Now it’s time to post a little update on our composting program. Even though it hasn’t been implemented yet, the composting program has been vastly planned and we’ve been thinking through it a lot. So far the first step – deciding where to build the compost and what kind of – the decision has been made. We are going to build the compost piles right next to our Roadhouse garden, against the wall, where they are close to the place the actual compost product is going to be used on – the garden. That is virtually the only possible place we have available in our premises, given all the requirements and practical issues. I will post a picture of the spot once it is possible. There is a bit less space than I originally thought, but after thinking it through we don’t really need more space. Three or four separate piles fits there perfectly and that is all we need, at this point at least. We’ll have to be careful, though, to construct the pile and take care of it correctly, so that it wouldn’t smell too bad – the compost will be rather close to the outside terrace of the Roadhouse restaurant. We decided that we are going to be strict about not throwing any meat or diary to the piles, in order to keep them as “clean” and not-smelly as possible. Compost pile, when taken care of properly, shouldn’t smell, and that is naturally our goal.
So we are going to build the compost places out of brick, which is a material we have and use a lot. That will also look the best, given the brick-made walkways and the wall in the garden, and the overall appearence of everything around here. As explained in the first compost post, the piles shouldn’t be too small or too big – too small won’t heat enough and too big won’t get enough air inside. Something about 1,5m each direction would be ideal. Ours will be about 1,5m high and 1,5m wide but only about 1m long due to the limited space of the spot. They will be dug about 20-30cm underground to make them more efficient and to make the turning of the pile easier. Me and Li Haixin are due to go to the garden tomorrow with our constructer to explain him how to built the brick piles. The most important things are to explain clearly the dimensions and also to make sure that there are going to be wholes between the bricks. If they are built without several air wholes, the compost won’t get air and thus will not work. So there should be left space between some bricks, we have to explain that really carefully to the constructer. Let see how that goes. At the same time, the brick piles should be steady, so there should be a golden middle way found. Anyway, it is absolutely crucial to leave space between bricks, otherwise the piles simple don’t get enough air. The piles should also have some kind of covers, in order to keep the rain and the animals away to some extent and to help to block the odours.
It is not enough to have the place to pile the compost in, you need to actually start separating the compostable waste from the other waste. We are going to buy the bins going to be used for this purpose, as we want them to be black in order to be easily distinguished. We were thinking with our chef how many different bins to collect the compost would be suitable for us, and finally ended up that there should be separated compost-collecting bins as follows:
- Two in the kitchen of The Schoolhouse, one in cold kitchen and one in hot kitchen
- One in the dishwashing room
- One in the cashier (tea bags, coffee grounds and filters)
- Four in The Roadhouse, one in garbage room, one in hot kitchen, one in cold kitchen and one in vegetable room (the most important one).
- One in Xiaolumian kitchen
Also, there should be one big bin behind the art room in The Schoolhouse, where the smaller ones are emptied once full, and which is going to be transported to the Roadhouse compost piles about once a week, depending on how quickly it fills up. That way it is much easier to get the compostable waste to the Roadhouse, instead of transporting separately each small bag. The big bin will be transported preferably with Li Fengquen’s car, where there is an open “pallet” in the back. At the Roadhouse, the big bin will be emptied to the piles and mixed with brown material, e.g. leaves, paper, garden waste, branches, even soil. Then it’s going to be left there waiting for more material. The pile should be turned or mixed about once a week. It should also be watered regularly, but at the same time we must be careful not to overwater it. I was thinking that we should probably also buy some king of organic “compost helper” to make the process faster, but I'm not sure whether that's going to happen. So, anyway, that’s basically how this process is going to work in practice. Hopefully we get it successfully done!
One of the most crucial parts of this process is to educate the staff how to separate correctly the waste. I already made a PowerPoint presentation to our management team about composting, and next we should do something like that in Chinese to the other staff. We should try to explain the reasons why composting is a good thing, probably that way everybody gets motivated, at least a bit, and the separating process is more likely to be successful. However, even more important is just simply to make sure that everyone knows what to put into the compost bins. There will be clear signs above every bin both in Chinese and English telling what to put there. We are going to compost:
- Fruit & vegetable peels, scraps
- Egg shells
- Rice
- Noodles
- Potatoes
- Paper tissues
- Tea bags
- Coffee grounds & filters
- Food scraps that don’t contain meat or dairy, and that are not really oily
In addition, all the garden waste is going to the compost piles as well, and that is crucial as it balances the green material and the brown material. Me and Randhir are going to keep eye on the bins as best as we can and try to assure that uncompostable things are not going to composting bins. I was thinking that we should also collect the paper from the tables to one separate bin, and at the end of the day cut it smaller and add to the compost bins. That’s a good source of brown material, which we need more than the green material (mostly kitchen waste and grass). The compost should be ready, if taken care properly, in 2-4 months – it’s ready when it smells like dark earth and none of it’s ingredients can be identified.
Well, that’s the update on composting available at the moment. Sorry if I was repeating myself (see earlier post), but it’s always good to refresh memory, right?
Have a nice week everyone! And start composting yourselves!
May 24, 2009
May 17, 2009
Roadhouse Spring Garden vol. 3
The walkways in the Roadhouse Spring Garden are finished. They were done really efficiently, in a week or so which tells something really good about people working here. Anyway, below you can see two pictures about the finished walkways (or will see once I manage the put them here, right now it doesn't work). I think they fit there really well, it was a great idea to built them instead of just settling for the dirt paths. Now people can walk around the garden and see what we have there. In fact, ýesterday we had a major even in Roadhouse, The Roadhouse Grill, so it was really good we had the walkways finished. There were plenty of people walking around the garden, and they seemed rather interested when I told them details about the garden. It appeared also that the garden was a popular playing ground amongs the children, which made me, to be honest, a bit worried about the plantings - but everything went well. However, all fo the signs aren’t there yet which is something I am not proud off. Put before the event started, I went there to put most of the sings, the rest I explained to as many customers I could. I really try to get all the signs there as soon as possible with Li Haixin, hopefully we’ll get it done.
There are both good and bad news when it comes to the garden. Let’s start with the good ones. As told earlier, pink radish and spring onion has been growing really well and we have started to pick them up to be served in the restaurants. Spring onion, or scallion as it’s often called, is a species of onion which is less mature and less developed than “normal” onions we use - in fact they are very young onions, harvested before the bulb has had a chance to swell. They are not as strong as onions usually and thus are delicious raw and widely used in salads. When used with other vegetables or herbs, they do not overpower the dish as regular onion quite often tends to do. Both the green tops and the small white bulbs are edible, which makes spring onion more varied than regular more mature onions. Indeed, spring onions are really popular throughout Asia as a flavouring green, as a herb, as a garnish and as a vegetable itself. Spring onion is really popular in Chinese cuisine as a part of stir-fried dishes. In Roadhouse, the spring onion is pretty much ready and we have harvested in once already – we got 13 kg’s of it, from an area roughly 1/5 of the total spring onion plot. We are going to harvest it bit by bit, because it’s virtually impossible to preserve and lasts only about 5 days fresh. Our chef is going to use it as follows:
- The green tops served as complimentary appertizers in The Shcoolhouse, with tsatsiki and sesame paste.
