GOOD FOOD ROCKS: a fundraiser for the Hamilton Good Food Box

Everybody knows that GOOD FOOD ROCKS!

Let’s prove it on a special event weekend at This Aint Hollywood, February 15 & 16!

THE GOOD FOOD BOX is Environment Hamilton's popular (and growing) fresh fruit and vegetable distribution project.  It makes high quality produce more affordable and available to ALL Hamiltonians.  We packed our first 18 boxes in February 2011.  Now, we pack 500-800 of those boxes every month and now that good food is available at over 40 locations right across our city.  Good Food Box purchasers tell us that the program really matters to them.  It has a big impact on their lives and health.  WE WANT TO KEEP ON GROWING!  

So… a musical celebration of The Good Food Box awaits you mid-February!  It all takes place at Hamilton’s premiere rock & roll club, THIS AINT HOLLYWOOD, at 345 James St. North @ Murray.  It’s called “GOOD FOOD ROCKS!”

The first event gets underway on SATURDAY FEBRUARY 15TH for a night of rock, blues, folk and more!  Admission is on a sliding scale ($5-$15) and all proceeds from the door will help keep our program operating -- that means you're helping to keep that good food rolling in Hamilton.  Doors open at 9pm with no advance tickets, but you can purchase yours on the night of the event.  Ages 19+ only.

The fun continues on SUNDAY FEBRUARY 16TH with a chilled out afternoon of great music and a silent auction that will feature items that you will probably actually want!  To honour our tradition of “February Is Farm Month” events, all kinds of food and community organizations will be there at our information stations.  Meet the people “making Hamilton the best place to eat in Ontario”. Tickets are on a sliding scale of $5 - $15, available at the door.  Doors open at 1pm.  All ages.

From: The Good Stuff - Cooking with The Good Food Box on Cable 14's "Hamilton Life" - DECEMBER 2013

Carrots and Rutabagas with Lemon and Honey

Makes 6 to 8 servings

Lemon juice adds refreshing flavor to earthy root vegetables.

• 1 1/4 pounds rutabagas, peeled, cut into matchstick-size strips
• 1 pound carrots, peeled, cut into matchstick-size strips
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh chives

Cook rutabagas in large pot of boiling salted water 2 minutes. Add carrots and cook until vegetables are tender, about 6 minutes. Drain.

Melt butter in large pot over medium-high heat. Add lemon juice, honey, and peel. Bring to boil. Add vegetables; cook until glazed, stirring occasionally, about 6 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove from heat. Mix in fresh chives.

You can try all kinds of variations on this recipe by making changes like: orange juice instead of lemon juice (reduce the honey since orange juice can be pretty sweet), try maple syrup instead of honey and grated fresh ginger can make a zippy change from using citrus zests.

Enjoy!

Putting GOOD FOOD in motion... in pictures

 

Recently the Good Food Box volunteers and staff were visited by a talented young photographer Jennifer Hoesen, who took a number of great pictures of our Good Food Box pack site on a pack day in November.

The great range of actions shots really impressed me, in the way that they convey the atmosphere of a Good Food Box pack day.

There's a great range of people: different ages, different national origins, all walks of life -- and together they create an energy that makes our project come together in a way that seems like magic some days.

On Wednesday December 18th we'll be doing our last pack for the year 2013.  We're poised to enter our next year finishing up a special pilot project and embarking on our fourth year of operations -- yes, we've been putting good food in motion for three years come February.

We will celebrate with our volunteers and look forward to all the challenges and achievements to come in 2014.

Thank you for your support in 2013: volunteer packers, drivers, Site Coordinators, funders, Good Food Box Buyers and all of those working with us to keep all that good food flowing!

Environment Hamilton is  hosting their third annual Local Food and Frills Festival!  THIS Friday Dec. 13th as part of December's Art Crawl from 6:30-9:30pm. 

We have local farmers, bakers and makers coming to sell their locally made products!

At Environment Hamilton's office - 22 Wilson St in the Sonic Unyon Records building.

Entry is free.

Support Local for the Holidays!

Let's talk "TURNIPS" - four easy ways to enjoy this fall favourite!

Today Project Manager Karen Burson demonstrated "Mashed Turnips with Ham", which can also be made with crispy bacon or no meat at all, depending on your personal preferences.

These recipes are from "Real Simple" online... click here to enjoy!

The Real Dirt on Turnips!

