Category Archives: Gardening

CSA Inspiration

Posted on March 10, 2013 by AnnieRie

It’s always fun to get inspiration from something in the CSA delivery and make it a highlight of a meal. This week the inspiration so far is from the citrus. I love really fresh citrus. This week we got oranges and ruby red grapefruit. We scarfed down a grapefruit while I was attempting to segment one of them. It never made it to the salad bowl. Eventually one grapefruit and two oranges, supremed, became the base for this salad.

Well, let’s say most of the fruit made it into the bowl. When I didn’t cut it well, I ate it. What can I say? I really do love fresh juicy sweet citrus, and these do not disappoint.

The recipe:
two or three citrus fruits, navel oranges, juice oranges, sweet red grapefruit, what you have
about two or three ounces of fennel, pulled from the bulb
an ounce or so of red onion
salt, pepper
really good olive oil

Supreme the citrus, by cuting off the peel, save it, cut out wedges avoiding the pith and membrane. You will use the peel to make the vinaigrette. Julienne the fennel and the red onion. I make both really thin and usually an inch to two inches long. Mix it all together. Just before serving, drizzle extra virgin olive oil and squeeze as much juice as you can from the fruit left attached to the peels you reserved. I also squeeze all the juice out of that center of the fruit after you have cut out the wedges. Salt and pepper to taste. Refreshing and for us, the way to end the meal.

If we have a rich dish for dinner, this citrus salad really is a light finish to the meal.

The rest of our mostly local meal last night was a simple pasta with pesto, and steamed Brussels sprouts with butter. The pesto is my garlic scape pesto defrosted from the freezer.

The recipe for the pesto is here. What is really funny about looking for that post, I saw I made strawberry cubes. They must be in the very bottom of the freezer, so I need to go “freezer diving” and find them.

I boiled up some egg noodles, picked up at the market a while back. You can find these many places. Egg noodles with pesto.

Served with a 2007 Linden Hardscrabble Chardonnay. Big, rich, buttery. Cuts through the richness of the pesto. I took this picture while I was cooling it in the freezer. I didn’t have any chardonnay in the back fridge, so pulled this one up from the cellar.

Before this light dinner, we shared some spring rolls picked up at Roots, alongside one of our favorites, that Meyer lemon basil fizz, made with Aranciata, also from Roots. Lovely evening, sitting on the porch and watching the sunset before dinner.

Today I considered grilling something, but had nothing defrosted and a crock pot full of tomato, basil and Boarman’s sausage sauce. Tonight there will be pasta with sauce, some bread and greens with goat cheese. I made that sauce to serve a few times this week, once it will be served over steamed kale from the CSA. Looking forward to what we will get Wednesday, and eating mostly locally sourced items. Loving the coming of spring. In other words, running out of garlic scapes and wanting to make more pesto.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in CSA, Food, Gardening, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Weather, Wine, Winter Eat Local and tagged cooking, crock pot cooking, CSA, Food, gardening, Linden Vineyards, local businesses, Locavore, real food, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

A Sunny Window

Posted on March 4, 2013 by AnnieRie

All that is needed to start seeds for spring greens. Thursday I blogged about planting arugula, kale and mesclun mix in a box in my kitchen. Nothing fancy just a shallow box picked up at Kendalls. Five days ago. Of course, I stupidly titled it Where Did Winter Go? just to make sure we get hit with snow this week. Winter hasn’t gone yet, but even the prospect of one messy day this Wednesday doesn’t dampen my enthusiasm for the coming of spring. Why?

I already have sprouts from the seeds. The middle row, I believe is the Tuscan kale, a very fast growing leafy green. The reason I say “I believe” is because I forgot to mark the kale and arugula rows. The mesclun on the left was the first row I planted. Senior moments like these are the frustration of the retired who get phone calls while planting seeds.

Last year I put in a large amount of mesclun mix, which took quite a bit of thinning before I moved it outside. It did do well though in the planter boxes that I kept raised above bunny reach on the deck.

The other location where I will transplant greens is a small rectangle right off the mudroom door next to the patio. Very close to the house. Mostly shady, so the leaves don’t burn up from the sun. This area will get the cover over it to keep the bunnies and deer from nibbling my greens. I can harvest lots of salad right before dinner every evening by using these small planters.

