Just two announcements: Tuesday Twister is tomorrow and the Gallery of Soups is on Friday!
Every Monday, I pull out a meaningful quote from one of the great books or articles I’m reading and share it with you. I invite you to look for inspirational words in what you read and share them each week in the comments.
This week’s quote comes from Wise Traditions, the quarterly publication of the Weston A. Price Foundation. This is a gem buried in the thumbs-down book review of “Real Food for Mother and Baby” (2009) by Nina Planck. (The main reason this book got a thumbs-down review from reviewer Katherin Czapp is because: “Unfortunately, by blithely simplifying … advice to meet modern-day circumstances, Planck’s program falsifies the message of Dr. Price, cannot claim to best nourish pregnant women or their children, and in fact shortchanges them of a diet rich in essential nutrients.”)
Now here’s the gem. And it is a jewel! I read it out loud to the whole family and we all nodded vigorously in agreement, especially me and my husband.
I hate to say it, but if you do think about it, imported greens in winter are for the most part only exercise for your jaws and window dressing for your dinner plate. Most vegetables rapidly lose what uncertain nutrients they have starting minutes after they have been harvested, whether they are organic or not. They won’t gain anything aging in your refrigerator, either. Conventionally grown produce is little more than water, fiber and traces of pesticides and rocket fuel.
A family is more securely provisioned with a freezer full of raw June butter, liver and lard from autumn-harvested animals, and soup bones for the stock pot to last over the winter, and a pantry filled with raw cheese and lacto-fermented vegetables. These foods carry the nutrients of the sun-filled seasons to us in deepest winter, in more reliable form and denser concentration.
This of course begs the question: How do you feed your family in winter? As far as produce goes, we do alot of sprouting of beans and seeds. Our freezer contains fruit, meat, and (now that we have dairy goats) cheese that we put up over the summer and fall. What about you?
What do you think of this quote? What do you feed your family in winter to make up for lacking nutrition in conventional produce and/or availability of local produce? Please share in the comments – and if you’re quick on the draw, I’d love for you to share a snippet of something you read this week that inspired (even angered!) you this week. Be sure to state the title and author, and/or give a link if appropriate.
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I agree with this post! I froze as many veggies from our garden as I had space for and planted a fall veggie garden. In Seattle, most of the south, pacific and southwest states it’s easy to grow greens in the winter. You may need some wire or pvc structure which you can throw plastic over to protect during freeezes.
In other climates (like Maine) there are many other things you can do to grow a fall/winter garden. The book “Four Season Harvest” by Elliot Cole shows you how to grow in even the harshest US climate.
If you can’t grow your own then buying organic heirloom varieties at a local farmer’s market is the next best thing. You can easily lacto-ferment those to extend their refrigerater or cold storage “shelf life” and improve the nutritional profile.
Sprouting indoors is also a great way to quickly grow very nutritious veggies. Great post, Wardee!
.-= Sustainable Eats´s last blog post… I (wo)Man, You Chicken =-.
Another great quote! I love reading these. Thanks for sharing.
.-= Sarah´s last blog post… Meal Plan Monday =-.
wow, i am shocked and dismayed that the wapf would give a poor review of nina planck’s book on feeding children and lactating moms! ms. planck is arguably the most famous author currently who promotes real, nutrient-dense animal foods for our country, and more important, she is better accepted by the average reader, from what i have anecdotealy witnessed. this really is a shame. i mean howmany folks are actually publishing info for the masses that DOESNT say; eat low fat, high sugar crap!. ugh. very bummed to hear this.
.-= emily´s last blog post… Healing with Real Food: chicken soup, elderberry and honey syrup, and spicy kimchi! =-.
Emily – I was shocked, too. The review is meaty – if you can get your hands on it, is worth reading, even though you might disagree.
Wardee,
Hey there. I enjoyed this quote. Gonna have to mull it over. Maybe I’m going to have to learn to grow micro greens.
When you sign up for the newsletter, is it a one-time fee? Or yearly?
Do you sprout your beans now before making soup? I was wondering if I should bother sprouting my beans and lentils before making soup.
Kelli – I sprout them sometimes and sometimes I don’t. We really like them sprouted and I’m always glad when I take the time to do it. The subscription is a yearly fee – I think $40. It is less like a subscription, though, and more for the purpose of membership and support of the WAPF.