- The green tops and the bulbs as part of various hot dishes in The Roadhouse and Xiaolumian
Radish, including the pink radish, is an edible root vegetable very common all around the Globe. It can be seen as an “ancient vegetable” as it was domesticated before the Roman times in Europe. Radish is an excellent plant to grow in gardens, as it is rather easy to grow and it grows fast. In fact, its original Greek name “raphanus” means something like “quickly appearing”. Anyway, pink radish is a significantly healthy root vegetable which is generally used as a garnish or salad ingredient – they are almost completely used only raw, and they have a rather strong peppery flavour. Radishes are a great source of, for example, vitamin C, sulphur, iron and iodine, which again is great when it comes the our aims of serving healthy food as a part of our sustainable foods program. Radishes stay fresh for about a week in a fridge – preferable in a plastic bag. To add a little bit crispiness, radishes are good to be soak in ice-water for an hour before serving. Here in garden, we have harvested already 3kgs of it (and the one time with no record, but that was not much). Radish also should be harvested bit by bit, due to the preservation problems. It’s been served as a part of complimentary vegetable plates in the Roadhouse and in Xiaolumian, as well as garnish in various dishes. It is also used constantly as part of the Schoolhouse Greens salad.
We have also planted eggplant and strawberries now. We finally have our strawberry way! Eggplants and strawberries were planted from small plants, not from seeds, which makes their survival highly likely. However, the strawberries doens't seem too well now, they seem too dry, which is one of the bad news. They are still alive though and hopefully will get better with plenty extra watering. Eggplants are are doing well and it won’t take too long until we are going to serve our own eggplants and, hopefully, strawberries in our restaurants. We use strawberries and eggplant as part of our dishes all the time, so once we can have it from our own garden, that obviously saves environment from our part and also saves us money, not to mention the fact that we’re able to serve completely fresh and organic produce. So, the whole areas designed to strawberries and eggplants has been planted – that was about 30 eggplants and enough strawberries to serve our needs. I am not sure yet when they are going to be ready for harvest, but I’ll let you know.
Then the bad news. The herbs in the garden don’t seem to grow well, they are not coming out. Herbs are known for being really hard to plant from the seed, and apparently they are worth their reputation. We did everything according to instructions, but something went wrong – or then it was just bad luck. But, we have not given up hope yet and try to get them to grow with more watering etc. At least Li Fengquan, our brilliant farmer, said it’s not yet too late. However, we acknowledge that their survival is unlikely, and thus we are, as soon as possible, going to buy young herb plants and plant them, that way they are almost surely going to grow. And who knows, maybe the seeds are starting to grow eventually, and maybe the plants are going to spread in time. Anyway, I am going with our chef Randhir really soon to purchase the young plants, and then, in a month or so, we should be able to serve our own herbs. The same goes with lettuce. Apparently it hasn’t been watered enough, or then it’s due to back luck, but it doesn’t seem to be growing – or, who knows, maybe it just takes time. Given all the things I’ve been reading from the internet, it’s getting too hot for the lettuce to grow in direct sunlight, so we’ve planned to built some kind of cover for them. Let's see if we actually make that happen - the gardeners didn't seem too eager to do that.
From bad news it is always good to go back to good news, so I must add that the cucumber seems to be a success and is coming out fast! They should be ready to harves in the early summer - the ones for pickling purposes should be harvested earlier as the ones used fresh. So rather soon we need to decide whether we are going to pickle it, in orded to get them out small enough. One more thing about the garden at this point - we started a sort of experiment. Although we decided not to plant tomatoes as they are really difficult to grow, we bought five young tomato plants and planted them in the corner of the lettuce triangle. We'll see whether we manage to grow them or not. If they come out good, we can start to grow them in larger quantities, as tomatoes is something we use a lot.
Okay, that's it for the garden, I'll keep you updated. Enjoy the last weeks of the spring!
There are both good and bad news when it comes to the garden. Let’s start with the good ones. As told earlier, pink radish and spring onion has been growing really well and we have started to pick them up to be served in the restaurants. Spring onion, or scallion as it’s often called, is a species of onion which is less mature and less developed than “normal” onions we use - in fact they are very young onions, harvested before the bulb has had a chance to swell. They are not as strong as onions usually and thus are delicious raw and widely used in salads. When used with other vegetables or herbs, they do not overpower the dish as regular onion quite often tends to do. Both the green tops and the small white bulbs are edible, which makes spring onion more varied than regular more mature onions. Indeed, spring onions are really popular throughout Asia as a flavouring green, as a herb, as a garnish and as a vegetable itself. Spring onion is really popular in Chinese cuisine as a part of stir-fried dishes. In Roadhouse, the spring onion is pretty much ready and we have harvested in once already – we got 13 kg’s of it, from an area roughly 1/5 of the total spring onion plot. We are going to harvest it bit by bit, because it’s virtually impossible to preserve and lasts only about 5 days fresh. Our chef is going to use it as follows:
- The green tops served as complimentary appertizers in The Shcoolhouse, with tsatsiki and sesame paste.
- The green tops and the bulbs as part of various hot dishes in The Roadhouse and Xiaolumian
Radish, including the pink radish, is an edible root vegetable very common all around the Globe. It can be seen as an “ancient vegetable” as it was domesticated before the Roman times in Europe. Radish is an excellent plant to grow in gardens, as it is rather easy to grow and it grows fast. In fact, its original Greek name “raphanus” means something like “quickly appearing”. Anyway, pink radish is a significantly healthy root vegetable which is generally used as a garnish or salad ingredient – they are almost completely used only raw, and they have a rather strong peppery flavour. Radishes are a great source of, for example, vitamin C, sulphur, iron and iodine, which again is great when it comes the our aims of serving healthy food as a part of our sustainable foods program. Radishes stay fresh for about a week in a fridge – preferable in a plastic bag. To add a little bit crispiness, radishes are good to be soak in ice-water for an hour before serving. Here in garden, we have harvested already 3kgs of it (and the one time with no record, but that was not much). Radish also should be harvested bit by bit, due to the preservation problems. It’s been served as a part of complimentary vegetable plates in the Roadhouse and in Xiaolumian, as well as garnish in various dishes. It is also used constantly as part of the Schoolhouse Greens salad.
We have also planted eggplant and strawberries now. We finally have our strawberry way! Eggplants and strawberries were planted from small plants, not from seeds, which makes their survival highly likely. However, the strawberries doens't seem too well now, they seem too dry, which is one of the bad news. They are still alive though and hopefully will get better with plenty extra watering. Eggplants are are doing well and it won’t take too long until we are going to serve our own eggplants and, hopefully, strawberries in our restaurants. We use strawberries and eggplant as part of our dishes all the time, so once we can have it from our own garden, that obviously saves environment from our part and also saves us money, not to mention the fact that we’re able to serve completely fresh and organic produce. So, the whole areas designed to strawberries and eggplants has been planted – that was about 30 eggplants and enough strawberries to serve our needs. I am not sure yet when they are going to be ready for harvest, but I’ll let you know.
Then the bad news. The herbs in the garden don’t seem to grow well, they are not coming out. Herbs are known for being really hard to plant from the seed, and apparently they are worth their reputation. We did everything according to instructions, but something went wrong – or then it was just bad luck. But, we have not given up hope yet and try to get them to grow with more watering etc. At least Li Fengquan, our brilliant farmer, said it’s not yet too late. However, we acknowledge that their survival is unlikely, and thus we are, as soon as possible, going to buy young herb plants and plant them, that way they are almost surely going to grow. And who knows, maybe the seeds are starting to grow eventually, and maybe the plants are going to spread in time. Anyway, I am going with our chef Randhir really soon to purchase the young plants, and then, in a month or so, we should be able to serve our own herbs. The same goes with lettuce. Apparently it hasn’t been watered enough, or then it’s due to back luck, but it doesn’t seem to be growing – or, who knows, maybe it just takes time. Given all the things I’ve been reading from the internet, it’s getting too hot for the lettuce to grow in direct sunlight, so we’ve planned to built some kind of cover for them. Let's see if we actually make that happen - the gardeners didn't seem too eager to do that.
