Category Archives: Local Businesses

One Year Old

Posted on November 2, 2012 by AnnieRie

Today is the anniversary of launching this blog. I looked back at my first month of blogging to see what I wrote and what I thought I would do with it.

I uploaded wordpress and tried out the software. Used a friend’s sunset pic, and off I went. I wrote mostly about my CSA the first month, and a few random posts. I didn’t know if I wanted to be a food blog …

my “frozen” pizza

… or if I wanted to post about retirement, or the west county where I live. Turns out, I run all over the place, so I suppose I fit most in the category of personal.

Life in retirement in west county keeps us busy, between hobbies, projects, volunteering and traveling just a bit. I settled on being a locavore, locapour, foodie, retiree. Too many interests? I think not. Add to that our birding, and amateur radio, and we keep out of trouble most days.

Life continues out here as we clean up the small mess the storm left behind. This puppy is one of our favorite purchases, as it becomes invaluable to me as a gardener.

the leaf vacuum, branch chipper, my mulching friend

Right now my better half is creating mulch from all the small tree limbs I collected off the property, for me to use to cover the garlic for the winter. The garlic has sprouted, so it needs a warm cover to overwinter. It obviously loved all that moisture the past week and came up with quickly. I noticed it this morning.

organic garlic planted in October

Besides the tree limbs, the mulched leaves turn into compost for us and our rake and take partner.

Also around here at home, the antennas were re-hung yesterday in advance of this weekend’s contest. I will be hitting markets and shopping, and my husband will be calling CQ. He got the 80 meter antenna up yesterday with a little help from me, and is now on all bands but 160 meters. Not bad with wires. The crank up towers should be going up soon, which will get him better directionality once he gets a beam or two in the air.

Obviously we have enough to do and I have enough to write about, just here in Howard County. Let’s see if I can continue to find inspiration and new topics, as well as report on what’s happening. Saturday I will be popping up to Glenwood market, then heading over to the Fairgrounds to check out the Craft Spectacular. Sunday, up to Olney to see how they are going to transition to an indoor market this winter. I want to talk to their organizers.

Out at the Conservancy, we are working on having a one day, market fest, winter style, in January. Who knows? Maybe we can get something going more often here in Howard County. Can’t hurt to look into it. At least, by having a market in Olney this winter at the Sandy Spring Museum, we have some local goodies to buy year round.

Another project I will love to put on my plate. Year round locavore. With lots of friends around here getting interested in supporting our farms, we could do this.

hocoblogs@@@

4 Comments

Posted in Commentary, Community, Farmer's Markets, Food, Gardening, Hobbies, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Retirement, West HoCo and tagged amateur radio, community, cooking, farmer's markets, Food, foodie, Howard County, howard county conservancy, local businesses, Locavore, retirement, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Eating Locally: The Wrap Up for Summer

Posted on November 1, 2012 by AnnieRie

The Summer SOLE Food Challenge, SSFC, is over. I made it through remembering to post almost every week. Eating locally is so easy around here when the markets are still hopping.

Today is the East Columbia Market. Miller Library finished yesterday. The Glenwood and Oakland Mills markets will continue until the weekend before Thanksgiving, and East Columbia ends on the 15th of November. Stocking up on meats from the markets will allow me to continue to put something made in Howard County on my table throughout the winter.

We haven’t heard yet what would be included in the delivery and whether our CSA delivery will take place today. After I finish with the first graders at the Conservancy, I am either picking up a fall delivery, or heading to East Columbia to get a few things. I let the refrigerator get pretty empty before the storm.

I did remember to take some tomatoes and pesto out of the freezer yesterday so tonight there will be pizza with TLV bacon, tomatoes and pesto from my garden, and Bowling Green mozzarella. Mostly local, except for the crust.

The pesto and oven roasted tomatoes are defrosting today. The bacon is out, and I will fry up the entire package, crumble it and use it in salads, omelets and soups. I need eggs, as I hit zero yesterday. Sounds like a trip to TLV Saturday is in store.

You can eat healthy, organic, IPM, non GMO foods around here fairly easily. The ten of us from our challenge have all signed on to continue looking for sources and posting about what we do in the winter. Details are being worked out by us now. I will modify my Food Challenges page to reflect it.

I made a really good crock pot potato leek soup last night, letting the soup cook while we cleaned up the house, and put things back where they belonged. No pictures, because besides being exhausted, two of the potatoes were purple so the soup looked a little weird.

