Category Archives: Farms

Another Tidbit Tuesday

Posted on November 19, 2013 by AnnieRie

So many little things happening today and this week. Much of it locally driven, but some of it really interesting.

So, what is happening?

I am waiting to see if they launch the Minotaur rocket from NASA. The new time of launch is 2015 EST. We saw the last one from the back deck. Skies look clear enough to see this one, too.

I am checking with the NASA Facebook page for Wallops to get updates.

Today is my better half’s 63rd birthday.

When he gets home from his regular radio club dinner meeting, we will share the dark chocolate sea salt bar with the rest of the lovely red I got with my dinner at Bistro Blanc. It is half price wine night there.

I went up there for a few reasons. A quick perfectly cooked medium rare lamb burger, and a delivery to Chef Marc of a dozen long stems of my rosemary, and a huge bouquet of three kinds of sage. Cleaning up the herb garden.

While there, I sampled something new. Two words I never thought would go together. Chocolate. Grappa. Hey, don’t knock it! It isn’t bad.

Since my husband went off with his fellow radio friends, I postponed his birthday dinner until tomorrow night. Currently, I am marinating a strip steak from Clark’s farm.

It will be pan seared and finished in the oven tomorrow, to be served with roasted romanescu. And, I think I will open a really nice Virginia wine.

Speaking of wine, Big Cork announced on their Facebook page that their production facility will be open for tasting this Friday and Saturday. We hope to get there to see what they are offering. Their facility is in Frederick, just off I-70. Tasting time is 12-6.

Last but not least I have been working on scheduling the farmers who will be offering goodies at the Conservancy Natural Holiday Crafts fair on Dec. 7th. We hope to make your holidays special with goodies from local farms, as well as all those local crafters who will be there.

One Slow Cooked Bargain Meal

Posted on November 18, 2013 by AnnieRie

Actually, it turns out there will be two meals out of the turkey made in the crockpot yesterday.

It all started with those turkey drumsticks from Maple Lawn Farm.

You can head out to the farm and pick up frozen turkey all during the year. The fresh turkey is sold for the holidays, but they have frozen packages and other specialties.

After bringing home those drumsticks, so I could vacuum seal some and save for soups this winter, I did keep two out to cook on Sunday.

I have two packages like these in the freezer. Each package cost approximately $2.33 as the six pack was $7.

You can’t beat that for making an economical meal. Throw some carrots, onions, celery, some stock (my last container from last year’s turkey), two drumsticks, a little water, salt, pepper, poultry friendly herbs like tarragon and marjoram, all in the crockpot.

Since the turkey was barely defrosted, and the stock was a brick of frozen goodness, I put the crockpot on high for six hours, then renewed it for another 3 hours. In the last hour, I added some wide noodles and a bit more water to thin it out.

We had it for dinner tonight, and it was simply wonderful. Really rich. So much flavor. It’s amazing and you can’t believe the entire pot probably cost $5-6 in total ingredients. We only had half of it, so lunch or dinner later this week will be our second meal from these drumsticks.

My husband and I both like the dark meat on turkey and chicken, more than we like the bland white breast meat. At Thanksgiving, my husband always takes a drumstick on his plate.

I suppose you could say we are crazy, eating turkey the week before Thanksgiving, but soup is so good on crisp fall days.

If you haven’t popped out to Maple Lawn after the holiday rush, you should. Even the frozen turkey is so much tastier than those butterball things.

hocofood@@@

2 Comments

Posted in Farms, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Uncategorized, West HoCo and tagged cooking, crock pot cooking, crockpot soups, farms, Food, foodie, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, real food, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

“Meat” Some Local Farmers

Posted on November 16, 2013 by AnnieRie

Today I did a loop to three local farms that sell meat products produced from animals raised on their farms. I am doing some background work for upcoming Conservancy events, and getting some absolutely lovely products in my travels.

I don’t know which farm I have the longest history for buying their products. A toss up between Maple Lawn and Clark’s.

Turkey from Maple Lawn. Year round, did you know?

The fresh turkeys are available for Thanksgiving, but they also offer frozen items all year. Like these turkey drumsticks. My husband’s favorite part of the turkey, and perfect for soup.

