Good Food News Archive - October 1, 2002

Article : Back to the land with Plan B organics
Featured this week... LEEKS, SAVOY CABBAGE
Recipes : Leek + potato soup, White bean + savoy soup, Savoy slaw recipe

Article : Back to the land with Plan B organics

Have you ever thought about what it would be like to all of a sudden change your life, get out of the city, take up farming, go back to the land-- in other words, trade in “Plan A” for your life for “Plan B”? In 1997, two enterprising young people, Melanie Golba and Alvaro Venturelli did just that, and started a farm called Plan B Organics. We spoke with Melanie to begin our occasional series of profiles of farmers who grow for the Good Food Box and Organic Food Box.

Melanie and Alvaro met in 1996 when they were exposed to the joys of growing food through the the H.O.M.E. community garden project for youth in Hamilton. That summer they went to a conference in Montreal, where they were inspired by a farmer who gave a talk on “community shared agriculture” (CSA). With CSA, customers pay all at once at the beginning of the season for a share of a farmer’s crops. The farmers grow a mix of different foods, usually organic, and the customers get a weekly delivery that they pick up from a drop-off or from the farm. In good years, they get lots of food, and in bad years, they get less, sharing some of the loss brought by weather, pests, etc.

Melanie and Alvaro decided to give CSA try, and in 1996, they applied for and received a “youth entrepreneurship” grant from the federal government. The grant allowed them to hire a farmer spend a year teaching them, and eight others, how to be farmers. They rented a farm and started growing right away, making enough money from the CSA income to pay for the farm’s expenses (except for salaries). Alvaro’s brother, Rodrigo, joined the group. Shane started working with them in 1999.

In 1999, Alvaro and Rodrigo’s parents bought a farm in Flamborough near Hamilton, which the group now rents. They have 50 acres of vegetables and herbs in production, plus 6 greenhouses. 200 customers buy shares in the CSA each year, plus the farm sells at 3 farmers markets and through the Good Food Box. This yearthey supplied our regular box with chives and green garlic, and the Organic Box with spring salad mix, radishes, beans, tomatoes (plus this week and next a spinach-based salad mix). They have also started growing candy carrots for the school food programs that we supply.

Melanie says that the lifestyle is great-- that’s why they’re still doing it. Fresh air, exercise, healthy food, a beautiful place to live-- sounds good to us! But then of course, there’s the 10-12 hour days six days a week between May and October. It’s not so much hard work, she says, as constant work. The food won’t wait for you, so you better get out there and deal with it now. She seems pretty cheery about it, though, pointing out that any business you start has similar demands, and that you either have time or money to invest-- in their case, it’s time.

Plan B’s sales of about $80,000 cover farm expenses, wages of the people who are hired to help out and pay the basic living expenses to the owners. Lots of money is going back into the farm to pay for stuff like a tractor, irrigation equipment, digging a well, building greenhouses, etc. Once those are paid off, they hope to start paying themselves a salary. Currently, all have jobs other jobs during the off-season. Melanie says that they are similar to the many struggling Canadian farmers who have a hard time competing with cheap food imports. Consumers are so used to these low prices, that even organic customers aren’t willing to pay what it actually costs to produce food here. Still, though they’re not going to get rich from farming, she thinks that they can find a niche and continue doing what they love to do.

Learning to farm has been a constant process. At first, the Plan B-ers were very delicate and careful with everything. Then they learned that trial and error works too, and you may as well just try a whole bunch of stuff out to see what works-- hopefully, with 30-40 crops growing, something will. They are very interested in experimenting with techniques to stretch the local growing season to get crops at a time when they are usually imported. Mary Lou wants to support these experiments, and so has agreed to buy the crops produced this way.

Featured this week... LEEKS, SAVOY CABBAGE

Leeks
Leeks are the tall green and white onion-y things in your boxes. They taste like a mild onion, and can be used in many similar ways to an onion - e.g. in a stir-fry, fried first then put in an omelette, fried with potatoes, chopped finely in a salad.

To prepare for cooking, trim roots and any wilted green ends; remove toughest outer layer. Usually, you can use about 2/3 of the leek - from the white base to about 1/3 from the top (may be more in the middle). Basically, you want to remove the darkest green parts that feel like leather- these parts could always be used in a soup stock. Chop or slice and rinse thoroughly in cold running water to remove any grit or sand.

Keep leeks damp, loosely wrapped, for up to one week in the refrigerator. They are an excellent source of Vitamin C as well as iron and fibre.

Leeks are associated with Wales. It began in 640 AD when Welsh soldiers wore pieces of leek in their helmets to distinguish themselves from their Saxon foes in battle. Even today the leek is worn as the national flower of Wales on St. David's day

Savoy Cabbage
Savoy cabbage is similar to ordinary cabbage, with a wrinkled, sort of curly leaf, and can be used more or less in the same way. It has a slightly milder flavour, and cooks a bit faster, but it also has excellent nutritional value of green cabbage.

Recipes

Leek & Potato Soup
2 leeks
1-2 tbsp. butter, margarine or oil
6 potatoes
chicken stock
a cup of milk
parsley (optional)

Cut up the leeks, using the white part only, fry gently in a little butter, margarine or olive oil (butter does taste best in this recipe, because the flavour is so mild). Add 6 potatoes cut into chunks, stir, and cover with chicken stock. You can use some bouillon cubes you have dissolved in water, another type of stock, or simply water, but if you did not use butter to fry the leeks in, then chicken stock is better than water to give the soup flavour. If you don’t like the idea of a mild-tasting soup, add some of your own favourite spices at this point-- dried marjoram is a good one.

Simmer for about half an hour, until potatoes are tender, then mush it together using whatever equipment you have (hand blender, blender, food processor, potato masher, etc). Add a cup of milk, whisk it in. Heat the soup until hot, but not boiling. Add parsley.

White Bean and Savoy Cabbage Soup
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
6 fresh or canned plum tomatoes, chopped
1/2 small head savoy cabbage (about 3/4 pound), cut into 1-inch squares (about 5 cups)
1 quart water
2 cups canned chicken broth or homemade stock (or bouillon cubes dissolved in 2 cups of water)
1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crumbled
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 cups drained and rinsed canned white beans, preferably cannellini beans (from one 19-ounce can)
1/4 pound sliced prosciutto, chopped (optional, or you could try fried bacon, though we cannot say that it is healthy!)

In a large pot, heat the oil over moderately low heat. Add the garlic and tomatoes and cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes. Add the cabbage, water, broth, Rosemary, and salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the cabbage is tender, about 20 minutes.
Stir in the beans and simmer until just warmed through, about 3 minutes. Ladle the soup into bowls and sprinkle the Prosciutto over the top.

Savoy Slaw Recipe
3 tablespoons apple juice
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds, lightly crushed
½ head Savoy cabbage, thinly sliced (approx. 4 cups)
2 large carrots, thinly sliced (approx. 2 cups)
1 granny smith apple, cored, quartered and thinly sliced

Combine cabbage, carrots and apple and toss well. Combine remaining ingredients and mix with a wire whisk. Drizzle liquid ingredients over vegetable mixture and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour so flavors can mingle.