Category Archives: Farms

Updates

Posted on October 26, 2015 by AnnieRie

To the Local Resources Page. I have been doing some maintenance on my pages. Added a few items to my local page. And, subtracted one place.

I try to keep my pages up to date. But, sometimes I do get behind. I will be doing other pages the next two weeks, but today, I cleaned up my Local Page.

I deleted Bonaparte Breads. A few years back, they were an excellent source at the DuPont Circle Market. Since then, change of ownership and other issues. At Savage, I see review after review saying they don’t open on time. They sell older stale breads. I haven’t been there in a while and when I got there last year, they weren’t open. So, they’re gone.

I added Canela for bread. They sell at many local stores, at Olney Market and other markets. Check them out. I buy mine at Boarman’s. I buy a few loaves at a time and freeze some of it. That gives us bread for toast, or to clean our plates after a really nice dinner.

I added a “newer” winery. Old Westminster. The closest winery to us in Howard County. They are opening their tasting room in two weeks. For a great fall dinner, pack a picnic. Head up there on a Friday night or Saturday. Listen to some great local music.

I added Shepherds Manor Creamery to our cheese listings. I love their sheep’s milk cheeses. We get them from Friends and Farms, but the Creamery has their product all over the area.

You know? We are lucky. So many options for local foods. And wine. And, beer. I do need to check out Manor Hill. And add them to my list.

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Posted in Community, Farms, Food, Howard County and tagged community, farms, Food, foodie, local businesses, Locavore, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

The CSA Model

Posted on October 25, 2015 by AnnieRie

Gorman farms style. How to grow a Community Supported Agriculture program from 28 families to almost 500. In six years.

We learned this yesterday at the Farm Academy. Over at Gorman Farms. Just southeast of Columbia, and northwest of Laurel. At a location chosen for its access to the market.

Dave Liker runs Gorman Farms. Currently on leased land, but soon to expand to their own farm slightly west of its current location, to Highland.

They had their big announcement earlier this month. It will be a great location and addition to a farm committed to organic growing and the production of quality vegetables and fruit for their loyal CSA members.

Those of us who loved their farm stand, miss it. We knew they dropped it because it took away from their attention to their immensely popular CSA.

We will also miss their Christmas tree operation this year, as they turn their attention to getting the new farm ready for production.

Here is more information about the new farm.

Dave’s presentation to the Farm Academy and his two hour tour of the farm were full of details that show his commitment to the land, the soil, the farm, and to providing us with fresh healthy organically grown food.

Information such as how successful his pick your own strawberries have been.

By the way, there are quite a few more rows of strawberries in the ground, to make sure there are enough for the very great demand every spring.

They provide medium and full CSA shares for a 20 week season. If you live in the east or south part of Howard County, or northern Montgomery or PG county, you should check them out.

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Craving Comfort Foods

Posted on October 21, 2015 by AnnieRie

Autumn. When the weather changes and we exit grilling mode and enter comfort food mode.

Like the beef noodle soup I mentioned a few days ago. That arm roast which has already given us two meals, now will give us at least two more. Made with the leftover beef and the broth from the crockpot.

This is only the beginning for me. We are most definitely soup people, but I also love to make stews and other one pot dishes.

This week our CSA, which is in its next to last “summer” delivery, gave us quite a bit to process. At the end of the season, we get very large amounts of food. It’s as if they are emptying the fields and sharing the bounty.

Squash. Cabbages. Potatoes. Carrots. Greens. Food destined to flavor those soups and stews.

New to us.

Japanese pie squash, and Guatemalan blue banana squash. Time to get creative and roast these.

We also got some very interesting apples this week.

The crispins on the left are organically grown apples. Not IPM. Let’s just say they aren’t the prettiest fruit in the basket, although they have a wonderful taste. I can understand why farmers don’t want to go completely organic with fruit, as many of these apples would never be selected at a market or farm stand. They have bumps, bruises and bug bites.

The Cortlands on the right are a perfect baking apple, and already my husband requested them for a weekend dessert treat.

Do you have a fall favorite that invokes your childhood? Mine is applesauce, and it seems to be time to make this year’s batch. Just another of those comfort foods.

For those who want fresh apples for baking, Larriland has a couple of weeks left. They also have all sorts of cooking pumpkins. Me, I’ll be dealing with what our CSA gave us. And wishing Indian summer didn’t make it too hot to want soup.

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Posted in CSA, Farms, Food, LFFC, Local Businesses and tagged cooking, farms, Food, foodie, local businesses, Locavore, traditions, value of CSA, weather. Bookmark the permalink.

Farms

Posted on October 19, 2015 by AnnieRie

What you always wanted to know but were afraid to ask.

