Farmer's Market Guidelines

Unfortunately, our small town farmer's market didn't get its start this year.  I am hopeful, though, that next year will be our year.  In the meantime, I have been intrigued by the Arkansas' Farmer's Market information that John has brought home during this whole planning process.

Specifically, I've been interested in how/if I can sell my goat's milk products in the market.  Here are some interesting things I've discovered as I've researched:

1.  Farm fresh eggs may be sold in the farmer's market IF they meet certain guidelines, the most interesting of which are that the producer must own fewer than 200 hens and that the eggs must be constantly refrigerated at a temperature of 45 degrees or below.  "Ice, dry ice, or other non-powered refrigerated containers are not acceptable." 

So, I guess you have to be able to run a power cord to a small dorm-style refrigerator at your market stand?

2.  "People who sell or label a product 'organic' when they know it does not meet USDA standards can be fined up to $11,000 for each violation."  Yikes!  You know that label gets misused a lot, too!

3.  "Potentially Hazardous Commercially Pre-Packaged Food" such as "dairy products, cheeses, juices, non-frozen meats, bakery items containing cream fillings or cream cheese based icings" can only be sold or served from an Arkansas Department of Health permitted and inspected facility.  "This is to ensure that the proper refrigeration and monitoring is present to maintain food safety."

So, I could possibly sell my cheeses, but I'd have to have my kitchen inspected by the ADH first.  That sounds intimidating!

4.  "The sale of raw goat's milk for human consumption is not allowed at a farmer's market.  An Arkansas farmer can sell up to 100 gallons of goat's milk each year directly from their farm only."

I find this a bit incomplete.  What if the milk is not raw,  but pasteurized?  Can it then be sold at market?  Or can goat milk only be sold directly from the farm, whether raw or pasteurized?

5.  There is absolutely no mention of soaps and lotions in the Vendor Guide.  I assume that they are fair game for the market. 

Anyway, the guide has lots of additional information on other items that can/cannot be sold at market here in Arkansas, but these were the highlights for me.  If you're wondering about the guidelines for any other market product, leave a comment, and I'll do my best to answer your questions based on my reading.  :)

Pondering Chicken

After reading this section of The Accidental Farmers by Tim Young, I felt a little naive because I'd never considered this:
"Most people are quite unaware that for every laying hen, which by definition is female, a male was hatched out.  The male, having the misfortune of belonging to a laying breed, has neither the ability to lay eggs nor the ability to gain weight quickly and efficiently as meat birds do.  Thus, his life concludes on the day it begins as more often than not he is ground up alive."

Surely, I think, he could at least serve as a meat chicken, commonly referred to as a broiler.  But no commercial farmer is interested in filling a chicken house full of a laying breed when they could be growing the genetically engineered hulk of a chicken that reach maturity in half the time:

"His body has been re-programmed by humans to do very unnatural things.  Like for instance to grow so remarkably fast that his legs would fail, by design, before he reached fifty days of age.  Not that he will live that long, as most broilers are bred to grow from that yellow fuzzy cotton ball of a chick to almost five pounds in about thirty-nine days, at which time they are 'harvested' for our chicken sandwiches.  That's if an industrial breed chicken lives to thirty-nine days.  Up to thirty percent of them do not, as heart attacks and respiratory problem from the rate of growth run rampant."

It's feels good to know that the chicken I ate last night was a heritage breed, not altered to grow at an abnormal rate, who lived out its life pecking away at bugs and grass and taking dust baths in my backyard.  He must have been "happy," in so much as chickens are happy.  And, that makes me happy.

Not keen on slaughtering your own chicken in your backyard?  Look for "pastured" and "organic" labels on the chicken you buy at the grocery store.  While other labels are out there, it's the "organic" label that is actually managed by the USDA and means that the processor is held to pretty rigorous standards regarding humane treatment of the chicken, how it's fed, and how it's slaughtered.

