Plenty The Greylock Glass

Good day to you, friends and fellow supporters of sustainable food consumption.







I’m your host, Jay V., and you’re listening to Episode #17 of Plenty. I realize you might be listening to this show any time of year, anywhere on the planet, but here in our podcasting headquarters, the land is bathed in the golden warmth of late August. Creeping up to the edge of Autumn, each dawn sees the grass a little dewier, each morning sees the industrious preparations of squirrels and chipmunks, each afternoon finds the wasps and hornets a little quicker to anger, and each evening brings the merciful relief of mild temperatures regardless of the sun’s midday dominance.















It might seem peculiar that the founder of one of America’s most trusted and respected seed companies, the worker-owned cooperative, Fedco Seeds, of Clinton, Maine, would encourage its own customers to save seed.







That’s just what Cr Lawn promotes, however. As a co-founder of Fedco Seeds  back in 1978, Lawn has worked most of his life not only to ensure that the business thrives, but also to educate growers and the public about a number of issues that affect our food, our health, and our planet. Although Lawn retired from Fedco in 2018, (read a great piece on Lawn from the time in the Portland Press Herald) he remains rooted in the soil on his farm in Colrain, Massachusetts, with his wife Eli Rogosa, founder of the Heritage Grain Conservancy.















Although it’s great to hear Cr Lawn in his own voice, he also has written extensively on this and other subjects, and much of his writing is available on the Fedco website. We have, with his permission, republished his very concise article, “Why Save Seeds?” in the shownotes to this episode, so please be sure to head on over to greylockglass.com and look for the page for this episode to get even more information.







“Why Save Seeds?”







by Cr Lawn, 2001







* To renew your age-old partnership with plants. Seeds are the life force. Plants, as living beings, desire to reproduce. By allowing them to go to seed and complete their growth cycle, you cooperate in a process essential to all life forms on Earth.















* To retain control of your food supply. Some things are too important to allow other people to do for you. Food is a basic necessity and the cornerstone of our culture. Control of the seed is key to control of our food supply. By saving seeds you retain that lifeline. Over the past two generations, the seed industry has done almost no work to maintain, improve or develop open-pollinated varieties that will come true from seed. What little has been done has been accomplished by dedicated amateur seed savers and breeders. We need more such people. Instead, the industry has emphasized hybrid varieties whose breeding lines are trade secrets and whose seed will not come true to type. Lately, biotechnology research has almost completely replaced classical plant breeding at our universities and in the seed industry.















* To preserve our heritage and our biodiversity. Farmers saved seeds and improved food crops for millennia. Seed companies have been on the scene for fewer than three centuries. Only in the last hundred years have farmers and gardeners become widely dependent on seed companies.

This is episode 16 of Plenty. I’m your host, Jason Velazquez, and as always, I do thank you for tuning in.







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This edition of Plenty features yet another special guest, Jake Levin, whose food knowledge and skills speak to the very heart of sustainability, which is the preservation of food for later, in addition to indulging in decadent flavor now. His recently published book, Smokehouse Handbook, illustrates how anyone, anywhere, can employ techniques that will up their cooking cred with minimal tools and at minimal cost. At least until you’re hooked and start dreaming of converting the garden shed into a smokehouse — and he can help you out there, too…















I’d also like to say thank you to our newest sponsor, Greylock WORKS of North Adams, Mass.







sponsored















An elegantly reimagined historic mill, Greylock WORKS is a mixed-use campus that offers event, retail, private studio, and shared office space – all revolving around it’s core mission to celebrate this region’s food and sustainable design.







Residential lofts for sale and rent planned for 2020. Experience Greylock WORKS on November 23, during FESTIVE: A holiday market celebrating exquisite design and local food, featuring over 60 thoughtfully curated makers and farmers. More information at greylockworks.com.







We’ll be launching into our coverage of the impact of the climate crisis on the local food system soon, and you can be sure we’ll be looking into the role local food hubs like Greylock WORKS will play in the future.















