2 GOING GREEN | Sunday, November 21, 2010 commercialappeal.

com

What’s in this issue ...

12 Farm-to-table
Grace Restaurant
chef/owner Ben
Vaughn: “Of course,
we’ll get as much locally
as we possibly can.”

Go green for the

13 right reasons
4 Reinterpreting
traditions State flower is a
Going Green staffers share their
14 fave for Van Smith
personal stories on how to
de-stress, simplify and enjoy School, IP partner
the holiday season 16 for recycling
Take advantage of habits for a
locally sourced Thanksgiving. PAGE 7
Fresh, local have
Vegan recipes that appeal to the
carnivores in your family. PAGE 9
28 history in kitchen

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Going Green is a special online publication of
The Commercial Appeal. We welcome your comments and suggestions. Follow
Going Green on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GoGreenMemphis.
Editor: Kim Coleman, 529-5243, goinggreen@commercialappeal.com
Community Editor: Emily Adams Keplinger, keplinger@commercialappeal.com

On the cover: Cover by Kim Coleman/Going Green

The Commercial Appeal
The Green Page
C. Richard Cotton/Special to Going Green
Jennifer Chandler keeps a couple
of backyard raised beds for
growing her salad fixings.
Update
Another ‘Simply’ book: Jennifer
Chandler (right), author of “Simply Salads”
and “Simply Suppers,” has just inked a
deal for her third book. Look for “Simply
Grilling,” also being published by Thomas
Nelson, in spring 2012.
New Midtown cafe: The Midtown
Farmers Market, 1632 Union, has added
lunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday
through Saturday. All items, which include
soups and specialty sandwiches (such as a
turkey breast with arugula and pepper
jelly, as well as a sloppy roast beef po’ boy,
a ribeye with brie and several others), are
made from local items. Call 726-1031 for
more information.
Sunday, November 21, 2010 | GOING GREEN 3
Events
Overton Park hike: On Nov. 28, the
public is invited to meet at the end of Old
Forest Lane, next to the Rainbow Lake
parking lot, for a free guided 1.5-mile walk
through the Old Forest at Overton Park.
Kids are welcome. For more information,
call 278-2396.
First Float: The next “First Float” canoe
will take place on Dec. 4. Members of the
Wolf River Conservancy will lead a 3-mile
paddle/hike trip from the Germantown
bridge access to the Walnut Grove bridge.
Nonmember participants will be asked to
join WRC. The first Saturday trips are free,
offered as a WRC membership benefit. For
trip details or to register for this trip,
contact WRC Office Manager, Kimberly
Thomas at 452-6500 or officemanager@
wolfriver.org. Reservation deadline is Dec. 2.
Programs
Green greetings: Celebrate the holiday
season with friends and loved ones this
year and give back to the earth with the
help of the nonprofit Arbor Day
Foundation. Send holiday greetings and
plant a tree — all at the same time — by
using the Foundation’s Give-A-Tree Cards.
By sending Give-A-Tree Cards, you help
replant forests that have been devastated
by wildfires, insects and disease. To
purchase holiday gifts that give back to the
earth, go to arborday.org.
Sierra Club on Cable: Sierra Club
Chickasaw Group’s Cable TV Show titled
“Nature of Conservation” is shown on on
WYPL-TV 18 (Comcast) on varying days
and times. For the latest schedule, see
memphislibrary.org/tlc18/schedule/ or the
Comcast on-screen guide. The topic
changes every month. Got an idea for a
future program? Contact Judith
Rutschman at 767-5916 or send an e-mail
to jcrutschman@gmail.com.
4 GOING GREEN | Sunday, November 21, 2010 commercialappeal.com
The Commercial Appeal
Giving
thanks
Petersen Thanksgiving 101
We did not intentionally make our
Thanksgiving meal sustainable. I love the
holiday. I thought my husband hated it. It
turns out he just doesn’t like turkey. I enjoy
cooking a big meal; the “what” is
unimportant. So our Thanksgiving plans
focus on what we both like the most — the
side dishes. No turkey here. You’d be
amazed at how that simplifies the meal.
Our table will include local sweet potatoes
with pecans and apples, a new cornbread
stuffing with greens recipe, cranberries
(shipped from the Northeast, but oh-so-
good), the ubiquitous green bean casserole,
maybe a chestnut soup, and pie. I like apple.
He likes pumpkin. We compromise by
making both.
Our goal is a casual, open-to-friends,
unstressful day where we have time to enjoy,
talk, laugh and be thankful. Reducing the
carbon footprint of the meal by sourcing
local is just a bonus.
Melissa Petersen
A holiday on the move
Black Friday. The day many people will
rise before dawn to hit the sales and begin
their Christmas shopping.
As for me, the day after Thanksgiving, I’ll
Sunday, November 21, 2010 | GOING GREEN 5
Will this be a time of personal
stress or a time of peace? A season
for gratitude, sustainable choices
and connection to others is possible
with a simpler interpretation of the
holidays. Going Green celebrates
the start of the season by sharing
our own stories with you.
Happy Thanksgiving!
be moving.
This year, we’ll have a less traditional
Thanksgiving.
If we have enough done by Turkey Day, we
may volunteer at a soup kitchen.
If not, we may accept the kind invitation
of neighbors, who want to say goodbye.
And even though generally I’d rather take
a beating than move, I find myself strangely
eager, because not only will I be doubling my
living space, but I will have a yard again.
While there are advantages to apartment
living — having a pool and fitness facility
within walking distance — what I find I miss
most is having a lawn. Odd, because I’ve
never been much of a gardener, but I plan to
go over to my new place next week and plant
some tulip bulbs.
Even more exciting is that I’ll be able to
start my own compost pile and will again
have access to curbside recycling, so I can
not only expand my recycling efforts, but will
save gas since I don’t have to take
everything to a recycling center.
The sustainability of my Thanksgiving this
year will focus not on the feast, but on the
ways in which we sustain one another and
on all I have for which to give thanks,
friends, family and the opportunities that lie
ahead to live greener.
Suzanne Thompson
6 GOING GREEN | Sunday, November 21, 2010
Slow cooker makes it easy
When I decided to start making my turkey
dinners in a Crock Pot, I was thinking about
convenience rather than going green. I found
that I can make about six pounds of boneless
turkey breast mixed with herbs in a slow
cooker set either on low for six hours or high
for four hours, which rival any roasted whole
bird in flavor if not in presentation. Even the
traditional side items of Thanksgiving dinner
like cornbread dressing, sweet potato
casserole and green bean casserole can be
made in a Crock Pot, with minor alterations to
the recipes. But it turns out that depending on
the size and type of your electric oven, a Crock
Pot may actually use less electricity as well.
Some Crock Pots use 50 to 75 percent less
electricity, though they take longer to cook
than standard ovens. But for the turkey, which
takes just as long in a standard oven, there are
some easy watts to save and the Crock Pot
makes a moister, more flavorful bird. Just add
liberal doses of black pepper, garlic, sage,
thyme, Worcestershire sauce and a couple
pats of butter, and leave it alone to cook.
Jon Devin
Go ahead, have a cow
My family is trying to have a cow over the
holidays.
Of course we’ll recycle everything we can.
The boys are coming home, so there will be
more than the usual number of toilet paper rolls,
aluminum cans, etc. We’ll recycle the ribbons
and bows and holiday cards. Wrapping paper is
a bigger challenge because we men have never
seen a wrapping problem that couldn’t be
solved with a little more scotch tape. Yes, we’ll
save the turkey carcass and ham bones for
stock (already have one of each in the freezer).
But this year I want to have a cow. Here’s the
plan: I’m going to ask every member of our
family and extended family, and a few friends, to
donate $10 in small, unmarked bills to the cause.
My wife has six sisters and nearly 30 nieces and
nephews. My side of the family is smaller but it
would be a mistake to underestimate us. My goal
is to raise enough to buy a cow from Heifer
commercialappeal.com
International. If I fall short there are some nice
pigs and water buffaloes available. My goal is to
practice all of the green habits we’ve always
done but add an element of Christmas spirit in a
sustainable way that helps those less fortunate
than we are. Enjoy the holidays.
Scott Sines
This season, the word is thrift
Thanksgiving leftovers just might be
considered the ultimate in recycling. Yes, I’m
counting the turkey hash, white bean chili, ham
and cheese omelettes and other tasty dishes
that will follow “Turkey Day” as one of the ways
I plan to green up my holidays by recycling.
And joining them on our table will be a recycled
centerpiece. For Halloween, we bought a locally
grown $3.99 pumpkin, but decided not to
carve it as a jack-o-lantern. Instead we left it
whole, and set it out on our front porch with
some potted mums. Once Halloween was over,
we decorated it with a painted metal and wood
“turkey set” and our decoration now holds
center stage on our dining table.
Our recycling efforts are not going to be
limited to our dining room. No, with the long
Thanksgiving weekend, we’re planning to pull
everything out of the storage shed and make a
final decision on what stays and what goes —
and what goes will be recycled.
We’re also going to be tackling some
projects around the house. Two cherished
items that are now “out of order” will not be
replaced, but rather rebuilt. Our 1920s porch
swing finally started showing its age this
summer. And an old-fashioned glider with
wooden slats also gave way. Instead of locating
replacements, we’re restoring both pieces to
their former glory.
It feels right to be thrifty, stretching our food
for several meals. It feels good to be finding
new homes for what we can’t keep. It feels
great to be saving a little green by repairing
rather than replacing our outdoor furniture.
But mostly, it feels “green” not to be wasteful
and add to the haul-away trash at the curb.
Emily Adams Keplinger
The Commercial Appeal
A LOCAL THANKSGIVING
Keeping it simple to avoid stress
By Melissa Petersen
Special to Going Green
The Thanksgiving meal is a BIG deal
for most people. Even without the fam-
ily politics, the amount of food (and the
pressure) we put on ourselves to make a
perfect holiday meal is slightly crazy.
When we lived close to family, I “did”
Thanksgiving for about 10 years in a
row. I’m a list person, and a planner.
I’ve got a timeline that I tape right to a
kitchen cabinet that shows when ev-
erything has to happen.
At first it was for me, but I found it was
helpful when my sisters wanted to help.
They checked the timeline and jumped in.
Yet every year I forgot the rolls in the
oven. Sometime, after everyone had
their second helping, I’d remember the
rollsweren’t on the table.
When we moved to Memphis, we
made a concerted effort to incorporate
local food into all of our meals. So, mak-
ing Thanksgiving locally sourced is really
just about taking advantage of habits.
We stock up on fall and winter items.
Pecans are in the freezer. We have plen-
ty of sweet potatoes from one of the last
farmers markets. Local milk, cream and
eggs are available at several groceries
and the rogue winter market.
We’ve changed over from bread stuff-
ing to cornbread dressing — because
we like it better and because we can use
locally ground cornmeal..
However, experience has helped us
Sunday, November 21, 2010 | GOING GREEN 7
Justin Shaw/Special to Going Green
Stocking up on sweet potatoes from
the farmers market is one way to
incorporate local food into your meal.
remember to simplify the day. We don’t
stress over that which cannot be grown
locally. Cranberries are a treat we enjoy
just once or twice a year (and they can’t
be grown locally). So what?
It’s not worth it to me to add pressure
to the day trying to put all local on the
Thanksgiving table. But make a New
Year’s resolution now to start incorpo-
rating local into your weekly meals.
Plan to visit a farmers market. Can,
freeze or preserve something. Learn to
cook. Seek out local items at grocery
stores. When Thanksgiving rolls around
next year, your habits will have changed
and a local Thanksgiving will just happen.
One more tip for a stress-free holiday
— just leave the rolls off the menu. No
one will miss them anyway.
Melissa Petersen is the editor of Edible
Memphis, a magazine that celebrates the
abundance of local food, season by season.
Contact her at ediblememphis.com.
8 GOING GREEN | Sunday, November 21, 2010
Apple Mallo-Yam-Yams
I was never a fan of the
candied yams my family always
served for holidays. I tried these
at a boyfriend’s family holiday
— to be polite. His mother
kindly shared the recipe and I
have served them at every
holiday since. Everything except
the final baking can be done the
day before. Then, just pop it
into the oven after the turkey
comes out.
1
/4 cup butter, unsalted
1
/2 cup pecans, chopped
1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. cinnamon
6 medium sweet potatoes, cooked,
peeled and cut into 1/2-inch slices
2 large apples, peeled and sliced (I like
tart apples, such as Granny Smiths, but
our local Arkansas Blacks work fine too)
1
/2 cup mini marshmallows (optional)
In a small bowl, crumble
butter, pecans, brown sugar,
salt and cinnamon. In a 11/2
quart casserole dish or 9x13
baking pan, place half of the
sweet potato slices. Top with
half of the apple slices. Sprinkle
with half of the sugar mixture.
Continue with a second layer
of sweet potatoes and apples.
Top with remaining sugar
mixture.
Bake at 375° for 25 minutes,
uncovered. Top with
marshmallows and bake an
additional 5 to 10 minutes, until
marshmallows are golden
brown.
—Recipe courtesy of Karen Evans
commercialappeal.com
Fresh Cranberry Nut Bread
My mom always made this the day before
Thanksgiving, when she made the cranberry
sauce. It became a tradition to have it
Thanksgiving morning as a prelude to the
big meal. While the cranberries are not
local, it’s a good use for local pecans, eggs,
butter and milk.
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1
/2 tsp. salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup fresh cranberries, halved or chopped (or pulsed
in a food processor)
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 large egg, beaten
3
/4 cup whole milk
1
/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease an 8
1
/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 loaf pan. Line bottom with
parchment paper and grease paper. Set aside.
In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking
powder, salt and sugar. Stir in cranberries
and pecans.
In a small bowl, combine egg, milk, melted
butter and vanilla. Add liquid mixture to dry
ingredients and stir until just moistened.
Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake
at 350° for 55 minutes. Turn out onto wire
rack; remove paper and turn right-side up.
Cool before cutting.
The Commercial Appeal Sunday, November 21, 2010 | GOING GREEN 9

