Goats and Spuds

My farmer friend, Cynthia Sandberg of Love Apple Farm (search my blog—it's all over here), called me a few days ago—you may remember our conversation about cow poop. But she had other news, not quite as sad as the death of sweet little Ludwig, but still sad.

It seems that her pair of pygmy goats, Queen Elizabeth I (pictured here) and Vivaldi (pictured below, nibbling Cynthia's hat) were the source of a few “gentle” complaints from Cynthia's neighbors. They would bleat pitifully, seeking her companionship, for hours on end. (If I were locked up in a pen and couldn't hang with my girlfriend, I'd bleat, too.) Rather than risk bad will with the neighbors, Cynthia found a loving family with three children and three acres to take the little does.

I'm curious—and am sure I will find out—if she will replace the animals with other furry creatures to satisfy one of the tenets of biodynamic farming. (Which is that live animals are on the farm. Cynthia has two fabulous dogs and a pretty big flock of chickens, but I wonder if she'll have to get something like rabbits or something.)

It's too bad—the little goats were utterly darling. Beautiful, even. So affectionate, and so intelligent. No wonder they wanted Cynthia to play with them! They're not stupid.

Coming tomorrow: Cynthia's answer about what "biodynamic" means. She is the best.

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Angie, this spud's for you. Do you want me to mail you the bar code from my organic MicroBaker microwavable russet potato? So you can order your Healthy MR. POTATO HEAD doll, like all the cool kids?

I have been meaning to write about the Planet Safeway that opened close to my house last month. It's the largest Safeway in Northern California, and rivals a Costco-type store in size. It contains a pharmacy, a bakery, a deli (with sushi makers), a Jamba Juice, a Starbucks, a seafood store, and is the biggest grocery store I have ever set foot in. I won't be surprised if they add a hotel—and why not? The aisle for birth control is as long as football field.

Organics being the multi-billion dollar business that they are, I have to say that Safeway has made some improvements in its offerings. (Not enough to really impress me, but I'm sure they will impress the average shopper. It's all a step in the right direction, I guess.)

The produce counter is mind-boggling, but they wouldn't (yet) let me photograph it. I think I need to contact the corporate offices and tell them I want to write a feature piece. Because they are doing some things right. There is even a bulk aisle, with a fair number of organic grains, pasta, etcetera to be found among the dozens of offerings.

Anyway, I saw these potatoes, with all the marketing and packaging stamped all over them: $2/pound. That's about $3 a pound, which competes with the local farmers market. But I don't think I will buy another one, even though this one cooked up quite easily in seven minutes. (And the skin was moist and cut easily, which I like.) There's just too much guilt-inducing plastic wrap for me.

• • • • • • • • • • •

Soup weather is upon us. I have posted a bunch of recipes for soups here. Included are:

Asparagus Soup (from James Peterson's Splendid Soups)
Carrot-Cashew Soup (from The Moosewood Cookbook)
Oyster Chowder (from NY Times cookbook)
Green Bean Soup with Basil Butter (from Tassajara cookbook)
Roasted Corn Soup with Smoked Chile Cream (Bobby Flay's Bold American Food)
Indian Tomato Soup with Coconut (from Molly Katzen's Still Life with Menu Cookbook)

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: “If organic farming is the natural way, shouldn't organic produce just be called ‘produce’ and make the pesticide-laden stuff take the burden of an adjective?”  — Ymber Delecto

Thanks for visiting. And this post means NaBloPoMo is halfway done!

Comments

[loveapplefarm]

Love your "Thought for the Day." At some whole/natural food stores, they call non-organic produce "conventionally grown." Twould be nice if produce grown organically was considered mainstream and the pesticide-laden stuff unconventional.

[Angie]

Ack! A shrink-wrapped potato?! And it's organic? That is just so wrong on so many levels.

Guess I underestimated the lengths at which American corporations will go in packaging products. That's almost as clever as pre-cut apple slices. Because we know how messy and inconvenient it is to eat an apple...