Yes, you can mix all sorts of potatoes into that soup. One of them was even a white sweet potato. I put half the soup in the blender just before serving so we had chunky creamy soup. Four leeks, all the potatoes, an onion, a little celery from the fridge, my homemade veggie broth as a starter, and towards the end I added a cup of almond milk to make it creamy but keep it lactose free. Everything was cut into cubes or small pieces and dumped in the crock pot with a little salt, pepper, and herbs de Provence.

OFf to chase first graders around for a few hours. We are teaching rocks, fossils and extinct animals. Should be a fun morning. Here’s hoping the sun comes out.

hocofood@@@

3 Comments

Posted in CSA, Farmer's Markets, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, SSFC, Volunteering and tagged cooking, crock pot cooking, crockpot soups, CSA, farmer's markets, Food, heirloom tomatoes, Howard County, howard county conservancy, local businesses, Locavore, tomatoes, volunteering. Bookmark the permalink.

A Chicken in Every (Crock) Pot And Ready for Sandy

Posted on October 28, 2012 by AnnieRie

While we run around filling bath tubs and clearing leaves out of the rain gutters, and positioning a trash can near the sump pump, and all those lovely other things, my crock pot is happily making dinner. I put half a chicken in it with CSA veggies and it is close to being done. I will microwave a few potatoes and we have a quick easy dinner before getting back into the waiting game. I will have a local dinner tonight. Open a VA wine and relax now that all the preparations are done.

frozen half chicken from tlv tree farm

I need to thank howchow for letting us know Harris Teeter wasn’t crazy crowded. We decided to err on the side of caution and get six more gallon jugs of water. Some fruit, since I didn’t get to the farmer’s markets, and a gallon of honey crisp apple cider from Zeigler’s. Not local, but still family made. The bath tubs will be filled tonight with water to flush toilets, and the coolers are ready to go if needed. Ten bags of ice are in the freezer now. Two will come out tomorrow into the cooler with the refrigerator foods we want to consume if the power goes out. That way we won’t be opening the refrigerator at all, or the freezer if we lose power.

All day today the birds went nuts trying to buzz feeders that aren’t there. Finches were sitting on the patio chairs (left out there since we can’t carry them far and there is no free place to put them) looking for the bird bath and the feeders. Ever watch a bird make a beeline for the feeder pole, then find nothing there but the pole. Very confused. The furniture was all moved over to the far edge of the patio near the area where the feeders and bird bath were located, and which now are all safely in the shed. I did remember to spread as much food as I could on the ground so the birds get something. They really are accustomed to coming here for food in the fall and winter.

The antennas are all down. The side of the house looks weird with no wires. This is the view from a few months back. Spring when the cherry trees were blooming. All the wires had to come down and tension taken off the ropes so they won’t snap. Here’s hoping the trees all hang in there the next two or three nights.

amateur radio antennas off the attic

On the local 2 meter repeater, we are reminded that CARA will appropriate the frequency tonight to support RACES (Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service). Amateur radio operators will be supporting the county in emergency communications traffic during the storm. We will have our hand held transmitters here at our house available with charged batteries so we can monitor communications (and communicate if we need any assistance in our area).

All in all, we are now even more resigned to a long, frustrating, series of days watching this storm cross over the east coast and impact our lives.

hocoblogs@@@

2 Comments

Posted in Birds, Commentary, Community, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Nature, SSFC, Weather, West HoCo and tagged amateur radio, birds, commentary, community, cooking, crock pot cooking, hoco loco, Howard County, Locavore, West HoCo, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Finishing the Eat Local Challenge

Posted on October 27, 2012 by AnnieRie

Monday is the last reporting day for our Summer Challenge, to eat at least one meal a week using locally sourced ingredients. Who knows how crazy it will be around here by Monday, but at least I know there will be a number of local meals consumed by us. Many of them involving local eggs.

farm fresh eggs

I made eggs for breakfast today and used up the last of the Canela wheat bread for toast. I will be hardboiling a dozen eggs and putting them aside to make egg salad in case we lose power. We set up a small cooler for lunch foods, placing all the condiments and salad makings in it, the way we ate breakfast and lunch after the derecho in June.

I always have my tuna, cannellini bean and onion salad ingredients on hand, but they aren’t local. Well, the onions are, but not the rest.

Tuscan tuna and bean salad

Hmmm, Tuscan tuna and bean salad, served with local breads and a few of my dill pickles from the jars. Mostly local. I have a loaf of potato onion bread in the freezer from Stone House. I can warm it in the oven tonight to defrost it and save a few hunks to have with a simple salad. Egg salad, or tuna salad. I have celery from the CSA. The only non local items as usual will be condiments like mayo or olive oil.

