Category Archives: Farmer’s Markets

… Plus You Get Strawberries*

Posted on May 21, 2016 by AnnieRie

Strawberry season is upon us.

Gorman Farms opened this past week. Details on their web site. TLV Tree Farm is bringing strawberries to the Howard County Farmers Markets in Oakland Mills, Miller Library, Maple Lawn and HoCo General Hospital.

Larriland has a notice up on the web site. Look for picking to start sometime next week. I will probably be there, as usual.

It doesn’t take long to fill a basket.

One basket is roughly ten pounds of berries. Two baskets make twenty pounds, where you get the price break. I come home and start processing. This is the easy part.

Just hull them. Clean them up a little. Flash freeze them and put them in small bags or containers in the freezer. Perfect to drop into lemonade or wine or a cocktail.

A little harder. Make puree and freeze it in ice cube trays.

Put one of these in a glass of wine. Chills it perfectly and makes your own wine cooler.

When we are ambitious, we make crisps and crumbles and pies and shortcake, but mostly we just enjoy the fresh berries.

*The quote from Ron Finley’s Guerrilla Gardener TED talk, a favorite of mine. “gardening is the most therapeutic and defiant act you can do, especially in the inner city, plus you get strawberries”

1 Comment

Posted in Farmer's Markets, Farms, Food, Gardening, Local Businesses, Wine and tagged farmer's markets, farms, Food, gardening, local businesses, real food, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

All Over the Map Friday

Posted on May 13, 2016 by AnnieRie

Because. There are so many things happening that I can’t focus on just one.

Like how happy we are to have rhubarb and garlic greens and scallions to celebrate spring cooking.

Like the fun we have in the rain while leading field trips.

Like looking forward to grilling season with all the good food we get from local vendors.

We’ve already done the hanger steak but if the sun actually hangs around, I will be grilling chicken wings. Drenched in butter and hot sauce.

Tomorrow, I will try to hit the River Hill and Ellicott City opening day. Glenwood, I’ll save for my regular weekend trips but I want to check in with Copper Penny at Ellicott City. Their market in AACO lost its site, so I am glad they found a new home next to the Wine Bin.

Speaking of the Wine Bin, we need Rose wine. And they have lots of it.

After I help with check in for Hike to the River at the Howard County Conservancy I am off to check out the markets.

Now do you understand why this post is all over the map? There is so much going on, and it’s that time of year when we love to get outdoors. Click on my links to hear more.

Leave a comment

Posted in Commentary, Community, Farmer's Markets, Food, Local Businesses and tagged commentary, community, farmer's markets, Food, foodie, gardening, local businesses, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Food Safety

Posted on May 10, 2016 by AnnieRie

Raise your hand if you were one of the millions contacted that you had bought possible listeria contaminated foods. That would include me. The ORGANIC edamame from COSTCO. Bought in 2014. Yep, it took two years for them to figure out they had a problem.

And people wonder why I stopped buying as much processed food. Why I run from my CSA to Friends and Farms to get most of the basic food we cook and eat. Why I do pick your own farm food, and process it myself.

We have seen three different recalls in May. CRF frozen vegetables and fruits from everywhere, it seems. Rice from Trader Joes and “pictfresh” veggies at Harris Teeter. Nature’s Promise at Giant Food. Around here these stores provide most of the pwople who live in the area with their weekly groceries.

I wonder why we have all these regulations driving our small local farmers crazy, while we allow mega producers to go TWO YEARS with possibly contaminated food.

Thankfully, that edamame didn’t make us sick. And, we haven’t bought grocery store frozen food in quite a while.

I have become convinced that the closer we remain to the source of our food, the better we have it. Since that “organic” label isn’t a guarantee that you get better quality, I think I will rely on knowing where my food originates.

The Amish cooperative that gives us much of our food has that motto. Along with this philosophy.

