Category Archives: Dark Days

Why Blog? Why Now?

Posted on November 20, 2011 by AnnieRie

I was just asked by a friend as to why I started a blog now, what motivated me, and what do I intend to write.

I have to say my initial exposure to blogs was travel blogs by people visiting places I want to travel. People who wrote about Antarctica, and expedition cruises.

I haven’t been traveling lately, mainly because house renovations got in the way, but we used to travel quite a bit.

I suppose it was somewhere in the Amalfi Coast, while sailing that I really got into cooking, or maybe it was the market in Nice.

But, I also got inspired reading some great articles in Gourmet, before they went away, and then I inherited a Bon Appetit replacement subscription that introduced me to Molly Wizenberg and Orangette. We shared a common bond, sauerkraut at Thanksgiving, since I was born and raised in Baltimore.

So, now retired and really into cooking and growing some of my own food, I decided why not record it? I contributed to a few groups in my earlier years, only to find the posts disappeared when you don’t own them. My own domain, my words, my pictures, here until I decide to get rid of them.

Today I am making sauerkraut from a cabbage left over from the CSA. It will be ready to eat by next Sunday, for my dark days first supper, and our home Thanksgiving. Just us. The relatives get together on Thursday, but we like our own small fresh turkey from a local farm, with leftovers to make soup.

And here I get to record it.

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Dark Days Preparation

Posted on November 19, 2011 by AnnieRie

I am getting ready for the dark days challenge. I have inventoried the farmer’s market and neighbor’s contributions of meats in the freezer and looking at what stocks and veggies are also in there.

I have my peppers drying.

I also have the dried sage hanging in the garage, and thankfully the rosemary is still going strong.

Garlic and jellies around, and some gifts from friends who traveled, like blueberry chutney. Honey from the bee hives where I volunteer.

Local wines in the cellar, and a few six packs of locally brewed beer. Apple cider still coming in from a local farm

The CSA and the Amish markets should help me make it through the winter. Fifteen weeks is a long time, and there may be some omelets and soups more than I usually make, but at least I am doing a small part to work on reducing my carbon footprint.

Baby steps, we call them, but worth it to me.

Dark Days Challenge

Posted on November 14, 2011 by AnnieRie

So, I signed up to do the Dark Days Challenge this winter.

The details for the challenge can be found here.

Having a fall and possibly winter CSA subscription, and having access to year round markets makes it a possibility for us to eat more locally sourced foods than we had been able to find in the past.

We have to establish our own radius, and determine which rules we will use for our participation. I know I will be using 150 miles as our radius, even though 90% of what we get comes from less than 100 miles away.

Our Amish Co-op that supplies our CSA is based near Lancaster PA, which is about 90 miles as the crow flies.

I will also use locally sourced meats, breads, wine, beer, cider and milk that are available near here, but do know that for some of the beers and some of the ciders they may be manufactured locally, but not all ingredients are local.

As more details are known, I will update my post with the complete list of rules.