Category Archives: Community

OK, I Caved and Went to Wegmans

Posted on June 19, 2012 by AnnieRie

I admit it. I just had to go and see the place, even if it was super crowded. Just to compare it to Frederick and Hunt Valley while picking up a few things I needed before Amateur Radio Field Day. And some things for canning and pickling.

This is my first grocery run this month. I really only wanted coffee creamer, vitamin water, plain yogurt to make tzatziki with my cucumbers, hoagie rolls and fixings to make lunches for the better half as he sets up Friday and Saturday for field day, and white distilled vinegar for pickling. Oh, and fresh dill because I didn’t plant dill this year.

I got there before the noon rush. Not hard to get to the top deck and park near the clock.

Inside a little confusing as things are laid out a bit differently than at Frederick, but I got my hoagie rolls, some good whole grain bread, and headed back past the cheese aisle where I knew I could find The Wild Pea hummus. I resisted spending money on cheese, as I use my local sources for it.

Got a pic of some of the organic prices to use to compare to my CSA organic veggies. I may need to go back and adjust my savings as this price for baby bok choy was higher than I have been using for my cost analysis.

Bought no fruit or produce, as again, I use the local farmers for these items. Same with meat. Only got some deli sliced turkey to make the hoagies. Could not believe it, they were sold out of the large bottles of distilled white vinegar. They even went into the back to look. At $0.62 a quart for the gallon jug, I wasn’t going to buy four quart bottles for twice the unit price, so I guess it’s off to Costco to pick up vinegar. I will be out of it when pickling things Thursday.

I got a really bad picture through the glass of my cart coming up the escalator behind me. Too much glare to get it. I did walk right up to a checkout counter mid store that had one person paying as I placed my items on it. The next register was the same, and there were employees directing us to open registers along that long row.

Out to my car, and here is the time. Less than an hour, including running all over the bulk aisles looking for the vitamin waters. And, getting the fish department to select some large diver scallops to grill for dinner tonight. Stay tuned for the dinner posts sometime later.

My haul, a bit more than I went in to buy. But, much of it prep stuff for Friday at Field Day, and I did pick up the K Cup sampler I like. And, Chobani at $1 is a deal. I needed the plain Greek yogurt to make tzatziki and their prices are better than anywhere for Chobani.

I also grabbed a large bottle of their olive oil to use to make berry vinaigrettes.

And, yes, as I was leaving, it was getting crazy. Long lines of cars to get up to the parking garage.

Lots of people eating outside of the Market Cafe.

As others have said, avoid the food court and the prepared food section, and you can get in and shop fairly efficiently. I will probably be using them for all my grocery needs that can’t be filled by Roots and Boarman’s. Definitely for fish. The bakery may tempt me, but I still love Atwater’s breads. Wegmans may be a once or twice a month visit to get staples and some really good seafood. Oh, and sushi. None today because I am making the scallops tonight, but I do like to treat myself to their sushi.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Adventures, Commentary, Community, CSA, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food and tagged commentary, community, CSA, Food, foodie, hoco loco, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, real food, value of CSA, wegman's. Bookmark the permalink.

Picking Blueberries at Butler’s Orchard

Posted on June 12, 2012 by AnnieRie

Yes, today was a rainy Tuesday. One of those cool dreary days but at least the garden is being watered by Mother Nature and not me. A little less work this week. I did check on the cukes this morning to see how they are progressing and found them happy for the rain. I will probably pick this one tonight and make cucumber salad to have with the greens from the garden and the CSA.

We were in the mood for blueberries. The local farms have them ripe already and many pick your own farms are open during the week. A better time to venture out then on the weekend. We had never been to Butler’s but had heard that they have a very large, well stocked market as well as the pick your own fields. Besides, they had pickling and canning supplies and more variety ready to pick.

Armed with that knowledge we took off when it wasn’t raining for the trip on the back roads to the farm in Germantown. These are really back roads, with barely enough room for cars to pass. We wandered in the market and picked up some English peas to bring home and shell. We talked to the owner about the availability of some of the veggies. You really have to call every day to see if something is picked out, or available.

Blueberries were very abundant. The rain subsided so we decided to go for it. You ride out to the fields in a tractor driven tram, so when it started raining while we were picking, we could run back to it and ride back protected from the shower.

We did get over 2 pounds of berries today, at $2.49 a pound these are a fraction of the cost of buying them at markets or the stores. This haul cost us $5.25.

