As I pulled off the main road and through the gates of Buttermilk Falls Inn and Spa, I immediately experienced a giddy feeling similar to going into a candy store as a child. Surrounded by 75 acres of serenity sitting on the bank of the Hudson River, the deep sound of the nearby roaring falls is matched by the inviting architectural juxtaposition of an ultra modern spa and rustic main guesthouse. Located in Milton, NY, not far from the Culinary Institute of America this oasis retreat includes a 13-room inn, 5 cottages, a spa with indoor pool and, of course, a bee hive, bird sanctuary and open fields for llamas, goats and other livestock.

Sitting in a room of floor to ceiling glass windows looking over a pond and the Hudson River, the morning is heralded in by the smell of a mouth-watering breakfast. During harvest season, almost all of the food served at Buttermilk Falls comes directly from the grounds. During the winter, jellies, jams and eggs come from the farm, and the rest of the food is purchased from local Hudson Valley producers. Breakfast comes in two forms: the first, sustainable cold buffet of fresh berries, cranberry muffins, yogurt, breads, and an assortment of juices, tea and coffee; the second is a choice of at least two hot options from the kitchen. From fluffy blueberry pancakes with maple bacon to goat cheese and asparagus scrambled eggs, this breakfast showcases the best nature has to offer.

But come dinnertime, the tease of breakfast left me wanting more. While there is currently no full service restaurant at the inn, this is soon to change. In the spring of 2010, Buttermilk will unveil a state of the art culinary experience. In response to guests’ recommendations, a culinary arts center will include a restaurant with celebrity chefs and patio overlooking a pond, a teaching kitchen with mid-week cooking classes, and a conference room that holds up to 80 people. The teaching kitchen will gives guests the opportunity to work one-on-one with some of the best local and sustainable foods native to the Hudson Valley, while the full service restaurant offers them a chance to sit back and enjoy tasting how the masters cook with the same foods. The deep green and distressed wood-shingled culinary center is a modern addition built to blend right into the surroundings. Harnessing rainwater and heating it with solar technology, the new building will highlight energy efficient tools as well.

Walking through the hallways of the main guesthouse, there are still signs of the original house built in 1760. From a corner of exposed stonework to a panel showing wood craftsmanship, history makes Buttermilk Falls Inn a journey to another time and place. While keeping the feel of an era long gone, the environmentally-efficient updates transform much of the behind-the-scenes aspects into a 21st century showcase. In each room there is the option for towel re-usage and biodegradable water bottles to reduce the amount of long term plastic waste. The spa has a solar panel roof. The inn and spa use geothermal wells to both heat and cool the facilities.

From hosting weddings overlooking the Hudson River to holding intimate cooking classes, a short two hour drive from New York City or Hartford, Connecticut will bring you to a sanctuary of local goodness.

Long Island’s coastal waters are no strangers to trouble.  Rapid development, harmful algal blooms, invasive species and increasing water temperatures are just a handful of threats faced by Long Island Sound and the South Shore Estuary.  But one little-known menace is the effect that National Grid’s five Long Island power plants have on the region’s coastal ecosystems.

Steam electric power plants require enormous amounts of water to operate.  The five Long Island power plants can withdraw up to two billion gallons of estuarine water each day for condenser cooling.  Like giant vacuums, these power plants also draw in and kill over 10 billion fish and other aquatic organisms, including eggs and larvae, while trapping larger adult fish and wildlife on intake screens.

While the precise effects on the region’s coastal waters of destroying 10 billion eggs, larvae and juvenile fish is not yet fully understood, this needless fish kill is a direct affront to the ecosystem, to local fishermen who are required to practice conservation, and to the public that has invested millions of dollars in the restoration of Long Island’s coastal environment.

But it doesn’t need to be this way.  There are straightforward, proven technologies that can reduce and even eliminate the damage that National Grid’s power plants inflict on our coastal waters.  For example, closed-cycle cooling is the industry standard for new power plants.  It reduces water intake by over 95 percent, thereby dramatically reducing the amount of marine life destroyed.  Closed-cycle cooling is standard technology for new power plants – indeed, no one would even consider building a plant on Long Island without this technology today.  Closed-cycle cooling technology can be retrofitted onto older plants or, better yet, those plants can be repowered, so that their antiquated boilers and turbines are upgraded, reducing air pollution and minimizing aquatic destruction at the same time.

