Almost Local Homemade Whole Wheat Pizza

This is a quick and relatively easy dinner option for us. I personally don't like pizza so I make a separate pan of breadsticks for myself. I like the following recipe which can be found at http://www.wheatfoods.org/Quick-Whole-Wheat-Pizza-Crust.217.1.htm

Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 package active dry yeast/instant yeast
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup hot tap water (120 - 125°F)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon honey or granulated sugar

I mix the ingredients together in a bowl and then dump it out on to a floured countertop. I add parsley, oregano, and a little garlic salt to the dough to taste. Knead for a couple minutes adding extra flour as needed. Then roll out with a rolling pin into a circle big enough for your pizza pan. You can make 2 thin crust pizzas or 1 regular crust with this recipe. Carefully transfer the dough to a greased pizza pan.



Last time I bought cheese sticks Kraft brand was on sale so I bought that kind. We think they are gross: plastic like with no flavor. I thought I'd use them up by making this pizza with a stuffed crust. Just push some extra dough up over the lip of the pan. Place strips of the cheese around the edge and push them in to the dough slightly. Then roll the lip down and over the cheese while pushing the whole edge back against the lip of the pan.



Time to add the toppings. I used home canned tomato sauce and shredded 4 more cheese sticks to put on top of the sauce. I add venison pepper sticks from Brian's deer, sliced thinly with a knife, in place of store bought pepperoni. On goes 1 small can of mushrooms.



As a special touch I melt some butter, mix in a little garlic salt and herbs, and spread that over the crust. It makes it a little more moist which is part of what Brian missed from take out pizza. He approved this recipe and doesn't dislike it like he has some of the others I've tried.

Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes, or try a little longer if it isn't crisp.

For our pizza the ingredients are as follows:
Veggie oil, sugar, flour, tomato sauce, pepper stick - all very local
Sea salt - purchased at Lansing Market
Yeast, mushrooms, cheese - purchased at local grocery

Theoretically one could grow their own mushrooms and purchase local cheese for a totally local experience! What is your favorite almost local dish? Or easy dinner idea?

Real Milk?

Remember all the times I've mentioned that we mostly just buy dairy products from the store now? Well that might change. I looked in to a cow share program a while back. I gave it some thought and then put it out of my mind. Then out of the blue the program coordinator e-mailed me again just to make sure that she had indeed responded to my first e-mail (she did). That same week a new intern started at my workplace. We got to talking and it came up that she is part of the same cow share program. Her family loves the milk and doesn't plan on switching back.

I am still a little leery about the whole thing, to be honest. The milk comes straight out of the bulk tank on the farm. It is from Certified Organic cows. It is not pasteurized. I know there is a huge debate over whether or not pasteurizing is important. I think it is safe to say that if the cows are healthy there is no life-threatening risk involved. Still, there are recommendations that pregnant women not drink unpasteurized milk. God willing, that will apply to me one day (far away). So I have to think there is some risk, however slight. I'm the type to forgo recommendations about raw eggs to indulge in cookie dough. More than once I've had horse poop on my hands and eaten at a drive thru without washing them. Asparagus and peas taste best when you're still standing in the garden. But raw milk? I don't know.

Anyway, thanks to our intern, I'm drinking a glass of the stuff right now. I just wanted to try it. Really, it doesn't taste much different. The best way I can describe it is like this: it tastes a little more like warm milk, even when it's cold. Do you know what I mean? Like it has more flavor or something. I haven't seen any obvious separation in the carton, just some tiny specks sticking to the edges. I've been told that the butterfat content isn't very high but they're trying to improve that. I'm going to try making butter to see how it goes.


BTW, I'm thinking home pasteurization would be a perfect compromise, especially if we do get our own cow. I'm not sure that is very practical though. Plus, I think the home pasteurizers I saw were very expensive.

Does anyone have any experience with a cow share program? What are you thoughts on the whole thing? And please, don't jump my ass with any anti or pro raw milk campaigns. I'm not interested in the debate so much as how this type of thing has worked out for other people and their families. I have a strong desire for dairy products that are healthy and local.

A Local Loaf

Today I picked up another order of local flours from Hampshire Farms (see sidebar for link). I got:

25# 100% whole grain bread flour
10# 100% whole grain pastry flour
2# cornmeal
5# sunflower seeds (dehulled)

Randy Hampshire, who filled my order was more than happy to show me around their farm. They have a USDA approved kitchen on site along with the brick oven that Randy built himself. It was very impressive! The farm also boasts a nice warehouse in an old grainery, where all of their flour and wheat is stored.