From bad news it is always good to go back to good news, so I must add that the cucumber seems to be a success and is coming out fast! They should be ready to harves in the early summer - the ones for pickling purposes should be harvested earlier as the ones used fresh. So rather soon we need to decide whether we are going to pickle it, in orded to get them out small enough. One more thing about the garden at this point - we started a sort of experiment. Although we decided not to plant tomatoes as they are really difficult to grow, we bought five young tomato plants and planted them in the corner of the lettuce triangle. We'll see whether we manage to grow them or not. If they come out good, we can start to grow them in larger quantities, as tomatoes is something we use a lot.
Okay, that's it for the garden, I'll keep you updated. Enjoy the last weeks of the spring!
May 12, 2009
Seven principles of sustainable foods - where are we now?
In my first posts I promised to write a post about how The Schoolhouse is doing when it comes to the basic principles of sustainable food. It has to be remembered, though, that there is no official definition what is sustainable food, nor has there been a consensus reached what exactly should be done in orded to be “sustainable”. It is individual and each company – and individual, for that matter – should examine what would be the best options for it. However, there are always guides and recommendations, and the seven principles of sustainable food found in many sources are quite good and give guidance to what should be done. Let’s see, step by step, how The Schoolhouse fits to those principles:
1. Use local, seasonally available ingredients, to minimise energy used in food production and to support local people.
This is probably the most crucial part of sustainable foods, and I am happy to say that The Schoolhouse follows this rule actually really well already. As can be seen from many earlier posts, we use – or are going to use – a lot of our own seasonally available fruits, vegetables and nuts. This season we have already begun to use our own xiang chun, radish and mint, which otherwise would have been bought and transported. Soon we are going to serve our own onion, lettuce, rucola, cucumber and herbs, and that surely reduced the burden on the environment. Later on this year, we are going have rather big amounts of our own wallnuts, chestnuts, peers and persimmons, among others.
We also use a lot of local, or at least nearby suppliers. From Huairou, only 20km from the village, we buy local vegetables (those we don’t have in the garden), fruits, chicken, beef, lamb, pork, bacon, sausages, flour, rice, noodles and yoghurt, among some others. We usually only by vegetables that are in season - we don’t want vegetables that has been imported - which is an important thing when it comes to sustainability. I guess it depends on the reader whether you count as "local" something we buy from a nearby town, but I guess it’s pretty good. One has to bear in mind that all of those things are from China and from the same municipality than we are in, so the transportation and energy needed is quite minimal, compared to most restaurants in Finland, for example, where lots of food is imported to the country. However, we could be more local and there are plans to achieve that - we are planning to get suppliers from the villages for chicken, eggs and apricot, among others. They have those things here, so there shouldn’t be any need for getting them from Huairou, although that is quite local as well. But to get them from here would support local villagers, which surely would be much appreciated. We'll see how everything works out.
There is one step that The Schoolhouse took just recently towards being more local and more sustainable. We stopped importing our steaks from Australia and started to serve Chinese meat, grown in farms, bought from Shunyi, about 40min drive from the village. If one could count the energy saved and pollution reduced in a year because of this change, the outcome would be no doubt impressive. In addition, the fish we use in our restaurant is purchased from Enbeigo, which is one of the neighbouring villages. We buy them alive and put them into our own trout pond – so we have always truly fresh and local trout to serve. For the other food, worth mentioning is for example wallnuts which we buy from farmers from a nearby village.
2. Specify food from farming systems that minimise harm to the environment such as certified organic produce.
We are undertaking a major compost program, and we are going to use the compost as organic fertilizer in our garden. We are going to make sure that all the compost is being used in the village, so that we don’t use any chemicals in our gardening. However, we haven’t found out what are the procedures of the farms the suppliers are getting the food from, so I can’t really say we are getting food from farming systems that minimise harm to the environment. That is something that we indeed should find out and pick suppliers who are environmentally friendly – surely there are many to choose from. However, we can’t be perfect and the first step is to make sure we are as local as possible - rest will follow.
3. Limit food of animal origin served, as livestock farming is one of the most
significant contributors to the climate change.
We do offer many vegetarian options and vegetables play a significant role in our dishes, but it can’t be said that The Schoolhouse is limiting food of animal origin in order to be environmentally friendly. We changed the Australian meet to Chinese meet, and we are looking for chicken etc suppliers from the villages, and that’s our effort when in comes to sustainability and meet. It would be naïve to just read seven principles and say we have to do it all. It’s all individual and different options are suitable for different companies. Cutting of the meat can suite some companies, but that wouldn’t work with The Schoolhouse. Our trademark dishes include burgers and t-bone steak, and turning vegetarian just wouldn’t suite us. You have to keep the business, otherwise you can’t be sustainable in any way, right? However, something to think about would be to reduce a little bit the amount of meat used and replace the reduction with vegetables.
4. Exclude fish species identified as most “at risk” by The Marine Conservation Society. The Marine Conservation Society has a list of the fishes that should be avoided in order to achieve sustainability, and a list of fishes ok to serve. Avoid list: http://www.fishonline.org/advice/avoid/ Eat list: http://www.fishonline.org/advice/eat/.
This is a part where we do exceptionally well. If you look at the “eat” list, you can see that organically farmed trout is on the list – and that is the fish we use in our restaurant in large quantities. Besides that and canned tuna, we don’t actually use other fish. We use quite a lot of trout, but that is organically farmed from a local village and kept in our trout pond in The Roadhouse restaurant (pictures). So, our “trout use” is basically as sustainable as it can be – no
damage to the environment and we provide benefits for local people. Our canned tuna is also Chinese, but from southern Guang Dong province. There are different kinds of tunas in the “avoid” list, but as many different ones in the “eat” list as well. Bluefin tuna is the biggest “nono” in tunas, and according to our chef our tuna isn’t that one. Also, most of the tunas on the “eat” list says “southern or middle Pasific”, so that is a good sign as well – the tuna caught in Guang Dong is from Pacific. In 2006, the treatment of tuna with carbon monoxide was legally banned in China, and that makes at least in theory Chinese tuna good in some way. Anyway, this is just speculation, I would really like to learn more about what’s our tuna like. But the trout, as said, is perfectly fitting with sustainable food principles, and that’s just great.
5. Choose Fair Trade certified products for imported food and drinks
Fair trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach that basically helps producers in developing countries and promotes sustainability. To put it in one sentence, fair trade certificated companies assure that producers get paid fairly and the working conditions are appropriate. The aim is to reduce the unfair exploitation of farmers and producers in developing countries, and to make sure they get paid as they should and they don’t have to work in unhealthy conditions. The most famous product where fair trade has been implemented is coffee, but there are also fair trade certificates for tea, chocolate, fruit, honey and flower producers, among others. At the moment, for many operational reasons, we don’t get products (coffee, tea etc) from specific fair trade certificated companies, but that is something we might dig in to in the future.
6. Avoid bottled water and instead serve filtered tap water in reusable jugs or bottles.
This is one of the most straight-forward principles of being environmentally friendly, be it a part of sustainable foods of not. Everyone should avoid using small package sizes – that’s unnecessary waste for the overfilled landfills! We are doing quite well with following this principle, although we do still offer complimentary bottled water in the rental houses. We serve cleaned tap water in our restaurant and that’s the water the staff drinks here as well. By using cleaned tap water instead of bottled water we significantly reduce our waste volume. In addition, we recycle all the bottles we use. In the rental houses we use refillable containers for shampoo and conditioner as well as for soap. So the amount of bottles going to landfills from The Schoolhouse is minimal. We have been also seriously planning to replace the bottled water served in the rental houses with large refillable water containers. I will let you know how this plans go ahead.
7. Promote health and wellbeing by cooking with generous portions of vegetables, fruits and starchy staples like wholegrains, cutting down on salt, fats and oils, and cutting out artificial additives.