The farm has lots for families to do. Slides, swings, play sets, picnic tables, a petting zoo and lots of room to spread out.

Black raspberries were also ripe, and the blackberries are not that far off. We rode past the blackberries on the way out to the blueberry plants.

The blueberries will be around for a few more weeks at least. The plants are full of berries right now.

Check here and at Larriland to see what they have. Often they have the same fruit but veggies may vary. We went to Butler’s specifically to find English peas and they had some just picked. They also had those fields open to pick English peas and sugar snap peas, while Larriland has beets available.

If you are into canning or freezing, these two farms can supplement what you grow, and they are a huge bargain compared to shopping farmer’s markets. We may be back at Butler’s Thursday to get black raspberries. They are very short seasoned.

Butler’s is off Woodfield Rd. on your way to Gaithersburg. It is less than 20 miles from west Howard County, and a pretty drive when the weather cooperates. The location is lovely, even in the rain.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Adventures, Community, Day Trips, Food, Hobbies, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Weather, West HoCo and tagged community, day trips, Food, local businesses, Locavore, real food, weather, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Meet Me At the Fair

Posted on June 11, 2012 by AnnieRie

I know it’s summer when the fair brochure arrives in the mail. I go browsing through the home arts section to decide what to enter this year, and check on my tomatoes to see which ones will be the heirlooms to choose to enter.

I picked my first pickling cucumber this morning.

Not to brag or anything, but I put it up against the CSA pickles that came last Thursday. Mine is the big one on the left. 🙂

My husband wants me to make dill pickles like his mom made, and keep them in a crock. I hope my six plants give me enough to put up a crock of them. I also want to do bread and butter pickles for the fair.

In the past I entered tomatoes and herbs. This year I may branch out and do photography. I have lots of cool pics taken for the blog that would work in many categories, like historic Howard County, and animals, and still life (my flowers). Entering the fair is fun. Most of the time I get nothing but I have two ribbons, one for herbs and one for heirlooms.

Purple calabash, in 2010. This year I planted chocolate stripes, amana orange, legend, pink caspian, great white, pineapple and orange blossom. We will see what does best in my soil. I also planted lots of cherry and grape tomatoes. I never seem to do well in that area.

I did get a ribbon last year for my herbs. This year, the new herbs include tarragon and marjoram. I didn’t do stevia again. I did put in a number of lavender plants, and more varieties of basil. Can never have too much basil. Particularly when the tomatoes come in like this.

If you have never entered the fair, it is really easy to do. Herbs are the easiest. Flowers too. Growing enough veggies to meet the minimum in some categories is difficult but for grape or cherry tomatoes, it is easy to get 15 of them. It is not too late to plant a few tomato plants or an herb border in your yard, and you can put together the three herb arrangement you need to enter.

Try putting something out there this year. And, come to the fair in August. See if I got any ribbons!

hocoblogs@@@

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Posted in Community, Food, Gardening, Hobbies, Howard County, Locavore, West HoCo and tagged community, Food, gardening, heirloom tomatoes, hoco loco, Howard County, Locavore, tomatoes, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

Posted on June 6, 2012 by AnnieRie

At first last night it didn’t look promising to view the transit of Venus across the sun. As dozens of astronomers were setting up, the skies were cloudy.

Dozens of people started arriving, to wander among the scopes and binoculars. The clouds began to clear away and first views were registered.

Lots of excitement and people crowding around STARDOC’s sunspotter, where you would be able to capture a photograph of what you would see through the safely protected equipment that the Howard Astronomical League (HAL) members had set up across the Conservancy meadow.

I came in to take a picture of what I had viewed using a number of different scopes and binoculars around the field.

Then, as things progressed, the sun came out below a cloud cover and lit up the area.

Lots of viewing for quite a long time until the sun finally fell below a cloud cover on the western horizon, but it was certainly bright out there for long enough to capture some great views. The sheer numbers and sizes of all the scopes were incredible, and everyone got opportunities to view. The HAL members are such wonderful people, giving their time and sharing their equipment with the hundreds of people who attended.

Many people there had never heard of the Conservancy and they were interested in the trails, the events, the walks and the gardens, asking the three of us who volunteered that night countless questions about using the facilities, hiking the trails and coming to events. I had to refill the kiosk with trail maps and give out rental brochures to a couple of potential wedding rental queries.

