This salad dressing is loaded with good things that make all the difference in a fresh from the garden salad.  It is a snap to do and so economical.  Just compare these ingredients to those in a bottle.  You won’t find words that you can’t pronounce in this recipe!  Your body will thank you.

1/2 c canned cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 c extra virgin olive oil (use your favorite for optimum flavor)
2  cloves garlic
1/4 c. fresh basil leaves
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender and process until smooth, just a few seconds.  Let it come to room temperature for best flavor.

One of the speakers, Herbie Cottle, hails from Rose Hill, NC in one of the poorest counties in the South, Duplin, where Larry’s Mom was raised. It is hot and humid in the coastal plains, but the soil is sandy in which the addition of organic matter through cover crops, compost, and manure grows wonderful vegetables. Herbie stumbled onto organic farming as he was advised to cover crop a “dead” field with a high nitrogen-fixing, high biomass cover crop, hairy vetch. After mowing it for three years, he plowed it in and planted vegetables. The ladybugs appeared on the farm for the first time in years as did honeybees. The harvest was the best he had ever had on what once was the poorest three acres. What is it like to convert from conventional to organic farming? Herbie, the former tobacco farmer says, “It’s like changing your religion – it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

Hard, yes – but profitable. Instead of being left to the pricing of “cut-throat” wholesalers, he is now a farmer owner in a farm co-op, Eastern Carolina Organics (ECO) based in Pittsboro, NC. ECO sells to high-end restaurants; niche grocers such as Whole Foods, Saxapahaw General Store, and Weaver Street Market; and institutions such as Duke University’s food service. (Our Peaceful River Farm also sells through ECO and harvests in-season on most Mondays and Wednesdays.) What you harvest is pre-sold, and you don’t have to expend precious time selling door to door to restaurants and grocers or manning a booth at the farmers market. Herbie now has 90 acres in organic production and is one of ECO’s top producers, accounting for 70% of his sales. ECO, in turn, has doubled its sales in the past two years and is now moving to a larger warehouse this spring in Durham’s old tobacco district. Organic has become the ticket to success for many farmers.

However you picture an organic farmer, we bet Herbie doesn’t fit any stereotype you had in mind. His farm has come back to life; he employs 25 workers seasonally and eight full-time including an older African American woman who is his best bean picker and who Herbie calls his “grandmother”. “She can out-pick any of the younger guys, and when I ask her to get out of the heat of the sun to take a rest, she admonishes – “Who do you think is going to pick this row in time to put on the truck to ECO!”” Another worker in the summer is a local UNC-CH student – cute and vivacious; Herbie tells us she is one of his best. When he tells the crew that today they are going to dig potatoes, she bubbles, “I’ve been wanting to dig potatoes!” Herbie slyly whispers to a standing room only crowd , “She out-harvested all the guys.”

“I believe organically grown food is healthier and tastes better. It’s what I want to feed my kids and my customers. Growing organically has kept my multi-generational farm in farming,” Herbie concludes. Meet Herbie and other ECO growers through videos at their respective farms on the ECO website, http://www.easterncarolinaorganics.com/farmer.php?farmer=herbie+cottle

NC leads the nation in the loss of farmland — an inauspicious claim. Nonetheless, our bustling, sustainable ag region in the Research Triangle is seeing an increase in the number of new farmers (though not total farmland). Statewide in North Carolina we spend about $3.5 billion a year on food with about 98% of that food coming from faraway places like California, Arizona, and Florida. If just 10% of North Carolinians’ food budget ($1.05 a day) was locally focused, we’d be pumping $3.5 billion into our state economy. That would mean fresher and more nutritious food, less childhood obesity, a much smaller carbon footprint, lower health expenditures, and a whopping 90,000 +/- additional jobs in a state that desperately needs new jobs! We now have 440,000 unemployed (9.9% — one of the worst records in the nation). A focus on buying locally produced food would reduce that number to 350,000, or something in the neighborhood of 7.5% unemployment making us one of the best in the nation.

What does California have that NC doesn’t? We have a more sustainable supply of water, but California generally has richer soil. Soil can be improved by adding organic matter and cover cropping, but Califonia’s persistent droughts are curtailing some agricultural activity – so there! California is three times larger with three times more people, but if you turn North Carolina upside down, our climate zones are essentially the same – Northern California is in Zone 6 like our western mountains, the fertile Central Valley is Zone 7 like our fertile crescent from the northeast to below Charlotte, and Southern California is in subtropical Zone 8 like our Wilmington area. Oh yeah, and California is 3,000 miles away, and its large farms have had their share of food-related scares and recalls. So, tell us again why we are importing over 90 percent of our produce and fruit from the West Coast when we can grow almost everything California produces.