Everything here at The Schoolhouse is homemade from the scratch. We don’t use any artificial additives what so ever – no chemical additives, colourings, flavourings or stabilizers. All is natural to a really great extend. That is really real here, no fake, and that’s something not so many restaurants can say. It’s our trademark in a way. Our dishes include rather generous portions of vegetables and are surely healthier than food in restaurants around here in general – that’s my impression anyway. However, we do not use wholegrain wheat, which is something we could easily do. Let’s see whether that’s something we’re going to do or not. Today we started to plan with our chef to replace our salt with Kosher salt, which - unlike common table salt - contains no additives. That makes it a healthier option. Kosher salt has a much larger grain size than regular table salt, and a more open granular structure - if someone is interested.
I would also add one thing here, which is overall waste reduction. Restaurants create an overwhelming amount of waste in the world and every restaurant should do it’s own part in trying to reduce the waste volume. Here, as can be seen from earlier posts, we are undertaking a major composting program which will reduce our waste loads significantly. We also pay attention to waste reduction constantly in menu planning – how all the food could be used as efficiently as possible so that the amount of food being thrown away would be minimal. This is done by, for example, combining different foods and using daily specials. We also try our to keep the portion sizes in control, so that – again – we could minimize the amount of food being thrown away. This subject was for example discussed in a meeting some days ago. However, this is rather hard to do, as in every restaurant, but fortunately we are going to have the compost program to help us in the matter.
So, to put it all together, I’d say The Schoolhouse is doing pretty good when it comes to the principles of sustainable foods. Nobody’s ever perfect and of course there are areas where we could improve, but if you try to do too much too soon too well, it doesn’t work and nobody wins. We are, step by step, going towards being as sustainable as possible, and we are serious about that, but everything just can’t be done. Anyway, I think it’s safe to say that we are doing more than most of the restaurants in the world. But, we can always do more - hence the sustainable food program we are undertaking.
Have a great week everyone!
1. Use local, seasonally available ingredients, to minimise energy used in food production and to support local people.
This is probably the most crucial part of sustainable foods, and I am happy to say that The Schoolhouse follows this rule actually really well already. As can be seen from many earlier posts, we use – or are going to use – a lot of our own seasonally available fruits, vegetables and nuts. This season we have already begun to use our own xiang chun, radish and mint, which otherwise would have been bought and transported. Soon we are going to serve our own onion, lettuce, rucola, cucumber and herbs, and that surely reduced the burden on the environment. Later on this year, we are going have rather big amounts of our own wallnuts, chestnuts, peers and persimmons, among others.
We also use a lot of local, or at least nearby suppliers. From Huairou, only 20km from the village, we buy local vegetables (those we don’t have in the garden), fruits, chicken, beef, lamb, pork, bacon, sausages, flour, rice, noodles and yoghurt, among some others. We usually only by vegetables that are in season - we don’t want vegetables that has been imported - which is an important thing when it comes to sustainability. I guess it depends on the reader whether you count as "local" something we buy from a nearby town, but I guess it’s pretty good. One has to bear in mind that all of those things are from China and from the same municipality than we are in, so the transportation and energy needed is quite minimal, compared to most restaurants in Finland, for example, where lots of food is imported to the country. However, we could be more local and there are plans to achieve that - we are planning to get suppliers from the villages for chicken, eggs and apricot, among others. They have those things here, so there shouldn’t be any need for getting them from Huairou, although that is quite local as well. But to get them from here would support local villagers, which surely would be much appreciated. We'll see how everything works out.
There is one step that The Schoolhouse took just recently towards being more local and more sustainable. We stopped importing our steaks from Australia and started to serve Chinese meat, grown in farms, bought from Shunyi, about 40min drive from the village. If one could count the energy saved and pollution reduced in a year because of this change, the outcome would be no doubt impressive. In addition, the fish we use in our restaurant is purchased from Enbeigo, which is one of the neighbouring villages. We buy them alive and put them into our own trout pond – so we have always truly fresh and local trout to serve. For the other food, worth mentioning is for example wallnuts which we buy from farmers from a nearby village.
2. Specify food from farming systems that minimise harm to the environment such as certified organic produce.
We are undertaking a major compost program, and we are going to use the compost as organic fertilizer in our garden. We are going to make sure that all the compost is being used in the village, so that we don’t use any chemicals in our gardening. However, we haven’t found out what are the procedures of the farms the suppliers are getting the food from, so I can’t really say we are getting food from farming systems that minimise harm to the environment. That is something that we indeed should find out and pick suppliers who are environmentally friendly – surely there are many to choose from. However, we can’t be perfect and the first step is to make sure we are as local as possible - rest will follow.
3. Limit food of animal origin served, as livestock farming is one of the most
significant contributors to the climate change.
We do offer many vegetarian options and vegetables play a significant role in our dishes, but it can’t be said that The Schoolhouse is limiting food of animal origin in order to be environmentally friendly. We changed the Australian meet to Chinese meet, and we are looking for chicken etc suppliers from the villages, and that’s our effort when in comes to sustainability and meet. It would be naïve to just read seven principles and say we have to do it all. It’s all individual and different options are suitable for different companies. Cutting of the meat can suite some companies, but that wouldn’t work with The Schoolhouse. Our trademark dishes include burgers and t-bone steak, and turning vegetarian just wouldn’t suite us. You have to keep the business, otherwise you can’t be sustainable in any way, right? However, something to think about would be to reduce a little bit the amount of meat used and replace the reduction with vegetables.
4. Exclude fish species identified as most “at risk” by The Marine Conservation Society. The Marine Conservation Society has a list of the fishes that should be avoided in order to achieve sustainability, and a list of fishes ok to serve. Avoid list: http://www.fishonline.org/advice/avoid/ Eat list: http://www.fishonline.org/advice/eat/.
This is a part where we do exceptionally well. If you look at the “eat” list, you can see that organically farmed trout is on the list – and that is the fish we use in our restaurant in large quantities. Besides that and canned tuna, we don’t actually use other fish. We use quite a lot of trout, but that is organically farmed from a local village and kept in our trout pond in The Roadhouse restaurant (pictures). So, our “trout use” is basically as sustainable as it can be – no
damage to the environment and we provide benefits for local people. Our canned tuna is also Chinese, but from southern Guang Dong province. There are different kinds of tunas in the “avoid” list, but as many different ones in the “eat” list as well. Bluefin tuna is the biggest “nono” in tunas, and according to our chef our tuna isn’t that one. Also, most of the tunas on the “eat” list says “southern or middle Pasific”, so that is a good sign as well – the tuna caught in Guang Dong is from Pacific. In 2006, the treatment of tuna with carbon monoxide was legally banned in China, and that makes at least in theory Chinese tuna good in some way. Anyway, this is just speculation, I would really like to learn more about what’s our tuna like. But the trout, as said, is perfectly fitting with sustainable food principles, and that’s just great.5. Choose Fair Trade certified products for imported food and drinks
Fair trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach that basically helps producers in developing countries and promotes sustainability. To put it in one sentence, fair trade certificated companies assure that producers get paid fairly and the working conditions are appropriate. The aim is to reduce the unfair exploitation of farmers and producers in developing countries, and to make sure they get paid as they should and they don’t have to work in unhealthy conditions. The most famous product where fair trade has been implemented is coffee, but there are also fair trade certificates for tea, chocolate, fruit, honey and flower producers, among others. At the moment, for many operational reasons, we don’t get products (coffee, tea etc) from specific fair trade certificated companies, but that is something we might dig in to in the future.