I once used this area to plant spearmint thinking it wouldn’t spread beyond this enclosed concrete area. Wrong. It also comes back every year with a vengeance. The bees love it though and they buzz all around and pollinate the flowers in my garden as they visit.

Those first few sprouts always brighten my day, knowing warm weather is coming and I can start putting out herbs in the garden and flowers in the pots. Just have to make it through this snow/sleet/rain mess in the next couple of days.

Time to go prepare another planting box, and put in the beans I want to grow in the garden this summer.

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Posted in Food, Gardening, Nature, Weather, West HoCo and tagged Food, gardening, nature, spring flowers, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Where Did Winter Go?

Posted on February 28, 2013 by AnnieRie

I must admit, typing this, that I may jinx us, and we will get a March snowstorm. But, that would be really interesting as we haven’t had one of those for quite a while. Today temps in the fifties lured me out to mix potting soil and top soil into a container to start my spring greens.

I buy a simple tray, punch some holes in the bottom. I put this tray in one of those fruit boxes from a visit to Costco, the box wrapped in plastic, and with some newspaper between it and the tray, to absorb excess water. I mix potting soil and top soil. Made three rows of indentations. One I filled with mesclun mix, one with arugula, and one with Tuscan kale. I am trying kale for the first time this year.

I will see how they do in the east window of the kitchen, and if they need more sun, I will take them up to that large south facing window in our bedroom. The largest and brightest winter spot in our house. Strange place for plantings, but it does work well. Last year I got great results with the mesclun.

As for other spring planting plans, I saw that Tractor Supply has a greenhouse for sale. A small one, build it yourself. Just enough for a few trays of plants. We may check it out and that is where I will start some of the herbs, and where I will harden the heirloom tomatoes. I have my plans in my head, now if it really is getting to be spring, the planting will begin.

Really, I don’t think we got much of a winter. A little cold. Really rainy. Snow that disappeared in a day. Not bad.

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Social Butterflies

Posted on February 27, 2013 by AnnieRie

In more ways than one.

Last night the 50+ bloggers and readers gathered at Union Jack’s in Columbia to reconnect. We haven’t had a get together since last spring, so it was great to see everyone. It is amazing that we have a local group, close to 300 blogs written by county residents, that gets together and networks. I like Tales of Two Cities blog about the event.

Our hosts last night were from The 53 and ukdesperatehousewife, Bill from the former, and Claire, from the latter.

My husband came with me, and really enjoyed the conversations. Lots of fun, even on a really rainy evening. It looks like we will be doing more of these in the future.

As for the second way to be a social butterfly, I am about to do my refresher training for the spring field trips at the Conservancy. One of the spring topics, for second graders, is Wings, Stings and Leggy Things. I love the butterfly part of this activity. The Conservancy has huge amounts of milkweed, which attracts monarchs. We will even rescue, nurture and tag emerging butterflies to track their journeys. It was a highlight of my first fall there. Tagging butterflies and releasing them. In the spring we talk about how they return here for the summers, and how we have created a welcoming habitat for them to thrive.

I like our training sessions. A one hour refresher course, a hike to rehearse what we do with the school children, and then, of course, the social part of it, we have a potluck on the last Thursday of training. I blogged yesterday about the training. Come out and be a social butterfly with those of us who love the outdoors, enjoy teaching the little ones all about the earth science around them, and who want to make a difference in our own small way.

My third reference to social butterfly today, that of home gardener, getting ready for the 2013 season. We pruned the butterfly bushes. I am learning how to find and rescue monarchs from the milkweed in the meadow. I blogged last fall about finding it out there. I intend to rescue as many larvae as I can, in order to protect them from predators.

This is a tiger swallowtail. We have lots of those every year. I know my butterfly bush isn’t native, but it certainly attracts a large number of them.

Spring has sprung, at least for most of what I am doing. Tomorrow, I will be starting my spring greens planting and putting together a salad table. All that, after my social butterfly attendance at Conservancy training.

hocoblogs@@@

At the Market in February?

