February 28th, 2010
I can just about feel spring in the air. A few times during this long, cold February when we’ve had the unusual warm and sunny day you can almost sense the earth is about to change on its axis and bring us springtime. Whew, I couldn’t be any more ready for it than the years I spent living in Chicago and waiting for those last piles of ice on the streets to melt away. I am ready for blue skies, sunshine and my spring flowers.
There are three ways to get ready for spring this week and get your juices going for planting, cultivating and eating fresh food again.
Arriving Monday is the spring issue of Local Table and I have to say this may be our best issue yet. I hope to get it out to all the Nashville locations by week’s end and the rest of Middle Tennessee by the following week. Our art director Bob Delevante has created another beautiful spring cover and we’ve got features on local meat producers, eating spring healthy, Nashville’s own candy confectioner Nashville Toffee, Kentucky neighbor and cheesemaker Kenny’s Cheeses, St. Thomas’ health practitioner Randy Prendergast, and of course, our guides to summer CSA sign ups, strawberry patches and farmer markets.
On the heels of the release of the spring issue, is the annual gathering for the Tennessee Organic Grower’s Association (TOGA). This year the event has expanded to two days, Fri., March 5 and Sat., March 6 and includes farm tours, workshops and a keynote speaker by local food practitioner and farming activist Joel Salatin. Friday are the farm tours and Saturday are the workshops and keynote. It’s a great event – whether you’re a small market farmer, interested in organics or have your own backyard garden – there is something to get everyone excited and ramped up for our upcoming growing season. To find out more, go to www.tnorganics.org
The other is Nashville’s annual Lawn & Garden show at the State Fairgrounds. Beginning Thurs, March 4 and running through Sunday, it’s a feast for the eyes as well as your nose. After a long winter, it’s pretty amazing to get to smell fresh soil and scents such as delphiniums, lilacs, and herbs. Even if you aren’t able to get excited about seeing blooming gardens, waterfalls, and colorful landscaping, just being able to take a deep breath and smell green is pretty incredible. Plus there are lots of great local retailers and nurseries. It’s usually the first place I buy a plant for the year. For more info, go to www.nashvillelawnandgardenshow.com
Tags: artisan cheese, candy confectioners, farmers, local food, local meat, Local Table, Nashville Lawn & Garden Show, TOGA
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January 29th, 2010
We’re having a blizzard outside as I write this - it’s beautiful outside - finally a real storm to cover the mud and brown gardens and add some new perspective.
This time out, I thought I’d share with you a recent blog by a music client, Tom Gray, of the band Delta Moon. I thought it was a perfect thought for a winter day and I believe sharing a meal is as connective as sharing a song.
“The largest living organism in North America isn’t a tree. It’s an aspen forest in Colorado. All the trees are connected through the roots, so the whole forest is considered a single organism.
On some unseen level humans are like that too. Call it what you want to – and people call it many things – the connection is there.
Too often these days we take the opposite direction. Modern American houses are designed so that each family member can eat dinner in a separate room with the door shut. Our highways are filled with rolling steel fortresses, the people in them listening to angry radio, everybody giving everybody else the finger. Who needs that? The more you separate yourself from everyone else, the unhappier you become.
Our mission as musicians is to reestablish the connection. When we see people at a show, old and young, black and white, dancing and smiling and singing together, when everybody’s looking each other in the eye and sparks are flying and nobody wants it to stop, that’s a good gig. Of course not every venue lends itself to that kind of mixing it up. But even in the most restrictive seating arrangements it’s possible to create a wonderful sense of unity. It’s a feeling older than civilization. Rhythm, melody and harmony have the power to pull us out of ourselves and make us realize that we, like the aspen trees, are part of a greater whole.
When people ask what kind of music we play, I say roots music.” ~Tom Gray
Tags: Delta Moon, friends, gardening, local connections, neighbors
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December 24th, 2009
I can’t believe we’re on the eve of Christmas and next week we’ll be entering a new year, as well as a new decade. The start of a new year always seems like a time for a time of reflection and a fresh start – kind of a do over. I use my quiet time to put together ‘wish’ lists for the upcoming year – from the spiritual to the mundane (such as I need find a way to better organize our work gloves!)