One of the exciting aspects for us in jumping headlong into the sustainable food tidal wave is meeting the local heroes of the land like Cathy Jones and Mike Perry of Perriwinkle Farm (Cathy has mentored us at the Fearrington Farmers Market); Bill Dow of Ayrshire Farm (NC’s first organically certified farmer and a fellow worshipper at Spring Friends Meeting); the Hitts of Perregrine Farm, who first pointed us to the available land that is now Peaceful River Farm; Ben and Noah of Fickle Creek Farm in Efland; Doug Jones of Piedmont Biofarm in Pittsboro, where Larry has taken workshops; and Suzanne of Cozi Farms in Saxapahaw, who welcomed us to her farm following torrential rains last spring on the CFSA farm tour and later sold us her first chicken tractor. We’ve met dozens — there are thousands more. The average age of today’s family farmer is 57, but there are loads and loads of young people wanting to take their place.

The obstacles to entering farming are enormous – high land prices, lack of capital and collateral, lack of a profitable track record, etc. And yet there is this dogged determination to become one of the 20 million sustainable farmers that Author Michael Pollan predicts we will need to develop a sustainable farm economy. At a showing of “Greenhorns” last fall at the Silk Hope Heritage Farm Center (a documentary about new farmers across America) there was standing room only in a hall packed with passionate wannabe farmers. http://thegreenhorns.net. Larry’s Sustainable Ag classmates at Central Carolina Community College are young, bright, and motivated – many earned a college degree already and are looking to make a difference in the world – the program has increased nearly twofold in a short period.

Our friend, Joanna Lelekaks of Dancing Pines Farm in Efland, heads up a statewide initiative, Bringing New Farmers to the Table. http://www.ncacc.org/annualconf/2011-cefs.pdf There is also a new effort to fund start-up farmers and food enterprises, Slow Money, with low-interest loans from interested individuals http://slowmoneync.org/our-loans/how-it-works/.

We bumped into Larry’s cousin, Charles Newlin, at a showing of “American Meat” www.americanmeatfilm.com/ at the Saxapahaw Ball Room www.hawriverballroom.com/. Charles used to be a conventional dairy farmer with his late father, Larry’s Uncle, David, but Charles had to lay that business down due to the flooding of cheap dairy products from the Midwest and West. Inspired by Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm in the Shenandoah Mountains of Virginia (Joel is profiled in the American Meat film and has spoken to packed audiences in the Triangle plus has written a number of books including Salad Bar Beef, Larry’s cousin is taking steps to begin farming again with grass-fed cattle. There are thousands of farmers like Charles, who have been challenged by the tides of industrial agriculture’s commodity pricing, and who are now looking for a more profitable (one of the key ingredients to sustainable farming – profitability) entry back into family farming.

Sustainable agriculture equates to stronger communities. Our arugula, tatsoi, and lettuce were served to 800 farmers and foodies at the annual Carolina Farm Stewardship Association conference carolinafarmstewards.org/ in Durham this past November. Eating and conversing, whether with 8 or 800, is a powerful glue that binds us in community. The Eddy Pub in Saxapahaw is taking that notion to the next level with biweekly community dinners. Featured farmers provide most of the food for the evening dinner and tell their story afterward. We are on tap to tell the Peaceful River Farm story on Thursday, March 22nd www.theeddypub.com/.

We are selling our produce to the Eddy’s sister business, Saxapahaw General Store, where we took our daughter, Kathryn and son-in-law, Steve, on a recent Sunday for lunch. Every table was filled, and there was a line of 15 people at the register placing their order (we cheated and ordered by phone). Little mill town, Saxapahaw — where Larry’s great, great, great uncle, “Dear Me” John Newlin, built a mill on the Haw River in the early 1800’s – this little village is amazing and the happening place of the Triangle. It is Foodie Central where bluegrass music fills the air at the summer music series ands hosts vendors at the farmers market providing fresh and prepared food.

At dawn this morning there was a hawk perched on the phone pole, screeching out a warning that a stranger (Larry checking on his transplants) was approaching. He/she flew off to perch on a pine tree at a safer distance. A herd of teenage deer in the meadow near the retreat center were startled by this same stranger’s footsteps and hopped and pranced to safety. Up above in the market gardens, there are bluebirds seemingly on every post of the deer fence, and goldfinch are flitting about in anticipation of more spring blooms and seedheads to come. The robins bob for worms after a rain. Further down the slope we gaze up at the small V of geese overhead with an errant threesome flapping hard to catch up. When they fly over the axis of the Haw River, they make a perfect angled line that would make any geometry professor or Blue Angel pilot proud. A moment later a majestic blue heron parallels their path down the Haw, but at a lower altitude, scouting for food from the river and making our morning magical.

