Welcome to summer (almost)! I wrote this about a week ago when I came
home from the market and am just now sending it out. This is what
happens when the heat comes upon me- things move a little slower than
normal if I don’t have the kiddie pool in the backyard full of ice water..
The market this week was wonderful as usual and there were more people
shopping than ever. It started out looking (and even pretending) like it
was going to rain. That did not stop anyone from either coming to set up
their stand or to shop. I love that first rush of people- the ones who
seem like they have been sitting in their cars like vultures waiting for
the strawberries and chard to hit the table so they can swoop down and
buy them all up. Everyone has a list in hand and are sure they will be
able to get everything they need because they are the FIRST ones there.
And the next hour was nice with people socializing and sharing and
milling about sampling pesto and swapping lettuce stories. There are so
many people who are enthusiastic about the food they eat and want to
share it with all their friends. I love seeing new faces at the market-
especially those new faces who look like they’ve just heard the most
exciting news ever- ‘this is here EVERY Wednesday?! And it’s JUST food
and farmers?! .’
My body has been almost literally starved from the past winter months
and now my kitchen, fridge, freezer, and cabinets are chock-full with a
little (and sometimes a LOT) of everything that is in season. And since
my roommates and I have totally different schedules I don’t even have
that many people to feed. I end up actually cooking supper about three
times a week and eating leftovers.
(I developed this problem when I lived (and grew up) at Sequatchie Cove
and cooked for ten or so (very hardworking and hungry) people a day
where now it is literally impossible to cook a meal for two, let alone
one, people. What? You can’t eat a whole head of lettuce, three bunches
of kale, two bunches of beets, and a cup of rice and lentils cooked with
fennel bulb and garlic scapes by yourself? What have you been DOING all
day? Don’t you know it’s haying season?)
So anyway, I end up eating slaw, an egg, leftover pilaf, and a HUGE
salad all by my lonesome more often than I’d like. But my Greenlife
shopping has slowed down to coffee (I certainly won’t live without that-
I don’t care how many tomatoes are on the vine), toilet paper, sugar for
my various jams and ginger ales I’ve been cooking up, and some yogurt to
eat with my strawberries for breakfast (and other luxuries such as
potato chips (something else I’m not quite willing to live without),
avocados, flour, and fresh squeezed orange juice). Glory be! Of course
there are staples like beans and rice that I buy but the further I get
into summer the more I just rely simply what is in season. Which means I
have to have a LOT of it. Because I don’t just cook supper I also
freeze, ferment, and can for those dark cold months in the not so
distant future.
I (and I know the rest of yall are too) jumping for joy with having a
cucumber from Crabtree (or even jalapenos if you are lucky enough to be
in the Island’s CSA) to toss in my bag along with kale from Williams
Island, a nice fresh copy of Wild Fermentation that Breann from Clover
Wreath had for sale this week (I really like that addition to the
market- it is becoming so WHOLE- you can get plants, vegetables, bread,
honey, meat, and even BOOKS that will tell you how to use every bit of
your new loot) and TADA!- chicken from River Ridge Farm. Now maybe David
will be able to sleep at night without hearing me beg incessantly for
chicken. at least for a few weeks. (I am SO excited about this- maybe
because I’M exhausted from hearing my boyfriend beg incessantly (of
COURSE he is not allowed to eat any chicken he doesn’t know- at least
not to my knowledge. He can do whatever he wants when he’s not around me
but Fire and Brimstones if I hear about it)). It is so sweet and small
and I plan on roasting it whole with a little wreath of garlic scapes
(after I rub it down with some rosemary from the yard and salt). I also
got a stewing hen which gets me just as excited because I can make
delicate and delicious chicken broth and then use the meat for those
things I love but would NEVER make with a young tender chicken like
salad or pot pie.
And now. down to the business I like the most- talking about my kimchee.
I am sure that yall have been waiting so anxiously to hear whether snap
peas ferment well. And I am here to tell you in person that WELL is not
a good enough word. FABULOUS might work in a pinch. Especially when it
is combined with fabulous kohlrabi, fennel, and nappa cabbage from
Signal Mountain Farm and the last of the amazing garlic scapes from
Williams Island, and crisp crunchy radishes from Sequatchie Cove and
sweet wee beets from Clover Wreath. I am now plotting a turnip/black
radish extravaganza ferment from William’s Island.
