- Author: Jim Muck
I would imagine you have noticed the new hot trend in the food world: local, local, Local. Everything is “local” now. I am a big fan of buying local, and I am very happy that supporting local farmers and ranchers is all the rage right now.
You could call me a skeptic, but I have a feeling that some of the “local” produce currently for sale may not quite match what your average person would call “local.” The problem is: how do you know whose product really is local? Hopefully, I can help you separate the wheat from the chaff with a few simple tips.
The easiest (and probably the most effective) thing to do is to ask questions of the person who is trying to sell you something “local.” I like to ask the name of the farm, and I if I know the farm or farmer from the farmers market, then I don't need to ask any more questions. If I have never heard of the farm, then I ask where the farm is located and how far away the farm is. If the person I ask can't provide an answer, I start to see red flags. Just because I have never heard of the farm does not mean it is not local, but it does mean that I need to do more digging. If I am curious about the location of the farm, I will search for the website of the farm in question. Once I am on the farm's website, I can usually find the address. If I can't get location from the farm's own website, then I get suspicious about how “local” this farm is.
The other clue to determining “local” is to pay attention to the seasonality of what is being offered. For example: if you are in a restaurant that serves an heirloom tomato salad in January, you can be pretty sure those tomatoes aren't local. I have been to a restaurant that brags about cooking seasonally and sourcing locally, and have been served zucchini in February. This restaurant missed both seasonality and proximity. If you own a restaurant and want to serve zucchini in February, I am fine with that; just don't claim that you purchase all of your produce locally when you obviously don't.
I take issue with many of the home vegetable delivery services that claim to offer “fresh and local” produce that is clearly not in season and is grown nowhere near the consumers' homes. While these businesses offer helpful and legitimate services to consumers, to claim that their offerings are local is downright misleading: the warehouse where the boxes got packed and the delivery van loaded may be local, but the produce is not. A quick look at the website of one of these farms located in Northern California demonstrates my point: featured were Meyer lemons, satsuma mandarins, sweet potatoes, kiwi, and butternut squash as options to include in box delivery. None of these items is truly in season in July in Placer and Nevada counties. (You could give them the benefit of the doubt on the butternut squash: the farm could just be harvesting early, but I don't think so.) I think all of those items are stored produce from last fall and winter. I was surprised to see that tomatoes, squash, and cucumbers were not listed as box items. All of these are in season all over California right now, and yet they are not listed as box items. Even more amazing was the listing of bananas as a sample box item. Bananas?!? You can't grow bananas in Northern California. I am not even sure you can grow them in Southern California, so how can all the produce in the box be local?
I suppose it is fair to allow that everyone may have his own definition of what is local. I do argue that your average citizen would not consider the entire Northern Hemisphere as local. The crazy thing is some big stores (who shall remain nameless), some restaurants, and yes, even some home delivery produce services consider the Northern Hemisphere as their backyard. In a surveys completed by the Eat Local Project in Placer and Nevada counties 68% of respondents consider their county and adjacent counties as local and only 4.5% or respondents considered the entire state of California to be local. Eating more fruits and vegetables is great, but I'd ask these retailers to not ride on the shirt tails of the local farmers who are legitimately working hard to feed their communities, and to not further confuse consumers about the seasonality of their food.
- Author: Molly Nakahara
Over the past three years, the Eat Local Project has been hard at work!
Despite a vibrant local foods movement in Placer and Nevada Counties, only 2% of residents buy locally grown fruits and vegetables. Funded in part by a California Department of Food and Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Grant, The Eat Local Placer & Nevada Project was created in 2012 to encourage local residents to eat more fruits and vegetables, to buy more from local producers, and to get to know the farmers in Placer and Nevada Counties. Through innovative social marketing, strategic partnerships, social media, and a vibrant presence in the farmers' market community, the Eat Local Project has done much to raise awareness of our local food economy and the importance and joy of eating fruits and vegetables.
