Last Saturday was raw cold in Lexington, with little ice pellets in the air — but the Lexington Farmers Market Winter Session got underway just as planned in Victorian Square. I had a cold and wasn’t there, but I know about it because of the excellent Lexington Farmers Market weekly email newsletter. (Subscribe on the website; scroll down a little and you will see the subscription box in the left column). Market Manager Jeff Dabbelt prepares and sends the newsletter faithfully every week, in every season.

This Saturday, farmers at Victorian Square plan to offer amaryllis bulbs, apples, beef, bison, fine handmade chocolates, homemade dog treats in flavors (peanut butter bones…), eggs, garlic, gourds, goat cheese in several flavors and styles, hickory nuts, jams, lilies (cut), onions, spinach, sweet potatoes, turnips, sourdough and sweet breads, wild sassafrass root, and more.

Bleugrass Chevre and Viburnum Valley Farm Confections will be at Vic Square Saturday with plenty of fresh goat cheese and premium Kentucky chocolates (made with European skill). Susan Miller gave me permission to quote her entire message here, so you can start planning your Saturday morning trip:

We’ll be at the market with plenty of cheese, but our does are still on maternity leave. They have knit so many booties, they have had to switch to knitting sweaters now. We think Mother Nature might be playing around with us a little bit on their due dates, but we are grateful that the newest goat dairy in Germantown has extra milk to share with us for the month of December. We just have a feeling that all these babies might arrive on Christmas Day. But what could possibly be more fun?

This week there is plenty of fresh chevre in several flavors - garlic chive, chipotle and cracked pepper. We’re also experimenting with some fresh chevre balls rolled with bourbon-soaked pecans, dried cranberries and curry, so stop by for a sample. In addition, there will be plenty of feta, plus our holiday rounds decorated with sundried tomatoes and basil leaves.

We’re also doing holiday gift boxes with your choice of three cheeses and two or three of those heavenly goat cheese truffles. Just let us know in advance and we can bring it to the market for you. 859.421.6983

Viburnum Valley Farm Confections will have all of their truffle flavors (go to www.vvfconfections.com), plus their new Christmas Truffle with all the holiday spices (nutmeg, cinnamon and more). In addition to individual truffles, they are offering gift packages that are perfect for stocking stuffers, host/hostess gifts and general gift giving. A package of two is $4.50, five is $9.50, six is $11, twelve is $20, and 24 is $38.00 - all in any flavors you choose. If you would like truffles pre-packaged without a wait or want to place a gift order that can be picked up at the market, please call Elaine (859.312.1157) or Marianne (859.494.4905).

As always, their truffles are additive and preservative free.

Thanks for buying local, and hope to see you at the market!

I hope so! Here’s to less headcold and maybe a bit more Fahrenheit, just for Saturday morning.

I wrote a little bit recently — but not enough — about the sustainably grown lambs available from Larry Swartz and Genia McKee’s Windhover Farm in Garrard County. Since then I have learned more from a long talk with Larry and an email from Genia, who sent nine magical farm pictures, including the goats in the photo. (No, I did not think they were sheep!)

Larry and Genia still have lambs available — which means you can have sustainably grown local lamb for any holiday meal — and you can have it delivered direct to your door. The lamb will be butchered (locally), cut into an array of meal options (see below), packaged and frozen. Call (859) 339-4189, and don’t use the 859 if you are in Lexington. You can buy lambs until all have been sold, so there may still be some available in early 2009. More on contacting Larry and Genia below.

If you are new to the idea of buying important food from a trusted Kentucky farmer instead of from a supermarket, you may want to know more about how it works.

Genia says, “Our breed of sheep is Cheviot, which originated in the Cheviot Hills on the border of England and Scotland.  They are a medium-size, very hardy sheep which also produce wool.  The price of a lamb processed (and frozen) delivered to the customer’s door and/or freezer is $250.  Half a lamb is $135.

Here is a list of what you get (if you buy a whole lamb):

One whole leg of lamb

Three 2-2 ½ # leg roasts

Two packages (2 each) shanks

Two sirloin chops

2-3 packages lamb liver

2-3 packages ground lamb

2 packages lamb stew meat

4 boned and rolled shoulder roasts

2 4-rib rack of lamb.

4 packages (2 each) rib chops

4 packages (2each) loin chops

1 package lamb fries, (ram lambs only)

Tongue, kidneys, heart available if requested at time of order (pre slaughter)”

Genia continues: ” The lambs weigh 95-105 pounds live, and the hanging (carcass) weight is 45-55 pounds.  This usually translates into about 38-42 pounds of actual lamb cuts into the freezer, or roughly $6.00/lb inclusive for all cuts average.  A bargain for sure, and we probably will need to raise our price for 2009 lambs. All our costs are up.”

