Category Archives: Local Businesses

A Quick Trip Out to Mt. Airy for Ham Hocks and Soup Bones

Posted on March 6, 2012 by AnnieRie

You know you’re deeply ingrained into living in West HoCo, when you spend more time in Tractor Supply Co. than you do in Home Depot. Actually, you rarely do Home Depot. If TSC doesn’t have what you need, you are shopping at Clark’s or Kendall, supporting local businesses.

Today we needed stuff (or my better half did) for his tractor maintenance, and to clean up a few things on the snow thrower before putting it away. I wanted to visit Wagner’s Meats to get soup bones and ham hocks. I have some anasazi beans soaking to make soup in the crockpot overnight. I am getting into good enough shape to soak beans. If we get a crockpot soup done, it will be three of four meals worth.

Wagner’s processes meats for local farmers and sells also from a storefront. Yes, you can get a side of beef here, but you can also come in and just buy a pound of whatever you need. Soup bones are 89 cents a pound. Ham hocks were big and meaty and smell really wonderful right now as I am typing and they are cooking away.

This is my first visit to Wagner’s as I usually run down to Boarman’s but I can’t drive for a while, and the last time I hit Boarman’s, they were out of beef bones for making stock. I got four pounds today, safely stashed in the freezer until I have the time and am allowed to cut up all those veggies to add to make beef stock. Nothing like homemade stock to make soup.

While out there, we checked out the location of Cartercue, the BBQ joint out on Main St. It wasn’t open or we would have picked up some carryout to bring home for dinner tonight. Turns out the temporary cook aka my husband will be heating up leftover soup from the other night’s dinner.

I can’t wait to be cleared to eat real food again. This soft diet is driving me nuts. I must be healing. I am hungry.

Mt. Airy has the distinction of being in four counties in MD so you find yourself seeing county entrance signs almost every time you cross a creek. Since I enjoyed being outside on a great day, we came home on back roads south of the interstate, roads like Long Corner and Florence. Really west county out here. Yes, this is a named road, and not someone’s driveway.

If you don’t live in west county but want to see some incredibly beautiful parts of Howard County, take your GPS and put in a destination avoiding highways and taking the shortest distance instead of fastest time. We were heading south on Rte 27 when we input “go home” and it took us on roads like Gue, which is the road above in the picture. Never been on this one before.

Oh, and you definitely know you have changed how you live when many of your shoes come from Tractor Supply. Ariat I buy them when they go on sale.

hocofood@@@

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Updating My Local Resources Page

Posted on March 5, 2012 by AnnieRie

I originally wrote the local resources page to support an Eat Local Challenge for the winter. It did not reflect all my local sources for food, just those used to prepare a meal with ingredients produced no more than 150 miles from my home. We were then to blog about it. Over 100 participants started the challenge. About a third of us still are going at it after fifteen weeks.

That is why there are sources on the page that fall far outside of West Howard County, and even MD. Eating locally is somewhat easy but boring in the winter, except for the fact that Maryland does not yet produce wheat flours, nor will they ever produce olive oils, citrus and spices. Those exceptions to the challenge were stated at the start. Interestingly, enough, I found that Union Mills at the Shriver Homestead north of Westminster still grinds corn meal, buckwheat, rye and wheat flours. Here is the response I received from them about their sources.

Buckwheat comes from York County.
Corn is mostly Carroll county.
Roasted corn from Perry County
Hard wheat is from a mill in Lancaster County; I’m not sure where they get it.
Rye is Carroll county.
White Rice from the grocery store.
Ivan Lufriu, mill operator

Every time I found a source for meats, dairy, produce, and locally produced items, if I used them in the Challenge, I documented them.

I am now in the process of expanding that page to include local items year round, and the vendors at our local farmer’s markets.

When I first started this challenge, I thought it would be difficult, not knowing how many sources of food around here produce items all winter. High tunnels, greenhouses, hydroponic growing, all have opened up as consumers want local, fresh food, not shipped in from China or New Zealand or South America.

Having a dialogue with the mill operator about the source of his grains connects me to where my food comes from. Watching the cows graze at South Mountain, or seeing the vegetables grow in a farmer’s field is more satisfying to me than reading a twist tie label that says “produced in Mexico” or wherever.

A little more effort, maybe, and yes, more expensive sometimes, but worth it to me.

As for looking yourself for what is out there, I found these two websites to be invaluable.

http://www.localharvest.org/
http://www.realtimefarms.com/

Happy Hunting!

