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Category Archives: Foraging

To Forage, To Forage

Posted on April 29, 2013 by annierie

YES! YES! YES! The wild asparagus are back!

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I wrote about them last year, when I got at least 40 or so spears of asparagus that keep coming up under my crepe myrtle. Saturday there was nothing there. Today. I found four spears in various lengths.

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One white one buried in mulch. It will turn green as it emerges. Two more deep in the mulch although one looks a little ragged like something decided to chew on it. Maybe the bunnies.

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Today’s rain was welcome as it is nourishing my garlic, my herbs, my greens and these wild plants. Oh, and the tulips. I am lucky that the animals ignore them. I guess having a yard with clover, dandelions, chick weed and whatever else out there keeps them happy and away from my flowers. As I have said often, I am loving spring time.\

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Eating Locally: Foraging in the Freezer

Posted on January 27, 2013 by annierie

It is Sunday night. Time to post about our winter challenge. Cook a meal using mostly local foods, in the middle of winter. My cyber community linked on my food challenge page is doing OK. Not as much posting as we used to do, but people are still into sourcing their food from near their homes.

I went shopping in my freezer this weekend.

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Oven dried tomatoes from my CSA this summer. Beef broth made earlier this month. Lovely beef short ribs from a trip to Breezy Willow a week ago. Add to it some celery from Olney market, carrots (not pictured) from Zahradka, an onion from England Acres and a can of organic black beans. Put it all in a baking dish. Add seasoning and olive oil.

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Put it all in the oven on the slow cook setting for five hours. Somewhere near the end, put a loaf of Stone House Rustic Italian bread, out of the freezer, into the other oven to defrost and crisp up.

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Serve it all with local wine and local butter. It looks wonderful, doesn’t it?

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Mission accomplished. Another almost totally local meal in the dead of winter. The beans weren’t local. Neither were the seasonings. Other than that, it is a tribute to what you can do around here with farm stands, markets and the contents of your freezer.

hocofood@@@

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Multitasking

Posted on November 26, 2012 by annierie

Seems like the six weeks around Thanksgiving to New Year’s are always super busy around here. Today is no exception. I have laundry going, dishwasher finishing up the last of the dishes from our Thanksgiving Saturday night and all the follow on cooking Sunday and I am slow cooking root veggies to get us back on track eating healthy meals.

Add to that the Christmas card writing, baking for this Saturday’s craft fair, and getting out the Christmas decorations.

In my fall cleanup I found lots of cards in the desk and I’m trying to use up old ones. No need to buy any in the next few years. I found more than enough plus another box in the guest room Christmas storage boxes. I also found the centerpiece flower holder I won at last year’s craft fair at the Conservancy. I decided to make my own centerpiece this year, using it. It was made by gluing cinnamon sticks on fabric around an oval flower holder.

I foraged in the yard, and found enough greenery including lavender, rosemary and savory from my herbs to make my own arrangement. A little sugar in the water will keep it fresh for a while, and I can replenish as it needs it. Added a cardinal for color. Instant centerpiece.

As for slow roasting the veggies, I have way too many root veggies in the crisper drawer, so time to make roasted root veggies with polenta. Tonight I will cook the polenta but now the veggies are getting nice and tender. Eating by Color, as usual, and getting flavor from spices and herbs.

Peeled, sliced in half or quartered, tossed in light olive oil, the sweet potato, apple and romanescu got some garam masala, a touch of cinnamon and a little butter. The rutabaga, golden beets, and both types of turnips got a no salt mix and some cayenne. Everything then got a light dusting of salt for flavor. Into the oven to roast for three hours on slow cook setting.

When they are done, I will cube most of them and heat and pour over the polenta. I make my polenta with the corn meal I get at Baugher’s.

It makes a dark rich polenta, perfect for big flavors. I made a Dark Days dinner last year with this polenta and short ribs. Tonight it will just be root veggies and I will finish it with a few bacon crumbles from the bacon I cooked up last weekend. Minimal meat. Mostly veggies. Taking a break from all those holiday foods.

