For many baby-boomers, the constant refrain of “Eat your spinach, it’s good for you!” and the olive green glop of canned vegetable that accompanied the words, led to life-long spinach avoidance. Well now is the time, if you haven’t already, to overcome your spinach phobia. One nibble of a local farmer’s sweet and vibrant fresh spinach will do the trick.

Best Fresh!

The first spinach you see every spring at your local farmers' market is most likely from seeds planted late last fall.

The seeds germinate and barely start to put down roots before the frigid weather descends and they go into dormancy under the ice and snow. At the first hint of spring, however, they start growing like mad, and soon the leaves are huge, thick, juicy and sweet—unbelievably rich and meaty. You really have to taste it to believe it.

Health Benefits of Spinach

If great taste alone is not enough, remember that spinach is high in vitamins A and C, and in iron and folate. It is also a good source of fiber and magnesium, and is very low in calories.

And if you’re still not convinced, wine fortified with spinach juice was the healing elixir traditionally given to injured French soldiers. And the Persians, who cultivated the leafy green from at least the 6th century, recognized spinach’s sophistication and called it “the prince of vegetables.”

Every week, Secrets of the Seasonal Cook profiles a vegetable in season right now, and available at your local farmers' market. Subscribe Now!

Spinach Salade Lyonnaise

2013-05-17 07:19:36

This hearty salad is quick and easy to make, yet fit for a king with the combination of meaty-leaved spinach, crisp bacon, barely cooked eggs, and warm, sharp Dijon vinaigrette.

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Ingredients

4 cups torn spinach, or a mixture of spinach, lettuce, escarole, and other greens

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

About 1/4 pound (or less) good bacon or ham, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

2 to 4 tablespoons sherry or wine vinegar

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Salt

2 eggs

Black pepper

Instructions

1. Put greens in a large salad bowl. Put olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the bacon and cook slowly until crisp all over, about 10 minutes. Add vinegar and mustard to the skillet and bring just to a boil, stirring, then turn off heat.

2. Meanwhile, bring a couple inches of salted water to a boil in a small pan, then lower heat to barely bubbling. One at a time, break eggs into a shallow bowl and slip them into the bubbling water. Poach the eggs for 2 minutes, until the white is set but the yolk is still runny. Remove each egg with a slotted spoon, and place onto the greens.

3. Pour the bacon dressing over the greens (they’ll wilt a bit). Toss the salad, breaking the yolks of the poached eggs and distributing them evenly over the spinach. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately, with croutons or toast if you like.

Notes

The best thing to do with any fresh vegetable is almost nothing. But I confess that I have become dangerously enamored of this Fresh Spinach Salade Lyonnaise. If you want to go vegetarian or vegan, just leave out the bacon and egg, adding another few tablespoons of olive oil to the dressing. Keep this salad in mind when fall greens like frisee, escarole, and radicchio roll around because the hot dressing will soften and sweeten those sturdy leaves.

Serves 4 as a side dish, or 2 as a main course.

The Land Connection http://www.thelandconnection.org/

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The best way to enjoy healthy, seasonal produce is to buy it from your local farmer. To locate the farm, farmers’ market, or CSA nearest you, visit www.localharvest.org.

Farm Fresh Now! is a project of The Land Connection, an educational nonprofit that preserves farmland, trains new farmers, and connects people with great locally-grown foods. This series is made possible with generous support from the Illinois Department of Agriculture.

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“We don’t really own this land. Nobody does.  We’re all just stewards—taking care of it for whoever comes next.” From “What Will Be Your Legacy?”

All seats were filled at The Launch Pad in downtown Bloomington last Friday for the opening performance of the Land Connection produced play, “What Will Be Your Legacy?”  After a quick introduction to the local farmland issues that this play illustrates, the one act show commenced.

Centering on the dilemma faced by Gerald and Nettie, a retiring farmer and his wife about what to do with their farm, “What Will Be Your Legacy?” highlights the problems of an aging farmer population and of farm loss in Illinois and the Midwest.  Gerald and Nettie must choose between getting top dollar from a large industrial operation, or taking less, and taking a chance on a young couple who wish to farm sustainably and naturally.