6. Avoid bottled water and instead serve filtered tap water in reusable jugs or bottles.
This is one of the most straight-forward principles of being environmentally friendly, be it a part of sustainable foods of not. Everyone should avoid using small package sizes – that’s unnecessary waste for the overfilled landfills! We are doing quite well with following this principle, although we do still offer complimentary bottled water in the rental houses. We serve cleaned tap water in our restaurant and that’s the water the staff drinks here as well. By using cleaned tap water instead of bottled water we significantly reduce our waste volume. In addition, we recycle all the bottles we use. In the rental houses we use refillable containers for shampoo and conditioner as well as for soap. So the amount of bottles going to landfills from The Schoolhouse is minimal. We have been also seriously planning to replace the bottled water served in the rental houses with large refillable water containers. I will let you know how this plans go ahead.
7. Promote health and wellbeing by cooking with generous portions of vegetables, fruits and starchy staples like wholegrains, cutting down on salt, fats and oils, and cutting out artificial additives.
Everything here at The Schoolhouse is homemade from the scratch. We don’t use any artificial additives what so ever – no chemical additives, colourings, flavourings or stabilizers. All is natural to a really great extend. That is really real here, no fake, and that’s something not so many restaurants can say. It’s our trademark in a way. Our dishes include rather generous portions of vegetables and are surely healthier than food in restaurants around here in general – that’s my impression anyway. However, we do not use wholegrain wheat, which is something we could easily do. Let’s see whether that’s something we’re going to do or not. Today we started to plan with our chef to replace our salt with Kosher salt, which - unlike common table salt - contains no additives. That makes it a healthier option. Kosher salt has a much larger grain size than regular table salt, and a more open granular structure - if someone is interested.
I would also add one thing here, which is overall waste reduction. Restaurants create an overwhelming amount of waste in the world and every restaurant should do it’s own part in trying to reduce the waste volume. Here, as can be seen from earlier posts, we are undertaking a major composting program which will reduce our waste loads significantly. We also pay attention to waste reduction constantly in menu planning – how all the food could be used as efficiently as possible so that the amount of food being thrown away would be minimal. This is done by, for example, combining different foods and using daily specials. We also try our to keep the portion sizes in control, so that – again – we could minimize the amount of food being thrown away. This subject was for example discussed in a meeting some days ago. However, this is rather hard to do, as in every restaurant, but fortunately we are going to have the compost program to help us in the matter.
So, to put it all together, I’d say The Schoolhouse is doing pretty good when it comes to the principles of sustainable foods. Nobody’s ever perfect and of course there are areas where we could improve, but if you try to do too much too soon too well, it doesn’t work and nobody wins. We are, step by step, going towards being as sustainable as possible, and we are serious about that, but everything just can’t be done. Anyway, I think it’s safe to say that we are doing more than most of the restaurants in the world. But, we can always do more - hence the sustainable food program we are undertaking.
Have a great week everyone!
May 9, 2009
Walkways being built in The Spring Garden... And we have our own mint!
As can be seen from the garden map, there are three walkways in the Roadhouse Spring Garden, where people can walk around and see what we are doing there. Originally, they were just dirt paths, but we decided to built them into proper walkways, because surely that is a more feasible option for customers coming from the city - there's no need for anyone to get their shoes dirty. It also looks better, makes the garden appear more organized and makes everything more convenient. Anyway, the walkways are being built out of brick, which is pretty much the theme around here. As shown in the pictures below, the process is going on nicely and the walkways should be finish in a few days. They are going to be a bit wider than they were as dirt paths, to make it actually possible for people to walk around the garden. Basically, keeping in mind how the signs are going to be laid out, from the walkway closest to the restaurant people can observe the herbs and the radish; the middle walkway is for looking at the middle vegetable field; and the furthest one goes between the lettuce triangle and the strawberry way. There is also a walkway that sort of leads to these three walkways and leaves a small spot of garden between it and the wall – here we have parsley growing, and we will plant some lettuce there as well later when it’s good for it to be in a partial shadow. So much for walkways, let the pictures talk for themselves, and I’ll let you know when they have been completed:
Otherwise, the garden is growing well. Now the rucola has been partially planted as well, which is something our restaurants are really eager to have. Hopefully it grows fast! The plastic covers, which you can see in the pictures of earlier post, has been removed from the herb and lettuce
plantings, as the weather is so worm already that we don’t need those. They will be put again to cover the plants in autumn, to extend the season as much as possible. Looking really closely one can see that there are already something coming out of the earth where there are herbs and cucumber growing (pictured, cucumber). Some part of pink radish has already been taken out, which makes it the first own vegetable we've harvested, and it is being served in the restaurants - more of it will be taken tomorrow or so. The harvested radish was already divided to our restaurants and I was unable to find out how much in kilograms we got it, but we made a deal with staff that from now on they will weight how much radish (or whatever) they get everytime and let me know – this way I can document clearly what we have and how much and when. So, anyway, everything seams to be going great at the garden and we are steps closer to our goals every day! 
Now to the other subject – we have our own mint! This is something, I must admit, I totally forgot about, although I heard it mentioned a month ago or so. We have mint growing in two locations: in the courtyard of The Schoolhouse and right at the corner of the Roadhouse Spring Garden. It is actually the first thing on the left when “entering” the garden. The first harvest of mint was a few days ago, and we have already started to serve it in The Schoolhouse restaurant. Randhir, our creative chef, uses our own mint for four purposes:
- Crystallized mint leaves, served as sweets when handing the bill
- Mint jelly, served with lamb etc.
- Mint sorbet, served as dessert
- Mint leaves to give a kick to the fruit salad served as a part of continental breakfast
In addition to those four things, we also put mint leaves to the drinking water served to customers. Crystallized mint leaves (pictured) are mint leaves that are dipped into egg white
and then rolled in sugar. In a little time, the sugar and egg give the leaves a chrystal-like appearence, hence the name. They look really cool and are delicious, and surely much more healthier than candies – it should be remembered that serving healthy options to customers is a part of sustainable food program. We used to give candies to hand out with bills, but now we have replaced candies with homemade crystallized mint sweets. Now which one sounds more appealing to you? Also, this way, there is no need to buy so much candies and that saves money and reduces need for transportation, in theory at least. We don’t a have mint in large quantities, just two small spots as can be seen from the pictures below, but according to our chef that is just enough for our restaurants, and little enough not to worry about the preserving part. All of the mint can be used fresh and all of it will be used, and no mint needs to be bought during the season. And that, my friends, is what sustainable food production is all about. However, our resources of mint are naturally seasonal and half of the year we do need to buy some mint elsewhere. We are, however, going to extent the season as much as possible by covering the plants with plastic in autumn. Besides, we don’t use mint much when it’s off-season anyway so no worries about it. One of the main principles of sustainability in foods is to use seasonal ingredients that are locally available, so seasonality is not a problem at all, although it does mean a bit more menu planning and other thinking. 
Mint in The Roadhouse
Mint in The Schoolhouse
That's it for today. Thank you for your interest, keep tuned! And you are welcome to come and try our own homemade mint sorbert among other homemade sweets!
That's it for today. Thank you for your interest, keep tuned! And you are welcome to come and try our own homemade mint sorbert among other homemade sweets!
May 6, 2009
Composting at The Schoolhouse
Now it’s time for a post about composting. To create a real and working composting program to The Schoolhouse is an essential part of our sustainable food project and is something every restaurant should do to lessen the burden of mother earth and to keep the waste away from the overloaded landfills which are a major problem in the world today. It is estimated that, depending on sources, 20-25% of all waste going to landfills is food and garden waste, and around 30% of the waste filling the landfills is actually compostable. So, we feel that it is our responsibility to start composting, as soon as possible. In addition, a restaurant can decrease, arguably, it's waste productions by 30% by composting, which can mean a significant cost reduction in many cases. Also, we are aiming for the fourth eco-star which surely won’t be possible without composting - and it shoudn't be.
In addition to these obvious environmental reasons, finished compost provides numerous benefits for the garden by adding nutrients to the soil. It enhances soil aeration and water retention and helps prevent erosion. So the compost product can be used in gardens as organic fertilizer. By composting and using compost on the garden, we can do (chemical)fertilizer-free gardening and thus serve truly organic and healthy vegetables and herbs to our customers. That is truly an important part of the whole concept of sustainable foods.
