CSK: Filling the Gap between Farmer's Markets & Your Table

Do you feverishly buy lots of produce at your local farmer's market only to watch sadly as it composts in your fridge a few days later? Or maybe what's rotting is your weekly box of Community-Sponsored Agriculture (CSA) fruits and vegetables? I find that there's a huge gap between my desire for local, sustainable food and my ability to find the time to process and cook it all.

Community Sponsored Kitchens (CSK) to the rescue! We are blessed in the Bay Area with Three Stone Hearth, an amazing CSK based on the Wise Traditions of Weston Price and Nourishing Traditions movement of Sally Fallon. Founded by Jessica Prentice and four other visionaries, Three Stone Hearth sources the CSA food and translates it for you into yummy dishes that you heat-and-serve. Every week they feature a different region for food inspiration.

I'm in a cluster for the Rockridge area, and my clustermates and I take turns picking up the goods on Wednesday 5-7pm from the Berkeley location of Three Stone Hearth. Last night I came home to Hui Beef Stew with chick peas and bok choy, peanut curry with chicken and vegetables, and Thai minced pork with galanga, lemongrass and mint. Served with sprouted mung bean salad and steamed Massa rice with coconut oil - you have a nutrient-rich meal that kids love too, and it takes very little time.

Check it out. Their eggs, dried majorum and cheeses are amazing too.  And their bone-broth based soups have helped raise my ferritin (iron) levels higher than any supplement, and also are rich in glucosamine.

Save Raw Milk! Send Email to Gov. Schwarzenegger

Dear Friends,
Many of you know that I am a follower of Nourishing Traditions, the way of eating that is based on the work of Weston Price and I believe helps us restore hormone balance and keep our kids healthy. Below is a fervent call to ask you to help our crusade to save raw milk in California from a new bill that will remove it from our grocery shelves. Please take a few moments like I have to write or email the Governor or just read about the health benefits of raw milk. Below is a letter from Kris Brewer who brought this important fight to my attention. If you want to read more about raw milk and its many positive effects, check out:
http://www.mercola.com/2003/mar/8/nourishing_traditions.htm
http://www.westonaprice.org/

Hello friends et al,

I am disturbed by recently passed legislation that, effective January 2008, will eliminate consumer access to raw organic milk. My family and I drink this daily and since we started drinking it, my youngest has ceased having terrible asthma, and my husband's hands and feet no longer ache from rheumatoid arthritis! As many of you know, there are many benefits to consuming raw milk and many health problems linked to drinking pasteurized milk.

I am working actively to get the word out to help fight/reverse this legislation which was passed in secret without the input of the small, organic raw dairy farmers or consumers. I am in touch with Colette Cassidy, of Claravale Dairy (small, 55 cows, supplying clean raw milk for 80 years) about the crisis at hand and gathering information from various sources. I want to strongly encourage people to speak up and act NOW before we can no longer get this milk in the stores. Below are some important links on this-

Thanks for your timely reading, acting and passing this on to others.

Kris Richardson Brewer

Representing Bay Area Raw Milk Consumers

HERE IS AN EXCERPT OF THE LATEST UPDATE FROM MARK MCAFEE (President of Organic Pastures Dairy)--

"In California, raw milk is a sacred food. The consumption of raw milk is an intentional act and not done by error or mistake. Consumption of raw milk is a freedom preserved by longstanding California Food and Agriculture Code #35928 (F). This venerable raw milk law makes restriction of California raw milk illegal. Our arguments stand on solid ground. Even though the CDFA has promised full cooperation, it is still early in this process and many turns lay ahead. Look for updates on this historic showdown, and keep supporting the struggle to protect your fundamental right to eat any whole, unprocessed, natural food of your choosing. In another secret legislative process earlier this year, you lost your right to buy truly raw almonds at the grocery store. Let this not be the year we also lose raw milk! "