wired to desire those things (not to mention how unhealthy foods are frequently associated with comfort). I think the new carrot marketing will help increase the consumption of vegetables by young people, but I worry that it won't last. To significantly change food habits, I think the culture of food in schools needs to shift: away from serving what is cheapest and easiest to what is most healthful and truly tastes good. The point shouldn't be for vegetables and Doritos to compete to spend the most on advertising, but for us to appreciate, and teach our kids to appreciate, that healthy food can taste better than junk food and is better for you. Then perhaps kids will be eating carrots long after the fad fades away...

In case any of you were wondering, I got my information (and pictures) for this post from these sources:
www.babycarrots.com
Home website for the new marketing campaign. They have 3,000 likes on facebook!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130321785
NPR story on new baby carrots marketing campaign. Also includes links to these USDA sources:

http://healthymeals.nal.usda.gov/hsmrs/NJ%20Quick%20Steps/NJ_Qk_Steps_Participant/Carrots.pdf
Quick history and info on carrots.

http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/vgs/2007/03Mar/VGS31901/VGS31901.pdf
Detailed report on carrot consumption in the US.

http://www.wisebread.com/baby-carrots-the-frugal-idea-that-isnt
Interesting blog post on baby carrots.

Ronnie and Roxie

Many of you may not know this, but we have a true, honest-to-goodness old-fashioned multi-generational Virginia farmer in the Relay family. Ronnie Crickenburger and his wife, Roxie, from Meadow Run Farm, are not out at the City Market every week, they don't get stories written about them in Flavor, Edible Blue Ridge or Albemarle Magazine (some of our favorite publications over here at Relay), but like most farmers, they are up before the sun and work 'till it goes down just so we can have fresh Virginia produce on our tables.

I believe that all of farmers are heros, but some are more "un-sung" than others--Ronnie and Roxie are the perfect example. Ronnie's grand-daddy and his grand-daddy before that have been farming in this region for years--he knows the land, he knows his crops and he knows the community. Ronnie's knowledge about the land doesn't come from books or the internet, it comes from the wisdom passed down from generation to generation of trial and error, old-fashioned farming. One of our customers once asked how to know when her rhubarb was ready to harvest--I called Ronnie immediately. He rambled on for a good 15 minutes telling me all about how "now, ya got yur green varieties and yur red varieties...if it's the red variety ya gotta wait till it gets good an red but don't wait too long, ya dont want it to get spongy on ya"

Ronnie runs both Meadow Run Farm and Fishersville Farm Market, which means, if Ronnie doesn't grow it himself, he has a friend in the area who does, he always finds whatever we need and always keeps prices more than fair. Did I mention that he picks fresh for Relay in the morning and drives over the mountain in the afternoon, EVERY SINGLE DAY.

While he's picking and driving the freshest produce over here, Roxie is taking care of her kids on her daily school bus route. She is by far one of the sweetest, most gentle women I've ever met--I'm sure all of her kids love her. Once both Ronnie and Roxie get back to the farm they gather up all of their grandkids who are around for the day and work the land until the sun starts to set. On top of all that, Ronnie works odd hours several days a week at Wal-Mart in Waynesboro.

These are people who haven't forgotten what it means to work hard for what you love, to put family first and to work together for the community and for the land. They are more than heros in my book.

Here are some photos of the farm and the family:

We're on TV!

Check it out!

Watermelon Capers

We have a delightful young film maker in among our ranks over here at Relay...maybe you've heard of him...maybe you'll be hearing about him in the coming years...Here's a new Lance Warren original (in conjunction with Relay studios...of course):

What a month!

WELL! It's been a crazy month for the Relay team. I think a photo recap is in order:

Relay's new mascots are here!! Ms. Cow and Dr. Bird still need names, if you have any ideas, please leave them in the comments box of this post. A few of our guys worked hours in the blistering sun to get our new friends on our trucks...we're so happy to have them!

We had our first official company party to release our new mascot friends (looks like we piqued the curiosity of a few neighbors as well...)!

Zach's daughter, Addy, really enjoyed the brownies!

All of our food was sourced through Relay--particularly our local farms (yes, those are Dick Proutt's quail eggs from Down Branch Farm)!

The hippest new thing in Charlottesville...localicious Relay shirts and stickers...seriously. Add a few of these to your cart this week (only $0.01 for the stickers)!

The Relay Marketing Team had an absolutely delightful time with our foodie friends at the City Market Connect the Dots event! We spent some quality time with our friend, Frank Mellie, of Meet the Farmer TV--I think Charlottesville will be seeing much more of Frank and Meet the Farmer soon, they really are working to change our food system. Check us out with a few of our farmer (and pie-making) friends on the latest episode!

There's one of our pals! Thanks for noticing our new truck decorations, Dawn!

Up and coming: Relay Richmond's young, hip team is busy at work adding products from Richmond's best local grocery stores, bakeries and farms!

As you can tell, this is an exciting time! Keep your ears and eyes peeled, you'll be seeing more and more of us soon!

WHOLE FOODS!

It's a big day for Relay! You've probably noticed that we've been adding wonderful new vendors, specifically farms, just about every week for a while now... but we've been keeping mum about our biggest Relay Family addition. Now that the store front is up and running, we're proud to announce that Relay carries products from Whole Foods!

The 19 folks who started the original Whole Foods in Austin, Texas in 1980 were certainly a forward-thinking bunch. Just think about how much our food-system consciousness has changed in the past 30 years! They were at the forefront of the movement, they believed (and continue to believe) in the value of quality food, real food, WHOLE food from transparent sources.

