Vermont Smoke and Cure

 Okay, okay. So the words "meat stick" can sound kind of gross, conjuring up images of strange animal parts in a blender... or maybe that's just me....  
But here's the thing. My family does the dairy-free gluten-free thing on a tight budget and since returning back to the US this year I probably don't have to explain that I am a bit shell shocked at how much some food prices have risen recently in our country.  It can be a challenge to walk into a food store with the biggest desires and best intentions to purchase organic, socially responsible goods and then realize some pricey products have to be left out of the cart to make it through the check-out line.  
Often for my family, we stretch our meat purchases or simply don't buy meat as often as we'd like.  But I find myself wanting our little guy to have it even when I can't.  When I walked into Whole Foods recently and spotted these awesome meat-stick beauties being marketed all over the store, I paused to take a look at this local product that is just the right size for a six-year old lunchbox or an afternoon snack. Getting over the word "meat stick" was all it took to enjoy the price and taste of these puppies. With very simple ingredients, these Vermont Smoke and Cure small-batch products are an affordable, tasty treat I highly recommend.  Not only are they made in a number of different flavors, but they also happen to be six-year-old approved.  

To check out more of Vermont Smoke and Cure's awesome products on a gorgeous website that brings you smack into the heart of the Green Mountains, click here: http://www.vtsmokeandcure.com/

Nothing General About The Vermont Country Store!

I grew up just down the street from an Iowan general store used by Laura Ingall's Wilder's family.  It was located in the basement of a gorgeous Victorian house that I thought looked quite a bit like a yellow gingerbread house.  I can still remember the magic of walking into it with my elementary school class, seeing jars of candies and a soda-fountain come to life amidst a few small coins and the hum of excited children. So maybe I'm partial.  I just know that as I watched them board up my Connecticut town's general store this past spring, I couldn't help but wonder just how many general store gems were still left in little nooks and crannies of the country.  I am happy to report that one of my favorite general stores is alive and well and begging to be noticed by any purveyors of New England goods....

I'd like to introduce you to a local establishment that is not only a seller of a number of local products, but in its existence represents a local way of life.  Founded, and still run and owned by the Orton Family five generations later, The Vermont Country Store has become a tourist attraction unto itself, representing the best of ages past and present.  

Started in 1946, this Green Mountain State company is referred to as "The Purveyors of the Practical and Hard-To-Find."  The company, which looks like a general store inside from its candy store counter to its local apothecary section, is known for providing customers with hard-to-find products.  Only in a small local business, such as this one, can a customer put in special requests to have an old product specially made.  The business prides itself on bending over backward to do just that. Located in Weston, Vermont, and now also in Rockingham, Vermont, the locations feature locally-made Vermont products like maple syrups, cheeses, personal-care remedies, penny candies, household products, and, and, and... I could go on and on!

It's a trip down memory lane so masterfully paved I don’t 

even care whose memories I’m remembering."  Kate Bolic, 

Where the Past Is Ever in Stock 12.15.2013 The NY Times

Each year, The Vermont Country Store supports over 800 local organizations and events in Vermont, working toward "ensuring our neighbors and communities prosper alike. It's not about corporate responsibility; rather, it's our human responsibility to one another and the place that we call home."

Consider going out of your way to visit this treasure of a New England small business that supports Vermont's Farm to Table initiative.  I know I  look forward to visiting the Vermont Country Store again soon. Wish you lived closer to Vermont?!  Me, too! Well, in the summer, anyway... In the meantime, the Vermont Country Store's products can all be found online on their fantastic website located here.  And their awesome non-profit foundation, dedicated to bettering small towns all across America? Check it out here!

"People from all over the United States who would not go out of their way to visit 
a grocery store are eager to travel enormous distances to see an old-fashioned 
country store in Weston, Vermont, a charming hill village of 500 persons. The Vermont
 Country Store, with its dimly lit interior and pervading odors of kerosene, 
Vermont cheese, and leather goods is not only a mecca for tourists but a forum for 
discussion.... Above all The Vermont Country Store is keeping a bright picture of an 
American way of years past." The New York Times

Take a tour of this amazing store with Martha:

Glee for Glee Gum

Okay, so I'll admit it.  Whenever I hear about "local" coffee I always raise my eyebrows.  "But coffee doesn't grow in New England.  Just because you roast it here, doesn't make it local... or does it?"  The answer depends a lot on who you ask.  And their definitions of local.  Oh, why has no one yet formally defined local?!