Six in a package for $7. I brought them home, wrestled them apart with a boning knife and put them back in the freezer in two packs. Good for future stock making and soups. And, maybe roasting a couple on the grill on one of our warmer days.

We have already ordered a small (8-10 lb) fresh turkey to grill for our Thanksgiving celebration. We pick that up at Boarmans the day before Thanksgiving.

As for Clark’s, I went to find brisket. They are difficult to find around here. A limited cut when you are looking at small batch production of just a few animals at a time. I did get one.

Copper Penny is a new discovery for us. We have seen them advertised, but this morning I saw their Facebook page said they were going to be open on Saturday mornings since their farmer’s market over in Anne Arundel County has closed for the season.

I went looking for two things. Soup bones and kielbasa. We are on this quest for the best kielbo in Maryland (to rival my husband’s favorite from PA). I also found mini chorizo, and bacon ends.

Bacon ends are perfect to use, when cooking those CSA greens. Collards and bacon, for example.

All winter long, these farms and others in the area offer us an alternative to enjoy pasture raised and grass fed products.

I have some new places to add to my farm lists. My advice, though, go early if you don’t want to be disappointed. Clark’s was packed at 1220, and they were selling everything they had. Amazing following of locals coming there to purchase.

Copper Penny sold out of eggs before I got there, and the last of their chickens went too. Small farms. Nice to see that they have customers who support them all year.

My freezer now has just about all we need to get through the winter, until the markets and CSAs start up again next spring.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in CSA, Farmer's Markets, Farms, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Winter Eat Local and tagged community, cooking, crock pot cooking, CSA, farmer's markets, farms, Food, foodie, grilling, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

Tuesday Tidbits

Posted on November 12, 2013 by AnnieRie

Odds and ends about food and wine.

Like the grand opening of Petite Cellars.

Owned by the former owners of Perfect Pour, the store in Turf Valley has been completed and the ribbon cutting ceremony was this afternoon. Courtney Watson was on hand to cut the ribbon, along with Chamber of Commerce representation. We enjoyed the event, wishing them well and picking up a “local” gin, from Loudoun County VA (Catoctin Creek). Love having a specialty liquor around to use for entertaining, and finding locally produced items complements what is important to me.

Two days in a row, we have been out and about. Last night we attended the opening session of “Iron Bridge University”, this time the first of six tastings featuring the wines of Italy. Vince does a great job of leading the educational series. This one highlighted Tuscany.

The events are hugely popular. All 36 seats were taken, and there was a waiting list of dozens of people. The entire six event series is a sell out. Good to see another family owned local business doing well.

I also was impressed with the local farms providing the Bridge with meat and vegetables. Farms like Clark’s and Valley Haven, in Howard County.

At home today for lunch, we enjoyed locally sourced items, paired with a few new finds. Like these wonderful crackers we found at COSTCO.

These crackers are perfect with our ajvar, and my newest spread I made. I used the Bulgarian recipe as inspiration, but then just went off in my own direction.

The eggplant spread is in the small bowl. I used two eggplant and four green peppers, roasted and peeled. A few cloves of garlic, some lemon juice, salt, pepper, and olive oil. Processed in the “food pro” until the right consistency. Sharper in taste than the red pepper spreads I make, but still very tasty.

The salad on the plate was made with the Tuscan kale in our CSA box. Some scallions, pecorino, olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon juice and avocados I picked up at Boarman’s when I was ordering our Maple Lawn Thanksgiving turkey. None of it measured. Whatever looks good, is the way I make salads.

All in all, a very pleasant Monday and Tuesday to start our week. Crossing my fingers that it warms up a bit, so I can plant garlic.

Hmmm, food and wine and cooking. I need to find some other hobbies. Nah, I don’t think so. These keep us busy enough.

hocofood@@@

Chicken Little

Posted on November 10, 2013 by AnnieRie

The sky isn’t falling. Just a large amount of chicken in the house. We are now getting chickens from our CSA, and I have been cooking them this weekend.

These are “Freedom Rangers”, a heritage breed of chickens, raised to free range in Amish country.

I put the little one in the crock pot last night. Spatchcocked it. After four hours on high, I took it out and harvested the breast meat and the thighs. Put the bones, plus all those lovely innards back to make chicken stock.

