This is a story about a community egg cooperative formed by a group of volunteers, bringing chickens to a working urban farm, and managing the production of eggs for themselves and a local CSA. View the video here. Download Show: MP4 | WMV | iPhone Post a comment Recipes from the episode: Garden Greens Quiche; Barley Eggs Director s Journal I’ve been wanting to do a story on eggs for quite awhile, so when Deborah Kane, of Ecotrust Food Farms, told me about the Eastside Egg project, I almost became giddy. Yay! Chickens and eggs! It’s very cool how serendipity played into this coming together. Patrick and Holly, previous chicken owners themselves, belong to a local CSA which had recently lost its egg supplier. Patrick suggested the idea of a cooperative to Laura Masterson who knew of a local urban farm which had a Heifer International grant for small livestock. And voilá, the Eastside Egg Cooperative of Zenger Farm was hatched, er, born. There are so many benefits to raising chickens. They are a great addition to any garden, they clear out whatever area of land defines their boundary, and they also leave their nitrogen rich manure for the next round of plantings. The eggs from these naturally raised chickens are higher in the good omega-3 fatty acids than eggs produced from factory farms, not to mention being fresher. Typically, eggs from the supermarket are at least 2 weeks old before they even reach the shelf. Craig Clark, another co-op member and one who also raises his own chickens at home, said taking care of chickens run somewhere between a cat and a dog. If you have the right set up, and as long as they have access to quality food and fresh water, he says they can be left for up to 3 days. Please note: this is only on occasion, if you have to leave home for a few days. I recently discovered a website put together by another filmmaker, Patti Moreno, whose passion is living in a sustainable way. She shares her knowledge of gardening, cooking, crafting, and more, on her website GardenGirlTV. The one that tied in beautifully with “Community Egg Co-op” is her upcoming 6 part series “How to Build a Chicken Tractor”. If you’re interested in building a coop for a raised bed, check out Patti’s video here, and check out her website too! If this is something you think you’d like to try, find out if chickens are allowed where you live, and if yes, like Patrick says, make it happen! —Rebecca Additional Resources Henwaller (Patrick and Holly’s blog) Chicken Feed: The World of Chickens Greener Eggs and Ham (PDF) ATTRA – Pastured Poultry, an Introduction

Sheep cheese tastes distinctive, characteristically strong, and very different from cow or goat cheese. On this family sheep farm, the making of cheese reflects a slower pace of life along with a direct connection to the land. Consuming this cheese requires a careful eating pace. View the video here. Download Show: MP4 | WMV | iPhone Post a comment Recipes from the episode: Ancient Heritage Dairy Pasta Surprise! Director s Journal One of the great pleasures doing these stories is getting to go where the story is actually located. In this case it was the foothills of the Cascade Range of Oregon: Pines, firs, windy roads, and hills growing into mountains. As Lynn and I pulled into the dairy, I was first greeted by yaps from Bonnie, their herding dog. From around the corner appeared a smiling Kathy Obringer. She hopped into the car and we drove straight away over to the cheese room where she showed us the results of her family’s hard work. As always, it was educational. Every cheese has its timeline, and it’s all marked down on the calendar. Kathy and Elle, her daughter, checked it a couple of times during the short time we spent in there. The small rounds aging in the standing fridge. The larger rounds hibernating in the walk-in. My favorite part of the process that I got to witness (and film) was Elle adding dry cocoa to the outside rind of the all sheep’s milk ‘Scio Heritage’ cheese. It was rubbed, brushed, and oiled. An antique bronze color emerged. I asked if it changed the taste of it, and Kathy didn’t think so, but it did make it so beautiful. It was time to bring in the sheep for their second milking of the day. Hank rode his bike out to the part of the pasture where they were grazing, as Bonnie charged ahead. Next thing I knew the sheep were filing in through the gate, with Hank and Bonnie on their heels. Well, really, it was Bonnie. Hank was making sure the slowpokes didn’t stay behind nibbling their way back. Inside the milking parlour, Elle herded them into the milking stall where they happily ate the grain mixture (made especially for them!) as they were milked. Afterwards that group would be led outside, waiting for a new pasture area, as another round of sheep were milked. It was a cycle that seemed so natural. One growing into another: the cheese cycle, the farming cycle, the cycle of work in harmony with nature. As I packed up to leave, I took a moment to soak it all in. One more time to smell the trees, feel the wind on my face, and to hear the chirps, yaps, and baaaas. —Rebecca Additional Resources Ancient Heritage Dairy Dairy Sheep Association of North America Facts about Sheep’s Milk Learn more about Sheep