Recently, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) released draft permits that would require two of National Grid’s power plants to reduce the number of fish they kill each year. The public is asked to comment on these draft permits, with a deadline of late September for one plant and early October for the other.  In the upcoming months, the DEC will release permits for the other three plants.

In conjunction with the release of the draft permits, Citizens Campaign for the Environment released a white paper and brochure detailing the effects of National Grid’s Long Island power plants on coastal fish.  Be sure to visit CCE’s website and learn what you can do about Long Island’s power plant fish kill.

Image courtesy of Kate Croft

You may have noticed a new addition swimming around the Eat Well Guide…

The Eat Well Guide, originally created by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), was originally published by Sustainable Table as an alternative to industrially-raised animal products. Over the years the Eat Well Guide has expanded to include produce, vegetarian listings and much more. With help from our friends at Food and Water Watch, we are now dipping our toe into the sometimes murky world of sustainable seafood.

As the Eat Well Guide strives to help you make informed choices about produce, meats and dairy, we want you to be informed when it comes to choosing the right seafood. Unfortunately, the majority of fish we consume is imported, often “farmed” employing ecologically disastrous methods, or overfished — many species are being depleting at alarming rates. According to Food & Water Watch:

Offshore aquaculture involves raising high-value fish, such as cobia and cod, in large, often crowded, cages between three and 200 miles from shore. Fish waste, excess fish feed, and chemicals flush straight into the open ocean. These ocean feed lots could threaten human health, wild fish populations, the marine environment, and the economies of local fishing communities.

Knowing which species of fish to buy can be quite confusing. As offshore domestic fish farming becomes more and more common, it is important to know the issues that surround this new technology. Farmed salmon can decimate the wild species by introducing new diseases to the population.

On the flip side, certain farmed fish are sustainably produced with plant-based feed and re-circulated water systems (tilapia, for example). Fish farming operations far from the shores are proving to be successful and environmentally friendly. At the Growing Power urban farm in Milwaukee, aquaponics (growing fish and plants together in a re-circulated filtration system) operations are successfully raising tilapia and yellow perch in a clean and sustainable manner. You can read more about their operation here.

To help clear the confusion, our friends at Food and Water Watch have supplemented our ongoing effort to collect information about places where you can purchase sustainable seafood. They have provided the Eat Well Guide an additional list of wholesale markets that sell sustainably caught seafood. To find these markets listed go to the advanced search page and check the box for “sustainable seafood” under products.

These detailed listings of seafood outlets include information about the types of fish and shellfish, as well as the specific manner in which they were harvested. Food and Water Watch’s list of sustainable seafood markets includes locales in Arizona, California, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Texas, Virginia and Washington.

If you know of a place that is missing, please submit it through our suggest a listing form. We are looking for any and all wholesale markets, plus stores and restaurants that offer sustainably-caught or raised seafood and our goal is to include listings throughout the United States and Canada.

You can learn more by downloading Food and Water Watch’s Smart Seafood Guide. Print this guide and bring it with you when you shop so that you know which species of fish to avoid and have recommendations for alternatives.

The conference aims to create a solid foundation for the food movement in Brooklyn in order to advocate for Food Democracy locally and globally. In the words of its mission statement, the conference “will bring together a uniquely broad and diverse community of activists and citizens to discuss and learn more about the critical food issues of our time and what role we as neighbors can play to address them.”

Through speeches, panel discussions and workshops for both teens and adults, the Brooklyn Food Conference will educate Brooklynites on what can be done at a local level to address the current dysfunction of the global food system. These forums will specifically concentrate on the effects of the food system “on health, the environment, and labor,” as well as “improving the nutritional value of school lunches; urban agriculture; farmers’ markets; community gardens; and food coops.”

Featured speakers include Dan Barber, the executive chef and co-owner of Blue Hill Restaurant; Anna Lappé, the author of Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen; Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System; and LaDonna Redmond, who is head of the Institute of Community Resource Development in Chicago.