I recently returned from traveling in India and my time there is still fresh in my memory and is helping to shape my thoughts about the upcoming year. I don’t feel so stressed about what is to come, but thankful for what I already have – a safe place, food in the pantry and water I can drink from the tap. I heard yesterday on the radio that 1 in 7 people in the United States this holiday season are having to reach out for food assistance. Those are incredible numbers and ones you don’t associate with life in our country.
So I know many of us are struggling, we’ve pared down our holiday expenses and probably haven’t spent so much time at the Mall, but we shouldn’t forget those who have even less than us. During a late night dinner conversation in India, the subject of health care and social security came up – what kind of social security do Indians have? The answer: children, uncles and aunties, mom and dad – there is no government assistance – and very few private enterprises to hand out subsidized food, medicine or housing. If family can’t help, entire families can end up on the sidewalk. We also need to step us this holiday time to help out our family and neighbors. We are lucky to have the Second Harvest Food Bank, www.secondharvestmidtn.org, and the Manna-Food Security Partners, www.foodsecuritypartners.org in our region to help those in need.
Have a blessed holiday!
Tags: Food Security Partners, hunger, local food, Second Harvest Food Bank
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November 24th, 2009
I’m on the final week of my trip to India. It’s a land which assaults all of your senses - bright colors, the smell of incense, jasmine, charcoal fires, spicy food, honking horns, chanting priests and the press of people everywhere.
Amazingly enough there are farm fields not that far outside of any urban area and like any farm in the US, the plots are meticulous. The rainy season has just past and wheat, rice and many vegetable crops have just been planted. One of the major differences though is that there are no tractors or other equipment - it’s all done by hand with short handled hoes (which means bending over all day). Produce and fruits are taken to town in anything that will work - oxen, donkey, pony carts - even the occasional camel. Animals are taken to market on the backs of motorbikes, auto rickshaws or just walked to town. It’s really a sight to see. For most people here the objective for every day is too prepare some food for the day. Whether living in a tin shanty, mud hut, brick home or just a tarp strung across a sidewalk - the family gathers for the evening meal together.
It has really made me re-consider the blessings in my life - our little farm nestled in a beautiful hollow, delicious spring water, healthy and well fed animals and our own bounty of food - even when things get tough we never have to worry about having a meal to finish the day.
My sister in law told me she’d asked a woman who lived a hardscrabble life what was her favorite time of day and she told her that it was in the evening when everyone was home safe and together.
Count your blessings this Thanksgiving - it’s not about Black Friday sales - spend the day with your friends and family. Break bread and give thanks!
Tags: bread, Delhi, holiday meal, India, produce, rice, Thanksgiving, wheat
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November 5th, 2009
I’m headed off today on a once in a lifetime trip. My youngest brother and his family have been living in New Delhi, India for the past 2 years and they’ve invited me to come for a visit. It’s a land which has often filled my imagination through books, films and, of course, the food. We don’t get to travel as much as we used to since we moved to our place here six years ago and sometimes my feet get itchy.
With our current glorious weather and no time to go further than our own county, we recently took a fall drive. It was stunning. It’s still a mostly rural county and it doesn’t take long to be driving down a gravel lane and be surrounded by breathtaking scenery. In my driving around Middle Tennessee to deliver Local Table, I often am struck by the beauty of our area. Though I haven’t left yet, I’m already missing my home.
It reaffirms my belief in how important it is to preserve our local farm land and green space. Most of the local farmers markets have wrapped up for the season and it’s a bit more difficult to buy local during our winter. Most of our farmers use this time to rest, reflect and prepare their soil for spring planting. However, our community has responded so positively to the increase in local food choices many area farmers are working on extending their growing seasons to make available lettuces, greens, onions, radishes, carrots and much more.
Stay local this holiday season and help our farmers continue to farm our rich landscape.
View from upper pasture
Tags: farmers markets, farming, local food
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