Damson Plum Jam
5 cups coarsely chopped Damson plums (2 pounds/seeds removed)
3 cups sugar
3/4 cup water
Combine all ingredients in large sauce pot. Bring slowly to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Cook rapidly to jellying point. As mixture thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking. Pour hot into hot jars, leaving 1/4″ head space. Adjust caps. Process 15 minutes in boiling water bath. Yield: about 3 pints.

Psalm 104:27

These all look to you to give them their food at the proper time. When you give, it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things.

Thomas Jefferson cultivated 170 varieties of fruit trees and over 330 varieties of vegetables at Monticello. Despite his wealth and option to live a life of total ease, Jefferson was no lazy gentleman farmer, delegating care of the land solely to others. In point of fact, he was so deeply interested in food and farming that he kept an exceptionally detailed agricultural diary in which he joyfully recorded events like the sowing of lettuces and the harvesting of strawberries. He once risked the death penalty in smuggling pocketfuls of rice out of Italy. When visiting France, he astonished and delighted dinner guests by serving them a novelty: corn on the cob. Back home in Virginia, he indulged his inordinate passion for garden peas by growing some 30 varieties of them! Because of the industrialization of modern food production, many of the varieties of fruits and vegetables grown in Jefferson’s day are no longer cultivated in Virginia, or in America, but if we take a close look at the historic abundance of Monticello’s orchard and farm, we can glean helpful tips for today’s local food movement. While small family farms will have no need to compete with the production of old-time plantations, there is no reason why we can’t break ties with our unhappy dependence upon the poor quality foodstuffs found in chain supermarkets and start relishing the succulent satisfaction of Virginia-grown goods.

Thomas Jefferson reveled in Virginia hams and crabs from Chesapeake bay – America’s largest estuary – and the produce of his farm was of a quality so esteemed, his contemporaries wrote glowing accounts of Monticello dinner parties. A glance at a typical Monticello dinner menu gives an idea of what is possible when you choose to eat well from the sources closest to hand.

Sample Monticello Menu

Virginia Ham with Greens
Corn Pudding
Celery with Almonds
Scalloped Tomatoes
Pureed Cymlings (pattypan squash)
Damson Plum Preserves
Pickled Jerusalem Artichokes
Salad Greens
Cucumbers
Green Peas
Beaten Biscuit with homemade Cream Cheese
Cakes – Candied Violets – Fresh Peach Ice Cream
Almonds – Pecans

Few of us eat quite so much at a typical supper these days, but the idea here is to take a look at a menu like this in order to understand how utterly possible it is to dine sumptuously on completely local fare. There is no doubt that every dish served at Monticello would have been picked and offered at the peak of taste and freshness and when we contrast this with the long-distance, tasteless foods we’re restricted to when we eat a supermarket supper, we realize we’re losing out on the deal of ‘convenience’. Single families, neighborhoods and communities can change this unwanted, unhealthy situation by vowing to grow-their-own, and grow it organically, as was done in Jefferson’s time. If we have no garden of our own, we can ask our city councils for common land for community gardens or we can support any local farmers in our area.

Across the nation, right now, folks are meeting a changed economy and changing climate with changes in the way we think about food. We can learn to sow and harvest, can and preserve the very best of foods for our families, and we can do it all without chemical inputs, just as our forefathers did. We can feed our soil with compost made from our own scraps and create a cycle of self-sufficiency that endures for next generations. And, because eating locally means we will choose to grow the best-tasting crops instead of the ones with the longest shelf lives, over time we can work to naturally develop new strains of wonderful fruits and vegetables, widening the gene pool, just as our ancestors did. A food system in which only one or two varieties of each crop is cultivated is a vulnerable one. One blight or infestation can wipe out an entire food source when people monocrop – but diverse gardens with many strains of fruits and veggies are strong and destined to endure.

We have a lot to learn to re-claim the agricultural wisdom of former times, but 2010 will be another year in which ever more American families plant their first-ever food garden. Farming is in and processed, long-distance foods are on their way out. With our climate, water and soil, Virginia can take a leading role in this healthy change that will absolutely lead to better health for people and for the land. Our potters are proud that Emerson Creek Pottery’s very local ceramics have been featured at Monticello, and we’d like to remind our neighbors that the locavore diet is in our blood and waiting to be reclaimed as our birthright as inhabitants of such a good and life-giving land.

Our families deserve to know the tangy sweetness of a just-picked tomato and the gossamer delicacy of farm-to-table lettuces. We can discover why Thomas Jefferson was so captivated with green peas that he wanted to grow 30 different kinds of them, because we will taste a sugar-sweet pea, just off the vine in the cool of a Virginia morning this spring. We can get re-acquainted with our taste buds and turn up our educated noses at out-of-season imports. We’ll have found a source of joy that is at the heart of being alive – the pleasurable necessity of eating and eating well. Here comes the new year, and there’s no better time to make plans for a better way of eating and living, rooted in the history of our people and looking forward to a better future!

————

Flickr Photo Credits: Mharrsch, TonytheMisfit.

