Category Archives: LFFC

Scapes Season

Posted on June 10, 2015 by AnnieRie

It has arrived. Garlic scape season.

That first bunch of scapes in the CSA box from Lancaster Farm Fresh. Time to head over to the recipe page and start browsing.

It was a great transition box this week.

Strawberries and rhubarb in the fruit share. Spring onions. Baby fennel. Greens. Beets. Cilantro and mint.

The meat share.

Beef stir fry. Pork links. Boneless pork chops.

Tonight I was just in the mood for a stir fry. Using quite a bit of the box, and one of those precious scapes.

Scapes, scallions and chard stems. In the wok with some light olive oil and toasted sesame oil. Fresh ginger.

Add beef, soy sauce, straw mushrooms and curly kale.

Served over brown rice. With a very lovely Linden Rose.

Get yourself to the local farmers markets and see if Love Dove Farms has their usual supply of scapes. So many ways to make them. Not just in pesto.

A short season, but a flavorful one.

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Posted in CSA, Farmer's Markets, Food, LFFC, Locavore and tagged cooking, CSA, farmer's markets, farms, Food, Locavore, real food, VA wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Coop Benefits

Posted on June 2, 2015 by AnnieRie

Strawberries. Many, many strawberries.

I think almost everyone got strawberries today at our Cooperative CSA pick up. The benefits of a good season. When we get much more than expected due to a good yield.

We got an email last week. It said “Surprise!” Fruit shares were starting a week early. Without any cost. Two pints of organic strawberries for all our fruit share members. That’s a lot of us in Columbia. I think we have 40 fruit shares at our pick up site.

Plus, the small, medium and large vegetable shares had strawberries tucked in our boxes, too. All told, I went home with 48 ounces of berries. Sweet. Juicy. Ready for desserts or baking or maybe margaritas.

The large share had ten more items this week. Huge amounts.

There were white kohlrabi. Red and white scallions. Green garlic. Another POUND of spring mix. Red leaf lettuce. Green butterhead lettuce. Rhubarb. Galantina chicory. Baby crinkled cress.

Still that heavy greens season. Can’t wait for the transition to summer vegetables but we are enjoying the salad mixes.

I also picked up my weekly meat share.

I should have done a happy dance for that bone in ham steak. We got one last winter. The best ham steak we have ever eaten. We also got my favorite chicken, the boneless thighs. And, bacon. The bacon is different. I bake it, and use it for greens and frittatas. Flavorful, but definitely fatty.

Biweekly cheese share this week too. A full basket to bring home.

My fave. The Millich Kivvel.

So creamy. Yet pretty assertive, if you eat the rind, like my other half does.

Lancaster Farm Fresh keeps getting better and better. A really good value. Very fresh food, that lasts for weeks in the fridge. And surprises. Like those strawberries.

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Posted in CSA, Food, LFFC, Locavore and tagged CSA, Food, foodie, local businesses, Locavore, real food, value of CSA. Bookmark the permalink.

Catching Up Again

Posted on May 26, 2015 by AnnieRie

On the local food scene. In our home, it is presently dominated by our two summer food sources. A Community Supported Agriculture large share of vegetables. And a protein and dairy bag from Friends and Farms.

Supplemented by trips to the Glenwood Farmers Market. And, stopping at Jenny’s Market to round out the fruit.

Occasionally I have to hit Harris Teeter for things like tonic water for those gin and tonics. Aranciata for those Lemon Basil drinks. Tea bags to make iced tea.

The garden also contributes. With greens and spring onions.

As for the CSA. We had another week of greens overload. Not a bad thing, as we eat salads at lunch and dinner. This week at least it was all really good stuff.

Leaf lettuces. Spring mix. Romaine. Spinach. Two bunches of scallions. Green garlic. Two kinds of mushrooms. And, strawberries.

There will be no problem in using up all these goodies. Caesar salads. Greens with fruit and cheese. Greek salad. All sorts of possibilities. I am even thinking of pesto with some of my chive blossom stems and the spring garlic.

We are crossing our fingers that we get garlic scapes next week. To replenish my pesto supplies in the freezer.

As for the proteins.

Our meat share gave us ground beef. I am thinking of hamburgers on the grill. We already had the spare ribs for dinner tonight. Slathered in Rhubarb BBQ sauce. The drumsticks I will grill also.

