Source: Beth Mercer-Taylor
Sustainability Education Coordinator
The Sustainability Studies Minor at the University of Minnesota is excited to announce two programs at the Bell Museum this spring semester. They will focus on the topic of agriculture and sustainability. Both events will include panel discussions with farmers followed by interactive dialogue between the speakers and audience. In addition, the second event will include the short film A Farm for the Future. At the beginning of the events, the Museum's Hungry Planet exhibit about what people eat and where it comes from will be open. Programs are free for everyone, and the public is invited to join us! If you have any questions, feel free to email Lance Brisbois, student intern for the Minor.
Agriculture and Sustainability Panel with Minnesota Farmers
Tuesday, March 23
7:00-9:00pm
Bell Museum, University of Minnesota – Minneapolis campus
Why is sustainability important for land and for people? What is being done in Minnesota to help reduce environmental degradation? Why should we care?
Speakers: Jim Riddle, organic farmer and sustainable agriculture advocate, and other local farmers will share their stories of farming using organic and sustainable practices and tell us about the challenges and opportunities ahead.
Sustainable Alternatives to Conventional Agriculture
Thursday, April 8
7:30-9:00pm
Bell Museum, University of Minnesota – Minneapolis campus
Rural areas are experiencing significant population losses, and industrial farms are not sustainable in the long term. What can be done to revitalize rural communities and ensure environmental stewardship in farming practices?
Speakers: Kathy Draeger, Director of the Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships and Big Stone County farmer; Jim Kleinschmit, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy's Rural Communities program.
Film: A Farm for the Future 2009. Investigates how to transform a family's farm into a low-energy farm for the future, and discovers that nature holds the key. Originally aired on the BBC's Natural World series. 50-minute run time.
[where: Sustainable Food, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Twin Cities, Minnesota]
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
University of Minnesota Hosts Sustainability Programs
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Film Showing: HomeGrown: The 21st Century Family Farm
HomeGrown: The 21st Century Family Farm
Thursday, February 4, 2010
7:00 pm
Free admission
Bell Museum Auditorium, corner of University Ave. & 17th Ave. SE,
Minneapolis
The Agri-food Reading Group at the University of Minnesota is
sponsoring a showing of the film HomeGrown: The 21st Century Family Farm.
The Dervaes family grows over 6,000 pounds of produce on one city lot in
Pasadena, California, as well as generating much of their own power. Relying
mainly on their own words, this documentary provides a portrait of how they
moved from conventional homeowners to cultivating their own urban
"homestead." See more information at http://www.homegrown-film.com.
The film will be immediately followed by a panel discussion
on urban agriculture and its relation to sustainable and just urban
development. Scheduled panelists are:
* Melvin Giles - Community organizer, peace activist, and educator.
* Collie Graddick - Agricultural Consultant with the Minn. Dept. of
Agriculture. Has extensive experience working with local governments and
community groups throughout the Twin Cities on gardening and sustainability
projects.
* Metric Giles - Has two decades of involvement with community gardens,
volunteering in community schools, and working to address housing
disparities throughout the metro area.
* Art Serotoff - Longtime social justice advocate who has experience
starting community gardens and creating public health initiatives, currently
working at the Sabathani Community Center.
[where: Sustainable Food, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Twin Cities, Minnesota]
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Black Garlic Smashed Taters
Black garlic is amazing. It's got a sweet, umami flavor that packs a lighter punch than conventional garlic. It is, in fact, conventional garlic, but it has been fermented at a high temperature for a month, resulting in softened, sweetened, and blackened cloves. Read all about it here: www.marxfoods.com/Fermented-Black-Garlic
Here's how to make the black garlic spuds:
* 3 pounds waxy potatoes, quartered and boiled until tender
* 2 cups half and half (Cedar Summit)
* 3 tbsp butter (Hope Creamery)
* 6 cloves black garlic mashed into bits
* 5 ounces Cedar Grove Cheddar Cheese
* salt and pepper
Directions:
Boil potatoes until tender. Drain the pot. Leave spuds in pot.
While that boils, smash up your black garlic.
In a saucepan, warm half and half and butter to a light simmer. When it gets to simmering, turn off the pot and pour it over the spuds. Mash together. Fold in cheese, garlic, salt and pepper to taste.
