You know you’re deeply ingrained into living in West HoCo, when you spend more time in Tractor Supply Co. than you do in Home Depot. Actually, you rarely do Home Depot. If TSC doesn’t have what you need, you are shopping at Clark’s or Kendall, supporting local businesses.
Today we needed stuff (or my better half did) for his tractor maintenance, and to clean up a few things on the snow thrower before putting it away. I wanted to visit Wagner’s Meats to get soup bones and ham hocks. I have some anasazi beans soaking to make soup in the crockpot overnight. I am getting into good enough shape to soak beans. If we get a crockpot soup done, it will be three of four meals worth.
Wagner’s processes meats for local farmers and sells also from a storefront. Yes, you can get a side of beef here, but you can also come in and just buy a pound of whatever you need. Soup bones are 89 cents a pound. Ham hocks were big and meaty and smell really wonderful right now as I am typing and they are cooking away.
This is my first visit to Wagner’s as I usually run down to Boarman’s but I can’t drive for a while, and the last time I hit Boarman’s, they were out of beef bones for making stock. I got four pounds today, safely stashed in the freezer until I have the time and am allowed to cut up all those veggies to add to make beef stock. Nothing like homemade stock to make soup.
While out there, we checked out the location of Cartercue, the BBQ joint out on Main St. It wasn’t open or we would have picked up some carryout to bring home for dinner tonight. Turns out the temporary cook aka my husband will be heating up leftover soup from the other night’s dinner.
I can’t wait to be cleared to eat real food again. This soft diet is driving me nuts. I must be healing. I am hungry.
Mt. Airy has the distinction of being in four counties in MD so you find yourself seeing county entrance signs almost every time you cross a creek. Since I enjoyed being outside on a great day, we came home on back roads south of the interstate, roads like Long Corner and Florence. Really west county out here. Yes, this is a named road, and not someone’s driveway.
If you don’t live in west county but want to see some incredibly beautiful parts of Howard County, take your GPS and put in a destination avoiding highways and taking the shortest distance instead of fastest time. We were heading south on Rte 27 when we input “go home” and it took us on roads like Gue, which is the road above in the picture. Never been on this one before.
Oh, and you definitely know you have changed how you live when many of your shoes come from Tractor Supply. Ariat I buy them when they go on sale.
hocofood@@@
AnnieRie Unplugged 