6 Ways to Make Valentine's Day Local

Don't forget to take the Local Food in Your Life survey. Results posted at the end of the month.

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Photo by Box Me Up and Ship Me Out

It starts off as a cliche:  I'm standing in the aisle at the grocery store, looking at a wall of imported foods.  I'm leaning over the case at the jewelry store, gazing at sparkly things from around the world.  I'm walking between the rows of flowers harvested thousands of miles away and flown in.

Everywhere we look, we're surrounded by wonderful things collected from around the world and transported directly into our neighborhoods.  Sometimes we don't even think about how many things and ingredients and components from other lands are included in our everyday life.  This valentine's day, I'm taking a moment to think about my buying choices, and trying to find a way to support my local economy by buying local.  Here are six ways you can make a difference and substitute a local item for something imported.

1.  Fruity Drinks
Eating out is maybe the most common way of celebrating Valentine's day with the one we love.  Those cocktails are filled with tropical fruits and liquors brought in from far away places.

Fruity Drink photo by Miss Peach

Local alternative:  Rogue beer.  The Chateau Rogue label of Rogue Brewery is 100% local ingredients and a perfect substitute for imported mixed fruity drinks.  Rogue pub in the Pearl has a good  supply.

2.  Flowers
Everyone gives flowers on Valentine's day.  Their bright colors light up any room.  It's too bad they are cut by impoverished child workers, flown around the hemisphere in a day, and trucked across the land to get to the store in time.

Local alternative.  Red Kale.  This colorful and hearty winter green is not only beautiful but edible.  Available wherever local veggies are sold.


3.  Chocolates
These sweet morsels are the classic gift to give to your sweety.  Unfortunately there is nothing local about the cacao and sugar needed to make these.

Local alternative:  Six cleaned trout. Locally and sustainably caught trout can be a great alternative to foreign mass-produced candy.  Ask Flying Fish Company what they have in stock.

Photo by Cobalt_grrl

4.  Jewelry
Although it is very common to make your partner's eyes shine with precious gems, jewelry is nearly always trucked in from somewhere far away where it was probably extracted from the ravaged ground of a destroyed ecosystem.

Local alternative: Raw oysters.  These little gems always say "I love you" and their legendary aphrodisiac qualities can give a little boost to the second half of your Valentine's day.  Yeowzers!  Check Eat to find great oysters in Portland.

Photo by mindync

Photo by Dyste's Grocery

5.  Perfume
Many people like giving and getting perfume on Valentine's day. Sometimes there is nothing better than dressing up and smelling good.  Unfortunately, these little bottles of scented chemicals are filled with unpronounceable tinctures from the corners of the earth.

Local alternative:  5 lbs. chuck roast.  What would be better than the down home aroma of a hearty stew simmering on the stove.  5 lbs. slab of locally raised red meat is just the thing you need.

6.  Lingerie

Although this is usually a gift for yourself rather than the other person, lingerie is something many people buy on Valentines' day for the loved one.  However, almost all lingerie is made from synthetic materials derived from petroleum products making this outfit not only imported, but a sure way to increase your carbon butt-print.

Local alternative:  A block of butter.  Just because it tastes better than polyester.  And it's spreadable.  Available from any of the local dairies, like Noris Dairy.

Hopefully this has been helpful.  Take a few minutes this year to find ways to make your Valentine's Day more local.  Happy Valentine's Day!

The Farming Portland Survey and Favorite Sources Tab

The Farming Portland Food Survey
There are so many reasons not to eat local and sustainable.  I know that in my house, we've tried and failed many times to eat more local, to support our local food economy, and to eat less industrial food.  But the demands of work and life make the convenience of grocery stores undeniable. 


How does your family handle these challenges?  What resources do you rely on to feed your family?  Please take a couple minutes to fill out this 100% anonymous survey.  I'd love to learn more about how your family handles these challenges.  I'll post the results at the end of the month. 

• 100% anonymous.
• This survey should take less than 2 minutes of your time.
• Check back later in the month to see the results..

>>>Take the Survey<<<

Also, this week I am launching the:

The Farming Portland Favorite Oregon Sources Tab

This is something I've been thinking of creating for a long time.  There are so many really good sources for sustainable food here in the Portland area, but not everyone knows about them.  Because I've been asked many times what sources I like for this or that, a local resource page seemed like a good idea.  This won't be everything, just the things that I like.  I'll work on updating it as more things cross my path.