All the stars seemed to align for this show, because almost immediately after I chowed down on that Brisket Egg & Cheese breakfast sandwich from A-oK Barbeque (in the name of journalism, of course), a copy of Jake Levin’s Smokehouse Handbook: Comprehensive Techniques & Specialty Recipes for Smoking Meat, Fish & Vegetables, dropped into my lap. Just released by Storey Publishing, right here in North Adams, this book, with it’s gorgeous photography and very approachable instructions and recipes is like a treasure map for your taste buds. I knew I needed to sink my teeth a little deeper into this savory serenity. So I picked up the phone and called Jake to see if I couldn’t catch some drippings of knowledge from this seasoned pro.







About Jake Levin







Jake Levin; photo courtesy Storey Publishing.







Jake Levin is the author of Smokehouse Handbook. A butcher and charcuterie expert who trained at Fleisher’s Meat in Kingston, New York, he has worked in whole-animal butcher shops including The Meat Market in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and Eli’s Manhattan in New York City. He currently produces cured meats at Jacuterie, an artisanal charcuterie in Ancramdale, New York, and travels nationwide conducting workshops on how to slaughter, butcher, and cure meats. He and his wife live in New Marlborough, Massachusetts,

Hey food enthusiasts! In this episode of Plenty, number 15 to be precise, we hear once again from Chef Brian Alberg, a nearly ubiquitous culinary presence in the Berkshires and beyond. Since it’s been quite a while since catching up with him last, we had a lot of ground to cover.















The new Seeds Market Cafe at Hancock Shaker Village operates under his direction, and is fast-becoming a favorite eatery in its own right. The Tap House at Shaker Mill is well under way, after it’s former incarnation, the Shaker Mill Tavern, was brought under the umbrella of Main Street Hospitality, where Alberg is Vice President of Culinary Development. And early August of 2019 finds Berkshire’s best-known chef and local food advocate teaching an intimate workshop that ends with a dining experience that couldn’t get any fresher. Let’s go to that conversation now, here on Plenty.







GG — I guess we should start with your work at the Hancock shaker village. You’ve got a couple of different things going on there. First, you’ve got the the bistro, Seeds, up and running, correct?







Chef Brian — It’s a great little museum cafe. It’s open primarily during the days, but we do a lot of culinary programming around the village and around food related topics. It’s a place where we try to use as much from the actual onsite farm as possible in our menus, as well as other neighborhood farms, keeping in context with with the shakers were about and also what we are about, as chefs.







GG — Tell us a little bit about the history of your history. Anyway, going back a couple of decades. With the local food movement here in the Berkshires?







Chef Brian — I grew up in Columbia County, just over the border in New York State, and I worked for a classical French chef named Jean Morel, who had gardens out back and — this is like the mid to late ‘80s, and, you know, farm to table wasn’t really a thing back then. Although, growing up in the kitchen, as I did, farm to table was, like, you know, get what you can from your backyard, what you can from the guy down the street, and that just kind of played in my mind throughout my career.







Chef Brian Alberg; photo by Bill Wright Photography.







Chef Brian — Once I relocated back to the Berkshires — I started back in ’04, for at the Red Lion Inn — for the biggest part of my life here, but I just got involved with Ted Thompson and a whole bunch of other people that were growing and trying to keep our landscape green and build a better life for themselves, and give us better products in the kitchen. So it’s just always been something that I’ve been drawn to.







GG — Do you think that the agriculture we have locally in when I say local, you know, within 100 miles is being utilized? Well, or do you think that there’s some more room to bring farm to table to restaurants in the area?







Chef Brian — I think it’s being utilized. I think that there’s always room for growth. I think that farmers themselves could do a better job...

Good day to you, dear sustainable food enthusiasts! I am your host, Jason Velázquez, and I thank you for tuning in to Episode #14 of Plenty. On this week’s show, we hear from Leah Penniman, author of Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land.















Before we get into the episode. I have to pause to say that I was so excited…and so grateful, to get the notification yesterday that this podcast network just gained a new member at the $1 per month level. Think I’m crazy for getting jazzed about that? I don’t think I am. In total, the Greylock Glass has about 3,000 followers, and the number is growing every day. Imagine if every one reading our articles and listening to our podcasts kicked in a $1. That would be pretty close to a livable wage. Together with the members who are able to give $5, $10 or more, all those $1 memberships would really add up. And that would bring this news station a lot closer to our goal of creating more jobs in alternative independent journalism.