What is composting? That’s a question some of you might ask. Composting is nature's process of recycling decomposed organic materials into a rich soil known as compost. Anything that was once living will decompose. In this process, various micro-organisms break down organic matter into simpler substances - eventually the waste turns into soil, into nature's own fertilizer. Basically, composting by ourselves is an acceleration of the same process nature uses. By composting our organic waste we are returning nutrients back into the soil in order for the cycle of life to continue. Finished compost looks like soil, it is dark earth that smells like the earth you smell in forests. So there is no need to send the garden and food waste to landfills, when we can, by a little effort, make it soil again and use it in our gardens etc.
Composting is a simple thing as a process really. You just have to make the effort to make it happen. In many western countries composting is made easy by haulers automatically collecting compostable waste – one just has to separate the compostable waste, rest of the process is done elsewhere. Here at Mutianyu, however, we are not blessed with that kind of luxury so we have to do the whole thing ourselves. Luckily we live in the countryside, so it is easily doable. As said above, it is nature’s own process, we just have to make it convenient for us and help it a bit.
Then we can move to the question how we are actually going to make the composting work here at The Schoolhouse. The first thing in the process is to decide what kind of compost or bin system we are going to use, and where should it be located. There are a tremendous number of options for containing the compost. Some people choose to go binless, simply building a compost pile in a convenient spot on the ground. Others build bins from materials such as recycled pallets, or two-by-fours and plywood. And, of course, there are many commercial bins on the market. Commercial bins are naturally good for home-use in urban areas, but here in the countryside there's no need to spent all that money. We are not going to use any commercial fancy bins, as here in the countryside a compost spot where the compost pile can be built is enough. We just need to decide where to locate the pile, then built some simple bottomless “bin” with for example chicken-wire or wood. We’ll just keep it simple, all we need is a place and a little something to outline it with, to keep it organized. We are going to put the compost pile somewhere near The Roadhouse, where our garden is situated.
As we are a restaurant, we create a lot of compostable waste, which is why we should have a two-spot/two-bin compost system. This way one pile can compost while one pile is being built, and the composting will be more efficient. It should be also borne in mind that a compost pile shouldn’t be too large, because otherwise it will not get enough air and water to decompose. A compost pile shouldn’t be bigger that 2m x 2m x 2m, according to various websites. So, actually, we could need more than two separate piles. But, as long as we keep it simple, it is always easy to add new piles in time.
Obviously, we are going to build the compost piles over time, whenever the compost bins indoors gets full, so the stuff on the bottom will decompose first, since it will have been there the longest. When there is finished compost at the bottom of the bin, and we want to use it, we simply remove the unfinished compost from on top, take out what you need, and throw the unfinished compost back on top. Also, the compost pile should be turned every now and then, especially when it’s fully built up, in order to accelerate the process. Once a week would be ideal. This turning process is crucially important for the composting to work!
Although composting is a natural process, it doesn’t really work if one just throws waste in a spot and leave it there. It needs more effort than that. A compost pile needs four elements to successfully decompose: carbon, nitrogen, water and air. Compostable waste can be divided into two groups: brown matter which is high in carbon and green matter which is high on nitrogen. A healthy compost pile should have much more carbon than nitrogen. A simple rule according to composting websites is to use one-third green and two-thirds brown materials. This allows oxygen to penetrate and nourish the organisms that reside there. Too much nitrogen makes for a heavy, smelly, slowly decomposing mass, which is no good for anyone. At this point you are probably interested in what is green and what is brown matter. Here you go:
- Brown materials: leaves, brunches, bushes, straw, hay, pine needles, wood ash, sawdust, newspaper, tissues, cardboard, corn cobs, wood chips
- Green materials: table scraps, fruit and vegetables scraps, grass clippings, lawn and garden weeds, flowers, cuttings, coffee grounds, tea leaves
Basically, we should just put different layers to the pile. It is actually quite simple, because almost all the stuff coming from the kitchens is green matter, and brown matter is easy to collect from the yards and gardens around. So we throw the kitchen waste, as well as the weed and flowers, to be one layer and then cover it up with brown matter. There should always be at least a bit of garden waste or something like that on top of the pile, to keep the odours away to some extent. The layering is needed just when starting the pile, afterwards when it’s being turned every now and then everything can be mixed together – however, there should still be more brown that green waste, keep the same ratio! To be more efficient, there should some layers of fertilizers and soil as well, but more about later. Also, as said, compost needs water to succeed, so the pile should water every now and then, especially when the weathers are dry. However, it is as important that the pile doesn't get overwatered, so that something to careful with.
In order to compost, the next step after having choosing the spot and system for the compost, and after learning how to compost, is to actually put two different kinds of bins, for compostable and for non-compostable items, in every room. There should be instructions in (or near) the bins (Chinese, English) what should be thrown in which bin. This is crucially important, people must learn how to compost. That is the first step, without that the whole thing just don’t work. We are planning to have a meating with whole staff to teach the basics of composting, and our chef Randhir promised to make sure his kitchen staff gets familiar with this thing.
So, after being writing this much about composting, now would be about the time to discuss what can be composted and what can’t. A great variety of things can be composted at home, saving them from a one-way trip to the landfill, and turning them into a valuable soil amendment for home use.
Things that should be composted and thrown to THE COMPOST BIN:
- All food waste, except meat. Small amount of cooked meat is ok, but meat in bigger quantities should be thrown away to non-compostable bins. Same goes for dairy products.
- Tea-begs and coffee grounds and coffee filters
Leaves
- Grass
- Hay
- Tissues, newpaper, other similar paper
- Weeds and other garden waste
- Wood chips and sawdust
The reason why meat and diary products shouldn’t be composted in large quantities is that they attract pests and can be really smelly, as well as they are slow to decompose and thus slows down the process.
Things that shouldn’t be composted and thrown to THE NON-COMPOST BIN:
- Plastic
- Metal
- Glass
- Other non-organic materials
- Chemically treated wood products
- Human waste
- Pet waste
- Bones
- Diseased plants
- Meat and dairy products in large quantities
So, when we have the compost spot and pile set up, and the compost bins all in site, we are in a place where we can start composting. We must educate everyone to know how to separate the waste. Actually, we talked with our chef that we are going to start the waste separating before we actually start composting, just to make people used to it. Then we just wait until the compost bins are full and then transport them to The Roadhouse compost pile. For now, we don’t have compostable plastic bags, so the bag containing the waste should be emptied to the compost pile. The compost should be ready in a few months, after which it can be used in our gardens as a natural fertilizers. So, that’s how we get more environmentally friendly and that’s how we can do chemical-free gardening. It’s not too hard, is it?
The whole process should be ongoing by 1st June this year. I’ve been finding out information about composting and done some plans, but this post is actually the first step towards the successful composting process in The Schoolhouse. I will keep you updated how everything goes – with shorter posts in the future, I promise.
In addition to these obvious environmental reasons, finished compost provides numerous benefits for the garden by adding nutrients to the soil. It enhances soil aeration and water retention and helps prevent erosion. So the compost product can be used in gardens as organic fertilizer. By composting and using compost on the garden, we can do (chemical)fertilizer-free gardening and thus serve truly organic and healthy vegetables and herbs to our customers. That is truly an important part of the whole concept of sustainable foods.
What is composting? That’s a question some of you might ask. Composting is nature's process of recycling decomposed organic materials into a rich soil known as compost. Anything that was once living will decompose. In this process, various micro-organisms break down organic matter into simpler substances - eventually the waste turns into soil, into nature's own fertilizer. Basically, composting by ourselves is an acceleration of the same process nature uses. By composting our organic waste we are returning nutrients back into the soil in order for the cycle of life to continue. Finished compost looks like soil, it is dark earth that smells like the earth you smell in forests. So there is no need to send the garden and food waste to landfills, when we can, by a little effort, make it soil again and use it in our gardens etc.
