The Three Sisters

We hope that you may join us this week at another flavorful Pathfinder Produce market on Thursday afternoon at the Village Commons.  We have some great Village-grown items, and are open from 2 to 5 p.m.  Our friendly community produce market also now accepts MasterCard, Visa and Discover Cards!

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My family is reveling in the annual sweet corn harvest, enjoying fresh butter-and-sugar corn on the cob several times a week.  We never tire of it, and even the family dog, Della, enjoys munching any ears that are leftover at the end of the meal.  It’s pretty funny to watch a lab hold corn between her paws and eat off every last kernel.

Many of us now are also sending older children off to college or getting ready to send younger children to school.  I now am looking through clothes, supplies and staples to figure out what needs "to go," what may be used for this academic year, and what should be purchased so my kids are “school ready.”

As I was reviewing my daughter’s used college textbooks, I came across one, The American Pageant by David M. Kennedy and Lizabeth Cohen, which looked particularly inviting.  History and science were always my favorite topics during school, and I still love reading about history, science, the history of science, or the science of history in most instances.

The book provides a comprehensive overview through 1877, and describes how early peoples crossed the Bering land bridge starting 35,000 years ago, populated North and South America, and splintered into various nomadic groups.  About 5000 BCE, hunter-gatherers, sufficient in farming knowledge, cross bred varieties of grass into corn.  This single development then led to the “foundation of the complex, large-scale, centralized Aztec and Incan civilizations.”

Over the next 3000 years, the growing of corn spread throughout the Americas, and by 1000 AD, tribes within the southern U.S. had developed “Three Sister farming” with corn, pole beans and winter squash growing together.  According to Wikipedia, these crops benefit each other, as the corn provides a structure for the beans to climb.  The beans build the soil by replacing nitrogen that the other plants use up (beans are legumes; this nitrogen-fixing action is common to all members of the legume family).  The squash, with its plentiful and broad leaves, acts as a green mulch by blocking light and preventing weed growth, and helps retain soil moisture.  The Iroquois and other northern groups often would add a fish or two to each planted mound, to help the young plants get started and thrive.

Nutritionally, these crops work together too, in as much as the beans provide protein and amino acids (lysine, tryptophan) that the corn lacks.  To an extent, the crops could be stored through the non-growing months, and were important mainstays in native diets.  According to Kennedy and Cohen, “The rich diet provided by this environmentally clever farming technique produced some of the highest population densities on the (North American) continent.”

How did native peoples develop this clever technique?  It must have been through generations of women planting and tending crops, watching and experimenting with soil additives and different companion crops.  There must’ve been many failures and empty bellies along the way as well.  According to an academic paper on the topic, “The ‘How’ of the Three Sisters” by Amanda J. Landon, “Both humans and the Three Sisters now share a symbiotic relationship, where both the plants and the humans depend on one another;” the relationship through time has changed plant genetics and human behaviors.

Until next time, enjoy all of the sweet corn you can, and be well!

Lori

The Sweet Reward of Summer

We hope everyone will join us for this week’s Pathfinder Produce market at the Village Commons, Thursday from 2 to 5 p.m.  We have everyone’s summer favorite, watermelon, on sale and our Hoop House produce now includes fresh carrots and “Pride of PV” sweet corn. 

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Guest blog by Martha Spiegel,
Development Assistant, Pathfinder Village

It's August, so grab the picnic basket and blanket and take advantage of these last precious days of summer!

One of my earliest food associations with summer picnics is eating watermelon with some of the teenagers from my church. I was only 4 or 5 years old, but they let me hang around with them, which made me feel really cool.  We'd all grab big slices of watermelon and make up various games centered around "pit spitting”--not typically acceptable public behavior, but in the midst of a backyard summer picnic it was great fun, and even my mom and dad joined in.

My family also attended the Watermelon Festival in Montrose, Iowa on several occasions while visiting my grandmother who lived nearby. I remember endless tables of all the free watermelon you could eat! I even won a contest one year for eating my slice of melon the fastest. The Montrose Watermelon Festival celebrated its 70^th year this month.

Joe Carcione, a consumer advocate better known as The Green Grocer, said that “watermelon is the only way to eat, drink and wash your face at the same time.”  While watermelons are in fact 92% water, providing a sweet, nutritious snack and delicious hydration, I can't say that I recommend the face washing part! Watermelon is a versatile fruit, though. In addition to munching on a juicy, chin-dripping slice or cutting chunks into a fruit salad, you can pickle the rinds, blend the flesh into delicious icy beverages, and I've just learned that they are quite tasty when grilled. I will certainly be trying this soon.

Watermelons were recently highlighted in a feature in the New York Times; in fact, the Times has quite a few articles about this celebrated summer treat detailing its history, ways it may be prepared, seeded vs. seedless, and even how best to store watermelons for the best flavor.

For a fruit with so much water content, it also delivers a lot of nutritional value. According to World’s Healthiest Foods (whfoods.org), “Watermelon is an unusual fruit source of the carotenoid lycopene and a rich source of phenolic antioxidants. Watermelon contains cucurbitacin E, a triterpene anti-inflammatory phytonutrient, and unusual amounts of the amino acid citrulline. Watermelon is a very good source of vitamin C. It is also a good source of pantothenic acid, copper, biotin, potassium, vitamin A (in the form of carotenoids), vitamin B1, vitamin B6, and magnesium.” All of that for a mere 46 calories per cup. You can read more about it here: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=31

Watermelon is currently in season in New York, so dig in to this nutritious summer treat.  And, if you want to spit the pits, I won't tell!

