Eco-Adventure: Vermont

Back in July, my husband and I took a roadtrip through Vermont, and it was so much fun! Most of my favourite memories revolve around farms, animals, and food (of course). Let's take a look at some highlights:

We stayed at the beautiful Willard Street Inn in Burlington, which was originally built as a residence for the state senator in 1881. It was restored and renovated as an inn in 1996, and is currently recognized as a Green Hotel by the state of Vermont.

Basically, everything inside and outside is gorgeous. While wandering around the grounds, we met one of the owners, Larry Davis, and we had a nice chat about the inn and the backyard veggie garden – some of which went into our breakfast. The breakfast was yum yum, and was made with lots of local ingredients ... butter, maple syrup, baby greens, and bacon.

Then we spent some time at Shelburne Farms, which is "a nonprofit education center for sustainability, 1,400-acre working farm, and National Historic Landmark on the shores of Lake Champlain in Shelburne, Vermont" (wikipedia). It was built in 1886 by one of the Vanderbilts and her husband as a "model agricultural estate."

Enough about the history – on to the animal pictures!

Delaware, a 5-year-old Brown Swiss cow

Mountains everywhere! (as seen from Lone Tree Hill at Shelburne Farms)

Shelburne Farms makes hand-crafted, raw-milk cheese on site (sorry, I didn't take any pictures) using fresh milk from their Brown Swiss cows. There were lots of samples of their award-winning cheeses for visitors to try. We nibbled on some 1, 2, 3-year-old, 9-month, and smoked cheddar. They were all super tasty but the smoked was my favourite.

Having heard about the delicious (and legal) raw milk in Vermont, my husband was hankering to try some. We made the short drive to Family Cow Farmstand in Hinesburg, Vermont's first certified raw-milk dairy, and picked up our pre-ordered bottle of raw milk from their self-serve farmstand. We hadn't eaten lunch that day, so we munched on some local pepperettes and cheese, and guzzled our newly acquired milk to carry us through to dinner.

The rest of the trip involved eating at some great restaurants (notably The Farmhouse), exploring Burlington and Stowe, and doing some shopping – so no more exciting pictures. Oh, except for this one:

I rode a horse! Suzy Q was a real sweetie and took it easy on me.

It was such a wonderful trip; the local food was amazing, the animals were fuzzy, the people were lovely, and the scenery was beautiful. We're definitely planning on going back soon.

Boardwalk swing at the marina in Burlington

DIY Kimchi

I made kimchi! It was actually really easy to make and super tasty. There are lots of good instructions out there for making authentic Korean kimchi -- I used this recipe.

Here's what you do: Chop up nappa cabbage into 1-2" pieces and soak them in (uniodized) salty water overnight; rinse and squeeze out the cabbage the next day and combine it with seasoning ingredients and some puréed fruit; smush the mixture into a glass jar, cover, and leave it for 2-4 days at room temperature, occasionally smushing the kimchi back down as it bubbles up. It's that easy!

(Kimchi is usually a beautiful bright red colour because it's made with Korean chili powder. Since I didn't have any, I used crushed chili flakes instead, resulting in delicious but not authentic kimchi :( I'll get some next time...)

Health Benefits: Kimchi dates back to ~7th century A.D., and is one of those traditional fermented foods that is really good for you. Health magazine named kimchi as one of its World's Healthiest Foods:

"Kimchi (or kimchee) is loaded with vitamins A, B, and C, but its biggest benefit may be in its “healthy bacteria” called lactobacilli, found in fermented foods like kimchi and yogurt. This good bacteria helps with digestion, plus it seems to help stop and even prevent yeast infections, according to a recent study. And more good news: Some studies show fermented cabbage has compounds that may prevent the growth of cancer."

Buy or DIY? You can buy kimchi at an Asian supermarket or natural food store, but it can get expensive if you eat a lot of it ($3-5/lb to buy; $1/lb to DIY). But, you can always buy one jar and pour the leftover juices into your homemade kimchi to kickstart the fermentation process. Then, when you finish your own jar of kimchi you can use the leftover juices to start your next batch ... and so on.

Happy kimchi-ing!

Links:

• Biochemical, microbiological, and nutritional aspects of kimchi (This article is a great primer on kimchi. If you have a friend who's a college/university student, they can probably access it for you off their student library account.)

Spring Gardening

I've finally made good on my resolution to grow more of my own food. Two weeks ago, I gathered up my motley group of seeds (from volunteer events, impulse buys at grocery stores, seed exchanges, etc.) and planted them in a little container garden on my balcony!

I chose seeds that would do well in containers and be prolific, drought-resistant, and easy to grow, i.e., bang-for-buck veggies. Here are some of the seeds that I planted:

[Clockwise from top left: green bush beans (Contender), parsley, coriander, green onion]

I also planted some mini carrots and wildflowers just for fun. Oh, and I cheated a little and got a flat of salad bowl lettuce from Evergreen Garden Market.

