I heard about the October Unprocessed Challenge and decided to try it out. I encourage you to as well! The idea is to spend the whole month eating all "unprocessed" food. For purposes of the challenge the definition is Unprocessed food is any food that could be made by a person with reasonable skill in a home kitchen with readily available, whole-food ingredients. You can look for a longer discussion of that with the link back there.
I'll try to post extra recipes and food focused posts throughout the month of October.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Monday, September 26, 2011
Things that made me smile today
"Alice, you look like a farmer!"- My coworker Sister
The people at the hardware store where I've been buying lots of stuff including canning jars says "You're back again!"
The people at the hardware store where I've been buying lots of stuff including canning jars says "You're back again!"
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Imagining a city
The reality of any city, but perhaps Detroit in particular, is profoundly reliant on fossil fuels. It is all cars and trucks. It is people in boxes made of concrete, brick and glass. The boxes are lit, cooled and heated by fossil fuels and inside the work involves consuming resources from elsewhere and transforming them. There are lots of environmental reasons to want to change this reality, but I think the psychic reasons are more compelling.
Thursday this past week we were planting trees in a neighborhood called Cody/Rouge with the Green Infrastructure department at Greening. There are lots of good environmental reasons to want to plant trees. In this particular neighborhood we were actually there under contract from the Water Treatment people because that area is very low lying and when it rains there is so much runoff that goes into the storm drain area that it causes the water treatment facilities to overflow, forcing them to send some untreated sewage water into the river system. Thousands of street trees will help to fix that.
More compelling than all that though is how excited people in the neighborhood (for the most part) were to see some trees going in. The neighborhood isn't real burnt out, but about one house per block there is abandoned. The folks in the neighborhood that day wanted to talk to us, to find out what sort of tree they were getting and the ones that were home also wanted to talk to us about their yards and what else is going on there. One guy said "I think that tree is supposed to have pink flower. That'll be nice, think it will attract the ladies?" That same guy brought us ice cream a little later.
Yesterday I was part of a great big bike ride called the Tour de Troit. Most of the riders I talked to were from the suburbs or other nearby areas. Some of those were folks who worked in the city but lived outside. The folks who hadn't been there (or biked there) in the past few months were impressed with all the bike lanes that had recently been painted in the city. The ride was not a race and most folks were just wearing ordinary athletic clothes and riding ordinary bikes. Even so, the sight of thousands of bikers riding down the streets of Detroit, even when we were blocking their way, seemed to make most people we passed really happy. Lots waved or had brought their kids out to watch. Many expressed a desire to join in if they had their bike around. And in general that has been my experience of biking in the motor city. People just think it is cool that you are biking and they want to chat. Meeting folks is one of the best things about biking here, I'd never have as many interesting conversations if I was locked up in steel and glass.
Thursday this past week we were planting trees in a neighborhood called Cody/Rouge with the Green Infrastructure department at Greening. There are lots of good environmental reasons to want to plant trees. In this particular neighborhood we were actually there under contract from the Water Treatment people because that area is very low lying and when it rains there is so much runoff that goes into the storm drain area that it causes the water treatment facilities to overflow, forcing them to send some untreated sewage water into the river system. Thousands of street trees will help to fix that.
More compelling than all that though is how excited people in the neighborhood (for the most part) were to see some trees going in. The neighborhood isn't real burnt out, but about one house per block there is abandoned. The folks in the neighborhood that day wanted to talk to us, to find out what sort of tree they were getting and the ones that were home also wanted to talk to us about their yards and what else is going on there. One guy said "I think that tree is supposed to have pink flower. That'll be nice, think it will attract the ladies?" That same guy brought us ice cream a little later.
Yesterday I was part of a great big bike ride called the Tour de Troit. Most of the riders I talked to were from the suburbs or other nearby areas. Some of those were folks who worked in the city but lived outside. The folks who hadn't been there (or biked there) in the past few months were impressed with all the bike lanes that had recently been painted in the city. The ride was not a race and most folks were just wearing ordinary athletic clothes and riding ordinary bikes. Even so, the sight of thousands of bikers riding down the streets of Detroit, even when we were blocking their way, seemed to make most people we passed really happy. Lots waved or had brought their kids out to watch. Many expressed a desire to join in if they had their bike around. And in general that has been my experience of biking in the motor city. People just think it is cool that you are biking and they want to chat. Meeting folks is one of the best things about biking here, I'd never have as many interesting conversations if I was locked up in steel and glass.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Progressive Dinner for the Hub of Detroit
Went to a great Progressive Dinner for a local non-profit bike collective called the Hub of Detroit. It was $25 for an amazing ride all over Detroit in small groups where we ate at 5 different locations (mostly parks). The food was cooked by a variety of local food people.
