Dija Know… Joe’s Restaurant Newsletter -70 May 2012

Special Camino de Paz Edition May 2012

Joel Salatin with Roland Richter chef-owner of Joe’s

Cinco de Mayo will be very special this year with sustainable farming’s rock star, Joel Salatin, returning to Santa Fe and specifically to Camino de Paz School & Farm in Santa Cruz, NM.  They are celebrating in their unique way and invite all to come and see how things are done on this very special farm and to listen to Joel’s provocative ideas and hilarious take on our modern food system. Roland will be cooking the entrée – roast goat with Arroyo Coyote Mole (inspired by all the wild and cultivated ingredients that grow around Roland and Sheila’s home – almonds, pinones, apricots, apples and juniper berries).  Tour the farm, enjoy a delicious brunch and lively marimba music. Tickets are $60/person,  $25/children under 11 and $320 for a table of six.   Call 505-747-9717 to make reservations. Starts at 11AM. Joel’s latest book is for sale at Joe’s and we plan to carry more of his writings in the future.

 

Roland will be working his magic to create a delicious and healthy yet affordable 3-course prixe fix dinner for Mothers Day.  Please make your reservations asap.  24.95 per person.  See joesdining.com for menu

 

We are excited about the revival of Joe’s Meet Your Farmer program.  We introduced it last May. During the winter months it dwindled but now with the onset of the growing season again, we want to re-invite our farmer, rancher and grower friends.  So every Saturday after Market (sometime after 1:30) we invite any and all of our local growers to come by Joe’s to relax over a meal and a beer. (We bribe them with a “good deal”).  This is a chance for you, our guests to sit with them, chat with them, ask them penetrating questions about their growing practices.  And just generally get up-close and personal with Who Grows Your Food.  Please join us.

 

Pink is one of my favorite colors.  It’s had a bad rap lately.  Bet you know where I’m going with this.  The addition of Pink Sli– (I just can’t say it) to US meat as a filler is another jaw-dropping revelation in the on-going soap opera entitled, “America’s most stunning food scandals” or “America’s best disguised food additives” or “America’s unlabelled food horrors.”  Call it what you will, it’s impossible to really know what’s in our food.  Unless . . . you buy local and KYG (know your grower) or grow your own.  The locavore movement is exploding.  People are indignant that the wool is pulled over their eyes time and time again. Many are taking healthy and proactive steps. Home gardening, co-operative neighborhood gardens, big city and roof-top gardens, produce stands, Farmers Markets, goat-keeping – all are booming.  And you can hear the clucking of chickens in the oddest places.  More restaurants are, at least in token, joining the “buy local” movement.  It is so heartening to see people everywhere taking back their food supply.  By doing so we take back our health, our economy and our pride in meaningful work.

Along the same lines, here is a sad irony. Recently a 65-yer old California farmer was arrested and detained for a week. He was subjected to sleep deprivation, starvation, verbal taunts, hypothermia and involuntary medical testing.  His crime – selling raw milk to customers who line up for it in a state where it is legal.  His bail – $1,000,000.  Say what!?  Pink Sli–  slides into our food without labeling, approved by the FDA and the Dept of Agriculture but wholesome raw milk is suspect of being a criminal substance. The USDA, FDA and myriad other state and federal agencies make no bones about their goal of controlling every morsel Americans consume—all for our own good, of course.

By the way, the retail sale of raw milk is legal in NM, but most dairy farmers here understandably don’t want the possible intimidation and extra regulation. Darn.  Now, I don’t advocate the consumption of raw milk.  But it was once my right and yours to have the choice.

Been thinking a lot about farming lately. Our food supply is at risk.  Real truly nutritious food is on the endangered list.  How so, you ask.  Farmers markets are everywhere today and if you want to, you can eat local sustainably grown food every day.  The SF Farmers Market is 10 times the size it was 20 years ago.  And that is marvelous.  Yes but (don’t you hate“yes buts”?), yes but the truth is – if everyone in Santa Fe woke up one morning and resolved to eat 80% regionally grown food we’d be in trouble by noon.  I’ll get back to that in a moment.

