Global Warming- Weighing the Risks

Have you seen Al Gore's documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth?" . Although it tends to be a bit on the extremist side of things, there are a key issues that are worth thinking about. Check it out if you can. My friend Marco recently sent me this clip from You Tube where a guy talks about the risks of our actions vs. inaction when it comes to addressing the human impact on global warming. Check out the clip at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=zORv8wwiadQ.

Hope High School Farmer's Market

Farmer's Market Saturday! For Tara and Jeff who will be moving to Providence in the fall, here is what you guys can look forward to on Saturday mornings. The market is open Saturday mornings from 9:30 until 12:30. I suggest going early otherwise some of the lines get long. There's usually some guy playing music there as people mill about from stand to stand with their dogs and kids in tow.

Fruit is in season now and my new treat are sugar plums. They are little plums about he size of those really large gumballs. And true to their name, they are sweet.

Whole Foods

Whole Foods is now carrying produce from some of the local RI farms! But, get to the local farmer's markets if you can b/c the lettuce at the store was much smaller than at the stands and for roughly the same price. Good to see them in a large chain store though.

More Bounty

The Farmer's Market down at Hope High School in Providence yielded a bounty of goodies (see photo). I was so excited to see the berries and the cherries (grown in CT). The large zucchinis will be used to make zucchini bread. The fruit and beans will be snacks. The arugula will be part of a salad with roasted beets and goat cheese from Massachusetts.

I think I've out did myself with tomato and mozz. sandwiches lately so I'm going to have to come up with other ideas for lunch.

Local Liquor

There is an abundance of local brews but recently I came across a fun find. Cold River Vodka is distilled in Maine in Maine from Maine potatoes. I haven't had vodka in a while, this one is very smooth and runs a bit on the pricey side. I also saw a vodka from Nantucket which came in flavors.

Girl's Got Meat!

What an adventure this is turning out to be. I spent most of my morning driving around. Went to 2 farmer's markets and Whole Foods. Yes, this isn't a cheap experiment but hopefully as the markets open up in Providence, I won't have to drive all the way to South County. I've enjoyed talking to the farmers who raise/grow this stuff and sell it at the markets. I feel a bit less removed from the food I eat which is good and bad. It now has a face (see last week's blog) but I feel really good about eating stuff that has been grown in Rhode Island.


Casey Farm Farmer's Market, Saunderstown, RI
Girl's got meat- finally. The man we met at Watson Farm last weekend was indeed selling meat from his farm. If was all frozen solid so there is no need to use it right away. He was selling grass-fed lamb and beef that he raises on the farm in Jamestown. It's not cheap folks. A tenderloin was like $17/pound. The burger grade stuff was cheaper. So, I got a pound of burger, a chuck steak, and two little lamb chops (pretty much the cheapest stuff there). Good grillin' meat though.

Casey Farm also had a great assortment of veggies. STRAWBERRIES!, greens, plants, snap peas, plants, onions, beets (can you cook the tops?), radishes, and eggs. There were also other local proporietors there selling produce form East Greenwich, and local honey and beauty products.

URI Farmer's Market, Kington, RI
Stopped there on the way to Amy's house. Found more meat and strawberries. Stoney Hill Cattle Co. out of Charlestown, RI had beef and pork. Got myself a pair of pork chops (again, frozen solid). Cedar Edge Farm from RI had cheaper organic strawberries there so I got more berries. Lots of plans. Also there were people selling Matunuck oysters and clams, lobster, plants, RI maple syrup, kettle corn, and beeswax products.

How I'm eating
Still not 100% local- it is still early in the season. The easiest thing to make so far are tomato, mozz., and basil sandwiches on crusty bread. Lamb chops on the grill tonight (weather permitting) with a roasted beet salad.

The Trip to Watson Farm

Today I visited Watson Farm in Jamestown in hopes of learning more about obtaining local meat or poultry. First lesson: they don't actually sell things on Watson Farm as I thought. Their goods (lamb, grass fed beef) are sold at the farmers market at nearby Casey Farm in Saunderstown on Saturdays. So now I have to wait ANOTHER week to go find meat. ( On the way home I cheated and bought some non-local food at Whole Foods).

The farm was really fun and scenic. There's a self-guided tour which takes you through pastures and down around the water. We saw cattle, sheep, horses, turkeys, chickens, ducks, barn cats, and a few bull frogs. Part of the farm is bordered by the ocean so there is a nice sea breeze in the higher elevations and down by the water. The clover was very abundant. You can see the cows above are loving it.