The first stop was for some Black Bean Soup made by some guys from the bike shop. Just the perfect amount of spiciness.
On our way to the second stop is when we started encountering folks tailgating for the Lions game. Most of them were nice and just wanted us to honk and ring our bells and cheer when they said "Go Lions", but some were total assholes and had obviously already had way too much to drink.
The second stop was at OmniCorpDetroit, a local creative space, and we ate some pizza made by the Pie-Sci guys. The pizza was a BBQ Chicken Pizza, which was a little weird and too creative, but the fundamentals were strong. The space was really cool though and I am planning to take some of OmniCorp's classes this fall.
The third stop was a park down by the river where we got to eat some yummy lentil stuff with a really good creamy sauce that I should have asked what it was. In any event, it was delicious. Plus it was warm and things had just started to cool off.
The fourth stop was a little pocket park downtown in a kind of busy spot (with lots of bars and Lions fans, GO LIONS). There we ate some amazing wraps and a little beet salad. Yum yum. All that yummy stuff was by a place called Neighborhood Noodle.
The last stop was Clark Park, which is real near our house, and there we had ice cream! It was winter squash ice cream with some yummy toasted walnuts and it was by Suddenly Sauer, which is the company of a friend of my housemate Laura's named Blair. It was super delicious. And Laura was my super bike riding friend and we met a lot of people including a few folks who work with Calvin. And I forgot almost everyone's name! But I bet I get to meet them again. Maybe at Tour de Troit next weekend?
All in all well worth the $25 especially since it is going to some great programs over at the Hub.
The first stop was for some Black Bean Soup made by some guys from the bike shop. Just the perfect amount of spiciness.
On our way to the second stop is when we started encountering folks tailgating for the Lions game. Most of them were nice and just wanted us to honk and ring our bells and cheer when they said "Go Lions", but some were total assholes and had obviously already had way too much to drink.
The second stop was at OmniCorpDetroit, a local creative space, and we ate some pizza made by the Pie-Sci guys. The pizza was a BBQ Chicken Pizza, which was a little weird and too creative, but the fundamentals were strong. The space was really cool though and I am planning to take some of OmniCorp's classes this fall.
The third stop was a park down by the river where we got to eat some yummy lentil stuff with a really good creamy sauce that I should have asked what it was. In any event, it was delicious. Plus it was warm and things had just started to cool off.
The fourth stop was a little pocket park downtown in a kind of busy spot (with lots of bars and Lions fans, GO LIONS). There we ate some amazing wraps and a little beet salad. Yum yum. All that yummy stuff was by a place called Neighborhood Noodle.
The last stop was Clark Park, which is real near our house, and there we had ice cream! It was winter squash ice cream with some yummy toasted walnuts and it was by Suddenly Sauer, which is the company of a friend of my housemate Laura's named Blair. It was super delicious. And Laura was my super bike riding friend and we met a lot of people including a few folks who work with Calvin. And I forgot almost everyone's name! But I bet I get to meet them again. Maybe at Tour de Troit next weekend?
All in all well worth the $25 especially since it is going to some great programs over at the Hub.
It was a good day at the market
to have an extra long bike. Full list of items bought:
- Salad Greens from Brother Nature Produce (they have a facebook page too)
- Michigan tomatoes in bulk to can later
- Hot peppers, mostly from Grown in Detroit Some of which were almost certainly grown by my coworker Ruffino. I'm planning to make spicy pickles later this week with carrots, onions, garlic, peppercorns and hot peppers. Maybe some radishes too if I can find some.
- A huge bag of Michigan pears to dry
- Some Michigan raspberries
- Michigan onions, garlic, potatoes and winter squash (just one acorn for now). Lots of extras to start storing some for winter.
- A delicious cookie
Friday, September 16, 2011
Yesterday's post was too long
So some brief snippets from today
- Man with gray hair and dreads who was an apprentice last year and runs Feed'em Freedom farm which is rapidly expanding and where they were putting up a low tunnel hoop house today.
- Catherine Ferguson School, a high school for pregnant and parenting young women. Has goats and a horse and geese and chickens and ducks and a HUGE garden. Super cool.
- Brand new super nice greenhouses in a parking lot downtown owned by the MGM Grand Casino.
- Near Eastern Market a site where we are about to put in a 2 acre model farm including 2 or 3 passive solar hoop houses.
- A lot of other really nice urban gardens. This city is growing!
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