What a beautiful weekend it was in Berkeley the last two days. I just arrived home a little sunburn and a lot tired after talking to new and current customers who visited the Golden Gate Organics booth at the festival. The festival itself had an enormous footprint. Perhaps even too big.

The Bay Area Book Festival, or BABF for short, occupied much of downtown Berkeley. Some streets such as the one our booth was on, Radical Row, had tents lining both sides of the street and made for a very festive atmosphere. Other streets, however, were lined on only one side with tents leaving a vast expanse of the street open. As a festival sponsor and a booth occupant I would’ve liked to see both sides of each street lined with tents. This would’ve decreased the amount of walking required for festival goers, decreased the number of streets that needed to be shut down to traffic, and most likely would have increased the exposure of all booths throughout the festival. I am confident that due to the wide expanse of the festival there are many people who did not see all that there was to see.

Of course this is not to take away from Lisa Bullwinkle and her event management business, Another Bullwinkle Show, that managed this unwieldy spectacle. When registering before the event she let me know that she was not able to do the Chocolate and Chalk festival this year due to all the planning required for the BABF. Indeed, the BABF is an enormous event for Berkeley. Personally, Golden Gate Organics had a very successful weekend even if a few of the authors I spoke to in nearby booths shared mixed feelings on their results. Oh well, different strokes for different folks I guess. After looking at the preparations of these same authors it was obvious that they should keep to writing and not venture off into marketing anytime soon! I was happy to share some of the lessons I gained from five years of attending these types of festivals with the occupants of the tent across from ours. David Haldane the author of Nazis and Nudists as well as his booth-mate Doug Piotter who was selling copies of his book Fixed:Dope sacks, dye packs, and the long way back. Both guys were great human beings and I wish them success.

Over the weekend I talked to probably a hundred people in one form or another. From giving my entire pitch to a surprised passersby to simply complying with a hard charger demanding to sign them up for organic produce and grocery deliveries immediately. I love the diversity of experiences from brief encounters afforded by having a booth at a festival like this one.

All in all it was a successful event for GGO. Next weekend Steven and I will be at the Temescal Street Fair in Oakland on Sunday and we are looking forward to being back in the hometown of GGO. Until then stay healthy and keep living your organic lifestyle.

Hey there everyone…It’s been a long time! After an extended hiatus, the Golden Gate Organics blog is officially back! Woo-hoo!

Since most of you don’t know me, I want to start out by reintroducing myself and telling you a little bit about what’s going on at Golden Gate Organics. My name is Tamara Thompson, and I’m a writer/editor by profession and an organic foodie by appetite. Corey brought me on in 2013 to make sure you have plenty of interesting things to read about here, and I’m really excited about being back writing a new blog twice a month.

Corey and I have talked a lot about where we want this blog to go, and we’ve kicked around a variety of ideas for future posts — but we’ll get to all that in the weeks ahead.

For now, though, I’m thrilled that the GGO blog archive is back online and I’ve picked a dozen of my favorite posts to share with those of you who weren’t around to read them the first time. They represent a good sampling of the kinds of things you’ll find here — everything from recipes and produce tips, to thoughts about healthy eating and food/agriculture politics, to reviews of food-related books.

Take a peek and see what interests you. If you have ideas for future posts or a topic you’d like to see discussed, drop me a note at tamara@goldengateorganics.com. I’m looking forward to what you all have to say!  Tamara

Sticky Business and Tomato Tattoos — All about those sticky little produce labels and the dubious solution that Big Ag is looking to replace them with.

Authentic Oaktown Greens — This is THE recipe to impress people who know from greens.

One Bite at a Time — While American culture has shaped the demand for fast food globally, fast food has in turn transformed American culture — and not for the better.

Bone Appetit! — Three original four-paw recipes for homemade dog food. Woof!

A Winner for Breakfast, Lunch, or Dinner — Eggs aren’t just for breakfast anymore; easy-to-make chakchouca is the perfect anytime meal.

Eat Fresher — Of yoga mats and why the healthiest choice in fast food is still not a good one.

Artichokes, Biodiesel and the Botany of Desire — Why do we eat artichokes instead of their wild cousin cardoon, which we consider an invasive weed?

How to Save Limp Lettuce and Keep Celery Snappy — Grandma knows best when it comes to reducing food waste and getting the longest life out of fresh produce.

Velveeta, Marlboros and the Chemistry of Craving — A review of Salt, Sugar, Fat by Michael Moss, which helps make sense of why so many of us who know better still sometimes give in to the temptation of processed foods.

Sharing the Harvest — A bumper crop can be an overwhelming blessing; here’s what to do with excess tree fruit.

Food to Feed the World — How do we change a system that teaches people to prefer unhealthy foods that are cheap, ubiquitous and deeply entrenched in American culture?

Love It or Leaf It, Kale Is on the Menu — More than you ever wanted to know about the various types of kale, plus a great recipe for homemade kale chips.

Lucas, my 7-year-old shepherd mix, had a pretty serious health scare a couple weeks ago. He wouldn’t eat a single bite – not even his favorite jerky treats – for three whole days, so off to the vet we went.

They checked him out and ran labs, and the verdict was that his stomach and liver were both enlarged and his liver enzymes were off the chart. Some $750 later and we were back home with three different medications and absolutely no idea what he might have gotten into to provoke such a crisis.

Most folks who have animals know the bland-diet recipe for feeding a sick dog (rice, boiled chicken, and cottage cheese), and that’s what the doctor ordered for Lucas.