Now back to the other task I have going. Making Christmas “gifts” to hand out at my brother’s big party. I am making my own dry rub mix. An easy fun holiday favor, or small gift to give friends and family along with my homemade cookies. As I have said before, we stopped buying “things” none of us needed.

As for the rest of my shopping, I will be doing most of it Saturday the 1st of December at the Natural Craft Sale. 9-3 at the Howard County Conservancy. I know that Breezy Willow will be there with lots of homemade items, including their soaps.

I hear GreenBridge Pottery will also be there. Critter crafts for the little ones. Master Gardener demos. Don’t miss it.

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Woo Hoo! Black Walnuts

Posted on October 21, 2012 by annierie

Without the hassle of shelling them myself. I know I could forage them, as they are everywhere in this area. But, Baugher’s does the hard work and I get the walnuts.

Baugher’s black walnuts

They have a very different taste. They make wonderful cookies. I will be putting these away in the freezer for a few weeks until I do the Christmas cookies. If you have seen black walnuts on roadsides or in fields, you know how hard they are to crack. Plus, the stain on the outer parts of the nut will take weeks to fade from your skin. They are all over the conservancy. I am amazed at how the squirrels manage to get into them.

Here are some of the walnuts from the conservancy, that the squirrels have been working open. There is a large tree on the entrance walkway where the staff does occasionally pick them up and take them. The ones all over the fields are left for the animals. The ones on that pathway become a hazard if you step on them. They are like big marbles and you slide over them. Not fun when covered with leaves.

We saw a huge pile of them on the side of Rte. 340 in Virginia last week. If we weren’t heading for the wine tasting at L’Auberge, we would have stopped and gathered them. Any of them on the right of ways along the highways are perfect for foraging. Like we do in the area when we find wild asparagus in the spring.

Besides the walnuts, today I got the box full of feed corn at Baugher’s. This box is a bargain, and I will be using some of it at an event next month at the conservancy. Right now though, it needs to stay out in the garage. Protected from the squirrels but allowing all the tiny moths to leave and find their way elsewhere.

feed corn to use for a craft project

It was a lovely fall day in Westminster. We headed out early to catch an amateur radio hamfest at the Agricultural Center. It was mostly local radio amateurs tailgating. Sort of a “vintage electronics” flea market. Just so you know, if you ever need tubes for old electronics, these hamfests are the place to find them. Oh, and lots of military surplus stuff. We met numerous friends from local clubs, had breakfast and coffee there and picked up the last of the cable needed to bring all the feeds back from the permanent and the crank up towers that are being assembled on our back meadow.

“hard line”

It was pretty popular there today. Lots of people browsing the tables on a sunny cool morning. With beautiful views of the countryside, and the adjoining farm museum.

All in all, a good day. I found walnuts. They also have chestnuts for those who love to cook with them. I picked up some mutsu apples, a variety that isn’t all that common around here. Got a few small spaghetti squash, as we are having them with dinner often, and I did pick up this winter’s supply of roasted corn meal. The walnuts and corn meal are available in the produce market by the restaurant and not out at the farm. The corn meal showed up last year in one of my “Eat Local” challenges. It makes a killer polenta. Plus, I used it in making scrapple.

roasted corn meal polenta with bison

If you want a day trip about 30 miles north of Columbia, Baugher’s is worth the drive. If only for their homemade ice creams. I was looking for their holiday ice creams, but they still have peach and berry ones in the case. Have to get closer to Thanksgiving before you see peppermint.

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Global Warming

Posted on June 26, 2012 by annierie

It has to be. Why else would I have ripe tomatoes in June? Earlier than I ever have harvested tomatoes? Last year I had yellow pear tomatoes on 1 July. This year, yellow plum harvested this morning. Here is the picture from yesterday morning.

Besides these, I have sweet olive tomatoes about ready. Maybe Thursday or Friday for the first of these.

