Harvesting in the Name of Carrot Caking

Our garden looks insane. I'll admit it.

This is thanks in part to the strange little habits my husband and I have picked up from living in Spain, Iowa, and Zimababwe. You might just say our local backyard garden is a mix of the best of three continents. But thanks to a crazy little gardening method we have adopted called "hugelkultur," we have had the most giant green mess of unwatered growth -despite being in a drought!- that any gardener could hope for.  We have pulled an insane amount of produce out of our 20 x 20 space, and fed a few good bees in the process, thanks to my science-teacher husband, some elbow grease, and the constant supervision of our six year old. This month I thought I'd share a few of my favorite recipes that highlight some of these locally grown treasures, starting with -what else?- dessert.

Because, hey, why not?

I always judge a dish by how many guests have asked for the recipe. This one takes the cake. Literally.Though I can assure you it is the best cake I have ever eaten, it will not look so pretty in my pictures. This is because this time around, I made this a gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free cake (substitutions galore!) that challenged the frosting-aesthetics. Add in my child's blueberry decorations, and well, you get the picture. Literally.

Yup. No lies here. It can feel time intensive if you only have one cake pan instead of two or three (translation: the woman who moved her whole household back to the US with six suitcases may have "more cake pans" written on her Christmas list this year) but it is well worth it, I assure you. Plus, you're eating your vegetables. Literally.

    

Most Delicious Carrot Cake Ever

(Even when you use a lot of substitutions!)

Ingredients

2 cups flour (gluten free 1-1 works quite well, too!)

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

My Secret Desire to Eat Soap...

 

Ah, I love small businesses.

Custom-order-custom-made-obsessed interior designer aside, a number of times in my life I have been able to tackle a personal-challenge with the help of a small business willing to learn just what I am looking for and tweak things to my needs. When I called Sparrow Soaps recently, it was entirely with one of these personal problems in mind. 

I have a dear friend who I'll call Sam who is chemical, VOC, and perfume sensitive. Well, that may be putting things lightly. She's so allergenic, she can't go into most public buildings anymore because of carpet, paint, and construction VOCs. She has used the same unscented shampoo for fifteen years because she knows it's the only one that hasn't made her sick. And she can't have people who use scented laundry detergent or fabric softener enter her home.  You can imagine how difficult it was when she suddenly found out that the unscented soap she used in her home for the previous two decades was discontinued.  She tried unscented soap after unscented soap, each time breaking out in a different horrible list of symptoms that immediately told her she needed to keep searching for a new product. Each soap had its own chemical concoction, and with so many ingredients one was liable to not agree with severely sensitive skin.

I recently came across goat's milk soap. Sound gross? Okay, I'll admit, I'm not a goaty person. Some people are; I'm not. So I had no idea what to expect when I was gifted an albeit gorgeous bar of handmade goat's milk soap. But how happily surprised I was! With no goaty smell, I suddenly found myself enjoying washing my hands, feeling fancy with my handmade little treasure next to the sink. It was so smooth, my dairy-free brain had a strange desire to eat the glossy, creamy yellow bar that felt like thick heavenly custard! (Shh, don't tell anyone.) If you're like me and have enjoyed a mouthful of soap or two as a kid, you know how quickly I put that thought out of my mind!

My thoughts began to turn to Sam whenever I washed my hands. Could she use a product like this? Was there any way I could contact this small local business and beg them to make a batch for Sam with no dyes or perfumes?  Maybe if I promised them she'd buy a certain amount... What an awesome thing to be able to call a local small business and ask for their help.

I called Sparrow Soaps, a locally loved goat-soap company snuggled in the Quiet Corner of Connecticut. Though I'm sure the two fantastic ladies that make this soap probably would have bent over backwards to accommodate Sam, in the end they already had without knowing it! Acutely aware of the fact that not everyone could handle their amazing menu of scented varieties, Sparrow Soaps already had a line of unscented soaps in place that was just the answer to all of Sam's problems at the sink and in the tub.  I was directed to Sparrow Soaps' website for not only one unscented product, but six!

Much to the awesome advantage of people like Sam, small businesses often offer products that are more hypo-allergenic and chemical-free. Being closer to the goods that are used to make their products, employees of small businesses are more likely to use less complex-processing in their goods, trading chemical concoctions for simpler materials.  Sparrow Soaps may say they make "Old Fashioned" Goat's Milk Soap but in my book they are really quite ahead of the industry!

Thanks to Sparrow Soaps on behalf of Sam and myself. We have both been converted to the goat's milk soap camp for sure!

