According to my Understanding Normal and Clinical Nutrition book, if you live for 65 years or longer, you will have consumed more than 70,000 meals and disposed of 50 tons of food.
FIFTY TONS OF FOOD?!
Yikes, that’s a lot of food.
Okay—one ton is 2000 pounds. In that case, the average (whatever average means) person consumes 100,000 pounds of food in 65 years (give or take a few pounds). So, 500,000 pounds of food would keep 5 people nourished for 65 years. Very cool.
Andy Grant (hard-working farmer, soil scientist, and plant guru) and Grant Family Farms (my organic CSA) donated almost 500,000 pounds of fresh food to the community last year via several food banks in Colorado and Wyoming. Over the past few years, Andy and the gang have donated over 2,000,000 pounds of food (you read that right—6 zeros). They even shipped food to communities in need after hurricane Katrina.
That’s how it’s done. People helping people.
Andy hates to toot his own horn, so I’ll toot it for him. I’m so impressed (and humbled) at how hard the folks at Grant Family Farms work to support the community and I’m over-the-top grateful to have their organically grown, local food grace my table and boost my health. Join a CSA and help support this grass roots movement to reclaim our food supply. It starts at home.
Farm-fresh frittata
what you need
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups chopped squash (zucchini or yellow)
1 tomato, seeded and chopped (drain the juice)
1 cup spinach, chopped
6 organic pastured eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons Simply Organic All-Purpose Seasoning
Sprinkling of Parmesan cheese (optional)
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper
what you do
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a heavy skillet (I use a cast iron skillet to prepare and bake the frittata in), heat the butter over low-medium heat. Make sure you coat the bottom and sides of the skillet with butter. Sauté onions for about 5 minutes. Add garlic, stir and cook another 2 to 3 minutes.
2. Add the squash and continue cooking for about 5 more minutes. Don’t let the veggies burn, cook until slightly tender. Remove from heat. Add chopped tomatoes, spinach, and herbs. Mix well.
3. Pour eggs over top and gently stir to blend ingredients.
4. Place skillet on center rack of preheated oven and cook for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and return to oven for an additional 5 to 7 minutes until eggs are firm and top is slightly browned.
5. Season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Serve immediately.
For more information about Andy Grant and why we need to support our local farmers, please watch this short video.
“Dammit, we’re doing the right thing.” – Andy Grant
Yes, you are Andy, and I love you for it!
Peace, joy, and farm-fresh veggies!
Melissa
Tags: community supported agriculture, farm-fresh food, food banks, Grant Family Farms, vegetable frittata recipe
Don’t you love when you find people in the world that are so committed to such a great cause – and you have the opportunity to be part of it? You’re right. It starts at home. I love this frittata. I often scramble eggs with zucchini when it is in abundance.
Alta,
YES, I do love it! And yes, it does start at home. We all have to be involved, whatever that means to each of us. You’re definitely doing your part in creating such healthy recipes, etc. Thanks for all you do! My mantra seems to be, “We’re all in this together.” We might as well share the stories of people who are making a difference. It gives the rest of us inspiration!
Melissa
Wow! That is a lot of food. I hope to be a bigger part of that farm to table movement soon 🙂
Alisa,
It’s amazing when you realize how much food it takes to support a community. We need to start thinking “outside the box” in order to manage our food system in an ethical and healthy way. I watched a TED Talk yesterday about the local food movement in various parts of the world. It’s happening! We need to keep the momentum going. Can’t wait to hear your take on all this!
Melissa
So awesome, what a good person Andy is. And the world is a better place, just like that. Thanks for sharing Melissa. There’s a campaign way up here in Canada and the tagline is “farmers feed cities”. So simple yet so true.
Maggie,
You and I seem to be tuned in to similar things. I love hearing what’s happening up your way and I love that tagline, “farmers feed cities.” Yes, we need to support the ones who are doing it right!
Thanks!
Melissa
I’m very impressed with their commitment to help others.
Hi Rob,
Yes, impressive indeed!
[…] By: Alisa […]
Melissa,
Seems to me that my corner of the world feeds a large chunk of Britain with vegetables, we’re famous for it but do we donate any…. I doubt it. The odd hamper of veggies for a charity dinner perhaps but I never hear of anything more… could be they are keeping it to themselves like Andy but I suspect my local farmers on the whole live up to their tight fisted reputation. They may have millions in the bank but trying to get them to part with a couple of pounds for a decent piece of cheese is damned hard work…. there I’ve had my rant!
Good luck to Andy, a quietly generous man.
Cid
Hi Cid!
I owe you an email. I miss you and hope all is well on your side of the pond. Rant away! I love your rants and insights into food, life, textiles, kitchens, gardens, and all the zillion other things you seem to know about. Yes, Andy is a quietly generous man who hates to be in the spotlight. He’s a farmer and has no desire to be a “rock star.” There are so many people just working away helping others that every once in awhile, you want to share what they’re doing with the world in hopes others will do the same.
Thanks so much for sharing your rant. I love hearing from you. We have to set up that dinner at Table #5. It’s on my bucket list!
Sending love your way.
Melissa
Hi Melissa,
I’m recently gluten free and searching for a few good daily blogs when I found your site. Taking a peek I saw the Food Bank truck in the potato field and said, “Hey that looks familiar”! We had a GF working share this year and my husband and I were out picking THOSE EXACT potatoes on a beautiful Colorado September Saturday with tons of volunteers. It was a wonderful experience for the whole family. We love GF and the Food Bank of LC. Thanks for sharing, I’ll be checking in…
Rachel
Hi Rachel,
Wow, small world! Isn’t Grant Farms great?! I love having them so close and it’s heart-warming to hear about all the people who help make local and sustainable food part of our community. Including you and your husband! Thanks for all you do and welcome to my blog. Many of the recipes I post use the food I receive in my CSA share. Stay tuned!
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment and introduce yourself. We’re all in this together!
Melissa
I somehow left out the fact that our 3 boys were with us that day. That was the best part, having them see what an impact we can all make.
Rachel,
Thanks for adding that! What a great learning experience. And I can’t imagine anything more fun for 3 boys than playing in the dirt! You sound like a super (and very busy) family. Maybe one of your boys will be a future farmer. =)
Hey Melissa,
I’m late on commenting on this one, but I love this post. I especially enjoyed watching the video of Andy, hearing his thoughts on farming to change the world (he didn’t say that, but I am, and you have in this post and many times before), and seeing his gorgeous fields. I love it when real food can be shared with others in need. I’m told all the time that sharing real food is not feasible, that processed is all that makes sense for shipping, supplying food banks, etc. 🙁 Believe me … I’ve had several online discussions on this topic, so I love to see that Andy and Grant Farms actually supply massive amounts of real food to those in need!
Oh, and love the frittata recipe, too! Farm-fresh frittatas are truly hard to beat. Yours loooks great! 🙂
xo,
Shirley
Whoa! 50 tons of food? And I too am seriously impressed with Andy and his commitment. Thanks for highlighting this.