That BBQ sauce? I found a recipe here. But then I didn’t follow it. I used the ingredients, but not in the quantities. I used frozen berries from last year. I used mostly rhubarb. My suggestion when you get an idea like this. Use whatever suits your taste. I used more mustard. Less molasses. Didn’t use the cloves. Bottom line. Trust your taste and be adventurous.

Who needs bottled sauces when it is relatively simple to simmer up a sauce that is fresh, bold, tasty and versatile.

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Posted in CSA, Food, LFFC, Locavore, Real Food and tagged cooking, CSA, Food, foodie, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

Fifty Shades of Greens

Posted on May 12, 2015 by AnnieRie

Springtime. The drowning in the greens. Not a bad thing. One of those pleasures that we anticipate in the dead of winter.

Today’s CSA pickup yielded lots of greens. Lettuces. Spinach. Kale and more.

A large share. Formerly known as a full share. I forgot how large they can be. Still, as people who put many vegetables on our lunch and dinner plates, this is a good haul.

I have to comment about those squash.

Zucchini and yellow squash are NOT in season in Lancaster County. It seems our CSA has decided that the consumer who wants more produce earlier than normal in the midAtlantic will be driving their selections.

We seem to have expanded into a few more Southern states. The purists may not be happy, but we are getting incredibly fresh organic food at less than retail cost, so I can forgive them for using other farms. Last year, we had a delayed opening because the crops were far behind here. The extreme cold winter hurt them.

This year, they opted to bring in vegetables from further south. That allowed them to open on time. We know this was another brutal winter. When it comes to decisions. Do they branch out and keep customers, or remain pure to the “local” tag and lose customers due to decreased yields and subpar product. I can understand them.

I have to admit. Those squash? Awesome.

Two ended up in tonight’s dinner. A simple gratin. Squash. Hummingbird Farm tomatoes. Mozzarella from last week’s basket. Olive oil. Herbs de Provence. Baked at 350 degrees until browned.

Tonight’s dinner.

Not bad for a Tuesday.

As for those other greens. They will be enjoyed.

And that rhubarb. Begging to become a crisp tomorrow.

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Posted in CSA, Food, LFFC, Locavore, Real Food and tagged CSA, Food, foodie, local businesses, Locavore, real food, value of CSA. Bookmark the permalink.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Posted on May 9, 2015 by AnnieRie

When it comes to food choices, we have so many options in this area that it is sometimes overwhelming. Literally. CSAs. Farmer’s Markets. Organic food stores. Specialty stores. Fresh from the farm at farm stands.

What is the best value? It has taken me years to figure out what works for me. It may not work for you. I do find it a great deal that we have moved the CSA market into one with maximum flexibility.

Community Supported Agriculture used to be “one farm” for the most part. If the farm did well, you ate well. If the season was awful, you didn’t get much. Then, they started banding together to make cooperative ventures. Buying fruit from orchards, or bread from local bakers, or cheeses and dairy.

Enter the flexibility of sizes. Small, medium, large. Half or whole shares.

Since our entrance to buying from CSAs, we have watched them adapt. Now, it is simpler to choose, but harder to manage (trust me, I think our site host is a saint to put up with all the headaches associated with dozens of options).

Enter also really innovative ideas like Friends and Farms. Where you can miss a week. Or change options at a moment’s notice.

Add our multiple farmer’s markets, like the return of Glenwood for us in west county. Where we can round out our shopping and avoid those long lines at the local Giant Food.

After four years of experimenting, I think I found my perfect match. Rotating the choices from Friends and Farms year round. Hitting farm stands like Breezy Willow in the winter. Jenny’s in the summer.

And my anchor. Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative. We held our breath to see if we met our minimum to keep our site going. We did that and more. Forty one shares. Mini custom. Small. Medium. Large. Fruit. Meat. Chicken. Cheese. Flowers. Herbs. They have made it a smorgasbord of options.

Our first pick up was last Tuesday.

A large share. Most of which has already been consumed, or is planned for the next two days. Asparagus. Grilled. Spinach and chard. Frittata. Beets. Roasted. Onions. Grilled. The Jerusalem artichokes will be roasted tomorrow.

This year I tried a meat share. The heritage pork chops were awesome.

As for cheese. They continue to make me happy. We like to have a smaller dinner, with some wine. I cut off a few slices of complimenting cheese to savor. Instead of dessert.

That mozzarella. Perfect shaved over my Friends and Farms tomatoes from Hummingbird Farms.