If we support our local farms and farmers, who feed their families with the same food they sell us, we wouldn’t have to worry about the industrial processing which may or may not contaminate our food.

It’s not as easy to take time to buy from small farms and producers, but at least you have a face to match to the food you buy.

Join a CSA if you want to take more control of the vegetables you get. Find a local meat producer to have fresher meat without hormones, antibiotics or questionable handling. Pick your own, at places like Larriland.

And, by all means, don’t just assume because it’s organic, that it’s better. Farms around here take great care in growing food without undue use of harmful pesticides. They are an affordable alternative to mega-company organic stuff that costs more without being any better.

Leave a comment

Posted in Commentary, CSA, Farmer's Markets, Farms, Food, Friends and Farms, LFFC and tagged CSA, farmer's markets, farms, Food, local businesses, Locavore, real food, value of CSA. Bookmark the permalink.

Healthier Options

Posted on May 3, 2016 by AnnieRie

I found a new recipe today, to use my spinner full of spinach.

Spinach and cannellini bean dip. No cheese. No cream. Really great tasting. The perfect dip to serve at a Mother’s Day picnic. You should be able to find baby spinach at one of the farmer’s markets. If not, I think this recipe could be easily adapted to use arugula, or baby turnip greens, or garlic greens.

The greens are wilted in a pan that contains two minced cloves of garlic and a tablespoon of olive oil. I used a locally sold one. From the Breadery. An arbequina. The recipe calls for twelve ounces of baby spinach.

I just used fresh spinach from my Friends and Farms basket. The garlic came from there also.

Wilt it down. Meanwhile, rinse and drain a can of cannellini beans. Dump the beans, a tablespoon of balsamic, a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice, some salt and pepper and another tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil into a food processor.

Add the wilted spinach, watch the processor steam up from the heat (they do say to let the spinach cool a bit), and pulse it until it is smooth and creamy. Serve it with bread, with vegetables, with crackers. Or, like I may do tomorrow night, serve it on chicken.

I found the recipe on my Food Network App. It’s from Everyday Italian. This one is a keeper.

1 Comment

Posted in Farmer's Markets, Food, Friends and Farms, Locavore, Real Food and tagged cooking, farmer's markets, Food, local businesses, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

Springing into Market Season

Posted on May 1, 2016 by AnnieRie

Yes, around here we know the seasons have changed when the farmer’s markets, and Jenny’s have opened.

Jenny’s announced on their facebook page that opening day is Friday the 6th. For me, this is such welcome news. No more driving when I need some citrus, or bananas, or extra vegetables to complete a meal. Jenny’s is only a mile away from me, and open every day of the week. Yes, some of the produce is from the wholesale markets but they also support local farmers who don’t sell at the county markets. You haven’t had lima beans until you have their fresh picked, fresh shelled beans in the middle of summer.

As for the farmer’s markets around here, Wednesday is the day Miller market opens the season.

We have to hit Love Dove Farms for fresh greens. You know it’s really the beginning of the fresh fruit and vegetable season when you can make this awesome salad.

Greens and strawberries. A simple yogurt dressing. If you want, the addition of some ewe cream cheese.

Five of the eight Howard County markets open this week. Miller library, Wednesday. Cradlerock library Thursday. The Friday hospital market has expanded hours, opening at 11:30 am, to accommodate the lunch crowd. Saturday, Maple Lawn opens Sunday Oakland Mills. The newest market in River Hill Garden Center, opens on the 14th, and the Glenwood and Ellicott City Old Town markets return that same day.

This web site, MDSBEST, will help you find local farms, markets, CSAs and food sources in the state.

For those who read my blog and don’t live in Maryland, I found local harvest to be the best place to find local purveyors.

As for us, Tuesday our CSA begins again. Wednesday I may be hitting Miller Library to get salad fixings. If you want to change what you eat, and eat more locally produced foods, the salad greens are the easiest way to begin.

And a couple of salad spinners are the best thing in your refrigerator.