I am cleaning out the most perishable (and the more pricey) items in the meat/fish freezer, so I will be baking a large whack of wild Alaskan salmon tonight. Since I have been so diligent here in getting ready for this storm, the odds keep getting higher that it will pass us by.

It is only when I have no ice, no water, no batteries and ignore the frantic admonishments on the TV, that we end up with no power. Still, we are crossing our fingers. At least the temperatures aren’t bad. No real high temps, and no subfreezing temps in the future that would make us miserable without A/C or heat.

The SSFC Eat Local Challenge is ending, but the ten of us are talking about how we will address winter eating, using locally sourced items. Sometime in the future, our google reader will have the details, and we will continue finding ways to eat local foods year round.

hocofood@@@

Leave a comment

Posted in CSA, Food, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, SSFC, Weather and tagged cooking, CSA, Food, foodie, Locavore, real food, weather. Bookmark the permalink.

The View from 20,000 …

Posted on October 26, 2012 by AnnieRie

… views, that is, not feet. 20,000 views. Yesterday morning the geek in me saw my dashboard on wordpress read 19,999 total views. I was going to write a post next Friday when my blog is one year old, but who knows, with Sandy heading in our direction, and the talking heads on TV telling us power outages possible past November 5th, I may or may not have power next Friday.

20,000 views in less than a year. I don’t know if that is good or bad, but it does tell me that there are definitely people reading what I write. I am also happy to say I still have new things I want to write, and have been pretty good at posting almost every day.

I was a mathematician (my degree major) for many of my early career years, and numbers fascinate me. Statistics of course can always be interpreted the way we want. Still, it is nice to see my numbers increase as my blog “ages”.

Thanks mostly to hocoblogs and to howchow, in the beginning, who linked up my blog when it was just one month old. HOCOBLOGS is where I went to find local readers.

And, there was the Dark Days Challenge, where I found fellow locavores.

local ingredients for dinner

Setting up a local resources page was a good move, too. I found many people came there to search for grains, products, and farms in the area.

local foods

I have to admit though, being interested enough to check out my most read posts, that I did not expect which ones continued to gather views. If you are new to blogging in Howard County, and want people to find you on google or other search engines, I can tell you two phrases that guarantee traffic around here.

brighton dam azalea gardens

and

tractor supply baby chicks

The most read posts on my blog. I still get hits every week on the tractor supply post. And, I had hundreds of searches registered for azalea blossoms being at peak, or still blooming. Weeks went by and they still were being viewed. I know that I will be monitoring those blossoms again next spring. They are only five miles down the road and we go there often.

Besides those, the series on amateur radio in Howard County got a huge number of views thanks to being placed on a feed for amateurs around the country and the world to see. W3AO gets lots of hits still, when clubs and operators look to see the Field Day records for one of the biggest radio operations in the country. Right here in Howard County.

Here’s hoping this hurricane fizzles out, far from land, or just glances us. Now, off to fill up a spare propane tank and get a few more gallons of spring water. I know if we are totally prepared for “Frankenstorm” as they are calling it, then it will definitely become a non event. It is only when we don’t get ready, that we get slammed.

Stay safe and dry, all our friends near and far.

hocoblogs@@@

5 Comments

Posted in Commentary, Community, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore and tagged amateur radio, commentary, community, cooking, Food, foodie, hoco loco, hocoblogging, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore. Bookmark the permalink.

Howard County Farmers Markets

Posted on October 22, 2012 by AnnieRie

Good News! Three of the five markets will be extending their season until the week before Thanksgiving. That’s right. East Columbia Library on Thursday, Glenwood on Saturday and Oakland Mills on Sunday.

The hospital market ends this Friday, and Miller Library next Wednesday. Make sure you stop by and buy from Love Dove at their last two markets.

When we were at TLV two weeks ago, they told us the weekend markets were extended. Add to it the Thursday one, and I don’t have to go to Catonsville to get meat from the local farmers. I can get it from TLV. Plus eggs from Breezy Willow. And, cheese from Bowling Green. And fruit from Lewis Orchards. With my CSA and these markets, we can continue to eat fresh food grown or raised locally.

Obviously, this news makes this locavore very happy. Make sure you head out and visit the markets to get really fresh lovely veggies for your holiday meals.

Oh, and by the way, make sure you order your Maple Lawn farm turkey soon. We order ours to be picked up at Boarmans. They start taking orders on November 1st.

hocofood@@@

Leave a comment

Posted in Farmer's Markets, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore and tagged cooking, farmer's markets, Food, foodie, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore. Bookmark the permalink.