It was a win-win event for HAL and the Conservancy, and I was happy to volunteer a few hours to park a few hundred cars. I recorded another picture of what I had seen.

Recorded the sunny finish of the event.

This event is the first of many in the month of June at the Conservancy, which also includes an event sponsored by the Columbia Festival of the Arts. Check out the upcoming events page and come out to a lovely site in Woodstock. This weekend is the monthly free wonder walk, Saturday at 10 am.

Don’t wait for the next solar event, but also keep in mind the August meteor showers, Night Sky/Dark Sky: The Perseid Meteor Showers on August 12th.

hocoblogs@@@

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Posted in Adventures, Commentary, Community, Howard County, Nature, Volunteering, Weather, West HoCo and tagged commentary, community, hoco loco, Howard County, howard county conservancy, nature, volunteering, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

The Transit of Venus

Posted on June 4, 2012 by AnnieRie

For those into astronomical events that only occur once or twice in your lifetime, Tuesday evening has one of the better ones. Cross your fingers that the weather cooperates, and come to the Howard County Conservancy where HAL is holding a viewing party for the transit of Venus across the sun.

Set up is around 5:30 pm, with the start of the transit at 6:03:38 pm EDT. If the sun is visible, there should be viewing available until almost 8:30 when the sun has set.

If there are no clouds, many club members are bringing nighttime viewing scopes and will hold a star party after the solar viewing ends.

If you miss this viewing, you can catch the next transit in 2117, one hundred and five years from now. Do not try to view the sun directly on your own, as you may damage your eyes.

Come say HI as I am one of the volunteers from the Conservancy assisting in HAL’s visit to the site.

hocoblogs@@@

Getting Ready for a Hectic Holiday Weekend

Posted on May 23, 2012 by AnnieRie

So much to do this weekend, with the holiday and with all the other events going on. What will tempt you to spend time out and about? Are you a beach goer? Or do you stay local?

Our weekend kicks off early with Wine in the Garden at the Conservancy tomorrow night. Cross your fingers for good weather. If you haven’t pre-purchased tickets, they will be selling them at the entrance. Come sip and taste in the loveliness of the Honors Garden.

Saturday I may be off to PA for a picnic at one of the farmers who supplies our CSA. It may be me and a friend, as my OldMan (OM in amateur radio speak) will be contesting and a weekend of listening to him calling “CQ Contest, CQ contest”, is hard to take. Oh wait, this is the CQ WW WPX CW contest, so all I get to hear is key clicks. Translation of the above, means it is the Morse Code only contest, and one where hams try to work as many unique prefixes, like JY, which is Jordan, or 9WA which is Malaysia.

Complicated, and easy to do if you have a unique prefix and everyone wants to call you, harder if you are a W something, like my hubby is. No one looking for him once they have worked W3LPL. He has to work hard to find all the unique prefixes out there. And, we only have wires, not towers.

Sunday I will wander back to Olney to get some fresh berries, and hope that the VA farmers there have cherries. We got our tentative list of what will be in this week’s CSA basket so I only need fruit to supplement the greens this week. I don’t want to touch the berries I processed while fresh goodies are still in the local markets. I will know tomorrow what I will be grilling if it stops threatening storms every night.

Monday we will be chilling out and avoiding those traffic clogged roads. Memorial Day traffic on the highways around here is crazy, so a day of grilling, chilling and drinking local wine sounds like a perfect ending to the holiday weekend.

Then, as retirees with nothing pressing to do later in the week, we will take a day to visit my hubby’s hometown and check on the grave sites for his dad and mom.

hocoblogs@@@

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Posted in Community, CSA, Day Trips, Farmer's Markets, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Retirement and tagged amateur radio, community, CSA, day trips, farmer's markets, Food, grilling, hoco loco, Howard County, howard county conservancy, local businesses, Locavore, volunteering. Bookmark the permalink.

Market Envy

Posted on May 21, 2012 by AnnieRie

Yes, I admit it. I envy those who live in Olney for the size and selection at their community market. Don’t get me wrong, I love our markets but they don’t have that festive community atmosphere that Olney has.

This market is only in its sixth year. It is a farmers and artists market, and also has food vendors. On opening day, they had special events and it was pretty crowded.

Yesterday when we went, they had a special display for kids, a bug petting zoo. Right next to the Master Gardeners who are committed to be there each week.