There's so much media hype about Whole Foods these days it can be hard to sort out what's what. We looked into their core values: "...selling the highest quality natural and organic products available, satisfying and delighting our customers, supporting team member happiness and excellence, creating wealth through profits & growth, caring about our communities & our environment, creating ongoing win-win partnerships with our suppliers, and promoting the health of our stakeholders through healthy eating education."

At Relay, we've got our own set of core values. Our goal is to provide a way to for folks to support local farm and community businesses while offering the kind of selection that comes with larger vendors, like Whole Foods. For our smaller vendors, it is a balancing act -- competition and opportunity. They have told us they accept the challenge of competing with the bigger boys in order to receive the opportunity to be in the same arena -- offering their uniquely grown and produced items to the wider audience they need to achieve growth and sustainability. In this way, Relay becomes the market that levels the playing field. They get to compete for your favor (and patronage!). You get to follow your pocketbook, your conscience, and best of all your taste buds.

Right now, we've begun with Whole Foods' 365 items, which offer incredible value and taste. Soon we will branch out to into other categories. Meantime, happy browsing!

Community

I'd like to let you in on a few secrets...maybe not true secrets, I suppose there's been plenty of press about them, but those sorts of things that make you feel they’re secrets because they’re just so delightful and community-oriented. The Charlottesville League of Urban Chicken Keepers (CLUCK), The Charlottesville Wine Guild, C’ville Foodscapes and Blue Ridge Backyard Harvest are invaluable resources for our little trendsetting area.

Surely you’ve heard of the Charlottesville League of Urban Chicken Keepers—their acronym is CLUCK—could that be any more adorable!? These chicken gals and guys, led by the local legend Guinevere Heathcote Higgins, are all about education and community awareness. They’re “a network of backyard poultry enthusiasts dedicated to raising chickens humanely in Charlottesville” which they accomplish by working together, sharing chicks, inspiring creative coops, and educating each other about poultry disease and distress. It’s so wonderful to see members of the community coming together to pool resources and educate each other!

This is Charlottesville, of course we have a Wine Guild! Their mission is to have "More people drinking better wine more often." The Wine Guild is not here to be uppity or snooty about wine, they’re just passionate about it and willing to spread their knowledge (and wine discounts) to others in the community! Their blog tells the tale of many a delightful bottle from Cali to Chile and the cheeses to pair. They keep us up to date on local wine events and even meet up on Wednesdays to talk wine and build community.

C’ville Foodscapes and Blue Ridge Backyard Harvest have built up some serious buzz in our food-centric community--for good reason! These folks are forward thinkers, trendsetters, community builders and world changers!

Over here at Relay, we know that people in Charlottesville are smart, they care, they want to eat locally and organically, but they also work hard and take care of beautiful children who need to be rushed to swim practice and chorus recitals. We’re here to provide an alternative—a way to connect you to your farmer while reducing your carbon footprint, allowing the farmer to spend more time on the land s/he cares about.

The hip Charlottesvillians involved in C’ville Foodscapes and Blue Ridge Backyard Harvest have realized the same thing. They know you want to have a beautiful garden that produces food for your table, but it takes a lot more time than you might have to devote to it. A good veggie garden is one of those things that everyone is going to do “next weekend.” Well, these folks are here to spread their knowledge and get their hands dirty this weekend so you can actually pull your dinner out of your backyard. They are available for consultation, implementation, and maintenance of your backyard garden for a very small fee.

Charlottesville is a beautiful community. We have so many resources here that are not utilized nearly as much as they should be. If we all work together to spread awareness, knowledge, and lend a helping hand every now and again our whole community will benefit and we may even be able to rework our atrocious food system into a truly beautiful, sustainable community endeavor.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie from Shelia Talbott

Mmm Mmm I think this dreary Monday calls for a little fresh Strawberry Rhubarb Pie straight from our delightful Belle Haven baker, Shelia Talbott. Don't forget, Gary from Twin Springs Farm picks fresh strawberries on Thursday mornings for Thursday orders only--they go fast so get your local strawberry orders in today!

Some measurements are approximate because I kinda eyeball the sugar as it depends on how sweet the strawberries are. Hope you like it. Obviously, you can use a pre-made crust, but I think fresh crusts are better.

Crust:

1 cup all purpose white flour
1 cup fresh ground soft white wheat flour (Can just use 2 cups all purpose)
3/4 cup cold butter cut into cubes
1/4 tsp salt
approximately 1/4 cup ice cold water

Mix the flours and salt together. Add the butter and cut in until flour
resembles coarse corn meal. Slowly add the ice water, tossing the flour
mixture with a fork until it starts to hold together. Don't work the
pastry too much or it becomes very tough. Gather pastry mixture together
and divide in half. Roll out crusts to desired size. Will make 2- 9 inch
pie crusts

Filling

16 oz fresh Strawberries, cored and sliced
5 - 6 stalks fresh Rhubarb, diced
approximately 1/2 - 3/4 cup sugar or to taste depending on sweetness of
strawberries
1/4 cup small pearl tapioca
1 tsp ginger (optional)
2 tsp butter cut up

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix together the sugar, tapioca and ginger.
In a large bowl, mix together the fresh strawberries and rhubarb.
Sprinkle the sugar mixture over the fruit and toss to coat fruit. Pour
into prepared pie crust. Dot the top of the mixture with the butter and
cover fruit with the top pie crust, cutting 4 - 5 small slashes in the
top. Bake in oven for 20 minutes, then decrease temperature to 350,
cooking until pie is golden brown and the filling is bubbling and thick
(about 1 hour). Serve warm or cold with fresh whipped cream.