Category Archives: Local Businesses

Fair Winds and Following Seas

Posted on January 12, 2015 by AnnieRie

A phrase we used to send retiring or transferring coworkers on their way to their new assignments, or to their future as retirees.

Today, I want to send that message to two women who spent 18 years making farmer’s markets in the DC area some of the absolute best places to buy local and support small businesses.

Ann Yonkers and Bernadine Price announced their impending retirement as the directors of the markets. Freshfarm is one of my favorite market companies (for lack of a better word). They run 13 markets in the DC/NoVA/MD area. Two of them year round. Those two were my introduction to year round markets.

Silver Spring on Saturdays, and DuPont Circle on Sundays. They introduced me to Atwater’s. Mock’s Greenhouses. Smith Meadows and more.

Silver Spring also had the benefit for us of having Lebanese Taverna right there. For lunch.

We spent many Saturdays in Silver Spring, before I found local farms open. For us, they were the source of local foods in the winter.

Besides, they have the best web site out there to tell us what is happening weekly.

If you get a chance, head down there some Saturday morning, just down US29, and check it out for yourself. And, tell the workers at the freshfarm tent that you appreciate what Ann and Bernie started, 18 years ago.

Taco Night

Posted on January 10, 2015 by AnnieRie

Thanks to Friends and Farms.

My first ever fish tacos thanks to the themed basket this week. Mahi mahi. Cilantro. Red cabbage. I did cheat and use Roots market salsa fresco instead of the tomatoes, garlic, onion and radishes in the basket.

I did use their recommended recipes to find a good sauce for the tacos. A take on a tartar sauce, but slightly different.

The recipe calls for mayo, sriracha and honey. I used mayo, taco seasoning that I made myself, and agave. Hey, you use what you have.

Mix it to your taste preference. I like it spicy. My taco seasoning, which is my chili mix, uses cayenne, chili powder, garlic powder, cinnamon, cumin, unsweetened chocolate, salt, pepper and chipotle powder. It’s just a container full of whatever looks interesting. Variety is truly the spice of life around here.

As for the mahi, sprinkled with the seasoning and grilled in olive oil.

I got the corn taco shells at Wegmans. We also made sirloin tacos with the other protein in the basket.

I hear a few people whined about the lack of produce in this week’s basket. It is the beginning of January. I thought they did a great job giving us some fun items to use to cook. We got hydroponic lettuce, tomatoes from a high tunnel, radishes, red cabbage, cilantro, apples, eggs, bread, sirloin, mahi mahi, and the larger baskets got cheese.

I was happy. But then who wouldn’t be after tacos with Yuengling.

Who can resist? Supporting a local business and a brewery from my husband’s home county in PA.

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Posted in CSA, Food, Friends and Farms, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Winter Eat Local and tagged cooking, CSA, Food, foodie, local businesses, Locavore, real food, wegman's. Bookmark the permalink.

Under Construction

Posted on January 3, 2015 by AnnieRie

My Small Business Page. I put it up so I could monkey around with the formatting and figure out the grouping. I am adding links daily, and will keep up the posting to highlight areas as I finish looking into them.

Who knew? I have dozens, maybe the possibility of over a hundred links for companies that I have used for everything from septic clean out to landscaping to small engine repair to knife sharpening.

I did days of research looking to see what was out there from local governments and organizations. Very little about the small businesses around here. Even on the HCEDA page, unless you want to count agriculture, where we seem to do a good job.

I finally found this site, to get me started on more research. It contained some listings I didn’t know about, but is missing dozens of them. It is a commercial site.

Bottom line, at the moment, this is much larger and more intense than I expected.

For example, take garden centers, greenhouses and nurseries. I know of Frank’s, Grandfather’s, Greenway Farms, Sharps Farm, River Hill, and Ten Oaks Nursery. I’ve used all of them.

Now, I just have to sort out what I have and arrange it all in a meaningful fashion.

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Posted in Howard County, Local Businesses and tagged community, hoco loco, Howard County, local businesses. Bookmark the permalink.

Fresh From the Farms

Posted on December 30, 2014 by AnnieRie

To the table.

The Friends and Farms delivery today. Right from the basket to the table. With minimal work. Salmon. Green beans. Lettuce. Tomatoes. All from today’s pick up.

We had salmon, filet mignon, and sausage as protein. It was an egg week for me. I did buy extra filets and salmon. The prices are incredible. We got cranberries, tomatoes, hydroponic greens, an acorn squash, a red onion and quick frozen green beans.

