Category Archives: Locavore

Co-Inky-Dinks (or Coincidences)

Posted on May 4, 2013 by AnnieRie

Last night I happened to open Twitter to see the Beard Foundation publication tweets coming fast and furious. Just in time to see a blog I have used to find venison recipes win the individual blog award. Hank Shaw writes this blog. You should check it out.

Hunter Angler Gardener Cook. This is one amazing blog if you are looking for food cooked well, from fresh ingredients. His fish and game recipes are my “go to first” recipes when I get something good at the markets. Or, that lovely venison.

Besides, where else can you find wild boar, bear, and um, squirrel recipes. Seriously. You should visit it and read some of his outside the box recipes. Including his veggie ones. Like the one with salsify.

We got salsify a year ago in our CSA. I have been looking for it ever since. I want to try this croquette. I made fritters the last time.

I just tried this mushroom recipe today. I will be reporting on the results when I finally get to taste them. I used my cremini from the CSA. Just enough to make a small jar.

Tomorrow I am heading over to Burtonsville to check out their new market. Orchard Breeze will be there. Maybe rabbit or duck will make its way to my menu, and I can use this great blog as inspiration. Who needs cookbooks when you can use great blogs?

hocofood@@@

2 Comments

Posted in cookbooks, CSA, Farmer's Markets, Food, Locavore and tagged cooking, farmer's markets, Food, foodie, local businesses, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

Just Us Chickens …

Posted on May 3, 2013 by AnnieRie

… and other random thoughts on a Friday evening.

It is the beginning of chicken season out at England Acres. The first 100 were processed this week and by now may all be gone. If you want to try some really tasty chicken, try free range birds from the local farms. England Acres offers them every four weeks all summer.

The chickens range in size from four to six pounds. If you want to use them frozen, directly into the crock pot like I do, you need to take out that plastic bag with the giblets and heart, and take out the neck. Those pieces I use to make chicken stock. If you are going to grill or roast the chicken, just pop them right into the freezer and worry about that bag later.

Besides England Acres, other local farms also do chickens. TLV will have them at the markets. Breezy Willow gets them. Clark’s also has chickens in season. Of course, also, Maple Lawn has frozen turkey all year round, and fresh ones for Thanksgiving and Christmas. You can certainly eat naturally raised, farm fresh goodness from all over this area.

If you get the chance to head out to England Acres, say hi to the five little kids in the yard. They are happy for visitors and practically climb over each other to see you.

Other ramblings this weekend. The Sheep and Wool Festival is Saturday and Sunday. I hope to get there but we have guests coming both days. I know Breezy Willow will be there. They will be in the main exhibition hall.

The weather should be lovely all weekend. Markets are opening everywhere. I saw that Love Dove will be in Silver Spring Saturday. I will probably check out Burtonsville Sunday morning to see who goes there. Not that I really need anything, but I would love to find some ramps or fiddlehead ferns. I have never cooked with either of them. Asparagus should be here, and soon strawberries.

hocofood@@@

Grillin’ Chillin’ and Whatever

Posted on May 2, 2013 by AnnieRie

Puttering. Tweeting. Drinking. Planting.

What a lovely spring day. Warm, not humid. Perfect gardening weather. And, grilling weather.

We started out today pulling up black fabric and getting ready to till the garden. I also did some planting of herbs.

Two kinds of sage in the herb garden. Then, I checked out the chives. They are getting ready to blossom.

After pulling up the fabric and cleaning out the garden, it was time to chill. I made a simple punch. Ginger ale. Berries from the freezer. A splash of orange liqueur and light rum. Peach nectar. Served with the Chesapeake cheddar.

A couple of the TLV farm ribeyes on the grill with a side of asparagus and zucchini. My pesto from the freezer. A Breaux cellar selection syrah.

Later, a winechat on twitter with the vawine crowd. Viognier. Mine a 2012 from Breaux. Big and beautiful.

I know why we eat at home often. The food, the wine, the view.

hocofood@@@

1 Comment

Posted in Food, Gardening, Locavore, Weather, Wine and tagged Food, foodie, gardening, Locavore, real food, weather, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Early Bird CSA

Posted on May 1, 2013 by AnnieRie

Number 9. Number 9. Nine weeks in. Credits to the Beatles for the number nine inspiration. I really love going out to the farm to pick up my CSA share. The whole connection thing. Knowing the source of your food. Knowing the names of the people who run the share pick up site. Feeling like a person, and not a number (nine or otherwise).

We got:
3 ruby red grapefruit
1 eggplant (as you notice, missing, swapped for grapefruit)
1 pound kale
1 pound Brussels sprouts
1/2 pound crimini mushrooms
1 pound green beans
1 bunch huge spring onions
1/2 pound salad mix

I picked whole wheat bread, and the Breezy Willow eggs.

The tops of the onions already went into guacamole. Tonight’s appetizer.

Loving the Harris Teeter near us. I got some organic Haas avocados. And made some great guacamole.

Dinner a one pan baking deal.

Italian sausage, spinach, onion, zucchini, garlic, spring onions, seasoned salt, olive oil, chicken broth. Slow cooked in the oven. Served for dinner with the Great Harvest bread to mop up all that lovely sauce.

Doesn’t get much better.

hocofood@@@

4 Comments

Posted in CSA, Food, Local Businesses, Locavore and tagged CSA, Food, foodie, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, value of CSA. Bookmark the permalink.