So today I have my own example of an eyebrow-raising product that sounds nothing like a local product, and yet is processed entirely right here in New England.  And the best parts?  It's a product I LOVE and the company is an excellent example of social and environmental responsibility.  It's the kind of company you want in your neighborhood.

One of my favorite things when I was a kid was a small candy-like gum.  It had a rubbery feel a lot of other gums didn't seem to have.  Do a little research and you will find that this is because most gum is now manufactured with synthetic resin (sounds healthy, doesn't it?)  But back in the early days of gum, chicle was the main product used for extra bouncy chewing.  Because chicle's harvesting is sustainable (harvesting does not kill the tree, as chicle is replenished seasonally, like maple syrup), and benefits rainforest conservation, the product is a good one that is making a comeback once again.

Glee Gum, an awesome, local gum based in Providence, Rhode Island, features nothing but chicle as its main ingredient.  Making the world's first fairtrade chewing gum, Glee's producers, a company called Verve, ensure an alternative system of global trade in which farmers and workers are paid stable and fair prices for their produce. Once the chicle makes its way to this woman-owned business found in a retro-fitted, solar-powered Rhode Island building, it is processed into the tastiest, chewiest of gum products. From its packaging to its relationship with non-profits, Verve creates products with the intention of helping students and consumers think about where goods come from, how natural resources and raw materials can be used responsibly, and how communities must cultivate in innovative ways that consider local environments and laborers.

If I haven't convinced you that this is a worthy local gum to support, pick up a pack.  The taste will win you over for sure.

Check out their website for a fun way to learn about the process Verve likes to call:

"From Tree to Glee"

New Traditions for the Holiday Season

Chain-store challenged? Box-store battered? Shopping-mall shamed? Parking-lot panicked? 

Do Black Friday and Cyber Monday tend to cramp your style??  There is a new tradition you can adopt to cure your holiday-shopping stress and add some meaning to your thoughtful purchases. Consider getting out there this Saturday, November 28th, to support your local businesses during Small Business Saturday.

This awesome new holiday, created in 2010 as the antithesis of Black Friday in response to dying main streets and frustrations with supporting corporate conglomerates, has gained steam quickly.  Heavily supported in ads funded this year by American Express, one of the largest small business lenders in the US, Small Business Friday has hit the mainstream and looks to be a permanent and growing fixture in American holiday shopping tradition. While the holiday shopping season of 2015 is expected to be the strongest in years, more consumers than ever are now turning their dollars toward small mom and pop shops and retailers. And as they should! Small businesses power the US economy; according to the Small Business Administration, 54% of all domestic sales and 40% of all retail jobs come from small businesses.

I encourage you to kick off your holidays with a tradition dedicated to supporting local businesses on Small Business Saturday. But how can you join your fellow neighbors in seeking out new ways to support your community businesses as an ongoing tradition that extends far beyond one day? Here are ten awesome and easy ways you can support your local businesses this holiday season:

1.  Consider making holiday traditions that support local businesses.  This is not just about using your purchasing power on Small Business Saturday (though that's a good one!).  This is about finding ways to integrate your local community in your merry-making traditions.  Whether it's supporting the same mom and pop restaurant every day-before-Christmas-Eve, or making sure you always use some locally packaged hot chocolate from the corner store every year after light-seeing with your children, or getting together with friends to do a local holiday beer-crawl taste testing, there are oodles of ways you can incorporate supporting a local business into a yearly event.

2. Announce LOCAL! When you give a local gift, make your receiver aware of the gift's source. Making known your thoughtfulness and deliberateness as a purchase adds meaning to your gift, often makes it more valuable in the receiver's eyes, and helps the receiver know where they can source more should they want to support the business further. Consider including a business card with your gift, using an extra tag that announces that the gift is local, using a gift tag that proudly declares where the product was made.