Composting is a simple thing as a process really. You just have to make the effort to make it happen. In many western countries composting is made easy by haulers automatically collecting compostable waste – one just has to separate the compostable waste, rest of the process is done elsewhere. Here at Mutianyu, however, we are not blessed with that kind of luxury so we have to do the whole thing ourselves. Luckily we live in the countryside, so it is easily doable. As said above, it is nature’s own process, we just have to make it convenient for us and help it a bit.
Then we can move to the question how we are actually going to make the composting work here at The Schoolhouse. The first thing in the process is to decide what kind of compost or bin system we are going to use, and where should it be located. There are a tremendous number of options for containing the compost. Some people choose to go binless, simply building a compost pile in a convenient spot on the ground. Others build bins from materials such as recycled pallets, or two-by-fours and plywood. And, of course, there are many commercial bins on the market. Commercial bins are naturally good for home-use in urban areas, but here in the countryside there's no need to spent all that money. We are not going to use any commercial fancy bins, as here in the countryside a compost spot where the compost pile can be built is enough. We just need to decide where to locate the pile, then built some simple bottomless “bin” with for example chicken-wire or wood. We’ll just keep it simple, all we need is a place and a little something to outline it with, to keep it organized. We are going to put the compost pile somewhere near The Roadhouse, where our garden is situated.
As we are a restaurant, we create a lot of compostable waste, which is why we should have a two-spot/two-bin compost system. This way one pile can compost while one pile is being built, and the composting will be more efficient. It should be also borne in mind that a compost pile shouldn’t be too large, because otherwise it will not get enough air and water to decompose. A compost pile shouldn’t be bigger that 2m x 2m x 2m, according to various websites. So, actually, we could need more than two separate piles. But, as long as we keep it simple, it is always easy to add new piles in time.
Obviously, we are going to build the compost piles over time, whenever the compost bins indoors gets full, so the stuff on the bottom will decompose first, since it will have been there the longest. When there is finished compost at the bottom of the bin, and we want to use it, we simply remove the unfinished compost from on top, take out what you need, and throw the unfinished compost back on top. Also, the compost pile should be turned every now and then, especially when it’s fully built up, in order to accelerate the process. Once a week would be ideal. This turning process is crucially important for the composting to work!
Although composting is a natural process, it doesn’t really work if one just throws waste in a spot and leave it there. It needs more effort than that. A compost pile needs four elements to successfully decompose: carbon, nitrogen, water and air. Compostable waste can be divided into two groups: brown matter which is high in carbon and green matter which is high on nitrogen. A healthy compost pile should have much more carbon than nitrogen. A simple rule according to composting websites is to use one-third green and two-thirds brown materials. This allows oxygen to penetrate and nourish the organisms that reside there. Too much nitrogen makes for a heavy, smelly, slowly decomposing mass, which is no good for anyone. At this point you are probably interested in what is green and what is brown matter. Here you go:
- Brown materials: leaves, brunches, bushes, straw, hay, pine needles, wood ash, sawdust, newspaper, tissues, cardboard, corn cobs, wood chips
- Green materials: table scraps, fruit and vegetables scraps, grass clippings, lawn and garden weeds, flowers, cuttings, coffee grounds, tea leaves
Basically, we should just put different layers to the pile. It is actually quite simple, because almost all the stuff coming from the kitchens is green matter, and brown matter is easy to collect from the yards and gardens around. So we throw the kitchen waste, as well as the weed and flowers, to be one layer and then cover it up with brown matter. There should always be at least a bit of garden waste or something like that on top of the pile, to keep the odours away to some extent. The layering is needed just when starting the pile, afterwards when it’s being turned every now and then everything can be mixed together – however, there should still be more brown that green waste, keep the same ratio! To be more efficient, there should some layers of fertilizers and soil as well, but more about later. Also, as said, compost needs water to succeed, so the pile should water every now and then, especially when the weathers are dry. However, it is as important that the pile doesn't get overwatered, so that something to careful with.
In order to compost, the next step after having choosing the spot and system for the compost, and after learning how to compost, is to actually put two different kinds of bins, for compostable and for non-compostable items, in every room. There should be instructions in (or near) the bins (Chinese, English) what should be thrown in which bin. This is crucially important, people must learn how to compost. That is the first step, without that the whole thing just don’t work. We are planning to have a meating with whole staff to teach the basics of composting, and our chef Randhir promised to make sure his kitchen staff gets familiar with this thing.
So, after being writing this much about composting, now would be about the time to discuss what can be composted and what can’t. A great variety of things can be composted at home, saving them from a one-way trip to the landfill, and turning them into a valuable soil amendment for home use.
Things that should be composted and thrown to THE COMPOST BIN:
- All food waste, except meat. Small amount of cooked meat is ok, but meat in bigger quantities should be thrown away to non-compostable bins. Same goes for dairy products.
- Tea-begs and coffee grounds and coffee filters
Leaves
- Grass
- Hay
- Tissues, newpaper, other similar paper
- Weeds and other garden waste
- Wood chips and sawdust
The reason why meat and diary products shouldn’t be composted in large quantities is that they attract pests and can be really smelly, as well as they are slow to decompose and thus slows down the process.
Things that shouldn’t be composted and thrown to THE NON-COMPOST BIN:
- Plastic
- Metal
- Glass
- Other non-organic materials
- Chemically treated wood products
- Human waste
- Pet waste
- Bones
- Diseased plants
- Meat and dairy products in large quantities
So, when we have the compost spot and pile set up, and the compost bins all in site, we are in a place where we can start composting. We must educate everyone to know how to separate the waste. Actually, we talked with our chef that we are going to start the waste separating before we actually start composting, just to make people used to it. Then we just wait until the compost bins are full and then transport them to The Roadhouse compost pile. For now, we don’t have compostable plastic bags, so the bag containing the waste should be emptied to the compost pile. The compost should be ready in a few months, after which it can be used in our gardens as a natural fertilizers. So, that’s how we get more environmentally friendly and that’s how we can do chemical-free gardening. It’s not too hard, is it?
The whole process should be ongoing by 1st June this year. I’ve been finding out information about composting and done some plans, but this post is actually the first step towards the successful composting process in The Schoolhouse. I will keep you updated how everything goes – with shorter posts in the future, I promise.
May 4, 2009
The Roadhouse Spring Garden Vol.2
Finally good news form the Roadhouse Spring Garden! Six days ago, on Tuesday last week, Li Fengquan with hes crew planted the herbs and the lettuce, as well as the cucumber, to our precious garden. This was after quite a long time of preparing and finding out what things to take into concideration. I feels great to have most of the plants planted – it feels like we are actually achieving some goals. In addition, the spring onion and the pink radish are doing great and are soon ready to be served in our restaurants. During this week, we are going to harvest some leafs of the pink radish, which our chef Randhir is going to use all of our three restaurants:
-As a part of the salads served in The Schoolhouse
-As a part of the complimentary vegetable plate served as an appetizer in Xiaolumian and The Roadhouse.
Radish leaves will be the second "own plant" served in our restaurant this spring, first being the Xiang Chun. Radish leaves have a slightly peppery flavor similar to arugula’s, and are supposedly really tasty. Radishes are rich in absorbic acid, folic acid, and potassium. They are a good source of vitamin B6, riboflavin, magnesium, copper, and calcium. Healthy, again! Isn’t it great to be able to use different parts of the same plant in culinary purposes? I didn’t know before that one could eat radish leaves. It is things like this that gets us closer to the goal of using our own food as efficiently as possible.
