NOFA-NY September Locavore Challenge

We are members of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of NY, who this month launched its second annual Locavore Challenge state-wide, and we are proud sponsors!  Please read all about it here and take on the challenge of eating as much local food as possible for as little as a day, a week or for the whole month - the point is to learn more about our local food system on a level you are currently comfortable with, give a boost to our local economy and support our farming neighbors.  Read on for all the information and please visit the NOFA-NY website for a calendar of events & more info!

Our September 18 Food Swap with From Scratch Club is a featured event and we are a participating restaurant!

(Tickets for the swap will be released any day on FSC.)

http://www.nofany.org/events/ny-locavore-challenge/locavore-events-calendar

 "The New York State Locavore Challenge is a state-wide campaign organized by the Northeast Organic Farming Association of NY, the only state-wide non-profit organization dedicated to building the local and organic food movement from the farm up.  We help educate and train organic farmers, improve food distribution and access systems, and increase markets for organic food and ongoing advocacy work.

 The Challenge starts with the theory “vote with your dollar,” and takes it a few steps further, by appealing concerned citizens to participate in a wide variety of events and challenges that support their local economies, encourage organic and sustainable growing practices and propel the movement forward.

The goal for this campaign is to educate consumers about how to make healthy and ethical food choices, cook with in-season, local organic foods, while supporting local sustainable farms and food businesses. Our 2011 goal is to involve 5,000 people in this year’s challenge, and bring the concepts of local, organic and sustainable more into the forefront of the general public’s minds. 

This year’s program is versatile, fun and FREE! 

Challenge Levels

Bite-Sized (3 mini-challenges)

Meal-Sized (6 mini-challenges)

Feast-Sized (9 mini-challenges)

Challenge Categories

Grow, Cook, Eat

Join the Movement

Take Action

 

Grow, Cook, Eat

Bite-Sized Challenge: Choose 1

Meal-Sized Challenge: Choose 2

Feast-Sized Challenge: Choose 3

Take a 250 Mile Day Challenge

Take a 250 Mile Week Challenge (Counts as 2)

Take a 250 Mile Month Challenge (Counts as 3)

Shop at a Farmers Market, Farm Stand or U-Pick

Dine at a Locavore Restaurant

Join a Winter CSA

Join a Food Co-op

Eat (at least) 5 Servings of Local, Organic Fruit & Veggies per Day

Cook with Local Oils, Grains, Meats & Cheeses

Sip on Local Milk, Juice, Beer, Wine & Spirits

Swap Sugar for Local Honey & Maple Syrup

Try Food Preservation (Canning, Freezing, Drying)

Go Foraging!

Make Your Own Butter, Yogurt, or Ice-Cream

Grow an Herb Garden

Plant an Indoor Winter Garden

Plant at Cover Crop in Your Garden

Compost Your Kitchen Scraps

 

Join the Movement

Bite-Sized Challenge: Choose 1

Meal-Sized Challenge: Choose 2

Feast-Sized Challenge: Choose 3

Like NOFA-NY on Facebook and/or Follow NOFANY on Twitter

Blog About Your Challenge Experience (and send us the link!)

Become a Member of NOFA-NY

Attend a Locavore Event

Host a Locavore Potluck on Sept. 25th (Counts as 2)

Attend a Locavore Potluck on Sept. 25th

Read a Locavore Book

Host a Locavore Book Discussion (Counts as 2)

Participate in a Crop Mob

Take Action

Bite-Sized Challenge: Choose 1

Meal-Sized Challenge: Choose 2

Feast-Sized Challenge: Choose 3

Join the Millions Against Monsanto Campaign

Lobby Your Food Store to Include More Local Product

Ask Your Representative to Support Organic Farming

Speak With Your School About Local Sourcing

Start a Garden in Your Community or School

Volunteer at a Farm or Community Garden

Donate to the NOFA-NY Farmer Education Fund

The 250 Mile Diet Challenge

This 250 Mile Diet mini-challenge urges participants to eat only local and organic and/or sustainably produced foods. Participants who choose the Day or Week long challenges may select a specific day or week during the month of September that they would like to complete the challenge. The Month challenge can start anytime in September and be completed 30 days later. All foods consumed during the 250 Mile Diet Challenge must be produced locally within 250 miles and be produced using organic or sustainable methods. It is a difficult challenge, but there are a few helpful short-cuts allowed to make the transition a little bit easier.

1.) Marco Polo Rule: Salt, pepper and spices do not need to be local. Also yeast, baking powder and baking soda are nearly impossible to source locally so they are accepted exceptions as well.