3 Comments

Posted in Farmer's Markets, Farms, Food, Locavore and tagged farmer's markets, Food, Locavore, real food, value of CSA. Bookmark the permalink.

Survey Says

Posted on April 3, 2016 by AnnieRie

Ok. I know I don’t have a huge amount of readers just in Howard County, but for those who live here, could you help with a simple survey?

Local Food Survey

If you click on the link highlighted above, it will take you to Survey Monkey. A class at University of Maryland, taught by one of the cofounders of Friends and Farms, Phil Gottwals, is looking to find information about whether people make food buying choices based on some definition of “local”.

It’s an interesting survey, and you don’t have to answer the personal questions.

For other local Howard County bloggers, on the hocoblogs website, let me know if you want to help Phil’s students and spread the word using our social media contacts. The more people the students get answering their survey, the better.

Any other questions, add a comment below. And, I promise, this isn’t a click bait thing. No advertising or harvesting of email addresses.

Just students who are learning what is important to consumers. Like really good food.

1 Comment

Posted in Community, CSA, Farmer's Markets, Farms, Food, Friends and Farms, Local Businesses, Locavore and tagged CSA, Howard County, Locavore, real food, value of CSA. Bookmark the permalink.

Chicken Soup

Posted on December 12, 2015 by AnnieRie

xmas fandf and soup 026

The perfect thing to make when it’s cold out. Only it isn’t cold out.

But it is the perfect thing to make if you are in full bore cookie making mode. Which I am.

This is a different soup recipe. Compliments of the Amish Market in Laurel. J.R.’s stand, to be exact.

We picked up some packages of organic bean soup mix there when we visited a while ago. Yesterday I wanted to make a simple soup to use up one of the chickens in the freezer. To make room for Christmas cookie dough.

fandf and sunset 004

The recipe called for a small whole chicken. This local one came in a recent Friends and Farms protein and dairy bag.

As for the rest.

fandf and thanksgiving 013

I had celery, carrots and onions from a CSA delivery at Thanksgiving. I had chopped off the tops of the celery and kept it in the freezer to use for soup.

This is slow cooked, six hour simmering chicken soup. With broth so rich it is amazing. Perfect for dinner with one of the breads from SheWolf bakery.

csa 004

I soaked two cups of the mixed beans overnight. Rinsed them and put them in a pot with water, the whole chicken and spices. This recipe called for turmeric, savory, garlic powder, salt and pepper. I added some tarragon. After the chicken was pretty much done, you take it out and strip it off the bone. I put it back, added carrots, celery and onions, and let it simmer on the small burner for three more hours.

xmas fandf and soup 025

Look at how thick and rich the broth got. This recipe made enough soup for three meals for the two of us.

Tomorrow, while I am a cookie making machine, I can just heat it up and have an easy dinner.

I need to get back to the market and buy some more of these beans. It is the organic “harmony” mix.

1 Comment

Posted in CSA, Farmer's Markets, Food, Friends and Farms, LFFC, Local Businesses and tagged cooking, CSA, Food, Locavore, soups. Bookmark the permalink.

You Can’t Get There From Here

Posted on November 29, 2015 by AnnieRie

At least, not easily. Sometimes it’s how we feel about all the long and winding roads in our part of the county. Roads that are lovely to look at, but make it slow going if you want to get to another nearby town on an errand.

Two examples in the last couple of days involved traveling to Olney. A fellow blogger lamented the fact that getting to the Olney Theater requires driving a very circuitous route. For me, as I was signing up for my winter CSA, my two options for pick up were Columbia or Olney. Olney is closer to me, as the crow flies, but is longer over the roads, and takes almost twice as long to drive than to the Columbia pickup point.

Olney market Sunday mornings

I suppose that is why I find little enthusiasm among friends for heading over to the year round Sunday market in Olney. It isn’t an easy trip across Rte. 108. It meanders and winds and seems to take forever. We can take a more direct route, using either Mink Hollow or Brighton Dam Roads, but you have to know the territory.