The other night we had HOT DOGS. I would never have believed it but
Justin in the meat department at Greenlife whomped up the best ones EVER
with some Sequatchie Cove beef (if they don’t have any in the case then
just keep asking for them over and over until they do- that seems to be
the best way to get anything done). We had them on a Neidlove’s baguette
bun with mustard, cucumber relish from last year, and some of Ashley
from Williams Island’s famous pepper jelly from last summer. And I made
another potato salad- with the same mustard (also from Ashley), dill,
and garlic scapes, and green onions. But this time I mixed things up and
added some basil as well. And I made a slaw of broccoli and beets from
Sequatchie Cove, fennel bulb from Signal Mountain, kale and zucchini
from Williams Island and a dressing of vinegar, salt, and honey from
Sale Creek.
Excuse me for the distractions but I just remembered a candle I got from
Lou at Sale Creek honey. She started this week making little boxes from
calendar pages she’s saved up and you can get one and pick out candles
to make your own personalized gift box. I just got a teeny one with a
single tea candle made from pure sweet beeswax to give to my roommate
because she is my best friend and I appreciate her. That is the best
thing about little gifts like that- you can give them all the time to
whoever you want and you don’t even have to wait til their birthday or
bachlorette party. I also got a jar of honey for my boyfriend but for
more ominous reasons. to make strawberry t’ej with. That is an Egyptian
honey wine (not traditionally made with strawberries) and it doesn’t
sound as good to me as mead does. But I am wary in general of first-time
home brewers (I have some very vivid memories of dark-beer stains on the
ceiling when I was a young girl and Bill (my father) was experimenting
with the art of home-brewery). But sometimes gifts must float other
peoples boats and not just your own..
And then on an another note- I got a WONDERFUL email from a certain
Courtney Mild who is a work share for Crabtree. She send me two meals
she had the past week and both sound spectacular (this word is not an
overstatement and I think every meal we eat should be just that). The
first was pizza she made with her roommate- it was all intermingled with
homemade crust, herbs from her garden, sausage from Sequatchie Cove (to
go back off on something else- I think it is really fun to watch the
competition as everyone tries to get in on their share of Trea’s link
sausage made with Cove pigs- a man today had not gotten his the week
before because Bill was talking to another Bill and he felt like he had
to wait his turn. I am here to tell you that there is no such turn. You
have to pull out your money and act like a true Italian and DEMAND you
have your sausage (granted THEY have it in the cooler). That is all the
fun in the market- this whole new culture that most markets and
countries already have..) Anyway. Courtney was lucky enough to have some
of that sausage and put it on her pizza along with pesto from Crabtree
basil, shiitake from Sequatchie Cove (shiitake are fickle creatures-
hopefully the Island’s logs will start producing soon as well as
Sequatchie Cove’s because they certainly come and go as they please-
it’s all based on how many squirrels are hungry, the heat, and how often
it rains), and zucchini from Crabtree. The next day she had grilled
potatoes from Greenlife with Alchemy veggie spice, grilled red cabbage
with pats of butter from her milk group (good (grass-fed,
un-pasteurized, un-homogenized) milk is hard to find around here and the
Tennessee rules are rather strict- it is defiantly legal but you have to
TRY to find it if you want to buy it), and dipped them in Tzatziki sauce
(a simple yogurt sauce (Greek?) usually served with grilled meat) made
of Greek style yogurt (thick yogurt that has most of the liquid drained
from it) from Greenlife, Crabtree garlic and cucumbers, and chocolate
mint and ‘renegade’ (I assume they made it through the winter) chives
from her garden.
I read that and I had two thoughts- the first was YES!- this is how
everyone should eat (with a little bit of this local farm, that local
grocery, and you very own garden) and the second was- thank you for
writing me! I love hearing about everyone’s kitchen times.
She is defiantly not the only person who has written though. It is so
fun and interesting to hear from everyone who come from different
backgrounds and totally different age groups. I love to see that
everyone around me is just as excited about learning and experimenting
as I am. Thank yall for writing and I really hope to talk to you at the
market.