After an abundant day of tasks, accomplishments, and a growing list of things yet to do, we pause to gaze at the star-filled sky. It is a moment of awe and reverence – unspeakably beautiful with sparkles that we should be able to pick out of the sky. All this is sustainable farming. It is magical, mystical, hard work, rewarding, important, even essential, and restorative – and hopefully profitable one day. We, too, are the face of sustainable agriculture and loving every minute.
-Larry Newlin March, 2012

Lee’s Southern Braised Greens serves 4-6

This is a staple recipe in our home as we eat a lot of greens on a year round basis. I am convinced it is the one vegetable that has the most power packed nutrition of all. Sadly, it always seems to be a mystery for the majority of folks as to how to prepare without losing delicious flavor and nutrition. As a result, many are missing out on a vegetable that is, calorie for calorie, probably the most concentrated source of nutrition of any food. Actually, what is most important about these dark leafy greens isn’t how you prepare them but simply that you EAT them!

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil or 4 slices of locally farm raised pork bacon
• 1 medium onion diced
• 1 red bell pepper diced small
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons salt
• Pinch of cayenne pepper (don’t worry, it won’t make it spicy hot)
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 cups chicken stock (homemade is best)
• 1 cup of bottle beer
• 2 tablespoons raw apple cider vinegar (Eden brand is good)
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 2 ½ pounds of fresh greens cut into ribbons 1″ thick, such as kale, collard greens, or turnip greens rinsed well, picked over and tough stems removed

Directions

If using bacon, in a large, heavy pot cook the bacon over medium heat until it has rendered most of its fat, about 5 to 6 minutes. Remove the bacon and leave the drippings in the pan. Otherwise add the olive oil and continue with the recipe.
Add the onions, garlic, red bell pepper, salt, cayenne, and black pepper and sauté over medium heat until the onions are wilted, about 4 minutes.
Add chicken broth, beer, vinegar, and molasses and bring to a boil. Reduce liquid by half and begin adding the greens in batches, pressing down with a wooden spoon to submerge them in the hot liquid and turning the greens as they wilt.
When all of the greens have been added, reduce the heat to a simmer. Then cook over low heat partially covered and stirring occasionally for about 15-30 minutes (depending on the type of greens used) till just tender. Check by tasting a few strands and add salt or pepper if needed. Remove lid if excess liquid remains and reduce a bit.
Chop the bacon and sprinkle over top of greens and serve.

This is such a great picture of my Dad cooking greens for our Christmas Eve dinner. He knows first hand how important greens are for his good health. Don’t you love his sweater? Love you Dad!

Simply Delicious Greens

We enjoy this recipe for its simplicity and immense flavor. Seasoned with onion, garlic, rosemary and red pepper flakes for brightness, the kale is slowly cooked for extra rich color and depth of flavor. Servings: 4 to 6

Cavolo nero (black kale) is also known as Tuscan, Lacinato and dinosaur kale and is one we adore. It is a super star for even more nutrition than the standard kale.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 large onion diced
1 tablespoon of fresh rosemary leaves stripped off of a branch and minced
1 teaspoon of sea salt
2 ½ pounds of cleaned and stemmed greens like kale, collards, beet greens or turnip greens cut into narrow strips or just chopped.
2 large cloves of garlic minced
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup chicken broth
A few crushed red pepper flakes

Directions

In a large, heavy-bottom saucepan gently sauté the onions and rosemary in olive oil over medium heat for 8 minutes.
Add salt and greens in batches turning with tongs as you sauté until wilted over medium heat.
Once greens are wilted add garlic, wine and broth and reduce liquid for 5 minutes.
Sprinkle in red pepper, cover and simmer for 7 minutes or until tender depending on the greens used. Just keep testing for tenderness by trying a few strands. Don’t over cook to capture all the goodness you can!

Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) is not a grain; it is actually a seed and related to the spinach family. It is close to one of the most complete foods in nature because it contains all 9 amino acids, enzymes, protein, vitamins, minerals, fiber, antioxidants, and phytonutrients. It is easily digested and is a high-energy grain. It contains more calcium than milk and can even help balance your blood sugar. Quinoa is gluten-free and safe for those who are on a celiac diet. While being especially easy to cook, it can be enjoyed year-round because it’s versatile, light, fluffy, slightly crunchy and subtly flavored. We love it!

Ingredients

3/4 cup dried quinoa
1¼ cups vegetable broth or water
Pinch of sea salt

1/3-cup dried cranberries or cherries chopped
¼ cup walnuts or almonds chopped

2 cups cooked black beans
1 very ripe mango, peeled and sliced away from pit,then diced
2 stalks celery, diced
½ cup thinly sliced green onions
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

4 large Romaine lettuce leaves

Vinaigrette

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/4 cup apricot or mango nectar or juice
1 jalapeño, seeded and minced
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

In a medium sized saucepan, combine the quinoa, salt pinch and vegetable broth then bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Once done add walnuts, cranberries or cherries and allow them to steam covered for 5 minutes off heat.