We are also very proud to announce that Leslie Hatfield, freelance editor of our official blog, The Green Fork, will be moderating a panel titled “Organizing in the Obama Era: Digital Activism” which will outline some best practices in the use of new media for food advocacy and discuss the ever-burning question, “what’s coming next?” Additionally, famed food systems advocate and Green Fork contributor Kerry Trueman will be moderating the panel “Our Industrial Meat Complex: Hazardous to Our Health & Our Environment.” Kerry co-founded the sustainable food sites Eating Liberally and Retrovore, and is a prolific blogger for Open Left and The Huffington Post, as well as The Green Fork.

Other exciting schedule items include:

• Materials and tabling from local organizations (yes, the Eat Well Guide will be there, sharing a table with our sister program Sustainable Table!), food demos, and healthy food provided by local vendors;
• Educational activities for kids organized by Brooklyn parents and teachers;
• Specific programs developed by and for teens;
• An evening dinner/dance honoring local farmers and key Brooklyn Food activists, to top off what is sure to be an amazing and inspiring day!

We’ll be there…will you?

The program is co-sponsored by the Park Slope Food Coop (PSFC), World Hunger Year, Caribbean Women’s Health Association (CWHA), Brooklyn Rescue Mission and Brooklyn’s Bounty.

Details and Directions:

The conference is FREE and will be held at John Jay High School and PS 321 (one location) at 7th Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn. For more information and registration, which is HIGHLY recommended due to location limitations, please visit their website at www.brooklynfoodconference.org or call them at (718) 384-1369.

But where is the Beltway ballyhoo for the third crucial ally in the Axis of Eat Well? It takes three pillars to form the plant-based diet we’re supposed to adopt if we want to save ourselves and the planet: fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. With all the publicity that the Grow Your Own movement has been getting, it’s high time to shine a light on America’s Grainy Day Woman, Lorna Sass, whose last book, Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way won a well-deserved James Beard award.

Sass’s new book, Whole Grains For Busy People, may be an innocently titled paperback with a cheery, wholesome-looking cover, but don’t be fooled; the recipes inside are out to subvert the way Americans eat.

And not a minute too soon, because while “white bread” has become synonymous with “bland,” it’s really not so benign as that; eating all those processed foods high in refined flour contributes to diabetes, obesity, heart disease and cancer.

The thing is, though, we’ve all grown so accustomed to white flour (and white rice) that many of us don’t know how to bake with whole wheat flour and have no clue what to do with whole grains like rye, barley, corn meal, and spelt. We think millet is for the birds, and associate brown rice with seitan worshippers.

Sass comes to the rescue with Whole Grains for Busy People, making it easy for folks to prepare quick, simple meals built around whole grains that you can cook up in half an hour. These grains may be foreign to your pantry, but they’re the staples that have sustained mankind for centuries. And they offer a wide range of tastes and textures infinitely more interesting than their pale, over processed cousins.

As Sass explains, refined flour only became the norm after manufacturers discovered that flour would keep indefinitely if you removed the bran and germ. Unfortunately, this process also removes “50 to 90 percent of the nutrients and phytochemicals” contained in whole grains. Whose shelf life would you rather shorten–your own, or your flour’s? Whole grains are not only high in nutrients, antioxidants and fiber, but because our bodies absorb them more slowly than refined grains, your body is spared the kind of spikes in sugar and insulin that can lead to diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

Whole Grains for Busy People is, like all of Sass’s books, crammed with useful information and tips, as well as easy-to-make recipes. For all those folks who’ve tried whole wheat pastas and pastries in the past and found their texture lacking, Sass highlights culinary breakthroughs such as King Arthur’s white whole wheat flour, and provides a chart rating the new whole grain pastas that constitute a dramatic improvement over the “gummy, gritty or mushy” varieties you may have encountered in the past.

Sass is especially enamored of the brown rice pastas that have been a boon to the gluten-intolerant. Adapting a technique from Cook’s Illustrated called “skillet pasta,” she offers a whole series of super quick dishes featuring brown rice pastas that can be cooked in a single skillet along with their sauce, eliminating the need to boil a pot of water and pre-cook the pasta.

Many of the recipes featured in Whole Grains for Busy People are clever whole-grain enhanced variations of familiar dishes. The quinoa-creamed spinach, for example, achieves its cream-free creaminess through the use of quinoa flakes–a product I had spotted at my local health food store but had no clue what to do with till I found Sass’s recipe.