3. Do not feel guilty for browsing!  I'll admit it: I always feel a little socially awkward walking into a small store if I don't intend to buy.  Perhaps it's because I like to browse without feeling obligated to open my tiny wallet, and sometimes I feel guilty saying no in more intimate situations than when I can easily reject a box on a chain-store shelf and keep walking.  But don't let your social/emotional feelings about interacting with a small store keep you from interacting with products. Know that you have no obligation to buy anything, and remember that your ability to have closer interaction with owners and employees is a GOOD thing, even when you risk feeling socially awkward. Become familiar with what products and services your local stores have even if it means simply browsing and not buying. Then when you need do something specific, you know where to go and you know you can get it locally. Small business owners know it is better to have clientele browse and leave empty-handed than to never have entered their local store at all.

4. Get over sticker shock.  YES.  Buying from a small producer almost always comes at a slightly higher price. There are a number of reasons for this, usually related to both quality and compensating someone appropriately for their hours so they can in turn live with a suitable quality of life. Remember that these reasons for paying a higher price are noble, and if it makes consumers in turn less likely to waste, then it is not actually such a terrible thing...

5. Shop local even on the days you don't want to get out of the house!  Winter weather getting you down? Consider using websites like Etsy, which have search engines capable of connecting you with artisans close-by, right in your home state!

6.  Look for the intersection between Cyber Monday and local businesses. Not enough time to hit up all the local stores on Small Business Saturday? Many local businesses will also offer Cyber Monday deals when you order from their website.  These deals can sometimes be seen days before Cyber Monday, helping you to put local products and deals on your radar from the comfort of your couch before the mad holiday rush begins.

7. Create a local wish-list. If you want to support local, don't just consider things you are purchasing for others during the holidays. Think of what others are giving you!  With oodles of apps and websites dedicated to wishlists for holidays, wedding celebrations, and baby showers, consider ways you can unplug from the box-store wish-list machine and instead encourage others to get involved in local shopping by turning their attention to things you would enjoy having sourced locally.

8. Shopping local is not just about a one-time stop.  Don't forget that Small Business Saturday is just one small day.  But many small businesses pride themselves every day of the year on customer service and filling personalized, specialty orders that provide you with a unique and precise product that answers your needs in a way a box store cannot.  By creating repeated interactions with merchants, customers are often able to reap the benefits of an intimate customer-producer relationship far beyond one day of shopping a year.

9.  Consider gifting an activity.  The holidays are not just about giving objects.  And supporting local is not just about buying knick-knacks and small, artisan products. Supporting local can also be about ways people can interact with their community. Think about activities offered in your area that can be done with others: things like making use of skiing passes, restauranting with friends, attending a local performance, hiking a local state park, checking out a local farm, touring a nearby winery, and seeking out a local museum with friends are excellent ways to give gifts that support local community.

10. Teach your children that this is what you value.  If you want your kids to grow into adults that recognize the value of small producers and family operations, display that behavior first-hand for them to witness by putting your dollars into those things.  Your actions will speak loudly and your valuable intentions will be imprinted on their hearts.

Here's wishing you a great kick-off to your holiday shopping on Small Business Saturday.  May you make local an integral holiday tradition!

Local Flour for a Local Cake!

I don't know why I feared it; I have gone through re-learning how to cook oodles of times with every move to a new country.  And yet when my family decided to go gluten and dairy-free, I was intimidated.  It is one thing to look for new ingredients that can be put in place of particular ingredients in familiar recipes. It is a whole other thing to relearn the chemistry behind baking from a new angle that requires new recipes never tried.  Then I came upon gluten free all-purpose flour.  And life has never been the same.

I am pretty sure if I were trying the dairy free gluten-free thing thirty years ago, I would be pulling my hair out and running to twenty stores to find food necessities.  But one of the amazing things about living in 2015 is the easy access to alternative foods that has literally gotten ten times easier in just the last five years.  Today I am featuring two well known flour companies, both of which have alternative gluten-free options right on my average-run-of-the-mill local grocery store shelves just down the road.