After the show, Terra Brockman, the executive director of The Land Connection facilitated a discussion among the audience members, who ranged from farmers and families of farmers, to students and local food supporters. The room was filled with lively conversation as community members voiced their opinions on the issues that are often swept under the rug.

“It reminded me of the way my mom and dad talk when they talk about the farm,” said one audience member.

The discussion continued as people tried their best to identify and find solutions to the problems faced by retiring and aspiring farmers, and by society at large.

As director Doug Day put it, “The current [high input] system works, until it doesn’t anymore.”

As the conversation wound down, Brockman explained what The Land Connection is doing to help solve these issues.

“The hardest thing to do is to have everyone involved with a family farm transition sit down at the table,” she explains, “We can be the matchmakers, and we can help people tap into their core values of stewardship and explore creative solutions.”

The Land Connections works to facilitate meetings and foster connections between farmers, forming a web, and a society of support to help combat farm loss in Illinois.  They offer training programs for new farmers, as well as offering professional services in the transferal of land from one hand to the next. By taking steps to promote a community of the preservation of natural farmland and methods, the Land Connection hopes to change the direction we are heading.

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The Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service (MOSES) conference, now in its 24th year, is an event that welcomes everyone, and that you shouldn't miss!

Going up the escalator, you'll pass an Amish family, a young African-American couple, a young hipster, a white-bearded old-timer, and a Hispanic family. Basically there's one of everyone–and it doesn't matter where you are on the social, political, ethnic, or religious spectra–you are here for one thing: to learn more about organic farming, and to learn from experienced farmers themselves. And along the way, you eat great locally-sourced organic food, dig into meaty topics, and make new friend.

The conference begins Thursday, Feb 21 with ten full-day pre-conference Organic University courses, and goes on to feature more than 70 workshops Friday and Saturday, Feb 22-23. There are also 170 tradeshow exhibitors from seed companies to equipment manufacturers. This is the largest educational and networking event for the U.S. organic farming community, in 2012, the MOSES conference welcomed over 3,000 people, and expects to surpass that number this year.

In my humble opinion, it is not only the biggest, but the best. For more information: www.mosesorganic.org/conference/html

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Title: Pasture Management, Animal Health, and Livestock Production
Date: 2012-03-26

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Many of you have heard about the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Seasonal High Tunnel Initiative. Funding for this Initiative comes under the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), a voluntary program providing financial and technical assistance to agricultural producers like you. The Initiative’s goal is to assist you with improving plant and soil quality, reducing nutrient and pesticide transportation, improving air quality through reduced transportation inputs, and reducing energy use by providing consumers with a local source of fresh produce.

Understand that the High Tunnel Initiative is not a grant, but a contract with NRCS which includes some eligibility requirements.  During the first year, NRCS will require documentation on specific items that will assist in the agency’s evaluation of the initiative. While you can inquire and sign-up any time, NRCS will hold two cut-off dates where applications collected will be ranked. There are no guarantees there will be another opportunity so if you are interested, submit an application today. Those dates are March 30 and June 1, 2012. Check out NRCS’ website or visit your county’s local NRCS or Soil and Water Conservation District office today.

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Congratulations to Land Connection founder Terra Brockman on her Women's History Month award from Lt. Governor Sheila Simon.

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Brian Poeppel Spray Drift Presentation from Steven Marx on Vimeo.

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In the new piece by journalist Barry Estabrook, he tells the tale of two beef producers. They're right across the valley from each other, but are worlds apart in their practices.

Harris Ranch Beef Company has over 100,000 animals standing around in their manure, fed grain and antibiotics, with not a blade of grass (the proper food for ruminants like cattle) to be seen.

Open Space Meats is a family ranch that raises 75 cattle on 1100 acres — "doing what God intended a cow to do" — roam around and eat grass.

Thank goodness there are so many Central Illinois farm families raising their animals as Nature intended. They include the Morses of Trail's End Farm near Putnam, IL; Wettstein Organic Farm near Carlock, Organic Pastures near Eureka, Triple S Farms near Stewardson . . . and many more.