Place beans, mango, celery, green onions and salt in a large bowl. Fluff cooled quinoa with a fork and add to bowl. Gently combine.

In a small bowl, whisk together all ingredients for vinaigrette. Pour over salad and toss to coat. Taste for extra lime or salt and add.
Serve over lettuce leaves.

Nutritional Information:
300 calories~20.8 g protein~30g carbs~3.7g fiber

You can reduce inflammation by focusing on foods that decrease the body’s production of inflammatory compounds, fight harmful free radicals, and boost the immune system.

In general, focus on antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables; healthful fats, especially omega-3 fatty acids and monounsaturated fats in olive oil; and include pungent foods and spices that have inflammation-fighting effects like turmeric. Some to try are:

1. Wild salmon, flaxseed – an excellent source of Omega 3 fatty acids which are known to successfully combat inflammation in the body.

2. Berries – fight inflammation through phytonutrients – natural agents which confer a high degree of protection. Blueberries, cranberries, raspberries, blackberries

3. Turmeric, ginger – have powerful anti-inflammatory properties.

4. Extra virgin olive oil- is the longevity secret of Mediterranean peoples. Rich in polyphenols and monounsaturated fats, olive oil protects us of inflammation and many diseases. Never cook evvoo over high heat. It will destroy the antioxidants.

5. Green tea – is rich in catechins, antioxidant compounds that reduce inflammation. Purchase high-quality tea and learn how to correctly brew it for maximum health benefits.

For great dishes that boost immunity and tackle inflammation check out my recipes!

Cold weather makes collards get sweeter. Our meal was straight from Peaceful River Farm: braised collards, beet salad over arugula, bok choy with black sesame seed crusted tofu over soba noodles and for dessert-apple crunch made with Century Farms Apples from Reidsville, NC.

Body says to owner…..thank you.

Serves 6-8

Whenever we travel I have this soup stored in my freezer at home ready to boost our immune systems into fighting off any bug that we might have picked up. It is great to make for family and friends as well as making it for yourself. Everything is right here to come to the rescue from fighting colds to cancer plus it is delicious. Have everything ready to go and it will pull together quickly. You can do this. -To your good health, Lee

Ingredients:
1 ½ C. dried navy or black beans rinsed and cooked till just tender or 2 cans drained.
1 tsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
Zest of 1 organic lime and juiced separately
1 small red onion diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 large bulb fennel, finely chopped
6 cups greens (cabbage, kale, collards, broccoli leaves) chopped into ½ ” pieces
2-3 cups vegetable stock
28 oz. can tomatoes, diced with juice or 6 medium fresh tomatoes
1 small can chopped green chilies mild
Chopped cilantro to garnish
Optional or delete if vegan- Dollop of Greek yogurt or strained kefir cheese to go on top of each bowl

Directions

Heat oil in a soup pot over medium heat no hotter than that and immediately add garlic.

Add lime zest stirring constantly until garlic is tender- a few seconds. DO NOT BROWN

Toss in onion, celery, and fennel and sweat all, stirring, until soft (4-5 minutes).

Add all greens and stock then cover pan and gently cook for 4-6 minutes.

Gently pour in beans and tomatoes and heat through only

Stir in chilies, cilantro and lime juice to taste, heat through once more and serve

Garnish each bowl with the Greek yogurt or chopped cilantro on top.
(Do not boil this soup or you risk losing that wonderful green color)

2 onions
2 red peppers
1 turnip peeled
2 zucchini
2 cups mushrooms
2 carrots
2 white potato
1 sweet potato
3 cups trimmed brussel sprouts
1 can diced tomatoes 16 oz
1 head garlic minced
2 6inch pieces of rosemary stripped and chopped
1 cup parsley, minced
2 sprigs thyme
¼ cup + balsamic vinegar
¾ cup olive oil
1 cup grated parmesan

Preheat oven to 400º

1 cup quinoa, Israeli cous cous, or orzo
8 oz grated gruyere cheese or Neufchatel cream cheese

Chunk all veggies except brussel sprouts and toss in a extra large bowl with garlic, herbs, vinegar and olive oil
Pour into a large roasting pan
Roast for 30-45 mins or until tender.
Meanwhile cook grains or pasta till tender and set aside.

Remove veggie roasting pan and mix in tomatoes and continue baking 20 more minutes.

In a large casserole dish grease bottom with butter. Pour in cooked grains, then cheeses and finish with roasted veggies. Bake for 30 min. or until hot. Pull out of oven and sprinkle parmesan on top.

-To your good health, Lee