A Sad Farewell to Many Hands Blueberries

I miss "Many Hands Blueberries," grown at Cascadian Farm near Rockport, Washington for so many years and sold to PCC Natural Markets. This blueberry eulogy is for those delictable gems we may never see in PCC Natural Markets again.

This excerpt comes from PCC Natural Markets' Sound Consumer in 2005:

I can’t imagine one summer going by without enjoying an abundance of sweet, delectable blueberries. One seductive berry after another on a sunny August afternoon, and before you know it, the entire pint is gone. This is heaven.

And the best thing for me about PCC in the middle of summer is the luscious showcase of fresh, organic blueberries in the produce aisle. When you purchase these juicy local treasures with the label “Many Hands,” you’re doing more than indulging in a dose of healthy antioxidants. Money spent on the berries circulates throughout our local economy, helping sustain the farm, the farmworkers and the environment in the most delicious way.

These incredible blue delights are farmed by Jim Meyer and his wife Harlyn, who is in charge of marketing, sales and special projects. To get to the farm, follow Highway 20 east as it twists along the scenic Skagit River through evergreen trees and luxurious greenery. Just about three miles past Rockport the vista opens to a breathtaking view.

Okay, I get excited about these berries in the summer and a month ago, I walked into PCC Natural Markets in Edmonds looking for these berries. When I didn't see them I was told Cascadian Farm was only selling their berries for juice. The farm is owned by Cascadian Farm and the Meyer's farmed managed it for the company. The farm had been doing fine a few years ago, and I just wanted to know what happened.

I wrote to the editor of Sound Consumer and never got an answer. It all made me more curious. What happened to Cascadian Home Farm?

I phoned the farm but couldn't reach farmer Jim Meyer for comment. A farmworker told me, Jim wasn't supposed to speak to anyone and that they sold fresh berries only at the farm stand. She said the decision to sell excess berries for juice was dictated by the parent company--Cascadian Farm, which is owned by General Mills. The world's sixth largest food company isn't without it's own problems.

The farmworker told me it was the last weekend to pick or purchase fresh berries from the farm stand, so that's where we went on Sunday.

The drive was worth it because these blueberries sing in your mouth. Just squeeze a mouthful of berries and let the juice spurt--they're perfectly sweet with an amazing blueberry flavor. Close your eyes and eat one at a time, and it's blueberry heaven. I was dreaming about them on the drive.

It's a long drive to Rockport, and I convinced myself that I was entitled when I ordered blueberry shortcake. I asked the young farmstand worker about the blueberries at PCC Natural Markets and asked what happened to "Many Hands." She shook her head, moving from foot to foot,looking uncomfortable, so I dropped it and she said, "I don't know anything about that."

If I hadn't noticed a farm box with the name "Many Hands" written on the outside above the blueberries with half a flat, I might have questioned my own sanity. It was as if the "Many Hands" brand disappeared and no one admitted remembering it.

I wonder how PCC could let a good thing die and not acknowledge it? PCC had stocked blueberries from Wilt Farms in Corvallis 275 miles away. I just didn't get it.

Left to draw my own conclusions, I realized PCC Natural Markets also stocks plenty of Cascadian Farm and other General Mills products. General Mills bought big in the organic sector. Have some Muir Glen tomatoes with your pasta, then turn over a can of frozen juice and see which country it comes from. Examine the bag of frozen fruit and see if you find a country of origin. Some might call it a conflict of interests. I get it, but why would General Mills decide to sell the berries for juice?

At the market last Saturday, I posed the question to Wade Bennett of Rockridge Orchards who stared at me and then said, "The cost of farm labor makes it cheaper to sell berries for juice."

People are willing to pay for labor but companies are still seeking profits, and machine harvest costs less than picking by hand for the fresh market. Maybe I just have to vent sometimes but I miss Many Hands Blueberries in local stores.

Look What the Stork Delivered!

When the package arrived, I took my time opening it. I was partly afraid it might not live up to what I'd expected and partly afraid of the amount of work I might have to do to promote it. Once I'd peeled off the brown paper wrapping, the cover picture totally won me over. Even my assistant was thrilled.

My kitchen assistant immediately gave the book four paws-up. But the truth is he was just buttering me up so I'd make a few recipes. After we cuddled with this new baby I flipped through the pages to get a good look. Timber Press really came through and did a great job.