• Links to responsible local sources
• I'll be updating this over time with more information
• Great vendors you might not have known about

Tuna Balls

I'm standing on the beach at Nehalem Bay State Park.  The ocean is dark grey and the wind coming over the water is cold.  The clouds are heavy and low; rain could come at any time.  This is what the Oregon coast is like most of the year.  It is not a soft, warm place for beach towels, bikinis, palm trees and coconut scented sunscreen.  It is a hard cold place where ancient volcanic flows meet icy currents from northern places.  The ocean is always dark and never warm.

Beach grass at Nehalem Bay State Park, looking toward Nehalem Bay.

We leave the beach and are heading back to Portland.  After spending a weekend renting  a house with some friends, I appreciated the break from routing but are looking forward to getting back to that routine with the baby.  The weeks upcoming responsibilities have already started pulling our thoughts back to home.  My wife and I are discussing the logistics for the next five days.  Our minds have left the beach, and it's time for our bodies to follow.

But the ocean is there, next to us, undeniable.  And I know that under the impenetrable surface lives a bounty of creatures.  These creatures are my connection to this place. The water is too cold to swim in.  The  cliffs are too steep to climb.  But the seafood is there to be savored.

We stop in Cannon Beach to get lunch on the way home.  The town is cedar shingles and narrow streets.  Now is the off-season and the day is rainy.  There are no lines; parking is easy. Surprisingly, good seafood restaurants are hard to find on the Oregon coast.  A generally slow economy combined with heavy dependence on tourism mean many places don't last a whole year.  The ones that do survive are generally low priced and moderate quality.  The harvest of the sea is captured and distributed to other places with stronger economies and stronger demand.

We stop at Ecola Seafood for lunch.  To our surprise we find a menu full of delicious ideas and a deli case stocked with fish and shellfish of all kinds--whole crab, salmon fillets, halibut steaks, shrimp cocktail, oysters.  Stacked in front of the case is something I'd never seen before--locally caught Oregon tuna in cans.

Fish Balls

In The Essential Mediterranean, Nancy Harmon Jenkins says the fish balls recipe comes from a little Sicilian fishing port of Porticello and that Franco Crivello serves them like tiny meat balls, rolled no bigger than marbles, as an appetizer.  The recipe is simple--make meat balls out of tuna and serve them with red sauce.  In her recipe she uses tuna steaks, then grinds them like ground meat.  Egg and bread crumbs hold things together just like a real meatball.  But I don't have tuna steaks, and I don't have time to drive across town to Flying Fish Co. to get responsibly caught local tuna.  Then I remember the cans.

Canned tuna, while probably not as good as fresh tuna, would probably work just fine in a pinch.  Luckily, I find some at New Season. Whole sections of tuna in a can.  7 oz of loin steak for $7.   Expensive.  This is the sames as $17 per pound of fish.  The pricing is not competitive, especially when Starkist is on the self below at a fraction of the cost.  But it is the only option for line-caught, local tuna.  And it is only half a mile from my house.  It will have to do.

Franco Crivello's Fish Balls

The recipe is very simple, basically make little meat balls out of fish.  If serving as an appetizer, make them marble sized.  If serving as a main dish, make them ping-pong ball size.  Make sure to add enough egg to get them to hold together.  I had to add an extra half an egg.

Oregon responsibly caught canned tuna
Grated Romano cheese
Mint
Italian parsley
Roast pine nuts
Black Currant
bread crumbs
egg

Mix everything together to your liking and form into balls.  Saute the balls in vegetable oil until they are brown and the egg has set.

For the sauce, make a simple red sauce.  I don't like red sauce very much so mine is chunkier than they call for in the recipe.

Can of tomatoes (crushed or diced depending on your texture preferences)
Onion
Garlic
White wine
Pinch of sugar
Spices

Saute the onions and garlic until soft, reduce the white wine, add tomatoes and spices.  Done.

How you serve this is up to you. I put it over rice for lack of imagination.  Overall the recipe is good. I would add more spices to the fish balls next time, more salt at least.  I left out the currants because I didn't have any and the pine nuts didn't really add much for me so they could stay out next time too. More cheese might be nice.  And the sauce needs more complexity.  But different and healthier than beef meat balls.  A fun thing to experiment with.