Since its inception in November 2012, the Eat Local Placer and Nevada Project has
- Reached 25,887 consumers through our programs and event tasting booth
- Participated in 157 events
- Distributed 21,056 samples of locally grown produce
- Developed 35 delicious recipes
- Handed out over 40,000 of our beautiful recipe cards
- Translated 4 recipe cards into Spanish
- Purchased $17,757.72 of produce directly from local farmers
- Provided $9,364.03 of locally grown produce to local area food banks
- Trained 51 volunteers and accrued 286 in volunteer hours
- Dined over 400 people at 4 community dinners
- Reached thousands through our social media outlets: Facebook, Pinterest, the Eat Local Placer and Nevada website and blog
Some impacts we've measured:
- Consumers have purchased $22,110 of produce at farmers markets using vouchers provided by the project.
- 60% of survey participants purchased the featured fruit or vegetable featured at an Eat Local farmers' market tasting.
- 65% purchased new and different fruits and vegetables after attending an Eat Local event.
- 36% purchased more local produce!
- 87% agree that Eat Local recipe cards make it easier to cook and eat locally grown fruits and vegetables.
- The Eat Local project increased produce sales for local farmers by $49,232 through produce purchases and farmers' market vouchers.
Looking to the future...
Thank you for your part in making the local food movement in Placer and Nevada successful! We encourage you to continue your support for our local growers- do your weekly shopping at the farmers' markets and visit the restaurants and grocery stores that purchase from local growers. Our Eat Local website, Facebook page, and Pinterest page will remain as resources for eating locally here in the foothills.
We have reapplied for funding and hope to be continuing the work of the Eat Local Project in the fall. Until then, enjoy the delicious harvests of Placer and Nevada counties!
- Author: Cindy Fake
Selecting and Storing Stone Fruit
Select unbruised peaches or nectarines with nice color, full shape, and heavy for their size. Look for the ground color of the fruit, not just the blush. For white peaches or nectarines the ground color should be creamy, not greenish. For yellow varieties, it should be golden, not pale or greenish.
Select by aroma if you intend to eat the peach in a day or so. Do not squeeze fruit, it will damage it. Be careful not to bruise the fruit on your way home. Bruised tissue begins to decompose rapidly, and brown rot or other decay may occur unless it is consumed immediately.
Fully ripe peaches or nectarines should be used immediately. If that is not possible, ripe fruit may be refrigerated. To reduce water loss in the refrigerator, use a plastic bag or place in the fruit bin.
Ripening Stone Fruit
Cover a shallow tray or cookie sheet with a linen napkin or cotton dish towel (not terry cloth, it holds too much moisture). Place each peach/nectarine stem side down on the tray so that they are not touching. Cover with another dish towel and place in a cool place, out of the sun. Most fruit should ripen at room temperature (65° to 75°F) in one to four days.
You may also ripen peaches and nectarines in a fruit bowl with other fruit or in a paper bag, with the top loosely folded. However, separating each piece of fruit reduces the potential for decay and bruising.
The aroma will tell you when the fruit is ripe – a peach should smell like a peach! The stem side will be flattened slightly from softening and the weight of the fruit. Enjoy!
- Author: Molly Nakahara
How old were you when you ate Swiss chard for the first time? How about Daikon radish or kale salad? For many of us, eating these lesser known fruits and vegetables did not happen until adulthood. Here at the Eat Local Placer Nevada Project, we're excited to introduce specialty crops to young people! Through our work with the Friendship Club in Nevada City, and our collaboration with UCCE CalFresh and UCCE Nutrition Best, the Eat Local Placer Nevada project is bringing locally grown fruits and veggies to the next generation of local food enthusiasts.
