Category Archives: Local Businesses

Don’t Buy Food From Strangers

Posted on July 29, 2013 by AnnieRie

The Lancaster Farm Fresh logo on their web site and produce bags.

After finishing the Buy Local Challenge, and attending events where we could talk to the farmers, this logo is even more meaningful to us.

This morning at 9AM, the cell phone rang. It was the Amish farmer (yes, some of them use phones and computers in their business, they just don’t allow them in their homes) who gave us the fava beans. One of the farms that supplies our CSA, Sandy Spring, through the cooperative non profit venture now totalling close to 80 small farms.

He wanted to know if it worked out OK. We again thanked him for his gift, and told him we got almost eight pounds of beans. Some were frozen. Some were used.

To us, this connection with those who grow our food is something special that we have realized after a few years of buying locally.

With the latest food problem, that of cyclospora infecting people all across the USA, we feel that minimizing our risk of infection, by using locally produced organic fruit and veggies whenever possible, is one of our smartest decisions.

Buying local produce, meat, dairy, fruit and eggs, and belonging to an organic CSA all help us stay healthier and, definitely, eat fresher, better food.

So, here’s to the Howard County Farmers Markets, full of great local farms. Here’s to the local farmstands with fresh produce and fruit. Here’s to CSAs that connect us with the producers and make us part of their “family”.

Here’s to dinner tonight.

A frittata. Made with Love Dove eggs, Misty Meadows milk, TLV’s fingerlings, Bowling Green Farms feta, Trickling Springs butter, Sandy Spring CSA chard, onion and green pepper, Breezy Willow ham, and served with Stone House bakery’s focaccia.

I know the people who feed me. Do you?

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Commentary, Community, CSA, Farmer's Markets, Farms, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, People, Real Food and tagged commentary, community, cooking, CSA, farmer's markets, farms, Food, foodie, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

Buy Local Success … Big and Small

Posted on July 28, 2013 by AnnieRie

The Buy Local Challenge ends tonight. Pledging to eat at least one locally produced item every day for nine days. Still time to enter the challenge contest using pictures that will be uploaded to the facebook page.

Guests at our picnic get together at the Howard County Conservancy took pictures to upload. Attendance was a little sparse because the weather didn’t cooperate until an hour into the picnic time, but those who came out got some undivided attention from our volunteers and our animals.

After all, how many of you get to feed the goats and take them for a walk with a volunteer. One of our guests did. He also brought one of his Boy Scout projects. Pine needle tea. They served it alongside some awesome looking BLTs using bacon from a farm in Cecil County. Home grown tomatoes, too. They had peaches for dessert.

We saw local cheeses. Local tomatoes. Easy fun simple. And, then believe it or not, the sun came out.

We made caprese, and brought some Stone House focaccia.

Thanks to Casey Caulder Todd from Breezy Willow who came out to meet people and enjoy the picnic goodies with a small bunch of friends, volunteers, family who showed their support of our local farmers.

As for us, we made it easily through another local challenge. Our farmer’s markets and farm stands make buying and eating locally a real cinch. All nine days of it.

Now, if I could have had a working sandisk card in my camera, there would have been pictures. Note to self, never pick up a card and stick it in the camera without checking to see if it registers.

And thanks to Love Dove I had a farm bag to put some local goodies in as a prize for the best picnic spread.

Hope the winners enjoy the local treats from Breezy Willow, TLV, Lewis, Stone House, Great Harvest and from our gardens.

Farm to Table restaurant weeks are still going strong here in the county. We should be at a couple of them this week.

And, just six days until the county fair begins. Crossing my fingers that more Box Car Willie tomatoes ripen before it rains again. I do have a good collection of herbs for that category. I hope to enter herbs, cherry tomatoes, heirlooms and romas this year. Sadly, all my cukes are done for the year. I may dig up some of my white sweet potatoes. They look pretty healthy and are spreading in the garden.

See you at the fair?