In the dark of winter, we light candles and string lights to bring bright cheer into the coldest months of our year. And, in Virginia, we have a similar hopeful custom, waiting for the blooming of the Dogwoods that brighten the understory of the Blue Ridge Mountains, twinkling like pale and rosy lights in the mists and shadows. When do the Dogwoods bloom in the Blue Ridge? Between April-June and there is no better time to pay a visit to this corner of America than when the wildflowers are blossoming in profusion and the Dogwood trees are decked with their unique, graceful flowers.

The lyrical beauty of this American native Dogwood, Cornus Florida, has been celebrated in poems and songs and is so inspiring to Virginians that we plan festivals around it. Just a 40 minute drive from Emerson Creek Pottery in Bedford, VA., you can join the festivities at the Vinton Dogwood Festival in the Roanoke Valley. Come for the parade, crafts, music and dancing and really tune into the joy that is felt each year at the coming of spring. This year’s festival will be very special in that it marks the 75th anniversary of the creation of the Blue Ridge Parkway – that famous road that takes you right into the heart of our beloved mountain range.

Is Winter Making You Blue? Let Us Help!
As we await the return of Dogwood season here in Bedford, our potters are honoring this special tree with a 20% off sale on our complete Dogwood Line! Bring the hopeful, warm pink glow of this delicate blossom into your home and let winter cares take flight.

This offer is only good while supplies last, and we hope this discount on our Dogwood pottery housewares will enable you to start celebrating spring a little early this year!

Why We Should Care About The Dogwood
For many thousands of years, America’s First Peoples cared for the forests of Virginia, shaping them into the abundant food and medicine-producing gardens that were so gorgeous that the first Europeans mistook what they saw for ‘nature’. The Dogwood long played a special medicinal role; when the twigs were chewed, they whitened the teeth. During the Civil War, Dogwood was widely used to treat malarial fevers and stomach ailments and Mountain folk medicine still indicates the use of Dogwood for colds, pneumonia and other complaints.

Like everything else in the natural world, the Dogwood has a role that is intimately interconnected with the lives of other species. The red fall fruits of the tree are an important food source for cedar waxwings, bobwhites, woodpeckers, turkeys and other fowl and for grey and fox squirrels. The deciduous leaves fall and enrich the soil on the forest floor and the quality of the air we breathe is directly related to the presence of these trees. In the wild, flowering Dogwoods have an average lifespan of about 125 years and grow to some 30-40 feet in height in that time, beautifying the forest year after year with their ethereal loveliness. As an ornamental tree, Dogwoods are also widely used in landscaping across the south and both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson reportedly cultivated Dogwoods at Mount Vernon and Monticello. As a vital environmental blessing and a visual delight to behold, Dogwoods deserve recognition and appreciation.

If you’re spending cozy winter afternoons planning your family’s vacation for 2010, why not consider a visit to Virginia at Dogwood time? Bring a picnic and a camera to the Blue Ridge Mountains in May and you’ll be making enchanting memories that will last a lifetime!

——————————-

Flickr Photo Credits:
jimdollar
angelslens
carobe

Don’t let that lovely stuffing dish sit empty for your gluten-free guests this holiday season! At least 1 million Americans have been diagnosed with gluten allergies or Celiac disease and this can make the festive Thanksgiving or Christmas table a sad place for these special folks. It doesn’t have to be that way. I have a gluten allergy and am eager to share my best gluten free stuffing recipe with you. As a bonus, this recipe will also feed your vegetarian guests in style, too! With just one gluten free stuffing dish, you’ll have given the pleasures of savory stuffing back to the very guests who may be longing for it most.

In my family, my mother’s cornbread stuffing is literally legendary. Frankly, I would have been happy to eat nothing else but stuffing at Thanksgiving or Christmas as a child – it was that good! Her recipe was based on equal parts cornbread and wheat bread crumbs with plenty of sage, onions, celery and the fabulous addition of hazelnuts and raisins. The result was a corn-y, supremely savory stuffing with just a hint of harvest-like fruitiness from the raisins and a wonderful nutty crunch from the nuts. But the trouble with cornbread for the gluten-free diner is that you can’t make traditional cornbread without wheat flour. Colonial housewives quickly found this out, much to their dismay. No matter how much leavening they mixed into the cornmeal, the bread just wouldn’t rise. Thus, the jony cake, jonny cake or journey cake was invented – a golden brown pancake-like creation that served as the bread of the early Colonies until wheat was under consistent cultivation. If no stuffing but cornbread stuffing says ’stuffing’ to you, stick with me here.

Technically, I think you could use crumbled jonny cake in a stuffing, but my gluten free stuffing recipe is a bit updated with…of all things…an old Italian tradition: polenta. If you dine at fancy restaurants or gourmet delis, you may think that polenta is a fussy dish, suitable only for the kitchens of master chefs. Not true. Polenta is the food of the humblest people of Italy and is as easy to prepare as oatmeal or cream-of-wheat cereal. My toasty twist on polenta will yield a gluten free stuffing recipe with the corn-y goodness you crave. Just follow these easy steps:

Gluten Free Stuffing

Ingredients
3 C. Cooked Long Grain Brown Rice (you could use part wild rice if you like)
1 C. Polenta Corn Meal (find at your local natural foods store, often in the bulk department)
2 C. Water
1/2 C. Rice Milk (keeps this dish proper for your vegetarian guests)
1/4 C. Very thinly sliced and chopped red or yellow onion
1/2 C. Vegetable broth
3 Stalks chopped celery
1/4 C. Raisins
1/3 C. Coarsely chopped, very lightly toasted hazelnuts (filberts)
3 T. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 T. Sweetener (sugar, maple syrup or whatever you prefer)
1/3 t. dried powdered sage
Salt & Pepper to taste

Whipping Up the Polenta
Bring your 2 cups water, 1/2 cup rice milk, 1 T. olive oil, sweetener and a dash of salt to a boil in a pot on your stove burner, set to medium heat. Put your polenta flour in a measuring cup for easy pouring. While you whisk the liquid, slowly pour the polenta flour into the pot in a steady stream until it’s all been poured out. Continue to whisk the mixture for 8 minutes. At the end of this, it will be very thick and hard to stir.