I’ve occasionally cooked for my dogs over the years – it’s a great way to use up older produce – but by and large they get a good brand of kibble twice a day, with something interesting mixed in at night (wet food, meat scraps, yogurt etc).

As Luke started feeling better and I started thinking about reintroducing kibbles to his diet, it dawned on me that I still have no idea what made him so sick. Could it have been his food? His treats?

There was a massive scandal involving tainted pet food and treats from China a couple years ago, so sadly it isn’t an unreasonable question. I have been pretty careful about where things come from for my pups, but still…

The more I thought about it, the more resistant I became to giving him anything I didn’t make myself. That’s how I ended up spending Saturday afternoon making a big pot of doggie stew, which I then put into canning jars and froze for use over the next few weeks.

Cooking every meal for my dogs is something I can’t sustain, but it will probably be a while yet before Lucas gets kibbles again.

Just like with our own diets, meals that are made at home with fresh, whole foods taste better and are healthier for our animals than processed and refined foods that come in bags and cans.

Here are a few recipes that I’ve made up for my dogs, who quite enthusiastically tell me they like them.

Bone Appetit!

Sweet Doggie Stew

Dogs love apples, cooked or raw, and this stew hits a sweet spot for them.

6-8 apples, cored and chopped but not peeled

2 bunches carrots, chopped (set tops aside)

1 medium potato, diced

2 cups carrot tops and/or other greens (optional)

2 cups rice (uncooked)

Water and/or chicken stock

Prep fruit and veggies while cooking rice separately. Simmer apples, carrots and potato in a large soup pot with enough water and/or chicken stock to cover. When the mixture cooks down and veggies get tender, add greens and then the cooked rice. Stir and let sit a while to absorb moisture. Stir again and adjust water as needed. May be frozen or pressure canned. Your dogs would like you to serve this with some cooked chicken on top.

Savory Doggie Stew

With a couple notable exceptions (onions and bell peppers) pretty much any veggies can be used to make this stew. The proportions and combinations don’t really matter much as long as there is enough potato to hold it all together.

Leftover chicken meat and carcass

6 cups potatoes and/or sweet potatoes

Celery, chopped

Carrots, chopped

Green beans

Squash, any kind, sliced or chopped

Greens and/or carrot tops

Pick chicken carcass as clean as you can and set meat aside. Simmer carcass for an hour or more with enough water to cover. Remove bones. Add potatoes, sweet potatoes, and carrots to the stock (add some water too if needed) and cook until tender. Add green beans, celery, greens, squashes or whatever other vegetables you want to throw in. When it is cooked down, use a potato masher to mash about ¼ of the mixture and then stir in the chicken. Simmer longer if you still need to reduce water. May be frozen or pressure canned.

Bone Gravy

Use this as a meal topper and your pups will pretty much worship you!

Simmer a chicken carcass on low with enough water to cover for 12-15 hours. A crock pot works great. Put all the bones and bits into a blender, along with a ladle or two of broth as needed. Blend until smooth and pour into glass canning jars. Remaining stock can be used for human recipes. Bone gravy may be frozen or pressure canned but only keeps for a couple days after opening; small jars (half pint) are best. Stir or shake well before using.

We’ve all heard that too many cooks spoil the broth, but have you ever stopped to think about how often we use concepts related to food and cooking to explain things in other parts of our lives?

We don’t literally bring home any bacon when we earn a paycheck, but there are thousands of idiomatic expressions like that one that we use every day.

Linguistics experts say that languages worldwide make use of idioms – the figurative expressions that act as a substitute for other concepts. There are an estimated 25,000 in English alone, and since eating is such a universal human activity, it isn’t surprising that so many of them revolve around food.

American food idioms cover everything from soup to nuts, and some of the most common involve not just the act of eating but staples such as bread, eggs, beans, salt, and apples.

Everyone knows that baseball is as American as apple pie, life is not a bowl of cherries, and that the pot shouldn’t call the kettle black, but did you know that you can’t teach your grandma to suck eggs?

We’re all familiar with fog that’s thick as pea soup, traffic that’s slow as molasses in January, and music that’s just not our cup of tea.

Many of us find ourselves in a pickle, land in hot water, or get packed like sardines in an elevator. We go bananas over celebrities, are tempted by forbidden fruit, and have a lot on our plates in our day-to-day lives.

In a nutshell, we work for peanuts and may even get to ride the gravy train before heading back to the salt mines. Our products may sell like hotcakes, but other times our efforts turn out to be small potatoes. That’s a fine kettle of fish, but sometimes it’s just the way the cookie crumbles.

We all know people who are full of beans, out to lunch, hard nuts to crack, or born with silver spoons in their mouths. It just goes to show that a person can be a bad apple, a good egg, nutty as a fruitcake, or one cool cucumber. There are apple polishers, bean counters, couch potatoes, and two peas in a pod.

Some folks are clearly the salt of the earth, while some rub salt in others’ wounds. Anybody who is worth their salt, though, generally takes such things with a grain of the same.

We may be chastised for comparing apples to oranges, buttering people up, and stewing over trivial matters, but when we all get together, we chew the fat and spill the beans, cook up a plan, and cry over spilled milk. Anything that gets discussed just becomes more grist for the mill.

We egg each other on, put all our eggs in one basket, and lay a big egg when we goof up. We eat humble pie, eat competitors for breakfast, and sometimes even have our cake and eat it too.

When it comes to making sense out of life, eating our words never tasted so good.