Politics and Gardening
Like many Americans I’ve been closely watching Obama’s cabinet appointments. I was hoping that CHANGE would be coming, but it looks like it’s politics as usual at the Office of the President Elect. I’m particularly disappointed in his appointment of Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack. Here’s a quote from the Organic Consumer’s Association about Tom Vilsack:
While Vilsack has promoted respectable policies with respect to restraining livestock monopolies, his overall record is one of aiding and abetting Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) or factory farms and promoting genetically engineered crops and animal cloning. Equally troubling is Vilsack’s support for unsustainable industrial ethanol production, which has already caused global corn and grain prices to skyrocket, literally taking food off the table for a billion people in the developing world.
If you are also disappointed by the appointment of Tom Vilsack for Secretary of Agriculture, head on over to Organic Consumer’s Association and sign the petition to oppose it. OCA is hoping to get over 100,000 people to sign this petition.
If you would like a more sustaineable candidate sign this petition to draft Jim Riddle (a long-time advocate of sustaineable and organic agriculture) in his place.
Despite a deluge of over 100,000 emails and petition signatures from organic consumers and farmers objecting to the appointment of biotech and biofuels booster Tom Vilsack as Secretary of Agriculture, the Senate is scheduled to begin confirmation hearings for Vilsack today.
The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is disappointed in this controversial appointment, and we are calling on our national network and allies to pressure Obama to move beyond “agribusiness as usual” by drafting Jim Riddle to head the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), the department that oversees organic food, farming, and standards. Riddle is an organic farmer from Minnesota, former Chair of the National Organic Standards Board, and a longtime advocate for sustainable and organic farming. With Riddle heading up the AMS, farmers markets, Community Supported Agriculture, transition to organic programs, and the National Organic Program will finally receive the attention, technical assistance, and funding they deserve.
If you would like to give input on many of Obama’s cabinet members visit this page at the Organic Consumers Association website for more details.
Ok, I’ll get off my soapbox now. But this appointment really concerns me, does it concern anyone else?
Here’s a very interesting article over at Civil Eats about this.
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Winner Winner Burt’s Bees Lip Balm
Originally I was going to have Lucy pick the winner of the Burt’s Bees Lip Balm contest. I was going to hide numbered dog treats around the house and whichever one she found first was going to be the winner. But since she’s laid up and can’t roam around the house I had to come up with another plan. She was very disappointed she couldn’t help out.
I tried to think of a way to have the cats pick, but they’re cats. You can’t get them to do anything you want them to. So I reverted to the old, write numbers of pieces of paper, fold them up, put them in a hat and choose a winner.
I did put the numbers in my gardening hat at least, perfect for a gardening blog. And the winner is:
The winner is Carol from The Country Mouse.
This is what Carol says about herself: “I’m a mostly stay-at-home wife and mom living in rural Ohio with my wonderful husband and the sweetest baby boy in the world. I like to read, cook, eat (unfortunately), knit, and sing. I spend way too much time doing all of those things instead of mopping the floor.”
The funny thing is that I’ve known Carol since high school. She helped set my sister up with her cousin (who my sister married and is now my brother-in-law). Paul and Carol have the cutest little boy named Levi. Head on over to Carol’s blog and check out what’s going on at The Country Mouse.
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Winter Storm Warning
Mr Chiots and I love hearing those words on the weather channel. There’s nothing we love more than inches and inches of snow piling up outside (probably because we both work from home). It started snowing Thursday morning here in Ohio and it just stopped last night. We have about 9-10 inches of snow and a coating of ice on top of that.
It was kind of bittersweet to go out though, usually Lucy is out there with us running around. She absolutely loves playing in the snow! One of her favorite things is when you throw snowballs at her. She jumps up and catches them in her mouth. It’s hard to catch a photo of, she’s just so quick. This is the best we could do last year.