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Community, Family, Farmer's Markets, Farms, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Restaurants, Volunteering and tagged community, cooking, family, farmer's markets, farms, Food, heirloom tomatoes, Howard County, howard county conservancy, local businesses, Locavore, volunteering. Bookmark the permalink.

Are there too many markets?

Posted on July 26, 2013 by AnnieRie

After Lora’s comments on my Hump Day post, where she linked to the Baltimore Sun article about the Howard County markets, I have been thinking.

Do we have too many markets? Have we diluted the customer base? How are all the CSAs affecting market visits?

Many friends, other bloggers, readers and hundreds of county residents now get CSA boxes weekly. Add Friends and Farms, and South Mountain Creamery delivery and you have probably thousands of people who no longer buy the bulk of their fruit and vegetables at the markets.

The big CSAs are Breezy Willow, Gorman, One Straw, Zahradka, Love Dove and Sandy Spring. They keep growing every year. We went from about 35 members for Sandy Spring at our one site in Columbia to 59 this summer. My Farms page has links to all the local farms.

Add the pick your own sites like Larriland to the mix, where people who are serious about getting fresh affordable fruit and veggies have made it extremely popular on weekends. It is even crowded on weekdays when we go to pick.

What can be done to increase the visibility, and the profitability of these markets? Something that it seems is discussed quite a bit by the market board and the participants.

Are the hours of 2-6 during the week the right ones? Should it be 3-7 in the heart of summer to help the commuters get there before the good stuff is gone?

I don’t know the answers but any and all thoughts and comments are appreciated here.

I am doing fine in the Buy Local Challenge. I hope others have made that pledge to support our farmers. Will you be joining us for our picnic this Sunday at the Conservancy? A chance to connect with neighbors and friends and share our local goodies. Crossing our fingers that the weather stays nice, and we can picnic in the grove. Otherwise, an indoor picnic looking at the trees through the windows of the Gudelsky Center.

hocoblogs@@@

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Posted in Commentary, Community, CSA, Farmer's Markets, Farms, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore and tagged commentary, community, CSA, farmer's markets, farms, Food, Howard County, howard county conservancy, local businesses, Locavore. Bookmark the permalink.

Hump Day

Posted on July 24, 2013 by AnnieRie

In the Buy Local Challenge.

Four days done. Four days left. Today is Hump Day. Have you eaten a farmer produced local item these first four or five days? We have, but then as a CSA member, it is really simple to use locally sourced items every day. They come in that weekly box of goodies.

Don’t know what we are getting tomorrow, so I will wait and hit the farmer’s market on Friday to round out my menu.

I didn’t report on yesterday’s meal. A crock pot stew, made with CSA kale, fava beans, carrots, and onions, started with frozen chicken stock and finished with a TLV Tree Farm smoked ham steak, cubed. For the last hour, I added some riso.

Enough left to stuff peppers Friday for dinner.

As for today, the better half went off to Annapolis for a radio club dinner meeting. I decided, what the heck, and had one of those awesome tomato sandwiches for dinner.

Along with some greens that I bought last week from Love Dove Farms. Plus, at lunch today we had some of those juicy fresh plums from our visit to Catoctin Mountain Orchards last week.

CSA members have it easy in the Buy Local Challenge. With boxes or baskets full of vegetables and fruit, and maybe some eggs or cheese, you can eat well every single day without hitting a grocery store. Take our box from last week.

Carrots were peeled and showed up at many lunches, plus in yesterday’s dinner. Corn is gone. Two dinners. One pepper eaten. Two for our dinner this Friday. Pattypan half gone, for dinners. Green beans and chard still there. Tomatoes gone, for salads and those sandwiches.

For the next four days, there are local markets every day. Check them out. Support a farmer and buy something to take for lunches. Or, fruit for a snack.

How about dinner at Black Ankle Friday night? A unique opportunity to support a local farm (one that grows grapes), and while there, buy some local cheese for dinner.

All sorts of possibilities. Don’t give up on this challenge. And, think of ways to make it part of your entire summer.

hocofood@@@

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

The First Tomatoes

Posted on July 23, 2013 by AnnieRie

Real tomatoes. Not the little cherry ones. The ones we wait for months to grow, blossom, set and ripen.