Arrowhead Mills, a company manufacturing gluten-free flour in Lake Success, New York*, has been a pioneer of organic food products for over fifty years.  Started under the premise that chemicals like herbicides and pesticides pollute the food chain, Arrowhead Mills is now a passionate voice in the push for environmental commitment and an integral part of the NON-GMO project.  Though their home base is located in Texas, the company pushes local resourcing throughout the country and boasts an 80% American grown ingredients rate in their products.

Don't be fooled; the second company I am also featuring as part of this love letter to gluten free flour is just as fantastic!  King Arthur Flour, now headquartered in Norwich, Vermont after its renowned start in Boston, MA, is nothing but committed to social responsibility.  At over 220 years old, America's oldest flour company and 100% employee-owned Vermont gem knows a thing or two about environmental-footprints and local community care.  I will definitely be popping into the flagship store the next time I'm near Norwich!

SO, now that I've introduced you to two awesome companies making some great gluten-free flour, let me introduce you to one of my favorite New Englandy recipes for the fall, featuring nothing but the most local New England apples, twenty feet out my back door.  Could there possibly be anything better than New England apples in the fall?  Perhaps New England apple cake!  ...  DO try this recipe.  Gluten free or not, you will enjoy!!

This funky "Appul cace," as he spells it,
  has been decorated by my fantastic 6 year old sous chef.

New England Apple Cake

2 1/2 cups of Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour

3/4 cup (organic is best!) brown sugar

2 teaspoons of cinnamon

2 teaspoons of baking powder

¼ teaspoon of salt

3 eggs

1 tablespoon of lemon juice (and a bit of lemon zest if you want an extra lemon punch!)

1 cup of oil, I like either EVOO or coconut oil at room temp

3 cups of grated sweet apples (I’d say about 4-5 large apples)

1 cup of chopped pecans, or raisins/craisins if preferred

Confectioner’s sugar (optionally sprinkled on top)

Bake 350 or 375 degrees Fahrenheit for about 45 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. I have made this cake in all shapes and sizes; even muffins turn out well (though cook for a shorter time period).  The cake is dense, but super moist, and perfect with a bit of powdered sugar sprinkled on top! I like it better cooled, but who can wait?!

* Please note that although I do recognize New York is not actually part of New England, it IS local when food miles are concerned from geographical New England. For this reason, products made in New York are also featured on this blog.  (No corrections needed!)

Made in Massachusetts?!

Who knew a sneaker gem was so close to home?!  As my recent search for tennis shoes made me reflect on where exactly most shoes seem to come from, I found myself grasping at straws to come up with a locally-made option.  Then I found New Balance.

"Really?!  Made in Massachusetts?!"  Kudos go to New Balance, who surprised this shoe-skeptic!  With five domestic factories, two of which sit just miles from me in Massachusetts, it turns out that New Balance is the only major running-shoe company to produce a number of their products domestically.

Traditionally running shoes have been a labor-intensive product to create, requiring a number of assembly steps and a great deal of sewing.  For this reason, most of the large shoe-producing companies have their shoes made in foreign markets, where labor is cheaper. New Balance, though, has re-engineered many of their US-made shoes to require fewer labor inputs.  This is a notable achievement, accomplished for the sake of keeping their products more locally produced!

New Balance shoes only came onto my radar near the age of twenty, but the Boston-headquartered company has actually been in existence for over 100 years.  With a company value-list that includes three major tenets- moving the environment forward, social responsibility initiatives, and local community philanthropy- this is a company I feel good about supporting. Do your research and you will find a company taking care of its neighbors, donating over 6 million dollars per year to charities, and doing so with a concern for its local environment and employees. Please do check out New Balance's "Made in America" products ...made in our very own backyard!

http://www.newbalance.com/

A Local Halloween

A holiday gathering is an awesome time to celebrate what it means to value your local community.  Every geographical place does celebration a little differently, and it serves as a great reminder of some of the unique quirks that make home home.

My family enjoyed the first holiday of the fall season, Halloween, with a little extra gratitude and excitement this year for what it means to live in the Northeast.  After having resettled back after being abroad, it was our 6 year old Jonas's first Halloween. He had oodles of costume ideas running through his head, but finally settled on being poison ivy.  Do a google search of poison ivy costume, and you will see about 4,000 images of red-haired women in tight green dresses.  Good thing when Jonas' creativity gets going, it always comes with a strong vision and articulate directions!  

