Ellen Mitchell: An all Alabama diet, is it even possible?

Mobile Press Register (via al.com)

"In an attempt to explore Alabama produced food and the people that supply it, Mobile-based business reporter Ellen Mitchell will eat only food that is grown, raised or caught in Alabama for five days. 

On the first day of her project, she visits Oak Hill Tree Farm in Grand Bay and talks to owner Brian Keller about his hydroponic lettuce, the trend of eating local and the struggle to find a variety of Alabama produce this time of year.

The haul for the day includes cucumber, zucchini, squash and of course, lettuce."

Click here to see the article online and read the subsequent days challenges. 

Eating Rules

One of our customers and friends (Thanks Paul!) shared a blog with us that we enjoyed so much we had to share. Called "Eating Rules," it is informative, entertaining, and the photography is beautiful to boot! I especially enjoyed their post, "10 reasons to keep backyard chickens"... as if you needed a reason! But take a look anyway and you will be convinced.

Click here to read "10 Reasons to keep backyard Chickens" at Eating Rules.

I was also impressed by their "October Unprocessed Challenge." Blogger Andrew Wilder decided to go an entire month back in 2009 without eating any processed foods, and says of the experience:

It was revelatory. My expectations and sense of taste were re-calibrated. I started to identify individual ingredients in the foods I ate. I didn’t crave those salty snacks. I found myself often in the kitchen, excited to see what I could cook next. Above all, I simply felt better.

Gathering friends and supporters along the way, the Unprocessed October Challenge has grown each year to have participants from all across the country. I only wish we had found out about this sooner! What an exciting and worthy challenge. Perhaps the Windmill needs to sponsor a similar unprocessed challenge???

Click here to read the story and sign up to participate!

Local Produce with Alescia Forland of Loxley Farm Market

We recently interviewed Alescia Forland, owner of Loxley Farm Market, about everything having to do with local produce. Unfortunately the sound quality is terrible- you can hear the questions but barely the answers. We plan to re-record asap, but for now, crank up the volume and have a listen. We learned so much about why local is ALWASY best!

Breaking Out of Guacamole to Become a Produce Star

By ANNE MARIE CHAKER, Wall Street Journal,  September 19, 2012

When the waitress at the Perkins restaurant said they were out of avocados, Nicole Breedlove walked out, got one from her car and sliced it up at the table herself.

"I was getting the salad for the avocado," says the 43-year-old Silver Spring, Md., mother, who was on a road trip with her family. "It's the substance of the meal."

The avocado is experiencing a sharp rise in sales in grocery stores and casual restaurants. Anne Marie Chaker on Lunch Break looks at how the industry got behind this rise and why consumers are responding and embracing the idea of "the healthy fat." 

Not long ago, avocados were beloved in Super Bowl guacamole but seldom encountered the rest of the year. Now, the fruits are having a mass-market breakthrough, as supermarket sales surge and restaurant chains spread them and slice them on sandwiches and salads.

In consumers' minds, the avocado has been transformed from exotic "fatty food" to everyday source of "heart-healthy" fats. "We fought the health message for years and years. A fat was a fat was a fat," says Mike Browne, marketing committee chairman for the Mexican Hass Avocado Importers Association, a Fallston, Md., marketing group. Now, he says, "the stars have aligned."

More Choice, and More Confusion, in Quest for Healthy Eating

Photo by Dustin Chambers for The New York Times

Like many small and midsize farmers, Greg Brown has not pursued organic certification 

because he concluded that it was too costly relative to his profits.

By KIM SEVERSON

The New York Times, Published: September 8, 2012   

ATLANTA — Lisa Todd’s grocery cart reflects the ambivalence of many American shoppers.

Ms. Todd, 31, prowled the aisles of a busy Kroger store here last week. Her cart was a tumble of contradictions: organic cabbage and jar of Skippy peanut butter. A bag of kale and a four-pack of inexpensive white wine. Pineapples for juicing and processed deli meat.

The chicken, perhaps, summed it up best. A package of fryer parts from Tyson, the world’s largest poultry producer, sat next to a foam tray of organic chicken legs.

The conventional food was for her boyfriend, the more natural ingredients for her.

“We’re not 100 percent organic, obviously, but I try to be,” she said. “He doesn’t care, so I’m trying to maintain happiness in the relationship.”

Like many people who are seeking better-tasting, healthier food, Ms. Todd had heard about a recent study on organic food from Stanford University’s Center for Health Policy.

Based on data from 237 previously conducted studies, the Stanford report concluded that when it comes to certain nutrients, there is not much difference between organic and conventionally grown food.

But it also found that organic foods have 31 percent lower levels of pesticides, fewer food-borne pathogens and more phenols, a substance believed to help fight cancer.

For Ms. Todd and countless other shoppers, the study just added to the stress of figuring out what to eat. And it underscored the deep divisions at the nation’s dinner table, along with concerns among even food purists about the importance of federal organic standards.

Click to read more. 

Candidate Forum a Success

Thanks again to everyone who came out to our first ever candidate forum August 23 and supported their favorite candidate for Mayor and City Council! We learned a lot, survived the heat, and made it through in record time given the number of candidates on stage. And the Fiddler Farm peanuts were great!

Thanks also to Miller's Grand Evenets, who donated all the chairs for the crowd free of charge. And to Dr Music in downtown Fairhope who donated an incredible sound system for the night's event. We appreciate your support of our efforts to make the WIndmill Market a place where people can gather, exchange ideas, and meet their neighbor.