The farmer profiles that I'd written brought back a flood of memories from my farm travels and farmer interviews in 2008. When I started my journey, an editor at Timber Press had suggested a profile of Ayers Creek Farm, in Gaston, Oregon, just a little south of Portland.

I hadn't heard of the farmer, Anthony Boutard , then, but apparently all of Portland already knew about Ayers Creek Farm because Anthony and his wife Carol have been supplying Portland chefs with great organic produce ever since Anthony and Carol started selling at the Hillsdale farmers' market in 2003. The Boutards grow amazing crops, focusing on quality over quantity. Ayers Creek has captured the attention of Oregon and Washington foodies and even well-know cookbook authors. (Check out Deborah Madison's essay about the Boutards in her newest book.)

Anthony told me he gets a lot of inspiration and ideas from agriculture texts from the 1800s. He told me that we don't give enough credit to farmers experiences in the past. Anthony also extensively researchs on the Internet for the perfect organic plant varieties to grow. And growing the best varieties pays off. Market shoppers love the quality and unique crops. Here is Anthony in his plum orchard.
The Boutards weren't the only farmers who brought amazing produce to markets. At the Corvallis farmers' market I discovered Denison Farms, an organic farm owned and farmed by Tom Denison and Elizabeth Kerle. Tom's family moved to Corvallis when Tom was in the 5th grade and Tom recalled wanting to be a farmer when he was in high school. Tom also researches vegetables and fruits varieties on the Internet to find the best varieties for the Northwest. On a busy farm day, Tom and Elizabeth took time out to share their farm's story and before I left, Tom gave me a basket of super sweet tomatoes.

If you visit the Corvallis farmers' market, check out Denison Farms booth.

At the First Alternative Co-op in Corvallis, I picked up information about Gathering Together Farm and suddenly recalled this was the farm name that farmer Nash Huber in Sequim, Washington had scrawled on a note for me when I'd asked him about Oregon farmers I might want to include.

Gathering Together Farm in Philomath, just west of Corvallis had a farm stand so that's where I headed, and once I got there, I was impressed. Farmers Sally Brewer and John Eveland's story spilled over into two profiles (one about the synergy of two farms working together and seed production, and one about farm restaurants.) Farmers' markets, CSA deliveries, farm store, restaurant, and seed processing right--one look at the cute farm store will make you wish you lived closer to this farm to visit on a regular basis.

I'd wanted to linger at this store, but I had to move on. In Ashland I visited the produce department of the food co-op where I found pictures of The Fry Family Farm and Whistling Duck Farm. I searched out both farmers at the Ashland and Medford farmers' markets. When I visited, Whistling Duck Farm, farmer Vince Alionis told me how growing conditions in southern Oregon are more like northern California than Portland or Seattle. "The land is like a jigsaw puzzle," he'd told me.

Every farmer in The Northwest Vegetarian Cookbook has a different story to tell. I never tire of hearing these stories, but soon I'd gathered so many farm stories that the big puzzle was how to fit everyone I'd spoken to into one book. One early editor said just make it simple--one farm per profile, but I really wanted to include everyone I'd interviewed.

Check out the book to find out how I did it. I have to confess I had some help smoothing the rough edges. Timber Press had introduced me to the most perfect editor, Lorraine Anderson, whose first book was Cooking with Sunshine: The Complete Guide to Solar Cooking. Lorraine has edited lots of Timber Press books and she lives fairly close to some of the farmers and one season had even gotten Denison Farms CSA. How perfect is that?

But now marketing reality has hit me. This new phase of book writing is a whole different story, so to save my sanity and chronicle my efforts to get media and bookstore attention in this new flood of local food books, I've created a separate blog for my marketing adventures.

With this new blog, I'm hoping to make some sense of our hyper-rushed, plugged-in, interconnected world, where everybody has a brand waving on their own flagpole. Tips, tricks, strategies and links will hopefully help other authors just starting this journey with their books.

This Food Connections blog will continue on--because I've got lots more ideas and food connections are too delicious to give up. Besides my Kitchen Assistant is already waiting for my next recipe.

Check out Whistling Duck Farm's vibrant produce at the Medford or Ashland farmers' market.