Pour the polenta batter into a small-medium sized glass bowl or a miniature square baking or refrigerator dish. This serves as your mold, so it needs to be big enough to hold the polenta, but small enough so that the polenta will come out as a small, sliceable loaf. Let the polenta cool for 1/2 hour.

Run a knife around the perimeter of the bowl. Turn your bowl upside down on a dish and the polenta will fall out. Let cool another 10 minutes.

Next, slice it into 1/4 – 1/3 inch thick slices (as you would slice bread) and lay them out on the broiler pan of your stove. Broil on high until the topside is turning golden brown (maybe even a tiny bit burnt around the edges). Flip the little toasts over and brown on the other side. Remove from broiler.

While You’re Broiling Your Polenta Toasts…

Put your nuts in dry skillet over medium-high heat and toss them around until they are just beginning to look a bit toasted. Do not let them turn brown! That would be over-cooking them and overcooked nuts are not healthy to eat. Toss the nuts onto a plate.

Put remaining 2 T. olive oil in the same skillet over medium-high heat. Sautee onions until turning translucent. Toss in your chopped celery and stir fry for 2 minutes.

Add rice, sage, salt and pepper. Stir fry 1 minute more.

Get out your best baking dish; either a covered one or an uncovered one will do.

Put the rice mixture into the baking dish. Add nuts and raisins.

With a sharp knife, chop your polenta toasts into a large crumb consistency (like small, flat croutons). Add them to the baking dish.

Pour in 1/2 vegetable broth. Give everything a very quick stir to blend.

Bake covered in the oven at 375 degrees for 1/2 hour. Use either your baking dish’s cover or aluminum foil.

After 30 minutes, remove the cover and let bake 8-10 minutes more uncovered.

Remove from oven and serve!

Riffing On Gluten Free Stuffing!
If you are serving vegetarian guests, this vegetarian/vegan gluten free stuffing can be used to stuff baked winter squash. Cut your squash in half, bake it 1/3 the recommended baking time and then fill with the stuffing and finish the baking, covered with foil. Remove foil a few minutes before the squash is finished. This dish can serve as the central part of the meal and is very, very good.

Many families will only have a few guests whose special dietary needs must be considered. The above gluten free stuffing recipe will easily feed 4 people. If you’ve got more gluten free or vegetarian guests, you can double the recipe.

Feel free to add other special ingredients to the above gluten free stuffing if you have different culinary traditions in your family. For example, some families love chestnuts in their stuffing. Others enjoy experimenting with dried cranberries.

Other Surefire Holiday Dishes For Your Gluten Free Guests
Happily, the cranberries and mashed potatoes are fine for gluten-free guests as are any other vegetable or fruit-based dishes. Be generous with salads at a gluten-free holiday table! Gravies can be thickened with potato flour. Most breads are out, but be sure to set out corn chips for dips or spreads if you are serving hors hors d’oeuvres. Olives, pickles and other wheat-free finger foods will offer gluten-free guests plenty to snack on before the big meal begins!

Special Notes For Vegetarian Guests
Totally mouthwatering mashed potatoes can be made with vegetable broth. Important to note is that vegan guests generally do not eat refined sugar. Cranberry sauce can be sweetened with maple syrup, instead. Green beans can be dressed with a lemon/salt/pepper/olive oil dressing or an herbed vinaigrette. Sweet potatoes can be made festive with a spiced maple syrup dressing to be poured on by the guest. Mix spices like cloves, nutmeg and ginger into maple syrup and put it in a little pitcher and you’ll have a very happy vegetarian diner!

Gluten Free Stuffing Leftovers
Because the gluten free stuffing is cooked separately from meat, it is totally safe to send home with your guests as a leftover. It can easily be reheated in a skillet with just a bit of olive oil and, frankly, it’s awfully good the next day!

Don’t Forget To Make The Table Gorgeous!
We’ve got a special line of cranberry dinnerware, servingware and bakeware that has become a tradition in American homes for holiday baking and dining. It’s handmade right here in Virginia and is lead-free for total safety for your guests. A diagnosis of gluten intolerance can initially be very depressing for the sufferer. He may feel cut out of a normal social life. Dining out has suddenly become confusing and tricky and accepting dinner invitations may cause real discomfort.

As a host or hostess, your primary duty is to make all guests welcome. Be sure to let your gluten free guests know that you have researched and understood their condition and that you will be serving great food that they can dig into without fear. Let them come into your home, see your charming decorations, your beautifully laid table, maybe with candles, special dinner service, flowers! Let them catch the scent of that gluten-free stuffing coming to the table – rich with the fragrance of toasted corn, sage and onions. The mood is set, the food is fantastic and you’ve given someone you care for a very happy holiday.