According to their mission statement, The Friendship Club is a “prevention program designed to reach at-risk girls before they engage in unhealthy behaviors.” While attending the Friendship Club, young women learn life skills, personal responsibility, and the value of hard work through a year-around program of educational activities, emotional support and community involvement. The Eat Local Placer and Nevada Project visited the Friendship Club this spring to teach hands-on cooking classes featuring two of our popular recipes: Massaged Kale Salad and Swiss Chard Spring Rolls. The recipes were both very popular and the students went home with recipe kits containing all of the ingredients needed to prepare each dish at home. And many of them did just that. One student beamed as she shared that she made Massaged Kale Salad for her family's Easter brunch and they liked it!
As the summer approaches and the school year winds down, the Eat Local Project is teaming up with UCCE CalFresh, a program bringing interactive nutrition education to schools where 50% or more of the students quality for free or reduced cost lunch. The folks at CalFresh have been busily planning after-school family fun fairs. These interactive and engaging events are full of fun activities that help spread the word about healthy eating. We have been bringing the smoothie bike to the fun fairs and it is always a big hit. Our delicious Strawberry Orange Smoothie samples are just as popular as riding the smoothie bike! At the Rock Creek Fun Fair, a number of parents were amazed at how simple making a smoothie is. Many said that they already have ingredients to make these nutritious, perfect-for-summer treats for their kids. Before the school year ends, we'll be bringing the smoothie bike out to events at Bell Hill and Auburn Elementary Schools.
Another great collaboration between Eat Local and CalFresh has been sourcing from local farmers. The CalFresh team teaches nutrition classes in elementary schools across Placer and Nevada counties and with each lesson, a taste of a healthy snack is provided. When possible, we help CalFresh source their snacks through local growers. We've successfully brought locally grown sweet potatoes, pea shoots, and blood oranges into classrooms.
Many people living in Placer and Nevada counties don't realize how many farms are situated in close proximity to residential neighborhoods. UCCE Nutrition Best, a program that brings nutrition education to families in Placer County with children age 0-5, encourages families to purchase and eat locally grown produce. Participating families qualify to receive a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) box from the Natural Trading Company, a vegetable farm in Penryn, CA. The program also brings children and their families out to the farm. It is always fun to watch kids get their hands dirty as they learn where our food comes from. The Eat Local Project has been a part of the Nutrition Best farm tour for the past few years; setting up the Eat Local booth and handing out samples of a delicious, seasonal recipe.
Collaborating with these community partners has been a great way to encourage our community to eat more fruits and vegetables and to purchase them from our local growers. We can all work together to bring fruits and vegetables into the lives of the young people in our community to foster the development of lifelong healthy habits that will in turn support out local agricultural community. Definitely a win-win scenario!
- Author: Molly Nakahara
Sweet Roots Farm, located on Old Auburn Road in Grass Valley, CA, is a certified Organic farm specializing in vegetables, plant starts, and cut flowers. Deena Miller and Robbie Martin own and operate the farm. You can find out more about their farm, flowers, plant starts and produce at www.sweetrootsfarm.com. We spoke with farmer Deena and asked her a few questions about springtime on Sweet Roots Farm!
What is something you are enjoying eating from your farm right now?
We have been enjoying the first crops of 2015! Yum! Lots of arugula, mizuna, spinach, lettuce, kale, radishes, cilantro, salad turnips and lettuce. Basically, lots of greens!
Are you growing or raising anything new in 2015?
There are a number of crops we are growing for seed, possibly a new enterprise for us. On the produce front, we are selling mini sweet peppers wholesale for the first time, as well as spring cilantro. This year we are starting more plants for people's home gardens in 6-packs and 4” pots, and of course we are growing more flowers; more types, quantities, and colors- how could you not?!
What crops or tools are you leaving behind in 2014?
We really cut back on the diversity of our farm by deciding not to continue the community supported agriculture (CSA) program. We also got rid of crops that weren't pulling their financial weight for wholesale, as well as the ones we just don't do a good job growing!
What is your favorite tool?
Felcos. I love my Felco hand pruners and have had the ones in my tool belt since I was a farm apprentice in 2007. I also love my new tool belt as it holds: felcos, a knife, scissors, a pen, my phone and a notebook!