Want more info on the incredible benefits of local goat's milk soap? (Who knew there were so many?!) Click here!

Ten New England Design Habits

Though it doesn't have to, Living Local often means embracing the styles you find right in your own backyard.  Frequently inspired by the resources indigenously available to a local region, the lifestyles, trends, and must-haves in a home were long based on geography and economy until the influences of mass media adjusted our eye(s) for fashion. Though trends now differ from home to home and taste to taste more than ever, there are still common home and home-goods designs that remain true to a geographical area, like New England.

Below are ten New England design habits. If you can check some off the list, it may just mean you belong right here in good old New England....

10.  You may or may not have a mudroom full of fancier things, but you love your LL Bean tote and rain boots.

9.  In the summer, you kickback in your boathouse, pull up a chair on a dock, or hop outside for a family canoe race.

8. Firewood is not only a heating must-have, it's also a rustic decoration on your porch.

7. Oars, lighthouses, rope, ships in a bottle, pictures of sailing boats? Yeah, you have 'em.

    
       

6.  Stars and stripes: they come in all shapes and sizes, but no house is complete without them!

5.  Shingles?  For sure.

4. Cottage or colonial, you have wood. Polished or rustic. Rounded or raw.

 

3.  You knew what shiplap was before Joanna and Chip Gaines made it famous.

2.  Without that New-England-history-lesson, it could appear to be simply boring.  But your exterior trim matches your base color, even if it's not fashionable anywhere else.

Until the Industrial Revolution, most paints in New England were mixed in small batches using naturally found earth pigments. Paint colors, therefore, tended to reflect these pigments: red oxide, yellow ocher, lamp black, red and white lead, etc. Common exterior colors were especially reds, yellows, and greens, and most often entire homesteads tended to have one exterior color.

1.  You cannot get enough stone walls!

Narrangassett Cheese

I know, I know. I'm dairy free. But do not remind my husband.

Always happy to find a reason to sneak milk into our household, Kurt recently enjoyed this tasty treat, straight off the boat (or truck perhaps...) from Providence, Rhode Island. Though the Narragansett Creamery has oodles of local artisan products, including their you-can't-go-wrong-with-this Fresh and Feathery Mozarella (left), their best is one of their most recent product creations, Mediterranean Grilling Cheese (below).

Until moving abroad, like most Americans I was not familiar with "grilling cheese," also known as halloumi. Once I tasted it, a standard fare in a number of parts of the world, it was an immediate favorite. The cheese is squeaky clean and perfect on a number of tasty complex treats or simply a slice of local, grilled apple. Grilling cheeses have a deeply savory taste that pairs well with just about anything, standing up to heat by becoming crispy on the outside and gooey on the inside. Is your mouth watering yet?! Though we may be a cheese-centric country, this is one kind of cheese Americans need to learn more about!

What's even better than good cheese? Good production practices.  At Narragansett Creamery, local milk, kind bacteria, vegetable-based rennet, and salt are used to produce a pure and responsible product. Narragansett supports fair-trade and local ingredients to the best of their ability, their farmers pledge to not use growth hormones, and they are proud to be a family-owned company providing products to their local community of New England.

Do try a slice today... just don't remind me and my dairy free tummy what I'm missing! Sigh...

Need a few fantastic ideas of how to incorporate Narrangasett's Grilling Cheese into your next meal? The BBC may not be local, but they do know their halloumi cheese! Check it out here: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/9-new-ways-serve-halloumi

Find Narrangassett Cheeses in these local markets:

Rhode Island:  A Market Natural Foods * Belmont Market * Black Pear * The Blue Kangaroo * Blue Rocks Market * Brigido’s Fresh Market * C & R Mercantile * Carpenter’s Farm * Charlestown Wine & Spirits * Clement’s Market * Dave’s Marketplace * DeCastro Farms * Dunns Corners Market * East Side Prescription Center * Eastside Marketplace * Fertile Underground * Food for Thought * The Good Earth * Goose Pond Farm * The Green Grocer * Happy Acres Market *  Hope & Sundries * McQuade’s Marketplace * Milk & Honey Bazaar * Morris Farm * Munroe Dairy * Roch’s Market * Sandy’s Fine Food Emporium * Schartner Farms * Shaw’s * Shore’s Markets * South County Food Co-op * Sweet Berry Farm * Tom’s Markets * Venda Ravioli * Whaley Farm Market * Whole Foods Markets * Wishing Stone Farm * Young Family Farm *