For many Americans who have never even visited the beautiful state of Virginia, Virginia still feels a bit like home thanks to the beloved story of a family called The Waltons. Between 1972 and 1981, the nation followed the television depiction of the Walton family and their struggle to survive the trials of the Great Depression and the Second World War. Thanks to the exceptional realism of the show, many people came to feel like the Walton family were friends and wanted to know what the real story was behind the TV program. Did you ever wonder if the Waltons were real people and where they really lived?

Find The Real Waltons, Just Miles From Emerson Creek Pottery!
In the foothills of the lovely old Blue Ridge Mountains…

…Lies the small town of Schulyer, Virginia, home of the Hamner family – the real-life family on which the Waltons were based.

The mountain town of Schuyler is home to about 400 residents, and there the two storey Hamner family home still stands.

Nearby, fans of The Waltons will be thrilled to visit The Walton Museum which not only has recreations of sets from The Waltons TV show, but also has a wonderful collection of Waltons’ memorabilia on display, plus a gift shop and regular events you can attend.

Sadly, the local store that was the inspiration for Ike Godsey’s General Merchandise burned down many years ago, but the pretty Baptist church still stands tall in the verdant landscape and visitors are apt to recall the major part this landmark played in the Waltons’ storyline. Mama was a devout baptist and never gave up trying to get Daddy baptized, but Daddy was his own man and determined to honor God in his own way. While the family conflict over religion was especially hard on the Hamner/Walton children, their parents’ solution of loving one another despite their differences taught the boys and girls (and we TV viewers) a valuable lesson about tolerance and acceptance. And, who can forget the incorrigible Yancy Tucker bursting into a revival meeting at the church with a string of fish to get out a rainstorm and winding up getting baptized in Drucilla’s Pond, despite his humorous and shady career as a moonshine runner and chicken thief?

Such attention to historical and local detail was put into the creation of The Waltons that devoted fans will readily recognize the names of other real places in the vicinity. The village of Rockfish was the nearest town to where the Hamner/Walton family lived and they often went there for things they couldn’t get at Ike Godsey’s. Sadly, Rockfish is all but deserted now, and yet the Rockfish River still runs along beneath the railroad tracks.

The James River and Rivanna River are real rivers you can visit and just a few miles from Schulyer. Waynesboro and Richmond are frequently mentioned in the television show and are near at hand. You will find another familiar Walton’s locale just a few miles from Schuyler – the town of Charlottesville. Charlottesville was the closest thing to a city place when the Hamner family was growing up and a trip there in Daddy’s rattly old truck or John Boy’s hard-won roadster was a real occasion. Charlottesville still features many charming, old buildings and offers a good home base for visitors exploring this appealing region of Virginia.

.
While touring Charlottesville, don’t miss a visit to Monticello. We are very proud to share that Emerson Creek Pottery’s ceramics have been featured at Monticello and the important history of this world-famous landmark is central not just to the story of The Waltons, but to the history of all Americans. Thomas Jefferson’s opinions on states’ rights in Colonial times were the forerunners to the deeply-held beliefs that fomented Civil War in our nation. Grandpa Walton wants his grandchildren to remember that Walton land is fought-for land and that Waltons fought in the Civil War. When the elderly Baldwin sisters discover that their father harbored Yankee soldiers during the Civil War, they are convinced that they must permanently withdraw from society until a WPA writer proves that Judge Baldwin would likely have been acquitted for his ‘crimes’ due to his heroism in caring for the wounded on both sides of the War Between The States.

In another memorable episode, the Walton’s neighbor Verdie Grant retraces her roots to the time of slavery and finds a pictorial record of her ancestor who was stolen from Africa and brought to labor at a local plantation. Air time was also given to the fact that Walton land had once belonged to the Cherokee people before they were forced to go on the Trail of Tears and John Walton must confront his own sense of entitlement and right to dwell on the mountain. War and prejudice, the struggle for justice and truth – these are recurring themes in the story of the Walton family and the story of America.

Timely Lessons From The Waltons
Waltons creator Earl Hamner Jr. moved us with his saga-like account of one family’s commitment to survival in hard times. John and Olivia Walton live to see their four sons – John Boy, Jason, Ben and Jim Bob – go off to war. They live through Mary Ellen losing her husband at Pearl Harbor, Erin losing her fiance to post traumatic stress syndrome and their youngest daughter, Elizabeth, pining for her brothers to return from the battlefield. While the treatment of WWII’s effect on the mountain family is very touching, it may be the earlier episodes that are set during the Great Depression of the 1930’s that speak most clearly to Americans today.

Our economy is currently in a state that is being compared to those hard times the real Hamner family lived through. When we watch The Waltons today, we see the family’s prized vegetable garden and Mama and Grandma canning the produce of that garden to see the family through the winter. We see Daddy hunting to put meat on the table. We see the ongoing struggle to find work and keep the electricity bills paid and candles being lit when there is no money to pay those bills. The character of John Boy portrays Earl Hamner Jr. and we are repeatedly reminded that while the hard work, the family efforts to pull through, may have seemed trying at the time, when he looks back, all of it seems joyful to him.