Recalls, Dr.Oz, and Knowing Your Farmer

As you can see my kitchen assistant was totally underwhelmed by this package of my favorite rice that arrived yesterday. Rice and almonds are this farm's specialty and since neither one grows in the Pacific Northwest, I ordered them from this organic California farm and they arrived by the U.S. mail.

"Something is rattling in that heavy box," the letter carrier had said. I laughed, but that familiar rattle was music to my ears. Likewise for the almonds because when you've tasted the best why waste your life on the rest?

Flash forward to this morning when I noticed a Google alert for recalled rice from Woolworths. "Who buys rice from Woolworths?" I wondered. I was so shocked by this piece of news, I posted it on FaceBook.

"Who even has a Woolworths?" my friend Phil asked.

"Exactly, I thought they'd gone out of business long ago," I laughed.

But this recall is no laughing matter. It seems the rice was tainted with metal shavings. The article went on to say that the heads of the companies involved have issued apologies on the "inconvenience" they may have caused consumers.

Metal shavings in the gut is an inconvenience?

If you add metal shavings to grain shipments, it makes them heavier and unscrupulous sellers earn more money. Will metal detectors scan the grains on incoming ships to help protect consumers? Don't count on it. Come to think of it, health care reform might have included closer inspection of imported foods for product contamination.

If there is one essential rule about buying healthy food that not even Dr. Oz has mentioned is to pay attention to where your food comes from. Don't assume that because a package of rice is on the shelf in Safeway, Woolworths, or even your local natural foods store, that it's safe to eat.

Know your farmer, know your food. End of rant, for now anyway.

Raw Milk Controversy and Food Recalls

Yesterday an article about raw milk on the front page of The Seattle Times caught my eye. I was shocked to learn the main farm in the raw milk controversy article was Dungeness Valley Creamery, which was linked with three E.coli cases in December.

When we go to Nash's farm on the Olympic Peninsula, I always stop at the Dungeness Valley Creamery Farm store. I buy a quart of milk, put it in my ice chest and carefully transport it home. I love the taste and if it weren't for this milk (and the goat mozzerella cheese from Port Madison Farm), I could be a serious vegan.

The photo above is from this farm. The barns and room where milk is bottled are extremely clean and I've never felt bad about buying this milk at the farm store, but when it comes to purchasing raw milk in grocery stores, I remember my mom totally freaking out over me buying raw milk at a little hole-in-the-wall health food store when I was in high school. I was a health food nerd in high school and often spent my allowance at these little stores.

"Your father's sister died from drinking raw milk," Mom told me as she poured the milk I'd bought down the drain. (Only later did I learn Dad's sister had died from something else, but Mom had obviously believed raw milk was the culprit.) I had no idea why I might die from it, but to this day, I can't purchase raw milk from a grocery store. It's passed through too many hands for me.

The Seattle Times article mentioned cases where other raw milk dairies had also been implicated. Two things the article failed to mention was:

• Where the customers who got sick purchased their milk. Marlene's in Federal Way and Tacoma and Whole Foods sell Dungeness Valley Creamery milk.

• How this food was transported home and the temperature in the refrigerators where it was store. I'm not blaming the victims, I'm just saying sometimes people are too casual and trusting when it comes to foods that need to be kept cold and consumed promptly.

Three final questions:

• Would I buy this milk again? Yes. According to the article it wasn't certain these cases of E.coli came from the milk on the farm. There was no recall because it wasn't found in the milk, just from cow poo on the farm.

• What do I think of this story about food contamination? I immediately wondered why the Seattle Times has not put the FDA's recall of more than 10,000 processed products because of salmonella on the front page.

• Isn't this massive recall of processed foods newsworthy enough or did the paper see something negative about local foods as an opportunity to sell more papers?

I wonder why local milk and not the massive recall of processed foods that most consumers know absolutely nothing about made front page news.

Nash's Farm Store and the 100-Mile Harvest Dinner

I'd posted yesterday about driving to Nash's Farm Store (www.nashsorganicproduce.com) and I suddenly woke up this morning and realized I hadn't specified where Nash's farm and the store are. Sequim is a small town on the Olympic Penninsula.  It takes about an hour to get there from Seattle.  I take the Edmonds-Kingston Ferry, then the drive through Port Gamble and bypass Port Townsend. (But do stop there if you have time, because the Port Townsend Co-op has produce from local farmers and local artisans on Saturdays in the summer, the farmers' market is a perfect lunch destination.)