Saturday morning I stopped at Breezy Willow after our hike. I needed carrots, onions and celery to make soup. And to make stock.

I left the bones and the innards in the crock pot all night. With a large amount of celery, a chopped up carrot and two onions. Some herbs. Four cups of water.

I got a quart of rich stock, which is now frozen for future use. We had the thighs for dinner tonight. The chicken breast will become a salad for lunch this week. The rest of the meat, along with those soup ingredients will become soup Tuesday night for dinner.

Three or four meals from a four pound chicken. Worth the time and effort to cook it.

There are quite a few farms in the area where you can get free range chicken. They are so flavorful, you should check them out.

Sources:
Breezy Willow
Clark’s Farm
TLV Tree Farm
England Acres Farm

We are coming to the end of chicken season, so if you want to purchase any, you need to be quick about it.

Or, you could be Turkey Lurkey and make turkey stock with a Maple Lawn Turkey.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Farms, Food, Local Businesses and tagged cooking, crock pot cooking, farms, Food, Howard County, local businesses. Bookmark the permalink.

Wazzup in West County

Posted on November 8, 2013 by AnnieRie

Friday with lots of options of things to do coming up, as well as just the best time of year to live out here.

My day started out leading a field trip at the Howard County Conservancy. Teaching second graders about soil (as compared to dirt). I will be back there tomorrow for the Hike to the River at 10 am. Volunteers will lead groups on a long hike down to the Patapsco River using trails at the conservancy and through Patapsco State Park. You have to admit. This is peak fall foliage week in #hocomd.

Add to that. Thanksgiving and then Christmas will be creeping up on us. What better way to get ready for Thanksgiving than to order your turkey, your sausage and your oysters at Boarman’s. I stopped there today to put in my Thanksgiving order. A Maple Lawn turkey. Boarman’s bulk sausage for stuffing. Oysters to make an oyster stew. We like standing in the line the day before Thanksgiving and talking with all the neighbors.

Oh, and out at TLV.

Cut your own tree. The day after Thanksgiving. Instead of Black Friday at the mall, how about a day at the farm cutting a tree.

We are fast moving from late fall to early winter out here. Loving the weather and those crisp cool days, and not so cold nights.

I do need to get the garlic planted though. Before that first hard freeze.

hocoblogs@@@

And So It is Fall

Posted on November 7, 2013 by AnnieRie

Fall CSA season, that is. The seven week fall extension of our Sandy Spring CSA began today. And not a squash or a potato in sight.

This is what we got.

White Kohlrabi
Leeks
Napa Cabbage
Bok Choy
White Cauliflower
White Radishes
Purple Top Turnips
Frisee (I swapped for Jerusalem artichokes)
Lacinato Kale
Broccoli Raab
Arugula

The kohlrabi is the largest I have ever seen.

As for the add ons, I chose this fall to get free range heritage chickens, two every other week, for a total of eight over the season.

One will get roasted this weekend. The other will be put in the freezer for later this winter.

We also decided to try the bread from “A Loaf of Bread“. An organic bakery in Lancaster. They have a large number of specialties. Today we got a sourdough boule. Just the right size for us.

There are other add ons. Eggs, cheese. We passed on those. I like my eggs to come from Breezy Willow, and to buy local cheese when I go there or to England Acres.

As for some intended uses of my goodies this week, I have to dig out the recipe for the turnip, Jerusalem artichoke and apple soup I made a few years back. Found the blog entry.

Fall is soup season, and chili season, and stew season. The veggies we get work perfectly to create satisfying warm meals. Glad we got the thirty CSA members, to keep our site going until Christmas week.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in CSA, Farms, Food, Real Food, Weather and tagged cooking, crock pot cooking, crockpot soups, CSA, farms, Food, foodie, real food, weather. Bookmark the permalink.

Market Futures

Posted on November 5, 2013 by AnnieRie

Farmers Markets, that is. I recently read an article in the Baltimore Sun that included the information about the future of two of the Howard County farmers markets.

Glenwood, and East Columbia. It seems the board may close these two markets next year.

Columbia has three markets. Thursdays in East Columbia. Fridays at the hospital and Sundays in Oakland Mills. The Thursday market does the worst business of the three in Columbia.

