Why Food, Farms & Eating Local Matters!

Hi Everyone,

This weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the "Why Food, Farms & Eating Local Matters" event held at Woodstock Elementary School that was sponsored by the Woodstock Land Conservancy. It was really an amazing event! There was a lot of really great information shared but that's not what I am going to write about.

Joel Salatin, who is one of the main farmer's featured in the movie Food, inc, was the main speaker of the event. If you haven't seen that movie, I highly suggest seeing it. I admit that I had an aversion to seeing the film because I feel like I know enough about the meat industry and do my best to eat both poultry and meat from local sources. However, I finally saw the movie the other evening. There were different aspects of the industry I was unaware of and it did inspire me to become more active politically in the way of exercising my rights as a citizen in regards to food policy.

From the talk, I walked away with the inspiration to make a push for our school to have a functioning vegetable garden and really organize people to get excited about it. So far, I have collected almost 10 families for this project and I am sure others will join in!

So, why I am sharing this? I want to encourage you to do whatever you can to be a part of changing the food system as we know it! We can all do small things to make a difference. Eating as much local food as possible is a start. Planting a garden is another step. Avoiding processed food is yet another. There are so many things we can do. The coolest thing is that it not only is the healthiest thing for us, it's the healthiest thing for the earth, for our local economies and so forth.

For those of you who live in the Hudson Valley, there was a great farmer there named Miriam Latzer who is going to teach canning classes through her farm called the Loose Caboose Farm. Canning and preserving is one way we can eat local throughout the winter. Pickling is another, I have a friend, Peter Barrett who teaches Pickling classes among other great foodie classes.

Okay, that's it for now! Write soon!!! Enjoy the snowy day! Lysa

Flu Buster Tonic for those in need

Hi Everyone,

I have let some time go between writing (again!), but here I am back in action. I was speaking with a friend who has been struggling with a persistent cold/flu the last couple of weeks which made me think of the "Flu Buster Tonic" from Renee Loux's the Balanced Plate book. I may have posted the recipe for this last year, but I want to do it tonight for those who did n't see it and just in case I didn't!

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1-2 cloves garlic (if you dare)

1/4 cup shredded ginger

2 teaspoons wasabi powder ( I never have this so I skip this ingredient)

1-4 tablespoons raw honey

In blender, combine the vinegar, garlic and ginger and blend until smooth. Pour through a fine strainer and press with the back of a spoon to extract as much juice as possible. Discard pulp.

Whisk in the wasabi, cayenne, and honey. Store in a glass jar in the refrigerator. Serve 2 tablespoons at a time on an empty stomach. Add to 1 cup hot water for a warming tonic.

I usually omit the wasabi and squeeze fresh lemon juice into this tonic as well. I also just put all the ingredients in the blender except the lemon juice (squeeze that in at the end). It really does work wonders if you feel like you are getting sick or if you are sick, it speeds up the process.

The Balanced Plate cookbook is an amazing resource of healthy and delicious recipes, healing tonics, macrobiotic guidelines, healthy cleaning product recommendations and much more!

Good night!

Lysa