Home-made Turkey Soup - Pennies a Bowl

So, right after I posted yesterday, I went to do errands with my family. Went to the Post Office then Wal-Mart, and immediately began to wonder about going to large chain stores, like Wal-Mart, in light of my new resolution to live a "low-impact" life.

Now, one of my good friends refuses to shop at Wal-Mart. She doesn't get on a soapbox about it, just doesn't go. I looked up Wal-Mart's business practices, and found out some things that made me realize why the prices at Wal-Mart are so low. 

"Store Wars: When Wal-Mart Comes to Town" http://www.pbs.org/itvs/storewars/stores3.html

Here's another really interesting item, a video, courtesy of my friend, Calvin, who is a big thinker. It explains why you really can't get something for nothing -- someone ends up paying.

"The Story of Stuff", by Annie Leonard (http://www.storyofstuff.com/)

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Jennifer Maisel, editor of the "Eat Local Challenge" website, suggests starting with five food items that you can replace with locally grown. I decided to look at today's evening meal as a starting point, because I need something concrete like that:

"End of the Holiday" Turkey Soup -- Serves 12

1 T olive oil

1 yellow onion, chopped

2 stalks celery, sliced in thin slices

4 oz. sliced mushrooms

2 carrots, peeled and sliced in 1/4 inch rounds

8 cups turkey stock
2 cups cooked turkey, cubed
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
1 T dried parsley flakes
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/2 c white rice, uncooked.

1. Heat oil over medium heat in a large soup pot. Add vegetables; cook until wilted (not browned).
2. Add turkey stock; stir to blend with vegetables. Add turkey and seasonings. Bring to boil; cook a minute or two to blend flavors.
3. Stir in rice. Return to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 20 minutes or until rice is done.
4. Check and adjust seasonings to taste (I know I used the remainder of the turkey and stock from my enormous Thanksgiving turkey, which had already been seasoned -- if starting with a new turkey, you'll need to add more).

We ate this with hot rolls, a platter of assorted Christmas desserts, and a bowl of fruit. What comfort food!
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When I look at the ingredients for my soup, I see that I used homemade turkey stock and leftovover turkey that I had stored in my freezer for a bleak mid-winter day such as yesterday. That's two points out of my five.

As I began to look through my cupboards, refrigerator, and freezer for the first steps toward treating myself and the planet better, I looked for the following items, which are produced in almost every state of the contiguous forty-eight, and are prime beginnings as I shift toward a "greener" life:

• apples
• root vegetables
• lettuce
• herbs
• greens

So I searched for some sign of the origin of the carrots, onions, celery and mushrooms that I put in the soup. Did you know there is no mandatory labeling telling us where our veggies were grown? So when there is a salmonella recall of something grown in Florida, that's great, but we can't tell, and grocers don't always know.

I have the packages from the carrots, onions and celery. All they said was they were "products of the U.S.A.". Darn. However, they did indicate where they were distributed. The Stop & Shop carrots were distributed in Massachusetts, so they would qualify within my 100-mile "local" rule. The onions, also Stop & Shop, were distributed in Maryland -- no deal. The celery, Green Giant brand, was distributed in far-away California. The mushrooms, until two years ago, would have come from Franklin Mushroom Farm in North Franklin, Connecticut; alas, the facility closed and left the Northeast scrambling for locally grown mushrooms. No idea where mine came from.

So I scored a 3 out of 5 for "local" on my soup. Not bad for a first effort.

Celery: 2/3 is grown in CA, most of the remainder in FL. However, there are many local farms that grow celery, as I found on Local Harvest. Here are five:

• Hidden Brook Gardens, Ledyard  (http://www.hiddenbrookgardens.com/)
• Maple View Farm, Harwinton (http://mapleviewfarmct.com/Our%20Farm.html)
• Urban Oaks Organic Farm, New Britain (http://www.blog.urbanoaks.org/)
• Gazy Brothers Farm, Oxford (http://www.gazybrothersfarm.net/)
• Happy Hollow Homestead, Middle Haddam (http://www.buyctgrown.com/happyhollowhomestead)

Onions: Even more local growers grow onions than celery (why did mine have to come from Florida?). Here are five:

• Topmost Herb Farm, Coventry (http://www.topmostherbfarm.com/)
• Hidden Brook Gardens, Ledyard (http://www.hiddenbrookgardens.com/)
• Northfordy Farms, Northford (http://www.buyctgrown.com/northfordyfarm)
• Ekonk Hill Turkey Farm, Moosup (http://www.ekonkhillturkeyfarm.com/)
• GiGi's Native Produce, Enfield (http://www.gigisnativeproduce.com/directions.html)

Now I know for a fact that the Willimantic Food Co-op procures its produce from a number of these farms. I'm assuming that Whole Foods does, too, but will need to inquire.
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Stores selling locally grown produce:

Willimantic Food Co-op
http://www.willimanticfood.coop/

Whole Foods Market

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/
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A Connecticut farm with a year-round farm store, including vegetables currently in season or coming out of storage:

George Hall Farm, Simsbury (http://www.georgehallfarm.com/)