The ones on the left are some type of yellow roma. Umm, I didn’t plant yellow roma. Seems my yellow plum seedlings weren’t. No matter. These will get used for some interesting tomato sauces. I have four of these plants growing.

As for the one on the right, another mystery. Out of my ten Amish paste plants, this one came up right in the middle of the row. I don’t know what it is. Still researching. I took it off yesterday before the storm hit as it was starting to split. There is a variety out there called Large Yellow Amish that looks similar to this. I need to get a few more of them ripe to see if this is what came up.

The mortgage lifter and box car willie are about two or three days away from my first harvest. Then, taste testing to decide which variety works best for the county fair.

As for those hillbillies, they really are slow. And the pineapples haven’t given me anything but blossoms. I might have two or three Paul Robesons by the fair, but I am not holding my breath on those. Bad year, with all this rain.

As for the cherry tomatoes, they are coming in strong now.

There are large red cherry tomatoes. Sun sugar and supersweet 100s coming in. Interestingly enough, the supersweet 100s are the ones that have really been low producing. Hoping they get back on track and put out many tomatoes.

There is one lone Amish paste tomato on the tray. A small one. The rest of the Amish paste and Polish Linguisa tomato plants are full of green tomatoes. Nothing else ripening, but they are getting close. Hopefully, I will get enough to do sauces. I did see that the CSA will be offering 25 pound boxes of heirloom paste tomatoes again this year. I will be buying some if my plants continue to droop and turn yellow from all this rain.

Hoping to have lots of tomatoes for the Buy Local Challenge picnic Sunday at the Conservancy. Got a lovely ball of mozzarella at Breezy Willow last week, and my basil plants recovered from the bunny mauling. Sounds like a Caprese to me.

My favorite fresh mozzarella, nest to the feta I used in that watermelon salad.

African blue basil.

Last summer’s caprese. Can’t wait for this year’s, coming soon.

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Posted in Food, Gardening, Hobbies, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Weather and tagged cooking, Food, foodie, gardening, heirloom tomatoes, Locavore, real food, tomatoes, weather. Bookmark the permalink.

Taking It Outdoors

Posted on July 22, 2013 by AnnieRie

The Buy Local Challenge. I keep trying and it keeps storming. The contest this year is “Take It Outdoors”. The facebook page is where the photos will be uploaded.

We are hosting a picnic at the Howard County Conservancy this Sunday. With our own contest. Best picnic spread. And, best baked goods. Using local ingredients. Not everything has to be local but the pledge to use at least one local ingredient a day applies.

Here is one of my “outdoor” dishes. I had to bring it in and broil it but you get the idea.

Those fava beans we shelled. In a classic dish with grilled (broiled) Halloumi. Beans, peas, mint, olive oil, salt, pepper and grilled Halloumi. You can find Halloumi at Roots.

For dinner tonight we also had corn and tomatoes, both from the CSA. Corn on the cob, grilled. Tomatoes in any salad. Easy dishes to eat outdoors.

Besides the picnic prize, the Conservancy is giving a baking prize. Here is your chance to rock that zucchini bread recipe.

This is “my” zucchini cornbread, using this recipe.

Lots of possibilities to eat locally. And, to meet a few new friends at the picnic.

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Posted in Farms, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food and tagged community, cooking, farmer's markets, farms, Food, foodie, grilling, Howard County, howard county conservancy, local businesses, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

A Trip Down Memory Lane … On White Bread

Posted on July 21, 2013 by AnnieRie

Combining two goals. The Buy Local Challenge and my Sixty@Sixty goal.

Yes, I know white bread is highly processed. Tell that to my mom who fed us Hauswald’s bread every day. Toast. PB&Js and those lovely tomato sandwiches aka “mater sammiches” (when you were four years old).

When in Royal Farms the other day to get ice for the trip to the Amish farm and money from the ATM, I saw that loaf of Hauswald’s and also thought of a blog post somewhere about simple tomato sandwiches, like we ate as children.