What about you? Do you have a monthly dollar you wouldn’t miss too much if you put it to work building a news source you care about? Why not become a member today? Thanks! Now, on with the show.







Leah Penniman; photo by Jamel Mosely, Mel eMedia.







I spoke at length to Leah Penniman about her just released book, Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land. Penniman is a founding co-director of Soul Fire Farm, established in 2011 in Petersburg, NY, with the mission of restoring the inherent right of Black and Brown people to belong to the earth and have agency in the food system. Her work at Soul Fire includes farmer training, international solidarity, food justice organizing, writing, speaking, “making it rain,” and anything that involves heavy lifting, sweat, and soil.







Some of our most cherished sustainable farming practices have roots in African wisdom. Yet, discrimination and violence against African-American farmers has led to their decline from 14 percent of all growers in 1920 to less than 2 percent today, with a corresponding loss of over 14 million acres of land.







With Farming While Black, Penniman, hopes to extend her work by offering the first comprehensive manual for African-heritage people ready to reclaim agency in the food system.















Having read the book, I can tell you that she’s packed so much information into this volume, if she’d wanted to, she could have spread it out over at least two, maybe three titles.







Farming While Black officially releases October 30, 2018; purchase options here.







She speaks October 27th, at the Schumacher Center for a New Economics in Great Barrington, Mass. with Ed Whitfield, co-founder and co-managing director of the Fund for Democratic Communities. I was fortunate to speak with her ahead of that engagement at length about her book, her work, and the critical place that people of color have in forging the future of this planet’s food system.







I encourage you to visit Soul Fire Farm on the Web to find out more about the really exciting work and projects they have going on most of the year. The link is in the shownotes of course, as is a link to purchase Farming While Black, but if you can remember “soulfirefarm.org” you’ll find them.

As you might expect, we’d never settle for a cookbook that asks us to sacrifice the satisfying or substantial to achieve our family dietary priorities. Thankfully, The Ultimate New Mom’s Cookbook, by Aurora Satler, doesn’t leave taste buds or tummies, big or small, wanting.







Aurora Satler combines her talents and passions in the realms of food, photography, and writing to create a scrumptious roadmap to good family nourishment; submitted photo.















We have arrived at Episode #13. It’s good having you here, knowing we have Plenty in store for you. This podcast released a few days into Autumn, September 26, 2018. Like a lot of these episodes, though, the information and interview will be fresh and helpful long, long into the future.







Get ready for an essential kitchen companion that goes beyond “baby food” and celebrates exciting meals everyone in the family can sink their teeth into, like “Cut the Carbs Chicken Lettuce Wraps” and “Prego Picnic Chili Lime Fruit Cones;” photos by Aurora Satler.







We spoke this week with author Aurora Satler, author The Ultimate New Mom’s Cookbook just out from Page Street Publishing. Aurora has a solid background in food, writing, and more than a little experience being a new mom, and she really combines those ingredients into a must have volume in the kitchen. I should add, too, that this cookbook is all about cooking for the whole family, so you’ll find yourself going back to revisit these recipes for years to come.







Homemade first foods, like “Pumpkin, Apple and Carrot Puree” are fresh and packed with nutrition. And they can be much more affordable than store-boughten; photo by Aurora Satler.







Aurora has generously shared her recipe for her crowd-pleasing Butternut Squash Mac n’ Cheese. I happen to have a few gorgeous butternut squashes out in the garden right now that are >this close to being ripe, and now I KNOW what I have planned for them. Look below for the recipe!







She’s a fascinating foodie, so let’s not waste any time getting to our conversation with Aurora Satler, right here on Plenty.







I can’t wait to find out what’s next out of Aurora’s typewriter. She hinted that she might be write chronologically, tackling a toddler book as a sequel, but I’ll be pretty excited about any culinary roadmaps she cares to draw for us.







You’ll also definitely want to read more about Aurora and follow the link to her blog, where she offers even more great ideas for feeding a growing family. Just go to greylockglass.com and look for the link to Episode 13.