That’s a lesson we can take away for keeps from The Waltons. Many American families are putting in vegetable gardens, maybe for the first time in their lives. Many are learning to simplify both their expectations and their lifestyles to keep in better tune with the tone of our times. How we approach these challenges and changes is what will dictate the pleasure we find in daily life. Is having an organic veggie patch a chore or a blessing that connects us to land and home? Is cooking from scratch a deprivation from restaurant meals and frozen foods, or a loving act we can perform every day for our family, secure in the knowledge that we are most likely serving up better health with every home-cooked supper? Is doing without luxury items a woe or a chance to discover the basic necessities we really need to support life and love it?

This is a subject that has real meaning to the potters here at Emerson Creek Pottery in Bedford, Virginia, just a stone’s throw from where the Hamner family lived. In our work, we have striven to create basic functional pieces that families really need for home cooking, baking and family-style eating. We have committed to using safe, lead-free American clay and our pieces are all made by hand here in Virginia. For the past few generations, Americans grew used to depending upon the cheapness of foreign labor to provide both essential and luxury items and now we are looking at that decision with a weather eye. The tradeoff hasn’t turned out well and the mass importation of cheap-seeming non-essentials has done some things to our nation that aren’t in our best long-term interests. Did you know that there are no longer any textile mills in America with looms wide enough to weave basic household sheets and blankets? We’ve long thought of ourselves as a rich and lucky nation, but how wealthy are we, as a nation, when we haven’t even got the means to produce our own bedclothes?

The Walton family (and the historical Hamners) throve on self-sufficiency, and that, too, is an American story. Our forefathers were jacks-of-all-trade the likes of which one seldom sees these days. Imagine knowing how to build a house, grow crops, weave cloth, make soap, mold candles, sew clothing, forge metal, carve furniture. These were the common skills of our American ancestors and in modern times, we are thinking about the loss of these skills more and more in an age when many people have never cooked a single meal from fresh ingredients, let alone having re-shingled the roof of their home.

In our own small way, the potters here at Emerson Creek Pottery are working to bridge the gap between the days when nearly all products were made by hand domestically and the modern age in which nearly all of the things in American homes are imported. We are one of the last commercial pottery houses located in the United States and are determined to keep offering our neighbors a domestic choice for the essential ceramic wares you need to run your home well. The power of this choice is where we’ve learned that the pleasure comes in for many of our long-time customers. It is good to serve supper on dishes you know were made in your own land, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It is good to know you are supporting the economy in which your family lives and needs to thrive. This is the kind of good sense that saw the Walton/Hamner family through the Depression, and it seems that it’s making new sense to us today in these changing times.

If You’re Visiting Virginia

Our corner of Virginia is rich in history and natural beauty and Virginians are eager to share a taste of the good life here. Waltons fans are certain to have an unforgettable visit to Schuyler and the Blue Ridge Mountains. Come for the Dogwoods in spring or the majestic color of fall. You will find yourself recalling all of your favorite Waltons’ moments as you visit the very real places where the Hamner family lived. And, while you are in the neighborhood, please consider dropping by our own historic location – our pottery shop located in the Silas Wade log cabin, built in 1825 on Emerson Creek. You will be warmly welcomed if you visit and you will be able to hold in your own two hands the pottery sold here on our website. There is something about the slow and cordial pace of life in this part of Virginia that makes it so easy for visitors to step back in time, and we hope that you will come away with a valuable new sense of the can-do spirit that finds strength and joy in hard times and celebrates the simple happiness of good times. We’d love to see you here.

—————————–

Flickr Photo Credits:

Bobindrums, Newlynneorange, Ephien, Random Things, Wstera2.

Holidays should be happy times and there’s no reason why fun for the family can’t be fine for the planet, too. This Halloween, let’s take a look at the way we celebrate and see if we’re doing all we can to keep the holiday super fun for kids while making the most of the green living ethics so many American families are working to incorporate into daily life. We’ve got a list of nifty tips to help you green your Halloween and we’re betting your kids will have the best Halloween of their lives if you can put a little extra thought into this year’s festivities.

10 Green Halloween Ideas

1. Visit A Local Farm For Pumpkins
Many of our nation’s small farmers supplement the income they make from growing food crops by growing a fun crop like big pumpkins for the Halloween trade. Maybe your family only visits these wonderful farms once a year to pick up your jack-o-lanterns-to-be, but October is a super time to find out who the farmers are in your area. Most farms that are open to the public are staffed with family members and friends who will be eager to tell you all about what they grow and you just may find that you could get better, organic, more affordable fruits and vegetables from these skilled, hard-working neighbors than from chain supermarkets many months out of each year. Your family can have a gorgeous day in the sun visiting local pumpkin farms and getting in touch with the lands where healthy food growing is going on near you. It’s a great and important experience for the kids to see crops growing and may introduce the grown-ups to the best apples, potatoes, squash, greens, melons and tomatoes money can buy!

