January 20th, 2009 by Margie

January is all about new beginnings for a lot of us.  We associate the New Year with a chance to start over.  Some of us start a new exercise regime, a healthy diet or quit a nasty habit like smoking or overindulging in sugars.  Well, this January is definitely a new beginning and hopefully we are all coming together to kick a nasty habit.

Yes, it is important to quit eating all the poisons that industry farming is pumping into our produce but I am referring to nasty habit that has been occupying the White House for eight years.  Most of you know that I do not hide my politics and I am certainly celebrating the hope of a new administration to lead our nation.  We will all come together this January 20th to witness the inauguration of that new leader, Barack Obama.  I am so hopeful that the nation will come together under this new leadership that I am traveling to our Capitol to personally step foot on the lawn of the Mall for that special morning.

As I travel to Washington D.C., I will reflect on my high hopes that our new administration will acknowledge that we have a problem with access to healthy food in our communities.  Why can’t our President be a shining example by having a small organic garden for the White House?

December 10th, 2008 by Margie

We are not even into the winter months but we are certainly feeling the chill.  We had several unseasonably cold nights and they slowed down the growth in the fields quite a bit.  Today’s rain and warmer temperatures will surely jump start more activity, if only temporarily.  As I travel through the rain to pick up and deliver our veggies, I am not as nervous and aggravated by the rain as I normally am.  This year I have a closer relationship to this water falling from the sky,  I know that even though it backs up traffic on 75-85, it also gives nourishment to the luscious greens.  I look forward to seeing how the coming weeks are directly affected by the warm and wet weather of today.   Enjoy your greens!

And big thanks to my friend and photographer Manuel Llaneras for this nice shot of farmer Duane and myself.

November 30th, 2008 by Margie

I always say that life is either a good time or a good story,  and if you are really, really lucky, it’s BOTH!  This Thanksgiving was definitely both, thanks to a good sense of humor that seems to run in my family.

In all my efforts to bring you closer to your growing community and bring myself closer to my own food source, I decided that I would cook a heritage bird this year.  At the last minute Alice Mills, one of the farmers, called and offered an opportunity for me to buy a turkey from a nearby farmer.  He had two birds still unclaimed and these organic heritage turkeys have been sold out in this area for awhile.  I said yes, of course, and made plans to get my bird when I picked up veggies on Tuesday.

The farmer that was “processing” the turkey was a bit late getting to The Mills Farm so I waited around for my special package, knowing that I had made the decision for this bird to die.  Weird feeling.  The bird was on a farm doing fine until I said “yes, I want that 12 lb. tom.”  Jay pulled up and on the back of the truck was a cooler, filled with white garbage bags and in each bag was a turkey prepped for a holiday dinner.  I got my bird, although I couldn’t look at it much when he opened it.  I just kept thinking that I ordered this poor bird’s death.  Well, at least I am coming to terms with the reality of eating meat.

Thanksgiving morning….

I woke up and thought that I would get the bird out and clean it up for the oven.  I wanted to season it a little by adding some herbs and butter under the skin but nothing too fancy.  When I opened the bag and put the bird in the sink, I saw black spots all over the bird.  Oh my!  He said I might have to pluck a quill or two but the bird was ready to cook, otherwise.  This looked like more than one or two plucks!  I got my tweezers and went to plucking…. My dad was the only person I had invited over, so this was a fairly easy-going day for me.  Cook, hang out, serve the meal, and maybe invite one or two others when it is ready… or… maybe not.  Dad was coming over in the early afternoon after running to the store for me.

90 minutes later….

My dad got there with cranberries (my only non-local-organic ingredient) and I was still in my PJs, slumped over the sink, plucking away at this bird.  I was practically in tears when he arrived.  I had hoped to have the bird in the oven and be dressed and ready to cook side dishes while he played with my dog.  He did not seem concerned.  He said he wasn’t even that hungry right now so we had time, and he went out to play with Maya (my dog).