I’ve been your host, Jason Velazquez, and I look forward to inviting you over again for a mouthwatering episode of Plenty.















Butternut Squash Mac n’ Cheese







Butternut Squash Mac n’ CheeseFrom The Ultimate New Mom’s Cookbook; photo by Aurora Satler.







Serves 8-10 Freezer Friendly







This is a meal the whole family will love. Perfectly suited for young children and adults, with the benefit of added vegetables, this Mac n’ Cheese is sure to please.







Ingredients:

1 tablespoon butter, softened

2 lbs. pasta (I chose penne)

1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced (4 cups diced)

2 cups chicken stock

2 teaspoons Dijon

2 cups grated Gruyere cheese, or substitute equal parts cheddar

2 cups grated cheddar cheese

1 cup whole milk

¾ cup Greek yogurt

Welcome to episode number 12 of Plenty, in which we spend time with a number of folks involved in HEIRLOOM by Design at Greylock WORKS in North Adams, Massachusetts—an inaugural celebration of the handmade, hand-grown, and house crafted.

We speak first with Sophie Grant, program director of HEIRLOOM by design. Her job is to coordinate vendors, entertainment, presenters, and more to create a truly memorable local food jubilee.

One event sponsor and presenter that’s a natural fit at HEIRLOOM by design, is Storey Publishing, based on the campus of MASS MoCA in North Adams, Mass. We spoke with Debra Balmuth, publisher at Storey, on site at GreylockWORKS, after she toured the space during the planning stages.

Storey, now an imprint of Workman Publishing, has been a familiar installment on the bookshelves of foodies, farmers, crafters, and do-it-yourselfers for just about a generation.

Although Greylock WORKS is the new kid in town when it comes to the local food movement, the overlapping missions, plus the local history represented by the former Cariddi Mill, created a timely synthesis of the two entities.

Of course, in a space this big, there’s room for LOTS of different delegates of the local and hand crafted scene. Sophie Grant again…

Lucy Rawlins is one of a new generation of farmers—she and her boyfriend are definitely the genuine article, in spite of, or maybe because of, an evolved perspective on the back to the land movement.

Participating in HEIRLOOM made sense, given the support that Greylock WORKS has pledged both to local agriculture organizations and local artists.

One of the points that rawlins wants to drive home is that the future of farming likely lies in the rediscovery of techniques that were the tried and true conventions for millenia.

Storey publisher Debrah Balmuth has seen traditional arts trend in and trend out over the years, which gives her a unique vantage point when it comes to the current renaissance in artisanal quality.

And that self expression is definitely en vogue from the Berkshires to Brooklyn and way way beyond.

While the hip factor helps fuel the image of local food, at the end of the day, sustainability also means creating a viable space for farming in the local economy.

Sometimes economic sustainability can mean a brisk business in traditional market gardening and sometimes that can mean taking the leap to offering customers a value added product that taps into a different area of consumer appeal. Nicole Blum operates Carr’s Ciderhouse with her husband Jonathan Carr, in Hadley, Massachusetts. Their experience as market gardeners evolved into a highly specialized (and delicious) product line based on hard cider.

For Jonathan and Nicole, how they produce their wares, and the environmental impact it has, is well-aligned with the agricultural ethics of many of their cohorts.

Lucy Rawlins of the Williamstown Farmers Market shares Blum’s holistic perspective on human effects of food production.

The appreciation of slow food, and respect for the basics will likely be instrumental in the quest to mitigate the accelerating effects of climate change.

Blum explained some of what Carr’s Ciderhouse will have to offer at HEIRLOOM. And despite the fact that she and her husband would obviously like to earn some coin from the event, their demonstration would seem to be the antithesis of profiteering—they will be teaching attendees to make a product at home that Carr’s sells bottled and ready to use. A willingness to share knowledge seems to be a defining characteristic of sustainability advocates, even if it means they don’t squeeze every nickel out of an opportunity.

Debra Balmuth of Storey Publishing described her company’s contribution to HEIRLOOM, including some of the demonstrations designed to educate event-goers about some of the highly accessible techniques of self-reliance that have been the stock...