VEGAN THANKSGIVING

Recipes that will

appeal to vegans
and carnivores alike
By Steve Pollak
Mother Nature Network

It’s not easy finding vegan

Thanksgiving recipes.
In fact, traditional Thanksgiving has
many aspects that might make vegans
uncomfortable. Thankfully there are lots
of wonderful ways for vegans and
vegetarians alike to put a special twist
on Thanksgiving and make it a
meaningful holiday — even if they opt to
pass up the turkey.
Here are a few ideas for recipes that
can be used to create a vegan
Thanksgiving meal:
Vegan Almond Butternut Squash Au
Gratin: This wonderful side dish takes
about an hour to prepare, including cook
time. Make sure you use trans-fat free
margarine if you want the healthiest
vegan option. The toughest part of the
recipe is adding ingredients as you whisk First, garlicky kale is bound to be a hit.
everything together over medium heat. It And, it’s super simple to prepare: just
might help to have an extra set of hands. saute the garlic until it’s soft and then
Pumpkin Ravioli: This is a good one, toss in the kale. Let it cook for about
but it’s time-consuming — although not three minutes while tossing and you
as time-consuming as cooking a turkey. should be good to go. For the turnips,
Set aside about two hours to make the slice them and then drizzle them with
filling and the pasta. The ravioli can be olive oil, salt and pepper before cooking
made ahead of time and kept in them for about an hour.
Tupperware in the fridge. Visit the Mother Nature Network at
Garlicky Kale and Roasted Turnips: mnn.com.
10 GOING GREEN | Sunday, November 21, 2010 commercialappeal.com

Vegan Almond Butternut lemon juice and about half the ground
Squash Au Gratin almonds. Turn off heat.
1-2 1/2 pound butternut squash Slice squash in half vertically. Peel and
1
/3 cup margarine or butter substitute (or butter, if seed the squash. Slice into 1/4-inch slices.
you don’t want to go vegan)
1
Place slices in a pot and cover with
/4 cup flour water. Bring water to boil and let cook
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1
/4 tsp. paprika for 2 minutes. Drain in a colander.
1
/4 tsp. turmeric Place squash in a 10-inch diameter
1
1
/4 tsp. mustard powder casserole dish, gratin dish or baking pan.
/2 cup nutritional yeast Pour almond milk over the slices and stir
1
/2 cup ground almonds or almond meal
2 tsp. lemon juice a bit to make sure the slices are all
1
/2 cup almond or other nondairy milk substitutes saturated. Pour your sauce on top and
stir into the top layer of squash a bit.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Sprinkle remaining almonds on top. Bake
Grind almonds in food processor. in oven for 30 minutes or until bubbly
Mix paprika, turmeric and mustard and slightly browned. Serves about 4.
powder into vegetable broth.
Melt margarine or butter over medium Pumpkin Ravioli
heat. Whisk in flour slowly until smooth Filling:
and bubbly. Slowly add broth and spice 1 cup roasted pumpkin
mixture, whisking all the while. Whisk in 2 tbsp. margarine or butter substitute or butter
nutritional yeast and keep whisking until 1
1
/4 tsp. nutmeg
mixture is thick and bubbly, about 2 /4 tsp. cinnamon
1
/4 tsp. cumin
minutes, maybe more. Turn up the heat if dash of white or black pepper
it’s not getting thick and bubbly. Stir in 1
/2 tsp. salt
The Commercial Appeal
1
/4 cup ground cashews (or nuts of your choice)
Pasta:
1 1/2 cups semolina flour
1
/2 cup all purpose flour
1
/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. dried basil
1
/2 cup water
1 tsp. olive oil
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice your
pumpkin in half horizontally and scrape out
all the seeds and surrounding stringiness.
Place both pumpkin halves cut side
down on a baking sheet and roast for
about an hour or until the skin is very
soft and brown in spots and the flesh is
soft and easily separates.
Scrape flesh away from skins and let
drain in colander.
Melt margarine over medium heat in a
large saucepan.
Add nutmeg, cinnamon, cumin,
pepper, salt and ground cashews.
Stir in pumpkin and cook, stirring and
mashing, until your mixture is fragrant
and the consistency of stringy, creamy
mashed potatoes.
Turn off heat and set aside.
Sift together flour, salt and basil. Add
oil and water and knead until a stiff
dough forms.
If you’re going to be cooking your
ravioli the same day that you’re making
them, you’ll probably want to put a large
pot of water up right about now so it’ll
be ready to go when you’re done with
assembly. Add a dash of salt and a
dollop of olive oil to the water.
Turn out dough on a lightly floured
surface and roll it as thin as you can with
a rolling pin if you’re like me and don’t
have a pasta maker (thought if you have
a pasta maker, by all means use it). You
may want to work with a small portion of
the dough at a time.
Cut your dough into roughly matching
Sunday, November 21, 2010 | GOING GREEN 11
squares; I like 2.5-inches.
Put about 1 tablespoon of your
pumpkin filling in the middle of a square,
place another square on top, and pinch
around the edges to seal. (This is a great
step on which to enlist the help of family
and friends — it will go much quicker
with more hands on the job.) Place ravioli
on parchment paper to prevent sticking.
Gently drop ravioli into a large pot of
boiling water.
Cook for 15 minutes and carefully drain.
Serve with sauce of your choice. I
braised some minced garlic, onion and
fresh sage in a few tablespoons of olive oil
and Earth Balance butter substitute.
Serves 4-6
Garlicky Kale
One bunch kale, of the type of your choice
2 tbsp. olive oil
4 cloves of garlic sliced very thin
Wash kale. Tear leaves in pieces from
thick stem.Heat oil in a large pot on
medium heat and add garlic.
Saute garlic until fragrant and soft,
about 2 minutes.
Add kale and cook and toss using
tongs until kale is bright green and
wilted, about 3 minutes.
Roasted Turnips
Turnips, Olive oil, Salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Peel and chop turnips into chunks about
3
/4-inch across. Drizzle with olive oil, salt
and pepper.
Place in a baking dish or sheet and
roast for about 40 minutes, flipping
halfway through, until turnips are tender,
browned, even a little caramelized.
Serves 6-8 people as a side dish.
Recipes courtesy Nicole Solomon
12 GOING GREEN | Sunday, November 21, 2010
Grace to get
produce from
dedicated
urban garden
By Jennifer Biggs
biggs@commercialappeal.com
There are many changes going on at
Grace Restaurant in Cooper-Young,
some very exciting and some more
practical.
To the exciting first, of course:
Chef/owner Ben Vaughn has found a 11/2-
acre plot in Midtown that is going to be
used to grow most of the produce for the
restaurant.
“We’re hiring Lori Green of Downing
Hollow Farm to be our farm manager,” he
said. “I didn’t want to get this land, then
just throw money at the wind and hope it
would work. That’s why we’ve got her.”
The urban garden won’t be producing
until the spring, but Vaughn is moving
toward a 100-percent farm-to-table
operation at Grace.
What that means is that everything he
buys will eventually come from small,
family-run farms. He’ll buy as much of it as
he can locally, but he admits that can’t
always be done.
“Some of our local farms and vendors
have been great about helping me find
other places,” he said.
At the top of the menu, he lists the
commercialappeal.com
The Commercial Appeal file photos
Grace Restaurant chef/owner Ben
Vaughn: “Of course, we’ll get as much
locally as we possibly can, but you
can’t always do that. Seasons change.”
percentage of ingredients that are sourced
from small farms. He started doing this
last month and says he’s running between
80 percent and 85 percent.
He asks that diners understand that
flexibility is the key to a successful farm-
to-table experience.
“I might have gotten great beef, but the
farmer could only sell me 8 pounds of it,”
he explained. “If you come in at 9:30 for
dinner and we’re out of beef, it’s because
that’s all we could get, not because we’re a
poorly executed restaurant.”
Specials at Grace include a four-course
dinner on Thursdays for $30, plus $15 for
wine pairing. The restaurant has also
opened for lunch on Friday, where $15
gets you three courses and live
entertainment.
Call Grace at 274-85113 for more
information.
Contact Jennifer Biggs at 529-5223. Her
blog is whiningdining.com.
The Commercial Appeal Sunday, November 21, 2010 | GOING GREEN 13