We started with Zeke’s Coffee and an omelet burrito, made while we watched the early attendees fill the area.

Some of the same farms frequent this market, like Falcon Ridge, who sold me rhubarb Friday in Columbia at the hospital market. Only here, they had a huge presence, with dwarf fruit trees and lots of plants.

Atwater’s was there, so I don’t have to drive to Catonsville to get artisanal breads. A loaf of rosemary Italian came home with us.

This market was the brainchild of one woman, who pitched it to the community. It took hold and grows every year. It would be wonderful to have something like this here in Howard County, like at Symphony Woods. I would volunteer to help. Why can’t we “Choose Community” and do something better than five small scattered markets?

I already posted that I was concerned at Glenwood, that South Mountain is no longer coming. Neither is Woodcamp. Thankfully, TLV stepped up to bring meats to Glenwood. Breezy Willow will be there in June, but Saturday, there was only one farmer selling spring produce at Glenwood. That is sad. There were three last summer.

It looks like I will be getting my meats by going directly to TLV and getting other things I need at Olney. It is closer to me in West County than most of the Columbia markets and Ellicott City, and equidistant to get to the hospital market. I don’t want to abandon Howard County, but if we don’t step up what we do as a county, will we lose to markets like Olney?

Should we add artisanal foods and art? That is a sticky subject, but brings in customers. Is purity more important than profit? I don’t know that answer. I just feel that our farmers are being shortchanged, and good vendors are going where the communities support them with bigger draws.

Am I off base?

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Commentary, Community, Farmer's Markets, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, West HoCo and tagged commentary, community, farmer's markets, Food, hoco loco, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

To Market, To Market

Posted on May 19, 2012 by AnnieRie

Friday and Saturday markets in HoCo were fairly busy, but not to the level they could be. I attended both this week, mainly to see what the local vendors have, and to round out my CSA box items.

Friday was better than Saturday, as I see Breezy Willow isn’t coming until June, and South Mountain Creamery isn’t coming at all. At least that is what their web site says. That’s too bad, because I loved their yogurts, mozzarella, ice cream and other goodies, like their butter. Don’t know why they canceled but it was a disappointment.

Friday I went to the Hospital site specifically to see if Love Dove Farms had garlic scapes. And, yes, they did.

Pesto will be on the menu in a few days. I picked up pine nuts at Costco in anticipation of getting scapes. I also found some lovely rhubarb from Falcon Ridge Farm in Westminster, to go with those Larriland strawberries from my morning picking frenzy.

Strawberry rhubarb compote, pesto for the TLV Tree Farm chicken from Miller Library market and I have a great meal planned for tomorrow or Monday.

This is a good warm up for our next challenge. It’s the Southern SOLE Food Challenge. Ten of us who did the winter challenge to eat locally at least once a week have informally decided to have our own summer challenge to showcase south of the Mason Dixon line cooking with market and home grown goodies. Our challenge will run from June to Halloween. Stay around and see what we cook. I will be putting up a sidebar linking to the nine blogs besides mine. All of us enjoyed learning new recipes and commiserating about finding grains and other difficult locally sourced items in the winter. This informal get together will show what we can find to cook during the high seasons here in the Southeast.

SOUTHERN SOLE FOOD CHALLENGERS
AnnieRie Unplugged – me
Backyard Grocery Northern VA
Bumble Lush Garden near DC
Eat. Drink. Nourish. South Carolina
Eating Appalachia Blue Ridge VA
Eating Floyd Southwest VA
Family Foodie Survival Guide Northern VA
Sincerely, Emily Texas
The Soffritto right up the road in Woodstock
Windy City Vegan North Carolina

Victoria from The Soffrito and I met on line here and found out we live less than 10 miles from one another. Today we met face to face for coffee at Casual Gourmet before hitting the Glenwood market. I did get some nice flowers from Greenway, and some beets and radishes from Zahradka. Plus, a buttermilk cake from Stone House, highly recommended by Lewis Orchards to showcase the local strawberries.

The flowers are already in their pots on the deck. Above the mint and with some chives I picked up at Larriland yesterday. The herb garden is done. The veggies, almost. I need to pull out the greens and put in some rainbow chard seed to get chard later this summer.