(This article was originally published in the November edition of The Good Food Box News - click here to get your copy online)

The real dirt on your food...
By Kevin Hamilton, Shared Harvest Farm

This is the time of year when we are busy harvesting all of our delicious root crops for winter storage.  We want to store our crops in the best condition we can.  This usually means exactly as they came from the earth.  We don't wash them before we put them away.  The dirt acts as a protective layer to help it be firm and defeat the arch nemesis that is oxygen.  We pull the crops first and then go back and cut the green tops off when the roots have had the dirt dry a bit in the wind.

Here at Shared Harvest Farm we keep half of our roots in bins with a little bit of air flow on the sides and the other half buried in peat moss.  This allows little oxygen flow and keeps the roots crisp and fresh for the months ahead.  Traditionally crops were left in a giant pile with a giant pile with a few feet of hay on top to insulate them.  Farmers and families would go into their piles, peel back the straw and grab their vegetable loot for a winter soup or stew.  My grandmother tells me stories of keeping the veggies in the corner of the basement in sand.  Nowadays, there is controlled atmosphere rooms where the oxygen is removed from the room and kept at 2 degrees celcius.  This keeps apples and other storage crops as fresh as the day they were picked and don't require any dirt protection.

The other reason the veggies aren't washed is that we are on a well.  We have limited water and we feel that most people will wash the veggies again before they cut them up to eat.  There is also a lot more handling than their summer counterparts wherein we have to harvest them, store them, unpack them into boxes, wash them and repackage them for deliver.  In the summer we simply harvest them, wash them then pack them.

At last -- the GOOD FOOD BOX newsletter is available online!

It took me a while to get to this long-awaited move, but I'm pleased to announce that our monthly issues of THE GOOD FOOD BOX NETWORK NEWS will now be available for previews and printing online!

Click here to get to our new blog!

THREE SISTERS SALAD

Enjoy this Three Sisters Salad recipe from

"THE GOOD STUFF"
Cooking with The Good Food Box

on Cable 14's "Hamilton Life" - October 2013

THREE SISTERS SALAD

Corn, beans, squash and millet combine to make a delightfully flavoured, hearty and easy-to-make cool-weather salad

To start:

Cook, cool and set aside 1 cup millet.

Prepare one medium butternut squash: cut into medium cubes, tossed with olive oil, salt/pepper and roasted at 400 degrees until softened and slightly golden, then set aside. 

Carefully remove kernels from two cobs of corn and sautee very lightly in a medium pan, then set aside... or use the kernels raw for a crunchy and sweet surprise.

Rinse, drain and set aside 1 14 oz can of black beans (or thoroughly cook and drain dried black beans, then using 1 12 cups for this recipe – any remaining beans can be frozen).

Dice and seed one sweet red pepper.  Set aside.

  

Make the dressing:

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup apple-cider vinegar

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon ground celery seed

1 tablespoon fresh parsley, coriander or your favourite fresh herb – chopped

Toss it all together:

Toss together all the vegetables, millet and dressing.  Allow the salad to rest in the refrigerator for at least one hour before serving for best results.  It tastes even better the next day! 

Enhancements:

Use your imagination or try minced red, white or green onion, chopped nuts, chopped sun-dried tomatoes, minced garlic, cooked chicken or fish, or leftover ham.  Adjust seasonings to taste in all cases… consider dressing it up with a little drizzle of honey for just a kiss of sweetness.  Use frozen corn when it's out of season rather than buying long-distance trucked "fresh" corn.  Try adding fresh green beans when they are in season. 

October farm trip

UPDATED: Details for October Rural Routes 

Our October trip is:
Saturday October 26th and we are heading to Fletchers Fruit Farm.  Farmer Brenda will tour us around their new farm market and talk more about the challenges of being an apple orchard farmer.
Fletchers Fruit Farm is one of the staples at the Ottawa Street Farmers Market as well.
Details:
Bus departs on Saturday October 26th 2013 at 10:30am sharp from Homegrown Hamilton (27 King William St)
Tickets: $10 for adults
$8 for seniors
$5 for children (under 12)
Cash only, please.
Tickets available at Homegrown Hamilton.
This event is rain or shine.

Stay tuned for our November Rural Routes - just in time for the holidays ;)

West Mountain Farmer's Market is hosting a "Heirloom Tomato Festival!"  Friday Sept 6th from 3pm-7pm.
567 Scenic Drive (at Olive and Kiwi Store). 
Celebrate the delights of heirloom tomatoes!