Posted on February 25, 2013 by AnnieRie

Yesterday morning we headed out to Olney to check out the market and see what the vendors have in late February. It is nice to have a market near us. No need to drive to Silver Spring, Tacoma Park or Dupont Circle on the weekends.

This market is a farmers, artists, and artisan/food vendor market. In the winter it is located in and outside of the Sandy Spring Museum on Rte. 108 not far over the Montgomery County line. About ten miles from us.

Sunday was lovely. Lots of vendors were outside taking advantage of the sun.

Homestead Farms of Faulkner MD, and Orchard Breeze of Ortanna PA were two of the farms outside. I picked up greens from Homestead and grilling sausage from Orchard Breeze. I also got a few other items, butternut squash and greenhouse tomatoes out there. Went inside and found apples from Falcon Ridge. This is their last week until spring. I was looking for Our House for their organic micro greens but they only come biweekly.

Here is what I brought home.

The candied walnuts were from a vendor outside, whose name escapes me, and who isn’t on the web site. So were the spiced nuts and wasabi peas. They were the little treat for my cocktail hour last night.

As for the greens, I got some extra arugula to go with the winter mix. Filled up the salad spinner, and we are good for the week.

There is something about just picked greens. Makes me think of spring. I will be starting my indoor greens box, up in the south facing window of our bedroom. It gets the most sun to start the seeds. Last year I had a great early start.

Next week my CSA begins again. Can’t wait until my first visit to pick up at Breezy Willow. I am plowing through the freezer, using up last year’s bounty, and want those fresh veggies back in our diet.

hocofood@@@

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Tulips in January?

Posted on February 1, 2013 by AnnieRie

What is it with the weather here in Howard County? Yesterday my husband told me the tulips were coming up in the front yard.

Yeah, those little leaves poking up in front of the mums I cut back to the ground. Those same tulips that bloomed in March last year.

Those same tulips that bloomed in late April 2009. I wonder when they will bloom this year as they are really early.

2009 April tulips

This week has been one crazy roller coaster ride, with snow, ice, rain, tornado watches, thunderstorms, floods, and super high winds. All we need are plagues of locusts. As for the 2.5 inches of rain in a 24 hour period earlier this week, the stormwater management on the property did what it was supposed to do.

All of the water from our shared driveway and my neighbor’s field came down to the depression that allows it to run into our yard and around the back of the house.

From there,

it heads off past my herb garden on its way to the vegetable garden. That area is the final destination for most of the water, where it will perk back into the ground water and become part of the water table. So far, knock on wood, we have never had to redrill the well even during our worst droughts. Of course, our well is about 500 feet deep, but we are lucky to be in a good location.

Now, if it ever stops raining, I need to finish the garden clean up. I got all the cages and tomato plants out. I just need to clear out those morning glory vines from the fence, and pull up the black fabric barrier. This shaded garden is going to be the new home for many shade tolerant herbs, and I am going to experiment with some cooler weather varieties of plants. Just for the heck of it, I will be putting in pumpkin seeds in one section.

Just cross our fingers the weather doesn’t get nasty for Super Bowl Sunday. We all remember the blizzards of 2010 that weekend, don’t we? Not going to many parties in Howard County when most roads looked like this or worse and it took a week to clear out all the snow from back to back storms.

February 6, 2010

We had 25 inches of snow that Saturday. The equivalent amount of snow that 2.5 inches of rain could have been this year if the temperatures had been lower.

I think I am happier with all the rain. The 2010 blizzard was a real pain to shovel.

hocoblogs@@@

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Posted in Gardening, Howard County, Nature, Weather, West HoCo and tagged gardening, hobbies, hoco loco, Howard County, nature, photography, spring flowers, weather, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Sixty @ Sixty

Posted on December 29, 2012 by AnnieRie

Yes, sixty years young, today. This is one of those significant birthdays. Worthy of doing something different to commemorate.

I recall one of my fellow volunteers talking about traveling to celebrate a milestone birthday. Something like 50 days for the 50th birthday. We traveled way too much when we worked. We are really enjoying our surroundings and doing things we never got to do while we were in the work force.

So, I decided. Sixty is, of course, six decades. Six times ten. Six things, ten times. Or, ten things six times. I settled on more experiences with less to accomplish in each. It looks simpler to do. We shall see. I have been doing research already to find things that interest me.

