Category Archives: Local Businesses

“Meat” Me in Westminster

Posted on April 9, 2017 by AnnieRie

I really miss having a weekly food delivery service, that provides me with locally sourced pasture raised meats. When we lost Friends and Farms, and the reasonably priced option of meats from Wayne Nell in PA, I scrambled while looking for an alternative that gave us something that flavorful, without costing a large amount of money.

Simply put, excellent quality in pasture raised meats isn’t inexpensive.

I discovered Evermore Farm in a roundabout way. I saw their post before Christmas featuring Rheb’s chocolates. They were located not far from one of my favorite year round farm stands, Baugher’s in Westminster. We took a trip out there, met the owner, and became a fan of their products. Their beef, pork and lamb were competively priced, and they were an outstanding product. Love their lamb merguez sausage.

Fast forward to the announcement of their CSA, a four month program, with small, medium and large shares. An option to buy chicken, and eggs. Delivery or farm pick up. I signed up too late for delivery, so we headed out to the farm for our first small share pickup. A good size for two people. 8-9 pounds of meat a month. Roughly $8-9 a pound, with much of what you are getting the more expensive cuts of meat, so it is worth the cost.

Not long after joining this meat CSA, we see that another favorite source, albeit almost as far away from us, Copper Penny Farm, is now offering a meat CSA. Two sizes. Small is 12 pounds and large is 25 pounds a month. A bit more than we would likely use, but a very good value for a family. They also have an egg option.

For us, we did add the poultry and egg option from Evermore.

We could have chosen three dozen a month, but two dozen is perfect for the two of us.

I have already planned my monthly trips. Next month, pick up CSA and hit Baugher’s for vegetable plants for my community garden. June, pick up CSA and head to Old Westminster Winery for my quarterly wine club pick up. July? Head over to Baugher’s orchards to pick peaches. Between the insulated bags, and my various ice packs, we can do this.

 

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Baby Chick Days

Posted on April 1, 2017 by AnnieRie

Yes, it’s that time of year again. The baby chicks (and ducks) are back at Tractor Supply.

This time we were in Westminster running errands and stopped in for some bird food, and the cheeps from the chicks always attracts us.

They had laying chickens and meat chickens, and they had baby ducks. I really wanted the ducks, but I can’t convince my husband to turn my old garden into a home for them. I mean, after all, duck eggs are amazing.

You have to buy a minimum of six chicks. There are signs everywhere telling people these are not Easter pets. These are farm animals, which you can raise in a fairly limited space if your county regulations allow it.

For us, we would have to do some serious planning. Just to keep them safe from the occasional fox, and the resident hawks.

Still, it is something I would love to do. I don’t know, I could use subterfuge and blackmail, like telling him I will buy one of these instead.

Hey, they are only $199.99 and just think what you could do to drive your HOA crazy with one of these babies in your front yard. Out here, though, no HOAs, so I could make it my new driveway guardian. Do you think it would scare the hawks?

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Well, Kiss My Grits

Posted on February 26, 2017 by AnnieRie

Channeling old movies on Oscar Night. Who remembers “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”? I got another bag of grits a few weeks ago from our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) delivery and it reminded me I still have half a bag from December.

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The yellow grits from December. Now, in addition.

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A brand new bag of heirloom Bloody Butcher Red grits. Not your ordinary grits. I want to make these soon but need to finish that bag of yellow grits from December. Tonight, I made another large pot to serve with shrimp.

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Grits are definitely not fast food. But they certainly starred in tonight’s dinner, even if they took 40 minutes to cook. This was a truly simple meal, yet time consuming to make. A pound of Gulf Shrimp. Steamed after marinating in Old Bay, Secolari flavored vinegar, and sesame oil. Roasted radishes from the CSA, that were made earlier this week and heated in a very hot oven, after drizzling in honey and sprinkling with Old Bay.

The grits. Half milk, half water. Salt. Pepper. Boiled. Add grits. Three to one ratio of liquid to grits.

Cook forever. Stir almost that much. Add parmesan and butter. Stir again. Serve.

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Craft-y

Posted on February 7, 2017 by AnnieRie

Ever noticed how many places we use the word craft? Like in beer. Or maybe distillers. Or chocolate. Or, how about the word artisan? Like in cheese. Or bread. Or vinegars, oils. Or jams and jellies. The list goes on.

I have been seeking new sources for foods and beverages. Looking for those small local producers. I considered the post title “Growlers, Bottles and Bars, OH MY!” but thought shorter was the way to go.

Somewhere in our youth we believed bigger was better. Now, not so much. For me, better is better. We spent a bit of time lately seeking artisan sources for foods and beverages.

Like our visit to Lost Ark Distillery. Newly opened right across from my car repair place. And right next to an about to open craft beer brewery. We took the tour. Sampled the rums. Brought home some of them to use in cocktails.