Jonas' idea for a homemade costume ended up being the perfect way to support local.  You may think I am ridiculous when I say that I am talking about Goodwill today on this local blog. 

"Goodwill? But that's a giant nation-wide organization!"

 

True. But one of the main tenants behind supporting local is resourcing what already exists in your region. Reusing, reducing, and recycling are easy to do when creativity and the perfect Halloween costume are involved!  I set out to Goodwill on Thursday with a list in hand for a pair of green pants, a green shirt, and a green hat, all sourced from local donations.  Fifteen minutes and eight dollars and 97 cents later, I swung by my local art store and purchased two small sheets of green paper, returning home with everything I needed to help Jonas' homemade costume visions come to life.

We were happy to enjoy a beautiful evening in the neighboring town of Windham, CT, where our child did his first ever trick-or-treating and (random local tradition) flashlight-egg-hunt at dark in the town square.  We saw oodles of fantastic costumes, happily ran into some great sets of friends, and got stopped by the local newspaper photographer who loved Jonas' locally-sourced, simply-handmade costume.  Though I have a lot of happy memories that take place behind a plastic Halloween mask from Venture or Target, my child's happy memories are not only of his first Halloween celebrations, but of our time making his costume together at home, letting him see his creativity come to fruition in his own hands.

Locally-sourced fun? Extra sweetness added to a very sweet holiday!

   

  

Raffle: Maine Sea Vegetables

Sea seasonings? Okay, it sounded a little gross to this land lover.  I'll admit that I'm pretty particular with sea food, as the fishy smell of the ocean is a little overwhelming to this Midwestern-raised girl. So hear me out when I tell you that even I have been won over.

I went seeking a natural way to support my thyroid.  As someone who has watched a number of family members struggle with thyroid issues, as well as read about the increasing concern over American thyroid conditions, I already had it in my head that iodine was an important piece of my diet.  But when my husband and I decided to move to the landlocked country of Zimbabwe a few years ago -a country so wrought with power outages that the idea of a fish actually making it safely from the coast was beyond questionable- figuring out supplementation was important.  We packed a few of these Maine-made gems found at our local co-op into our shipment, and could not be happier we did.  Now that we're back in the US, we're still using dulse in everything!

Government surveys show a 50% reduction in adult iodine levels since 1974.* Though there are a variety of possible reasons, one theory is that a number of pesticides affect how well our bodies are able to absorb iodine. Though most people don't want their pancakes tasting like seaweed (so don't pour too much!), adding a small amount of seafood flakes into batters, doughs, eggs, or salads can be an undetectable way to add some of the health of the ocean to your food every day.

Sea Seasonings, a New England company based in Hancock, Maine, has been helping its customers connect with the health benefits of sea vegetables since 1971. They work to maintain sustainable practices in harvesting, processing, and merchandising, producing more than they consume in an effort to give back more than they take.

Check out this great Maine company for more info about its practices and products: Maine Coast Sea Vegetables

Click on the button below to ENTER a rafflecopter giveaway of two free Sea Seasonings products:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*Iodine, Why You Need It, Why You Can't Live Without It, by Dr David Brownstein, MD, 2009.
**I am not sponsored by the company featured in this post.

New England, we love your oceans!

My child Jonas bakes a cake in our African kitchen-
a quarter teaspoon of dulse flakes included!

Meet A Local Farm: Buell's Orchard

"Autumn is a second spring, when every leaf is a flower." -Albert Camus 

I could not be happier to live in New England during this time of year. The flurries may be starting (sigh), but the landscape's colors are still better than ever.  With an enthusiastic six year old in tow, and having gone without a fall for the last three years abroad, my family has been soaking in as much of the season as we can get.