Sass includes a number of vegetarian dishes, and even the meat, poultry and fish-based recipes play down the protein in favor of grains and veggies. Plus, Sass offers plenty of variations that make it easy to adapt her recipes to suit your own dietary preferences, whether you’re vegan, vegetarian, or “flexitarian.”

You may know that “quinoa” is pronounced “KEEN-wah,” not “Kwi-NO-ah,” but do you know what to do with it? Whole Grains for Busy People offers ten different dishes featuring quinoa, from soups and stews to a stir-fry, a paella, and even a pudding.

You know you’re supposed to be eating more whole grains. You hear it from everyone: Michael Pollan, Marion Nestle, Mark Bittman–and, of course, the USDA, which tells us to eat more whole grains even though its agricultural policies continue to encourage over processed, highly refined foods.

Whole Grains for Busy People takes obscure, fringe-y grains like quinoa and farro–along with neglected pre-agribiz staples like barley and buckwheat–and incorporates them into classic comfort foods using simple ingredients that are widely available. It’s a stealthy way to bring these whole grains back from the culinary wilderness where they’ve languished too long. Here’s to the end of white flour power, and a resurgence in fiber–whether it’s moral or dietary. We could use more of both, these days.

Traveling from New York or Chicago? Print out ready-to-go driving directions highlighted with sustainable food vendors all along your route. Driving in from somewhere else? Two minutes with Eat Well Everywhere will give you a custom trip book with the best co-ops, restaurants, and B&Bs along the way that serve up local, sustainably produced food.

For those of you who’ll be enjoying the festivities from afar, you can still find good food through the Eat Well Guide. Just type in a zip or postal code and get to searching. And let us know what you’re cooking for this historic day! Share recipe ideas/plans in the comment section.

(Adorable cookie imagery courtesy of Little Rae’s Bakery in Seattle, Washington)

local food, sustainable food, 2009 inauguration

We are especially thrilled to feature exciting regional guides, providing you with suggestions for weekend getaways or fabulous foodie excursions. Recommendations for additional regional guides are always welcome, so leave a comment or contact us at info@eatwellguide.org.

In addition to our local food guides, registered members of the Eat Well Guide can search for listings and save their results to customized PDFs in three other ways:

• Personal Guides: Perform any search and then generate a guide from your search results.
• Travel Guides: Plan your own eat-itinerary — use Eat Well Everywhere to map a trip and create a guide of locations along your route.
• Notebook Guides: Save your favorite listings to your Notebook and then create a personal guide of the places you like best!

Please be in touch (info@eatwellguide.org) if you’d like to be featured or have a suggestion for who we should put the Spotlight on…

“Vegetarians turned pig farmers.” The phrase encapsulates the lives of Mike and Elsa Betit, owners of Tamarack Hollow Farm, a farm which specializes in pasture-raised meats.

In 2001, at the suggestion of their neighbors, the vegetarian couple decided to raise two pigs on their newly purchased land. The first year, they gave away the majority of their meat to family and friends. The next, when a group of friends asked them to raise more meat (the pork was that good!), they decided to buy ten pigs, then thirty pigs, then fifty pigs. Currently, they are up to about five hundred pigs a year and have expanded to pastured chickens, turkeys and sheep.

Subsequently, the Betits became meat-eaters and they have adopted the highest standards for raising their pork. By choosing to practice sustainable farming techniques, such as limiting the number of animals raised to preserve each animal’s quality of life, promoting pasture foraging and open air roaming, and using organic grain as supplementary feed; the Betits have an established philosophy behind their farm that continues to produce some of the best pork, lamb and poultry one can buy. The Betits’ love for the small farm philosophy and lifestyle has maintained Tamarack Hollow Farm. Mike and Elsa know that all buyers should have the assurance that they are consuming the best products available–and that is what they strive to deliver.

From certified organic kielbasa and sweet Italian sausages to marbled pig shoulders and chops, consumers have a plethora of choices, all which will elicit mouth-watering satisfaction. Tamarack Hollow Farm sells their meats at the Greenmarket in New York City as well as at markets throughout Vermont during the week. They also offer a ten-month, all meat CSA program that delivers throughout northern New England, and mail order is seasonally available.

Click here to find out more about Tamarack Hollow Farm or visit their website.