From a very old family recipe, that remains a closely guarded secret, this mustard is hand-made by the Benedictine Sisters at Queen of Angels Monastery. The proceeds help feed a small community of local homeless people, and migrant families. Recipes from the episode: Sister Terry s Favorite Deviled Eggs; Hallelujah Jalapeno Pork with Salsa Download Show: MP4 | WMV| iPhone Post a comment Special Announcement: We would like to welcome the audiences of Edible Portland magazine, Edible Communities network of national sites, Edible Nation, and Ecotrust to our Cooking Up A Story site. We look forward to your active participation as we continue to grow a sustainable community. Thanks for your support! Director s Journal I remember it was back in August. It was a typical hot, dry day (nice to think of hot days while writing this in December!). I wanted to get a short trip to the Farmer’s Market before the day was gone. So many beautiful fruits and vegetables to pick from. I was in heaven. Almost. I passed a booth with 2 ladies with bright aprons selling…hmmm, let me see, what’s in those bottles? Mustard? And it’s called Monastery Mustard? Why? I looked around to get a hint. Up on their big banner, behind where they stood, was printed “Benedictine Sisters”. Oh, okay. Of Mt. Angel. Okay, too coincidental. There’s something more here, there’s bound to be a good story. I walked over and introduced myself to one of the ladies, who turned out to be Sister Terry. I began to ask her about the mustard and how it came about, and I was intrigued. We exchanged information and I contacted her in a few days to come down to Mt Angel to visit, talk, and film the making of their mustard. Community life is important to these Sisters. The community in their Monastery, the town community of Mt. Angel, and the larger community they reach through their participation at local farmer’s markets. And I think, in part, that’s what Sustainability speaks to. Acting locally, participating in your community, has an effect, eventually, on a much larger, global level. Like water rings from a single drop of water, it spreads outward. After filming the making the mustard, and seeing how it’s made (and about it’s intent) Lynn and I bought a couple of jars. I had not yet tasted any of their mustard. It was mid-afternoon and we stopped to pick up a sandwich at a local shop. Once in the car, sandwich in hand, I opened a jar of Glorious Garlic, and took a small taste. And then another, and yet another. It was hard to stop. I had never tasted a mustard quite as good. Now I was in heaven. At least my taste buds were! Curt Ellis has a definition of Sustainability that I agree with: “It’s food you want to eat when you know it’s backstory”. This fits in to what I learn about foods more and more. What’s your definition of Sustainability? —Rebecca Additional Resources Monastery Mustard The Benedictine Sisters of Mt. Angel Napa Valley Mustard Festival Community Sustainability Find your local Farmer’s Market Some Mustard Seed Basics

Portland Fruit Tree Project provides a valuable service that helps communities benefit directly from local resources. Fresh fruit that grows on neighborhood trees is collected by volunteers, and dropped off at local Food Banks for distribution to those in need. The great thing about this program is that in large part, the fruit would not be harvested or eaten by anyone—if not for fruit gleaning. Everyone involved benefits, including the trees, as harvesting is beneficial to their health!

