Ms Cook’s Table

Have you ever discovered that something very progressive was flourishing right under your own routine oriented nose? To be more precise – last week, I witnessed serious academics sharing prized knowledge. Stunned too, to ascertain that the prize was just a short drive down a local country road, and it all related to the quality of our food and possibly, our mutual futures.

The Farm in Summertown, Tennessee continues to inspire and teach just as they set out to do in 1971 with “the goal of establishing a strongly cohesive, outwardly-directed intentional community.” They state in a current public relations piece, “We want, by action and example, to have a positive effect on the world” and so they have. A myriad of non-profits showcase the work that carries out their vision. The Ecovillage Training Center is one that offers internships, conferences and workshops on sustainable technologies such as permaculture, construction based on natural materials, and organic gardening. Bear with me on permaculture – semantics often distract us from learning important stuff.

Ellie Early, a young University of Massachusetts graduate, turned intern turned coordinator at the Ecovillage Training Center contacted me with a compelling enticement – a series of courses taught by leading global experts in sustainable agriculture being held during the months of August and September at The Farm. She emailed, “Nutritious food follows nutritious soil. Soil health makes fresh food healthier…I am notifying folks about enrollment in Carbon Farming classes, an intensive with teachers in the fields of Soil Food Relocalization, Holistic Management, Keyline Design, Earthworks and Food Forestry.”

Even though many of these terms were new to me, I wasn’t born yesterday and those triggers, intensive and food – got my attention. I signed up for only a morning session, which I found to my dismay, was like having one spoon full of ice cream….

Participants included students and teachers of permaculture from as far away as Australia and Canada. They had spent several days learning land management and implementation of design. For a crash course before class, permaculture wizard Ethan Roland offered to me a practical basic, “The solar panel – to catch the rain – to water the garden – to grow the plants – to feed the people, and the people composting their food – to grow the tree – to repair the roof that the solar panel is on…” Ellie added, “Permaculture is a system of providing for short and long term needs which cycles resources within the system.”

I joined a class led by permaculture expert Eric Toensmeier. As the author of Edible Forest Gardens and Perennial Vegetables, he coached the attendees on supportive garden design with a generous verbal listing of low maintenance vegetable varieties for planting that are perpetual.

Among the suggestions, I discovered that I have two of the favored plants in my herb garden. I sowed them originally for their salad talents and Eric agreed that sorrel and lovage are excellent additions for the self-sufficient garden. Being the Renaissance guy that he is, Eric also shared a recipe from Perennial Vegetables using ingredients that I could harvest in my yard. So without using that extra fossil fuel for a trip to the grocery store, I later served the home based soup to my adventurous book clubbers, The Kharma Dharmas.

I left The Ecovillage, enlightened, with an urge to enrich my soil by becoming what Ellie calls a compost connoisseur. Ultimately, following a few design tips and mixing some edible goodies into my landscape, I’ll make my move into the permaculture realm. From the portal at The Farm, I’ve learned that life is very tasty there.

Sorrel and Lovage Soup

6 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
3 medium potatoes (sweet or regular)
3 cloves of garlic
1 butternut squash
10 to 12 8-inch lovage shoots
1 pound of fresh sorrel (same as a pound of spinach)
salt, pepper and chili flakes

Boil stock along with 3 cups of water
Add chopped potatoes and minced garlic
Peel squash and remove seeds and chop into 1 to 2 inch chunks.
Add squash a few minutes after potatoes.
Simmer for 15 minutes.
Add chopped lovage and cook for 5 minutes.
Stir in chopped sorrel and remove from heat.
Season with salt and pepper and chili flakes.

Shredded chicken may be added for a heartier dish.

RESOURCES

Sorrel and Lovage Seeds – Horizon Herbs – www.horizonherbs.com

Sweet Potatoes – Bobby McIver

Butternut Squash – CSA – Arugula Star of Neal Family Farms –www.arugulasstarfarm.com

More on Permaculture -
www.thefarm.org

http://permacultureprinciples.com

You Tube – “Greening the Desert” with Geoff Lawton

“Can I dig one for you real quick?” One breezy fall morning at Armsdale Farm, I watched as Bobby McIver and his young friend Stephen worked through the soil for sweet potatoes. He palmed an arrowhead remnant and continued, “vegetables are a front, we’re really in the arrowhead business.” His wide grin evokes emotion; I see his resemblance at the same age to his parents, Gale and Ed McIver who welcomed my family into community decades ago.

