I recently added pork stew meat to my cutting instructions at the butcher, and I wish I had though of it sooner! The packages are 1 1/2 pounds of pork shoulder roast, cut into one inch chunks. I’ve used it in several crock pot meals, and I like that there is less trimming and prep to do before getting it in to cook.

This new cut has been showing up a lot in our monthly meat CSA shares recently. Click here to learn how to become a monthly sustaining member or an investing member!

In this recipe, I take advantage of that to get a hearty, spicy green stew going with a short amount of prep time. If you want to make this in a slow cooker, you can transfer it into a crock pot after step 6 in the instructions. To make an easy weekday option put it in the refrigerator at that point and cook it on low in the crock pot while you’re away.

Pork Chili Verdi

It’s a little frustrating that most recipes I find for chicken call for boneless, skinless chicken breasts.  Don’t misunderstand; I certainly appreciate the ease of those neat little cutlets.  They cook quickly, they are easy to work with, and they don’t even look like any sort of living animal.  The down side of course is they don’t have much flavor, and the texture is pasty, and if I think about it, even a little bit, I know that they WERE part of a living animal, usually one that had a miserable, drug laden life and was butchered in  appalling nditions.   

Wait, that’s more than one downside isn’t it?  I also know that, as a farmer it’s difficult to provide my customers with boneless, skinless breasts that would be tasty, and humanely raised and butchered.  The processing is significantly more expensive and the chickens we raise are more than just that one part.  We need to make use of, and profit from, as much of the animal as possible.  That’s part of keeping our prices reasonable, and our business sustainable. 

So all of that brings me back to my original complaint, the over abundance of recipes for boneless, skinless chicken breasts!  Here are some ways I’ve found to get around that problem.

Cook a half chicken ahead of time  I often put a half chicken in a skillet with a little bit of water, cover it, and turn it before on starting the rest of the meal.  It takes about 30-45 minutes to cook while I take care of whatever else is going on (homework, food prep, emptying the dishwasher, whatever) and when I’m ready to put the rest of dinner together I can easily pull the meat off the bone and get on with the recipe.   (If I’m using a small whole chicken this way I cut it in half with kitchen shears before putting it in the skillet, this cooks quicker than keeping it whole.)

I can easily add the cooked chicken to pasta or rice dishes.  This has the additional benefit of stretching a smaller piece of meat to feed more people.  Last week I did this with a two pound bird and easily fed four adults and three kids with a Lemon Caper chicken similar to the one in last month’s newsletter.

Crock pot cooking is another easy way to use whole chickens.  Like the above method, I can remove the meat form the bone and add it to other recipes, or I can make the whole meal in the crock pot.   I used to think of  cocrock pot cooking as more suited to wintery comfort foods, but I do love not having to heat up the kitchen in the summer!

Finally, I’ve learned how to cut up a whole chicken.  Julia Child I’m not, but I can get it into recognizable pieces.  I learned by following the pictures in my old Betty Crocker cookbook, but there are lots of resources online now with video and audio instructions to follow. This one from Gourmet Magazine is quite helpful http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zW5BFvCmV7k.  Give it a try!  Don’t forget to save the neck and back.  Keep a zip lock bag in the freezer and throw them in until you’re ready to make a batch of stock.

On Wednesday the Osmunds traveled to Springfield for Local Food Awareness Day sponsored by the Illinois Stewardship Alliance (ISA) - http://www.ilstewards.org/.

Over 30 local food advocates from throughout the state converged mid-morning on Pasfield House (http://www.pasfieldhouse.com/) just a short walk from the capitol building. After introductions, Lindsay Record and Wes King of ISA taught us "Lobbying 101." Next, we joined our lobbying team and pored over lists of senators and representatives we wanted to see and plotted our stategy while deciphering maps of the Capitol and Stratton office building.

Fortified by lunch, prepared with talking points, loaded with information packets, and stocked with heirloom seed packets (thoughtfully donatated by Baker Creek Seeds (rareseeds.com) , we walked to the capitol.

Once through the security screening, we were set to spread the word about local foods.

A slight hiccup (and an explicit sign that more citizen lobbying is needed) ocurred when a capital police officer asked "Who's your lobbyist?"

Beth replied, "We're all lobbyists - citizen lobbyists."

"Ma'am, I don't think you understood my question" he replied rather pointedly.

Wes showed him his lobbyist id and quickly smoothed things over, but this dismissive attitude toward citizen participation in government was galvinizing.

We didn't speak with any representatives as they were in session; but we visited each of their offices and left our materials with their secretaries and staffers.

Onto the sentate! We did meet with our 38^th District senator Sue Rezin (http://www.senatorrezin.com/).

Richard Osmund, Duncan Osmund, Senator Rezin, Beth Osmund, Jack Osmund, and Jody Osmund

After a visit to the gallery to watch some of the house proceedings with the boys, we regrouped at the ISA offices.

We hydrated with ice water, had the boys run off some steam in the yard, and enjoyed some quiet after the noisome capital, before heading back to the capitol for our meeting with Lt. Governor Sheila Simon (http://www.ltgov.illinois.gov/).

Our group of local food advocates from throughout the state discussed how Simon could use the bully pulpit of her office to further our efforts to build a local food economy in Illinois.

(Lt. Governor Simon with Beth and Jack Osmund)

(Simon, Deborah Cananaugh-Grant, & Dayna Conner)

(Wes King of ISA pulls out our lobbying materials – including a packet of seeds.)

Green Earth Fair

May 3, 2009 1 to 5 p.m.

Come to the organic farm in Naperville for our 6th annual Green Earth Fair. The event is free and open to the public!