This year, no New Year’s Resolutions, just the pursuit of these stretch goals, for lack of a better descriptor. Some are fun, some may be difficult. If I enjoy this journey, I may make it into a page. A journal of sorts. Since I am an avowed locavore, locapour, and still a foodie, many involve cooking, eating, gardening, farming, the county and nearby places.

My list —

Visit six festivals and/or fairs that are new to me
Taste at six new wineries never visited before
Seek out six new farmstands or markets to expand my locavore network
Do something different or visit someplace new in six states other than MD
Eat at six small business restaurants and/or diners
Eat/drink or experience six childhood memories
Log six new birds not seen before
Cook and eat six new proteins, i.e., meat, seafood, beans or nuts
Grow and/or eat six exotic fruits, veggies or herbs
Tackle six rightsizing projects

Some are self explanatory but others will take some initiative. Rightsizing projects include things we inherited from our families and things we accumulated over our 60+ years. Things like pictures, CDs, books, tools, clothes, shoes, whatever lurks in closets and cabinets. Having the space here makes it one of those often avoided projects.

The childhood memories include things like — riding a ferris wheel again, or a merry go round, or eating cotton candy, or a root beer float. Things we did as kids.

For my first project, my husband bought a pomegranate at Wegmans yesterday. I have had pom juice, and pomegranate balsamic, but never tried getting the seeds out and using one in cooking. Tonight’s salad will have pom seeds on it. Maybe using my fennel we bought, and oranges. I am making my own birthday dinner, doing things I want to eat. Rockfish. Salad. Roasted cauliflower. None of it hard to make, and no worries about driving in the slush/snow/ice/whatever we have on the ground tonight.

It is still snowing out here. The red bellied woodpecker and one of the squirrels were out there chowing down this morning while I was prepping the fish in a marinade.

This is a new young red bellied woodpecker, who is more skittish than the older ones are. He bolts when he sees the reflection of my camera. As for the acrobatic squirrel, he is lucky today. I don’t have the two layer baffle system on the large suet holder, and he can defeat just one. Besting the squirrels is a major undertaking here. Or, at least keeping them under control.

Who knows what this year, 2013, will bring to us here. I do know I intend to make it somewhat memorable, and certainly don’t intend to be bored.

hocofood@@@

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Frozen Foods

Posted on December 21, 2012 by AnnieRie

My way. Cooked from scratch out of the freezer. I made homemade bolognese sauce today, to be served with egg noodles for dinner tonight. The sauce makes the house smell wonderful, and most of the ingredients came out of the freezer this morning.

Breezy Willow sausage. I used half of it yesterday in dinner, a layered egg based dish. Today I put the other half in a pot with an onion, garlic, and I grated some frozen carrot over it for natural sweetness. Look at how little fat there is in the bottom of the pan. Amazing when you buy fresh meat from the farmers. Not a lot of filler and grease.

The carrot addition was something I learned this summer. Peel, blanch and freeze small carrots. Take one or two out of the freezer and grate them right into your sauce. When they are frozen they grate up nicely and it takes less time than dicing carrots. I also added my heirloom Amish paste tomatoes right out of the freezer.

They provide the cooking liquid for the sauce. I added a little spice, and two tablespoons of tomato paste. Let it simmer for about 45 minutes, and perfume the house with the smell of oregano, garlic and onion.

Tonight it will be simple to heat it up, boil some of the egg noodles I got out at England Acres, grate some Parmesan on top and toast a few pieces of bread. An arugula salad on the side. Another locavore meal, right out of my freezer. Loving all the tomatoes that I put away in the summer.

Back in August. Blanched, peeled, seeds removed and packed away for days like today.

hocofood@@@

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Tree and Garden Maintenance

Posted on December 19, 2012 by AnnieRie

Today was a clean up day. We had landscapers come out to do the final clean up of derecho damaged trees, before we put up the crank up tower in the yard. We don’t need trees coming down on the guy wires or the tower. Now that the leaves are gone, you could definitely pick out damaged trees that strong winds could bring down.

While out there, I took advantage of the mild weather and finished the haircuts on the spirea. Cleaned out those flower beds.