So, what we have growing at the garden right now is three different kinds of lettuce (lollo rosso, butter lettuce, lettuce mix), basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, dill, two kinds of parsley (curly leaf and flat leaf), cucumber, spring onion and pink radish. Rucola and the rest of the vegetables are being planted soon. The amount planted was one small bag of seeds of each plant. How much this really is depends on the species, for example with oregano this meant 1500 seeds, parsley 1000 seeds and basil 750 seeds. This probably doesn’t say anything to anyone - at least it doesn’t to me - but it was enough to fill the plot designed for each plant. When it comes to the lettuce, however, the whole area was not planted now, as I did explain in earlier posts. Lettuce can’t be preserved, and so it is good to plant it in a few different times, to guarantee a continuous supply of fresh lettuce, and to reduce the risk of lettuce being thrown away.
Yesterday I finally got all the signs done for the garden, after a few problems. They are laminated plastic signs telling the name of the plant in English and in Chinese. Many thanks to Michelle, my collegue, for translations! We went on site this morning with Li Haixin and Li Zhan Zi at last to put some signs where they belong – so far there are signs telling where basil, oregano, dill, rosemary, thyme, spring onion and pink radish is growing. I would like to get the rest of the signs there tomorrow. As can be seen from the garden map I posted earlier, there are three walkways going through the garden. The signs are along these walkways, so customers can take a short walk in the garden and see what we are growing there. After, or before, being served some homegrown vegetables or herbs, what would be better for the customers than to actually see the plant they are eating? This should really give a feeling of eating organically and sustainably. We must really educate the servers to tell customers whenever they are eating our home-grown food - that, I think, is essentially important. Another option is to put the information on the menu, so that customers can read about the garden growing behind them.
We also separated different spots – not yet all though – by strings today. The material used for this purpose is iron wire, which was readily available and actually suits the purpose really well. Every second section is white wire and every second red wire, just to make it more interesting. The rest of the strings should be on site really soon, now when it's started it shouldn't take long to finish it.
-As a part of the salads served in The Schoolhouse
-As a part of the complimentary vegetable plate served as an appetizer in Xiaolumian and The Roadhouse.
Radish leaves will be the second "own plant" served in our restaurant this spring, first being the Xiang Chun. Radish leaves have a slightly peppery flavor similar to arugula’s, and are supposedly really tasty. Radishes are rich in absorbic acid, folic acid, and potassium. They are a good source of vitamin B6, riboflavin, magnesium, copper, and calcium. Healthy, again! Isn’t it great to be able to use different parts of the same plant in culinary purposes? I didn’t know before that one could eat radish leaves. It is things like this that gets us closer to the goal of using our own food as efficiently as possible.
So, what we have growing at the garden right now is three different kinds of lettuce (lollo rosso, butter lettuce, lettuce mix), basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, dill, two kinds of parsley (curly leaf and flat leaf), cucumber, spring onion and pink radish. Rucola and the rest of the vegetables are being planted soon. The amount planted was one small bag of seeds of each plant. How much this really is depends on the species, for example with oregano this meant 1500 seeds, parsley 1000 seeds and basil 750 seeds. This probably doesn’t say anything to anyone - at least it doesn’t to me - but it was enough to fill the plot designed for each plant. When it comes to the lettuce, however, the whole area was not planted now, as I did explain in earlier posts. Lettuce can’t be preserved, and so it is good to plant it in a few different times, to guarantee a continuous supply of fresh lettuce, and to reduce the risk of lettuce being thrown away.
Yesterday I finally got all the signs done for the garden, after a few problems. They are laminated plastic signs telling the name of the plant in English and in Chinese. Many thanks to Michelle, my collegue, for translations! We went on site this morning with Li Haixin and Li Zhan Zi at last to put some signs where they belong – so far there are signs telling where basil, oregano, dill, rosemary, thyme, spring onion and pink radish is growing. I would like to get the rest of the signs there tomorrow. As can be seen from the garden map I posted earlier, there are three walkways going through the garden. The signs are along these walkways, so customers can take a short walk in the garden and see what we are growing there. After, or before, being served some homegrown vegetables or herbs, what would be better for the customers than to actually see the plant they are eating? This should really give a feeling of eating organically and sustainably. We must really educate the servers to tell customers whenever they are eating our home-grown food - that, I think, is essentially important. Another option is to put the information on the menu, so that customers can read about the garden growing behind them.
We also separated different spots – not yet all though – by strings today. The material used for this purpose is iron wire, which was readily available and actually suits the purpose really well. Every second section is white wire and every second red wire, just to make it more interesting. The rest of the strings should be on site really soon, now when it's started it shouldn't take long to finish it.
Here are some pictures taken today. I'll put some more when all the strings and signs are there, which should be really soon!
The garden this morning, before the signs and strings were installed. See how well the onion and radish is doing!
The herbs are planted. From front to back: Dill, thyme, rosemary, basil and oregano.
The lettuce trinagle after first plantings. Right in the front you can also see cucumber growing.
Pink Radish growing well at the garden. Here you can see a close example of the signs, too.
Li Haixin and Li Zhen Zi putting the strings to separate different plots. Behind, you can see the first signs along the walkway.
Thumbs up for our garden!
May 3, 2009
The Brickyard trees… And Xiang Chun being served!
A quick update on our own tree inventory. On September this year the company’s first Inn, The Brickyard Inn, should open with sixteen rooms all with Great Wall views. The Inn is built into an old glazed tile factory and will be a great addition to China Countryside Hotels. Anyway, there has been all together nine edible trees planted there, which is naturally good news to our project to grow and serve own food. Obviously they weren't planted from a seed, but from a young tree - otherwise it would take ages for them to grow. There are also plans made already to plant more edible trees in The Brickyard in the future, probably next year - preferably apricots, but decisions haven't been made yet. So, for now, these should be added to the “tree list”:- The Apricots of The Brickyard (5) (pictured, below, right)
- The Hongguos of The Brickyard (3) (pictured, below, left)
- The Persimmon of The Brickyard (pictured, above)
These are all brand new trees and won’t probably give any fruits until next year. However, what is especially delighting in these new plantings is that before we had only two apricot trees in our premises, although apricots are something our chef really wants to have – he makes, for example, delicious home-made apricot marmalade. We are trying to find a local, responsible vendor for apricots, but it is good to have own ones growing as well. As for hongguo, we previously had six trees, so now we have nine, which is a significant increase. That’s always good to have as there’s quite a many things that can be made out of it.And again about Xiang Chun… Great news! As it turns out, it is already ready to be harvested and we already started to serve it in The Schoolhouse. On Thursday, we took Xiang Chun leaves from a tree at The Pavilion’s gate, and the next day Randhir made deep-fried Xiang Chun out of them (pictured). Those were served as complimentary appetizers for guests – and yes, they received many compliments. I tried to go around as much as possible to tell people what those
are and that they are actually from our own three. I think it is important to let customers know the efforts we are making to be as sustainable and local as possible. Randhir also made Xiang Chun omelets yesterday and served them as appetizers in our Saturday night gourmet dinner, as well as used it to make the T-bone steak dish more interesting, but I failed to take pictures of those. Anyway, we harvested about one half of a big Xiang Chun tree and got 3,2 kg of it - three plastic bags full. There is still left of that 3,2kg, after two busy days and a Saturday night dinner! More is being served today. And there is plenty more where that came from. So we are going to have a lot of this Chinese delicacy. In fact, I am starting to believe that the 39 kg a year might actually be possible. That is great, because in many cases Xiang Chun is a great option for something we would otherwise have to buy and transport! So far we are only serving it in The Schoolhouse, but soon we are going to get in to Roadhouse and Xiaolumian as well.I'll keep you updated again. Have a great week everyone!
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