Hauswald’s was a staple in our house growing up. 75% of my heritage is German. We lived in a mostly German American community in west Baltimore. And, tomatoes? We loved tomatoes all summer. In everything we could make.

Heck, yesterday for breakfast I made toast and spread this on it.

Another local company, based in Frederick, with all sorts of old recipes recreated. Do you like pickled beets? Apple butter? All memories of my growing up.

As for the Buy Local Challenge, today, like most days included large amounts of locally sourced items. Like the milk for my husband’s cereal.

Bought at the Hospital Farmer’s Market Friday.

And, the wine at dinner tonight.

The new winery outside of Frederick. They only sell whites at the moment. Reds will be coming soon, and the winery will open next year. We bought this bottle in Frederick last week. Grape growers are farmers, too!

We had local foods at breakfast, lunch and dinner today. I didn’t cook much either. Simple local foods, as I said, it isn’t hard to support local farms.

Today we ate:
Milk, at breakfast.
Tomatoes, yogurt, beets, cucumbers and greens at lunch. The cucumber became that dill pickle in my crock.

Sheep’s milk cheese on the flatbread at dinner. The sheep’s milk cheese was from Breezy Willow. Pesto from CSA veggies (carrot tops, radish greens, arugula and scallion tops). The last container from the freezer from last year.

The rest of dinner was chicken/feta/spinach sausage bought at The Common Market in Frederick, which was baked on top of CSA onions, peppers and pattypan squash. They were drizzled with olive oil, and had nothing but salt and pepper on them.

Simple. Delicious.

Eating locally is easy around here.

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Posted in CSA, Farmer's Markets, Farms, Food, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Remember When, Sixty@Sixty, Wine and tagged cooking, CSA, farmer's markets, farms, foodie, local businesses, Locavore, MD Wine, real food, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Kicking Off the Buy Local Challenge

Posted on July 19, 2013 by AnnieRie

The challenge begins tomorrow, but for whatever reason, I kicked it off tonight with dinner.

Lots of local goodies on this plate. Local lamb, zucchini, onions, cucumbers, and potatoes.

Paired with a Maryland wine.

And, if you don’t cook much. Hit the local restaurants participating in the Farm 2 Table restaurant weeks.

If you want to support local farms, take the pledge. Join thousands of us eating at least one local item every day for nine days.

Heck, just go visit Maryland wineries, and hit a few farmer’s markets to support the local farmers. Like Love Dove.

I found their new bags today at the market at the hospital. Tomorrow they are in Silver Spring, and next Wednesday at Miller Library. For me, I love getting fresh greens from their high tunnel. Today I bought arugula and spring mix. Oh, and some sun gold tomatoes since mine aren’t ripe yet. Gotta love those high tunnels.

You could eat at locally owned restaurants during the week, hit a few wineries on the weekends, come to our picnic at the Conservancy next Sunday bringing local goodies.

Or, you can get really into it, like me, the foodie/locavore/locapour and dine with locally sourced items for most meals.

We have a picnic tomorrow to attend. I will be taking watermelon, feta and mint salad. Feta picked up at Breezy Willow. Mint from my garden. The plants were bought from local farmers.

Check my blog daily for suggestions of easy ways to eat local foods, even if you don’t cook.

As for those gorgeous kebabs.

The recipe. Take one pound of ground lamb (I buy mine from England Acres). Generously spice it with garam masala, cinnamon and pepper. Add a teaspoon of salt if your garam masala doesn’t contain salt (Spice Island is very salty; McCormick isn’t). Add about a 1/4 cup chopped sweet onion. Mix it all together by hand and form around skewers. Grill until it reaches the level of doneness you prefer. I like ours medium rare to medium. Still juicy. Serve with a tzatziki. I made this cucumber yogurt dip with dill instead of mint. It works, even though it isn’t a traditional tzatziki.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Farmer's Markets, Farms, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Restaurants and tagged cooking, farmer's markets, farms, Food, foodie, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, MD Wine, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Five O’Clock Somewhere

Posted on July 17, 2013 by AnnieRie

Thanks to Jimmy Buffett again for a post title.