This rule originates from the premise that if you could carry it in your pockets while at sea, you could bring it with you to the “New World.”

2.) Wild Card Items: Choose up to (5) Wild Card Ingredients that cannot be sourced locally but that you cannot live without.

Certified Organic, Fair Trade, or Locally Processed items are encouraged for all Wild Card items. Popular wild card items include: Coffee, chocolate, tea, olive oil, nuts and rice."

We hope you'll join us in support of our local food system.
Your bakers,
Britin & Nick

AGB Weekly Roundup

All Good has got so much good news to share this week, we thought we'd post a roundup!

First, and most importantly, we've finally got more local flour in our bakery.  Our delivery this week from Champlain Valley Milling included locally-grown, organic Greenmarket All Purpose and Wheat flours.  We've been occasionally using a local Stoneground white, but this is the first local flour in bulk we've received.  We're very excited to begin using it and still working on the farm-source question.  Here's a (long) discussion about local wheat if you're interested in knowing more about it and local bakers using it: http://www.valleytable.com/article.php?article=002+Features%2FHudson+Valley+wheat%2C+the+next+frontier

We've finalized our regular delivery of local free-range eggs this week.  Our friends from our days at the New Baltimore Farmer's Market, Ross & Liz of Raven's Roost Farms (in NB) will be driving up to exchange bread for eggs every two weeks.  Ross & Liz are prime examples of our area's small working farmers and they "strive to be wise stewards of the land".  They raise a small number of grass-fed lambs & pastured poultry, and Liz spins & felts beautiful wool (our daughter has one of her hats).  Their animals are fed without the use of pesticides.  Raven's Roost is a member of the Delmar Farmer's Market now, please plan to stop and see them once we open again in Spring. 

We (and other Delmar Market vendors) are working with market member Cheryl Franzten of Franzten's Scenic Acres (http://www.frantzensscenicacres.com/) to organize a monthly drop-off in Delmar of various farm and other agricultural products.  If you don't currently have a source for humanely-raised organic chicken, grass-fed beef & pork, eggs, locally-sourced baked goods and other fresh foods, please email Cheryl with your interest. (frantzenc@msn.com)  First drop-off should be in a couple of weeks.  More small farmers & producers are coming together to pave their own way!

Dan Livingston, the food coordinator for the Northeastern Organic Farmer's Association conference in Saratoga January 21-23, in search of a local bakery, Googled "Albany organic bread" and called us a few days ago!  We've been commissioned for 84 dozen hamburger/sandwich buns (1008 to be exact).  They've got great wheat connections in NY so we'll be starting a dialogue soon with them about that and Dan helps distribute local farm stuffs in Binghamton via an online Farmer's Market there.  https://www.nofany.org/events/winter-conference

We've become proud sponsors of Tri-City Trad's Jam & Sing Thing January 14, 15 & 16 at the Christ United Methodist Church in Troy (35 State St.).  We'll be providing our Vegan Cornbread for Saturday night's dinner, personal 8 oz loaves of bread for lunches and Vegan Cinnamon Buns for breakfast.  Our CSB members Jen & Fritz Stafford are organizing this (sure to be very cool) event.  The Jam & Sing is "A weekend of jamming, singing, and celebrating the wonderful genres of traditional music together." Mark your calender and join the fun! http://2011jamsingthing.webs.com/

If you read our last blog post, you know our 5 Daily Breads are now available from the Heldeberg Market, Albany's Online Farmer's Market.  Be sure to get your orders in by Tuesday nights!  http://www.heldebergmarket.com/HeldebergMarket/All_Good_Bakers.html

Britin was pre-interviewed by Cory at Dick Gordon's "The Story" (a radio show broadcast on various NPR stations).  Mr. Gordon interviewed Shannon Hayes this week for his series on people who have made big changes in their lives.  I wrote on their Facebook page how Shannon's story & book ("Radical Homemakers") inspired us to live less of a mainstream lifestyle, there may or not be a follow-up interview - guess it depends on how interesting they find our story!  Listen to Shannon's fascinating interview here: http://thestory.org/archive/The_Story_010311_Full_Story.mp3/view.

And finally, our camera is working again!  Here are some recent photos of our breads & baked goods.

(More details about ingredients & such on our Facebook & web pages)

Hope you all are staying warm & well! As Shannon says in her interview, "Hope is a renewable resource."  We're already hoping for an early spring!

Your bakers,

Britin & Nick