Ghana whipping our tails

Sustainability movement at being green any more
than we wanted Japan

turns values upside down whipping us in

technology.
I spent a couple of
months in West Africa
GOING GREEN IS an odd value for us after college. Being green
Americans. It goes directly against our consumer wasn’t yet big then, but
looking back, those were
culture. the greenest days of my
life. We ate locally caught
The more They have to reuse fish and homegrown
“green” one tries to everything because vegetables. Not because it
be, the less one they have so little was cool, but because it
tends to own. The to work with in the was all that poor
less one tends to first place. community had.
use, the more one The bag in I had a few white T-
admires people who which you bring shirts and some wraps.
are simple, self- DEANNA
dinner to the Two meters of cloth was
sufficient, frugal. CASWELL abused women’s my skirt, my coat, my bed
Going green shelter is just as sheet at night, my dress,
exposes how Practically much a gift to my hat for the funeral.
meaningless Green them as the Everything I needed fit in
consumerism and contents. They a small knapsack. We
the accumulation of have one pair of sandals. bathed from buckets and
possessions are. And Three saris. Flour sack washed our clothes in
without our even underclothes. One rosary, well water. Talk about
realizing it, trying to be one crucifix and a prayer conservation!
green raises our book. And even then, they But going green, with
estimation of the poor. cut donated bars of soap all its positive effects, can
“Green” is something we into fourths, because who become dangerous if it
do by choice, but being needs a whole bar of Ivory becomes a religion unto
less wasteful and soap? How very green! itself. Who are we saving
consumeristic — that’s Americans have always the planet for? Are we
something the poor do by been competitive. But for saving it to honor the
necessity. once in our history, we’re gifts we’ve been given on
The Missionaries of competing not with the our Earth and to preserve
Charity (Mother Teresa’s richest nations but with those gifts for future
nuns) Downtown reuse the poorest. Websites generations? Or are we
and recycle everything calculating our footprint saving it for the gifts
that comes into their and resource usage themselves while seeing
hands. Not because compare us to the poorest people as a plague on the
they’re politically active. nations. We don’t want planet?
14 GOING GREEN | Sunday, November 21, 2010 commercialappeal.com

Those things may not

seem to matter when
you’re sorting the trash,
but as going green really
takes off, it’s the most
important question. “Why
let this one keep living,
why let that one be born?”
Given the wrong
foundation, going green
could get really ugly,
especially for the poor and
vulnerable.
Going green, with the
right motivations, is a Van Smith of Collierville shows off the Best in
beautiful value that I’m Show ribbon he won at a recent floral contest.
proud to promote.
It channels our
competitive natures in a GREATER MEMPHIS GARDENER
remarkably
nonconsumeristic
direction. If we all adopted
green living, economists
Collierville’s Van Smith
would start pulling their
hair out. Going green is
one of the most exciting
enjoys growing irises
things that has happened
in our social conscience in When asked what is his favorite flower, Van Smith
ages. of Collierville is quick to answer.
Green really is good for “The iris, the state’s flower,” Smith said.
us and the weakest among Smith, who has been gardening for more than 40
us — as long as we’re doing years, is a member of and treasurer for the West
it for the right reasons. Tennessee Iris Society. Every year, the club holds its
annual iris contest where Smith shows off his
Deanna Caswell is a local award-winning flowers.
writer who blogs at Aside from gardening, Smith also is a avid golfer
littlehouseinthesuburbs.com. and spends several days a week on the golf course.
Her first book, “First Ballet,”
was released this year by “I play golf an average of three times a week,” he
Hyperion. Caswell and her said. “It raises your blood pressure.”
husband, Jeff, live in
Collierville. She practices eco- Are you with a gardening club? If so, which one?
friendly living while raising
their three children, along Smith is a member of the West Tennessee Iris Society,
with pygmy goats and which has a club garden on West Street at the railroad
chickens. tracks in Germantown.
The Commercial Appeal
How long have you been interested
in gardening? Forty-five years.
Average amount of time involved
with gardening: On the average, Smith
says he spends about eight hours a week
gardening.
How’d you get your green thumb?
“From my parents, who even with a small
city lot, always had at least a few tomato
plants.”
Current or most recent gardening
project: “I just completed an Arkansas
field stone extension to a water drain-off
area just in case it ever rains.”
Favorite gardening project: “When I
bought my present house there was an
eroding area on the side from the rush of
water coming off a neighbor’s yard. I built
an Arkansas field stone creek-like drainage
area about 30 feet by 5 feet long to carry
runoff water down the creek to the woods.
Sometimes when we have heavy rains I go
Alan Spearman/The Commercial Appeal
Sunday, November 21, 2010 | GOING GREEN 15
out with an umbrella and watch the water
rush down just like a small river.”
What type of gardening project would
you like to try in the future? “I have run
out of space for new projects. All I can do is
improve on what I already have.”
What advice would you give to
someone interested in gardening? “If
planting a tree, shrub or flower and
watching it develop into something
appealing to the eye doesn’t turn you on,
you’re in the wrong business. I spend at
least an hour a week in a meditation area
in the woods beside my house looking
around and absorbing nature’s wonders.
It also lowers your blood pressure.”
If you are a gardener from Collierville or
Germantown and would like to be featured as
a Greater Memphis Gardener, call Matt Woo
at 529-6453 or e-mail
woo@commercialappeal.com.
Old things
‘new’ again
Center City Commission
employees Lorie Chapman
(left) and Dawn Vinson carry
items to be recycled by 5R
Processors Ltd. s part of
America Recycles Day. All
types of electronic
equipment brought to the
Downtown e-Recycle Drive
will be recycled or
refurbished forfuture use.
16 GOING GREEN | Sunday, November 21, 2010 commercialappeal.com

St. Agnes, IP pair up to recycle

By Ginger Jordan
Special to Going Green
In East Memphis, St. Agnes
Academy and St. Dominic School
are partnering with International
Paper on a school-wide recycling
initiative this year.
The program kicked off with an
educational presentation from the
“IP team” on the importance of
recycling. Now on a daily basis,
students, faculty and staff are
recycling paper, cardboard and
plastic. The “Green Team,” made
up of fourth-grade students, picks
up the recycling collected from
classrooms and offices weekly.
International Paper has provided
the recycling containers, as well as
T-shirts for members of the
schools’ “Green Teams.”
Ginger Jordan is director of
communications and alumnae relations
for St. Agnes Academy-St. Dominic
School.