I really cut them way back. Not a bad idea. They come in more vigorous every summer and have created almost a hedge of sorts. This is what they looked like in the summer. The bunny is a bonus. Baby bunnies, birds, chipmunks, all love to hide in the spirea.

I also made my first attempt to clean out the veggie garden. It is a real mess. Full of dead tomato plants and overtaken by morning glory vines. I pulled out many of the cages and cleaned them.

I was careful to salvage my tomato ties and not throw away any sticks, ties or rope. The tomato plants will not go into compost. I don’t need them growing in the compost pile. The twisty ties were collected and brought in the house to put away for next year.

This garden plot is going to become herbs, lettuces and cool weather plants only. There will be a new garden next year. I need to get out into the field where I get more sunshine. The trees have now grown to a point where they shade the current garden site. Morning sun doesn’t come in until after 7 am. The sun starts disappearing behind the maple after 3 pm. Next year it will be worse as the trees get even taller.

There will be a new plot dug in and fenced. 20 by 40 is my goal. My 30 by 10 garden will now have a very large neighbor. This is the year I will do pumpkins, watermelon and lots more squash. Off into the field we will go. Oasis, who did today’s tree maintenance will be tilling and creating my new one. Ron is a local business owner, just a few miles down the road on Triadelphia Mill Rd. He and his crew did a great job today.

The new home for the garden.

The tall grasses are my neighbor’s property. We cut ours so we can put the radio towers there. Now, I just have to find a way to keep these visitors from jumping the fence.

The deer think nothing about galloping through our meadow and racing across my other neighbor’s front yard. The day I caught this one with the camera there were four of them out there.

Well, winter will be here in two days. I think this year is the earliest for my plant pruning, and I have a head start on garden maintenance. Time to hibernate for the winter, and hope we don’t have ice storms. At least if we do, we have pruned the trees to keep them from breaking off.

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Guilt Free Corn Chowder

Posted on December 12, 2012 by AnnieRie

Compliments of learning new techniques from other CSA bloggers. When you get a huge amount of root veggies, you have the option of making soups and stocks out of them. Roasting them first gives them even more flavor.

Roasting the veggies is fairly simple. Rutabaga, turnips, onions, leeks. I cut them large if I am going to make a soup base. Sprinkle them with whatever looks good in the spice rack. Today I used Emeril’s Essence, thyme, parsley, paprika, garlic powder and sage. I also found that with the mild weather, my herbs are still hanging in there. I brought in some oregano, rosemary and thyme to add to the pan. They will be discarded at the end.

The herbs add that extra level of taste to the veggies and they smell so good while roasting. I roasted the veggies at 350 degrees, after drizzling with a neutral oil. I used grapeseed. I added the secret ingredient too. Almond milk. I put a splash in the pan. The rest of the quart will be added to the soup while it is cooking on the stove top. This is how I get a creamy soup base with no cream. One hour in the oven.

Dump everything into the pot. Add the rest of the almond milk. Let it simmer for at least an hour, and blend in a blender to the consistency you want. I added garam masala to the pot too. This is what it looks like when you are finished.

I then added the last of the England Acres chicken, and corn from the freezer. The last of the TLV corn that I blanched and froze in October.

chicken corn chowder, no cream

I put it all in the pot and just turned it on as low as it will go. The flavors should blend nicely and in a few hours we will have corn chowder for dinner. Served with some bread from a local bakery, bread I found at England Acres Saturday, it will be a satisfying locally sourced dinner. Except for the almond milk and the spices.

The bread:

Spring Mill Bread

Dense, chewy, really good. Now I have a new source for breads. Easy to pick up, they even sell frozen loaves at England Acres on weekends when the farm store is open. Fresh or frozen. Another good locally baked bread to add to my list.

Besides dinner tonight, I got a pint and a quart of the soup base. Already in the freezer, to be used when my CSA runs out in two weeks. I still need to use up these carrots and the rest of the root veggies in the crisper.

overflowing with purple carrots, leeks and turnips

I know that having a full share in a CSA gives much more than two people can eat in a week, but using this freezer has made it work, and for the ten weeks we don’t get veggies, I won’t be using the grocery stores much as a source. I will be using what came all summer and fall.

hocofood@@@

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