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Dark and stormies, maybe? Or rum punch?

We also joined the growler community. Buying our first one at The Wine Bin. Roy Pitz “Mind Your P’s and Q’s”. A triple Belgian ale, brewed in Chambersburg PA. P’s and Q’s in the beer world translate to pints and quarts. As in keeping track at the pub of how many pints and quarts of ale were being consumed by customers.

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Interesting to say the least.

Finally, what about bars? For us, that would mean Salazon chocolate. Locally produced right up the road.

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Looking for people who are passionate about their craft. That’s what makes being a locavore such a great thing. Now, I may head off to watch some recorded shows while sipping a glass of red wine, and sharing a chocolate bar.

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Updates

Posted on January 26, 2017 by AnnieRie

I promised myself I would try and blog at least once a week, but life keeps getting in the way of writing. This week I finally sat down and cleaned up all my pages. Some of them hadn’t been touched in two years, but now, hopefully, no broken links and no outdated information.

What is new? I visited a new to me farm in Carroll County. Evermore Farm. According to the owner, Ginger Myers, the farm was once part of the vast Charles Carroll’s holdings, established in 1783.

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Their farm store is located on the property, which is just southwest of Baugher’s Restaurant and Market, off of Rte. 31. I went up there specifically to get Rheb’s Candy for Christmas presents.

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I saw a video of the store. I bought some eggs and lamb while there. A good source for grass fed beef, too. And Freedom Ranger chicken. Heritage pork. If you want to fill your freezer, they sell many varieties of packages. I am partial to their lamb package.

Head out Main Street in Westminster and keep going west on Uniontown Rd to Rockland, a left turn to the farm. I am seriously considering using their CSA program for meat, chicken and eggs.

As for other updates around here, I added some services and changed some restaurant information on my HoCoBiz page. I want to commend Chandler’s Collision Center in Columbia for the outstanding work they did on my car, which was a casualty of a hit and run in a parking lot. Who knew that a daytime running light assembly cost more than my first car? Yep, someone backed into my car while it was parked at Royal Farms, and left my light assembly smashed. A new assembly and a paint job on the scratched bumper, and it looks like new. Chandler fixed our old Jeep twice, after front end damage. They are absolutely the nicest people and their work is guaranteed for “life”. Right now, they are so swamped they are only taking insurance work and the backup time is at least two weeks. We were lucky that our car wasn’t damaged enough to make it undriveable, so we just waited 10 days to put it in there. They told us they are seeing a very large amount of deer-car damage. It’s one of the main causes of the body damage they are repairing. We know to be careful out here, but it is almost inevitable that an encounter will happen to most of us living here. If you need your car repaired, contact Chandler.

Other than car repairs, house painting, and bird watching, we seem to be rather settled in for winter. Anyone want to guess whether our new resident hawk will bother the cardinals in the yard?

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Oh, and as usual, I am still cooking like crazy. Just trying to make it work around all the changes in the kitchen.

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Lamb shanks with spelt berries, parsnips and carrots. It may not be pretty but it definitely tasted great.

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Inspiration

Posted on January 12, 2017 by AnnieRie

So, say HI to my chicken water pitcher. The inspiration for my kitchen.

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I have followed the Mediterranean diet for years. First inspired by a trip to the Med in 2002, where we bought our chicken while in Sicily. He is a cute rooster. His bright colors are the inspiration for our kitchen renovation.

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It is almost there. Next up, countertop, stove, sink and cabinet hardware. This is the first real cosmetic upgrade to our house. Almost everything before this was energy driven. Better insulation. Better appliances. Better windows and doors and roof. Well, besides replacing the rotting deck and crumbling patio.

I use my kitchen. Some say I could be abusing my kitchen, with all that steam and chopping and cooking. I know, I should be looking for granite and open concept and the other buzz words. Spoken by people who may have Pizza Hut on speed dial. Our decisions are based on durability and use. So, probably no to granite and yes to quartz. If I mistakenly drip olive oil on quartz, I have a much better chance of recovering.

To christen the new kitchen, a Mediterranean dinner.

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Slow baked tuna in tomatoes and Italian seasoning. Sautéed chickpeas. A nice old red wine.

Now, I need to update my HocoBiz page to thank our electrician for the great work he did to replace our old fluorescent lights.

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Mama Millie’s to the Rescue

Posted on January 5, 2017 by AnnieRie

Some days you can’t possibly consider cooking.

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Monday night the kitchen ceiling looked like this. Tuesday it was way better, but still at 8:45 PM when the electricians left, I was in no mood to cook. So, I called Mama Millie’s.

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They are in “downtown” Glenelg, not far from us. Small. Locally owned. A pizza was a good idea. While cleaning up dry wall and other stuff.