This local source for tomatoes that taste like tomatoes, before the garden kicks in, is a welcome treat from Friends and Farms. This was my last “small” basket. We are moving to Protein and Dairy. Between the CSA and the garden, I will have enough produce.

I will miss that great bread but the local farmer’s markets will fill that void.

All in all. I found my combination that works. If you live here, with seven farmer’s markets, a dozen farm stands, almost a dozen CSAs, and Friends and Farms, you certainly can eat well on fresher than store bought food.

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Parsnip-ity

Posted on April 15, 2015 by AnnieRie

As in parsnip overload. By my choosing.

Today was my last week of the winter CSA. Three weeks until the spring/summer season begins. I decided to load up on parsnips from the swap box. Good thing our site host is a friend and lets me swap more than one item if I give her some stuff she likes. I swapped kale and cabbage today to get a triple share of parsnips. They keep well. I like them. I even have made colcannon with them.

These are destined to become roasted veggies. Colcannon. And, I am thinking parsnip and sweet potato fries. I have quite a bit of both left.

Enough to take samples to Greenfest this Saturday. Our site host and I are staffing a table to promote our CSA. We need to guarantee our pick up site by recruiting a few more members.

Our Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative CSA is one that provides us with so many great vegetables. Fruit. Meat. Cheese. Eggs. Bread. Herbs. Milk. Tofu. The list seems to be endless. They have grown by leaps and bounds. Now delivering to six states and the District.

The rest of this week’s final basket.

Spinach. Chard. Mushrooms. Aeroponic butterhead lettuce.

Add ons.

The pantry item was mint tea. The cheese was a raw milk farmer’s cheese. The meat share was 1 1/2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breast.

In three weeks, we will begin the next season. Six months of food. I ordered a full vegetable share. Bread. Cheese. Fruit. Meat.

All I need with the exception of staples to keep us supplied with fresh organic non-GMO food.

Now, off to find new recipes for those sweet parsnips.

See you Saturday at Howard County Community College. Look for the Lancaster Farm Fresh table and stop to say HI to us.

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Posted in CSA, Food, LFFC, Locavore and tagged cooking, CSA, Food, foodie, Locavore, real food, value of CSA. Bookmark the permalink.

Aeroponics … and More

Posted on April 8, 2015 by AnnieRie

What are aeroponics? Why do I want to know? Because of this.

It arrived in today’s CSA basket. With this inside.

It seems our Amish CSA is using aeroponics to grow butterhead lettuce. Another way they continue to surprise us. Considering the fact that we still seem to be in the midst of winter, and we keep getting those everpresent root vegetables. There are signs of spring though.

This is the next to last week of our winter share. Spring/summer doesn’t start until the week of May 3rd. Still, I appreciated the lettuce and the young rainbow chard. Added to it. Carrots. Sweet potatoes. Green beans. Dinosaur kale and portabello mushrooms.

Another new item. This cinnamon scented muesli.

It was our pantry item. We did get hot Italian grilling sausages (maybe it will get warm enough to grill?). The cheese was an artisanal goat cheese. Rich, and creamy.

I headed off to Friends and Farms after picking up the CSA. There, we found a few signs of spring as well.

Hydroponic arugula and a head of romaine. There were also parsnips, apples, mushrooms, sweet potatoes (really? Do you know how many types of sweet potatoes are hanging out in my pantry?), butternut squash puree. My apple cider for milk substitute to use to make that beautiful bone-in pork roast. A couple of chicken breasts. Destined to become chicken salad. Eggs. Bread. Breakfast links.

Another week. Another full delivery of regional specialties to cook with.

I did add on some seafood this week. Rockfish.

It quickly became dinner tonight. Panko breaded with a glaze of honey mustard under the breading. Excellent meal.

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Posted in CSA, Food, Friends and Farms, LFFC, Locavore, Real Food and tagged cooking, CSA, Food, foodie, local businesses, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

Time Flies

Posted on April 1, 2015 by AnnieRie

Five years now. Since I turned in my badge and retired from working. Still having fun. Still hoping I make a difference.

You get that flag. It sits on the mantle. You wonder if there’s enough to keep you busy. In my world these days, there certainly is. Take today.

Planting a couple of hundred onion bulbs in my community garden plot. Thank you, Southern States Ellicott City for having affordable loose onion bulbs for sale. We got red, white and yellow onions. All in the ground this morning. Covered and ready to grow.