This morning I went out to look for cucumbers. I had used many of them for salads, pickles and tzatziki for Field Day. I knew there were a few more lurking under the leaves. I was checking on the tomatoes and one of them fell off the vine, so I decided to take them to make breakfast.

I also pulled the last of the spring garlic in hopes of making some pesto. And pulled a few pole beans off. The take.

Breakfast came together easily. Some of those luscious eggs from my friend’s hens. Scapes from my spring garlic and my little tomatoes.

Added what I thought was the last of the foraged wild asparagus, but I found two more today. Trickling Springs butter. Some CSA yellow chard and Boarman’s bacon went in the pan also.

Let everything mix together and add some heels of bread to sop up all that good butter.

Yes, I broke one yolk. Remember ugly food tastes better. I just adjusted what I did.

Here’s to many more local meals from my garden, my friends, and the local farmers of Howard County. Any other tomatoes out there being harvested?

hocofood@@@

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The Friday Morning Harvest

Posted on June 15, 2012 by annierie

Ah, the beginning of the garden harvest. Today gave me six pole beans with the promise of a half dozen more tomorrow.

I had to harvest these close to the ground ones. Baby bunny squeezes through my deer fence, and these looked too tempting to leave until tomorrow. With the ones farther up the fence, and bunny proof, that I will harvest tomorrow, I will be steaming green beans to have with grilled petit filets tomorrow night.

I have another cucumber getting closer, and hopefully it won’t get bite marks like the last one. I will leave this one on a few more days to get bigger.

I did check out the asparagus to see what was there. One to cut, and one went to seed.

The herbs are flowering, particularly the varieties of thyme.

The tomatoes are coming along nicely. These are orange blossom.

About five of my tomato plants have tomatoes. All the rest are still in blossom stage. Can’t wait for the first cherry tomatoes to ripen next month. July 4th is usually when I get the first ones.

All in all, a nice Friday morning with a promise of a lovely weekend.

hocofood@@@

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Foraging Wild Asparagus

Posted on June 7, 2012 by annierie

All my past posts about my asparagus growing under my crepe myrtle sparked interest in how to find asparagus, and what it looks like when it goes to seed.

This is a really good example. Caught Tuesday night while I was volunteering at the transit of Venus. This is cultivated asparagus. The wild asparagus in my yard came with the crepe myrtle. Now that you know what it looks like, you can look around your area and see if you find some. This is a climate they like and plants will produce for 20-30 years.

Ours has been producing for the eight years we have lived here. I harvested what seems to be the last three spears yesterday. Nothing else coming up. A total of 36 spears from the one plant this year. They are fun to watch as they push through the deep layer of mulch. Particularly when they come up white.

The size differences are interesting to observe, as well. The thin ones stay thin, and don’t fatten. The thicker spears push through at the same size as they grow. The thin ones just get taller, not thicker. Took me a while at first to realize that leaving them in the ground won’t change their diameter much. Just pick them and enjoy. The thinnest ones don’t even need cooking, they are so tender.

My final three spears will probably find their way into something like my steamed spring veggies with butter and mint, that I made the other day.

Check around your area now that asparagus would be visible like the pic above, and maybe you can find a source of foraged deliciousness. Or, with patience, put in your own asparagus beds. Either way, spring flavor unique and fleeting.

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Kofta

Posted on June 5, 2012 by annierie

Something I have wanted to make, and never got around to it. My New Year’s resolutions included cooking different ethnic foods.

Kofta Kebabs

Made with Kite Hill Farms lamb bought at the market in Catonsville. More spices than you can shake a stick at. Worth it to grind them yourself. I did have cumin seed, coriander seed, allspice, cinnamon and peppercorns to grind and mixed that with the cayenne, ginger and sea salt to make the spice mix that went into these kebabs.

The recipe is from Sara Moulton.

I made three large kebabs and used metal skewers instead of soaking bamboo. We ate outside last night as the weather was lovely. I opened an old bottle of Virginia wine from King Family Vineyards. A Meritage blend of 75% merlot and 25% franc, a soft wine that went well with the lamb. Besides, it was ten years old and definitely ready to drink. I just checked on my wine cellar spreadsheet and see we have one left. Need to make a note to drink it soon.