Massachusetts:  Allandale Farms * American Provisions * Bacco’s Wine & Cheese * Bacon Street Farm * Bartlett’s Family Garden & Market * Bartlett’s Ocean View Farm * Bee’s Knees Supply Co. * Big Y * Blue Blinds Bakery * Boston Wine Exchange* Broadway Marketplace * Brothers Marketplace * Cape Abilities * Cape Cod Package Store * Cardullo’s * C’est Cheese  (NH)* Chatham Cheese Company * Chatham Village Market * City Feed & Supply * Coastal GreenGrocer * Common Crow Natural Market * Crusty Ventures * Dave’s Fresh Pasta * Deluca’s Market * Donelan’s * Fancy’s Market * Five Seventy Market * Foodies Urban Market * Formaggio Kitchen * Fruit Center Marketplace * Guaranteed Fresh * Harvest Co-op * Holmes Farm * How on Earth * Joppa Fine Foods * Lambert’s Farm Market * Last National Wine Co. * Lees Market * The Market at Pinehills * Milk & Honey Green Grocer * Morning Glory Farms * Natural Food Exchange * Nauset Farms * Needham Center Fine Wines * Prime * Quality Fruitland* Roche Bros. * Savenor’s * Savor Wine & Cheese * Siena Farms * Spring Brook Farm Country Store * The Spirited Gourmet *  Sudbury Farms * Tangerini Farm * Tastebuds Fresh Marketplace * Tendercrop Farm * Vidalias * Ward’s Berry Farm * Water Fresh Farm * Whittier Farms * Whole Foods Markets * Windfall Market * The Wine Cask * The Wine House * The Wine Vine * Woodberry Food Market

Connecticut:  Big Y * Caseus Fromagerie & Bistro * The Common Bond Market * Fairfield Cheese Company * Jonathan Edwards Winery * McQuade’s Marketplace * P & M Orange Street Market * Whole Foods Markets

New York:  Manhattan: Barnyard Cheese Shop * Battery Place Market * Beecher’s * Cheese on 62nd * Dean & Deluca Madison * Eataly * Eli’s * Forager’s Market * Formaggio Essex * Inwood Gourmet *  Lucy’sWhey * Malt & Mold * Market Basket * Milk & Hops * Saxelby Cheesemongers * The Wine Merchant * Westside Market Chelsea * Willoughby General * Whole Foods Market, Bowery * Zabar’s  Brooklyn:  Blue Apron * Brooklyn Larder * Brooklyn Victory Garden * Court Street Grocer * DePanneur * Eastern District * Forager’s Market * Green Grape Provisions * Lucy’sWhey * Marlow & Daughters * The Meat Hook * Park Slope Co-op * The Ploughman * Stinky Bklyn  * Valley Shepherd 

Long Island & beyond:  * Ahabs Corner Shop * Beacon Pantry * Cold Spring General Store * Deciccos * Loaves & Fishes * Plum Plums * Stuarts Seafood Market * Tarry Market * Village Cheese Shop * Whole Foods Lake Grove * Whole Foods Port Chester

Maine: Joppa Fine Foods *

New Hampshire: On the Vine Marketplace *

Small Trips: Supporting Local in Huge Ways

Want to hear what really shocked me last week?!

We live in Connecticut's Quiet Corner (2.5 hrs from NYC and 1.5 hours from Boston).  While sitting around a table of fifteen local adults, I discovered that only three of them had ever been to Boston or New York City.

What?  You're. Kidding. Me.  More people had been to the Bahamas than to a city an hour and a half away. 

I was floored.

It doesn't matter how many times I've seen it. Having lived all over the world, I am still amazed every time I realize that many of the people I live next to have never experienced popular things to do in their local area. Tourists can travel from all over the world to see special sites, and yet it often is the person who lives twenty miles away that has not taken the time to visit. Supporting local is not just about buying knick-knacks and small, artisan products. Supporting local is also about ways people interact with their community.

My recommendation to those who truly desire a way to embrace small businesses and the local economy? I'd encourage them to figure out ways to use a local geographical map or local tourism bureau to discover things sitting in their own backyards. Activities 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... and in the process often builds it, too!

 When we first settled into Connecticut, we discovered a fantastic program called "The Sky's the Limit," a 2015 hiking challenge put out by the CT State Parks Department. Connecticut, like many New England States, is famous for its hundreds of miles of hiking trails; as part of a No Child Left Inside initiative, their challenge was to get hikers who visit CT's highest peaks to take pictures at the base and the top of their climb to show proof of accomplishing all 14 peaks.