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West County Hidden Treasures – Triadelphia

Posted on March 4, 2012 by AnnieRie

Today we took a ride. I needed to relieve cabin fever and it isn’t that far down the road, just to get out and walk around the northern access to the Reservoir. We had the added delight of getting to see an eagle perched on a tree and talk to a fellow visitor who has seen as many as eight eagles flying, perching and fishing at this point.

There is a boat ramp here with access here mainly used by kayakers and canoeists to silently glide along the water’s edge and look for eagles and other birds as well as just enjoy the less visited north end of the reservoir.

Most are more familiar with Brighton Dam.

Put on your calendars a reminder to come out here when the azaleas bloom. It is a tradition to visit the gardens. A Tip — avoid Mother’s Day at all costs unless you love traffic jams. More people come out to Brighton Dam for access to the reservoir but there are other “put in ” points all around the perimeter.

An added attraction just down from Big Branch, and up Green Bridge Road is Greenbridge Pottery.

It is definitely worth a visit. Becky had lovely items at our last holiday crafts fair at the Conservancy. Come on a Saturday and after taking Green Bridge down to the pottery shop, turn right on Triadelphia Mill and follow to the reservoir, then continue up for fresh meat, eggs and veggies at TLV Tree Farm.

I saw on their web site that they are open on Saturdays now from 10-2. I am down to one pound of bacon in the freezer and a pound package of short ribs, so time to go up and see Jamie.

We bought trees from them for years. Cutting our own, until we finally gave up and got a small artificial tree. I still miss that post Thanksgiving trek across their property looking for the perfect tree.

They sell at three Howard County Farmer’s Markets. Their family has farmed here since the late 1800’s.

You can stop at most of these places doing a loop from Triadelphia to Triadelphia Mill to Greenbridge or vice versa. TLV Tree Farm is another of the family owned farms here in the County put into preservation, to continue the traditions of our past. Supporting this young generation of farmers just makes sense. Better food, made close to home.

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Week Ten – There are CSA People …

Posted on March 2, 2012 by AnnieRie

… and there are farmer’s market people. This statement came up during a conversation when I was visiting the farm store at Breezy Willow. We had always been market people, wanting to touch and select the veggies like you can at the market.

We were also fearful of what we would get. Would we like it? Would it be too much for two people? We didn’t need to worry.

After 25 weeks in a summer CSA from Sandy Spring, and 8 weeks in their fall CSA, now 10 weeks into The Zahradka Farm winter CSA, I have covered almost a year of getting veggies, either in a box at a pick up point, or delivered to my doorstep. I was converted quickly.

Today my husband officially became a CSA person.

This is what did it. Two pounds of skirt steak in the cooler from the Farm, that they sourced from JW Treuth Butchers. Sounds like some good cooking will be going on. He wants to marinade and grill it on a warm night in the next couple of weeks while he is still the main chef around here.

This week we also received:
Mixed root onions, two yellow and two red
Beautiful red potatoes
Collard greens
Spinach
A double order of brussel sprouts

The beauty of this CSA is the online ordering. You can double or triple one item if you are already heavy on the others offered this week.

I had considered continuing with them because I do like them, but like the freedom at the market to choose my own meat and eggs in the summer. In the winter, with limited market availability, they are a perfect match to our needs.

For summer, though, we are being true to our first CSA, Sandy Spring. This year we will be going on line Friday night or Saturday to see the probable contents of the box. Monday a confirming email will tell us if any substitutions were made during picking and bagging.

The CSA box on the benches in the Montjoy Barn at the Conservancy is always a present to be opened with anticipation.

The quality and quantity of items was well worth the $30 weekly investment. Tell me where in Howard County you can find 10-14 organic veggie items, including the most exotic or heirloom varieties and I will quit the CSA and shop there. Some weeks our box weighed 35-40 pounds. Less than $1 a pound. Other weeks the haul of heirloom tomatoes alone was worth the fee.

Two months until the May beginning. I can’t believe I get this psyched over veggies, but then hey, everyone has their addictions. Mine include garlic scape pesto and mushroom pate, made with my CSA veggies.

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Making the Move to West County

Posted on February 29, 2012 by AnnieRie

HowChow just finished a series about eating and shopping in Howard County. In it, he asked for some input about the western county, as he wasn’t that familiar with stores and restaurants out here in the rural residential west.

I will be doing a guest post for him about eating and shopping, but this post here on my blog is a stage setting post. It is more about living here and what to expect as different from Columbia/Ellicott City where most of the county residents call home. There is still quite a bit, but slower, building of new homes out here, on at least one acre lots, as well as the 55+ development going on in nearby Waverly Woods. Marriottsville and Woodstock are on the edge of west county, but are mostly served by county water and sewer, due to proximity to the landfill. Head northwest beyond Clarksville and you will find farms, businesses, old residences and new developments spread across the rolling hills.