As for the Saturday market (our nearest market in Glenwood at the library), it never has been as popular as the others. The rural area has less people, and many of us have gardens.

There are lots of other sources for fresh veggies, too. Like the farms in the area.

I wondered last year if there were too many markets. Dilution of the customer base, as I believe the markets aren’t attracting new customers, just spreading out the current ones.

For us, if Glenwood is closed, we would just use the hospital market for fresh eggs, meats, breads and fruit.

Saturday is a great day for a market. If you could vote for where to move Saturday’s market, where would you put it? Elkridge? Maple Lawn?

hocofood@@@

7 Comments

Posted in Farmer's Markets, Farms, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, West HoCo and tagged commentary, community, farmer's markets, farms, Food, Howard County, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

CSA in the Rear View Mirror

Posted on November 3, 2013 by AnnieRie

The 2013 Spring/Summer CSA is over. Every season I do a spreadsheet summarizing what we got, and was the cost worth it.

We belong to Sandy Spring CSA, which uses the Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative as the source of our vegetable, fruit, egg, cheese, flower and herb shares. The coop includes 75-80 farms spread across Lancaster County. They directly supply 2500 members, and they supply 500 members through Sandy Spring. This is the 5th year Sandy Spring has used LFFC, and the third year we have been members. We get the basic 100% share of veggies. No add ons, as I like using the farms and markets for my other items.

We pay $740 for our share. 24 weeks. We are promised 8-12 items weekly. We received 283 items, 131 of them unique. That averages out to 11-12 weekly. It also averages out to $2.60 an item, for organic foods. We really do get our money’s worth.

By unique, I include different varieties of the same vegetable. Like green and red tatsoi are different. And, green or red romaine. You get the drift.

The most frequent occurrence this year? Garlic! And, orange carrots. Both were in our box nine times this season. Green beans showed up eight times. Slicing tomatoes seven.

As for very unusual items, this was the year we saw bitter melon, purple mizuna, eight ball zucchini, bintje potatoes, blue radishes, white beets, Gai-lin Chinese Broccoli.

I found out I liked okra. Particularly when it is grilled. I made my first habanero jelly.

One of the reasons I like this CSA is that unexpected strange item. With so many farms, providing members from Harlem, Brooklyn, Philly, DC, NoVa, and points between, they have greatly expanded their heirloom and ethnic varieties.

You want Southern soul food? Okra and collards. Chinese? Bok Choy. Tatsoi. Mexican? Habaneros. Jalapenos. Cilantro.

The challenge, which I embrace, is that discovery of a new vegetable, and how to use it.

Thankfully, my better half is just as adventurous and likes almost everything we get. OK, OK, the bitter melon was a fail.

We begin a seven week fall extension this Thursday. I have added a bread share and a chicken share. I will be getting two chickens on the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th deliveries. Bread every week.

It took us three years to become really skilled at using all of the bounty we receive from the CSA. At first, it is overwhelming but changing how we eat and making lunches and dinners that highlight our CSA veggies has been good for us. In our health and in how we feel.

If you wonder what in the world made me do all this math, it’s that mathematician background. What can I say?

hocofood@@@

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Posted in CSA, Farms, Food and tagged cooking, CSA, Food, foodie, value of CSA. Bookmark the permalink.

Two Years Old

Posted on November 2, 2013 by AnnieRie

So, today my blog is a toddler. The terrible twos, they say. Who knows where I will take it in the future. Nah, I like it the way it is.

On November 2nd, I made my first tiny post to learn wordpress, and now, 60,000 views later, I am still having fun with it.

My posts back then were short, and I hadn’t learned to use the pictures to my advantage. Amazing how much I have figured out. See, you can teach an old dog new tricks.

Next Wednesday, I will attend my 5th or 6th bloggers party at Second Chance. Back in February 2012, when I was still a novice at writing, Dennis Lane encouraged me to just have fun and write.

Like others, I really miss his presence in our blogging world. I’ll be sure to raise a toast to him, along with his other friends who join us there.

In the mean time, I will just keep writing about life out here in west county, and add a different perspective from my view.

Oh, and if you get a chance, check out Larriland tomorrow, on their last day of pick your own.