The Farm Academy is answering all those questions. And more. I feel like I am living in an information overload scenario when I attend these three hour sessions. But, they are so worth the time to do them.

I am learning so much more than I expected, by attending the farm visits. These are serious lectures and tours, not a hayride through a farm.

I found all sorts of resources, and got quite an education on the status of much of the farmland in Howard County.

Exhibit A. The preservation map. Also available on the web site, as an interactive map, showing just how much land is in some sort of preservation status. If you click on the interactive map link, you can find all sorts of information.

Did you know that over 21000 acres of land in our county are in these programs? That’s almost 2/3 of the current agricultural land in the county. No wonder there won’t be much more development out here. The land is covered in preserved areas.

Planned service area maps tell the same story. There is no current plan to extend the water and sewer lines out here. In order to develop with other than rural residential or rural conservation limits in place, there would have to be a plan to run those utilities to the small towns. Not going to happen in this fiscally conservative time.

As for what happens on these farms, I found the Academy participants to be incredibly open about what they do. We have visited TLV Tree Farm.

And the UMD Research Farm.

Dairy and equine facilities at the UMD farm. I feel like I attended classes at UMD, we were given such an in depth tour. I hope to do another post about this facility.

Next weekend, we end up at Gorman Farm.

The county plans to offer these visits again in the spring. If you want to get a better idea of what is happening around you, down on these farms, you should look for them and sign up.

I know that I learned so much more about dairy operations than I ever expected.

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Posted in Farms, Food, Howard County, West HoCo and tagged community, farms, Food, Howard County, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Tidbit Tuesday Again

Posted on October 13, 2015 by AnnieRie

Doing a fly by. Quick information because there is too much going on, and I haven’t updated the blog in a few days.

Did you know that the Farm Academy is simply awesome?

The first session was at TLV Tree Farm. Two more. UMD farm, and Gorman. If there is still room, you should sign up. I learned quite a bit and I thought I knew much about our local agricultural business.

I did learn more about the Roving Radish. For $28 you can get two meals for four people, or four meals for two, like us, with all the major ingredients and the recipes. When it first started, they used about 10% local sourcing, now it is close to 70% local. Want to have better food, easy to make? Affordable? Check them out!

More later, when I get all the information about the local farms, but you really need to see how much the county is doing to promote local vendors and farms. I am seriously impressed.

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Posted in Community, Farms, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, West HoCo and tagged community, farms, Food, Howard County, local businesses, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Fall Fest is On!

Posted on October 3, 2015 by AnnieRie

Tired of being indoors from the rain? Want to get out and have a fun Sunday at the Howard County Conservancy? The festival tomorrow the 4th of October is still going to take place. Minus a few things, like the hay rides. Slippery, wet trails where they usually ride will make it impossible to hold the rides without creating ruts, which encourage erosion.

Besides that change, the rest will still take place. Pumpkin painting. Crafts and storytelling.

You can visit the animals, including the alpacas from Pearl Moon.

The square dancers will be inside the Gudelsky Center. The historic farmhouse will be open for tours.

The blacksmiths will be operating. So will the chair caners, the woodturners, the basketweavers, and more.

The cost. Just $10 a car. Bring neighbors, relatives and friends. The more the merrier. Time is 11am-3pm. Food trucks will be there with waffles, BBQ, and other goodies.

See you there?

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Posted in Community, Day Trips, Farms, Howard County, Nature, West HoCo and tagged community, farms, howard county conservancy, nature, weather. Bookmark the permalink.

Agritourism

Posted on September 16, 2015 by AnnieRie

Some of my favorite fall activities on the local farm scene.

The farms in this area have created many opportunities for people to enjoy the properties, pick some fruit, go on hayrides or get lost in a corn maze.

You can’t go wrong picking these events. There’s something to do most weekends.

Right now.

Clark’s is always open. They even have dinosaurs, I hear, to go along with the Enchanted Forest attractions in the pine tree trails. So many things to do there, and really close to town.

Larriland is open for pick your own, has a straw maze for the little ones, and has hayrides to the pumpkin patch.

Gaver Farm just west of Mt. Airy is already open with their corn maze.

Starting next week.

Mullinix Maze opens next Friday the 25th with their huge corn maze, out by Western Regional Park.

Farm Heritage Days at the Farm Museum across from the Fairgrounds is next weekend.

Sharp’s Farm opens next weekend, too.

In October.

TLV Tree Farm in Glenelg has something different every weekend out at the farm.

Baugher’s in Westminster has their fall festival events every weekend in October, as well.

Good to see so many choices to get out, pick apples or pumpkins, go on hayrides, check out a petting zoo, or two, or three.

Support our local farms, who offer much more than the farmer’s markets. These agritourism events help their bottom line, and keep them healthy to be there every year, giving us fresh fruit and vegetables.