I haven’t posted my baskets for a few weeks. Too busy getting ready for Christmas. But Friends and Farms does continue to provide us with quality foods at way less than other stores. Example, today. That salmon was less than $11 a pound. The filets. A dollar an ounce. Two six ounce filets. $12.

Compare that to the $22-$25 you would be charged at any of the grocery stores in the area. Many of us were buying extra filets. There will be filet on the table for New Year’s Eve. A simple sauté followed by a steaming in a red wine and butter sauce.

And, no, I haven’t forgotten about making a #hocobiz page. I am almost ready to launch. Who knew how many businesses we used in the area that were family owned?

As for right now, we are enjoying the quality product that Friends and Farms gives us weekly.

Mother Nature’s

Posted on December 28, 2014 by AnnieRie

Focusing on those small businesses and trying to sort out the dozens of items on the page I want to create. Today I decided to highlight one of my favorite Howard County family owned businesses.

Mother Nature’s.

For years we have bought things from Claire and Dave. We have taken bird watching hikes locally and in northern VA with Claire. We bought our best bird watching binoculars from them.

If you go there often, you may stumble upon their binocular clearance sale. Half price for these awesome Nikon binoculars.

Right now, it is inventory season and a recent email told us they didn’t want to count it or pay taxes on it, so there were great bargains to be had.

I buy seed from them. Books. Like my bird compilations, and this one.

This one is fun. It teaches you how to attract certain birds. How to make your own suet.

How to make nachos.

Claire runs a Facebook Friday contest. To win prizes from the store. She is convenient to those in Columbia. Just around the corner from the post office, and just across the way from Bon Fresco.

For us, in the winter, attracting lots of birds to our yard is entertaining, and the goodies from Mother Nature’s keeps them healthy and happy. Even when they get into fights at the birdbath.

Ho Ho #HoCoBiz

Posted on December 25, 2014 by AnnieRie

First of all, Merry Christmas to all celebrating today. Here, the dinner is in the oven. The brunch dishes are cleaned up. There is Christmas music playing. We had a great kick off to our holiday, even in the rain, at my family’s annual get together on Christmas Eve.

A few days back, inspired by the interest in finding “mom and pop” businesses in the area, I published my last minute Christmas shopping suggestions. It prompted me to consider a new page here on the blog, called the HoCoBiz page.

I want to launch the page in the next few days, with places that I frequent year round. With family owned businesses outside the scope of my food pages. Any and all suggestions for new places I should discover will be most welcome. I hope to include services, restaurants, shops and suppliers, centered here in the Howard County area, but maybe expanding just a bit to include those who service this area, but who live across the county lines, in Frederick, Carroll, Baltimore and Montgomery counties.

Places like Atwater’s, The Breadery, Treuth’s that I have mentioned on my local resources pages. Just east of us in Oella and Catonsville.

What I have found just in starting the draft is that I use dozens of local suppliers, mostly family businesses. I guess I’m not just a locavore and locapour, but also a mom and pop business advocate. I don’t know if there’s a catchy name for it.

Just to whet our appetites, so to speak, I’ll mention a few places you might consider using to celebrate New Year’s. Or, places where you might buy birthday or anniversary presents, or celebrate Valentine’s Day, or just use when something breaks down at your house. How about this?

I found jumbo Gulf coast shrimp at Boarman’s Monday. Five pound bags, or buy what you need. $13.99 a pound. These are marinating for dinner tonight, to be sautéed and served as an appetizer. Three pounds, steamed in Old Bay, went to my brother’s last night. The last pound, still frozen, to be thawed for a New Year’s Eve appetizer.

It’s not just for Small Business Saturday what we buy from the locals. If we only did that, they couldn’t survive.

For those who want a unique New Year’s resolution, vow to eat at a family owned restaurant instead of a chain, on a somewhat regular basis. Like maybe once a month. Replace Lowe’s and Home Depot with Clark’s and Kendall’s when you can. For garden needs, use River Hill.

Want to do a small remodeling or replacement in a bath or kitchen, check out Ken Griffin plumbing. They do all our repairs, and have replaced faucets, garbage disposals, and done repairs on our well. They also came out the morning we called when a pipe burst, in the midst of all that mess last winter.

Replace those national chains with local auto shops, like British American or Hillmuth. British American has serviced our cars since 1983. Thirty years.