2. Decorate for Halloween Without Plastic
Just a couple of generations ago, no one had plastic Halloween decorations. Holidays are one of those little instances in which this non-planet-friendly material has crept into our lives as a norm or a must. Think outside the box and back to your grandparents’ day when homes were made cute, spooky or autumnal with home-grown or handmade decorations. If you have a home farm or garden, your squashes, pumpkins and dried corn stalks are the most authentic Halloween decor you can get your hands on. Old clothes and fabric scraps become scarecrows, ghosts and goblins. Let the children make their own paper cutouts of witches, cats and owls instead of buying plastic ones. Those gigantic plastic Halloween objects which are seen covering the lawns in some towns may have a sort of instant appeal, but when you think about the energy that goes into producing them for just one night’s use as well as the dangerous off-gassing that occurs with most new plastics, you may start to see something a little monstrous about them and not in a nice, Halloween-ish way. Doing without plastic gives your family a chance to express creativity while reducing pollution this Halloween.

3. Make Halloween Costumes out of Recycled Materials
If time seems short, it may be tempting to buy ready-made plastic masks and costumes for the kids, but if you can set aside just an evening or two to help children plan and craft their own Halloween costumes, you’ll have a lot more fun…and save money! If someone in the family sews, there may be fabric remnants to work with, in which case, the sky’s the limit when it comes to the creative costumes you can make, but very often, everyday clothing can be turned into great costumes with just a little effort. If Mom has a fancy velvet or velveteen robe, that’s the stuff little kings and queens are made of…wizards and other magical characters, too! A pillowcase painted with a heraldic symbol can be cut and belted, turning any boy into a legendary knight and a black dress becomes a little girl’s witch costume if you’ve got a small broom handy. Ghosts are as easy as your old sheets and pirates come to life out of a striped shirt, a red bandanna and rolled up trousers. Let the kids rummage through closets and cedar chests for colorful scarves, old hats and funny shoes and see what they can dream up. With a little help and guidance, the kids will have costumes they’ll be crazy about this Halloween.

4. Bring Something Sugar-Free To Hallowe’en Classroom Parties
With concerns about obesity, not to mention the growing distress over genetically modified sugar being allowed on the shelves of American supermarkets, many families are beginning to think twice about conventional sugar. Unfortunately, most candy and the majority of pre-packaged baked goods and sweets are made with conventional sugar. If you can find treats made with organic sugar, you’re making a safer bet for children’s health (and your own!) but if you’ve signed up to contribute a snack to a Halloween party, consider bringing something sugar-free. All-fruit fruit rollups are a super idea as are 100% juice drinks. Or what about bringing a big tin of hot, freshly-made organic popcorn into the classroom or shish kabobs on which pieces of unusual dried fruits have been colorfully skewered – mango, papaya, pineapples? Raisins and dried papaya make a cool black-and-orange Halloween snack or how about purple bell pepper and carrots sticks with a creamy, yummy dip? Then, even if all of the other parents are loading the classroom down with sugar, sugar, sugar, you’ll be doing a little something to balance that overdose with snacks that taste great, have visual appeal and are super fun to eat.

5. Make An Extra-Healthy Local Harvest Dinner On Halloween Night
Halloween falls at harvest time and there is no more bounteous time to eat locally than in this ripe season of the year. If you know your kids are going to be stocking up on junk food Halloween night, fill them up first with a good, healthy dinner. Try baked winter squash, carrot-raisin salad, iron-rich greens, sweet potatoes or whatever you find growing right now at the farms nearest you. In all cultures since the dawn of agriculture, autumn has been the time of eating well and giving thanks for the very best foods Earth produces. Halloween, itself, is an ancient holiday, once tied into the belief that bad spirits could be warded off with the right practices. In modern times, our families can ward off bad and wasteful eating habits by choosing to eat what’s fresh and in season, and Halloween is a perfect night to celebrate the harvest with a locally-grown supper.

6. Give Trick-or-Treaters Something Spicy Instead Of Sweet
If you live in a neighborhood that gets haunted by small witches, ghosts and goblins every October 31st, do them a favor by filling their sacks with something that’s both tasty and healthy this year. There’s nothing worse than a little pirate with cavities! In our society, we automatically equate Hallowe’en (and most other holidays) with sugary stuff. Try a new twist on the old tradition of trick-or-treating by giving out something spicy this year. Kids would be really excited to receive individual packages of spiced pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds, flavored, salted and roasted nuts. Steer clear of peanuts to make sure no child with allergies is left out. When the kids go home with a bag full of candy bars, that little pack of cinnamon coated almonds will stand out as special and different.

7. Host An Old-Fashioned Halloween Party At Home
Some families live in places where kids can’t go out trick-or-treating, either because of lack of rural lighting or safety concerns. Other families opt out of trick-or-treating because of dietary concerns. Whatever the case may be, hosting an old-fashioned Halloween party at home solves all problems. Prizes for games like Bobbing For Apples can lean more towards little toys and games than sweets if you’re trying to cut down on the sugar. Have a costume contest, a Halloween parade around the house or a square dance in the family room. Tell ghost stories, carve jack-o-lanterns or make Halloween crafts. With a little extra thought, a homemade Hallowe’en party can provide varied entertainment and enjoyment for folks of all ages.

