• 03Nov

    It seems safe to say that there have been few single issues more passionately debated in the food world than that of the production of foie gras. It is illegal to produce it in the United Kingdom. For a short time the City of Chicago banned it (although that decision has since been repealed). The state of California is currently under a deadline to cease production and sale of the product. Like Colonel Travis’s “line in the sand”,  chefs all over the country stood decidedly on one side of the debate or the other. Charlie Trotter became the poster child for the opposition, whereas people like Anthony Bourdain took strong measures publicly to help ensure its protection.

    Ancient Hieroglyphic Depictions of Cruelty

    Ancient Hieroglyphic Depictions of Cruelty

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  • 20Oct

    Disclaimer:  Since the original posting of “A Campaign for Raw Milk”, I felt it was necessary to convey what should be obvious:  That unpasteurized milk is a raw product that contains live bacteria, beneficial and non-beneficial, which under rare circumstances in these modern times have been known to cause illness—especially if said milk is acquired from a facility that is not licensed to sell it.  If drinking raw milk, it is of utmost importance that the milk comes from a regulated and certified dairy that holds a Texas State Health DepartmentGrade A Raw for Retail Milk Permit.

    I am neither a chemist nor a microbiologist, and the assumptions that appeared in the original post were based on research that I did, which heavily relied on studies provided by the Weston A. Price Foundation.  I’ll be the first to admit that I was blown away by the plethora of facts or “facts” that can be found on the internets purporting raw milk’s alleged health benefits.  After several conversations with a chemist as well as our local microbiology expert, Dr. Richard Sucgang, it appears that most of the health benefits of raw milk are to this day, highly questionable. Aside from the argument of miraculous benefits that some have associated with raw milk, I feel there are still extremely important reasons to support its production and partake of the bovine elixir. Swim at your own risk…

     That being said: 

    Honestly, I’ve never been much of a milk drinker. I wasn’t the type of person who would step up to the fridge, pour myself a tall glass of ice-cold milk and gulp it down. In fact, just the thought of that, even to this day, makes me want to throw up a bit—something about the way it smelled after I swallowed. I grew up around these people though. I was good friends with a guy who drank massive quantities of the stuff for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Weird, I thought.

    Good Old Fashioned, Raw Milk

    Good Old Fashioned, Raw Milk

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  • 17Jun

    When I was planning these posts a few days ago I had no clue that the idea of humane vs. inhumane rearing and slaughtering could snowball into what it did.  Quickly, I realized that everything that I was thinking was going to take some time to flesh out and express on paper…err…computer screen.

    Humane-It’s a word that’s like the girl in the 6th grade that was kind of frumpy in May and then completely transformed by the time school resumed in the Fall.  It is becoming very popular. 

     

    Napa Valley Holsteins

    Napa Valley Holsteins

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  • 16Jun

    First off, it’s been kind of dead over here hasn’t?  Yeah.  I have no excuses.  I’ve been productive in other areas though—tons of yard and housework.  Last weekend we painted our bedroom AND worked on a dual purpose fence/trellis in our back yard.  No small task.

    I also wanted to point out and thank Houstonians for looking to me (cough) as their farmers market guiding light.  I’m very humbled…right.

     

    Bayou City Market Bag

    Bayou City Market Bag

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  • 15Apr

    It isn’t often that many of the things in which I’m interested, collide in such a way that easily wraps up into one tidy and squeaky clean post (local food, sustainable farming, garden updates, etc). In our house, the advent of each major familial holiday is spent pouring over cookbooks and old archived blog posts in an effort to come up with plans for the next big meal. Of course, the variables aren’t always that expansive—Thanksgiving is obviously turkey, and Christmas is usually a ham of sorts, but lately Easter has become the experimental holiday. Last year, after reading through a post by Anita at Married…with Dinner, we tried Judy Rodger’s (Zuni Café) Mock Porchetta. This year, again, I decided to go in a different direction.

    The River Cottage Meat Book

    The River Cottage Meat Book

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  • 16Mar

    If nothing else, I am a man of time and convenience. Rarely will you wait on me if we are meeting for lunch. Unless there are circumstances outside of my control, I will be at the airport before your plane arrives to make sure you are not waiting on me at the baggage claim with  suitcases your carry-on luggage (stupid baggage fees). Stacey would say that I am leashed far too closely to my watch. At any given moment of the day, unless I’m sleeping obviously, I am pretty much aware of what time it is or what time it is not. For instance, I know that it takes me 23 minutes to wake up, take a shower, get dressed and get out of the door if don’t need to shave that particular morning (three-ish more if I do have to shave). A bit psycho? Maybe. But I hate being late.

    I also hate having to take time to eat breakfast (the most important meal of the day?) or make coffee in the morning. This is a problem though, because I’m not one that can skip breakfast. Anyone who works with me will vouch too, that I cannot go without caffeine. It took me quite a while to get a sustenance routine down in the wee small hours.

    Iced Coffee

    Iced Coffee

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  • 08Mar

    In Houston it seems like the fruit trees, azaeleas, and vegetables have been blooming their hearts out for weeks now.  Our peaches and apples set fruit in the latter part of February, after putting on quite the floral show.  We had almost 100% of our seeds germinate and our tomatoes already have blooms popping out.  So what the heck is wrong with the Black Mission Fig and especially, the Santa Rosa Plum?  If there was one tree in all of our garden that we were looking forward to, it was the Santa Rosa Plum.  After this and this appeared, I felt like we had no choice but to buy one.  Here we are now in the advent of Spring and it seems like nothing can coax this guy out of hibernation—at least not any blossoms.  Yesterday though, I did notice a tiny hint of green.

    Signs of Life-Santa Rosa Plum

    Signs of Life-Santa Rosa Plum

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  • 03Mar

    In doing research on High Density Home Orchards, I kept running across a term that I felt deserved an explanation.  The word “pleaching” seems to be a catch-all for several similar techniques that were implemented in the formal gardens of the ancient Roman Empire.  Generally speaking, pleaching is yet another tool at the urban gardener’s disposal.  Like espalier, pleaching is a method used to train normally unruly trees into visually striking, and space defining features.

    For our purposes, a more laid-back approach to pleaching was the perfect solution for the citrus trees that we wanted to plant on the west side of our home.  We have a long, blank wall that opens up to our neighbor’s parking lot. As exposed as it is, it comes off extremely dull and boring.  To give an idea of perspective, we have roughly four feet from the side of our home to the back of our neighbor’s curb.  Closest to the curb, we have an espaliered fence consisting of apple trees, plums, and peaches.  At its highest point, the espaliered fence is three and a half feet tall.  In trying to bleed this property of every bit of it’s plantable space, we had the idea of planting our citrus trees behind the espaliered fence, and train them to grow straight up before we let them branch out and into each other, similar to to the below picture.

    Pleached Trees

    Pleached Trees

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  • 23Feb

    Being incredibly busy over the last week, I have not found a whole lot of time to do any serious writing. I did however, find a couple of minutes early in the morning before work, to snap a few pictures of the goings on in the garden. As soon as things slow down a bit, I’ll get into more detail about what we planted, what we planted in, and how we planted everything.

    Heirloom Tomatillo Seedling

    Heirloom Tomatillo Seedlings

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  • 09Feb

    The unseasonably warm weather has been very good to the fruit trees around Houston. Last weekend, ours were just putting on a few green leaves and now they are just this side of being in full bloom. Here’s to hoping that we’re done with frosts and freezes. “Come on in Spring—sit a spell.”

    Anna Apple Blossoms

    Anna Apple Blossoms

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