Below is an article that ran in the Fairhope Courier prior to the event...

Windmill Market hosts final forum of Fairhope election season

Posted: Monday, August 20, 2012 2:43 pm 

By Mike Odom 

The Fairhope Courier courier@gulfcoastnewspapers.com

FAIRHOPE, Alabama—With turnout heavy for the first three public candidate forums of the city campaign season, the one this Thursday could draw upwards of 100 people to The Windmill Market.

The Thursday forum will be the last chance to see all candidates on stage together prior to the Aug. 28 city election for mayor and City Council.

Flyers for the event say the event is an opportunity to “hear their platforms and ask your tough questions.”

Eating Alabama- Garden & Gun Film Review

Eating Alabama Trailer from Moon Winx Films on Vimeo.

Garden & Gun, August 24, 2012
Could you forgo the convenience of the supermarket and spend a full year eating only locally raised food? From planting their own kitchen garden to visiting farmers across their home state, that’s exactly what filmmaker Andrew Beck Grace and his wife, Rashmi, set out to accomplish in the new documentary Eating Alabama. The film has been building a following since debuting at SXSW in March, and it will make its Alabama premiere this Saturday (August 25) at Birmingham’s Sidewalk Film Festival. 

Like a lot of native Southerners, the Graces count more than a few farmers in their family histories, and it was an attempt to rediscover those agrarian roots that formed the initial motivation for the film. “Growing up on my granddaddy’s stories, I really thought, rather naively, that all these farmers were just out there but didn’t know how to get their product to us,” Andrew says. “My project would be about reconnecting those blocked pathways.” But after his first foray into the Alabama farmland in search of grain, Grace soon learned that the path to eating locally in today’s global market has a lot more twists and turns than it did in his grandfather’s day. Both funny and insightful, Eating Alabama delves into our often complex relationship to the food we eat and the people who grow it, and what food can teach us about community. “I hope people get a sense of how difficult farmers have it and how hard they work,” Grace says, “and that they will try to make choices—even small ones—that will lead to change.”

In the coming months, Eating Alabama will continue on the festival circuit, including a stop in New Orleans for the NOLA Film Festival (October 11–18).  Click here to stay up-to-date as additional screenings are added to the lineup.

Click here to see the article on Garden & Gun's website.

Windmill Market to Host Fairhope Candidate Forum

All Candidates for City Council And Mayor Invited to Attend

Community “Meet and Greet” with Candidates

The Windmill Market is pleased to announce the first Windmill Market Candidate Forum to be held Thursday, August 23, at 5 PM in downtown Fairhope. All candidates running for Mayor and City Council have been invited to attend.

Scheduled just days before the election, this forum will give all candidates an opportunity to speak directly to the voters and answer questions about their platform and plans for the City of Fairhope. Likewise, all voters will have an opportunity to submit questions for the candidates and participate in a meet and great after the forum, hopefully allowing the voter to decide upon the candidate for whom they will vote the following Tuesday.

All guests are invited to arrive at 5 PM, with the forum beginning promptly at 5:30 PM. Each candidate will be given 3 minutes to introduce themselves and their platform. We will then have a brief question and answer session from the audience. After the forum is adjourned, the candidates are invited to stay for an informal “meet and greet” with the audience over complimentary refreshments provided by the Windmill Market. There is no charge or donation for the candidates to participate. 

We appreciate any support you can offer by sharing this information with the voters of our community.

Cooking at the Market Kicks Off!

Last night the Windmill hosted a Guinea Pig Cooking Class.... wait, that's not right. No Guinea pigs were harmed in the making of these classes. I guess we should call it a test run of our cooking classes? At any rate, folks gathered, cooked, learned, drank wine, and in general had a great time.

It was the first in the Fall series of cooking classes hosted by Sweet Olive and the Windmill Market, and the theme was "Cooking for Company." Head Baker Jennifer Haffner showed those assembled how to prepare pulled pork on homemade challah rolls, fresh baked scones, cinnamon rolls, and more with easy recipes that can all be prepared in advance. That way you aren't slaving away in the kitchen when you're company arrives!

Each participant went home with fresh baked rolls and a gargantuan cinnamon roll, an incredibly full belly, as well as printed recipes and even some new friends!

Interested in giving it a try for yourself? The complete list of classes offered this Fall is listed below these images.

Surge in US cities reaping benefits of farmers markets

Written by The Associated Press, Via Clarion-Ledger

FRESNO, CALIF. — As demand for locally grown fruits and vegetables has increased, so too has the number of urban farmers markets sprouting up across the nation.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will announce Friday that the number of direct-sales markets has increased 9.6 percent in the past year, with California and New York leading the way.

"Farmers markets are a critical ingredient to our nation's food system," USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan said. "These outlets provide benefits not only to the farmers looking for important income opportunities, but also to the communities looking for fresh, healthy foods."

After 18 years of steady increases, the number of farmers markets across the country now registered with the USDA is 7,864. In 1994, there were 1,744.

Organizations such as Slow Food, founded in 1989 to counter fast-food, junk-food lifestyles, first ignited consumer demand for fresh, local produce.

Today, some markets are so popular that there are wait lists for farmers to sell there, including one of the largest and most diverse of all, the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market in San Francisco. Farmers from across the region travel there three days a week to sell fruits, vegetables and artisan breads and cheeses to thousands of shoppers, including top chefs from the food-centric city.