Stuck for gift ideas? Why not good food, well made. Here’s just one idea. We’ll try to post more in the days to come.

Holiday Samplers from Calkins Creamery! Cheesemaker Emily has been adding wheels to the aging room in prepararation for their annual holiday sampler sales.

This year, Calkins features their classic Calkins Cheesebox and four holiday cheese baskets. They also offer whole wheels (limited quantities) of favorites such as Daisy & 4 Dog Dill. You can shop on line with their handy order form by visiting http://www.shop.calkinscreamery.com.

No matter how you slice it, CHEESE IS GOOD STUFF!!!!!

Happy shopping!

Tomorrow, November 18 is the last day for the Essential Eating Farmer’s Market until Thursday December 9 when it becomes bi-weekly (every other week) through the winter. The hours for the winter market will be 11 AM to 1 PM.  And happily, Mockingbird Bakery will be back with their artisan sprouted breads and are taking special orders now at mockingbirdbakery@verizon.net. 

If you ordered a turkey from Back Achers, pick up is Tuesday Nov 23 at 7 PM at the market location.

The Essential Eating Farmers Market is located at 515 Northern Boulevard Clarks Summit, PA.
For directions visit http://www.buylocalpa.org/source/view/essential-eating-farmers-market

Back Achers Farms still has a couple pasture-raised, organic-fed turkeys available for Tuesday’s pick up.  Order at backachersfarm@epix.net or 570 247-2940. They also have a limited supply of lamb available.
Paul Plum Orchard has beautiful selection of fall fruit BUT this will be his last week. Make sure to stock up on his delicious apples.  He has several varieties available from Cinnamon Spice to Fuji that will last several months stored in a cold place. 

The next Essential Eating Lifestyle & Cooking Class will be Saturday Jan 22, 2011 in our organic kitchen classroom at Lackawanna College.  For more information visit www.essentialeating.com or to register call 570 961-7813.  We teach others what real food is, where to find it locally and how to prepare it simply.  What a great gift for someone who wants to start the New Year making better food choices.

Good news.  Stonyfield Farms announced this week that they are switching to plant-based plastic for their yogurt containers.  This is a huge shift in food packaging and we’re glad that such a large producer is leading the way.

Packing school lunches?  A 5^th grade class in Seattle, Washington collected the disposed plastic bags from the lunchroom of their school.  In one week they collected 930 bags.  They stapled the collected bags together and the bag string circled the entire lunchroom twice!  The kids crunched the numbers and found that they could use 32,922 disposable plastic bags in one year.  So they had a fundraiser to get everyone using the ReUseies snack and sandwich bags.  You can read the whole story at www.reusies.com.  Check out reusable snack and sandwich bags at ReUsies.com.  Great gift item.  Just spreading good news.

Thanks for whacking the path to better food and making better choices!

And thanks to you Janie, for being such an advocate for local food!!!!

The BFBL Team

Well, this Spring is shaping up to be FULL of activities.  We are fast approaching Earth Day and your local BFBL Chapter is hot on the trail of attending numerous Earth Day activities.

To start us off, we will be at the PASA Booth location this Saturday, April 17th, from 11:00 – 2:00 planting seeds with kids!  The Wayne County PASA group is an active team and they have organized a fun event for children.  Be sure to come and visit us.  You can pick up information on the BFBL Chapter and/or membership information as well.  Here’s the scoop:  Earth Day Celebration, PPL Environmental Learning Center (the Center is located at Lake Wallenpaupack–enter PPL Drive, which is between the high school on Route 6 and the Route 6 intersection with Route 590), Time: 10:00 – 3:00, bring your kids to plant tomato and sunflower seeds!

On April 20th, Elaine Tweedy and Maria Montenegro will staff a table at the University of Scranton’s Earth Day event held on Dionne Green (just off the DeNaples student Center patio).  We will be giving out BFBL buttons and bumper stickers to new members who sign up at the event.

On April 22nd, Maria Montenegro will attend the King’s College Earth Day celebration on the campus green (center of campus).  All BFBL materials will be displayed, and information on the Chapter will be disseminated.

On the same day Elaine Tweedy will be at Bloomsburg University staffing a BFBL table for the campus’ Earth Day celebration.

