Several months ago, I found out that I had been chosen to represent Erie County in the speech section of the state level of 4-H Public Presentations, held at the New York State Fair. My parents and I made tentative plans to take the train to the fair the night before and stay in the 4-H dorm there the night before so we could see a bit of the fair while we were there. It was only a few days ago that we realized that our trip to the State Fair coincided with the first day of the Locavore Challenge!
Because of our ill-preparedness, this morning found us eating breakfast at one of the few food stands selling breakfast at a little past seven in the morning. Of course there was no assurance that the food was from New York state, and I know for a fact that the butter was from Wisconsin (or at least packaged there).
I felt like we failed the Locavore Challenge on our first meal! However, I reminded myself that one meal out of ninety doesn't make that much of a difference. Besides, it's called the Locavore Challenge, not the Locavore Test for a reason. Nobody's going to give you a failing grade but yourself, and I decided to let myself off for extenuating circumstances.
The rest of the day went much better. At lunch, we had the zucchini bread I'd made a couple of days ago and grape juice from the Growers' Co-op Grape Juice Co. that we bought in the otherwise-disappointing Pride of New York store at the fair. It's made in Western New York from Western New York Concord grapes. The juice was delicious, much better than Welch's, and we ended up buying some concentrate to bring home.
I gave my speech "Why Pastured?", about the advantages of meat, milk, and eggs from animals on pasture, in late afternoon. We then went back to the Pride of New York store on the opposite side of the fairgrounds and got some New York state ice cream, which was disappointingly boring. We then headed back to the 4-H Youth Building, where I found out that of a possible bronze, silver, or gold seal, based on my score of 178 points out of 200, I qualified for a gold seal. Thank you for bearing with me through my bragging, readers!
After finding out my score, we were ready to leave the fair. Actually, my dad and I would have been perfectly content to leave by nine this morning if it hadn't been for my speech. I found the fair thoroughly unenjoyable, a celebration consumerism and the worst aspects of the American diet. (Would you like your PB&J, your pickle, or you cheesecake fried, anyone?) At every turn was somebody trying to sell you anything from a new Toyota car to "ice cold" bottled water that had clearly been sitting out in the sun for who knows how long. It's rather sad what our fairs, which started out as a celebration of the agricultural achievements of an area, have become.
Anyhow, after leaving the fair, we went out to dinner at The Restaurant at Elderberry Pond. It's a restaurant on an organic farm near Auburn that sources much of its ingredients from the farm it's located on and other local sustainable farms. We picked up the flier for it at the NOFA-NY winter conference a couple of years ago, and have been wanting to go ever since.
We weren't disappointed! We sat outside on the patio, where there was a view of a maple grove with the farm's apple orchard somewhat visible through the maple trees. We all had apple cider, made right at the farm from their own heirloom apples, to drink. It tasted just like biting into an apple, crisp burst of flavor from the skin and all. Since I gulped mine down so fast, I also ended up ordering some milk, which I think was organic. My dad and I each had a bowl of the potato leak soup, which tasted nice and had a wonderful smooth, rich consistency. For our main dish, I had the pizza of the day with heirloom tomato sauce from the farm, my dad had heirloom tomato salad, and my mom had lamb. We all greatly enjoyed our food. My parents agreed that the flavors of their dishes blended beautifully together, and my mother especially enjoyed her potatoes.
We're hoping to go back to Elderberry Pond as the fall wears on. We'd like to try some of their various heirloom apple varieties in their farm store to help us decide which varieties to buy when we get some apple trees of our own.
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Here's the recipe for my zucchini bread. It was originally from the book that came along with our Cuisinart food processor. However, I've modified it heavily so it is healthier and can be made without the aid of a food processor.
10 ounces of zucchini or other summer squash*
3 cup whole wheat flour**
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon allspice
3/4 teaspoon cloves
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup maple syrup
3 large eggs
1 cup apple sauce*** or melted butter
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and place rack in the middle. Butter and flour two 4-cup loaf pans.
Grate the zucchini or summer squash. Set it aside.
Mix dry ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat eggs together. Stir in maple syrup and apple sauce or butter.
After liquid mixture is thoroughly mixed, stir in dry mixture. Once the batter is smooth, stir in grated zucchini.
Divide batter equally between prepared pans and bake for about 50 minutes, or unitl a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.
*10 ounces of zucchini is about two small zucchini or one large one.
**If you grind your own whole wheat flour, the best combination for zucchini bread is two parts soft white grain and one part hard red grain.
***Apple sauce can easily be made from local apples. I'll try to include some instructions in the coming days on this blog.
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