Our morning pit stop to a Connecticut family farm on Columbus Day turned into what I hope is a yearly tradition.  Known for their yearly Columbus Day bash, Buell's Orchard knows how to do fall.  Though the orchard is open much of the year for a variety of picking, touring, tasting, and shopping, their harvest festival pulls together a number of fun fall activities into a huge family event.  We arrived on a busy Columbus Day morning to fields of cars with enthusiastic locals and tourists wandering about, getting busy with hay rack rides, pumpkin picking in the pumpkin patch, free apple cider donuts and cider, face painting, apple picking, enjoying the barbecue and rolling fiddle and banjo music. As we made our way from the car, I said loudly to my husband, "We have got to know some people here. I think half the state is at Buell's this morning!" And sure enough, fifteen minutes later we were sitting down on  hay bales, gabbing away with old friends in a rustic fall paradise.

 Don't like crowds?  Buell's is known for its for garden-fresh veggies, peaches, plums, pears, strawberries, blueberries, pumpkins, and apples during their picking seasons.  They are open much of spring, summer, and fall for touring, picking, and field tripping, and I highly recommend them if you'd like to see a small family farm producing in a huge way for East Coast Consumers. Family farms that open their doors, sharing exactly where food comes from and how it makes it from the earth to the table?  They have such a piece of my heart! 

I could go on and on, but for more information on Buell's Orchard in Eastford, CT:

http://www.buellsorchard.com/

 

 

Casting My Silent Vote

I won't get started on the sadness of this truth, but sometimes it feels like our dollars are some of the most powerful things we have.  When we purchase products we cast silent, but telling, votes about what we find beautiful, what we put value in, and perhaps most importantly, what we support.   

When I lived in Africa, people back in the US asked me all the time how we shopped and how we dealt with "the market thing." It was a hard question to answer, and one that greatly evolved as I found myself making a different continent home for a few years. Transitions were huge, and our purchasing power and consumption changed greatly.

But I’ll admit it.  When I lived in the States before Africa, I would occasionally drive to a MegaMart or a different grocery store across town, all to save a dollar.  Though I always preferred to support smaller businesses and local (which were almost always more high-quality) products, there were many times my wallet spoke louder than my ideals.  I had to be realistic.  MegaMart was convenient.  I knew where to find things fast, and, especially, to find what I thought were bargains.  This is the story of any family making ends meet with little ones at home. I didn't love MegaMart.  But I didn't know how to scrape by without it, and so my dollars silently cast their vote the MegaMart direction.

But Africa unintentionally reminded me in new ways about my previous life living next to conveyor belts in US stores. In Africa, I could go to the market and chat with vendors about their process and goods.  I could kindly negotiate,  and I was reminded repeatedly that a dollar does make a huge difference to someone who is supporting their entire family with one small business.  The small market thing was more personal; I had to say no to someone’s face instead of to a numb MegaMart shelf.  There was inherently more guilt associated.  But I came to understand that there was also more humanity. 

The MegaMart shelf is eternally more comfortable; there is a price and you take it or leave it while throwing packaged products into a pile in your non-judgmental cart. But what we forget when we shop like that is that there is still a little man or woman making the item. He/she’s just a few more steps removed, so the potential guilt at knowing someone is being paid pennies for their hour of work is farther away from our conscious thought.  And remembering the gallons of petroleum used to ship our mass-produced items across oceans?  Those silent things are even easier to ignore when it's just us and our cart.   The Mega-Mart shelf is certainly the easier option. Thank goodness Africa reminded me, though, that not only is there something very powerful about the human interactions and learning that come from the process of purchasing face to face, but the quality of handmade items is often far superior.  

Shoes are a great example. In the time I wore out twelve pairs of cheap shoes (always purchased in clutch MegaMart moments when I felt I should not spend money on a higher quality pair), I could have worn through one high quality hand-made pair. Not only would money have been saved in the long run, but so would landfill space, supplies, and petroleum to ship my many pairs of shoes to my MegaMart.  When we buy super cheaply mass-produced items from far-away factories we must remember: while one item is cheap, we often have to purchase it over and over to get the same wear out of it as if we would have just bought the slightly more expensive product in the first place.  It has taken me years to understand this... and thirty pairs of shoes!  

Wanting to represent your family’s budget smartly in contrast with wanting to give a small local vendor their fair share can feel challenging, but I am starting to understand that buying local quality items the first time means less consumption and smarter spending power in the long run.  Better yet, I'm able to cast my silent votes these days towards what I really want to support.