Best regards,

Martha

The Best Time of Year for Produce!

We hope you will join us this Thursday at the Village Commons for another great Pathfinder Produce market, from 2 to 5 p.m.  Our 5210 Hoop House products are freshly picked and oh so good!

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The seasons are starting to change, with the nights becoming cooler and hints of orange and scarlet stealing into the crowns of our majestic maple trees.  There's one in front of the Pathfinder Village Inn that starts to turn early each year, reminding me of the urgency to finish my summer work and to look to preparations for winter.

But it’s also the best time of year for eating fresh foods ... there are many places to buy just-picked local produce and savor the best flavors possible.  In my opinion, fresh veggies like this need very little preparation or seasoning because they already are so flavorful.  There's nothing like the crisp coolness of an emerald green cucumber, the juiciness of deep red beefsteak tomatoes, or the sweet steaminess of fresh butter-and-sugar corn.  (Corn does not need to be doused in butter and salt to taste great, especially if it just brought in from the cornfield).

The social movement for eating local, seasonal foods is gaining more attention, and nationally more menus are using more locally grown produce in school meals. (Explore the National Farm to School Website to learn more.) The idea is that if you "eat local" you are supporting your area gardeners and farmers, there is less cost associated with processing, containers, and storage, and there's a significant reduction in the amount of fossil fuels that must be used to transport produce from growing regions to final destinations.  The non-profit organization National Resources Defense Council offers some advice about eating local and how to choose foods wisely at its website.

The NRDC web says that on average, our food travels over 1500 miles to get to your plate.  This means that fruits and vegetables have to be shipped in an un-ripened state, so that they have a longer shelf-life when they get to the grocery aisle.  Because locally grown and sold produce is picked when it is ready, chefs gravitate towards using these fruits and vegetables more because they taste better and they help keep regional food traditions alive.  The NRDC has a Eat Local food widget you can access to determine what produce items are in season in your area.

Eating locally also means eating seasonally, an idea I first read of in Helen and Scott Nearing's  classic guide to homesteading, The Good Life, in which a New York City couple move “back to the land” in New England and develop a self-sustaining lifestyle.  If you have never read the book, I highly recommend it as it shows how people may reconnect with agriculture and live more in tune with nature’s cycles.

Until next time, be well, and enjoy all the great produce that this season of bounty provides.

Lori

Iron Power

Join us this week for another Pathfinder Produce market at the Village Commons. We're open on Thursdays from 2 to 5 p.m.  Our homegrown 5210 Hoop House veggies are being proudly featured, and offer some fresh new tastes for you to try.

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This week was our annual American Red Cross Blood Drive at Pathfinder Village, and of course, there were a few discussions about peoples’ iron levels.  Iron is a vital mineral for most animal species, as it enables oxygen to be transported by the circulatory system to all an individual’s cells. It also has an important role in burning calories effectively.

 According to the Centers for Disease Control, iron deficiency is the most-common nutritional deficiency in the U.S. It is believed to affect 10% of women of childbearing age, and about 15% of children may be at risk by age 2. For kids, the risk is more pronounced during rapid periods of growth, which place increased demands on metabolism.  Other individuals at risk are those who have lost quantities of blood, those receiving chemotherapy, or athletes who take part in endurance activities regularly.

Other minerals or nutrients also affect iron absorption, and deficiencies in Vitamin A or copper may also reduce how much iron may be taken into the bloodstream during digestion. The presence of other toxic minerals -- most notably lead -- can replace iron in biochemical reactions (binding with oxygen), and cause red blood cell damage and anemia, among other problems.

Iron deficiency is a concern because it can cause expecting moms to deliver early and contributes to low birth-weight babies; it can unduly affect babies’ overall health and cause delays in motor and mental development. Iron deficiency may also cause memory and other cognitive problems in children and teens, and it can cause fatigue and the inability to do physical work among adults. 

Iron is found in red meat, of course, and in some ways, that type of “heme iron” is more easily absorbed during digestion. But there are iron-rich vegetables that can help you maintain proper levels for respiration and metabolism.  Eating foods rich in Vitamin C help you absorb the “non-heme” iron foods you eat, especially when the two foods are eaten at the same meal.  Also, if you cook in cast iron, it can leach measurable amounts of iron into foods, especially if the food is acidic (tomato sauce comes to mind).

Our friends at the Worlds Healthiest Foods have a summary on vegetables that have the most iron content, and not surprisingly, spinach is one of the best options. Other iron-rich foods include other dark leafy greens, many types of beans, and spices like cumin and turmeric. They also note that by cooking things like spinach too much or by cooking vegetables in too much water, they may lose significant quantities of iron.

If you have concerns about maintaining healthy iron levels, you should do research on foods that are beneficial, and of course, consult your medical care provider. But why not try a variety of dark leafies or legumes – they’re rich in iron and have the benefits of extra fiber and other important vitamins and minerals.

Until next time, be well and enjoy your summer!

Lori