They also have, meandering around the pastures, a family cow. She is a nice looking Jersey and had a few other cattle keeping her company. I have given a lot of thought to having our own family cow and have thought about it more and more seriously lately. I don't think it is the right time for us, and it would take a lot to convince my husband. He probably has a point - it is a lot easier to find someone to throw in some grain for our animals then to milk twice a day when we want a vacation. In any case, of was jealous of Randy's family and I told him so.

Randy warned that I would want to use a recipe that calls for 100% WHOLE GRAIN flour, not just whole wheat or white flour. A Google search revealed this recipe, and I altered it in to the following for use in my bread maker:

1 Tbsp active dry yeast
3 3/4 cup whole grain flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup honey
3 Tbsp oil
1 1/2 very warm water

This is a big breakthrough for me: I now have the option of making a nearly 100% local loaf of bread for our everyday needs. Although Hampshire Farms is based 1/2 hour away from here the wheat for the bread flour was grown in an organic field only 1 1/2 miles down the road from our home. The honey comes from a local apiary, P.W.R. Beekeeping. I did use a non-local canola oil in today's loaf but only because I'm out of my normal Zoye Soybean Oil, made in Zeeland, MI from a lot of our neighbors' soybeans. Soy Beginnings soybean oil is also available so I have a couple options there. The only non-local ingredients are the yeast, which I buy in bulk, and the salt. We will be switching to sea salt as soon as our last never ending box of conventional salt is gone.

Oh, one more nice thing: I was relieved to see that the 10 & 25# quantities came in a large brown paper bag with no plastic liner. The smaller quantities I got last time came in plastic and since we're trying to reduce how much plastic we use I was a little concerned. No worries!

Here is a pic of the pull out cabinets that came with our ancient farmhouse, a great feature that makes storing all of this flour much easier:



And Maci, she was jealous and wanted to lick the camera:



So, what local products were you surprised to find in your neighborhood? Are you at the point yet were you have entirely local meal options?

If The Economy Is So Bad....?

If the economy is so bad, why is it so incredibly hard to find good service? My husband and I continue to be amazed at the crappy service we receive from businesses. I guess since things are "so bad" I would expect businesses to step it up a notch and do everything they can to keep their customers. Here are three examples of disappointing experiences we've had lately. The first one is rather long but the other two are quick:

-We received some cash towards new appliances for a wedding gift. After watching sales for awhile I called the Lowe's about a half hour from here. I asked if they had any black or stainless steel gas stoves in stock with a storage drawer at the bottom. The woman assured me they had two in stock. After driving all the way there we were pointed to only one stove that fit our description and told that the floor model was the only one they had left and we could have it at 10% off if we liked. Of course it was dented and scratched!! When I mentioned my phone call ahead I was told that the girl who answered my call was from a different department and didn't really know what she was talking about. Anyway, after leaving to look at other stores we came back and said we'd take the dented one. The same woman rudely informed us that we'd have to take it the way it was because they crush all their boxes and their wasn't one piece of cardboard in the whole store that they could cover it with (and of course it is raining outside!). We told her that if she wanted to sell the stove she would find us something to package it in. After suggesting we go buy a tarp and us glaring at her she finally found some cardboard and saran wrap and wrapped it up quite nicely. Needless to say, we didn't buy any other appliances their and will never go back.

-We need two estimates on rebuilding our shed for the insurance company. The first company that came out was very professional and looks to be great to deal with. Another guy never called us back. A third contractor assured me he could come out and give us an estimate, then set up a time with my husband. So Brian came straight home from work to meet him instead of running some other errands that needed to be done. At the time he was supposed to arrive the man called and said that he had come out earlier in the day and looked at the building and it wasn't something he was interested in working on!!! We weren't so mad that he didn't want the job as much as that he didn't call earlier to let us know.

-Now we need an electrical bid. We called the company our neighbor works for. His boss was supposed the call us and come out this past Monday or Tuesday. No word from him yet.

I don't mean for this post to be all negative. You don't even need to read my examples above. The point is that I feel very frustrated when the country is constantly talking about the "economic downturn" and yet we can't get good service! On the other hand, yesterday I received a Christmas card from our wedding photographer saying "Thanks for your support". The small stores' shopkeepers that I patronize show genuine appreciation when I check out. The people at our bank are very helpful and called this week just to double check that we got the right cash back. The vet clinic that I work at has several appreciative clients that bring us cookies, breads, and chocolates this time of year. The local pharmacy even sent over a gift to say thanks for sending our prescriptions their way.