He came back in and I was still in the same situation, looking even more stressed and worried, plucking little black ends of the feathers from the skin of this bird.  Daddy asked if maybe I wanted to just go to Piccadilly for lunch.  I immediately said no!  I had this bird killed and I had an obligation to the bird, to the farmer, and to my own budget because heritage birds raised organically are not cheap, so I kept working.

TIme passed and daddy came back in the kitchen and offered the suggestion of Piccadilly again.  “I need to cook this bird!” I told him, to which he replied, “You can cook the bird anytime this weekend and take your time with it, and we can just go have a nice lunch now.”  About that time, I got so queezy that I felt like I was about to puke on my organic bird.  That would not be good.  I asked daddy to get a bottle of wine from the living room and bring it in to open for me.  I needed to BACK AWAY FROM THE BIRD for a minute.

When I looked over at him, he was trying to screw off the top to my wine.  The foil was turning but he was not getting very far, since I don’t have any wine with screw-off tops.  I stopped, washed my hands, and opened the bottle.  Sipping a bit of wine in the other room, I realized that putting the bird in the fridge and going out for lunch sounded better and better!  We looked online (well, I did…my dad is not there yet) for other options at restaurants.  I threw out options like the Colonnades, to which daddy replied “yeah, if we just want to spend the day waiting in line instead of actually eating!”  He was right.  It would be a terrible wait there.  We did that one year when mom was in the hospital.

He sat as I looked at places advertising a meal for the day and then he says, “hell, I don’t even care anything about turkey and dressing!  Let’s just go get a beer and some Mexican food!”  I laughed and told him that no mexican restaurant would be open on Thanksgiving!  Who eats Mexican food for Thanksgiving?!  I have to admit the more I thought about it, the better it sounded, so I called Nuevo Laredo just in case.  They were of course closed.  I called one other and they were not answering either.  We looked at each other in this weird silence, thinking over the whole situation…until I said “well I know the mex places out on Buford Hwy will be open or at least some of them!” and off we went.

Neither of us were very hungry so it was agreed that we would ride and look for the place that felt like we wanted to spend our holiday there.  Panchos was the first place we came to and they had cars in the parking lot so we thought they were open.  As we pulled in, I realized the entire lot was full which made me think they were having a private party.  This place is never that busy!  Sure enough the sign on the door read “Closed for private party” so we drove on… After popping in and out of a few places that either did not serve beer, or were way to authentic for my dad to find something he would like, we were driving back to the Northeast Plaza area to look once more and there it was, a place that said restaurante and had beer lights in the window.  Daddy thought it was a pool hall but when I went inside, they had booths and people eating all around.  I told him to park the car and let’s go in - this was the place.  There were two guys walking around playing guitar and singing to the tables - Mariachi!  We had arrived!

We drank, we ate, we were treated well, considering no one spoke English and we spoke little Spanish. We enjoyed the live music with our Native American brothers and sisters and once again on Thanksgiving, they showed us how to enjoy the gift of corn.  The corn tortilla enchiladas were a holiday feast fit for the Thorpe family.  We were both very grateful for our year and to have shared a good laugh and a good meal….I hope you had a great holiday too!

PS…the bird got roasted on Friday, the day after and a few special friends enjoyed a wonderful meal along with lots of fresh organic veggies.

November 3rd, 2008 by Margie

After searching for apples for weeks, I took to a good ‘ole road trip.  I decided that if Georgia Organics had no orchard listed and none of the farmers I knew had any knowledge of someone growing apples, that i would try one more way to find someone, just get in the car and drive north!  I went to Ellijay to Highway 52 which is where all the commercial apple houses are.  I stopped at each apple house, looking for an older worker around that I could ask if they knew of anyone growing organic.  I got no information and lots of puzzled looks.  Why on earth would this girl drive all the way up here to get apples that aren’t even going to be sprayed or waxed?!

