It's an old saw, but never has it been truer that national and international events filter down to us on the consumer level every day. And the choices we make as growers and consumers will have a huge impact on the choices available (or, even more importantly, unavailable) to us tommorrow.
Whether you are a local food producer or consumer, you should be aware of legislation and health issues regarding the food you eat. One way to keep up to date is to visit the Organic Consumer's Association website. You'll find tons of information and insights into such issues as the current NAIS movement to microchip all farm animals, genetic modification and irradition of our food, fair trade practices, and much much more.
You can also subscribe to the OCA's e-mail newsletter, Organic Bytes, to keep up to date with issues affecting your all-important food supply.
Check out our Resources page for lots more links to topics that matter to you as a conscious consumer and co-op member.
LocalFolks
Cook Up Traditional Fare, Spiced with Regional DiversityIf biodiversity is the key to a flourishing environment, that same diversity has been a key element in the flourishing growth of LocalFolks Foods. The family-run enterprise has a simple mission statement: To develop a diverse food line with an emphasis on using local, fresh, natural ingredients, making a conscience effort to reduce the distances our food travels before consumption.
LocalFolks is an outgrowth of the innovative natural farming ventures of Homestead Growers of Sheridan, Indiana. The popular LocalFolks product line was originally founded in an effort to use excess produce from the family mushroom and produce operations. They began marketing their products through a number of local farmers markets in 2006, quickly expanding into local retail establishments, including Lost River Market & Deli.
Since 1836, the historic "Kercheval Homestead Farm" has raised a wide variety of traditional crops, livestock and dairy products on 100 acres located in Hamilton County, about forty minutes north of Indianapolis. They currently have 15 acres dedicated to produce. For seven generations, an unbroken chain of family members has tilled the soil and tended the animals, preserving a sense of history and continuing many of the traditional farming methods of generations long past.
In 2001, Steve Spencer and his brother Jeff decided to branch out into the "non-traditional" produce arena. Realizing that a small family farm would have to distinguish itself to compete successfully against commercial growers, they committed themselves to uncompromising attention to the freshest, highest quality, naturally-grown produce, without the use of chemical herbicides or pesticides. The Spencers are dedicated to promoting the healthy benefits of eating local "in-season" produce while being good stewards of the land.
For generations the family shared a love for collecting wild mushrooms, so the move into growing exotic mushrooms seemed natural. The venture was successful and the brothers have since expanded their operation to include other produce common to their family garden for generations.
LocalFolks
Foods, a sister company to Homestead Growers, got its start in 2006,
with inspiration and guidance from Indianapolis Chef Tyler Herald of
Café Patachou. The Spencer family was providing Chef Herald with
ingredients for butternut ravioli. Watching this process, Steve began
to wonder what would be involved in turning his family’s produce into a
value-added commodity. Herald helped them with the logistics of getting
their own product line off the ground.
“We want to procure, process and market our products all within the same region…. It makes sense environmentally and financially,” says Steve. “We may not have banana bread, but we can have walnut bread and zucchini bread.” By focusing on fresh, local, seasonal offerings, LocalFolks not only celebrates the rich offerings available in our region, but limits the environmental footprint required to produce and market their offerings.
Steve and his wife Anita, who founded LocalFolks, are now expanding their scope yet again. Already they market mushroom patties, ravioli, pasta sauce, marinara, salsa, honey barbeque sauce and a popular jam called Purple Haze Blueberry Jam Goodness. All of their products are made with natural, fresh, local ingredients. A look at their labels will tell you that no corn syrup, artificial coloring or preservatives make their way onto the short, simple, ingredient list.
Now Steve and Anita are considering making the leap to LocalFolks Midwest. They will be procuring produce from surrounding areas, including fruits from Michigan farming co-operatives, to expand their jam line. Also in the works are hot sauces, stone ground mustard, soups, and maybe even frozen pizza.
If six farmers markets a week is not enough, Homestead Growers also runs a 100-member CSA, with the help of family friend Summer Cooper. They also provide produce to Farm Fresh Deliveries in Indianapolis, Nature's Harvest CSA in Atlanta, Indiana, and Wabash College in Crawfordsville.