So, stand by to see what I get put up in the next few days. In the meantime, have lunch or dinner at a local family owned place. Skip Subway or MickeyD’s.

Buy your celebration champagne, or beer for the New Year’s bowl game marathon, from one of the small liquor stores. The one really good thing about our liquor laws here in the county. There aren’t huge “Total Beverage” warehouses here. If you can, try a local beer or wine, even closer to home.

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Posted in Community, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses and tagged community, Food, hoco loco, Howard County, local businesses. Bookmark the permalink.

Small Business Christmas

Posted on December 22, 2014 by AnnieRie

Last minute ideas. Inspired by a fellow blogger’s comment on Facebook this morning that started a thread about small businesses (or the lack thereof) in the area other than in Ellicott City.

Two days left. You can avoid the big box stores and all those lines.

Mother Nature’s Near the post office off Snowden River Parkway.

You could pick up all sorts of unique gifts. The de-icer is a great gift. So are the books. Like my Feeding the Birds cookbook. Or, our Nikon binoculars. Or, the squirrel baffles to put over the feeders.

Secolari’s in the outdoor portion of Columbia Mall. Family owned. Gift packs. Olive oils. Vinegars. Honey. Pastas. Salts. I go crazy in that store.

Conscious Corner aka Roots, Great Sage, Bark and Nest (and RED, which is next to Roots and owned by a former Roots employee).

For those who want to support planet-friendly, organic, vegetarian, vegan, biodynamic, sustainably produced and socially responsible products, to paraphrase a quote from a recent interview with the owner of Red.

David’s Natural Market in Wilde Lake. Bigger and better, and with lots of very nice gifts even in the non-food arena.

Of course, Boarman’s. For those really nice gift packs of local artisan beers. They also have all sorts of little goodies too, for the holidays, like fresh chestnuts.

River Hill Garden Center in Clarksville.

The link above shows all the local vendors whose products you can buy at the Center. The gift area is not to be missed.

Last but not least, for those looking for something special. Greenbridge Pottery.

According to their web site, they should be open Christmas Eve. If not, their pottery is available other places, like Bean Hollow in EC.

Just a few suggestions here. Others off the top of my head. Any of the locally owned liquor stores. Gift cards to family owned restaurants, instead of chains. Places like Iron Bridge. Bistro Blanc. Aida’s. Victoria’s. Elkridge Furnace Inn. Facci.

Have a great holiday, and shop those local stores when you can. All year long. Not just at Christmas.

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Posted in Community, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Restaurants and tagged community, Food, hoco loco, holidays, Howard County, local businesses. Bookmark the permalink.

Local Butchers

Posted on December 15, 2014 by AnnieRie

It’s almost the holidays. For us that means celebration food. Like crown roasts. Osso Buco. Tenderloin for my birthday and maybe New Year’s Eve.

As far as I know, there is only one butcher left in Howard County. Boarman’s. We get so many special orders there. Like the osso buco.

Not too far away we do have lots of choices.

Mt. Airy. Wagner’s.

Oella. JW Treuth’s. They did change hands recently but the quality is still there. They were a major source for our Zahradka winter CSA a few years back.

Northern PG County in Laurel. Laurel Meat Market and Beiler’s in the Amish market on Rte. 198.

I have tried all but Laurel Meat Market. I should try them as Howchow loves them, and I respect his opinion.

If you want to buy small business and local for your main course at any holiday meal, you can’t go wrong with these choices. I mean, how good looking is this?

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Posted in Farms, Food, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food and tagged cooking, Food, foodie, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

The Dark Days

Posted on December 13, 2014 by AnnieRie

The time of year when the sun is in the opposite hemisphere, and our daylight hours get shorter and shorter. On December 21st, we here in Howard County only get 9 1/2 hours of daylight. Then, thankfully, the days get longer after that day.

A few years back, I did a food challenge. Called the Dark Days Challenge. The challenge, simply, was to make a meal once a week in the winter that used almost completely regional, seasonal items, and/or items you preserved from the summer.

I found out we had lots of sources here in Central Maryland. I didn’t have to eat food flown halfway across the country or halfway around the world. I learned about the Silver Spring, Takoma Park, and DuPont circle year round markets. I found farmers in the area where I could procure local meats.

I found a year round CSA. Bottom line. I changed how I ate. I changed how I cooked. I reduced my carbon footprint by using more and more local foods.