CrockPot Italian Chicken

Okay, this picture doesn't do this dish justice, so maybe just ignore the photo.  This great-tasting recipe is super easy for two reasons:

1. it's made in the CrockPot

2. It has 4 ingredients total

I have Rachael, a friend and fellow mom in the local mom social group that Little Boy and I attend, to thank for inspiring this great dinner.  Many thanks, Rachael!

Start with a chicken.  Don't be afraid.  Embarrassingly, I didn't know how to properly cut up a whole chicken into the 8 principle cuts: 2 thighs, 2 wings, 2 legs, 2 breasts.  I turned to Google and found this great video.  If you, too, are ill-equipped, no one has to know.  Just check out the link and consider yourself educated.  If you just aren't sure about dealing with the whole bird, you can always just throw in a few chicken breasts, (you weenie!).

Plop your 8 chicken pieces into the CrockPot and cover it with a bottle of your favorite Italian dressing.  If you've got all day to let it cook, cook on low.  If you only have 4 hours or so, cook on high. 

An hour before dinnertime, pick your bones out (there should just be 6, if you've cut it up right) and throw in a block of cream cheese.  I actually used 8 oz. of my homemade goat cheese which easily subs in for ricotta and cream cheese in recipes.

Cook up some rice on the stovetop. 

**For perfect rice everytime, make it Mamaw Carroll style:

Bring water, a dab of oil, and a dab of vinegar to a boil (use plenty of water, you'll be draining it off).  Add rice, bring back to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer.  Cook for 20 minutes.  Drain.  Rinse.  Drain again. Voila!  Perfect rice!  Everytime!

Serve chicken mixture atop the rice.  Yummmmm!

Lovin' on My Roses

Those who read the blog regularly know that I LOVE my front yard knockout roses.   (If you're new to the blog and have missed all that, just search "roses" in the side search bar, and you'll see all the rose love from past posts!)

I've had a few visitors comment lately on how pretty my roses in the front yard are and how I must be very diligent about keeping them watered. 

But, here's the truth:  I haven't watered them at all!

 

Seriously.  I haven't watered them this summer AT ALL.

Yes, the hanging ferns get watered a little bit twice daily with the water from the bowl I use to cool the milk after its been pasteurized.  Of course, it makes environmental sense to make use of that water rather than tossing it down the sink, but if you'd seen our recent water bills, you'd understand why water conservation is a top priority around here.

Don't go thinking that our front yard is just beautiful, though.  This is just one of the four azaleas that has met its demise in the front yard.  I blame this on two factors:

1.  The front yard is where plants go to be neglected at our house.  I enter and exit the house via the garage and rarely walk past our front yard plants, so I think they are kind of "out of sight, out of mind" for me. 

Now, things in the backyard look great.  That is, of course, where I spend the bulk of my outdoor time since it is where all our animals live and the garden is located.

2.  This summer has been VERY dry.  I was talking to a, shall we say, quite elderly lady the other day who said that this is the worst drought she'd "ever seen."  Now, trust me, that is really saying something! ;)

So, I blame the front-yard-neglect/worst-drought-ever combination for the dead azaleas.  But, that isn't really the point of this post.

The point of this post is . . .

the knockout roses have endured the same neglect/drought and are as gorgeous as ever! 

Shopper's Guide to Pesticides

The Evironmental Working Group has released two lists that can be very helpful for us food shoppers. 

First, the Dirty Dozen Plus (the last two are new to the list this year ;)

This is a list of the fruits and veggies that typically have the most pesticide residues and are most important to buy organic.

1.  Apples

2. Celery

3. Sweet bell peppers (all colors other than green)

4. Peaches

5. Strawberries

6. Nectarines (imported)

7. Grapes

8. Spinach

9.  Lettuce

10. Cucumbers

11.  Blueberries (domestic)

12. Potatoes

13.  Green Beans

14.  Kale / Collard Greens

If you're looking at this list and thinking, "that's pretty much my entire shopping list for the produce section!" -- join the crowd!  Here locally, we don't have as many organic options as those in bigger cities, but this list can still inform our eating.  If we're buying from a non-organic farmer's market, we can ask the growers what types of pesticides they use.  A lot of times, local farmers are growing plants from non-organic seeds using organic methods.  Or, they've just not gone through the process of getting certified organic and thus can't advertise their produce as such. 