“I am the front man for the operation,” Steve says, “but it takes all of us.” In fact, three generations actively work the farm today. Steve’s parents still live on the homestead and take a hand in day-to-day operations. “My dad is still out there in the field most days. He’s always tinkering and reinventing pieces of equipment to make sure we have what we need to get the job done.” His brother Jeff is the backbone of the operation in terms of building and fixing and managing labor on the farm. “Every time I dream up some new scheme they have to figure out how to make it work,” Steve laughs.
Steve’s mom also keeps her hand in, marshalling kids and running the family kitchen. Steve’s daughter Amanda and son Joel are right there in the thick of it, as are Jeff’s children. Their grandmother, 93, must be gratified at all this activity as she recalls picking tomatoes in her youth for three cents an hour!“We believe that food should be healthy and nutritious not only to the consumers, but also to the larger environment."
I recently bought a wonderful bunch of radishes, fat crisp radishes in red and white and purple. Looking down the store isle, I saw Esprí and realized that I actually knew the person who grew those radishes. They hadn’t been shipped in trucks across the country weeks ago but recently plucked from the ground only a few miles from where I stood. Knowing the grower is one of the pleasures of buying local produce.
As the season progresses more and more produce will be available from local growers, but lettuce, endive, and lemon grass are already on sale from Brambleberry Farm. Broccoli is coming soon. In coming weeks, Brambleberry Farm will supply, along with regular garden produce such as tomatoes, squash, and green beans, some less- familiar items. Try their green garlic or Italian dandelion to add zest to summer salads. Green Garlic looks like a scallion yet has a fresh garlic flavor. Italian dandelion is a cultivated variety of chicory with the look and taste of early spring dandelion leaves. Of course their fresh eggs are available at the Market throughout the year.
Darren and Esprí both have years of experience working on organic farms around the country. In 2003 they began Brambleberry Farm on land they share with Esprí’s parents. The garden beds are on old meadowland that has not been plowed or tilled for more than 30 years. Using a no-till method, which involves applying composted manure and hay, straw, or leaves to create thick mulch, they created raised beds that allow for planting to begin very early in the season.
Darren and Esprí farm in harmony with the flow of nature. They never use synthetic pesticides or fertilizers, follow organic farming methods and welcome most birds and wildlife to the garden. They realize many wild creatures have a role to play in garden health.
Like many of your Lost River Market & Deli suppliers, Alan Bishop dreams of providing you with something unique and of particular intrinsic value, even if it is harder to produce.
"I know the work that I am doing will be worth the payoff when you see all the new produce we are working on which will be distributing to local producers and the Lost River Market & Deli in the coming years," says Alan, "Chartreuse colored zucchini, rainbow sweet corns, newly crossed white cucumbers, those lovely multi-colored fingerling sweet peppers and a ton of new crops that have never seen Indiana soil."
Alan knows that his hard work will be rewarded in abundant harvest or abundant lessons or some mixture of both. "It's a great system really and one that couldn't work without the terrific support of the Lost River Market & Deli and their membership, farm stand patrons, and CSA members,' says Alan, "It's strange to think that there used to be a time when we had to worry about what to do with the produce we grew!"
Bishops Homegrown is the arm of Alan's business concerned
with producing and breeding healthy and "Eco-Logically"
grown plants and produce for Marketts and the Co-op but Alan is also
working with other independent plant breeders the world over and developing
seed lines adapted to the unique conditions of Southern Indiana that
he hopes to one day distribute to other old and new interested growers.
He calls this arm of his business The Hip-Gnosis Seed Development
project. Alan's Agricultural Grimoire papers document his research
towards self-sustainable agriculture and his plant breeding as well
as his desire to share what he has learned and is passionate about
with others.
Anyone interested in seed research and plant breeding can view Alan's research papers--his "Agricultural Grimoire"--here.
You can contact Alan at
And, if you are interested in joining Alan's message board for gardeners and natural farming, visit
Health and ethics are important issues for today's consumer. While shopping for food, more and more consumers are considering if their food is organic, if it was produced locally, or if it's a certified fair trade item. If it's an animal product, more and more people are also factoring in how that animal was raised, treated and processed.