I served mine up with some baked Fischer Farms pork tenderloin and steamed green beans from the garden, which were hiding in the deep freeze.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Cider Braised Country Style Ribs and Butternut Squash
Cider Braised Country Style Ribs and Butternut Squash (serves 3-4)
4-6 country style boneless pork ribs
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
2 medium onions, peeled and chopped roughly
12 oz. Cider
1 c. chicken stock
2 tbsp BBQ sauce
2 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. pepper
Preheat oven to 375.
Rub ribs with salt and pepper on both sides.
Brown ribs on all sides in hot oil in skillet. Add salt, pepper, water, garlic, and onion to pan.
Allow onions to caramelize until dark, but not burned.
Place ribs and onions in an oven casserole and set aside.
De-glaze skillet with 6 oz cider
Pour cider de-glazing mixture over the ribs and onions in the casserole.
Add remaining thyme, BBQ sauce, cider, and stock to the casserole pan. Stir.
Bake covered for 1 hour at 375.
Remove cover and bake for one more hour at 375.
Baste ribs 3-4 times with braising liquid from the pan while baking.
Serve with butternut squash recipe below.
Pour 2 tbsp. braising liquid over ribs and squash.
--------------------------------------------------
1 medium butternut squash
1 tbsp. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
Cut squash down the middle lengthwise, scrape out seeds.
Rub cut surface with salt, pepper, oil, brown sugar.
Coat baking pan with butter or non-stick spray.
Bake upside-down in baking pan at 375 for 1.5 hours.
Scrape out the squash pulp, and mash until smooth.
Add more salt, pepper, brown sugar to taste.
Shepherd's Way Farms -- Cheesemaking Classes
From Shepherd's Way: Want to make cheese at home? Curious about artisan cheese? Or, looking for a special outing for your group of friends? Choose from our one-day afternoon class, custom group classes at the farm, or classes tailored for your group and location. Inside Artisan Cheesemaking – January 17 OR February 7 1 Day Afternoon Class January 17, Sunday 1pm-4 pm (one day class) 1 Day Afternoon Class February 7, Sunday 1pm-4pm (one day class) (Preregister by email farmfriends@earthlink.net, we'll email you details so you can complete registration online or by mail.) (just outside Northfield, 1 hour south of Minneapolis/St.Paul)
Spend an afternoon at Shepherd's Way Farms award-winning sheep dairy covering cheesemaking basics and techniques, learning some steps hands-on, and sampling and discussing cheese. We will cover information about several cheeses and walk through steps of a typical cheesemake. Includes a demonstration make of ricotta cheese and the final steps of fresh cheese. By the end of the day, you will have a good foundation for building your home cheesemaking skills -- for beginners or for those just wanting to know more. And you will get to take cheese home! (Portions of the class will take place in the cheesemaking facility and require some extended standing. Adults only, please!)
$65 Registration & prepayment required Limit 15 people
Shepherd's Way Farms, 8626 160th Street East, Nerstrand, MN 55053
Questions? Email them at farmfriends@earthlink.net or call 507-663-9040.
[where: Sustainable Food, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Twin Cities, Minnesota]
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Free Films on Food and Agriculture
It's pretty cold outside. How about catching a free film?
7:00 PM TONIGHT at the U of M Bell Museum of Natural History Auditorium, the classic food film, Big Night, will be playing as part of the Films on Food and Agriculture series by the Agrifood Reading Group at the University of Minnesota
"Two immigrant brothers (Stanley Tucci and Tony Shalhoub) run a small trattoria serving the finest of Italian regional cooking. Unfortunately, it’s 1950s New Jersey, and customers expect singing waiters to deliver heaping mounds of spaghetti and meatballs. Can their “big night” with a star guest save the day?"
The film series continues in the winter, on the FIRST Thursdays:
HomeGrown
Thursday, February 4
The Dervaes family grows over 6,000 pounds of produce on one
city lot in Pasadena, CA. Relying mainly on their own words, this
documentary provides a portrait of how they moved from conventional
homeowners to cultivating their own urban “homestead.”
The Gleaners and I
Thursday, March 4
Follow Agnes Varda, grande dame of the French New Wave, on this
“wandering-road documentary” that explores those who insist on
finding a use for that which society casts off, whether out of necessity
or activism.