• Experts speaking on organic lawn care, sustainable landscaping, organic home gardening, green home building and remodeling, personal steps to control your carbon footprint, nutrition, and more. The full schedule is below.
• More than 50 organizations and vendors providing information about their activities and products to help you achieve a greener and healthier lifestyle.
• Children's activities include planting seeds, exploring the rich organic soil to find some critters, and making musical instruments. The children's parade with their musical instruments made from recycled materials will start from the Main Stage at 3 p.m.
• Entertainment including local folk and blues musicians
• Tours of the organic farm
• Organic vegetable seedlings and native landscaping plants available for purchase.

The Green Earth Institute is located at the McDonald Farm, owned by The Conservation Foundation.
Address: 10S404 Knoch Knolls Road
Naperville, Illinois 60565

Jody Osmund of Cedar Valley Sustainable farm will be on hand to talk about the meat CSA he and his wife Beth operate in Ottawa, IL.

Deep Economy - The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future by Bill McKibben

Here is a link to University of Missouri, Agriculture Economics Professor Emeritus, John Ikerd's top ten reasons for eating locally.

http://www.salmonnation.com/voices/john_ikerd.html

Tina vs. Lois

An Exotic Seductress vs. the Constant Lover

In my new favorite book, The Small-Mart Revolution (www.small-mart.org), Michael Shuman pits Tina against Lois, and Lois kicks *ss.

As you might guess by the title, this is a book about local businesses competing against the likes of Wal-Mart and other “big box” stores. TINA is Shuman’s acronym for the status quo view of globalization – “There Is No Alternative.” LOIS stands for “Local Ownership Import Substitution.”

For many communities’ chambers of commerce and economic development corporations attracting Tina businesses is the brass ring. From states in the deep, south clamoring for foreign auto manufacturers to locate in their humble burgs to neighboring communities vying to outdo each other to land the next Home Depot or Super Wal-Mart, Tina gets a lot of attention. And, why not, she’s the glamorous gal from out of town making big promises. Jobs and money, jobs and money, jobs and money..

The promise come with a price, Tina sure NEEDS bling – grants, low interest loans, loan guarantees, industrial development bonds, tax breaks, preferential zoning, streets, sewers… You name it Tina wants it. Baby, can you throw in some regulatory reform and reduced red tape to provide a friendly “business climate” for me, too? Translation: let me erode your public standards related to health, labor, environmental protection and product safety so I can improve my margins.

Are the costs worth it? Michael Shuman doesn’t think so, and he offers some compelling data to support his opinions – his book is well noted with a couple of excellent appendices. Of course his reasoned ideas haven’t (yet) stopped the escalating bidding wars for Tina businesses. Southern states spent from $59,000 to 193,000 per job for auto plants. New York governor George Pataki gave IBM $500,000 per job to keep them from leaving the state (can you say extortion?). Jeb Bush of Florida gave $1,000,000 per job to attract Scripps Biological Research Center. Over the last 10 years, Wal-Mart (the world’s richest company) has extracted over $1 billion dollars from state and local governments in 244 separate deals.

Economic developers argue that these incentives are long term investments that will pay dividends in the long run. Their point would gain validity, if these firms stayed around for generations. Unfortunately, Tina is a fickle mistress with wandering eyes and obligations to distant managers and shareholders following every quarterly report. She can be lured away by a community with shinier baubles (read bigger incentives) or “friendlier” business climate (read Mexico, China, or other places with cheaper labor and lower environmental standards). Huge net losses accrue to the community, when a Tina a firm leaves after 5, 10, or even 20 years.

Chambers of commerce and EDCs, also, posit that they love Lois business just as much as Tina and are even handed in their approach. Shuman says the current approach is akin to making “elephant-mouse casserole.” Because of the great disparity in scale between Tina and Lois enterprises, the incentives are disproportionate as well. Local politicians are seduced by the front page media attention and photo ops afforded by grand multi-million (or billion) dollar projects. New Lois projects are usually relegated to a small square buried in the business section of the local paper. For Lois to prosper, this recipe needs to change.

Why is Lois a better option?

Local Ownership –

When a business is locally owned, the owners and managers are tied to the community. They attend local churches and social events. Their children attend local schools. Their employees, customers, and business associates are their friends and neighbors. Their business decisions affect the community in which they live.

A beneficial push/pull dynamic is set up by proximity and connection to community. Business owners with deep ties (social, economic, and spiritual) to community, don’t move their businesses to chase incentives, cheap labor, or easier regulation. Nor are they inclined to mistreat workers or damage the environment as their friends and neighbors and customers can are there to see their actions – scrutiny and transparency count. As many Lois businesses span generations sustainable business models are typical.

Import Substitution –

Locally owned businesses buy a much higher percentage of supplies and services within their own community/region than their Tina counterparts. Prosperous local businesses foster complementary businesses and lead to vibrant interconnected economies. When local inputs are processed/manufactured into higher value products within the same community, more dollars accrue to and circulate within the community. This increased wealth and monetary circulation has positive effects on wages, tax bases, and community investment – schools, roads, civic institutions.

Rising wages and improved community services, retain talent, and alleviate the “brain drain” experienced when skilled jobs are exported by Tina entities. With thriving Lois businesses and growing tax bases providing improved infrastructure, social, and educational institutions; people will want to join the community. Talented newcomers will join existing innovators to build on the comm., unity’s success. Goods and services will continue to be traded across regions and countries, however; having Lois businesses with strong communities ties negotiating the deals these transactions will garner net benefits to the community rather than padding the profits of distant shareholders and boards of directors.