Woo Hoo! Black Walnuts

Posted on October 21, 2012 by AnnieRie

Without the hassle of shelling them myself. I know I could forage them, as they are everywhere in this area. But, Baugher’s does the hard work and I get the walnuts.

Baugher’s black walnuts

They have a very different taste. They make wonderful cookies. I will be putting these away in the freezer for a few weeks until I do the Christmas cookies. If you have seen black walnuts on roadsides or in fields, you know how hard they are to crack. Plus, the stain on the outer parts of the nut will take weeks to fade from your skin. They are all over the conservancy. I am amazed at how the squirrels manage to get into them.

Here are some of the walnuts from the conservancy, that the squirrels have been working open. There is a large tree on the entrance walkway where the staff does occasionally pick them up and take them. The ones all over the fields are left for the animals. The ones on that pathway become a hazard if you step on them. They are like big marbles and you slide over them. Not fun when covered with leaves.

We saw a huge pile of them on the side of Rte. 340 in Virginia last week. If we weren’t heading for the wine tasting at L’Auberge, we would have stopped and gathered them. Any of them on the right of ways along the highways are perfect for foraging. Like we do in the area when we find wild asparagus in the spring.

Besides the walnuts, today I got the box full of feed corn at Baugher’s. This box is a bargain, and I will be using some of it at an event next month at the conservancy. Right now though, it needs to stay out in the garage. Protected from the squirrels but allowing all the tiny moths to leave and find their way elsewhere.

feed corn to use for a craft project

It was a lovely fall day in Westminster. We headed out early to catch an amateur radio hamfest at the Agricultural Center. It was mostly local radio amateurs tailgating. Sort of a “vintage electronics” flea market. Just so you know, if you ever need tubes for old electronics, these hamfests are the place to find them. Oh, and lots of military surplus stuff. We met numerous friends from local clubs, had breakfast and coffee there and picked up the last of the cable needed to bring all the feeds back from the permanent and the crank up towers that are being assembled on our back meadow.

“hard line”

It was pretty popular there today. Lots of people browsing the tables on a sunny cool morning. With beautiful views of the countryside, and the adjoining farm museum.

All in all, a good day. I found walnuts. They also have chestnuts for those who love to cook with them. I picked up some mutsu apples, a variety that isn’t all that common around here. Got a few small spaghetti squash, as we are having them with dinner often, and I did pick up this winter’s supply of roasted corn meal. The walnuts and corn meal are available in the produce market by the restaurant and not out at the farm. The corn meal showed up last year in one of my “Eat Local” challenges. It makes a killer polenta. Plus, I used it in making scrapple.

roasted corn meal polenta with bison

If you want a day trip about 30 miles north of Columbia, Baugher’s is worth the drive. If only for their homemade ice creams. I was looking for their holiday ice creams, but they still have peach and berry ones in the case. Have to get closer to Thanksgiving before you see peppermint.

hocofood@@@

5 Comments

Posted in Dark Days, Day Trips, Food, Foraging, Local Businesses, Locavore, Nature, Restaurants and tagged amateur radio, cooking, day trips, Food, foodie, foraging, howard county conservancy, Locavore. Bookmark the permalink.

A Fall Saturday in West HoCo

Posted on October 20, 2012 by AnnieRie

Just some random pictures and suggestions for fun things to check out, and some of the early leaf pictures. With all the festivals out there, we could pick and choose what we would like to do today. Don’t forget the local farms still have mazes and pumpkins galore, through the rest of the month.

I started out the day organizing the groups out at the conservancy for a family hike. We had about three dozen people show up this morning, including a dedicated group of volunteers. Dividing the attendees up into age appropriate smaller groups is the way we conduct these fall and spring family wanderings. No real topic for these. Just an appreciation of what you can find on the trails.

A recent addition to the natural play area is the carved owl. The detail is stunning.

Two of the naturalists took families with little ones on a loop around the farmhouse and out on the edge of the grasslands. They got an up close look at one of the abandoned nests in the bluebird boxes. They could see exactly what birds use to make their nests.

They all visited the barn and learned more about the local farms, as there are now exhibits of early farming tools inside, courtesy of a local Girl Scout troop.

The farmhouse is surrounded by brilliant fall color. We seem to be getting near that peak where the colors are brightest.

It seems everyone had a great time. There were also other small groups of visitors, going birding, playing in the field, gardening, having engagement photos shot by a photographer, and checking out the building for future use for a wedding. It was a pretty full parking lot this morning.