8. Serve Homemade Halloween Treats
Apple cider, homemade doughnuts and popcorn are the time-honored snacks that have added a tasty element to Halloween parties for generations. You can make caramel popcorn or popcorn balls with maple syrup or molasses or try herbed popcorn popped in a bit of olive oil and sprinkled with a mixture of thyme, sage, dill, salt and pepper for a more sophisticated crowd. Let the children help make some of the snacks. Teaching kids how to cook is a green habit every family should get into. The goodies you make at home will taste oodles better and be better for you than anything you could buy at the store.

9. Make Halloween Night A Lights-Out Night
Halloween is the perfect night to shut off the electric lights and illuminate your home with candles. Plain tapers work just fine, but you can buy Halloween-themed candles, luminarias, and lanterns, too, in addition to your jack-o-lanterns. Life by candlelight is weird, wonderful and spooky for kids and romantic and memorable for adults. Be sure to practice good fire safety! You’ll be saving energy and creating a fun atmosphere with this simple Halloween tip.

10. Compost Your Jack-O-Lantern
When Halloween spooks have gone off to bed and the sun rises on November 1st, most families are left with a row of pumpkins that will quickly start to grow mold and draw flies if left unattended. Large jack-o-lantern-type pumpkins generally don’t make good pies…but they make fabulous compost. Invite neighbors to bring their old jack-o-lanterns to your compost pile where you will gladly recycle them into food for next season’s garden. Don’t have a compost pile? Put your pumpkins in the yard wastes bin if your local garbage service provides one. These green leftovers are often used to create municipal compost piles at county dumps where they can rot properly and enrich soil for community projects.

Do you have any other cool Green Halloween ideas? We’d love to hear them. Happy Halloween to all your family from the potters at Emerson Creek Pottery!

_____________________
Flickr Photo Credit

Light a hurricane lamp in your home and history illuminates your abode. Since prehistoric times, families have burned oil in vessels to hold off the darkness and lengthen the hours in which people can work and play. From the palaces of Ancient Rome to the humble little house on the prairie of pioneer days, oil lamps have an honored place in the human story and many modern Americans declare they wouldn’t live without them, despite our general dependence on electricity. Hurricane Lamps represent a major historical improvement in lamp design and this article aims to answer all your FAQs about them.

Hurricane Lamp History And Modern Usage
Early oil lamps had three main drawbacks:

• Their light was seldom very bright
• Oil lamps smoked a great deal
• The slightest breeze could put them out

The Invention Of The Hurricaine Lamp
In 1780, Francois-Pierre Aime Argand, the son of a Swiss watchmaker, was struck with a bright new idea. He invented an oil lamp with a glass chimney and a control nob. Aime Argand was a scientist with a particular interest in Chemistry, and he realized that a cylindrical wick which allowed air to flow both through and around itself would produce a brighter light. The glass lamp chimney protected the flame from gusts and the control nob enabled the lamp user to adjust the height of the wick, offering further control over the strength of light produced. Whale oil or olive oil was typically used as the fuel for the new lamp. Aime Argand was a man of his times – a scholar of the period we call The Enlightenment – in which science was being explored for the benefit of mankind and in inventing the prototype Hurricane Lamp, Aime Argand would illuminate the world for centuries to come.

Hurricane Lamps On Ships
Piracy, sea battles, royal navies and transatlantic voyages were part and parcel of life in the 18th and 19th centuries and mariners quickly adapted the wind-resistant hurricane lamp for use on their vessels. Hanging hurricane lamps and wall hurricane lamps, often lantern-like in shape, became necessary equipment for ships and in addition to lighting cabins and decks, they were used to send signals from ship to ship.

Hurricane Lamps, Gone With The Wind
Many Americans most readily associate Hurricane Lamps with the Civil War of the mid 19th century, largely owing to fact that these lamps were extensively used in the lavish movie sets of Gone With The Wind. True to the burgeoning Victorian delight in ostentatious ornamentation, Hurricane Lamps of the 1800s could be grandly large, wrought in colored and etched glass, embellished with gleaming brass scrollwork and other fancy elements. Floral motifs, amethyst and red glass chimneys, milk glass, etched star glass, crystal pendants, beads and more were highly prized and today, antique Hurricane Lamps command a hefty price at auction. If you’d like to collect Antique Hurricane Lamps, the important things to look for are unmarred chimneys and wick controls that are still functional and haven’t rusted. Make sure the lamp base still holds oil properly, as well.

Hurricane Lamps Go West
Far simpler than the elegant, frilly lamps of stately Victorian era homes were the simple clear glass vessels that lit the way for pioneers across the West. Just as the above screenshot from the popular 1970’s TV series Little House On The Prairie depicts, plain glass hurricane lamps turned lonesome cabins in isolated landscapes into cozy harbors for families to gather in the evenings to eat, to chat, to pray and sing, to plan the next day’s work long after sundown had drawn a curtain of darkness over wood and prairie. Hurricane Lamps remain very much in demand for all types of historical re-enactments and if you look at some of your favorite shows or movies set in the 19th or early 20th centuries, you are sure to notice that these basic, light-giving oil lamps are everywhere! Civil War societies and other historic clubs and committees are keeping Hurricane Lamps alight across the USA.

Hurricane Lamps In Modern Times
In many areas of the country, the power of electricity was slow to come. Long into the 20th century, folk in rural areas continued to live by candlelight and the light of kerosene oil lamps. Even now, some areas of the USA are not connected up to the grid and, of real note, some families with pioneer-like bravery are jumping off the grid and fueling and lighting their homes in different and creative ways. In these situations, owning several Hurricane Lamps for occasional or emergency lighting is a smart survival tactic.

