Winter Is Coming or How to Survive the Polar Vortex 2.0

The short autumn has given way to crisp December days. And while visions of sugarplums may dance in the heads of those around me, I am pretty sure my kids will turn their noses up at minced dried fruit and nuts, even if it is rolled together in a ball and sprinkled with sugar.

So! What is an urban momma to do to get fresh fruits and veg in the Midwest? Well, since we live in the modern era I can get just about anything at my local grocery. From Watermelon to Mango – there is a bounty to have and to buy. Lately though, we have tried to maintain a diet that is seasonable and sustainable. What the heck can I feed my kids in December?

Locally, we have a lot of good options. There are still Michigan apples in the stores, and should be for some time as they store well and can ship from the local orchards. Also, remember there is a reason oranges are traditional stocking stuffers, citrus is prime in the winter months and will keep your vitamins up too!

Winter squashes are still coming in and will continue to be good from local sources through the winter as they keep well. If your kids are like mine, they probably turn their noses up a bit on squash, but I found a GREAT minestrone recipe that I will share that will help get you through it.

First you have to have a dinner of roasted chicken. It’s the best way to get stock.  At True Nature Foods, my local store, I can get chickens from a farm in Illinois. The good news is that a lot of our meat is local to the region, even the stuff you buy in stores. For example when I was with the City Moms program this year (http://www.watchusgrow.org/about-us/meet-the-moms/) we toured a hog farm, the Gould’s http://gouldfarm.com/,  whose meat goes to Hormel. 

That’s getting us sidetracked from soup.

After you have your roast chicken dinner, put all the bones, left over skin, meat you aren’t going to eat, together with a chopped onion, carrot and celery, and any herbs you may have stuffed inside the chicken for flavor into a large stock pot. Cover with water and boil for an hour or two. You can do this process at least twice and get a couple of gallons of stock. I freeze mine in gallon sized bags for later use in soup.

Make your soup! Make lots of soup with root vegetables and stock.  You will survive and so will I!

Here is my latest favorite soup, it is a lot of ingredients, but it is well worth it.

Autumn Minestrone

1 onion, diced

4-5 cloves of garlic, sliced

1 tbs herbs

2 tbs butter

2 tbs oil

3 carrots, roughly chopped, peeled if desired

3 stalks of celery, chopped

½ butternut squash, cubed

4 potatoes, peeled cubed

4-5 roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped

1 pound kale, stems removed, chopped

1-2 quarts of chicken or vegetable stock

1 can of cannellini beans

1 cup of pearled barley

1 5oz can of tomato paste

Salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onion, garlic and herbs in the butter and oil. When soft, add the carrots and celery. Saute 5 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and as much of the stock as you can get in your pot. Boil until the potatoes and squash are fork-tender. Voila. Soup. Serve with bread and butter for an extra treat. This makes a TON of soup, you can freeze the leftovers or have jealous coworkers for lunch.

I survive the winter by making the best of the local, sustainable ingredients available to me and filling my stomach with hearty, warming soups. How do you survive?

Taking Farm Visits to the Next Level

I am just like you, City Mom. 

I work a full-time job and have two wonderful daughters in elementary school. I am a Girl Scout leader, a menu planner and a recipe experimenter.  I volunteer for the kids’ school and I try to have a life of my own and work out once in a while, but mostly, like you, my number one concern is my kids, their health and their happiness.  

When I can, I get my kids away from the traffic, and the cars, and the concrete and we visit forests and parks and rural areas.  We love going to pick apples, berries, and pumpkins.  I love being on the farms and fantasize with regularity what it would be like to live out there, with the land and the air and the trees. What would it be like? 

Then, miraculously, I saw a link to the Illinois Farm Bureau’s program for City Moms. The program allows a group of moms from the city and suburbs unparalleled and unprecedented access to working, family farms in Illinois. The program only asks that you commit to it and write about your experiences. I immediately applied – what an opportunity. 

This is a level up from apple picking, I can tell you that.  It is behind the scenes, no holds barred all access to an industry that has very strict guidelines on visiting. (This is all for the health of our food supply, I can assure you right now and not because of any dark secrets). 

 I have no regrets. I have been able to ask hard questions about animal welfare, husbandry, bees, GMO, crop cycles, weather, food of the persons directly involved. I have seen a farmer emotionally moved about the loss of an infant pig. I have seen a farmer plea with us to understand that science is not our enemy.  I got to hold a baby pig and watch the bloom of a soybean. 

Has my mind been changed about hot button topics? Not entirely. But I will tell you that it has been informed and transformed thanks to this wonderful opportunity.  My curiosity is still searching for answers, but I know more than I ever would have without this program. 

Guess what City Mom – YOU too can have this opportunity. Now is the time to apply for the 2015 City Mom program.  Simply visit http://www.watchusgrow.org/about-us/tour-our-farms and apply. It is the chance and experience of a lifetime. 

 

If you are curious about farming – you should do this. 

If you have burning questions about food production – you should do this. 

If you have doubts about the safety of the animals you eat – you should do this. 

If you want to learn – you should do this. 

If you want to meet some of the most wonderful people you would never otherwise meet – you should do this. 

If you want to ask me any questions about my experience, feel free to comment below and I will respond with honesty.  

Take advantage of this wonderful opportunity. I would do it all over again!

Winter. It's come.

Winter.

This morning on my commute through the city into the suburbs for work I noticed everything looking so... grey.

I composed this on my voice recorder... and edited here for your pleasure.

Winter in Chicago
Cold.
Dreary.
Grey.
Everything the color of ash
Everything the color of death
really everything the color of not waiting
but of having given up.

Underneath the summer waits.
Bouncing green sprigs of grass.
The ridiculous foliage of the trees in August.

It's waiting.
Its more like
Less Like
Hibernating
More like waiting to be resurrected like the bird born of ash
you know the one.
That's the beauty and magic of Chicago.
If you can get through the disgusting winter, the ash, the death.


Ok. It is a little high school melodramatic, but I am so tired of the colorless sky and earth. Everything the same shade of dirty. Yearning for the pop of pink in a little girl's snowsuit.