After I left at noon, my husband and I decided to indulge in a Saturday brunch at Bistro Blanc. Marc, the chef, started at 3 am today to roast a suckling pig. He really has a great time doing special events like this. They had a wine tasting and a wine sale going on today. We enjoyed the “pig” buffet. It was set up with some interesting, seasonal mostly local side dishes, like Southern style greens, some biscuits, root veggies with chestnuts. Casual, informal and a chance to see some of our fellow west countians.

Then, home to do some minor clean up. We will be doing major leaf clean up this week, with the leaves going in our compost, and some for the rake and take program. Our partner in this, a neighbor down the road, comes and gets what we don’t use, for her compost piles. The yard really exploded in color this week. That frost a week ago is what did it.

Unfortunately, my mums got beaten down by the rain.

There were lots of runners and bikers out on our roads today, getting some exercise while enjoying the scenery. It will get better out here for the next few weeks, so head out and visit the local farms, or just take a ride. Me, I am waiting patiently to capture this year’s peak at sunset, like this one I got a few years back. I need the perfect light to do it though. It looks like the woods are on fire.

Have a great fall weekend, wherever you wander. We are off to Baugher’s tomorrow to pick apples. A bit beyond west hoco, but still a great place to visit. Particularly if I get some of their black walnuts for baking this fall.

2 Comments

Posted in Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Nature, Real Food, Restaurants, Volunteering, Weather, West HoCo, Wine and tagged Food, hoco loco, Howard County, howard county conservancy, local businesses, Locavore, real food, volunteering, weather, West HoCo, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Another Busy Weekend Around The Area

Posted on October 18, 2012 by AnnieRie

I am prioritizing where we will go, as again, there are multiple events that interest us this weekend. I have a definite commitment to host the Family Hike this weekend at the Conservancy. Spring and Fall, we have a special hike, with naturalists leading groups, through the trails and the property. The fall colors are just beginning to paint the hillsides. Who wouldn’t want to follow this trail down to the creek on a lovely fall Saturday morning?

grasslands trail at Howard County Conservancy

The Family hike begins at 10 am on the 20th of October. The conservancy is on Rt. 99 a few miles east of Marriottsville Rd. After the hike, the Woodstock snowball stand is open, and with temperatures in the high 60s, not a bad choice for a treat.

Now, us? After the hike, we will be heading back towards home to catch the pig roast at Bistro Blanc. Marc is roasting a whole pig. They have a wine tasting and wine sale as well. 11-2 on the 20th. Bistro Blanc is our favorite local hangout for a great meal. Marc does incredibly good dishes, using many local foods. This pig roast should be a fun event.

Sunday, I will be tagging along as my better half is off to the Westminster Carroll County hamfest, with his amateur radio buddies. After the event, we are heading for Baugher’s to pick apples, and to get the supplies I need for an event in November at the Conservancy. I need corn cobs for the children to use to make bird feeding stations. Baugher’s sells large boxes and bags of feed corn, which works perfectly without great expense. And, one of my all time favorite roasted corn meals. I use this to make cornbread, and a killer polenta.

roasted corn meal

There are corn mazes and fall festivals again, all over the area, if you haven’t yet picked up your pumpkins for cooking or decorating. If you get the chance, head out to one of the local farms and get into that spirit. If pumpkins aren’t your thing, apple cider, heated and spiced, is a perfect choice to eat locally. Or, pick up some fall squash to make soups.

hocoblogs@@@

Leave a comment

Posted in Day Trips, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Nature, Volunteering, Weather, West HoCo and tagged cooking, day trips, Food, hoco loco, Howard County, howard county conservancy, local businesses, Locavore, real food, volunteering, weather. Bookmark the permalink.

Running in Circles

Posted on October 13, 2012 by AnnieRie

Today I am spending all my time running around. When you live in West County, you tend to bunch up your errands. Add to that, our home Internet crashed, and the service call isn’t until Monday.

It makes for a full day. I do want to get out to at least one of the farms to finish getting the gourds and other fall decorations.

Maybe to Larriland. Or, Sharp’s. Or TLV. They all have big goings on. I want to see if anyone has walnuts or maybe chestnuts like we got from Love Dove. I also want a few small pumpkins to decorate, not like my cooking ones

Long Island Cheese Pumpkin

Aside from everything going on, I am finding it to be a pain to use the app, instead of having full access to my blog tools. I really do not know how people type on phones. Even my iPad drives me nuts sometimes.

Hopefully, my other drafts survive until I get Internet back. Off now to hit the farms and then Boarman’s, if I make it in time. Then, trying to get a post up using an iPhone.

Leave a comment

Posted in Farmer's Markets, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Real Food, West HoCo and tagged Food, Howard County, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.