Of important regional significance, residents of states like Florida cope with hurricanes and other fierce storms as a fact of daily life. A vintage cookbook I treasure describes a community so used to these upheavals in the weather that they developed meal plans for hurricane season and the local housewives were heard saying, “What will you be having for the hurricane for dinner?” If you live in a part of the country where weather or other factors cause frequent power outages, purchasing a trusty hurricane lamp really makes sense.

Hurricane Lamps are also ideal for outdoor living. Use them at your next barbecue or on a camping trip for light without the hassle of cords or batteries.

Finally, there is a glow of romance surrounding these special lamps with their long history. Electric lights cannot reproduce the soft, warm radiance of the Hurricane Lamp and lighting one works some type of magic in that it instantly creates a feeling of intimacy, quiet and comfort. Whether you own a period home and are looking for an antique or reproduction Hurricane Lamp or you simply prefer the gentler illumination oil lamps provide, the Hurricane Lamp is a piece of our past worth saving.

About Our Hurricane Lamps
If Francois-Pierre Aime Argand, inventor of the Hurricane Lamp, had crossed the Atlantic to visit Colonial America, he would have inspired the manufacture of lamps very much like the ones our potters handcraft here at Emerson Creek Pottery in Virginia. Early colonists had to throw all of their inventiveness and industriousness into founding factories that could produce the metals, glass, ceramics, cloth and other goods they needed for life in their new land. To avoid excessive overseas taxation, Dutch settlers produced the first whiteware pottery in 1684 and out of necessity, early American goods focused on being sturdy and functional. Over time, styles of decoration and refinements in forms produced the high quality American ceramics which are now priceless collectors’ pieces and from which our potters have drawn inspiration since we founded our own American company in 1977. Our Hurricane Lamps offer both authentic antique appeal and handmade quality you can count on.

Hurricane Lamp Parts
A Hurricane Lamp consists of 3 basic components: the wick, the chimney or globe, and the base. In addition to this, most Hurricane Lamps feature a nob which allows you to raise and lower the wick to control the brightness given off.

Our Hurricane Lamps feature a lead-free pottery base and a clear glass chimney. If you need to buy replacement wicks or chimneys, we can sell them, or you can find them at your local hardware store where you can also buy lamp oil.

Hurricane lamp oil is an oil of the kerosene family. It is prized because it produces little smoke or soot. You can purchase it at your local hardware store or camping supply shop.

How To Use A Hurricane Lamp
It’s no surprise, considering the prevalence of electricity, that many modern people have never used or lit a Hurricane Lamp. Here’s how Hurricane Lamps work:

Step 1
There are two pieces secured to the top lip of the Hurricane Lamp. One is permanently attached to the Hurricane base and the other screws off/on to the piece secured to the base. Unscrew the detachable piece from the base and fill with lamp oil about 3/4 full.

Step 2
The wick should be pre-fed through the insert on the detachable piece from the bottom coming up through the top while using the turning wheel to bring the wick up through. The wick should clear all metal parts about a 1/4 of an inch to start. The lamp wick can later be adjusted up by the turning wheel to achieve desired flame size.

Step 3
While feeding the wick into the base, tightly re-secure the detached metal piece to the metal piece permanently attached to the base. If any oil was spilled, thoroughly clean the area before lighting.

Step 4
Light wick. Slide glass globe inside four metal arms on the metal base. Adjust flame size with spinning wheel.

Special Notes On Using Hurricane Lamps In Your Home

• Keep Hurricane Lamps in a safe place away from children and pets. Young children, unused to flame-based lighting, should never be left unsupervised in a room where oil lamps are present. Just as you would take extra care in a room where candles are lit, practice good safety when using Hurricane Lamps.
• Pottery can scratch you furniture. Protect your furniture by placing a non-porous surface underneath.
• Make sure your lamp is placed in a secure location where passing traffic cannot accidentally knock it over.
• Citronella lamp oil can be used in outdoor settings in Hurricane Lamps to deter insects.

Giving The Bright Gift Of A Hurricane Lamp
Birthdays and holidays can be challenging when you’re shopping for the man who has everything or the lady who won’t tell you what she wants. The gift of a Hurricane Lamp may just solve your dilemma. Though once a given in nearly every American home, oil lamps can be a novel idea these days, even for tough-to-shop-for loved ones. Who would appreciate a Hurricane Lamp?

• History buffs – just imagine how nifty they’ll feel lighting up their home or office in this interesting, historical manner!
• Elders – they may well remember hurricane lamps from childhood and would be delighted to see one again.
• Scholars – what could be better for burning the midnight oil at exam time?
• Homesteaders – this is an ideal gift for the young generation that is going off the grid and getting back to the land.
• Rural and regional residents – if you care about someone who lives out in the country or in a fierce weather area, a Hurricane lamp could really lighten their worries during outages and emegencies.

Hurricane Lamps And You
Do you remember a Hurricane Lamp your grandma owned? Do you have any tips or tricks for using, cleaning or enjoying Hurricane Lamps? We’d love to hear your stories and welcome your comments here.