Armsdale Farm is rumored to have been favored hunting territory for Cherokee Chief Doublehead. Ultimately, fate delivered 170 acres to four generations of Gale’s family and they are all connected by the sweet agony of responsibility. Gale’s father, Horace Armstrong hired Willie Gordon and Grace Lawrence in 1912 to work with him on the farm. Their son Horace was born in 1915 while Gale was born to the Armstrongs in 1916.

The families proudly claim to have chosen to be neighbors since 1912 (Horace Gordon’s daughter still live on the property). The bond between Horace and Gale would span a lifetime, some 40 years. After World War II, they farmed together, often reading each other’s minds – Horace as the farmer and Gale as the purchaser.

Gale’s husband Ed, an accountant, left the farm each day and little Bobby had free reign, disturbed only by an occasional ring of the farm bell to locate him. “Daddy Will and Grace were grandparents to me,” emphasized Bobby. He continued, “Many nights I might pass up supper at our house for one with them. Will had a beautiful one acre garden from which we ate all year round.” Even though Bobby received instruction by Horace on various farm arts, he never really absorbed the finer points of the big picture. Nevertheless, at sixty years of age, he remembers burley tobacco (pre-growth) additive, breaking ground with a team of mules and milk and butter generated from the farm milk cows.

After many idyllic days on the farm with Horace, Bobby completed his business degree at the University of Mississippi and then began to fulfill his dream of a career in golf. A satisfying course of events lead him from assistant pro positions at clubs in Point Clear, Belle Meade, and Houston, Texas and by 30 years of age, he was rewarded with the head pro position in Jackson, Mississippi. He and his wife Ruth parented 3 children primarily during years at a club in Charlottesville, Virginia. Then in 1999, he and Ruth headed back to the farm.

With an internal acknowledgment that his parents always believed in him, Bobby was able to coach 5 national champions and subsequently was invited to coach a group of businessmen in Venezuela. The affluent group complimented the United States, but offered to Bobby that while on vacation in the US, the chemically laden food often made them sick. Following that lead, Bobby read Pasture Perfect by Jo Robinson and began collecting information about organic farming.

Later, he sought the practices of Abraham Frieson from Perry County who mentored him as indeed he had mentored countless young golf novices. Mr. Frieson did recommend that he learn to manage one acre before advancing, but as Bobby admitted, his enthusiasm pushed him to plant 3 acres during his inaugural year.

With the help of some exceptional young men, Ruth and Bobby have planted, harvested and marketed an impressive assortment of heirloom tomatoes, squash, melons, corn and sweet potatoes. “I wear a ‘what would Jesus do’ bracelet, but sometimes I think it really could say, ‘What would Horace do?’ and I mean that in every way – morally and ethically”, Bobby notes.

As Bobby filled a basket of veggies and Ruth gathered their favorite recipes, we stood in Gale’s kitchen. Somehow I could feel her generous but thrifty presence. She lingers as anyone who knew the inventor of the 1938 Mule Day celebration dance, The Mule Trot, and master kindergarten teacher could. I even thought that I caught a glimpse of Horace through the window.

As I left with the pickings and homemade goods, produced by the collective wisdom of so many generations, Bobby gave a thumbs up and smiled broadly, “Horace and Mother are looking down, “he laughed.

McIver Tomato Marmalade

Delicious on bread, vegetables and/or meat

6 cups of ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1 lemon with rind, thinly sliced
6 cups of sugar
2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon of ground cloves
½ teaspoon of salt

Bring all ingredients to a boil in a pan and simmer over medium heat, stirring and skimming top occasionally. Cook for 1 hour or more. The marmalade will thicken, so take care that is doesn’t burn. Pour into jars and allow to cool. Store in the refrigerator.