St. Agnes Academy-St. Dominic School students Grace Patton (left),

Julia Schneck, Will Henderson and Nic Cantu attended the grand
opening of the International Paper Recycling Plant where they met
Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell. Will, dressed as “Sir
Sustainability,” won the recycling costume contest sponsored by IP.
The Commercial Appeal
Paul Knipple feeds his family's flock of chickens at his Midtown home .
YARD
BIRDS
Midtowners’ quest for
farm-fresh eggs puts
plan for raising
poultry in motion
Sunday, November 21, 2010 | GOING GREEN 17
The Commercial Appeal file photo
By Lindsay Melvin
lindsay.melvin@commercialappeal.com
A block from the fast-food joints lining Union
Avenue and the hum of passing fire trucks and
police cars, chickens peck through the straw-
covered soil of a backyard enclosure.
Lured by the promise of year-round fresh eggs,
the Knipple family started raising chickens
behind their Midtown home nearly two years ago.
“We live in Midtown, it’s in the zoning, we
have to be hippies, “ said Paul Knipple.
The urge to tend poultry with his wife, Angela,
however, stems more from their passion for
exceptional food than any earthy inclinations.
Both are fervent recipe collectors and
contributing writers for Edible Memphis, a
18 GOING GREEN | Sunday, November 21, 2010 commercialappeal.com

magazine that explores local cuisine. Typically, the Knipples’ chickens lay
Before the Memphis natives recently four to five eggs each day, leaving them
headed to their day jobs as information with more than they can eat.
technology specialists for FedEx, Angela At one point they had eight dozen
sprinkled feed in the spacious screened cartons in the fridge.
hut of their chicken coop, while extolling “That was just scary,” said Angela, who
the incomparable flavor of fresh eggs. bakes as much as she can and gives the
“There’s a huge difference,” she said. rest away to friends and family.
“Even the yolks are more orange.” But since temperatures have dropped,
Locally hatched eggs from the the girls have been on strike.
Memphis Farmers Market Downtown “We just bought eggs for the first time
first made Angela nostalgic for the in two years,” said Paul, cringing at the
flavors of her childhood, back when her thought of paying $3 for a dozen eggs.
grandparents raised chickens in a slightly Memphis has an ordinance against
less urban area outside Whitehaven. keeping livestock and poultry outside
But the farmers market had a limited agricultural zones.
egg supply and was open only half the year. But code enforcement for fowl has
On a mission to have their own stash been a gray area within city limits.
of brown-and-white-shelled gems and to “They’re not allowed in a residential
give their city-raised 15-year-old son, zone,” said Rose Hill with Memphis and
Patric, a unique experience, they Shelby County Code Enforcement, who
scoured the Internet for sites on raising added chicken matters are referred to the
backyard chickens. health department.
Through an online distributor, their The Memphis and Shelby County
flock of seven arrived via express mail. Health Department receives at most three
“The mailman complaints about
still looks at us chickens a year, and
funny, “ Paul said. “It makes you think more the city steps in
Their feathered about where your chickens only when there are
lineup now includes unsanitary
six lady birds and come from. ... It’s hard to conditions that are
one rooster. attracting flies or
There’s no way
think about them living in rodents, said vector
to know how many little cages, 1-foot-by-1-foot, control program
people in the Bluff manager L.C.
City are raising their whole life.” Garth.
backyard chickens, Blueberry
but Hollywood Pet ANGELA KNIPPLE Muffin, Cupcake,
on raising backyard chickens
Star on Broad has a Honey, Cheesecake
constant stream of and the rest of the
customers buying chicken feed. Knipple flock have yet to have a run-in
“It’s a popular thing now with eggs in with the law.
the grocery store costing a fortune, “ And the sweetly named bunch do
said store manager Sam Irwin. more than provide ingredients for
The Commercial Appeal Sunday, November 21, 2010 | GOING GREEN 19

fabulous omelets, says the couple.