A refreshing use of local watermelon, frozen watermelon margarita.

It was definitely too hot to cook much, if at all, today. I actually had to water the tomatoes this morning. First time since early last month.

We blended up a nice, frosty couple of glasses of somewhat weak margaritas. I wanted the refreshing aspect and not a ton of alcohol, so this worked out nicely.

Another one of those Buy Local easy recipes. I filled the blender about halfway with watermelon. Added about three ounces of tequila, and an ounce of Cointreau Noir (all I had in the orange liqueur department). Squeezed the juice of two limes, and added a cup of crushed ice before blending.

Nothing like something fun to sip while getting dinner ready. I made a very easy dinner tonight. A cup of the potato salad I made yesterday morning. A cup of the gazpacho from the other day. A simple flatbread, made with pita bread. I did turn the oven on for ten minutes to make this.

First I oiled the pan and placed them on it. Added a covering of fresh sheep’s milk cheese from Breezy Willow, a coating of my carrot top & arugula pesto, and sprinkled some shredded zucchini on it. A little fresh thyme, salt, pepper and a drizzle of good Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Baked at 350 degrees for about 7-8 minutes until the cheese was bubbling.

Served with the soup and the potato salad.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Food, Local Businesses, Locavore, Weather and tagged cooking, Food, foodie, local businesses, Locavore, real food, weather. Bookmark the permalink.

Monday Meandering

Posted on July 15, 2013 by AnnieRie

One of the true pleasures of retirement. Getting up on Monday morning and deciding “Road Trip!”.

We did have somewhat of a mission. Get to the Gettysburg outlets for work boots for my husband, and some Hanes/Bali/Leggs shopping for me. My husband really needed new boots for the outdoors work. We have always found them at the footwear outlets, since he goes through them about once a year. PA doesn’t charge sales tax on clothing, something that for years made our trips home to his family include a side trip to Bon Ton or Hess’s or Boscov’s.

Mondays at the outlets are pretty quiet. We had driven up Rte. 97 into Pa in about an hour and did our shopping. I did score something I have wanted for quite a while. A mortar and pestle. Now, I can grind spices, or make pesto the old fashioned way. I just have to find someplace to store it.

We were making a loop. Gettysburg. Thurmont. Frederick. And home. After the outlets, off to stop at Catoctin Mountain Orchards for some fruit. We did decide to indulge in lunch at one of those long time restaurants in that part of Frederick County.

The Shamrock.

Right on Rte. 15 north of Thurmont and south of Emmitsburg. Celebrating their 50th year in business. Family run. It checks off one of my list of things to do in my 60th year. Eating at small business family owned restaurants and diners.

I did not take pictures inside. One thing I try not to do while traveling.

We then hit Gateway for my husband’s Hershey Ice Cream fix (salted caramel with truffle cone), and for me to find some interesting candy to take to book club (which unfortunately was canceled).

The candy hit? A little bit of nostalgia.

After the visit to Gateway, we headed around the back road to Catoctin. For peaches, apricots, plums and nectarines. Apple cider (a simple Buy Local item for those not inclined to cook much). The view today.

Worth the trip just to wander down Rte. 15 and check out the orchards and farms. The last destination. Frederick Wine House, across from Wegmans. The only location I know where you can buy Big Cork Wines. Dave Collins was winemaker at Breaux. He now is working in his new venture in Maryland, Big Cork.

Getting ready for Buy Local Challenge. Easy choices. Big Cork Wine. Catoctin apple cider. And, we found Bedlam Rose from Black Ankle.

Three items for the nine day challenge. Easy to use daily. Along with all that lovely fruit. You don’t have to know how to cook to complete the challenge successfully.

Today I scored:
Nectarines
Peaches
Apricots
Plums
Apple Cider
Chardonnay from Big Cork
Rose from Black Ankle

If I added cheese, tomatoes, corn, watermelon and cantaloupe from the farmer’s markets, I would have more than enough to succeed in the challenge.

hocofood@@@

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