We moved here seven years ago after thirty years in Columbia. Neither one of us in our entire lives ever lived in a single family home. We wanted land, privacy and no covenants. We got all three, but not without adjustments in our lives. Shopping involves at least 12 miles round trip, so you don’t just run out for one or two items.

It is dark out here. No street lights. Skinny two lane roads with no shoulders. Deer everywhere, so driving at night takes more focus. Going out to restaurants and having a few glasses of wine can easily turn ugly.

This has changed how we shop, how and where we entertain, and where we go.

The first thing you learn is how to deal with power outages on well and septic. A propane grill and fireplace are crucial unless you want to be spending nights with friends that have electricity after storms. A generator helps for things like sump pumps and the freezer. We have a wood stove as well. If we have advance notice, like with Irene, we can fill the tubs with water in order to flush toilets.

A pick up truck is extremely useful out here. We got ours used. There is no yard waste pick up here. Compost it. Grind it. Haul it away yourself. Three acres with mature trees results in humongous amounts of leaves. We have a compost pile, and we haul away huge tree limbs that drop on our property line. We back up to another home so can’t easily dump things on the edge of the meadow. Mulching the gardens, flower beds, groves of trees and shrubs, and pathways requires two tons of mulch.

A snow thrower is another almost necessary purchase. The biggest you can find. We worked with one of the neighbors for four hours to clear 300 ft of driveway that was 16 ft wide after the February 2010 storms. Add to that our driveway off the main one, the parking pads, all the sidewalks and patio, and we cleared almost a quarter acre of asphalt, concrete and gravel.

We also shop less and have more storage for bulk purchases. Costco was the original source for buying large cuts of tenderloin, or roasts, or tuna and packaging for grilling. We spend vast amounts of time outdoors, in the garden, the shed, the yard, or the patio.

We go to Frederick more than Columbia, as it is quicker to drive that 25 miles on the highway than it is to slog through Columbia to Costco. We go to the Frederick Wegman’s using a scenic leisurely drive out Liberty Road, right to the store. We use farm stands and markets to give us fresher foods than the grocery stores do.

We have changed from people who bought take out, or went to the Bridge every week, and spent enough at Giant every month on prepared foods to get gasoline discounts every fill up, to people who cook from scratch, grow our own veggies and buy meat and dairy from the source.

Entertainment has changed. Redbox movie rentals for Friday night date night. Tuesday nights at Bistro Blanc. Crabs at the Crossroads. The snow ball stand at Woodstock on a steamy hot Sunday afternoon. Walks around the west county parks. Pick your own picnics at Larriland. Friday night concerts at Black Ankle in the summer. Two or three nights at the county fair in August.

This is just the beginning of the posts about life here. Details on places to go, shopping, dining, CSAs, farmer’s markets and hidden treasures in future posts.

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Winter CSA Week Nine

Posted on February 28, 2012 by AnnieRie

Halfway done. This will be a review of what I have gotten so far and what I think about doing a winter CSA. We don’t have pics of the basket since I was in the hospital and my husband picked up the stuff from the porch and put it away. I had made choices based on knowing what he could do after my coming home this week, and being limited in food choices.

We did get eggs and all Angus beef franks, so my husband has a few things he can make this week. Scrambled eggs one night maybe, and chili dogs another evening, as I have leftover venison chili in the freezer.

I also ordered and received:
large yellow onions
carrots
sweet potatoes
oranges from FL
frozen fajita peppers
frozen broccoli and cauliflower

He can stir fry the veggies for a meal later this week.

What I Like About a Winter CSA
This one delivers to your porch. You go on line and order six or ten items. They change weekly to some extent but not always. There are repeats obviously due to the limited amount of winter veggies available. They have flash frozen items that they offer regularly. The eggs are great; different colors and sizes. Big yellow yolks. The meat is really good, but I had hoped for more varieties. Still nine weeks to go. We shall see what we get. But, the half of a free range turkey at Christmas was awesome.

Difficulties of a Winter CSA
You have to like potatoes and carrots and winter greens. Weather can be a factor for delivery, but at least this year not much bad weather to affect deliveries. Not much variety in the veggies, and some of it looks pretty gnarly. It tastes great though. It just doesn’t always look wonderful. I know that is a problem with many. They want picture perfect veggies, and organic farm produce isn’t.

