Hausbar Farms

Gordito, a sweet bundle of a baby bunny who has a snug shady place to call home at Hausbar Farms.

The interconnectedness of living things is joyfully evident at Hausbar Farms, a 2-acre establishment in East Austin where farmer/owner Dorsey Barger lovingly tends to a bounty of plants and animals all the while looking to nature for cues on how to improve common agricultural practices. Dorsey is the first farmer who I have met in Austin implementing principles laid out in One Straw Revolution, a memoir by Masanobu Fukuoka, Japanese farmer and philosopher celebrated for developing natural farming techniques that "eliminate the need for pesticides, fertilizer, tillage, and perhaps most significantly, wasteful effort."

My colleague, Lani, a chef and farmer from the west coast, saw okra growing for the first time on this trip to Austin! 

Okra is native to Africa and thrives in our Central Texas summer heat. Hausbar's okra looked as healthy as can be and measured in at least a foot taller than me! 

David harvesting mint and fennel flowers at Hausbar to garnish a citrus cantaloupe soup to cool us down after spending an hour in the heat - superb.

Hausbar does the majority of their business with local restaurants.  You can find this rare North African green on the menu at Kome. It's definitely tough to grow greens in Central Texas' summer heat, but these do quite well because they contain an aloe-like gel that keeps them cool. Unlike some other other hearty greens like mustard and dandelion  greens which can be bitter,  these were pleasantly mild. We simply sauteed them with a bit of garlic to make a nourishing side dish. Next time we'll have to have them with some of Chef Rosa's gluten-free injera!

Thank you again, Dorsey, for bringing such a beautiful vision to life and sharing it with us!

http://www.hausbarfarms.com/

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An Afternoon with Wendell Berry and Wes Jackson

I just went to one of the first event's of Austin's Eat Drink Local Week, An Afternoon with Wendell Berry and Wes Jackson. It was billed as an unrehearsed, earnest conversation between two of the most influential architects of the sustainable food movement, and that it was, splashed with some equally unscripted humor between the two long-time friends and moderator, Marla Camp. The laughs began when Wendell Berry didn't know where his microphone was because he was sitting on it, and they continued with asides like Wes Jackson recalling the first time he gave Wendell one of his essays to critique. Wes said it was though "Wendell had slit his wrists and bled on it, it was so marked up". I'm convinced that its because they have incredible senses of humor that they're able to address the greatest issues of humanity with steadfast hope and unblinking clarity. Here are some of the quotes that resonated with me from this afternoon's conversation.

"If you are only taking on problems that can be solved within your lifetime, you're not thinking long-term enough." - Wes Jackson. This made me think of how important it is to foster relationships between generations so that we can successively address critical issues far into the future.

"The individuals who bring about positive change in our society are those who simply see something that needs to be done and do it. They don't wait for permission or a grant from the government. They are almost never wealthy or powerful, but they find a way to do what's right." - Wendell Berry. Amen!

"We need people who will advance ideas that increase our imagination about possibilities, knowing they'll be defeated in the short run, because the idea once it's out there will never be completed defeated, and if it's a good idea it will eventually take root... But let's just focus on this planet for now; don't worry about getting to Mars. I promise you, this planet is zipping through the universe at a pretty good clip, so if we just hang on we'll get wherever a rocket ship would have taken us." - Wes Jackson. A good example of how he segues from a profound proclamation into neighborly humor.

"The carbon in our bodies has cycled through a supernova twice at least... Developing this kind of profound awareness and appreciation of our origins starts with going outside and getting reacquainted with nature." - Wes Jackson. This gave me goosebumps.

These two great thinkers gave me plenty to think about. They also inspired me to add yet more books to my ever-growing reading list.

• Consulting the Genius of the Place: An Ecological Approach to a New Agriculture by Wes Jackson
• Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations by David R. Montgomery
• Dazzle Gradually: Reflections on the Nature of Nature by Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan

Has anyone read these? Or have you read other books about nature, love, discovery, etc. that you would recommend?

Ever curious and appreciative,

le

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Living Kansha

Kansha is the Japanese principle of using food to its fullest and the subject of Elizabeth Andoh's latest cookbook. Multiply the excitement that I felt when I received Kansha: Celebrating Japan's Vegan and Vegetarian Traditions in the mail from Amazon two months ago by at least 1000 and you can imagine how thrilled I was to receive a personal invitation from Elizabeth to stay with her several nights at her apartment in Osaka.

The circumstances were unexpected and unfortunate. The extended lack of control of a nuclear power plant 250 km north of where I had been staying in Izunokuni prompted my loved ones to plea my departure. I decided the risk was unknown enough and the ground beneath us still unstable enough, that I would err on the side of safety and head to Osaka the next day where I could catch a flight to Taipei and wait out the radioactive resolution from a safe distance.

Elizabeth and I had already exchanged several emails regarding my attendance at her cherry blossom cooking workshop in April, so as the one person who I knew in the Osaka area, I sent her an email seeking her advice. Without skipping a beat, she invited Danny and me to both come stay with her in Osaka several nights.

It was an honor and a joy to be invited not only into her home, but her kitchen, where kansha came to life. For example, four young bamboo shoots stretched to make an entire meal, where we began with an appetizer made of the tender artichoke-like tops of the bamboo tossed in white miso and sansho pepper leaves (pictured above). We then marinated the middle section of the bamboo shoots with a rich soy seasoning and cooked them into rice and dashi to make a sumptuous grain dish. And as a main course we braised the dense base of the shoots along with two kinds of tofu in a sake-soy glaze (pictured below).

You too can tap into Elizabeth's deep well of knowledge to make earnestly delicious Japanese dishes, by going to her website, www.kanshacooking.com, where you can sign-up to access select recipes from her workshops and cookbooks for free.

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