Back Forty Creative

Eat More Kale…and help an artist!

back40creative — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 18:05:56 +0000

I heard this story on my way home last night and thought it would be a good one to share. Vermont artist, Bo Muller-Moore is fighting charges from fast food giant Chick-fil-A over trademark infringement. Chick-fil-A claims Muller-Moore’s “Eat More Kale” T-shirt slogan is too similar to its own “Eat Mor Chikin” campaign.

To read NPR’s full story, click here. To order your very own Eat More Kale shirt, or to show support for the small-town artist who promotes local agriculture, click here.

We’re off to the Acres USA Conference

back40creative — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 12:59:36 +0000

Back Forty Creative will be at the Acres USA Conference again this year. The conference runs from December 8 through December 10 in Columbus, OH. If you’re planning on attending, feel free to stop by booth #510 to learn how our design services can help your sustainable agriculture business grow by creating a new logo/branding system, website, printed brochure, exhibit displays, etc. Or, feel free to drop by just to say hello. If you can’t find us, we’ll be next to the booth with the tasty organic lollipops.

And if you’re looking for more people to visit, find our friends:
AgriEnergy Resources
All Star Trading
Working Farms Capital

See you there!

From a scorching 102º today to a brisk 91º next week

back40creative — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 14:32:36 +0000

Last year at this time Back Forty was walking the Four State Farm Show in Pittsburg, Kansas. It was hot, but more like 98º hot, not 102º hot. It seems like each degree above 95º feels exponentially hotter. Or maybe we just talk about it at an exponentially increasing rate.

Hackney City Farm in London

back40creative — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 14:41:41 +0000

Hackney City Farm

My brother and sister-in-law introduced me to Hackney City Farm during a recent trip to London to visit family. Located in the southeast corner of Haggerston Park, the farm makes for a nice respite within the lively Shoreditch neighbourhood of London. It’s a backdrop I recognised from many photographs of my young nephew, so it was nice to see the farm in person. The Farm’s Frizzante Cafe was the purpose of our visit. Its Mediterranean-inspired cuisine uses fresh, seasonal, and locally-produced ingredients. We enjoyed everything on the menu. And I mean everything, as in one of each: Grilled oyster mushrooms with truffle olive oil, prosciutto di Parma with donut variety peaches and watercress, house made tagliolini pasta with red snapper, rib of beef with rosemary potatoes, eggplant parmigiana with garden salad, and Eton mess (a traditional English pudding, er, dessert).

We walked off a very small portion of dinner on our way home, along Columbia Rd. It’s a very nice contrast.

www.hackneycityfarm.co.uk

Pestolicious

back40creative — Thu, 12 May 2011 14:13:36 +0000

If you haven’t planted your herb garden yet, it’s time to get started. The first step is to decide what type of herbs to plant. Since this post is about pesto, I would suggest one of your herb choices to be basil so you can make basil pesto using the recipe below. You’re free to choose other herbs, but if one of your choices is not basil, your basil-free basil pesto is going to look a little less green and taste a little less good.

Lucky for you we’re giving basil away–just the basil, you’ll have to make your own pesto. But don’t worry, it’s so easy even Amanda could make it. I don’t think she has, but that’s probably because she’s been busy designing websites. Or maybe it’s because she just doesn’t want to.

Ingredients

2 cups packed fresh basil leaves
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup pine nuts
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup freshly grated Pecorino cheese

Directions

Combine the basil, garlic, and pine nuts in a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Add 1/2 cup of the oil and process until fully incorporated and smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

If using immediately, add all the remaining oil and pulse until smooth. Transfer the pesto to a large serving bowl and mix in the cheese.

If freezing, transfer to an air-tight container and drizzle remaining oil over the top. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw and stir in cheese.

Copyright 2003 Television Food Network, G.P. All rights reserved. Food Network recipe page.

Now what? You can add pesto to your favorite pasta, sandwich, pizza, cracker, etc., then lift food to your mouth, chew, swallow, enjoy, repeat. And although this has not been clinically proven to do anything, pesto can be used as a face mask, but it should be noted that this method has been known to cause acne and squirrel attacks.

Gateway Greening

back40creative — Thu, 12 May 2011 13:46:08 +0000

Gateway Greening is a St. Louis community organization aimed at creating sustainability and growth through food projects, education and wellness programs, and civic greening. Visit www.gatewaygreening.org to locate a St. Louis community garden, or for information on how to start one near you.

For a jump start, contact Back Forty Creative for a free package of basil seeds!

Happy Gumdrop Day!

back40creative — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 19:10:26 +0000

Mark your calendars! February 15 is not just the day after Valentine’s day, nor is it just the day Back Forty Creative is filing its taxes. It’s National Gumdrop Day. Many of you may have received an announcement in the mail, but if not, don’t worry. It simply means you’re not on our mailing list. Send us your contact information so you don’t miss out on big events such as National Gumdrop Day (and if you hurry, we can mail you a GD Day card to help celebrate…and make your own GD’s). All the cool kids are doing it!

SSAWG 2011 (Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group)

back40creative — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 18:57:58 +0000

Back Forty Creative is back in St. Louis after a trip to Chattanooga, TN for the 2011 SSAWG conference. Despite traveling with a snow and ice storm from St. Louis to Nashville, the conference went very well. But don’t take our word for it, just ask the gumdrop cow that grazed at our booth.

ACRES 2010 – A Voice for Eco-Agriculture

back40creative — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 16:14:29 +0000

Back Forty left Indiana Ave. in Missouri for Missouri Ave. in Indiana to attend last week’s 2010 ACRES U.S.A. Conference. Indianapolis was as clean and friendly as our exhibit booth … until we broke out the blueberry ink. It went over really well, minus the person visiting an adjacent booth who reached over and tried to write his contact information with quill and ink. A frustrated Byron Dale gave up.

It was a great experience to be a part of the organic farming community. We received a lot of positive feedback about our work, obtained several good contacts and leads, enjoyed the company of our neighboring booth (Thanks for the organic lollipops, Barb!), and were encouraged to attend even more organic farming conferences. We see MOSES and SSAWG in the near future, so we hope to see you there, too. In the meantime, we’d love to hear from any attendees.

Shooting the final roll of Kodachrome at the Missouri State Fair

back40creative — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:40:43 +0000

This is a recent article written by Robert Cohen of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

For six decades it sat perched atop the mountain, the king of color film. But time has almost run out for Kodachrome. The last photo lab in the United States that still develops it is in Parsons, Kansas. Dwayne’s Photo will process their last roll on December 30. Post-Dispatch photographer Robert Cohen found his last roll of Kodachrome 200 and took it to the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia.
More: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_ad32e87d-29d3-5427-84b9-34e73b6900e6.html