Will we do it again? Probably. We like the convenience of fresh food delivered to our home. The family farm in Essex is being run well by George and Libby. It is small and personal, so you know where your food comes from. Zahradka Farm is a great source for Howard Countians to find local foods delivered to them.

Where else would you get a “Christmas Tree” to serve at your Christmas dinner?

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Eating Locally – Bison and Polenta

Posted on February 22, 2012 by AnnieRie

Week 13, three months into the challenge to eat at least once a week with locally sourced items. All of the main ingredients for dinner came from less than 150 miles of our house. A few exceptions, spices and oils/vinegar, as noted when I started this personal challenge.

This week I challenged myself to cook items new to me for cooking, but not new from experience in restaurants. Bison, from Gunpowder Bison, and bought at the Silver Spring Year Round Farmer’s Market. Short Ribs, slow cooked in the oven. Served over soft creamy polenta and with honey glazed carrots.

The bison was first rubbed with “RubJoeMeat” coffee based dry rub bought last year at one of the local home shows. It is not local, obviously, but perfect for bison. Then, I placed it in an olive oil rubbed shallow pan, added red wine, balsamic vinegar, sliced white onion, and spread some McCutcheon’s tomato preserves over the top. Salt, pepper and cayenne. Baked at 225 degrees for three hours.

The polenta was made using Burnt Cabins roasted cornmeal. Nothing but water, cornmeal, salt, pepper and unsalted butter. Also, I steamed carrots then glazed them with honey.

Here are the supporting ingredients that went into the meal.

This was a really tasty meal. The polenta set up beautifully with an earthy quality: using roasted cornmeal created this heartier version of a soft polenta. The bison is lean, but using the wine and vinegar kept it from being dry or tough. The tomato preserves are awesome. Just tomatoes, sugar, and citric acid. Slightly sweet but still tart like tomatoes. This stuff is also great on toast for breakfast. The McCutcheon Family has been in the butters, preserves, jams and jelly business in Frederick for 74 years. We can find their jars of goodness all over the area.

As for the wine to stand up to this meal, we chose the 1998 Linden Hardscrabble. A fourteen year old Virginia red wine. Still with oodles of fruit and still tannic. Not brown around the edges. This wine is a killer wine and it proves that Jim Law has truly mastered the art of making big wines right here in our backyard. If you are a fan of Black Ankle and have tasted their big Crumbling Rock or Slate wines, they are babies compared to Linden. Sarah O’Brien is pushing Black Ankle in the direction that Jim Law took Linden. These are very concentrated wines. It will be interesting to see if Black Ankle can get to the level of Linden as their vines mature.

I have added Jim’s notes from his web page below the picture for those who want to know more about this lovely wine, that almost but not quite upstaged my bison and polenta.

Linden Vineyards Cellar Notes:

Aromas: Cocoa and dried herbs, especially rosemary.

Palate: Flavors of dark cherry, cloves and black pepper with firm, yet fine grained tannins.

Food Pairings: Red meats, rich cheeses, and dishes with olives or garlic.

Vineyard: Estate (100% Hardscrabble Vineyard), on Blue Ridge at 1,300 to 1,400 ft. with an eastern to southern slope. Deep, well-drained mineral soils give cherry character, deep color, and good structure. Vine ages from 8 to 14 years.

Vintage: 1998 was an unusually hot and dry year. A severe hail storm on June 15 reduced average yields to just 1.5 tons/acre (about 22 hectoliters per hectare). Harvest was September 22 through October 7.

Winemaking: A blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Cabernet Franc, 5% Petit Verdot and 3% Merlot. Grapes were destemmed and lightly crushed and fermented warm in small open bins. The cap was punched down by hand two times a day. The wine was pressed off just prior to dryness and put immediately in primarily one and two year old Virginia oak barrels. The wine was bottled after 21 months of oak ageing. 332 cases produced.

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Why I Love Boarman’s

Posted on February 18, 2012 by AnnieRie

Living in West HoCo, I have come to realize that it is the family businesses that make it so special. Boarman’s is one of my favorite places to shop in Howard County.

Where else do they grab all your bags and take them to your car and make sure they are securely stored? Where else do they take special orders for things like osso bucco or crown roasts, for the exact amount you need? And, their bacon and sausages. They are so good. Plus, ask HowChow about their crabcakes! Yum! Put those crabcakes on portabellas and place on the grill. Summer can’t come fast enough.

Friday I needed to go to Columbia for a doctor’s appointment. It took longer than usual for whatever reasons and I needed to run to the store before returning home. Do I venture into the 5 pm crowds at Safeway or Giant, or do I run up the road to Boarman’s?