They have been able to ditch their
compost bin and now throw kitchen
scraps into the pen, where the chickens
turn the ground into a rich soil for
gardening.
But urban farming hasn’t been all rosy.
A year after receiving their first
delivery of chickens, a raccoon broke
into the coop and massacred seven birds.
“It was rough when we lost the first
batch,” Angela said.
The Commercial Appeal files
An electric fence now wraps the
enclosure. The EPA’s plan doesn’t put a limit
The couple have been imparting their on emissions or require plants to
chicken trials and tribulations, along reduce them by a certain year.
with other food adventures, on their
websites PaulandAngela.net and
Squirrel-Squad.Blogspot.com.
Elaine Belanger editor of Backyard
EPA’s first steps
Poultry magazine, said interest in
raising chickens in urban settings has to cut industrial
taken off in the last year and half.
She receives up to five e-mails a week
from people seeking guidance on
plant emissions
changing their city ordinances to label By Renee Schoof
chickens as pets rather than farm animals. McClatchy Newspapers
For anyone who’s spent time with
these plucky backyard dwellers, WASHINGTON — The
Belanger says family pets are exactly Environmental Protection Agency
what they become. has unveiled what new large
“Chickens are fun,” she said. “They’re industrial plants will have to do to
more like a dog or cat.” minimize their greenhouse gas
In fact, the Knipples have stopped emissions starting in January.
buying factory-farmed meat altogether The guidelines will let industry
and now depend on local farmers or choose the most cost-effective
hormone-free and free-range brands technology to reduce emissions on a
from Whole Foods Market. case-by-case basis. The use of
It’s part of a commitment to eat more appropriate technology will make
sustainable food, a value that has grown them eligible for new permits for
with the Knipples’ mock pastoral greenhouse gas emissions that will be
backyard setting. required for new and expanded
— Lindsay Melvin: 529-2445 industrial plants.
20 GOING GREEN | Sunday, November 21, 2010
The EPA’s steps are much more
modest than the big stick of regulation
that both opponents and supporters of
climate legislation used to talk about.
The agency said that much of the
greenhouse gas reductions under the
permit system would come through
energy efficiency.
The new guidelines are part of EPA’s
early efforts to start reducing the
emissions of gases that build up in the
atmosphere and trap heat. The Supreme
Court ruled that the agency has the
authority to regulate this form of
pollution under the Clean Air Act.
The guidelines require that regulators
make sure that new plants — or those
that are upgraded so that they can
expand production — use available
technology to reduce carbon pollution.
Businesses can choose the most feasible
and cost-effective approach.
Gina McCarthy, the assistant
administrator for EPA’s Office of Air and
Radiation, said the technology
requirements for new and expanded
facilities are part of a “common-sense,
step-by-step and transparent way” to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
She also said the agency has no
estimate of how much of a reduction the
emissions control technologies on new
plants would achieve.
“This is not about capping or overall
reductions across the country,” she said.
Frank O’Donnell, the president of
Clean Air Watch, a nonpartisan
watchdog group, called the EPA
announcement “a very modest first step.”
“I hope this will quiet down the
demagoguery,” he said. “A lot of people
are saying the EPA is going to ruin the
economy and they’re overreaching.
There’s nothing here that could hurt the
commercialappeal.com
economy in the slightest way.”
Joe Mendelson, the director of global
warming policy at the National Wildlife
Federation, said the EPA’s guidance on
the best available technology to control
emissions was a start toward using the
Clean Air Act to address global warming.
“The EPA is saying, hey, there are a
lot of inefficiencies out there that are
contributing to our climate change
problem, and you should start dealing
with them,” he said.
Even if the EPA eventually takes
stronger action to curb climate change,
it can’t do enough on its own to get the
amount of reductions that will be
necessary by 2050, he said. “It really is
looking at all our activities — in ways
inside EPA’s jurisdiction or outside it —
that get us, frankly, to rebuilding our
economy in a way that gets us the global
warming reductions we need as a matter
of survival between now and 2050.”
Jeff Holmstead, an attorney who
represents power companies and who
was the EPA air administrator during
the Bush administration, said the new
guidelines would amount to a
moratorium on plant construction.
“As a practical matter, no one is going
to be able to get through EPA’s new
permitting process for a long time,” he
said in a statement through a
spokesman.
EPA’s McCarthy, however, said there
won’t be a moratorium. Regulators and
industry had months to prepare, she
said. The EPA held meetings with
industry groups to hear their views
about the permit requirements. Now
regulators at the state and local level are
ready to issue permits, and EPA expects
the permitting will go smoothly,
McCarthy said.
The Commercial Appeal
Even with heavy subsidizing by the U.S. government, renewable energy has a
long way to go before it can meet America’s energy needs.
Green dream: Meet reality
Fossil fuel use tough to change
By Kerry A. Lynch
McClatchy-Tribune
The vision of a “green” economy
fueled by wind, sun and renewable fuels
is powerfully appealing. But there’s a
huge disconnect between this vision and
the reality of America’s energy needs.
The widespread use of fossil fuels —
oil, natural gas and coal — has enabled
the United States and other
industrialized countries to create
unprecedented prosperity. The
Sunday, November 21, 2010 | GOING GREEN 21
Toby Talbot/Associated Press
inconvenient truth is that no one has yet
developed an alternative to fossil fuels
capable of providing energy on a
comparable scale at a comparable cost.
As the Obama administration
continues its push for a moratorium on
deep-water drilling and earmarks an
additional $2 billion in stimulus funds
for solar energy companies, Americans
need to recognize that developing
cleaner energy sources and reducing
our reliance on fossil fuels is not
impossible, but it’s a huge challenge
that is much more complicated than the
bumper stickers and slogans suggest.
22 GOING GREEN | Sunday, November 21, 2010
Transportation accounts for nearly 28 percent of total U.S. energy use.
Shifting from one energy source to
another is difficult because their costs
vary greatly and they are not necessarily
interchangeable. Some 84 percent of the
energy we Americans consume comes
from fossil fuels today. Only 8 percent
comes from renewable sources — most
of that from hydroelectric power.
For all the hype over wind and solar,
the reality is that they contribute very
little to our energy supply, with wind
accounting for less than 1 percent of
total U.S. energy consumption and solar
for just one-tenth of 1 percent. Together,
they could power the country for all of
three days a year.
What’s more, renewables are
extremely expensive relative to fossil
fuels because of the huge up-front capital
commercialappeal.com
The Commercial Appeal files
investments needed to develop them —
something that won’t change
dramatically any time soon.
Moreover, petroleum, natural gas, coal,
nuclear power and renewable energy are
not interchangeable and cannot
necessarily be substituted for one
another. Wind and solar power, for
example, cannot be used for
transportation. And nuclear power can be
used only to generate electricity.
To make intelligent choices,
Americans need to see the big picture.
They need to understand that nearly 28
percent of total U.S. energy use goes to
transportation and that 95 percent of
that comes from petroleum, while just 2
percent comes from natural gas and 3
percent from renewable energy.
The Commercial Appeal
Americans need to
understand that industry
consumes about 21 percent of
total U.S. energy. Some 42
percent of that also comes from
petroleum, 40 percent from
natural gas, 9 percent from coal
and 10 percent from renewable
energy, mostly hydroelectric.
Our homes, offices and
businesses consume 11 percent