We went out sans chiots today, she’s confined to the office for at least the next 8 weeks for healing. Mr Chiots spent the better part of the morning shoveling the driveway, he always enjoys the workout.
I made sure all the bird feeders were full and then we came back in for a cup of tea.
Anyone else enjoying all this snow? I know Harley, Brooklyn’s puppy is really enjoying it!
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Eating Seasonally = Winter Squash
When you’re trying to eat seasonally you start to wonder what you’re going to be eating for veggies in the winter. I do have mache and spinach still growing in the garden for greens, as well as canned green beans, beets, and zucchini pickles in the pantry. All of these are wonderful, but one of the best winter vegetables is butternut squash. They’re super easy to store, mine are just sitting on top of the side table in my dining room. They will last for up to 6 months if stored properly. Now that’s amazing, no canning, freezing or preparing, just pile in a corner and check them every week or so, could it get any easier than that?
There’s just something about roasted squash that is warm and cozy. They’re also super healthy. Butternut squash is an excellent source of magnesium, potassium, vitamins C and A, and a good source of calcium.
So how do you go about eating a butternut squash? They can be cooked in a variety of ways: baked, pureed (like mashed potatoes), in muffins, in pies, in ravioli or lasagna, and in soups. We prefer ours in soup or roasted, although butternut squash ravioli with sage brown butter occasionally graces our winter table. You can also eat the seeds if you’d like. I sometimes roast them in the oven, but most of the time I save them and throw them out by the bird feeder for the birds.
Most of the butternut squashes that grew in my garden this summer were small ones, but I did have a volunteer that grow out of my compost pile that produced a 3 pound squash. I bought 6-7 at the farmer’s market along with a few pumpkins and other kinds of squash.
Here’s my favorite Butternut Squash recipe.
Butternut Squash and Chipotle Soup
from Fresh & Light (Williams-Sonoma)
Ingredients:
1 butternut squash, 2.5 lbs
1 tablespoon of butter
2 slices of coarse country bread, each about 1/2 inch thick cut into 1/2 inch cubes (for croutons)
1 teaspoon of dried sage
1/2 yellow onion chopped
2 small chipotle peppers (I’d start with 1 without seeds and then taste) I use canned ones
3 1/2 cups of chicken broth
salt to taste
fresh sage leaves (optional)
Preheat oven to 350. Cut the squash in half lengthwise. Using spoon, scrape out the seeds and any fibers and discard. Place the squash halves, cut side down, on a baking sheet and bake until just tender, about 35 minutes. Remove from the oven. When cool enough to handle, scoop out the flesh into a bowl.
In a large saucepan over medium high heat, warm the butter. Add the bread and dried sage and saute, stirring often, until the bread cubes are browned on all side, about 4 minutes. Using a spoon, transfer croutons to a plate and set aside. Add the onion to the pan and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the squash chiles, and broth. Simmer over medium heat and cook, uncovered, until the squash is very soft, about 30 minutes.
Working in batches, puree the soup in a blender until smooth (or with immersion blender), be very carefully blending hot soup as it has a tendency to explode the top off the blender. It’s best to start with bursts of power then to full blend. Its also wise to keep a kitchen towel draped over the blender. I have found an immersion blender to be indispensable since we make many pureed soups.
Return soup to the pan and reheat gently. If desired add some whole milk and butter. Taste and add salt and freshly ground pepper as needed. Ladle into warmed bowls. Divide the croutons among the servings and garnish with sage leaves. Serve hot.
What’s you’re favorite way to eat butternut squash?
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80’s tastic!
One thing I love about blogging is that I always have my camera handy in my purse, just in case I see something blog worthy. I’ve been able to capture some great things this year, including this gem. The 80’s never went out of style here in Northeastern Ohio, some people are still living the 80’s life and loving it, just like this guy. When we passed him I thought, “Wow, you don’t see many cars like that on the road any more.”
You know, I love it when people embrace something and go all out. Rock on 80’s man!