I needed deli, milk, bread and fruit. Boarman’s certainly delivers. Canela sourdough rolls to serve with soup, made in Baltimore. Smoked turkey for less than Giant charges, and I am getting Dietz and Watson. Homemade sausage. Two in one pack, four in another, all freezer wrapped. This is what a butcher did for us years ago.

Sam Adams $6.99 a six pack. Boarman’s sells beer and wine and liquor for good prices. They have a liquor license because they have been a general store in Howard County since the 1950’s. They have been in Maryland since 1933, and before that their family had a grocery in DC. They live in HoCo. George Boarman is there all the time and will ask how things are, and what do you want to see in the store.

They have their branded coffee made for them by Orinoco.

I got my bread, milk, deli and fruit. I also picked up some sausage.

For the past two nights, I have been crock pot cooking so I would have soups for the week.

Last night it was beef soup with Boarman’s beef ribs, and tonight it was sausage and kale Tuscan bean soup with their hot Italian sausage. Two nice dinners, plus lots for the freezer and fridge. During the week it is easy to throw them in a pan and heat up.

Beef soup

Tuscan bean soup

My CSA makes it easy to have fresh veggies and Boarman’s delivers on all other levels.

hocofood@@@

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Out of the Ground at 4 …

Posted on February 17, 2012 by AnnieRie

… on the table by 6.

Micro-greens from Sharp’s at Waterford Farm. A wonderful place in southwest HoCo. Denise Sharp gives talks about farming and takes visitors on a tour with a history lesson. Worth the time to do, if you get the chance. I was there helping a friend set up lunch for the Howard Legacy Leadership Institute of the Environment (HoLLIE).

I buy plants from the farm. My chrysanthemums came from there. In the fall, we go there to get pumpkins. They sell plants commercially and at the greenhouses in the spring and fall. The greens are from their new high tunnel, and since it never stayed cold long enough, they never died back. She encouraged us to take some home since they would be dug up soon to put in the spring seeds. I certainly enjoyed these for dinner that night with honey mustard dressing.

Also at the farm, the Howard Bird Club gets permission to hike there on a Sunday to find waterfowl, eagles, migrating birds, and owls. Last year we found two northern bob whites walking down the dirt road next to the tall grasses. It had been years since anyone saw them wild in this area.

Kevin Heffernan took this picture which is now featured on the Howard Bird Club photo pages. His three bob white pictures featured there are the only recorded pictures the club has published in their photos taken on field trips by members.

This week the group with Denise walked back one of the old dirt roads and learned some of the history of the farm. The lovely old house on the hill, which is one of those farmhouses around here that just kept growing and adapting to the family’s needs is the sort of place that brings back memories to me, memories of my great grandparents farm beyond the Liberty Reservoir, where they farmed from the end of the 19th century until they had to sell and move in with my great aunt and her family.

When the greenhouses open in April I will be there looking for some heirloom tomato plants. For those who live in Howard County, this farm is one of the really interesting places to visit. If not in the spring, the corn maze and pumpkin patches in the fall are worth the trip down Route 97 to Jennings Chapel Road.

hocoblogs@@@

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Wine and Chocolate

Posted on February 16, 2012 by AnnieRie

Valentine’s Day is an interesting holiday. The cynical side of me considers it a Hallmark holiday, where much money is spent on cards. We don’t do cards. Just like the advent of digital cameras impacted film, and the progression to ebooks is affecting book stores, and newspapers and magazines fall one after another, it is only a matter of time until cards in the mail disappear as well.

But the point of this post is “What did we do for Valentine’s Day?”

Wine and chocolate.

More of the first and less of the last. I try to limit the amount of chocolate in the house, so just a taste is what I want. Not a box full of empty calories.

This fit the bill. Just enough to enjoy, and the wine lasted two nights. 15.9% alcohol will make it last more than one sitting. I have to thank Les Amis du Vin, the predecessor of Taster’s Guild, for introducing us to Biale Zins. Big Zins. With interesting names like Black Chicken. For a trip down memory lane, we reminisced about Yogi Barrett and the wine tastings at the old Chez Fernand, where we first tasted Biale wines. A piece of HoCo loco trivia. The names of the restaurants where Fernand worked. Where was Papillon? Chez Fernand? It also had us to trying to remember the name of the restaurant when he was in Baltimore after the fire in Ellicott City. Then returning to Ellicott City with Tersiquels.

This wine is from 2002. It is a Lodi appellation, from Spenker Vineyard. High in alcohol yet not with that burn that high alcohol wines sometimes contain. Perfect with a chili infused dark chocolate.

hocoblogs@@@

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