of the energy we use. Some 16
percent of that comes from
petroleum as well, 76 percent
from natural gas and 1 percent
each from coal and renewables.
Finally, our electric utilities
consume just over 40 percent of
the energy we use. Just 1
percent of that comes from
petroleum, 9 percent from hydro
and other renewable sources, 17
percent from natural gas, 21
percent from nuclear power and
51 percent from coal.
The point is: Fully 84 percent
of the energy we consume comes
from petroleum, natural gas and
coal. Even with the government
heavily subsidizing green energy
with some $80 billion in tax
credits and subsidies in the 2009
stimulus bill alone, the Energy
Information Administration
projects that the United States
will still likely get three-fourths
of its energy from fossil fuels 25
years from now.
The “green dream” needs to
face this reality.
Kerry Lynch is a senior fellow at
the American Institute for Economic
Research (aier.org) in Great
Barrington, Mass.
Sunday, November 21, 2010 | GOING GREEN 23
Homeowners use sun, wind to power
homes, make a little green
With his latest green-energy project, home builder
Bill Decker is now in the electricity business.
Last December, Decker installed 20 solar panels
atop the family’s Decker Horse Stables in Temperance,
Ohio. While the typical home solar array aims to wean a
building off the power grid, Decker’s 4-kilowatt setup
feeds all the electricity it generates back into the grid.
Decker said he’s earning an average of $275 a
month, or $3,300 a year, for the system’s power
contributions through a feed-in tariff program offered
by Consumers Energy.
If the sun keeps shining, he could pay off his share
of the panels’ installation costs in six years or less.
“You’re helping the environment and you’re
making money, so it’s a win-win situation,” said
Decker, co-founder of Decker Homes. “I think it’s
absolutely the wave of the future.”
In rural Bowling Green, Ohio, Sean and Denise
Brennan show off the wind, insulation and geothermal
heat-pump systems that are saving them hundreds of
dollars a year in utility costs.
The geothermal pump is tied in to 1,300 feet of
buried piping, which works to capture energy in the
ground during colder weather. The unit then
compresses the ground heat to a higher temperature
and sends it inside their home as warm air.
The process is reversed in the summer, with heat
from the Brennans’ home sent to the cooler earth.
To help keep the heat inside, the Brennans spent
a couple thousand dollars for a sprayed
polyurethane and fiberglass insulation when they
built their home in 2006.
The family erected a wind turbine on their property
two years ago. Brennan said they spent an initial
$16,000 on the project and received a $6,000 rebate .
Brennan said the turbine generates about 15
percent of the family’s total energy usage, saving
them several hundred dollars annually. Though the
cost-savings haven’t been as high as they hoped,
Brennan said the investment was still worth it from
an environmental standpoint.
“Up front I looked at it as a way to save money on
our monthly bills, but as we got into it, it’s become
more and more about (reducing) our carbon
footprint,” said Brennan.
J.C. Reindl, Associated Press
24 GOING GREEN | Sunday, November 21, 2010
For those who want to have a look at the new cups, they’re only on the
multipacks. If it doesn’t have a recycling code on the bottom, it’s the new PLA.
That yogurt cup? It’s made from corn
By Sandy Bauers
The Philadelphia Inquirer
A lot goes into a package of yogurt,
apparently.
And I don’t mean the yogurt. I mean
the package.
New Hampshire organic yogurt maker
Stonyfield Farm unveiled new cups that
industry experts say put them at the top
of the packaging game.
The cups, used for their multipacks,
are plant-based, not petroleum-based.
The specific plant is corn.
I never thought there would be that
much to say about yogurt containers.
But Nancy Hirshberg, Stonyfield’s vice
commercialappeal.com
president of natural resources, was hap-
py to explain the kind of thought this
company, like many others, is beginning
to put into packaging.
Corn initially gave Hirshberg connip-
tions because of chemical-intensive
farming methods. She didn’t like using
food for something other than food.
Stonyfield is even using a massive
Cargill facility in Nebraska that also
turns out high-fructose corn syrup.
Yes, the company could have used
plastic from beets. Or tapioca. Or sugar
cane. All are feedstock for the new “bio-
plastics,” but they had impacts as well.
Hirshberg points out that the corn
Stonyfield is using is yellow corn, which
The Commercial Appeal
is not the best for eating.
The company found its ultimate
answer in a new program with the
Institute for Agriculture and Trade
Policy, a nonprofit organization that
works to ensure fair and sustainable
food, farm and trade systems.
It works kind of like the wind pow-
er that people “purchase” through
their electric company.
Stonyfield’s payments to the pro-
gram ensure that the equivalent
amount of corn it usesis farmed with
upgraded methods to control soil
erosion. Chemicals are restricted. No
carcinogens. No Atrazine. No genet-
ically modified corn.
At the plant, corn is turned into a
corn starch and then fermented. It
comes out as PLA — or polylactic
acid. It’s in pellets, which then go to a
plant in Illinois to be turned into rolls
of plastic, which then go to Stonyfield
to be made into the little cups.
Stonyfield’s cups can’t be compost-
ed but can be recycled. Instead of being
“downcycled” like most plastics, PLA
can be endlessly turned into new PLA.
But even without a good end-of-life
solution, Hirshberg says that Stony-
field is seeing a 48 percent reduction
in its cups’ environmental impact.
This seems a hopeful sign.
Indeed, while packaging has under-
gone huge changes — becoming
lighter and squarer, so more can fit in
a defined space — using better ma-
terials is the new quest, says Anne
Bedarf of the Sustainable Packaging
Coalition, a project of the sustainabil-
ity nonprofit organization GreenBlue.
She and Hirshberg agree that Stony-
field’s new package is only a step. But
Bedarf praised it as “progressive.”
Sunday, November 21, 2010 | GOING GREEN 25
Next phase in ‘Greening the
National Mall’ announced
Coca-Cola wants YOU... to please recycle
when you visit the National Mall. One year
after announcing an investment of more than
$1 million in the National Park System in
partnership with the National Parks Service,
National Park Foundation and the Trust for the
National Mall, Coca-Cola helped launch the
first sustainable recycling program to help
keep the National Mall clean and green by
donating 320 recycling bins and recycling
trailers for special events.
The 320 recycling bins will be a permanent
addition to the National Mall, dotting the
landscape stretching from the Capitol
Reflecting Pool to the Lincoln and Jefferson
memorials. Coca-Cola is donating two recycling
trailers and 400 additional bins to be used
during special events held on the National Mall.
“At Coca-Cola, caring for our environment
is part of our heritage, and we are committed
to preserving and protecting it,” said Steve
Cahillane, president and chief executive officer
of Coca-Cola Refreshments. “We have
supported our national parks for decades.
There’s no better place to provide a visible
reminder of recycling than on the National
Mall, which hosts more than 25 million visits
annually. Recycling is one of the easiest ways
to help keep our national treasure pristine.”
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar signed
the National Mall Plan at the Thomas Jefferson
Memorial during a Trust for the National Mall
event. The signing capped off a planning effort
that included input from more than 30,000
Americans in all 50 states, and culminates in a
vision and direction for future conservation
and preservation of the National Mall.
“Recycling is perhaps the easiest and most
effective way to protect our environment,”
said Peggy O’Dell, regional director for the
National Capital Region of the National Parks
Service. “The sustainable recycling program
on the National Mall is one which we hope to
replicate in other parks across the country,
and thanks to Coca-Cola’s support, we’ve
diverted 60 tons of material from landfills in
the first three months of the program.”
26 GOING GREEN | Sunday, November 21, 2010 commercialappeal.com

