Sustainable Table’s Earth Day Newsletter

Welcome to the April Earth Day issue of the Sustainable Table newsletter. If you have ideas or questions about this issue of our newsletter or upcoming issues, please contact us at info@sustainabletable.org. Read on!

• Make Every Day Earth Day
• New Video from Meatless Monday
• Sustainable Table’s Guide to Good Food
• Recipe of the Month – Spoon Strawberry Jam
• The Daily Table Blog – A Conscious Lunch
• Get a subscription to Yes!
• Welcome to our new Program Assistant – Sophy Bishop
• New “Eat Local, Buy Local, Be Local” Section on the ST website
• Follow Sustainable Table on Facebook, Myspace and Twitter
• Share Sustainable Table with your Friends
• More Ways to Stay in Touch with Sustainable Table and The Meatrix!

Make Every Day Earth Day

Nobody doesn’t like Earth Day.

Devoting one day each year to collectively demonstrate our concern about environmental issues; to address our common search for answers to the diverse but interconnected questions regarding sustainability, the food and water supply, our health, energy sources, pollution and global warming; and to build on the positive spirit of millions of people working together to advance the cause of safeguarding the very future of our planet…what’s not to like? Folks will be attending gatherings, participating in letter writing campaigns, taking time off to get out there and do something about it….

Time off? You have time off? Of course you want to participate, but you just don’t have the time to engage in any activities beyond your already hectic day. Without some extra hours, you think you can’t make a difference. Well, to paraphrase our chief executive, “Yes, you can.” The trick is to do something about it during the time you’re already spending on something else. No, not quite multitasking. You have to eat, right? So make your statement by supporting the sustainable, local food movement, certainly a fundamental component of Earth Day.

On April 22, instead of going out (or ordering in), prepare a sustainable lunch in advance and bring it work. Our entire website is devoted to spreading the word about sustainable, local food; you’ll find ideas galore for fixing a quick and easy lunch so we won’t belabor the point here, other than to remind you that you can make any recipe sustainable by using local, fresh, sustainably-raised ingredients.

And if the kitchen is uncharted territory for you, don’t despair. Try heading to your local farmers market instead of a restaurant. A recent visit to our nearby greenmarket revealed a huge assortment of organic bread, locally produced cheese, and a wide ranging selection of pesticide-free fruit, the ingredients for a lunch that’s delectable and righteous to boot.

So now there’s no excuse. Follow that course and you’ll be making a meaningful contribution to this singular day. You’ll make your tummy happy and you’ll feel good about yourself too. Come to think of it, there’s no reason why this has to happen only on April 22. You’ve taken the first step, now keep going. Maybe we can make every day Earth Day.

New Video from Meatless Monday

With World Health Day and Earth Day both in April, health and environmental advocates are calling on President Obama to take a page from history and proclaim national “meatless” days, as three of his predecessors in office have done.

Our sister program, Meatless Monday, has created this video to enlighten the public about the impact that meat has on climate change, health and the environment.

Watch the Meatless Monday video here.

Sustainable Table’s Guide to Good Food

Our new series, “Sustainable Table’s Guide to Good Food,” will make celebrating Earth Day every day a piece of cake!  We will explain simple ways to shop smarter, eat healthier and make the best food choices for you and your family. It is posted weekly on the Daily Table blog; this week, we are at #4 – Sustainable vs. Industrial. Come back each Friday for more.

1. Guide to Good Food
2. What are Sustainable and Organic
3. Factory Farming and Industrial Agriculture
4. Sustainable vs. Industrial

Read them all here!

Recipe of the Month – Strawberry Jam from Spoon NYC

Preserving fruits and vegetables at home, whether it be jam or canning tomatoes in the height of the season allows you to eat local all year round. Learning how seems intimidating, but once you figure it out, strawberry jam all year round will be a wonderful reward!

This recipe comes to us from Melissa Chmelar of Spoon Catering and Tbsp Restaurant (now serving a yummy sustainable brunch with organic coffee too!).

Tbsp is the newest addition to the Spoon family. Tbsp was founded on the idea that fresh, local ingredients and quality recipes make for culinary success. Melissa peppers her kitchen with hand picked, seasonal organic produce grown in upstate New York at Mountain Dell Farms. Delivered daily, all produce, meats and fish are fresh, local, and organic when available. All tbsp ingredients are sourced from local purveyors and organic when available. Chmelar believes in supporting local businesses and lowers her carbon footprint by not flying in organic ingredients from across the world.