So. I’m sorry if I sounded scattered, it’s simply the mosquitoes buzzing
in my ear. Hopefully I will be more prompt next week telling you what
I’ve been up to. (I would LOVE to tell you about the pizza we had the
other night (an idea all thanks to Courtney) but that will have to wait-
I just want to say that pizza is one of the easiest and funnest ways to
use up almost any vegetable you have lying around- the more unusual it
sounds the better it tastes. at least with pizza)
See yall soon, and try to stay cool (but remember a good sweat really
gets you ready for the glorious things to come)..
-Ann Tindell Keener
Market Letter June 21 (SUMMER!) (part TWO- excuse me- this a been a very
full week)
Ok. So heres a little story about growing up at Sequatchie Cove Farm
The farm is in a blessedly very rural part of Tennessee. To get there
you have to drive on a few small roads where most of the houses are
hardly bigger than the cars parked out front (it is funny in America how
small cars usually live at big houses and big SUVS live at the smaller
ones). One of our neighbors raised goats- mainly to eat up the
undergrowth in the woods, but sometimes to sell for slaughter. One day
he gave us a miniature Billy goat. I think now it was just to get rid of
the thing.
Back then we were just beginning farming and since Bill was a city
slicker from Atlanta he didnt know that goats dont like to be alone.
That poor goat lived a lonely life. He was constantly looking for lady
goats- or any goat at all- and as a result smelled EVER so strongly of
goat musk. You could smell his plea for companionship from across an
entire field. After awhile he turned mean and desperate and would chase
you and the cows and our dogs around in circles. One day Jimmy (our very
first calf born at the farm to Jersey, an ornery Jersey milking cow who
produced half a gallon of cream to every gallon of milk) had her first
calf. It must have been during a thunderstorm and she and her calf got
separated as soon as the birth happened (as calm as cows are they are
also prone to panic). Jimmy would not accept her calf as her own because
they did not get that initial mother-calf greeting. So Bill and I went
down in the field to bring the couple to the shed where they could
reconnect.
But our Billy goat was angry at the world by then and chased Jimmy
through the fence and me through another fence and the calf through
another until it was complete chaos. I dont remember how we finally
made it to safety but somehow Bill, me, Jimmy, and her calf all ended up
in the shed with the goat on the other side of a very battered gate.
After that we decided it was time for the goat to go. We tried every way
to get him in the trailer until we finally ended up having him chase my
fifteen-year-old cousin in the trailer in a fit of goat rage and
cheering for my cousin as he quickly turned, ran out, and slammed the
gate. I hope the goat found a better home- complete with ladies a-plenty
To conclude, we have learned a whole whole lot since then. Fortunately
most of the mistakes have been learning experiences and will not be
repeated in the same way- at least not anytime soon. But sometimes in
life I can still feel that goat chasing me. And as I run I learn from
it. I think that story popped into my head as I sat down to write this
because I feel a new wind blowing into Chattanooga. I felt like I was
fourteen again walking behind Jimmy to meet her calf in the shed with a
goat hot on our heels.
Although- Im not really sure at the same time what that story has to do
with anything. It was all I could think about when I sat down to write
this though so I thought Id share it.
So without further ado I want to say- YEA to the Movies on Main. I have
to admit that I didnt thoroughly follow the New Food Economy Week rules
and proceed the movies with a visit to the Terminal Brew house. I
instead spent the afternoon at Williams Island Farm hoeing morning
glories out of pepper plants and then helped cook a meal of homade pasta
and meatballs. But I dont think that is too bad
It was so nice to sit down on the ground and watch a couple movies
projected against Neidloves wall in the middle of Main Street hubbub-
complete with fire trucks roaring out. And the movies were such a great
selection. I get so tired of seeing really intense movies about
slaughter houses and huge conventional farms. I think by now most of us
have read Fast Food Nation or seen Our Daily Bread. We KNOW what is
going on and that is why we shop directly from local farm. The horrors
are so passé. I liked the movies because they were simply nice
documentaries on the SOUTH. The first was about a moonshiner who sang
songs and ballads I know almost by heart throughout the movie and the
second was about a small town who cooks barbeque whole hog. I think
that these movies were more educational for me than a lot of other ones
could be. They were simple and straight forward and both had a lot of
darkness. The moonshiner was a terrible alcoholic and the barbequers
lived solely to cook pigs and developed all kinds of lung problems from
breathing in smoke all the time
But this is US. I liked both of the movies because they were kinda based
on food but really focused on CULTURE. They did what they did because
they loved it, had fun, and truly believed in it. A man wants to spend
his whole life cooking whole hogs to just give people a good barbeque
sandwich? He will give up family and health just to make his neighbors
happy to eat SANDWICH?