As you can see, Nash's Farm Store (above) has rustic appeal.  Though it looks small, the store has an amazing amount of farm produce and community members are always shopping here.  Inside, Ellen reminded me that farm day on the Penninsula is October 3.  I noticed this month's copy of Edible Seattle (http://www.edibleseattle.net/) mentioned the Festival of Family Farms in Skagit Valley http://www.festivaloffamilyfarms.com/  on the same weekend and the King County Harvest Celebration on September 26, but no mention of the Clallam County farm festival on the Penninsula, and this is actually where the farm festivals began. Anyway on October 3, a  number of farms on the Peninsula open their barns and fields, giving tours and demonstrations, and in the evening Nash's farm hosts a barn dance and a fantastic potluck.  The food is laid out on a long table, everyone contributes their favorite recipe.  It's a feast. The dance often features  a Seattle band and everything from jitterbug to 70s freestyle to hip hop goes. The price of admission is minimal and the proceeds went to their farm to cafeteria program one year and to Friends of the Fields (http://www.friendsofthefields.org/) the next.

On September 27, Friends of the Fields is hosting a 100-Mile Harvest Dinner.  The proceeds from 75% of the ticket sales go to saving Finn Hall Farm.  This is a Sunday evening and it sounds like a delicious event.

On another note the most recent farm letter for Nash's Farm CSA mentioned the Olympic Gleaners.  The gleaners are volunteers who harvest surplus produce and distribute it to food banks and organizations like the Salvation Army Soup Kitchen and various shelters.  This year 50 volunteers harvested more than 4,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables from private homes and local farms.  Nash's newsletter said that 1,500 pounds of produce came from Nash's farm.  Now that's what I call an Incredible Feast!

This is my book, Local Vegetarian Cooking http://www.localvegetariancooking.com/ at Nash's Farm Store. This was one of the first places that sold copies of my book in 2005.  The book and Nash's farm profile have been revised for the newest edition of my book, due out in spring 2010.  Timber Press in Portland http://www.timberpress.com/   is publishing the revised edition that will include Oregon farms.

No Impact Man: the price of inspiration

As I was trolling the blog universe months ago looking for good blogs, I remembered "No Impact Man." I'd heard about this blog over a year ago and I'd started following it but following blogs was one of the many things I dropped when I spent so much of my time revising my cookbook last year. Now, No Impact Man is one of the blogs I regurarly follow. In fact, I was so inspired, I ordered No Impact Man, the book.

I counted down days until the book arrived While I waited, I found this very cool trailer for the No Impact Man movie at http://cookingupastory.com/no-impact-man/ . If this trailer doesn't sell you on the story, go back to your McBurger dream world and find another blog to read.

Friday No Impact Man arrived. After taking this photo, I immediately got into Colin Beavan's story--the differences between Colin and Michaele and everyday dilemmas like visiting his inlaws, blowing his nose, enjoying a slice of pizza from a favorite vendor. I laughed out loud when I read the chapter "How to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint and Anger Your Mom at the Same Time." Turns out, everything we do, even visiting with family has an impact on the earth one way or another. Colin didn't make exceptions to his experiment; if he cheated, he cheated. Making exceptions was a big disappointment with other books like Plenty by Alisa Smith and J.B. Mackinnon.

I couldn't put the book down without being inspired to do more for the planet. Colin Beavan's writing is compelling, funny and inspiring. From the moment he gathtered his trash and spread it in across the floor examining who he was by what he used, I become more self-aware every time I think about tossing anything a garbage can, or buy anything in a container. I once threw out an entire box of plastic PCC Natural Markets' deli containers and the sight of all that throwaway plastic placed in a garbage can by me because it couldn't be recycled and of course the store doesn't take it back, made me vow to never to order deli again unless I can buy it in a returnable container or my own glass container.

Trying to have no carbon footprint is a Zen experiment, a dance with nature with every choice we make. Knowing that a community of bloggers interacting with No Impact Man are doing positive things to help the planet is downright inspiring. And inpiration is something we could all use more of these days.