When I had a healing practice (come on folks, this is Santa Fe – doesn’t everyone have a healing practice?) I became accustomed to looking for what I call the cause of the cause of the cause of conditions that came my way, be they equine or human.  I would look beyond symptoms searching for fundamental imbalances, deficiencies, stored trauma and beyond.  Now back to our ailing food supply. Please remember I’m not talking about Big Farma – industrialized subsidized pesticized straight line mono crop mega farms that have raped our topsoils and bought out America’s richest farm land, producing an abundance of shelf-stable corn chips and other de-natured tummy fillers.  I’m talking about individually owned farms growing life-enhancing food.  With industrialization and technology, we thought we had all the answers.  Whoops.

Did you happen to notice that small snowstorm we had in December that shut down I-40 for a day?  Well we noticed – our big food suppliers could not get in.  Santa Fe food shelves looked alarmingly empty. That was just one day of distribution disruption!

Back to the cause of the cause of the cause …

Di ja know … for every farmer in the USA under age 35 there are 6 over 67.  Over 67! Yikes. It can’t be easy to pull rutabagas when you’re pushing 70.

Here’s where I’m going.  Farming as a career choice has fallen off the chart.  When was the last time you asked someone about their career ambitions and got the answer, “I’m considering farming” ?  Maybe never?  My point exactly.  Perhaps farming doesn’t sound hip or trendy. Schools have turned out lots of architects, lawyers, fashion designers, actors, chefs, medical professionals, computer scientists, business majors, you name it — all necessary professions. Sadly thousands of these professionals are now unemployed.  Is growing food for a living so close to our noses that we can’t even see it as a career option? Or is it so far removed from our day to day lives that it’s off the radar? Hopefully we can change perceptions and re-ignite in people a passion for growing things.  Remind young families that farming can be a deeply satisfying, fundamentally essential pursuit, that they will never go hungry and that they can never be laid off.  There is no better time than now to restore farming as a career choice. There is growing demand for high quality food.  Of course farming has a learning curve and requires skills.  I would suggest that there are many local farmers who would take on an apprentice and teach them the skills needed in return for labor.  This is more than a “back to the earth” hippie plea. We are in a desperate situation.  The dearth of small-scale farming renders us dependent upon massive and increasingly expensive distribution systems.  Systems that can be disabled with one snowstorm or a hike in gas prices.  For our food supply to return to a normaland healthy balance, we should be able to eat 80% of our meals from locally produced goods.  For chocolate and coffee I would travel days on a burrow through burning sands, but meat and potatoes, veggies and corn need to be locally grown and available.  Let me share a paragraph from my cousin’s last Christmas letter.  She and her husband are 60+

Saskatchewan farmers.  Note the optimism and pride in the last sentence even after a not-so-good year.

“ As for the rest of the year, it was up and down: we had an over abundance of snow, and with all the snow and then the rain, the flowers were more beautiful than ever, and the durum crop was the best Dale has ever seen on this farm . . . Seeding was difficult in the wet ground . . .   (however) we look forward to the next year of farming as always!”  Farming is not easy.  What endeavor is? But it is a real solid viable and fundamentally essential career option.  For the good of us all, I hope more people will consider it.