Spoon Strawberry Jam

Ingredients:

• 4 pounds of local farm fresh (organic if possible) seasonal strawberries, washed, hulled and quartered
• 3 pounds of organic cane sugar
• 1 tablespoon of fresh squeezed lemon juice

Equipment:

• 6 quart copper kettle or 6 quart stainless steel thick bottom pan
• Candy thermometer
• 10 sterilized 8oz jam jars with lids and bands

Directions:

1. Wash, hull and quarter the berries.
2. Boil the jars or run through the dishwasher.
3. Put the berries and lemon juice in a copper kettle on high heat.
4. Stir berries until they start to release liquid.
5. Add the sugar and stir well to incorporate.
6. Boil the jam until it reaches 220 degrees, skimming the foam from the top.
7. When it reaches 220 degrees immediately scoop the jam into the jars with a sterilized ladle. The jam must be hot when it is ladled into the jars.
8. Put on the lids and the screw bands, invert jars and cool (6 hours).
9. Test seal by pushing the top of the lid, if the seal is broken it will make a popping sound. When the jar is opened and the seal is broken keep the jam in the fridge.

* Keeps 1 year sealed if canned properly and 1 month in the fridge after opening.

The Daily Table Blog – A Conscious Lunch

How did your food get to your plate? Earth Day is a good day to think about this, but better yet, let’s start thinking about it every time we shop, eat out, or cook. In this blog post, guest blogger Marjorie Taylor has us use our lunch as a starting place.

This post comes from our guest blogger, Marjorie Taylor, the proprietor of The Cook’s Atelier. She cooks and writes about food from her tiny home in Burgundy, France. See more of her writing on her blog, www.thecooksatelier.com.

We read something almost everyday about the potential risks associated with our industrial food system and the animal abuse that takes place on factory farms. However, I don’t think that the average consumer makes the connection of how his food choices are connected to this growing problem. Something as simple as lunch can be a perfect opportunity to stand up for what you believe in.

Almost everyone is aware that egg-laying hens on large corporate farms do not have the best lives. But many might not realize just how horrible it is. About 95% of egg-laying chickens in the United States are confined to small cages that are stacked 10 high in huge barns and have no access to the outside. Factory farms are all about cheap food and big profits and give no regard to the well being of the animals or the surrounding community. To make it even more confusing for the consumer, the labeling on the egg cartons makes you feel like you are purchasing eggs that have come from “happy hens.” Don’t be fooled by the marketing gimmicks.

Subscription to Yes! Magazine for Earth Day!

Imagine a food system that delivers fresh, organic food to everybody. Can’t be done? YES! Magazine says it can, and it must, especially in a time of economic and climatic peril. Their Spring issue (Food for Everyone) brings together the best ideas for a new food system, and tells the inspiring stories of people who are bringing that system to life. YES! Magazine is an ad-free, quarterly, national magazine that provides positive solutions for creating a more just and sustainable world. We’re delighted to offer readers of The Pasture Post the chance to get this Food issue as part of a special introductory offer: Subscribe to YES! right now and get four beautiful, ad-free issues-for just $10 (regular price $24).

Find out more.

Welcome to our new Program Assistant – Sophy Bishop

We are very excited to have Sophy Bishop, our new program assistant, join us here at Sustainable Table. Sophy has been a lover of all things culinary since her first eggplant parm at age one, and has been a follower of the Sustainable Food movement since she first read Fast Food Nation at seventeen. She majored in Anthropology and International Affairs at Skidmore College and studied abroad in Aix-en-Provence, France where she frequented the farmers market daily. After graduating, Sophy lived abroad and traveled in Argentina, Chile and Peru where she decided to dedicate her life to her love of food. Upon return, Sophy interned at Fine Cooking magazine where she got to go to tastings everyday and participate in photo shoots where food was the star. She is thrilled to be working at Sustainable Table, where she can put her epicurean interests to good use.

The New and Expanded “Eat Local, Buy Local, Be Local” Section on the ST website

Eating local, buying local, and being local are so important these days, we’ve actually created a whole section on the website to help you understand it all. You can find information on:

What is Local?
Why Buy Local?
Grow Your Own!
Local Food Systems
Local Heroes

We’ve included links to many other groups working on these same issues – Food Routes, No Impact Man, Backyard Gardener, and more. Together we can make a big impact!

Follow Sustainable Table on Facebook, Myspace and Twitter

We are spreading the news about sustainable food and you can join us on Facebook, Myspace (Moopheus and Sustainable Table, and Twitter. Write on our wall, share your events, reply to our tweets! Maybe one of your comments will make it into our Daily Table blog!

Share Sustainable Table with your Friends

Help us get the word out about sustainable food and what we’re doing here at Sustainable Table and The Meatrix.  Please forward this newsletter to your friends and encourage them to get involved on our site. The only way we’re going to save family farms and be able to provide local, sustainable food for everyone is if we all join in and work together.

More Ways to Stay in Touch with Sustainable Table and The Meatrix!

Keep up-to-date on our blog, The Daily Table!
Ask questions and share your ideas on our forum, The Parlour
Listen to our podcasts on Gabcast
See great sustainable food and farming pictures on our Flickr account!

We’ll be back next month with even more information on sustainable food and what we’ve been doing.

If you would like to sign up for The Pasture Post newsletter please go to our sign-up page or if you would like to share the Sustainable Table site with a friend, go to our “Tell a Friend” page.

Thanks for supporting us and for helping to save small family farms!