Picked up both CSAs after that.

My Lancaster Farm Fresh winter share. Only two more weeks to go. Then a break until the summer CSA starts.

Then, over to Friends and Farms to get my small share. This week, mahi mahi is a highlight. Home to unpack and store this week’s food.

Get all gussied up to go meet Colonel Gateway. A fun get together thanks to Aida Bistro, COPT, ADG Creative, and Jessie Newburn. At least 60 0f us, local businesses and bloggers, out to support the Columbia Gateway businesses, like Aida.

Picked up a few buttons. Watched the festivities. Checked out Twitter when we got home, to see if anything interesting was posted.

Work? Me? No thank you. I am having too much fun doing “nothing”.

If you love it here in Howard County, like me, and want to support local businesses. Check out Aida Bistro. Our hosts tonight. Family owned. Great Italian restaurant. We had some great wines tonight, from their “wine taps”. Including one from a local winery. Old Westminster.

Tomorrow? That five year anniversary of my first day of retirement? I think I will be looking for plants to buy. And, prepping food for Easter. What should I do with that awesome basket cheese in my Friends and Farms basket?

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Posted in Adventures, Community, CSA, Food, Friends and Farms, Gardening, LFFC, Local Businesses, Restaurants and tagged CSA, Food, gardening, local businesses, Locavore. Bookmark the permalink.

‘Tis The Season

Posted on March 28, 2015 by AnnieRie

It must be spring. The Woodstock Snowball Stand is open.

They opened yesterday. Today, I almost stopped just to see if they had hot cider as the weather isn’t cooperating for a need to have an icy cup of goodness. I saw later on the Facebook feed that they were offering 40% off since it was snowing at the snowball stand. OK, so there were flurries.

They always seem to open when we are doing spring grounds clean up. Today, our two day massive clean up and mulch fest happens in our yard. Today clean up. Tomorrow mulch. If only the guys weren’t out there in three or four layers dealing with the wind and the cold.

Today I finally got motivated, after our community garden kick off meeting, to do some indoor seed starting. With the cold this winter, the garage wasn’t warm enough to sustain growth so I am starting now.

Recycling egg cartons to start leeks, romas and Thelma Sanders squash. Putting some cilantro in the pots to transfer to the deck planters in a few weeks. If we can ever have a week that stays warm enough. I will cross my fingers and get the arugula under row cover out at my community plot right after Easter weekend.

Arugula is one of my absolute favorite greens. Spicy, peppery, full of flavor. Last week, three of my local sources provided me with a vision of warmer times to come.

The baby arugula came in my weekly Lancaster Farm Fresh basket this week. It took the place of basil in my close-to-Caprese salad. The Hummingbird Farms hydroponic tomatoes were in my Friends and Farms basket. The mozzarella. Picked up at my last visit to Breezy Willow farm store on a Saturday morning when they are open.

These tomatoes actually have taste. Not like my summer tomatoes, but much better than those weird cardboard tasting things in the stores. I used a drizzle of Secolari Olive Oil and some Wegmans balsamic. Salt and pepper to finish.

Makes me want to go out and plant something.

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Posted in CSA, Farms, Food, Friends and Farms, Gardening, LFFC, Local Businesses, Locavore and tagged CSA, Food, foodie, Locavore, value of CSA, weather. Bookmark the permalink.

Illusion of Springtime

Posted on March 19, 2015 by AnnieRie

Compliments of our weekly food baskets. Which are changing slowly into springtime items. Like arugula.

A pound of baby arugula. Also known as rocket. Peppery. Fresh. Just the perfect green to evoke memories of last spring. Too bad it’s going to snow tonight. We still think we are getting closer to springtime around here.

Then there’s microgreens.

I swear microgreens are one of those prized items created by farmers. You know, “hey, let’s thin the seedlings and sell those thinnings for major amounts of money to unsuspecting consumers.” I have a garden. I know all about thinning the greens. Still, I do love the intensity of them.

How about lamb?

An Easter tradition in my house. Lamb always reminds me of springtime.

This week, here was the total Friends and Farms basket.

I had the salmon marinating even before I took the pictures. It ended up like this.

With the green beans from my Lancaster Farm Fresh basket. Corn from the freezer, and a cut up carrot.

My favorite thing this week. That lovely ham steak. I am thinking of saving it for Easter. I may be waiting for snow tonight, but there are definitely signs that spring is coming.

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