The fresher your ingredients, the better your food will taste. Check localharvest.org to find farms, a CSA, or farmers markets close to you.
Dates are a great natural sweetener. Order them from Pato’s Dream Date Gardens (patosdategardens.com).
If milling your own flour is not an option, you can try to find a local mill that sells to the public.
Great River Organic Milling (greatrivermilling.com) is a good place to purchase freshly milled flour.
Bluebird Grain Farms (bluebirdgrainfarms.com) mills to order whole-grain emmer farro, an ancient grain that adds great depth of flavor to baked goods.
To get the freshest grains, locate a local grain supplier. If there is no local grain supplier in your area, you can order grains online.
For farro and rye, order from Bluebird Grain Farms (bluebirdgrainfarms.com).
Other grains can be ordered at Great River Milling (greatrivermilling.com).
Store grains in airtight buckets to keep them safe from bugs and moisture. It is convenient and economical to buy in bulk the grains you use the most. For a 50-pound bag of grain, store it in a 6-gallon bucket.
Raw cacao powder is available at health food stores, or you can order it online from Ultimate Superfoods (ultimatesuperfoods.com).
If you can’t find herbs locally, Mountain Rose Herbs (mountainroseherbs.com) is a great website for ordering high-quality organic herbs.
You can try to pick up hog casings at a butcher shop, or buy them online at sausagemaker.com.
Use piima culture (available at culturesforhealth.com) to make cultured butter and yogurt.
If you can’t gather wild pine nuts in your area, the wild pine nuts at pinenut.com have a great flavor.
When in Aspen, Jack Reed’s Roots and Shoots farm stand is a must-visit. Jack is an Aspen legend who also supplies the restaurants in town. He puts together boxes of fresh fruit, vegetables, and eggs that he carefully selects from farms throughout Colorado. I also take my kids to Rock Bottom Ranch, T.R.E.E., and Sustainable Settings, where we pick fresh vegetables and gather eggs straight from the chickens.
Rock Bottom Ranch
2001 Hooks Spur Road
Basalt, CO 81621
Tel: 970-927-6760
Roots and Shoots
Sustainable Settings
6107 Colorado 133
Carbondale, CO 81623
Tel: 970-963-6107
T.R.E.E.
Aspen Tree
P.O. Box 8064
Aspen, CO 81612
Tel: 970-379-2323
Raw cacao butter is more difficult to find at stores. You can order it online from Ultimate Superfoods (ultimatesuperfoods.com).
There are many varieties of yogurt starters. The tartness of yogurt is affected by the starter and creates a great range of firmness and texture in yogurt. For a creamy, mild yogurt, use yogurt starters from customprobiotics.com or culturesforhealth.com.
To find a park close to you, visit ohranger.com, and for national parks, visit the National Park Service website (www.nps.gov).
Check out the information at the National Center for Home Food Preservation (nchfp.uga.edu) for instructions on how to sterilize jars and prepare a canning bath.