Christina – Coming from the vantage point of what is ideal – those imported greens don’t offer so much as fresh picked and local. But you’re right to point out that they’re not totally nutritionally devoid. Oooh, I hope you have a winter garden again! Love the slogan you made up. 🙂
Kelli – Also, up there at that link, all the articles from back issues of Wise Traditions are available online. It isn’t current; usually a couple issues behind. But there’s lots to read. 🙂
I don’t buy that. Non-irratdiated, organic salad can’t be that pathetic, not ideal, but not pathetic. I am looking foreward to having cale, chard and bok choy in the winter garden again- hopefully next year!
I just read ‘Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal’. Great book! It’s time to market these better ideas. What if a bunch of us each donated $10 to rent a billboard on I5 (or anywhere high profile) that says something like:
Factory farms feed chicken poop to cattle. That’s why I buy grass fed beef.
-eatbetter.com
Any other flame-throwing ideas to fight the wildfire with? Christina
I’m definitely going to be better prepared for next year. I’m hoping to do some canning and freezing with local produce.
This year I managed to make some homemade applesauce from local apples that I frozen. Same with pumpkin and squash. I have enough pastured pork, chicken and beef to last the next few months.
I was just able to buy a whole head of local cabbage for $1. I only bought one and I’ve been beating myself up ever since!! The cabbage immediately went into sauerkraut. If they have some more this weekend at the market, I may stock up and make enough sauerkraut to last me through the winter.
I’m going to stick to soups and stews, with more meat and root veggies than fresh salad-type meals. This was definitely what we did in Eastern Europe where I’m from. More meat, more fat – can’t argue with that! (rhyme is not intentional 🙂
christina- i love your advertisement idea!
.-= emily´s last blog post… Healing with Real Food: chicken soup, elderberry and honey syrup, and spicy kimchi! =-.
Hi –
Thanks for the debate! Of course we eat a ton of local produce all winter long, and yes, that includes root vegetables and traditional fermented foods such as sauerkraut. But we also use the winter to treat ourselves to tropical foods, such as pineapple, and to lettuce from the corner deli. That my compromise and it’s good for me. I buy local lettuce, too, but that has to be produced in greenhouses, often with fossil fuels. In any case the environment is not my sole consideration when I shop for food. (Sorry, No-Impact Man.)
Nowhere, of course, does buying a head of lettuce imply that we don’t also eat nutrient-dense animal foods full of light (vitamin D!) in the winter. The review was error-ridden and mysteriously personal. You will see my full reply on http://www.RealBabyFood.info before long.
I’m home nursing twins so I’ve just seen the WAPF review myself! Am a great supporter of WAPF.
Best wishes for health and happiness –
Yours
Nina
Hi, Nina – So good of you to comment! I loved your book – Real Food – and I have not read this one that is reviewed. Since you say the review is riddled with errors, I look forward to reading your clarifications. Like Emily, I was really surprised to see WAPF give you a thumbs-down.
I want you to know that I did not intend for my comments surrounding that quote to reflect poorly on your work, your writings or your lifestyle. I haven’t read your book and always intended to draw my own conclusions about it. I loved that quote for its broader implications – because it speaks to grocery stores full of “fresh” imported food. And it was a springboard for all of us to talk about how we eat in the winter with local produce choices dwindling.
I’m really glad you wrote and clarified how you eat nutrient-rich food all winter. Once again, I look forward to your response to the review! Congratulations on the birth of your twins!
I’m so glad you responded here, Nina, and can’t wait to read your response on your website. Thanks, Wardee for the discussion!
.-= Mary Sheiko´s last blog post… Vitamin D and the Flu =-.
Great to see these issues discussed! And thanks for the kind words. Yours, Nina
How fun that Nina is part of the conversation! The fact is, that her book is the only one of its kind, I think. And even though I don’t appreciate the evolutionary standpoint in Real Food, I don’t like any book that denys my creator and savior Jesus Christ, I would buy this book (Real Food for Mother and Baby) if I do adopt, because I may not be able to breast feed, and I would want to give the child the best nutrition possible. Where else could we get this information? We are sooo far removed from the way people used to eat.
By the way, is the quote from Nina Planck or Katherin Czapp?
Kelli – the quote is from the reviewer, Katherin Czapp.
Hey, everyone! You can read Nina’s response to the thumbs-down review here:
http://realbabyfood.info/pressarticles.php?WEBYEP_DI=13
Look for my second reply to more unfounded comments by the WAPF and positive comments by chapter leaders at http://www.RealBabyFood.info in the next day or so.
Yours,
Nina
PS God or nature or something else entirely created real food for our bodies, minds, and souls. Your view of how that happened is your business, not mine, but I accept all points of view (and mine is private).