 

What we are doing here at Joe’s, what drives and inspires us?  Roland and Sheila established Joe’s in 2002 – our intent being to offer an unpretentious comfortable atmosphere for locals who demand high quality local food and uncompromising quality of ingredients offered at a fair price. To that end, since 1996 we have dedicated ourselves to utilizing Farmers Market products.  The farmers say we are Santa Fe’s leading restaurant purchaser and our expenditures prove it.  In 2010 we spent well over $80,000 on locally produced food. We are projecting 2012 local food buying to be near $100,000.  In any case well over 35% of the food we serve comes from local farmers and ranchers. What you our guests are demanding is clearly in line with our passion for a local healthy sustainable food supply.  This is what drives us to continue in this direction.  Here is a partial list of local ingredients we use: grass finished NM Sweetgrass Co-Op ground beef, lamb from Antonio and Molly at Shepherds Lamb, bison from Monte and Lena at LaMonts Buffalo, coffee from Agapao. Also chile, eggs, NM organic flour, feta, milk, goat cheese, Joe’s own house made mozzarella, fruits, veggies, sprouts, wines, beers and breads – all from local producers like Camino de Paz School and Farm.

 

 

Lost in translation:
   A sign written in English in a cocktail lounge in Norway:
LADIES ARE REQUESTED NOT TO HAVE CHILDREN IN THE BAR.

In a Nairobi restaurant:
CUSTOMERS WHO FIND OUR WAITRESSES RUDE OUGHT TO SEE THE MANAGER.

 

 

 

 

 

Joe’s Dining
2801 Rodeo Rd (at Zia Rd) Santa Fe, NM   87507
505-471-3800       www.JoesDining.com

 

Cinco de Mayo will be very special this year with sustainable farming’s rock star, Joel Salatin, returning to Santa Fe and specifically to Camino de Paz School & Farm in Santa Cruz, NM.  They are celebrating in their unique way and invite all to come and see how things are done on this very special farm and to listen to Joel’s provocative ideas and hilarious take on our modern food system. Roland will be cooking the entrée – roast goat with Arroyo Coyote Mole (inspired by all the wild and cultivated ingredients that grow around Roland and Sheila’s home – almonds, pinones, apricots, apples and juniper berries).  Tour the farm, enjoy a delicious brunch and lively marimba music. Tickets are $60/person,  $25/children under 11 and $320 for a table of six.   Call 505-747-9717 to make reservations. Starts at 11AM. Joel’s latest book is for sale at Joe’s and we plan to carry more of his writings in the future.

 

u  Roland will be working his magic to create a delicious and healthy yet affordable 3-course prixe fix dinner for Mothers Day.  Please make your reservations asap.  24.95 per person.  See joesdining.com for menu

 

uWe are excited about the revival of Joe’s Meet Your Farmer program.  We introduced it last May. During the winter months it dwindled but now with the onset of the growing season again, we want to re-invite our farmer, rancher and grower friends.  So every Saturday after Market (sometime after 1:30) we invite any and all of our local growers to come by Joe’s to relax over a meal and a beer. (We bribe them with a “good deal”).  This is a chance for you, our guests to sit with them, chat with them, ask them penetrating questions about their growing practices.  And just generally get up-close and personal with Who Grows Your Food.  Please join us.

 

uPink is one of my favorite colors.  It’s had a bad rap lately.  Bet you know where I’m going with this.  The addition of Pink Sli– (I just can’t say it) to US meat as a filler is another jaw-dropping revelation in the on-going soap opera entitled, “America’s most stunning food scandals” or “America’s best disguised food additives” or “America’s unlabelled food horrors.”  Call it what you will, it’s impossible to really know what’s in our food.  Unless . . . you buy local and KYG (know your grower) or grow your own.  The locavore movement is exploding.  People are indignant that the wool is pulled over their eyes time and time again. Many are taking healthy and proactive steps. Home gardening, co-operative neighborhood gardens, big city and roof-top gardens, produce stands, Farmers Markets, goat-keeping – all are booming.  And you can hear the clucking of chickens in the oddest places.  More restaurants are, at least in token, joining the “buy local” movement.  It is so heartening to see people everywhere taking back their food supply.  By doing so we take back our health, our economy and our pride in meaningful work.

uAlong the same lines, here is a sad irony. Recently a 65-yer old California farmer was arrested and detained for a week. He was subjected to sleep deprivation, starvation, verbal taunts, hypothermia and involuntary medical testing.  His crime – selling raw milk to customers who line up for it in a state where it is legal.  His bail – $1,000,000.  Say what!?  Pink Sli–  slides into our food without labeling, approved by the FDA and the Dept of Agriculture but wholesome raw milk is suspect of being a criminal substance. The USDA, FDA and myriad other state and federal agencies make no bones about their goal of controlling every morsel Americans consume—all for our own good, of course.