In light of the recent record recall of 143 million pounds of beef (an estimated 37 million of which went to the National School Lunch Program in 36 states), Lost River Market food co-op would like to remind the public that there is a place to purchase beef and pork that is raised locally, naturally, sustainably, safely and humanely.
The co-op carries beef from Fischer Farms, a local producer who raises their animals on their farm in Dubois County, Indiana. In addition the co-op also carries pork from Hall Farms located right here in Paoli. The Fischer Farms cattle are naturally-raised without the use of antibiotics and growth hormones, grain finished, and then processed fresh weekly in Celestine, Indiana at Sanders Processing. Fischer Farms meat is featured on menus of some of the finest restaurants in Evansville, Bloomington and Indianapolis.
The benefits to the health of the environment, to consumers, the local economy and the cattle themselves are many. Plus, the taste is superlative compared to conventionally processed beef cattle. The upfront cost of the meat is marginally more for the same quality, but all things considered, it's a small price to pay to support sustainable agriculture and knowing your meat comes from a reliable source
About 10 billion animals—chickens, pigs, turkeys, cows, and other animals—are raised for human consumption each year in the United States. Most of them are raised by large producers rather than small family farmers. And on some of these farms many animals suffer extreme discomfort and pain in the name of efficiency
At the same time, those large operations that are most likely to subject animals to poor conditions are also more likely to negatively effect the environment with pollution. And large operations are most often subsidized by the government.
According to a 2003 Gallup poll, 62 percent of Americans favor strict laws to protect farm animals. In a Zogby poll taken the same year, 82 percent of the respondents said that there should be laws protecting farm animals from cruelty. And in a survey conducted by researchers at Ohio State University in 2005, 92 percent of those surveyed believed that farm animals should be well cared for.
The best way to support products from animals raised humanely is to know more about the supplier. The good news is that shoppers who patronize the Lost River Market and Deli can put a face to the food they purchase and rest assured that the utmost care and attention has been given to their meat from start to finish.
To find out more about the beef, pork and other products carried by Lost River Market & Deli, please contact us.
If you have had the good fortune to be raised in a farming community like Paoli, there is a summer ritual you can't do without--sugary sweet corn fresh from the garden.
You know the routine: the water is already boiling in the kitchen before you run out to the garden to gather an armload of fat green ears, husking them on the go as you return to the kitchen to steam them to sweet perfection. Oh yeah...
Well, if you are not lucky enough to have a garden full of fresh sweet corn just outside your door, Lost River Co-op can offer the next best thing-- delicious sweet corn delivered fresh from Miller Family Farm, just down the road in Hardinsburg.
Now you have probably been seeing something like sweet corn on the shelves in other establishments for months already, looking tired and starchy after its long trek from who knows where. In spite of my children's pleas, I have insisted that we will bide ourtime and wait for "the real thing."
I had the good fortune to be volunteering at the coop a few weeks ago when the first of the season's fresh sweet corn arrived at the loading dock, just picked from Dan Miller's field.
You can bet I was gleefully snagging my share of this favorite summer treat before the staff even had a chance to stock the produce cooler! It was so worth the wait to see the gleam of appreciation in my family's eyes when we sat down to steaming plates of sweet corn that same evening.
Dan
Miller and his wife Elsie retired to Orange County in 2002 to settle
near their son, a local cabinetmaker. After nearly thirty years of
farming in eastern Mississipi, Dan now raises a few acres of sweet
corn
each summer on their small farm, just to "stay out of mischief." Dan
assures us that those sweet ears will keep rolling in for at least
another month, so be sure to take advantage of the summer's bounty
while it lasts!
Purists may insist that sweet corn needs nothing more
than
a three-minute boil in a minimum of water, and perhaps a dash of salt
and a brushof butter once it reaches the table. For a more complex
flavor,
experiment with a blend of softened butter and herbs.
Starting with a dash at a time, you can add basil, rosemary, celery seed, chili powder, cayenne,
or cumin to taste. A little lemon or lime juice also
heightens the flavor and is a great option for anyone looking to reduce salt from their diet.
If you get tired of plain old corn on the cob, your thoughts may turn to scalloped dishes, succotash, relishes, fritters, soups, omelets, and chowders. Check out our Recipe pages to get you started on your summer sweet corn extravaganza