I served the kofta with tzatziki, not home made, since I don’t have ripe cucumbers yet. Costco does make a nice tzatziki, and we use it all the time with spicy foods, or put it on potatoes. I made steamed English peas, asparagus (foraged), mini bok choy and snow peas. Served with butter and mint. Parboiled, then grilled new potatoes. Most of these are CSA or farmer’s market veggies, and the asparagus is almost the last of my wild ones. I have four spears still growing out there, ready almost but not quite. Haul this year seems to be a total of 36 spears of wild asparagus.

Dinner was relaxed, the breezes mild and the sun stayed out. A perfect evening enjoying the weather.

hocofood@@@

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You Like Tomayto, I Like Tomahto

Posted on May 25, 2012 by annierie

No matter how you pronounce it, tomatoes are my summer candy. So, I was excited yesterday morning to find this in my garden.

These are yellow plum tomatoes. I noticed the blossoms last week. Now, I have teeny tiny tomatoes there, and I have blossoms on the Sweet Olive plants, which are a determinate grape cherry tomato. They are an early bloomer and will be done before others produce.

The Wayfarer cucumbers are blossoming, and even have really tiny cukes starting to emerge. And yes, after I snapped the pics I went in and weeded out the emerging morning glories that inevitably come up from seeds left in the soil after last year. I use them as an attraction for pollinators at my perimeter, but they tend to take over unless you grab them out before the seed pods open in the fall.

The wild asparagus in my crepe myrtle is still producing. Besides the four spears in this pic, there are two more tiny ones coming out of the ground to the left of the plant. This year I have harvested 15 spears so far. These six would bring the total to 21, the most I have found in this location.

These two long thin spears will be sliced, blanched and find their way into some pasta with the garlic scape pesto tonight.

As for the lettuces and mixed greens, the rain rejuvenated them and there are all sorts of goodies hiding among the bolted plants. Time to harvest these and use as a garnish on a pizza.

I also think I need to do some serious mint pruning, and maybe make mint simple syrup for iced teas and summer drinks. This pot of mint is about six years old, coming back every spring.

Herbs and greens right now, with the promise of other goodies in the next few weeks. Gardening is one of those simple pleasures. What is your garden producing now?

hocofood@@@

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Foraging, Cultivating, Harvesting and Shopping

Posted on May 9, 2012 by annierie

Busy series of days. Don’t forget the Howard County Farmer’s Markets are open this week. Wednesday through Sunday.

I don’t know which one(s) I will get to visit, as I have to see what is in the CSA Box tomorrow. We got our tentative list. Twelve items!! At least, unless there is a typo and we aren’t getting scallions twice. We have gotten duplicates in the past, when items are plentiful from multiple sources. Since there are more than sixty farms in our CSA coop, we get similar items from individual sources.

As for the foraging, slowly I am finding single spears of asparagus out under the crepe myrtle. I now have four. By the weekend, two more and then maybe asparagus risotto will find its way on the menu.

The pole beans are in. The cukes go in later today, as they were all getting really leggy hanging around inside with the tomato plants. The tomatoes I will plant Saturday or Sunday. We may get one or two cool evenings and I want them to wait a few more days.

As for harvesting, the lettuces and greens are still going nuts. Dinner tonight will include arugula and microgreens from the boxes I have outside in a bunny resistant arrangement.

Arugula – spicy, peppery and so good in salads.

Greens by the back door, protected from strong sun will go all summer this way.

As for the markets, pick up some herbs and put in a pot or two. Great to snip fresh herbs on your grilled dinners.

Going full bore, and so good to use. Notice the cover in the background protecting the basil overnight. It is doing well, even though planted a little early. Sage, rosemary, lavender, tarragon, marjoram, thyme and mint. Really easy to grow.

hocofood@@@

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