In fact, it seems like every day I'm hearing of new farmers starting up with a few livestock — many of them are the graduates of The Land Connection's Farmer Training Program, Central Illinois Farm Beginnings.

If you want to find delicious meat and other foods raised in a way that's good for the animals, good for the environment, and good for your health, find a local farmer at Local Harvest.

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In chart and on chart spread:

1. Box Quote.

In 2008, the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development and the U.N. Environment Program issued a paper (www.unep-unctad.org/cbtf/publications/UNCTAD_DITC_TED_2007_15.pdf) called "Organic Agriculture and Food Security in Africa." It concludes: “Organic agriculture can increase agricultural productivity and can raise incomes with low-cost, locally available and appropriate technologies, without causing environmental damage. Furthermore, evidence shows that organic agriculture can build up natural resources, strengthen communities and improve human capacity, thus improving food security by addressing many different causal factors simultaneously … Organic and near-organic agricultural methods and technologies are ideally suited for many poor, marginalized smallholder farmers in Africa, as they require minimal or no external inputs, use locally and naturally available materials to produce high-quality products, and encourage a whole systemic approach to farming that is more diverse and resistant to stress.

2. CO2 graphic courtesy of NewFarm.org.

Data and further information in “Organic Farming Combats Global Warming—Big Time” http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/ob_31

In Chart:

1. International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Technology and Development study at http://www.agassessment.org/reports/IAASTD/EN/Agriculture at a Crossroads_Executive Summary of the Synthesis Report (English).pdf
2. More about dangerous “inert” ingredients in pesticides at Chemical Research in Toxicology January 2009;22(1):97-105
   d. More information about health risks of atrazine exposure at
   Environmental Health News http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/newscience/prebirth-atrazine-increases-risk-of-small-birth-size/ and also at Royal Society of Chemistry http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2009/November/03110901.asp and http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1469905/pdf/envhper00328-0130.pdf and http://www.panna.org/resources/specific-pesticides/atrazine
3. More information on “superweeds” may be found in the New York Times and many other publications http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/business/energy-environment/04weed.html
   Already more than 130 types of weeds have developed levels of herbicide resistance in more than 40 U.S. states, more resistant weeds than found in any other country. Experts estimate glyphosate-resistant weeds have infested close to 11 million acres (4.5 million hectares), threatening U.S. farmers' yields.

Under FAQs

1. Badgley et al. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 22, 86 (2007). Peer-reviewed studies, such as that by C. Badgley et al show that organic yields are very similar to chemical yields, but that organic out-performs chemical ag in drought years and in developing nations. The study cited above shows that the average yield ratio (organic: non-organic) of food crops is 0.92 (160 examples) for developed countries and 1.80 (133 examples) for developing countries – i.e.. slightly higher yields for conventional ag in developed countries and slightly higher yields for organic ag in developing countries where most food insecure people live.
   b. The short list of banned pesticides was provided in a phone conversation with scienctist Karl Tupper at the Pesticide Action Network North America (www.panna.org). For a full list of banned pesticides see http://scorecard.goodguide.com/chemical-groups/one-list.tcl?short_list_name=brpest
2. The Scientific American June 2009 http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=weed-whacking-herbicide-p discusses the harmful effects of the “inert” ingredients in pesticides. Further scientific documentation about dangerous “inert” ingredients may be found in Chemical Research in Toxicology January 2009;22(1):97
3. Reuters News Service, April 8, 2011 http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/08/us-glyphosate-epa-idUSTRE7374WX20110408 reported that Monsanto made over $2 billion in sales of Roundup and other glyphosate-based herbicides in 2010. World annual spending on herbicide totals more than $14 billion, with more than $5 billion of that spent in the United States alone, according to the EPA. More than 2 billion lbs of herbicide were used globally in 2007, with one quarter of that total – 531 million lbs – used in the United States in that timeframe, according to a report issued in February by the EPA.The top users are farmers. In 2007 alone, for instance, as much as 185 million lbs of glyphosate was used by U.S. farmers, double the amount used only six years earlier.

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