Or, when planning your own backyard organic garden, be sure to include as many of the items from the above list as possible to cut down on the pesticides you're bringing to the table.

The second list, the Clean 15, lists those fruits and veggies that are typically lowest in pesticides.

1. Onions

2. Sweet Corn

3. Pineapples

4. Avocado

5. Cabbage

6. Sweat peas

7. Asparagus

8. Mangoes

9. Eggplant

10. Kiwi

11.  Cantaloupe (domestic)

12. Sweet potatoes

13. Grapefruit

14. Watermelon

15.  Mushrooms

Not only are organics had to find around here, they are also expensive as compared to the non-organic varieties.  Use the list above to decided when to skip the organic label and save a little moolah without stocking up on pesticides in the process. 

For the original article that informed this post, check out http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary/

Food Crisis Averted!

Everyday around 9:30am, my kids get a "fruit snack" to tide them over until lunch.  This fruit snack is exactly what it sounds like -- they are free to have whatever type of fruit we have on hand.  Today, though, they started asking for their favorites.

Bananas?  All out.

Grapes?  Finished them yesterday.

Apples?  Sorry.

Peaches?  I'll put them on the grocery list.

Strawberries?  We ate the last ones at breakfast.

Watermelon?  Yes!  Hallelujah, we do have watermelon!

And, so we all ate watermelon.

You see, this past week was Stay-cation around here, and that meant that we all wanted to get to do fun things.  Trip to the grocery store didn't make the list of fun things we wanted to do. 

My kids have finally learned not to whine "I'm starving!" since everytime they do, I remind them that because they ate yesterday and the day before that, they are not starving; they may, however, be hungry.  Starving is all too real a thing for many and, thus, not a word for us to be loosely throwing around because snack time is a little later than we'd like.  BUT, if we didn't get to the store quickly, it was gonna get that bad! 

Evidence that I played during Stay-cation.  See how little is written on the all-important planner?  See how few horizontal lines are crossing off the things to be done?

For comparison's sake, here's a non-stay-cation week from this summer.  See all the items representing my productivity?  See all the horizontal lines, proving that these things actually got done?

So, today, as John is back at work, we made the requisite grocery run and are now restocked.  And it's not just the humans who are happy about it.

The chickens get to dine on watermelon rind and celery and strawberry tops.

Cocoa Puff gets the chunk at the bottom of the celery (is there a technical term for this?) and the inside pieces.

And, Dexter gets the tortilla left over from lunch while we were out running our errands (I hope John doesn't read this post; he'll hate that he missed out on lunch at our favorite spot!).

I've discovered that in an effort to avoid highly processed foods, fruits have become a go-to food for us.  Perhaps an orchard should be the next thing added to our little homestead, then we can avoid near crises such as these!  ;)

Tomato Canning Party

Sam, my Father-in-Law, brought by this huge box and 3 bags full of tomatoes.  Yea!  Our garden has produced enough to keep us in BLT sandwiches but hasn't provided enough for canning, so I was thrilled with this great gift!

I quickly took John up on his offer to help, and we got to work once the kids were all in bed.

My Mamaw Carroll taught me how to can tomatoes just like she does it.  I felt like I was on a cooking show as I taught John how to do each step of the process.  :)

It's messy business.  In fact, if I'd taken pics at the height of messiness, they'd rival the gore involved in this past week's chicken slaughter post.

What could have been drudgery was actually a lot of fun since we were working together.

Mmmmm.  They whole house smelled so great!

We made it through the box but still have the 3 bags of tomatoes to go.  Perhaps we'll have another canning party tomorrow night.  Yep, we're wild and crazy over here!