I can't rave enough about The Sky's the Limit Challenge. We got out to see pieces of the entire state, becoming more familiar with the changing topography and the special nuances that separate one region from another. Soon our friends were coming with us, and wanting to explore their state, too. Once we completed that challenge, my son Jonas had bigger ideas about finding peaks and parks throughout New England. And thus our 2016 personal challenge to get to every state in New England was on!

This past week we traveled to Peterborough, New Hampshire. We camped for two days in the Greenfield State Park (it's so nice! I recommend it!), where we hiked, canoed, fished, and climbed two Monadnok mountains. Jonas discovered wild blueberries, a New England treat, and spent the weekend collecting them to feed his newly acquired addiction, his invention called the "blueberry s'more." We learned about a new place, supported the small businesses that in turn helped us enjoy a fantastic trip, and made lasting memories that may just bring us back again soon.

It wasn't the Bahamas. I'll give you that.

But, wow.  There is real joy that comes from getting to know the amazingness that lies around you in your own backyard. I heart New England.

The Coventry Farmer's Market

As may already know, New England can serve as a regional model for local economies everywhere. We have a dense population that values New England's cultural identity and connections to history. We have natural capital, industrial and intellectual capital, agricultural bounties from every corner of every state, and most importantly, a groundswell of support for a burgeoning movement to grow economies that are local, fair, and green.

"But what is all this jibber jabber of big words leading to??" you wonder.  Easy.  It serves as a simple explanation of why New England farmer's markets are some of the best in the country.  If I'm not convincing you, maybe pretty little pictures of one of New England's largest farmer's markets, located in Coventry, Connecticut, will.

Whether you live in the city or suburbs, a farmers’ market is not too far from you if you live or visit anywhere in New England. From spring until late fall, you can find local growers set up with their canopies and colorful displays of just-harvested fruits and vegetables in town squares, parks and other public spaces. Throughout the winter, many move inside and keep right on connecting farmer/tradesperson to consumer. 

Here my son Jonas runs into a local friend while walking on a Nathan

Hale Homestead rock wall from the 1700s. What a fun space to bond with

neighbors and enjoy some local delectables!

I may be a little biased, as I live right down the road from the amazing homestead-turned community gathering called the Coventry Farmer's Market.  Here one can easily find an array of products, including baked goods, honey, flowers, jams and jellies, maple products, farmstead cheeses, grass-fed meat products, eggs, drinks, organic and heirloom fruits, herbs, and veggies, spices, sauces, and salsas, housewares, knitted goods, and wood products. But what's more is I can not only run into people from all over the region as well as local friends, but I can find my child animals to pet and ponies to ride, artisans to meet, hot dishes and cold drinks to partake of, and local musicians to hear. The market is located at the Nathan Hale homestead, the historically preserved homestead of Coventry native Nathan Hale.  (Who is Nathan Hale? Touted as America's first spy, he's also that dude quoted as saying, "I regret I have only one life to live for my country.") With different themes and community events going on every Sunday afternoon, I guarantee you you'll enjoy taking in the local goodies found at this incredible gathering place.  As YankeeMagazine.com puts it, the market feels like "a momentous celebration, with cooking demonstrations, sustainable-living programs, kids’ activities, musical guests, and local artisans."  Nothing could be so quintessential New England.  Check it out this season!

Row upon row of booths fill the Nathan Hale Homestead grounds for the Coventry Farmer's Market. Visitors can also tour the Nathan Hale home and gardens.

The Nathan Hale Homestead is located at 2299 South St., Coventry, CT. The market is held Sundays 11am-2pm, June-October.

Not-So-Local-Local African Chicken Salad

If you've never tasted Zimbabwe, here is your chance.

Wait, what?

"Isn't this a blog about New England?!" you say.

Definitely. I love to take a recipe from a distant time or place and bring back a little nostalgia with one bite.  Food is truly a way to immediately relive a certain magical something we remember, in this case something far from the Northeastern mountains and shore sitting outside my window. Though the recipe I'd like to share today is from my honorary homeland of Africa, it can be made using entirely local New England products.  As the farmers markets of our region pop up in town greens all over the Northeast, fresh green things continue to be on the menu!

Try it right away.  For me, it's like biting into my Zimbabwean garden all over again. Mm mmm...

New-England-African Chicken Salad

1 chicken, deboned / or 2-3 cups of cooked and cubed chicken
3/4 cup dried apricots or other dried fruit, preferably diced (a great opportunity to use local, Massachusetts-grown craisins!)
1/2 cup salted pistachios, no shells
1 bunch of cilantro, washed and coarsely chopped
2-3 tablespoons olive oil

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl, salt and pepper to taste. Easy-peasy!