EARTHTALK

Donating food reduces waste,

helps to feed those in need

Brand X Pictures
Many U.S. food businesses will not donate excess food to those in need due to
liability concerns. However, it is an unfounded fear because laws in all 50 states
protect food donors from civil and criminal liability for good faith donations.

Dear EarthTalk: I work at a fast food
place and I am appalled by the amount
of unpurchased food we throw away.
The boss says we can’t give it away for
legal reasons. Where can I turn for help
on this, so the food could instead go to
people in need?
Many restaurants, fast food or oth-
erwise, are hesitant to donate unused
food due to concerns about liability if
people get sick after eating it — es-
pecially because once any such food is
out of the restaurant’s hands, who
knows how long it might be before it is
The Commercial Appeal
served again? But whether these
restaurants know it or not, they can-
not be held liable for food donated to
organizations, and sometimes all it
might take to change company policy
would be a little advocacy from con-
cerned employees.
A 1995 survey found that over 80
percent of food businesses in the U.S.
did not donate excess food due to li-
ability concerns. In response, Congress
passed the Bill Emerson Good Samar-
itan Act, which releases restaurants
and other food organizations from li-
ability associated with the donation of
food waste to nonprofit organizations
assisting individuals in need. The act
protects donors in all 50 states from
civil and criminal liability for good-
faith donations of “apparently whole-
some food” — defined as meeting “all
quality and labeling standards imposed
by Federal, State and local laws and
regulations even though the food may
not be readily marketable due to ap-
pearance, age, freshness, grade, size,
surplus or other condition.”
While homeless shelters, elder care
organizations and boys and girls clubs
are frequent beneficiaries of food do-
nations, the most common recipients
are food banks and food rescue pro-
grams. Food banks, according to Cal-
ifornia’s CalRecycle website, “collect
food from a variety of sources, save
the food in a warehouse, then dis-
tribute it to hungry families and in-
dividuals through local human service
agencies.” They usually collect less-
perishable items like canned goods,
which can be stored and used any
time. In contrast, food rescue pro-
grams typically trade in perishable and
prepared foods, distributing it to agen-
Sunday, November 21, 2010 | GOING GREEN 27
cies that feed hungry people, usually
later that same day. Mama’s Health, a
leading health education website,
maintains an extensive free database
of food banks and food rescue pro-
grams state-by-state.
Unused or even partially eaten food
waste can also be utilized even if it’s
not edible by human standards. The
U.S. Department of Agriculture ap-
proves of food businesses giving or
selling food waste to local farmers for
use in composting or as animal feed. If
such food contains or has come into
contact with meat, it should be boiled
for 30 minutes to reduce the risk of
bacterial infections in the animals that
eat it. Many states have complemen-
tary laws on the books regulating the
donation of food waste at the local
level.
Many cities and town are now ex-
panding curbside pickup programs to
include kitchen scraps and yard waste
and then diverting the food waste into
profitable compost. Still, some 6.7 per-
cent of the solid waste going into
landfills consists of food discards, re-
ports the North Carolina Division of
Pollution Prevention and Environmen-
tal Assistance. Diverting food waste to
feed hungry people or for animal feed
or compost is a winning scenario for
all concerned parties as it not only
provides relief to overburdened land-
fills but also helps meet social welfare,
agricultural and environmental needs.
Also, those restaurants, grocery stores
and other businesses that donate food
will likely reap the additional reward
of saving money on their actual waste
removal bill as their trash bins and
Dumpsters won’t be filling up quite so
fast.
28 GOING GREEN | Sunday, November 21, 2010
A long history
Fresh and local have extensive, sustainable role in the kitchen
“I remember how she (Georgia
O’Keeffe) guided me through the
large Abiquiu garden, telling me
where all the vegetables, fruits and
herbs could be found.”
MARGARET WOOD
commercialappeal.com
By Lee Svitak Dean
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Alice Waters wasn’t the first
to be enamored of local foods.
Nor are the verdant fields in
California the only lush spots
to grow such foods.
Truth is, cooks have been
intrigued by the food in their
own backyards for a long time,
despite how difficult it may be
to grow in their locale. Here’s
a look at three cooks and their
insistence on local.
Georgia O’Keeffe’s art of
the kitchen
Food isn’t the first thing we
think of when we consider
artist Georgia O’Keeffe, whose
paintings came to define the
Southwest. Yet food — and its
presentation — were very
much on the mind of O’Keeffe.
Though her original home and
studio were at Ghost Ranch in
the hilly desert of New Mexico,
O’Keeffe refurbished an adobe
building in Abiquiu, which she
bought for its garden potential.
The new property came with
water rights — a significant
feature in an arid region. O’Ke-
effe’s goal was specific: She
The Commercial Appeal Sunday, November 21, 2010 | GOING GREEN 29

