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Other things popping about: red cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, bell peppers, beets, chili peppers, heirloom and other tomatoes, leeks, yellow and red onions, rosemary, thyme, basil, sage, zucchini, and cucumbers.

This young lady is talented. She’ll go far.

As seen at: http://twentytwowords.com

Hi, my name is xxxxxxxxxx and I attend Sanctuary Covenant. I absolutely love the church and Mpls and I thought of getting the city-scape logo you guys have as a tattoo but I can’t figure out how to save it. Would I be able to get that e-mailed to me? Thank you!!

No, thank you. I can now close the book on my life as a designer. What’s next in this life?

I LOVE TO COOK.
But I have no real skills other than what I’ve learned watching the Food Network. (I can chop veggies with the best of them nowadays).

I DON’T MEAL PLAN TOO WELL.
I wish I did a better job of this, it would make a huge difference in my cooking…

This is how I cook:
I get home from work, pop open a cookbook, find a recipe that I clearly only have half the ingredients for, decide to make it anyway by modifying it, see how it turns out. It’s hit or miss, but we eat it anyway (in most cases).

This is going to look so nerdly. But, it’s unfortunately true. These are the cookbooks I regularly use for kitchen inspiration.
I’m a huge Jamie Oliver fan. If you’ve been to this blog before, you probably know that already. I use these every week. There’s lots of simple stuff, some with decidedly European flare to it, but all good.

My New Vegetarian Cookbook. It literally does tell you how to cook EVERYTHING vegetarian.

Brunch anyone. I just got this one. Hoping it will transform Saturday mid-morning feasts at our house…

This is what I’m getting next. Then I’m going Asian. Probably Thai and Indian before going Japanese.

Last Spring, I surprised my wife (not in a good way, she was just surprised) by heading out in the backyard in the middle of the night and digging up a strip of grass to do some planting. It wasn’t huge, but neither is our city plot of land. A deal was struck! She got some room for flowers, I got some room for veggies.

I’ve been wanting to grow some of my own food for a while now. Here’s a few reasons why:

1. To Close the Gap.
   When you walk around the grocery store and see boxes and cans and microwavable trays, and each product has 50 ingredients in it, you get a very abstract picture of where food comes from. I wanted to close the gap between the field and the table.  I wanted to cook with veggies and herbs that I could see their whole life cycle.
2. To Teach My Kids About Real Food.
   Those products in the grocery store have dozens of ingredients that I can’t pronounce, much less tell you where they came from. One day my son who was 3 at the time asked me, “Where do Graham Crackers come from?” Not a clue. What does it say on the box?  Well, clearly there’s pyrophosphates in there son. Eat up. – Got me thinking, do I really want to give my kids food that I can’t pronounce the ingredients? Or myself for that matter?
3. I like to cook and I want my food to taste better.
   I’m not particularly that good at it, at least, not to where I’d hope to be…but I love to cook. The garden is inspiration. You can’t help but want to be a better cook when you’ve got access to fresh off the vine tomatoes, lush herbs and crunchy lettuce you just pulled out of the ground. When it comes out of the ground, gets washed and goes right into a meal, it tastes better. period.
4. Saving Money
   I think this is possible. I didn’t run the numbers last year, but conceivably, with the right mix of veggies, the right planting schedule, eating what’s “in season,” it is conceivable that you could actually save money. It doesn’t really cost that much to get up and running. Last year we spent less than $100 and had a serious bounty. I plan to do it again this year with more intentionality.

So, that’s why I started and I want to encourage you to grow something. I’m not saying that you should give up your day job and become a farmer. I’m not saying rip up your whole yard and make the whole thing edible. Here’s a few ideas to get you going though:

1. Grow Something. Anything.
   Head to the bookstore and look at the magazines. There’s a ton of them out right now that give you ideas from a window box, to container vegetable gardens, to 3×6 raised beds, to the works. Buy some seeds and grow!
2. Start at a pace that makes sense for you.
   Don’t rip up the whole yard if you’re not ready to deal with the ramifications of it. Not everyone is as crazy or impulsive as I am. Starting with a 5×20′ garden may not be right for you. But, there is a happy place between nothing and full-fledge farmer that is right for you.
3. Don’t be discouraged by some things not growing.
   Truth be told, at least half the seeds I started last year died before I could plant them outdoors. That sucked. But the other half didn’t. That was awesome. Don’t be discouraged. It’s not all going to grow.
4. Start with plants from the garden store.
   Starting from seed can be a lot more work and a lot more defeating. Start with 3-4″ or 12″ plants from the garden store can be a winning recipe. Most of those plants are bred to live in your local area. You’ll have a greater chance of early success.
5. If you’ve got kids, get them involved.
   Everyday, my boy was out in the garden asking if there were any cucumbers or tomatoes to pick. It’s a great way to get them going in the process and even encourage them to eat more fruits and veggies. My boy loves Thyme. He says it’s his favorite herb. Does your kid have a favorite herb at age 5? They could.

