Aug 27, 2009

If you're planning to preserve tomatos now is the perfect time


Rick Lattin tells me that the Roma tomato season is about to peak so now is the perfect time to order a few lugs and spend some time preserving for those cold season meals. Contact them soon at 427-3750.

Mark and I spent some time in the kitchen last Friday improving our canning skills, listening to music, and doing what we love best...being together and working on a project.

Here's how our canning went:

Aug 25, 2009

WNC Workshop - Expanding Nevada's Viticulture Industry

FALLON – As harvest time approaches in the viticulture industry, Western Nevada College’s Specialty Crop Institute is hosting a wine grape harvest workshop for those interested in expanding Nevada’s viticulture and wine industry. The workshop will meet Thursday, September 10, 9 am-4 pm. It will combine classroom discussion at WNC Fallon campus, 160 Campus Way, and an on-farm tour at Churchill Vineyards in Fallon. Harvesting grapes and finding solutions to the challenges of cold hardiness will be the main topics of study.

Aug 24, 2009

Ouch! Backyard gardeners, big-box stores, and tomatoes

If you love tomatoes and grow your own here's something you might want to be aware of if you purchase plants rather than grow from seed.

The fresh and canned tomatoes we purchase at the supermarket this year are likely to be expensive due to a poor harvest. Interestingly enough it seems that backyard gardeners and big box stores may have contributed to the spread of the late blight that infected many tomato crops.

The Big Food "local" greenwashing begins!

Have you heard the latest? Frito-Lay is trying to cash in on the local food interest by marketing their chips as locally grown. You may have already seen the campaign at your favorite supermarket.

Read this article for more info and then warn your friends...Lays Potato Chips are the same industrial food they've always been but now they come with a deceptive new label.

Lamb -- Oops!

When I posted the info regarding local lamb I got the email address wrong. If you're interested you'll need to contact Wendy at modernpen@mac.com.

Aug 13, 2009

Not too late to get a local Northern Nevada turkey

Quickly....

Rise and Shine Farms still has a few turkeys that will be ready for Thanksgiving. Contact Mike soon to get one.


Want to help your friends and family better understand why local food is important? Take them to the movies!


If you read this blog you're the choir and I'm preaching. You probably already know something about industrial food and big ag, you vote with your fork and follow this blog. But we all have friends and family who don't understand why we make the special effort to buy food from people we know. Lecturing, cajoling, begging, and preaching may not influence them but a movie might.

Food, Inc. is a documentary about the ugly, scary, and yes sometimes gruesome, condition of our food system. It also has an upside and that’s the part I hope everyone walks away with.

Aug 12, 2009

River School teaches us how to preserve the bountiful harvest

A great way to carry those fantastic summer flavors into the cold weather season is to preserve what you grow in your own backyard or purchase from local farmers. River School is offering food preserving workshops on canning, drying, and pickling. See here for more info.

Aug 8, 2009

It's lamb season in Northern Nevada

Grow for Me raises heritage breed lamb and now is the time to stock your freezer.

The cost is $100 for a whole lamb, $50 if you're a Slow Food member (great time to sign up and join Slow Food Reno).


Email Grow For Me at modernpen@mac.com for more information.

Northern Nevada has a new growers market in Fallon

Wow! Northern Nevada has a collaborative growers market!

It's tomato canning season, too. Last year we canned 100 pounds and ran out of tomatoes in April. We'll put up 150lbs this year.

From my mailbox to you: Grand Opening of Growers Market at Lattin Farms

Fallon – Cooperative farming and increased demand for locally-grown food have sparked the opening of the new Growers Market at Lattin Farms in Fallon. The public is invited to a ribbon cutting ceremony at noon on Thursday, August 13, at Lattin Farms, 1955 McLean Road, Fallon, to celebrate the grand opening. Regular hours will be 7am-6pm, Monday through Saturday. The market will be closed on Sundays.

The new market is an expansion of the original Lattin Farms farm stand which has been operating since the 1980's. Last winter, a 2000 square-foot covered facility was built next to the original roadside stand. Five Nevada farms, including four new farms, will sell produce alongside Lattin Farms.

"The Growers Market will give our customers more of what they want when they want it," says Rick Lattin, owner of Lattin Farms, "and it will give new farmers a market to sell their product. It's exciting to see new farmers in Nevada." Pioneer Farms, Nanadew Herb Farm, Chickie Baby Blooms, Salisha's Delicious, and Dawn's Dream Acres will offer produce at the market.

Five varieties of cantaloupe, sweet corn, watermelon, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, peppers, eggplant, herbs, fresh cut flowers, and more are currently available at the market. Customers can also find jams and jellies, honey, and fresh baked goods from the on-farm bakery.

"We've got a bumper crop this year," says Lattin, "If you want to can tomatoes or make pickles, now's the time to come to the farm. We've got great prices - and we've got Hearts O' Gold melons."

For more information, call (775) 867-3750 or visit www.lattinfarms.com.

Aug 6, 2009

Grow For Me gets into the egg business

Here’s a new way to buy your free-range, pasture-raised, organic, hormone and antibiotic free, locally grown eggs.

Pay now for your hens and get your eggs later. It’s good for your family because you’ll know exactly how your hens will be raised and good for the farmer because it helps defray the up-front expense of developing and maintaining a healthy flock.


Grow For Me is going into the egg business. I’ve been to her place and seen her happy animals so the eggs should be great.

Briefly, here’s how it will work:

The consumer (you) will contract with Grow for Me to pay $25 before August 15th. With that money she’ll buy three hens for your family. If you want more eggs you can contract for more hens for an additional $15 apiece. The fee covers initial purchase, transportation, organic chick scratch, and replacement for chicks that don’t make it to laying-hen age. Wendy won’t be using antibiotics on the chicks so there could be a naturally occurring loss but the surviving chickens will be healthier.

The hens should reach laying age in late May of 2010. At that time you’ll pay $3.25 doz. or $4.65 for 18. This price is 75 cents less than we pay for our locally grown eggs so it accounts for the up front cost of the contract.

If you are interested in eggs for your restaurant she has a program for you too. Prepay $150 by August 30th for a maximum of 10 dozen eggs per week.

Contact Grow for Me at modernpen@mac.com for more details.