I decided when signing up for the CSA to make Olney a second choice, and I’ll cross my fingers that we get the minimum number of members to keep Columbia going all winter. I love our winter CSA, particularly the meat share, the bread share, the cheese share and the pantry items.

Yes, we get repetitive vegetables. Samples from last year’s omnivore share, where we got a pantry item, a meat item, and a cheese item with our vegetable delivery every week.

January 2015

February 2015

March 2015

April 2015

Carrots were always there. Mushrooms, too. I know I can get most of these items at the year round markets, but I like going to the CSA pick up point and chatting about recipes. I also like supporting the farmers through the winter. Over 100 of the Amish farmers that supply our CSA count on us to keep them solvent.

If we don’t meet our minimum, I may be heading over the river and through the woods to Olney. Fresh food all winter is a big incentive.

1 Comment

Posted in CSA, Farmer's Markets, Farms, Food, LFFC, Real Food and tagged CSA, farmer's markets, farms, Food, real food, value of CSA. Bookmark the permalink.

Year Round Markets

Posted on November 9, 2015 by AnnieRie

The end is nigh. The local farmer’s markets are almost finished. Wouldn’t it be lovely to have a committed group that creates a year round market in Howard County? You know, a downtown market?

I love the Silver Spring downtown market on Saturday mornings year round. They close a road to accommodate the vendors. Love Dove, one of our local farms heads down there to sell. According to the FreshFarm website, there are 36 vendors at the market.

I love the fact that local wineries show up on a regular basis. Multiple rotating vendors. I wish we could get a market started around here, maybe in Old Town EC, or down by the lake in Columbia, or Maple Lawn.

I have always been supportive of, and impressed by, the nonprofit group that started Olney. The group that continues to make it better. Luckily for us, they are only 10 miles down the road. This year, they are keeping the market by the hospital, and they are working to purchase tents to use in inclement weather. Their web site.

For a few years, they moved the market to the Sandy Spring Museum. It wasn’t quite big enough and some vendors were outside, others shoe horned into the building.

I like the Sunday morning market concept. Come have breakfast. Shop a little. Browse a little. Pick up some fresh food and a few staples from local purveyors.

The mother of all Sunday morning markets is DuPont Circle in DC. Honestly. 40-50 vendors. One of my favorites. Next step produce.

One of the reasons. They are a local farm growing grains. Many grains.

The other market in the mix. Takoma Park. Also Sunday mornings.

Really. We need to figure out how to do this. We have the local farms and vendors. We have some high density areas. It’s not bad to drive 10 miles to Olney but EC is closer.

Leave a comment

Posted in Community, Farmer's Markets, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore and tagged community, farmer's markets, farms, Food, foodie, Howard County, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

The End of the Season

Posted on October 29, 2015 by AnnieRie

Markets are finishing. Larriland is closing this weekend. So is Jenny’s. For me, this final weekend in October marks the end of the fresh food season until spring.

Unless you can find year round markets, or CSAs, or a regional food source to keep you going.

We are lucky. Our CSA got enough members to extend our season until Christmas. That means fresh vegetables for the next eight weeks.

What is closing this week? Friday market at Howard County General Hospital. Saturday at Maple Lawn, Ellicott City and Glenwood.

Miller Library, Oakland Mills and East Columbia (closes November 12) will be open into mid November.

As for tips, if you can get to Larriland this weekend, their apples will store for a very long time in the refrigerator. We picked about 20 pounds last October and they keep for months. Pink Lady and Cortland will be available out at the farm.

Farm stands will still be open all winter. Like Carroll Farm to Table. By the way, they want your Jack O’Lanterns. To feed their pigs. Pigs love pumpkins. Drop them off at the stand on Frederick Road at Manor Lane.

Here’s to those great fall veggies, wherever you can find them.