Then, come Wednesday, ceiling repair and “mudding”. Another day with the kitchen covered in plastic.

This time I was tempted by the Stromboli.

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Trust me. The “small”. Could feed us for two days.

Today, we heated up leftovers.

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Originally, we had ordered a Stromboli and a baked ziti. Either one of them could make half a meal for us. Tonight, I reheated the ziti, and the rest of that Stromboli will be dinner tomorrow. I never opened the garlic bread last night, as two pieces came with the ziti order.

Over all, I spent $40 over two nights. Have at least four nights of dinners. They are fresh. They are seasoned well.

I could occasionally be tempted in the future to get Stromboli when I don’t want to cook. They are very good.

By the way, my husband first tried them while looking for a good Italian cold cut sub. Like he used to find in Pennsylvania at the local Italian deli. This one.

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You know, even as slow food and home cooked advocates, we sometimes take a break. My break? Has to use small businesses, and not chain food places.

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Mama Millies. Glenelg. Try them.

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Good Grits!

Posted on December 15, 2016 by AnnieRie

Have you ever cooked with grits? Local grits, from up the road in Bucks County PA.

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Tonight I ended up with a mostly local, and certainly small business provided dinner. Because we got grits in our CSA share. And I really need to expand my basic dinner rotation to include more grains. My flour and grain share provided grits. Alton Brown provided the basic recipe.

I cut it in half and tweaked it.

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Milk, water, salt, boiled. Grits added. Then, I added the juice from my shrimp mix. As for the shrimp. Bought at Boarman’s in a 5 pound bag, Gulf shrimp. Divided into one pound portions and frozen. This one pound portion was steamed, then added to a can of Rotel tomatoes and chilies. A handful of scallions. It simmered away waiting for the grits.

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I kept spooning tomato liquid into the grits to spice them up a bit. Then, when finished, I added some butter and Parmesan.

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Plated with a garnish of CSA cauliflower. Served with a Black Ankle Rosé.

A mix of local and small business foods. You gotta try grits. They are amazingly good.

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Joining the Fresh Revolution

Posted on December 8, 2016 by AnnieRie

I have been pretty vocal about missing Friends and Farms. They were like a second family. I loved the concept, the execution, and the amazing vendors. I know that Phil is trying to establish a buying club, for meat and seafood. We have been early adopters, so to speak. Buying some lovely seafood for the Thanksgiving holidays.

We got another email today. To order meat, poultry and seafood for Christmas and New Year’s. Really awesome stuff for a very good price. A couple of pick up options or a delivery to home choice (but you have to be home to accept).

Link is here. Hope it works.

You could also email Phil to get added. His email is phil.freshrevo@gmail.com and he would love to add you to his growing list of people who loved what we received from the suppliers like Nell’s Butcher and Reliant Seafood.

In January they are holding a meeting to see if we can make this buying club permanent. There will be more information on the blog next month, but the meeting will be at St. Agnes in Catonsville.

If you would like to join us, we would love to expand the audience for locally processed proteins. And no, I get no monetary or complimentary perks from this. I just want to see it succeed, so I can continue to get quality foods from local vendors.

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The New Farm Store in Town

Posted on November 27, 2016 by AnnieRie

Did you all know that Breezy Willow opened a farm store in Ellicott City? Amidst all the fanfare of the downtown re-opening, it was somewhat low key, but at least I got some shopping done at a small business without having to hike a mile after finding a parking place. I figure I can get to Old Town any day of the week, without the crowds.

What did I find there?

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All sort of goodies. Locally produced, for the most part.

The store, is in the right hand side of the big old house on the corner of St. John’s Lane and Frederick Rd.

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Next to Southern States, and across the road from Rita’s Ice.

They had music on Saturday, and Zeke’s was handing out free samples of their coffee. Everyone who stopped by got to take home a free bunch of broccoli.

I didn’t take the camera inside yet. They were still arranging items around the store.

This is a welcome addition for those who are accustomed to buying out at the farm on Saturdays, and who live on the eastern side of the county. They have many more items here. Sun of Italy items are included in the pantry area, to help with menu planning. The meat freezers are self serve so you can pick the size you want.

My friend Nicole has her preserves on sale here. Neat Nick.

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I bought a jar of spiced cranberry jam and a fresh scone. Perfect for a Sunday morning breakfast.

And, they have Salazon chocolate. Salazon is made in Carroll County. These are the holiday offerings.

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Their sea salt and dark chocolate bars are the best dessert, with a glass of leftover red wine.

We will be getting eggs and meat here during the winter months, unless we are heading out to Lisbon on a Saturday when the store at the farm is open.

Another local small business that deserves our support. Check it out. Open Thursday through Sunday. 10-6.

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