More about contacting Larry and Genia: Here’s the phone number again: (859) 339-4189. And here are three points I’ve learned or others have shared about buying directly from fine farms:

1. Practice patience. Plan a bit ahead, and be patient about getting in touch. The people you are trying to reach are busier than you can imagine, and often their work outdoors keeps them away from their phones.
2. Pay the asking price. If you choose to buy fabulous, local, carefully grown food that is good for the land, the local economy, and your health, pay the farmer’s price gladly. In this way you can be part of a virtuous cycle. The price for this lamb is outstanding, in my view, but even if it were not….Savoring Kentucky tries not to preach, but on this one point — Warning: Some preaching ahead. Sometimes without thinking through the extra value we are getting, we consumers expect hand-grown and processed organic and sustainable food of top quality to compete with discount grocery prices for factory food. Talk to any committed organic/sustainable farmer for a few minutes and that view changes. Sometimes we cannot afford the great food our farmer neighbors can produce. in that case — we have to do without or choose an alternative. But it’s not good form (and it’s hard on farmer well-being) to complain about a price or try to bargain. I wrote about this a couple of years ago in a different context. Sermon over. For now.
3. Plan far ahead for real customization. If you want something different or like to customize what is standard, call ahead and leave plenty of time to work out a plan that will not require the farmer to do a lot of extra work. If it turns out your requests WILL require extra work, renegotiate the price happily. See point 2 above.

That’s it - a beginning list of Local Food Manners for Buyers. I welcome others’ comments about what constitutes good manners in the local food world.

Photo credit: Swartz/McKee - Thank you!

I took the picture at left of Curtis Congleton last year. I visited Congleton Farm outside Versailles, Kentucky (that’s ver-SALES) to watch Curtis and his sorghum partner, Randal Rock, make sweet Country Rock Sorghum from sorghum cane grown on the farm.

I enjoyed learning about the ways Curtis and Marti Congleton are diversifying their farming post-tobacco so they can continue living on their beautiful Woodford County land with their children. The scale and openness at Congleton Farm give real meaning to the their statement on the Kentucky Department of Agriculture website, “Know where your beef comes from.” Read the rest of this entry »

Three examples this week of faith-based work in support of sustainable food systems wake me up to how quickly faith congregations can change habits and help save the earth. (Some wonderful educational institutions are already leading toward sustainability, as are a few corporations. I’m less sure about government bodies.)

A beloved niece, entering the second of two years as president of her synagogue, tells me persuading the congregation to install and use composting systems is high on her agenda for this year.

Second, from someone dear to a beloved son, I learn about successful efforts to set up a CSA (farm subscription) at a synagogue in Chicago. A short story in a newsletter (PDF, 241K) from the synagogue tells about cooking with the good food from the farm, and includes an inspired recipe for cucumbers on page 2.

Third, while on vacation this week I read Matthew Sleeth’s Serve God Save the Planet, a polestar book for many of my beloved neighbors, members of a Christian-based faith community that takes on the world’s toughest issues, including homelessness, hunger, and saving our literal earth, air, and water.

When institutions lead, lots of people get exposed to new habits and new satisfactions quickly. In the words of the excellent Bill McKibben: Step it up!

In her tribute to Dad during his funeral service on June 16, 2008, my beautiful niece said “Gramps loved by doing.” In the picture at left, Dad is doing one of his favorite loving tasks — arranging flowers for his beloved church.

I took this picture in June, 2007, when Lisle V. Roberts — aka “Dad” or “Gramps” — was 95.5 years old. One year later he died peacefully at home, in a house where had lived for 86 of his 96 years.

I took a break from Savoring Kentucky starting May 29, 2008, because of Dad’s growing weakness. I will never want to take a break from Dad’s way of living, though. He had a wonderful time, right to the end, and that’s at least partly because he chose for his life to be wonderful.

I learned to love home-grown, home-cooked food, small farms, Kentucky’s beauty, and family from Dad and Mother. Dad spent all his life farming, gardening, and teaching others to farm and garden. In addition, he was a master cultivator of warm and loving relationships with his family, friends, work colleagues, and church community.

Known for his stature (short) and his humor (quick), Dad leaves many unforgettable lessons for his family and friends. The most important of those lessons: Love God, love and serve each other, make fun for others as often as possible, and never, ever worry.

I dedicate my ongoing work on Savoring Kentucky to Dad in gratitude for his life lessons, which I intend to keep on trying to learn! For starters, I’ve posted the Molasses Crinkles recipe that Dad made hundreds of times for the delight of grandchildren and other visitors. Mother gets the credit for finding this recipe in the first place, and for baking it often enough for family to fall in love with it. Dad, though, made Molasses Crinkles and Outrageous Chocolate Chip cookies as ongoing assurance that life is sweet. We put the Molasses Crinkles recipe on the little info card at Dad’s visitation, hoping the many visitors who took one of the cards might start Crinkles-as-love traditions of their own.

If you want to read a short version of Dad’s life story… Read the rest of this entry »

Right about now, you should be worried unless you (a) have your early garden planted; (b) live next door to a farmers market; or (c) have bought shares in a local organic, sustainable, or biodynamic farm for the upcoming growing season.

If your answer is “None of the Above,” Read the rest of this entry »