For two weeks, I diligently watered and watched those little seeds and was rewarded with a pretty good germination rate (thanks to a string of hot, sunny days). Check it out!

My favourite seedlings are the green beans -- they're huge and look like aggressive little alien lifeforms emerging from the ground. They literally crack the earth as they push through. Aaawesome!

I overplanted the wildflowers and carrots, so I'll be doing some transplanting this weekend. I'm also planning to pick up an heirloom cherry tomato seedling from Evergreen and maybe plant bok choy in a couple of weeks if I have space.

Have you had a chance to do some gardening this spring? Leave a comment below!

Spring Resolutions

Instead of doing new year's resolutions, I decided to do spring resolutions this year because I feel like the new year starts when the world start blooming and turning green again. (Eat it, Gregorian calendar!) So here are my two spring resolutions:

1) Get out more.

Since I work from home and my husband usually buys the groceries, I don't get out much, especially when I'm swamped with projects. But I know it's unhealthy to spend so much time inside! Off the top of my head, here are some health reasons why I should get out more:

• Avoid sick building syndrome
• Get some exercise from walking around
• Stave off near-sightedness (increase time looking at distant objects and decrease time looking at my computer monitor)
• Improve my mental and emotional health (being inside for long periods of time is not good for my sanity)

2) Meet and talk to more people.

Since I don't get out much, I don't have the opportunity to meet and talk to people face to face very often. But, when I do talk to other people, I find that my horizons expand and I get new ideas about things to do, places to go, and issues to think about ... which translate to new blog posts about health and the environment that I can then share with you!

So those are my two resolutions for this year. To help me along, and to give me some concrete goals and timelines, I'm going to do a series of 30-day challenges (click on the link to see the TEDTalk). My first one will be to leave home and go outside every day for the next 30 days, starting today. I went out today, so hurrah! 1 down, 29 to go!

What are your spring resolutions?

Colours of Fall

I went for a walk

I took some pictures of stuff

Ooh, pretty colours!

Apple Chips

 
A couple of days ago, I moseyed on over to my local grocery store and stocked up on two of my favourite apples, Mutsu and Spartan, since they were in season, not coated in that waxy stuff, and less than $1/lb. Mmm, fresh, waxless, Ontario apples...

But a girl can only eat so many fresh apples in a week. What was I going to do with the rest of them? I'd heard good things about making baked apple chips, so I thought I'd give it a go.

DIY Apple Chips: Although any kind of apple can be dried, slightly tart varieties with crisp, white flesh seem to work the best, e.g., Empire, Granny Smith, McIntosh, Mutsu (a.k.a. Crispin), and Spartan.

Here's what you do:

1. Wash and core the apples (2–3, medium-sized). Peeling is not necessary.
2. Slice the apples using a mandolin or sharp knife, no thicker than 2–3 mm.
3. Lay out the apple slices in a single layer on parchment-lined baking sheets.
4. Bake/dry the apple slices in a 225°C oven for 2 hours, turning them once.

After they cool, they should be nice and crispy, not pliable or chewy (if they are, pop them back in the oven for another half an hour).

Mmm, so good... they're actually a lot like potato chips except that they, you know, taste like apples. Although apple chips lack vitamins A and C (since the baking process breaks them down), they contain decent amounts of iron, potassium, calcium, vitamin B6, and fibre.

Drying Dilemma: Apple chips are a nice treat, but making them in the oven is definitely not very energy efficient; oven-drying (electric) has been found to be 9–12 times more costly than canning. If you're serious about drying large amounts of produce, investing in a dehydrator is probably a good idea since it's much more efficient and eco-friendly than using the oven and gives more tasty and consistent results.

What will you do with your apples this season?

Fall Colours

This week may be the last opportunity to see some beautiful fall leaves before the rain washes them away. But where to go? And is it already too late?

Leaf-Watching Made Easy: Ontario Tourism publishes its Fall Colour Report twice a week, which "provides information on the colour change and the best viewing locations across Ontario." For example, here is the October 14th entry for the Greater Toronto Area:

"There are some nice pockets of colour now in the Toronto region with a 60% colour change to this point. A good location for a fall colour walk over the next couple of weeks includes High Park just off the Gardiner Expressway. Conservation areas such as Bruce’s Mill off Stouffville Road and the Kortright Centre for Conservation near Kleinburg are great spots for fall colour hikes. The colours along the Don Valley Parkway region are always excellent during the fall and we are also seeing some pockets of nice colour now in the York Region, just north of Toronto."

So grab a coat and camera and head outside before all the leaves are gone.

Happy fall!