5 million family farms have been lost since the 1930 s, and most of the surviving farms are not small family operations. As the population of family farmers continues to age, there is a critical shortage of young farmers to take their place. Michael Paine is a rare breed, not only does he come into farming without a prior farming background, he s also relatively young. Recipes from the episode: Fall Carrot Soup; Farm Pizza Download Show: MP4 | WMV| iPhone Post a comment Director s Journal I read this in my local paper awhile back: “Oregon is one of the only bright spots in the country where we’ve got young farmers coming into the business ”. Hmmm, I knew most farmlands were industrialized, but I thought, with the growing interest in locally produced food, I would think the family farm would also be growing. I contacted Dianne Stefani-Ruff from Portland Farmers Market, who made the quote, to see who might just be one of those new young farmers. She gave me the names of 4 or 5, and I never got past the first one I called, Mike Paine of Gaining Ground Farm. I knew right away he was someone who was very passionate about farming. He wasn’t born to farming, like many are, but raised in the suburbs. He had a garden as a young adult, but that was about it. His drive to become a farmer really sprouted from his experience in Africa in the Peace Corps in Costa Rica, and, finally from working on his Masters degree at UC-Davis in Agriculture. Sustainable agriculture is a growing field. Many farming methods that may have been lost to time are now returning. One that Michael puts to practice is using chickens to ready his fields. He puts them in portable coops that are moved along the field after the group of chickens scratch, peck the ground, and leave behind a rich manure. Recently he created a pond to catch the natural drainage of water from the hills. This water will be used to irrigate his crops. Using organic methods, some of the vegetables he grew this year were tomatoes, melons, squash, mixed green lettuces, eggplant, and beans. They were all beautiful. I really enjoyed his sharing all the different varieties he grew, many I never heard of. I think the people who come across his vegetables at the farmer’s market and who are shareholders in his CSA are very lucky indeed. If you’re not familiar with what a CSA is, check out the story I did on Laura Masterson’s farm, in Food Network: Community Supported Agriculture There is a lot of hard work involved in farming. I knew that. But what really surprised me is how hard it apparently is to get your first farm. It even surprised Mike. Does it surprise you? Here’s some alarming information about the state of family farms in America today, and the respective ages of these existing farmers. From Farm Aid: In the 1930s, there were close to seven million farms in the United States. Today, just over two million farms remain, and only about 25% of these are family farms.In 2004, the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) predicts that 98 percent of total farm operator income will come from off farm sources and at last count only 7 percent of all farm families reported 100 percent on-farm income.More than half of today s farmers are between the ages of 45 and 64 and a quarter of the farmers in this age group plan to retire by 2005.Only six percent of our farmers are younger than 35. The complete Farm Aid article is titled, “Why Family Farmers Need Help” —Rebecca Additional Resources Food Routes Home Family Finance® Resource Center Edible Nation New Generation Takes Over Old Family Farm

n inside look at a plant that freezes fresh, and locally produced fruits for use year round. Recipes from the episode: Blueberry Delight Pie; Blueberry Muffins

Cooking garden fresh foods made with love, from mother to daughter, generations of family knowledge passed down through oral tradition trace a living legacy of Lebanese food. View the video here. Download Show: MP4 | WMV | iPhone Post a comment Recipes from the episode: My Father’s Tomato Salad; Summer Squash Stuffed with Rice. Director s Journal This was a story which found me. Linda is a neighbor of Ed, the story, and introduced herself. A cookbook author, gardener, and artist? Hmmm, I wanted to know more. We began to talk on the phone and I liked the idea of doing a story on someone with such a rich family history in which food played such a major role. Not just the making of a dish, but also in the growing of the ingredients (when possible), and the presentation of it; based on her Lebanese cooking traditions. It was so much fun to hang out with Linda! I was treated to my first cup of Arabic coffee (which definitely gave me an extra boost of energy!), got a tour of the biggest kitchen garden I’ve ever seen (which included tasting freshly plucked figs!), and I got to watch a new way to prepare squash. See for yourself in the video above, How to Make Summer Squash Stuffed with Rice. While the food was cooking, Linda took us into her Studio. She showed us the original cookbook draft, which had led to an article in the Saudi Aramco World magazine. Her illustrations were wonderful and oh-so-colorful. I came away feeling richer, fuller. Not only did I get to meet Linda, but through her, her mom, Alice. I am so glad Linda endeavored over the years to write down recipes that were typically handed down through only oral traditions. And to also share family stories with these recipes. In a sense, by reading the cookbook, her family becomes a part of your family. That’s a nice gift. —Rebecca Additional Resources Linda Dalal Sawaya, cookbook author, artist, and writer Ethnic Cuisine: Lebanon Kitchen Gardeners International Lebanese Cuisine

Marge Braker, a home ecopnomics instruct, demonstrates step-by-step how to can pears.

It was once a common way to extend food beyond the immediate season. Two friends become involved in the ancient practice of preserving food, and in the process form a closer bond with nature and each other. Recipe from the episode: Small Batch Fresh Strawberry Jam

Marge Braker, a home economics instructor, demonstrates how to prepare small batch strawberry jam. http://cookingupastory.com/index.php/2007/07/19/preserving-food-and-friendship/