The Real Dirt on Farmer John
Thursday, April 1
The epic tale of a maverick Midwestern farmer who transforms his
farm amidst economic crisis and the difficulties of being different in
rural America. Brilliantly constructed from a lifetime of documentary
footage, this funny and haunting film heralds the renewal of the
Peterson family farm as a bastion of creative agriculture and one
of the U.S.ʼs largest CSA farms.
Julie and Julia
Thursday, May 6
Meryl Streep is Julia Child and Amy Adams is writer Julia Powell in
Nora Ephron's vivid and compelling story. Julia Child discovers her
gift for French cooking and writes the classic Mastering the Art of
French Cooking. Julia Powell resolves to make all 524 recipes in the
book in a year, and to blog about it. Both women achieve selfrealization
with passion, fearlessness and butter.
Sponsored and organized by the Agrifood Reading Group at the University
of Minnesota www.AgriFoodUMN.net
Co-sponsored by the Institute for Global Studies, Institute for Advanced
Studies, Bell Museum of Natural History, and Departments of History, Geography and Sociology.
The Bell Museum will remain open until 9pm on Thursday evenings, and the
new exhibit “Hungry Planet: What the World Eats” will be up until May 9, 2010).
[where: Sustainable Food, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Twin Cities, Minnesota]
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Shepherd's Way Cheese Sampling This Weekend
This Saturday, Shepherd's Way Farm will be at the Eastside Co-op in Northeast Minneapolis from 10:30 am until 12:30 pm sampling cheese.
Following their appearance at Eastside Co-op, they will be at the Birchwood Cafe sampling cheese and signing people up for their cheese CSA.
More info about their cheese CSA from Steven Read:
What is a CSA?
A CSA is a relationship of mutual support and commitment between local farmers and community members who pay the farmer an annual membership fee to cover the production costs of the farm. In turn, members receive a regular share of the harvest during the local growing season. From Shepherd’s Way, members will receive a monthly cheese share made up of an assortment, usually 4-6 pieces of the following cheeses totaling one and a half pounds:
Big Woods Blue is a full-flavored blue cheese that blends the creaminess of sheep milk with an open texture and spicy, complex flavor. One of the best blue cheeses made in America, it has finished top in its class twice at the American Cheese Society and has appeared many times in national gourmet magazines.
Friesago is a semi-hard sheep milk cheese with a piquant, slightly nutty flavor. It is hand dipped in black wax for aging and also has won several awards and been featured in national publications. This cheese has been unavailable the last two years and we are very excited to offer be able to offer it again.
Shepherd’s Hope is a fresh light cheese available in two versions, original and Garlic and Herb. Extremely versatile, the Shepherd’s Hope is a great table cheese, great cooking cheese and also a multiple award winner.
Hidden Falls is a blend of sheep milk and organic grass fed cow milk from our friends Dave and Florence at Cedar Summit Farm. Similar to a brie with a great buttery note and wonderful creamy texture. Because of limited production, it has not been widely available in retail markets, but will be available first to our CSA members.
There will also be some months when some of our limited editions, such as Jodi’s Shepherd’s Truffles (fresh vanilla cheese rolled in chocolate), the Adobo Cheese Spread and other cheeses will also be included.
Cheese Pick-up
Cheese Shares will be delivered the third week of each month
Shares could be picked up at Mill City Farmers Market - May through October - Mpls.
Indoor Farmers Market - November through April - Mpls.
Just Food - Year round - Northfield - Thursday afternoon, 4:00-7:00 pm and Saturday, 10:00 am until 1:00 pm
Lucia's Wine Bar on Thursday from 3-6 pm - Uptown, Minneapolis
In Saint Paul, pick up will be at the Golden Fig on Grand Avenue on Tuesday, 3-6 pm
Additional pick up points will be added depending on member growth.
Cost:
A one year membership will cost $320.00 and a six month membership will cost $180.00. Members who belong to another CSA will receive a $10 discount. The first pick up will be next month, August 15th, which corresponds to Eat Local Month.
Contact Steven Read at 612-306-4210 with questions.
[where: Sustainable Food, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Twin Cities, Minnesota]