Those things are what I try to remember when crappy service starts to seem the norm. It really makes me think that there is still a lot of room for new businesses if they treat people right. I'd really like to hear about your experiences, good or bad, and please tell me if I'm crazy or does this stuff leave you scratching your head too. After all, doesn't anyone want our money?

Note: after re-reading this I feel the need to point out that I think we approach people in a friendly way and are generally well liked in our neighborhood. Lol. I didn't need anyone thinking we're crazy people who chase everyone away! :)

Oh Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree...

Not much time this morning but I thought I'd post a few pics of our visit to the local Christmas tree farm on Sunday. We had fun posing and got some cute pics of our friend's mules. This will probably be our last Blue Spruce. At half the price, the Scotch Pine is sounding better and better all the time. We paid $41 for our tree this year, partially because they only allow you to cut trees that are 6' tall and we only wanted a little one. I would be interested to hear what the rest of you are paying in other parts of the country. Maybe I'm crazy but I think the price is getting a little high. Oh well, we had fun anyway! Here you go:

How to Buy Locally: 9 Easy Steps

I've been working on my post for the APLS Carnival for a couple days now and it turned in to me blabbing on about reasons why buying locally is good, etc.,etc. I decided to put together something quick and basic instead. I'll leave the philosophical parts to someone else.

Assuming you support the idea of buying local products here are 9 easy steps to get you started:

1. Get yourself some reusable bags. Ironically, you may not find these locally. You could always make them yourself, or the organizers of you local farmers' market may have bags with their logo on them. My personal favorites are baggu bags, available on Amazon.com. There are several options out there so if you can't find some locally look around online. It is still better than using plastic or taking new paper ones every time. Plus, a lot of vendors don't even have bags.

2. Get organized! Find a spare little notebook in your desk or find a spot in your PDA for "local" contacts. When you find the one guy in 100 miles that grinds flour, you don't want to lose his phone number! It helps if you have a place to store business cards.

3. Find out what's in season when. Google the information for your area and print it off. If strawberries are only in for 2 weeks, you want to know about it. When they're gone - they're gone. This will help keep you from getting the call that your 2 bushels of peaches are ready the day before your wedding (like I did). If you're really going to eat local, you've got to plan around the seasons.

4. Have a plan in place to preserve some foods for the off season. This goes along with #3. Keep an eye out for recipes you like and store accordingly whether it be drying, freezing, or canning. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Someone's Grandma would love to teach you to can. See my post about apples to get you started.

5. Check out sites like Local Harvest to find farmers' markets and growers in your area. Most states have a website devoted to local companies and products. Search for "Michigan made" or "Michigan furniture", etc. There are tons of sites devoted to finding local goods. Also scan your local newspaper and check store windows for signs that advertise "Local Products Here".

6. Go Shopping! Seek out fair prices but remember that isn't necessarily the most important thing. You'll generally be saving on food anyway by buying raw goods and transforming them in to meals at home instead of buying processed meals at the grocery store. Remember to let the producers and artisans know how much you appreciate what they're doing.

7. Expand your horizons. Pick a couple things off your shopping list each week and try to find a local source for them. Ask around. Chances are it is out there, it just may not be the most efficient option for you. For example, I would love to have local dairy products but right now I can't stomach paying $7/gallon for milk. In those situations, just keep looking!

8. Consider making or growing your own of some things you use a lot. You'd be amazed at how easy it is to grow potatoes. They are very forgiving. And so on.

9. Spread the word. Give local products as gifts or share them at a special dinner. Chances are your friends didn't know there were so many great things available locally. Plus, who doesn't love pure maple syrup on Christmas morning pancakes.

I hope this helped get you started. If you're already buying locally, I'd love to hear what works for you! Check out the APLS Carnival for more on local everything!

Update: Heather over at SGF has a great post up now about how to eat locally. Check it out!

I Used to Love Wal-Mart

Yup, I used to love it. I remember when they opened a Super Wal-Mart about 20 miles away from where I grew up. It was the new cool place to go. After all, they were open 24 hours. That was when I was just starting to do my own grocery shopping and buy my own stuff. I would always get nervous at the checkout trying to organize my coupons and find my debit card, and I remember more than once having to put something back because I had miscalculated and gone over my meager budget. For all those reasons and more, my favorite time to shop was the middle of the night. I would go to bed early and get up at 3 or 4 to go. Besides, you couldn't beat the traffic.

I remember getting e-mails way back then encouraging me to "boycott" Wal-mart because of their crappy treatment of workers. I even read a great book in which the author experimentally tries to live on the wages she makes working for Wal-mart. That was awhile ago but I remember liking the book and would recommend it if you're interested in such topics. I'm still not sure that I have a big problems with their policies and such. The Wal-mart in my town employs a lot of people and sad as it is to say, I guess they all think it is better than unemployment.