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Posted in Adventures, Day Trips, Family, Farms, Food, Local Businesses and tagged community, day trips, farms, Food, hoco loco, Locavore, nature. Bookmark the permalink.

Abbondanza!

Posted on August 30, 2015 by AnnieRie

An abundance. A very large amount. A very heavy CSA basket.

It is obvious that this is the height of harvest for our supplying farmers. When they said eggplant, they meant two. When they said mixed cherry tomatoes, there were two boxes. When they said red cabbage, there were two of them also.

As for the rest of the stuff, we are again blessed with watermelons. For I think the fourth week in a row, twice we had yellow seedless, once a monster regular and once a smaller seeded variety. And at least a half dozen cantaloupes this summer. Even our newsletter called this the summer of the watermelons. The weather cooperated in making them large and juicy.

Have you had the pleasure of tasting a yellow seedless melon? They are simply awesome.

As for what we are doing with this bounty. How about baked casserole?

Layered eggplant, yellow squash, onions, red pepper, tomato and goat cheese. Covered in a light vinaigrette and oregano. Baked for an hour until absolutely delicious. Served over this.

I heated a few naan after sprinkling with za’atar and scallions. Roasted chicken legs and boiled some corn. What a wonderful Sunday night dinner. Nothing like fresh vegetables a few days out of the ground. If you haven’t been taking advantage of the many farmers markets, you should. Or, if you are blessed with a CSA that gives you fresher than grocery store produce, you know what I mean.

Now, tomorrow, I need to make fritters from the latest tromboncini I got from my garden.

Zucchini on steroids. The Italian heirloom is still producing in my garden.

Anything interesting growing in your garden?

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Posted in CSA, Farmer's Markets, Farms, Food, Gardening and tagged cooking, CSA, farmer's markets, Food, gardening, Locavore. Bookmark the permalink.

A Tale of Two Counties

Posted on August 18, 2015 by AnnieRie

Specifically …

… suburban Howard County.

And …

… rural Howard County.

What prompted this post was an editorial in the Sun during the Howard County Fair. Not far off the mark, about the differences between those two worlds. Also I was intrigued that the county will be offering a Farm Academy starting in October.

The first session is out at Triadelphia Lake View Farm. Details to sign up will be on the Live Green Howard page next month.

I wrote about them in my Farm series. They are known throughout the county due to their participation in a number of farmer’s markets and their pumpkin fields and cut your own Christmas trees.

For many people moving out of Columbia into the new developments all over the once rural west county, learning to live with combines, tractors, manure spreaders, noise from machinery and the other everyday occurrences on the farms has been enlightening to say the least. I can’t tell you how many times I hear people saying that the surrounding rural lands have unsightly buildings or fields.

We don’t all live on manicured lawns, and many outbuildings get a bit rusty. There are no covenants or HOAs out here in the older areas. Which is why many of us live here.

Learning to respect those who have farmed or who run businesses here is important. Trying to force the farmers to restrict what they do isn’t the way to peacefully coexist.

Yes, cow manure reeks. It’s a spring ritual out here to fertilize the fields. It isn’t noxious. It isn’t hazardous. It is necessary to maintain good soil for planting. Yes, we need tall strong fences to keep livestock in. Strength is more important than looks to keep horses, goats, sheep, alpacas, cattle, dairy cows and hogs where they belong.

Yes, there are naturally growing meadows that get harvested when the weather cooperates. I just close my windows and turn on the A/C if my allergies go a little crazy when my surrounding neighbors bring in the equipment to cut and bale hay.

If you ever wanted to learn more about how people live out here beyond Clarksville, check out this new initiative. And thank TLV when you see them at the markets for volunteering to be the first host.

And if you really want to know why we love it out here so much, scenes like this are way better than all the words I could write.

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Posted in Commentary, Community, Farms, Howard County, West HoCo and tagged commentary, community, farms, Howard County, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Don’t Miss

Posted on August 6, 2015 by AnnieRie

At the Howard County Fair starting Saturday. Some new things. Old things. Every year it keeps getting bigger and better, yet the favorites still remain.

Like the Critter Barn.

Or the daily pig races. Every day. Check out the events highlights here.

We like wandering around the barns looking at the animals.

This year there’s a new addition to the fair. A beer garden. Thanks to Howard County’s home grown brewery. Manor Hill. They will be located at the rear of the main exhibition hall.

There’s a few more special events this year too. And old favorites that must be done. Like getting fresh squeezed lemonade. Or a soft serve cone.

For us we also love wandering the home arts building looking at the photographs. The farm and garden building, including buying our supply of honey from the beekeepers.

On our way out, we will get peaches from the farm stand, and Bowling Green cheese.

Our future farmers spend the week there. It’s a labor of love. Come support them.

This sums it up quite well.