wanted the space to grow her own “Do you think other people eat as
fruits, vegetables and herbs, said Mar- well as we do?” O’Keeffe asked Wood on
garet Wood, one of the last compan- more than one occasion.
ion/cooks to work with O’Keeffe.
Wood was 24 and O’Keeffe 90 when How far north can you grow?
she became the elder’s caregiver. For If you think the garden days are num-
five years, Wood cooked two meals a bered in northern parts of the lower 48,
day for O’Keeffe, who occasionally en- think of those in Alaska.
tertained a succession of friends and Ditto for restaurant days. For chefs
followers. aiming for tourists, it’s business as usu-
O’Keeffe was a follower of Adele al only in June, July and August.
Davis and Lelord Kordel, health food That’s the challenge faced by Har-
proponents in the 1950s (she lived to be rison McHenry, chef/owner of the Fresh
98, not so incidentally). O’Keeffe pre- Catch Cafe in Homer, Alaska, who has
ferred organic grains, ground her own made “fresh,” “local” and “sustainable”
flour, bought eggs and honey from her his guidelines since he opened the
neighbors. There was homemade yogurt restaurant five years ago.
from local goat’s milk and granola for
snacks.
“I remember how she (O’Keeffe)
guided me through the large Abiquiu
garden, telling me where all the veg-
etables, fruits and herbs could be found.
She spoke with pride about her organic
produce: the two-pound tomato that
was grown the previous summer, the
tree that bore the best applesauce ap-
ples, and the hardy raspberries that sur-
vived one spring when all the other
fruit froze,” wrote Wood in “A Painter’s
Kitchen, Recipes From the Kitchen of
Georgia O’Keeffe,” first published in
1997 and recently reissued.
The aesthetics of art also wove their
way into O’Keeffe’s meals, where she
wanted the food and presentation to be
simple and fresh. She was particular:
Lettuce was picked leaf by leaf to create
what we would now call “mesclun,” or a
mix of lettuce. Her table was kept sim-
ple, as was the food: plain white porce- O’Keeffe wanted food and presentation
lain china, colorful straw mats, soft to be simple and fresh: Steamed green
white napkins, with meals that were beans and fresh cucumbers sprinkled
equally unfussy. with salt and pepper.
30 GOING GREEN | Sunday, November 21, 2010 commercialappeal.com

“Just about everything but citrus can

grow in Alaska,” said McHenry. That
means normal vegetables — well, if you
call a 95-pound head of cabbage normal
— but bigger. Lots bigger, given that
there are 18 hours of light daily.
As for the local emphasis, well, you
can’t get much fresher than the fish
outside his window on the Homer spit.
“If a fisherman comes in with a load of
rockfish or mussels or a farmer brings
in broccoli rabe, that’s what ends up as
a special,” he said. “I want to showcase
Alaska’s cuisine.”
With the Fresh Catch Cafe open only
a few months annually, McHenry
spends the rest of the year as a butcher
(moose and bear, as well as more tra-
ditional animals) and perfecting the
kitchen particulars: curing bacon and
making sausage, mastering bread and
pastry technique.
By the close of summer, when he’s
ready to shutter the door, even the lo- “If a fisherman comes in with
cals are tired of fresh seafood, never a load of rockfish or mussels
mind that they’ve been dining on crab,
halibut, salmon and shrimp for months. or a farmer brings in broccoli
“By fall, we all need meat,” he said. rabe, that’s what ends up as a
Fresh Catch Cafe, 4025 Homer Spit Road,
Homer, AK 99603, (907) 235-2289, special. I want to showcase
freshcatchalaska.net (closed for the season).
Alaska’s cuisine.”
Harbor View to Holden Village
HARRISON MCHENRY
Who makes a change when they are Chef/owner of the Fresh Catch Cafe
at the height of their success?
Paul and Carol Hinderlie and their
business partner, Tom Ahlstrom, did worked earlier, and where Paul’s father
just that five years ago when they sold had been director.
the Harbor View restaurant in Pepin, They left behind a 26-year-history
Wis., and headed to the Cascade Moun- with a restaurant that had won national
tains of Washington for a new oppor- acclaim, a close-knit “family” of long-
tunity. The three were returning to their time staffers and the ability to source
roots, to run Holden Village, a Lutheran plentiful local foods, from mushrooms
retreat center where they had all to lambs.
The Commercial Appeal Sunday, November 21, 2010 | GOING GREEN 31

But they didn’t leave behind the min- rants that become temples, and where
istry of feeding people. food becomes God,” said Paul, a former
The trio finished their five-year-com- seminary student.
mitment to Holden on Sept. 1, during “Here at Holden, we give food that’s
which they faced challenges that would down to Earth.”
fluster even a Top Chef.
There are no roads to Holden. It
takes a two-hour ferry along Lake
Chelan far into the Cascades to get
there, followed by a 30-minute drive on
harrowing switchbacks to reach the re-
treat. Dry foods come in on a barge.
“We could survive two months if we had
to,” said Paul. Fresh food reaches them
by ferry.
They have plenty of local purveyors,
though logistics can become cumber-
some. “It’s fun to buy local,” said Paul,
“but we couldn’t survive on it.”
His staff has more turnover than a
fast-food joint — and the dish crew is
democratic (everyone on staff rotates
through the dish pit, as it is called).
The cooks are volunteers, many of
them college students in their early 20s,
who tend to stick around for three
weeks (for a short-term post) to one
year (long-term). Paul teaches them
cooking techniques along the way. Then
they’re gone, and he teaches the next Paul and Carol Hinderlie
batch of cooks.
“At Harbor View, after one year a
(above) left behind a
staffer might have moved up to prep 26-year-history with a
work,” Paul said with a shrug.
Yet they still cook from scratch: nationally- acclaimed
homemade bread, soup, salads, fish restaurant to take on the
(with cod and sockeye salmon from
Alaska), a philosophy they call “lavish ministry of ‘lavish simplicity’
simplicity.” at Holden Village in the
In his latter years at Harbor View, the
food world was quickly changing its Cascade Mountains.
focus from the meal itself to the celebri- “Here at Holden, we give food
ty status of the chef.
“I’m always surprised about restau- that’s down to Earth.”