When I moved out here I would go to Wal-mart for our groceries and such. My husbands' 92 year old grandpa was forever trying to get me to stop buying there and start supporting the little man. My own family (rather my Mom's family) owns a small grocery store and I know the fear they have about losing business to the big guys. I could relate, I just couldn't get over the low prices and convenience. The other place in town was small and, I'd always heard, expensive.

Then things changed. First, Wal-mart started to become a big pain in the you-know-what. They never had enough cashiers. I remember Brian waiting in line for over 15 minutes to buy batteries that had taken him 2 minutes to find. Next, they started a major remodeling project which meant it took 15 minutes to find things + 15 minutes to check out. We decided we were done with the place. I soon started working at the other end of town which means the smaller store is right next door. And you know what? They aren't so expensive after all. I almost always buy on sale and stock up. Our grocery bill had gone way down anyway now that I grow and preserve a lot of our own food. My husband was really pushing me to buy local and when I found this great blog community, that sealed the deal.

It's a pretty big sin around here to buy any sugar except Pioneer or Big Chief. They are made right here is Michigan from sugar beets that grow in our backyard. A lot of our extra income comes from hauling beets and helping out the farmers who grow them. I'm pretty sure Wal-mart's sugar comes from sugar cane in South America. Nice.

My boss loves Wal-mart. I harass her about it all the time, mostly in a teasing kind of way. I realize that if I'm crabby and demanding people will just get mad, they won't necessarily take me to be a good influence. I had to speak up though when she mentioned that Wal-mart had pumpkins for sale. "You're not seriously going to buy pumpkins from Wal-mart are you?" I said. "Well, where else would I buy them?" she said. "How about a local farmer who grows them?" I suggested. She pointed out that the mini pumpkins she bought there came from Indiana and that they were probably farmers too.

It is amazing to me how so many business owners here completely miss the point that buying local supports our local economy, in turn keeping everyone's doors open. I am learning so much about how to be patient and gently share this with the people around me. It is so nice to check in here and not have to feel like a crazy hippie for liking fresh produce & recycling.

Speaking of hippies, that's what I'm going to be for Halloween! More on that later...

Independence Days Update

1. PLANT SOMETHING: Some of my watermelon plants are coming up now. I planted three different kinds of cucumbers: one for slicing, one for pickles, and lemon cucumbers. I also planted my six little blueberry bushes in front of the house. One of them is mysteriously missing now and since ordering season is over for them I guess I'll have to get another one next year. I have a feeling that the puppy must have dug it up but I couldn't find it anywhere in the yard. What a bummer. On a good note, the potato plants that were accidently run over with the rototiller are coming back up again. I'm not sure if it is the same stems or new ones so hopefully it didn't hurt the yield too badly. At least we'll have some! :)

2. Harvest something. Not much ready right now. Next year I've got to plant some lettuce! My gooseberry plants have some pretty big berries on them but I don't think they're quite ready yet. I guess you could say we are harvesting hay because that is stockpiled feed for our animals all winter. We got 85 good bales off before a hailstorm hit and then the rest of a 7 acre field got poured on and will be cattle feed. Brian cut a couple rounds on the 15 acre field today. He has decided to say forget the weatherman and go with his gut instincts. I think he'll be better off.

3. Preserve something. *sigh* This is become more of a to-do list then notes on what I have done. I'll have to e-mail my Mom after this post and see if I can get more of her rhubarb to freeze. Oh, and my friend at work did leave some in the fridge for me so I'll get that tomorrow. Who knew I would love rhubarb so much. Plus I found a new recipe for it today so I'll try that.

4. Prep something. I have a couple of things to do here:

-Build a compost bin: we currently have to haul the table scraps across the road to avoid having them end up as dog food. Even then sometimes the puppy sneaks over and grabs a bite.

-Clean out the little red shed: this is the place where my chickens are housed and my sheep were at originally. I need to clean out the thick bed of hay and straw before the slatted wood floor gets rotten. Then I can finish the chickens' coop.

5. Cook something. Not much new here. I did make another patch of rhubarb muffins - Mmm Mmm!

6. Manage your reserves. I'm still doing okay here with the pantry. I was a little bummed when my fiance proudly announced he found a great sale on Powerade and then bought 2 cases of 15 bottles each. A few months ago I would have been excited about his find (and I was still a little proud at how price-conscious he is!) but it sucks to buy all those plastic bottles. We do reuse them until they get slimy or smelly but I'm afraid that probably isn't too healthy. Of course they go in the recycling bin after. So in an attempt to prevent this problem in the future we also bought a huge thing of Gatorade powder so I can mix up our own batches at home once the other stuff is gone.