I’d love to have some conversation about your successes and struggles.

A few garden shots from last year…

THE OMNIVORE’S DILEMMA

Out of everything I’ve watched, read or listened to, this is by far the number 1 item on my list. I would recommend this book to everybody as a starting point to think about where our food comes from and the relationship we have with it. After this book, I became a Pollanaut. Nearly totally buying in to what Pollan says about the way in which we purchase and consume food.

You also can’t beat listening to this book rather than reading it. If you get the audible version, it’s read by Scott Brick who is one of the best readers around. He brings the book to life and I’d suggest there’s no better way to read this one.

OTHER BOOKS/COOKBOOKS

Food Rules – Easy digestible condensed version of Michael Pollan’s, “In Defense of Food.”
The Maker’s Diet – Interesting read about how a guy who was basically dying went back to the traditional, Biblical, kosher diet and it essentially saved his life.
Jamie at Home - Seriously, there are thousands of cookbooks in the world. The reason I love this cookbook is that I end up feeling gourmet, with simple fresh food. And it’s intended to be a resource to help you eat foods in-season.
Jamie’s Food Revolution – A simple cookbook to help you cook great simple meals from fresh ingredients. Same old same old from Jamie Oliver, but worth a look.

A Few TED talks

Michael Pollan: A Plant’s Eye View of the World

New York Times Food Writer Mark Bittman on “What’s Wrong With What We Eat”

Ann Cooper “Talks School Lunches”

Again, Jamie Oliver’s TED Prize Talk

FILMS

Food Inc. the movie…

I’ll let the trailer speak for itself.

Pollan’s other book, The Botany of Desire was made into a documentary that ran on PBS. It’s worth a watch even though it isn’t directly related to food issues.

Food Inc., A Participant Guide – This book expands on the stories and themes of the movie and takes them into a bit more detail.

Supersize Me

A little Docu-drama following filmmaker Morgan Spurlock as he sets out to eat McDonald’s every meal for a month including super-sizing his meal every time he’s asked. Within a month his health deteriorates and he works to reveal the half-truths about the health claims of the fast-food industry. It’s an oldie but a goodie.

King Corn

I just happened to be flipping through the channels one night and came across King Corn on PBS. Fantastic. Love the way this film dismantles the historical rise to prominence of corn as currency in America. If you eat anything in the middle isles of the grocery store, the stuff in boxes, you are undoubtedly consuming corn in some way.

Fresh

Fresh is definitely interesting. Not quite as polished as some of the above films. Not as interested in the darkside of the industry, more interested in the upside of people and movements to get people eating real fresh food once again.

LINKS

Local Harvest.
This is the best site around to find locally grown food whether it’s locating farmer’s markets, stores that carry local foods, CSA Farms (Community Supported Agriculture). Go there end zero in on your area of the map to find out what is available in your neighborhood.

A Good Food Manifesto by Will Allen.
Short, Sweet and to the point. Growing real food can happen anywhere.

I’ve got so much more, but this list is getting exhaustive, and I’m getting exhausted. Just wanted to share some of the resources that have changed my perspective on food.

All things being equal, I think most logical, coherent and breathing people can agree on 1 thing: No pollution is better than some pollution. End of argument. Smog=bad. Clean air=good. It’s only slightly above neanderthal in its comprehension quota.

I have little doubt, before or after watching this film that big business is self-intererested in serving the needs of its share price far beyond it’s responsibility to further the health and well-being of humanity. I have little doubt that our democracy has holes in it like swiss cheese where money is the filler that closes the gaps. I have little doubt that if these guys can make the Tesla Roadster run on electricity, then GM, Ford and Chrysler could come up with a long-term, viable, profitable solution to the problem of vehicle emissions.

Bottom line, I think most of us were told when we were kids to, “put it back the way you found it, or better.” There’s no excuse for demoralizing future generations by not solving problems that we can solve today. Electric car or no electric car, we should be interested in taking care of this world we’re here to steward. Zero emissions is a stewardship goal, not just an environmental freak movement.

If for no other reason than to be entertained and make you say, huh? add “Who Killed the Electric Car? to your netflix queue.

This week will be foodie week.

Here’s how I’m going to break it down.

Tuesday: Books, Movies, Links, Resources that have changed the way I think about food
Wednesday: Living off the land this summer
Thursday: Cookbooks that I use for inspiration (I rarely follow recipes, so they need to be inspiring…)
Friday: Two of my personal recipes that always get a warm welcome

More resources.

More stuff.

More beautiful.

More productive.

More is the standard I have set for myself.

More outputs.

More accomplishments.

More pats on the back.

More results.

More is what I want and more is what I’m getting. In order to get more, I’m putting in

More time.

More stress.

More money.

More of my life.

In order to get more, my family is getting

Less daddy.

Less husband.

Less patience.

Less love.

I’m ready for

Less perfect.

Less outputs.

Less pride.

Less friction.