RESOURCES

Tomatoes and Sweet Potatoes – find Bobby at the Franklin Farmer’s Market on Saturdays (behind The Factory) or call Armsdale Farm (931-388-5976)

I am drinking homemade herbal tea from a souvenir cup that I collected this past weekend. The party favor reads, “Post-College Parents Weekend – Nashville 2009”. Our daughter Quinn and her sundry group of friends discovered each other after trekking to Nashville in search of new and self-reliant lives. The group has been out of various colleges long enough to know the beauty of independence, but also long enough to value the indispensable nature of family, which in the absence of their parents has been recreated in a circuitous manner of happenstance, common history and coincidence. While the families of origin hail from Ohio, North Carolina and even Columbia, Tennessee; they sought each other for companionship and group activity, comprising another sort of clan that produced audible sighs of relief from the visiting parentals. They are hard working but very social – cultural events and weekend jaunts to other cities, church attendance and dinner engagements. Planned activities have supplied the hearty material for a bond that we parents enjoyed observing among our adult children.

Everyone converged at the torchbearer’s home (every group needs one) on Friday night for a cookout. Relishing the commonalities, all parents exchanged life stories – in the nest and out – and explored the wonder of how we did it all. We ate grilled tenderloin and delicious sides including an off the chart potato salad and privately held (by the TB) cookie recipe that was developed during childhood, by way of her American Girl subscription.

While the hostess grilled, I surveyed the patio garden that was loaded with transplants from her Grandmother’s yard in Mississippi. Some members of the group discussed a best first planting for a new home, one of herbs.

Next on the agenda was a Saturday afternoon outing nestled in the hills of Arrington Vineyards. Once more, a conversation of the herbal kind ensued when one young lady served up a “killer chicken salad” made with an abundance of fresh dill. Moving around, she still found a way to plant herbs in pots as her mother does to this day.

Such conversation reminded me of my first herb patch some thirty years ago. Established in a raised bed along the side of our first home, Dalton and his father created a space for favored cooking herbs of the day – basil, thyme and oregano. My devotion to such a planting has grown over time and where ever I live; it’s one of the first things that I contrive….

Originally, herbs attracted me because of their laid back approach to life. While cooking, my mother used parsley by the fist full and she continually scattered a new batch of seeds to keep production in full tilt. The soil never appeared to be of particular quality, although the scent produced was always clean and fresh. I deduced that for me, herbs were more worthy of my time than flowers – low maintenance in exchange for beauty and sustenance.

With the culinary in mind, you’ll understand this single caveat on planting a pot or bed of herbs next spring: location, location, location. Herbs must be by the kitchen door with a basket and cutting tools close at hand. Harvest ease is mandatory – because, your marinade, bread, dressing, or sauté are at stake.

A multi-purpose use of herbs is luscious herb butter. I enjoy endless combinations of these plants depending on what strikes my fancy. The small rolls are beautifully presented after freezing and can be taken to a friend as a last minute, but carefully crafted house gift.

You’ll find that nothing enhances a dish like locally grown herbs….so local in fact that they can thrive at your back door and provide a welcome home scent each and every day. After a season or two of bringing them into your life, you’ll find them a necessity just like the presence of family or friends – a way to signal that you really are at home.

Herb Butter

Even a single herb can be used to produce memorable results.

½ cup Italian parsley
2 tablespoons fresh tarragon
2 tablespoons fresh basil
2 tablespoons fresh chives
8 tablespoons, (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
½ teaspoon salt
1 finely chopped clove of garlic
Tabasco to taste

Place parsley, tarragon, basil and chives in a food processor or finely chop by hand. Add the butter, lemon juice, pepper and salt, and Tabasco to taste until well mixed. Cover and place in refrigerator for 30 minutes. Form into a log about 1 inch in diameter. Wrap in wax paper, twist ends of paper and chill several hours before serving on anything and everything – delicious. Refrigerate or freeze for up to six months. Slice as needed.

RESOURCES

Horizon Herbs – Seeds and Plants – www.horizonherbs.com

Hummingbird Herbs – locally grown and created herb butters and spreads – Hardin Alley Farmers Market, Spring Hill – 615-368-7444

Tea Time at Rippavilla – fresh herbs used in all dishes – 2nd and 4th Thursdays – Carolyn Cox – 931-540-0741