7. Work on local food systems. Okay I still need to find a local source of feed for the sheep and chickens but I've got my flour source now! Atleast I think so. I called and talked to Shirley at Hampshire Farms and learned that they have several different kinds of flour and beans available. The flour is sold in 2# packages but larger quantities are available for order so I am going to try out a few different kinds and see what I like. Funny thing, as we got to talking we figured out that the farms' owner went to school with my fiance's parents and although there main farm is about 30 minutes away they also have an organic vegetable patch only 2 miles from our house! What a small world. I am so excited to get my first flour from them!

Independence Days Here on the Farm

I decided to join the Independence Days Challenge so here is my first post about it:

1. PLANT SOMETHING: Well let's see... already this year I have planted carrots, onions, bush beans, pole beans, snap peas and sugar peas, potatoes, and tomatoes. The seeds all came from Baker Creek Seed Co. and are heirloom varietes. The tomatoes plants came from a small greenhouse at a local farm but I'm afraid they shipped them in from somewhere else. I tried to start my own tomatoes from seed but I killed them - better luck next year I guess. The potatoes came from another local greenhouse. They do come from out of state but the family personal selects them and brings them home every year.

Everything mentioned above has been planted for atleast a week now. Oh I also planted sunflowers (heirloom), and some raspberry, black currant, and gooseberry bushes. Today I got the dward blueberry bushes that I ordered. Tonight my fiance rototilled another section of the garden one last time and we spread a thick layer of composted hay over the top. I planted 3 different varieties of watermelon in hills in this new section. I also finished mulching the rest of the garden with straw. It is really coming along!

2. Harvest something. About the only thing I have harvested so far is asparagus. This is pretty tasty stuff, I have a piece every morning on my way by as part of the garden tour. I have also been given rhubarb and made some delicious muffins with brown sugar topping. In fact I have more in the fridge waiting to be used.

3. Preserve something. My Mom and sister and I spent Saturday afternoon picking strawberries (Oh I also planted my own of these this year!) and making 72 4-ounce jars of jam as favors for my wedding. We picked the berries at a local U-pick farm and I plan to visit another farm and make atleast as many more jars before the season is over. I am hoping the jam will actually get used and maybe I'll even get some of the jars back. It will be better than some silly plastic favor anyway.

4. Prep something. Well I guess I'm doing more in this area than I originally thought. I'm reading Living With Sheep to develop my skills as a shepherd. I am thinking about requesting a sewing machine on our wedding registry so that I can make my own scrubs and I'm trying to figure out if it would be cost and time efficient to make my fiance's t-shirts instead of buying them. We sorted through all of our clothes and have a big pile to go to Big Brothers Big Sisters. Our winter wardrobe is going to go in a rubbermaid container in the attic to make room for the summer stuff. I have a large supply of shampoo and toothpaste (more than I'll ever use) so I was thinking of putting some of it on Freecycle and trying out the shampoo bars that FakePlasticFish found. We have tried to pick eco-friendly items for our wedding registry and avoid junk. I really want a food grinder to make apple sauce and a bean frencher but I'll have to buy them later because none of the stores with registries carry them.

5. Cook something. Well I tried to make homemade bread from scratch twice last week and it failed both times. I think I might have had some crappy yeast. I'll try again this week. I'll also be making more rhubarb muffins.

6. Manage your reserves. This is a neverending project for me. We have a great system for the pantry where each item goes on the grocery list when there is only one extra left in storage. So if a bottle of mustard goes in the fridge and there is one left on the shelf it goes on the list. Then I have time to watch for a sale. I'd like to make a grocery price book like I use to have where each item (bread, PB, etc.) gets a page and you note what you pay for it each time with a breakdown per ounce, etc. This made it easy to find the best prices. I also keep trying to eliminate processed foods and replace them with homemade items. I quit buying poptarts in hopes of supplying us with homemade muffins but have yet to make any that Brian likes (he's not much for rhubarb). There are a lot of jars of old canned food that were here in the farmhouse when we moved in. I need to dump them out and wash the jars someday.

7. Work on local food systems. This is not as easy as I thought. I found a Mennonite store in the area that sells organic, unbleached flour in bulk. I was very excited until I questioned them and found that they buy it from a company in Indiana that ships it in from Montana. :(
I am still looking for a local supplier of organic (certified or not) chicken and sheep feed. I guess supporting the U-pick farm will have to be my local contribution for this week.