As I visited these apple houses, I had to sample their fried apple pie.  Sometimes a girl has to turn a blind eye to the origin of the ingredients.  Luckily after the SECOND apple pie, I quit.   My friend that was with me went for three before putting on the breaks.  They are so good, but I felt like a kid that just ate all their halloween candy in one sitting.  Not a good feeling.

After touring the tourists, and coming up with no good information, we decided it had been a lovely day in the mountains and ya can’t complain about that.  The trees were beautiful and the weather was so nice.  We took 515 South back to Atlanta and as we were driving I saw a small sign that said “organic Produce - Next Right” so we hit the breaks and turned off.  It was a small drive that led to a cleared spot and a produce stand from Whitestone Farms.  Believe it or not, at this stand were….organic apples, but it’s not that easy.  When I asked the woman about the apples, she said they were from a nearby farmer, not their farm.  Of course!  She was the mom, helping out her daughter who actually runs Whitestone Farms.  I got a phone number and called the owner of the farm when I got back.  When I got no return call after a few days, I called again!  Finally after a week of waiting and really giving up the dream of local Georgia organic apple orchards, I got the call from Christina, the farm owner.  She was great (and I might be bringing you produce from her place soon) and she gave me the name of the guy that sold her the apples.  She did not know much about him.

I called David and his orchard is in fact ORGANIC!  He was so surprised that I was searching so hard for apples and said that he is located in, yes, you guessed it, Ellijay!  I drove right by the road that led to the apples I was searching for but there was no way for me to know.  he said that people in the county don’t really understand why he will not spray his trees.

The image you see on this page is a shot of one of the lovely trees on his property.  I was fortunate enough to have friends at their mountain home that could drive to the farm and pick up apples for all of us.   My friend James Farmer not only picked up all the fruit for me but he and his wife Karen got out and walked the trees taking pictures and picking fruit.  They said these were the best apples they had eaten in years. This Wednesday we will all eat from the fruit of Ellijay the way it is meant to grow, rather than the way the chemical companies grow them!  Yum!

As always, I am loving the journeys that lead me to healthy food for all of us!  This time it was right back to Highway 52!  Now I have an excuse to go hang in the mountains with friends!

October 24th, 2008 by Margie

I have been on quite a journey lately, learning as I eat.  The business is growing (slowly) thanks to folks like you that are “choosing” to support their local economy and in the process eat a lot better!!

Every night I play a game with myself as I sit down to dinner.  “How much would this meal cost me in a nearby restaurant?”  The truth is each dinner at my house would be around $60 to $100 and that is before my wine bill!  Last night I sat down to an arugula and red pepper salad with strips of local goat mozzarella and a simple balsamic dressing that I made.  The entree was roasted chicken, a chicken raised about 25 miles south of my house, with rosemary, lemon, and garlic served with brown basmati rice and Asian greens.  So good!  I took the pan drippings and a little beer and made a yummy sauce or light gravy for the rice.  Gravy just sounds so heavy and southern to me.  This was not heavy at all.  Beer, not just for drinking!

We are all familiar with the saying “the more you learn, the less you know” but it has never been more true to me than now. As I learn more about the veggies that I am bringing to you and the food we are choosing to leave behind at the big grocery stores, the more I need to know.  I am afraid to share on this page all the horrible things I am learning about the production of commercial produce but I can tell you it makes me less and less inclined to run by the market and supplement my groceries.  I have been challenging myself to only eat and make meals from what my GA community is providing me.  The challenge is becoming more of a pleasure and treat everyday.  I am even baking my dog some dog biscuits from freshly ground GA wheat flour this week.  I know!  Don’t gag…(smiles).  Few of us have time to cook for your family, not to mention cooking for the dog!  Of course, I am the single woman so my dog, Maya, IS my family!  Who knows, maybe vegetable husband can start a line of locally grown organic doggie treats!  A girl has to dream!

Well go in good health!