Tomorrow we are off to Olney to have brunch at their market and see if they have any dairy sources to replace South Mountain. I don’t feel like driving to B’more to get dairy, or to Frederick. We may have to resort to home delivery once a month. I do love their mozzarella, and their yogurts enough to set up a delivery schedule. It is sad we have lost all the dairies except for Bowling Green in HoCo.

Support the markets. Don’t let them lose vendors due to lack of interest. Today is Food Revolution Day, if you follow Jamie Oliver. Cook with real ingredients and enjoy the local summer bounty.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Commentary, Community, Farmer's Markets, Food, Gardening, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, West HoCo and tagged commentary, community, cooking, farmer's markets, Food, gardening, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, real food, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Larriland Strawberries

Posted on May 18, 2012 by AnnieRie

My kitchen smells like strawberries. My truck smelled like strawberries. What is it about strawberries that just screams summer is coming.

OK, this is only nine pounds of strawberries. To do twenty and get the discount was way too much work. I did forget there was no school today as there were families all over Larriland on their opening morning.

Today you could pick strawberries, spinach and chard.

I obviously chose strawberries and spent about 45 minutes collecting my berries.

I then came home and started processing. These strawberries are destined for the freezer. Farmers market strawberries get eaten. I wanted three different preparations but first I wanted lunch.

Leaf lettuce from the CSA, Larriland strawberries, and Marcona almonds from Costco (not local obviously), drizzled with berry vinaigrette from Catoctin Mountain Orchards.

After lunch, the first phase. Freezing whole berries to keep them from clumping. They were dipped just on the tips in super fine sugar before freezing.

Once I came back from my other errands (will be in another post), I took them out and packaged them.

I then did the puree, in order to have cubes for vinaigrettes and for plopping into sangria.

Finally, sliced berries to put away for the winter. A little lemon juice, some super fine sugar, sliced berries, and come February I will be loving these.

Larriland’s website did say they might not have enough ripe berries to cover the weekend so call or go early. It was definitely busy today.

I did stop up at the barn to pick up a few supplies, and some chives to plant. Larriland is just a hoco tradition. For me, only ten miles from the house. Closer than all but one grocery store. How can you resist the lure of the farm?

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Community, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, West HoCo and tagged community, Food, foodie, hoco loco, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, traditions, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Wine in the Garden

Posted on May 17, 2012 by AnnieRie

With all the talk about Wine in the Woods, don’t forget that next Thursday is one of the highlights of the Howard County Conservancy annual events, Wine in the Garden.

Reduced price for tickets ends on May 20th. $40 until then, $50 after that. It is well worth the price of admission to spend the evening wandering the paths of the Honors Garden, while sampling excellent food and tasting the wines provided by the event sponsors.

All proceeds from this event go to fund the preservation and education programs at the Conservancy. This is the big event of the year, where the Conservancy’s generous sponsors donate the food, drink, and silent auction items.

As you stroll around, you will see the descriptions or the items displayed. There are some really nice additions this year to what is being offered. I am looking at the BSO tickets, or maybe the weekend at the B&B in Shepherdstown WV. Last year we won a fold up reclining chair donated by REI. Every day new items are being added as they are delivered to the Conservancy.

The caterers and wine contributors include:
Absolutely Perfect Catering ~ Atlantic Caterers ~ Biddle Street Catering and Events ~ Catering by Uptown ~ Constellation Wines US ~ Far Eastern Shore Winery ~ Gourmet Express Catering ~ Hunt Valley Catering ~ My Thyme, Inc ~ Putting on the Ritz ~ Reliable Churchill ~ The Savory Spoon ~ Simply Elegant Catering ~ The Spice Rack ~Stanford Grill ~ Your Wine & Spirit Shoppe

I wanted to highlight this list of local and nearby companies who annually contribute incredibly beautiful foods and complimenting wines that allow the guests to wander and savor the experience at their leisure. With three acres of gardens, and numerous pathways, every time you turn a corner someone is offering you treats or pouring you a couple of ounces of interesting wines.

The fruit based wines from Far Eastern Winery are really interesting, and something I would not ordinarily drink, but they paired so well with some of the spicy offerings of a couple of the caterers. Dry wines can overpower or fight with those satays, or those tasty little bites that include Indian spices.

This is what is so much fun about Wine in the Garden. The variety. The thought process to find good wines to match what you are tasting. The relative peace and quiet and the view. Beautiful al fresco setting.

And, the water lilies may be blooming by then. Last year they bloomed the beginning of June, but this year they may be a week early and looking like this.