By the way, the retail sale of raw milk is legal in NM, but most dairy farmers here understandably don’t want the possible intimidation and extra regulation. Darn.  Now, I don’t advocate the consumption of raw milk.  But it was once my right and yours to have the choice.

uBeen thinking a lot about farming lately. Our food supply is at risk.  Real truly nutritious food is on the endangered list.  How so, you ask.  Farmers markets are everywhere today and if you want to, you can eat local sustainably grown food every day.  The SF Farmers Market is 10 times the size it was 20 years ago.  And that is marvelous.  Yes but (don’t you hate“yes buts”?), yes but the truth is – if everyone in Santa Fe woke up one morning and resolved to eat 80% regionally grown food we’d be in trouble by noon.  I’ll get back to that in a moment.

When I had a healing practice (come on folks, this is Santa Fe – doesn’t everyone have a healing practice?) I became accustomed to looking for what I call the cause of the cause of the cause of conditions that came my way, be they equine or human.  I would look beyond symptoms searching for fundamental imbalances, deficiencies, stored trauma and beyond.  Now back to our ailing food supply. Please remember I’m not talking about Big Farma – industrialized subsidized pesticized straight line mono crop mega farms that have raped our topsoils and bought out America’s richest farm land, producing an abundance of shelf-stable corn chips and other de-natured tummy fillers.  I’m talking about individually owned farms growing life-enhancing food.  With industrialization and technology, we thought we had all the answers.  Whoops.

Did you happen to notice that small snowstorm we had in December that shut down I-40 for a day?  Well we noticed – our big food suppliers could not get in.  Santa Fe food shelves looked alarmingly empty. That was just one day of distribution disruption!

Back to the cause of the cause of the cause …

Di ja know … for every farmer in the USA under age 35 there are 6 over 67.  Over 67! Yikes. It can’t be easy to pull rutabagas when you’re pushing 70.

Here’s where I’m going.  Farming as a career choice has fallen off the chart.  When was the last time you asked someone about their career ambitions and got the answer, “I’m considering farming” ?  Maybe never?  My point exactly.  Perhaps farming doesn’t sound hip or trendy. Schools have turned out lots of architects, lawyers, fashion designers, actors, chefs, medical professionals, computer scientists, business majors, you name it — all necessary professions. Sadly thousands of these professionals are now unemployed.  Is growing food for a living so close to our noses that we can’t even see it as a career option? Or is it so far removed from our day to day lives that it’s off the radar? Hopefully we can change perceptions and re-ignite in people a passion for growing things.  Remind young families that farming can be a deeply satisfying, fundamentally essential pursuit, that they will never go hungry and that they can never be laid off.  There is no better time than now to restore farming as a career choice. There is growing demand for high quality food.  Of course farming has a learning curve and requires skills.  I would suggest that there are many local farmers who would take on an apprentice and teach them the skills needed in return for labor.  This is more than a “back to the earth” hippie plea. We are in a desperate situation.  The dearth of small-scale farming renders us dependent upon massive and increasingly expensive distribution systems.  Systems that can be disabled with one snowstorm or a hike in gas prices.  For our food supply to return to a normal and healthy balance, we should be able to eat 80% of our meals from locally produced goods.  For chocolate and coffee I would travel days on a burrow through burning sands, but meat and potatoes, veggies and corn need to be locally grown and available.  Let me share a paragraph from my cousin’s last Christmas letter.  She and her husband are 60+