Last night, I made dinner. Afterwards, I realized how that dinner would have rocked the Dark Days Challenge. Almost all of it was local. And I didn’t even work hard to do it. I had just changed my food sources over the years.

My lamb stew dinner. Using Mt. Airy Meats lamb. CSA potatoes, turnips, onions and carrots. Friends and Farms kale, garlic and rosemary. Trickling Springs butter. Secolari’s olive oil and balsamic. Wayne Nell’s bacon ends.

And the wine.

A 1999 Linden Glen Manor from Virginia. Like inhaling cherries. Dark, delicious. Nowhere near its peak. A bargain back when we bought it. A treasure to be savored with the lamb.

My husband declared I now make a braised lamb stew that rivals those that Marc Dixon used to make at Iron Bridge. Falling off the bone lamb. Simply cooked in the oven at slow cooker setting, with the potatoes, turnips, carrots and onions in a chicken stock I made last month.

Yes, I know I need to clean the oven. Ignore that. I did the stew in one pan. Seared it first, added the vegetables and stock and cooked it for four hours at the 250 degree setting in the oven.

The kale. Started out with scallions from Laurel Amish Market. Olive oil. Bacon ends. Added the kale and garlic. Sautéed until wilted.

So easy to eat fresh food around here.

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Posted in CSA, Dark Days, Food, Friends and Farms, Howard County, LFFC, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Wine, Winter Eat Local and tagged community, cooking, CSA, Dark Days Challenge, farmer's markets, Food, foodie, Linden Vineyards, local businesses, Locavore, real food, VA wine, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Blurring the Lines

Posted on December 12, 2014 by AnnieRie

Between markets, delivery services, cooperatives, and CSAs. I can’t help but notice as a result of being part of most of those choices that things keep changing. To keep customers. Take for example.

The presence of my CSA cooperative’s items in my Friends and Farms basket.

Yes, that’s an LFFC sticker on my butternut squash in this week’s Friends and Farms basket. Just like the sticker on my carnival squash in my LFFC CSA pick up basket.

And that Bowman Mountain applesauce in my fruit share. Was in the refrigerator at F&F when I got there.

And, yes, Mother Earth mushrooms were in both deliveries. So was LFFC garlic.

Here’s this week’s F&F individual basket. I am also pretty sure the leek was from Lancaster Farm Fresh Coop, too. I do like their use of a mostly organic non-profit Amish cooperative to give us great produce and fruit.

Just like I am thankful that our LFFC CSA share keeps going into the fall. And, hopefully into the winter if we get enough interest.

This was my half share, and my fruit share. Anyone know a killer recipe for rutabagas? The one “weird” item in our share this week.

As for cheese.

Lancaster Farm Fresh continues to give us artisanal cheeses at much more reasonable prices than Roots, Wegmans, and Whole Foods. We generally get 24 ounces for $25. Check out the per pound price of the best cheese at any of those retailers and you will see what a good deal we are getting.

So, where am I going with this post? I see a shift in my CSA. Giving more options. More individual choices. I see a shift in Friends and Farms. Using more and more reasonably priced organic items. And, more flexibility there too.

The old model, one farm CSA isn’t doing as well as those who broaden their sources. Consumers have lots of choices around here. A one farm CSA with limited veggies won’t survive against the cooperatives and regionally sourced food services like F&F.

I also see the value in these current choices. Better pricing. Fresher foods. I like Friends and Farms comment from a recent TV show. Wegmans and Whole Foods quality at Giant and Safeway pricing. We can get really great food around here. Year round.

The trick in all this? Knowing how to use it. Staying home and cooking. What have I done with the above, and what will I do this week with the rest of it?

One of the carrots went into tonight’s dinner. There will be a post tomorrow about that dinner. It was simply an awesome local meal. Spinach and mushrooms went into a salad yesterday taken to a friend’s house for dinner. Same with the garlic, in a potato casserole. Taken to that dinner.

As for LFFC, one of the onions in that potato casserole last night. Red cabbage in a salad tonight. I am making apple bread this weekend to give as Christmas gifts. Same for that jar of applesauce. One of my mom’s favorite treats, it will be in her “stocking” from me.

The lines may be blurred these days from my food suppliers, but I still can make flavorful meals and use these items over a two to three week period. Can’t say the same about grocery store produce, which wilts and slimes in less than a week. Fresh food is amazing. We are very lucky to have the choices we have here in Howard County.

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