Ah. Ok. So I will stop with that. I just want to say that the movies
were MOVING to me (isnt that what they are supposed to do?). They made
me think more clearly about the very region I live in and be very proud
and at the same time ready to move on
. There is a lot from the past
that we can take- mainly this passion for the BEST (whether it be
barbeque (which CANNOT be made from simply a shoulder or ham Ive
learned) or moonshine- and there is a lot that we have to keep from losing))
And now I am ready to move on to the next day where we had our Community
Discussion with Bill Keener, Sandor Katz, and Trea Moore at GreenSpaces
on Main Street. What a wonderful collection of people right there.
Sandor was really nice to have around to somehow keep Bills comments on
the ground. I know from twenty three years of experience (and having
inherited a bit of it myself) that Bill can get a little carried away
and leave the rest of us thinking- truckloads of cantaloupe WHAT? But
really it was a nice discussion- Bill and Sandor opened by talking a
little about food, local food, and what the heck it all means in the
first place and why we should even care
And Sandor said something that reminded me of my whole spiel on buying
peppers in the middle of winter at Greenlife and about awareness- this
is our job. Peppers sell the heck out of themselves at Greenlife in the
middle of winter. I personally would never buy one- that actually has
never crossed my mind. That is not to say that you should STOP buying
from Greenlife because they sell peppers in the middle of winter (they
ARE a grocery store afterall). But it would be really nice if we all
could stop and look around us and think, are peppers even in SEASON? And
some people dont even KNOW how to do that. Some people dont even know
seasons exist. Sandor said- just because he is conscious of what he eats
and where it comes from he is not going to stop some treating himself to
some luxuries like a nice juicy pineapple, which we cannot grow here
(although my mother did a few summers ago- it was about the size of my
fist but delicious and juicy all the same), or chocolate, or avocados.
But we have to think of these things as just that- treats and luxuries.
But the best part about eating in season is that EVERYTHING becomes a
treat. The first strawberry, the first snap pea, the first stalk of
asparagus, the first head of lettuce, bunch of kale, beet, pepper,
cucumber, and glory be- the first tomato! Have you EVER tasted anything
so sweet, or crunchy, or juicy, or wonderfully bitter, or just plain
ALIVE? I know I havent. I remember when I was little my favorite foods
were raspberries, cheese, olives, and tomatoes. The cheese and olives
Im sure were around a lot but I KNOW what that first raspberry tastes
like. I think I even wrote a poem about it. And tomatoes- expect me to
faint on the spot at the sight of the first tomato (I try to stay
conscious though- just to make sure no one else eats it). As Frank Stitt
said- eating like this creates a hunger and desire that we dont
otherwise get. It brings huge amounts of joy into the simple act of
eating (which, in case you havent noticed, I dont think is simple at
all- its about as simple as a spider web covered in the morning dew).
But I think Ill stop now before I get carried away (or maybe Ill say
one more thing). Right before the talk was over my mother and I had to
rush off to see the last performance of Sothern Connections at the
Chattanooga Theater Center. I didnt feel too bad about leaving because
this was a play written by a local playwright and performed by mostly
people I knew. And it was a whole lot of fun. It was a perfect way to
end a day of local-community consciousness.
NOW Ill stop. I want to write about the fun cheese tasting at
Sequatchie Cove and the fabulous lunch but that is going to wait til
part THREE. Because I also want to find some space to talk about what
Ive been cooking and I know theres none of that.
But- it has been really nice to see new faces at all of these events.
That is so refreshing and encouraging. Thank everyone for coming and
Ill see you all at the market- if not before.
-Ann Tindell Keener