If you haven’t seen the Minnow Trapping event on the main site (April 25th 1:00 – 3:00 pm at The Lands at Hillside in Dallas) you need to go look.  This promises to be a FUN FAMILY DAY, with naturalists from WNEP’s Pennsylvania Outdoor Life.  Who knows…you might even get to be on television if they tape the event!  Take your family and enjoy the event.

The Lands at Hillside is also holding a “Farm Volunteer Day.”  Here is the information: Volunteer Working Day and Earth Day Celebration, April 24, from 10am to 3pm. Come out and help us get the farm ready for the Summer, bring your yard tools and your kids and friends! Lots of cool stuff to do, plus Earth Day events as well. 

And, just received in my inbox…

On Friday, May 21^st, 2010, “Learning with Nature: Creating and Using Outdoor Classrooms” will be held from 8:30am to 12:30pm at the Penn State Hazleton Campus, in Hazleton, Pennsylvania.  This half day workshop is designed for Pre-School and Elementary Teachers, Day Care Providers, Environmental Educators & Naturalists, Landscape Architects & Designers, Parks and Recreation Directors, School/Daycare Administrators.   Act 48 Credits will be offered to educators.

Yours in good food.

Calling all:  FARMERS/LOCAL FOOD PRODUCERS/CHEFS & RESTAURATEURS in NE PA-DELAWARE HIGHLANDS FOODSHED

For a MEET AND GREET, March 9, 2010, 6:00-8:30pm at the Cocoon Coffee House & Catering Company, Route 6/Welwood Ave, Hawley, PA                      570-226-6130

Snacks and light refreshments served

Please attend this informal gathering of regional farmers and producers who are interested in meeting chefs and restaurateurs.

Who is invited: Any farmer/producer interested in selling direct to restaurants and any chef/restaurateur interested in direct farm-to-table purchasing.  

RSVP: grant@thesettlersinn.com

Focus:

• to explore the establishment of a direct farm-to-table food distribution system that works for all, is efficient and is sustainable
• to emphasize how building farmer/chef relationships (1) enhances the customer’s dining experience (because diners get fresher, more nutritious food that tastes better) and (2) supports small family farms (when restaurants buy local food and tell customers where the food they’re eating comes from).

Agenda:

• Brief intro by Grant Genzlinger & Ben Sutter of Settlers Inn (15 minutes)
• Intro of those attending (15 minutes)
• Brief discussion of direct sales distribution issues, farmer/producer issues, chef/restaurateur issues (20 minutes)
•  Goals for 2010 season & Goals 2011 (10 minutes)
•  Casual business exchange

Remember to RSVP: grant@thesettlersinn.com

If by some chance the storm holds off, this looks like a great movie to see!  I’ll try to investigate if they might reshow it (or have a snow date) should we get hammered with snow.  I’ll keep you posted. Stay warm and safe!

Growing an Artisan Cheese Business in Tough Times

Cowgirl Creamery | Taking the Pulse

We are happy to report that we have obtained the screening rights for the documentary “The Real Dirt on Farmer John.”  If you have not seen this film, produced in 2006, we will be obtaining a date in early April to showcase this very moving story of a rather odd midwestern farmer who experienced the full circle of farming evolution:  a generational farm, farm loss, despair and depression, farm rebirth. 

Check in often to our BFBL Northeast Region website for screening dates and times.  You won’t want to miss this one!  Click here to see a trailer on the film.

In other news, we are now accepting applications for a free listing in the 2010 Northeast Region Buy Fresh Buy Local Food Guide.  For a PDF fill-in-the-blank version of the application form,  or for more information, contact elaine.tweedy@scranton.edu or phone her at (570) 941-7588 and request the BFBL Food Guide Application Form.

We expect to make 6000 copies of the guide this year, using the same lovely high-gloss format as last year. 

Yours in good food,

The Northeast Region BFBL Team

You’ll know when to buy organic by checking the 10 most contaminated listing.

Remember, if you haven’t become a member of the BFBL Northeast Region Chapter, contact us today for more information!  Your membership helps our chapter produce the Local Food Guide, as well as hold events throughout the year featuring local farmers.

Yours in good food!

The BFBL Northeast Region Team

A complete and utter computer crash has had this blog off the map for a while.  But…WE’RE BAAAAACCCCCKKK!

Quite a number of things to share.  First, some have sent in your check for BFBL membership.  A nicely organized account was set up just before the holidays to process your information, however, the great electronics crash did away with all of it.  Subsequently we had to retrace all the info and we are just now getting back to sending out your confirmations and letters.  There’s a message below for those of you who have not received your confirmations yet, so be sure to read on.

Did you know that we have a winter market up and running?  It has been ongoing since the summer.  The Essential Eating Farmers Market is located in Chinchilla (between Clarks Summit and Scranton) on Northern Boulevard.  Starting next week, only Back Achers Farm will be at the market until March when Mockingbird Bakery returns.  To place orders for safe meat, maple products, organic eggs and more call Sue at 570-247-2940.
Next market date: Thursday January 28 from 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. at 515 Northern Boulevard (Rt 6/11) Clarks Summit, PA.

The Northeast Region Buy Fresh Buy Local chapter has a way for you to get out of the cold on Friday night and learn something in the process.  The chapter will host an exclusive local screening of movie FRESH, a documentary film that brings new thinking about what we are eating.  FRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision for a future of our food and our planet. FRESH addresses an ethos that has been sweeping the nation and is a call to action America has been waiting for.

Among several main characters, FRESH features urban farmer and activist Will Allen, the recipient of MacArthur’s 2008 Genius Award; sustainable farmer and entrepreneur Joel Salatin, made famous by Michael Pollan’s book The Omnivore’s Dilemma; and supermarket owner David Ball, challenging our Walmart dominated economy.

The film will be shown on Friday, January 22, 2010 at 7 pm.at The DeNaples Center.   Cost is $5 per person, $3 for Buy Fresh Buy Local Members, and students are admitted free with a valid ID. Reservations are required; please call 941-7588 to reserve your seat.  (Those of you who appear on our list as members will have the opportunity to pick up your confirmation/membership packets at the screening, should you be attending.)

The Northeast Region Chapter has involved the University’s SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise) Team in this particular project, to assist in sending the message about sustainable food and local purchase, market economics.  On Friday, SIFE students will run an exercise in conjunction with the movie, which if you complete will entitle you to a FREE book upon leaving the film.  We hope to see you there.

To become a member of the Buy Fresh Buy Local Northeast Region chapter visit our website at www.scrantonsbdc.com/bfbl or call Elaine Tweedy, at The University of Scranton Small Business Development Center at 941-7588.

And last, but not least…I just saw the film “Julie and Julia”.  I’m sure Julia would be proud to know that we are all thinking in terms of buying locally, buying fresh, whether you cook with lots of butter or not!  Watching Meryl Streep portray this lovely woman, who insisted on smelling the produce she purchased, was delightful.

Yours in good food!

The BFBL Northeast Region Team

During the fall season pumpkins are readily available at your local farmers market.  We generally associate pumpkins with pumpkin pie during the holidays but there are many more recipes available to make with this heart healthy vegetable. 

Pumpkins are bright orange for a reason.  They are loaded with beta- carotene which can help to protect against heart disease.  This vegetable is low in calories, low in fat, and high in potassium but provides a feeling of fullness due to its high fiber content.  Pumpkin can even serve as a regulator for insulin and blood sugar, which can be beneficial for Diabetes patients.  Another benefit to pumpkins is their seeds, which have an anti inflammatory effect and are loaded with minerals.

According to Jo-Ann Heslin, a registered dietitian and coauthor of The Healthy Wholefoods Counter, “Half a cup of pumpkin pie counts as a serving of vegetables, and if you make it without the crust, you can cut the calories too.”   

When preparing for your holiday meals this year remember that pumpkin pie is not your only option.  Here are some alternatives:

• Pumpkin Muffins
• Pumpkin Cheesecake
• Pumpkin Pancakes
• Pumpkin Soup
• Pumpkin Chili
• Pumpkin Stew
• Pumpkin Fudge

Check out our resources to find all of our recipes!

http://www.farmersmarketfoods.com/

http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/whattoeat/a/pumpkin.htm

http://www.pumpkinnook.com/cookbook.htm#recipe

This guest blog was written by Marywood University nutrition students Linda Valvano, Amanda Karosus, Arica Fratarcangeli.