To Forage, To Forage

Posted on April 29, 2013 by AnnieRie

YES! YES! YES! The wild asparagus are back!

I wrote about them last year, when I got at least 40 or so spears of asparagus that keep coming up under my crepe myrtle. Saturday there was nothing there. Today. I found four spears in various lengths.

One white one buried in mulch. It will turn green as it emerges. Two more deep in the mulch although one looks a little ragged like something decided to chew on it. Maybe the bunnies.

Today’s rain was welcome as it is nourishing my garlic, my herbs, my greens and these wild plants. Oh, and the tulips. I am lucky that the animals ignore them. I guess having a yard with clover, dandelions, chick weed and whatever else out there keeps them happy and away from my flowers. As I have said often, I am loving spring time.\

hocofood@@@

2 Comments

Posted in Food, Foraging, Gardening, Locavore, Nature, Weather and tagged Food, foodie, gardening, Locavore, spring flowers, weather. Bookmark the permalink.

Under the Weather

Posted on April 25, 2013 by AnnieRie

It never fails every spring, I pick up at least one cold while the weather keeps vacillating. Today after doing a fair amount of work in the gardens, I succumbed to that stuffy head, achy muscles and simply miserable feeling. Making me miss a hocobloggers get together at Xitomate. I judge a Mexican restaurant by their moles and their camarones dinners.

We will get there to try it with friends some night, just didn’t make it today. Besides, I can’t wait until they get to Turf Valley, much closer to our house.

Before crashing on the sofa with lemon water and rosemary crackers, I did get many of my herbs in the garden, and spent about an hour pulling up black fabric in the main veggie gardens. I will plant the tomatoes in three weeks, after the last chance of frost. Tell me, is there anything better than the scent of tomato plants?

They are all happy in the mudroom under the window facing east. As for the flowers outside, the dogwoods are blooming. The early azaleas too. I will be taking a trip to Brighton Dam tomorrow if I feel better to see what is happening there.

Yes, under the trees the dandelions are going nuts. So are all our other weeds, and the wild parsley that keeps the bunnies out of my herbs. Herbs planted and planned this year include blue sage, common sage, French tarragon, French thyme, African blue basil, marjoram and sweet basil. The chives and rosemary are coming back as well as that weed called mint. If you do nothing else, plant a few small pots of herbs. Thyme does very well around here.

As for the Thelma Sanders start from seed squash experiment, I ended up with one dozen plants from the saved seeds. Not a bad germination rate at all. There will be a section in the garden for the squash and cucumbers to hopefully happily coexist.

Finally, one last thing about locally sourced meats. We got half a lamb last week from England Acres. Twenty seven pounds. Dressed the way we wanted it. At a fraction of the cost of buying it at the store.

Next week is their first week for their chickens. Believe me, since there are none left in the freezer, I will be popping out to the farm for a couple.

I may be fighting a simple spring bug, but the weather and that beginning of growing season always gets me motivated to go out and enjoy my favorite time of year here in the midAtlantic.

hocofood@@@

1 Comment

Posted in Food, Gardening, Howard County, Locavore, Nature, Restaurants, Weather, West HoCo and tagged azaleas, Food, gardening, heirloom tomatoes, hoco loco, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, nature, spring flowers, tomatoes, weather. Bookmark the permalink.

Early Bird CSA Week Eight

Posted on April 24, 2013 by AnnieRie

It was a lovely day out at the farm today for CSA pickup.

The addition to the farm store building is now our CSA pick up site. The smaller section is the store. Bigger, brighter, and filled with lots of great looking food. Plus, outside the animals were out sunning themselves and getting attention.

What did we get this week?

Two pounds of onions
Eight juice oranges
One bulb garlic
Two pounds zucchini
One pound spinach
Half pound salad greens
Three pounds sweet potatoes
One pound green beans
One bunch radishes

This week a non egg week. We had a choice of applesauce, cherry amaretto jam, or Monterey Jack cheese. I picked applesauce. And, a new bread for me. Already made my light dinner, tuna salad on it. My better half went off to a meeting and I was tired from running around in the sun at the Conservancy all morning, so made a salad and a sandwich. This bread is awesome!!!

I also nibbled on two of the radishes. I love fresh radishes dipped in a little seasoned salt. I see radishes in the swap boxes often, and don’t know why people dislike them. I love them, raw or baked or sliced on bread with butter and salt.

Eight weeks down, four to go. Breezy Willow continues to have a great mix of veggies. Perfect to pair things for recipes.

hocofood@@@

5 Comments

Posted in CSA, Food, Local Businesses, Locavore and tagged CSA, Food, foodie, local businesses, Locavore. Bookmark the permalink.

Making Mozzarella

Posted on April 22, 2013 by AnnieRie

Yes, you can make your own mozzarella. It gives you a great treat if you are missing the lovely soft mozzarella from South Mountain Creamery. All you need is milk, rennet, citric acid and salt. I got my recipe here. My first venture into cheesemaking. I halved the recipe.

I had a half gallon of fresh raw milk. Friends with cows are wonderful to have. I am doing a swap. Garlic scape pesto from my garlic next month for the milk to make cheese.

Bring milk with citric acid solution to the proper temp. Add the rennet solution and let it rest off the heat. It will begin to look like this. Mine took longer than ten minutes.

We have curds and whey. Not quite firm in the pic, but they got there. Curds being firmed up in the microwave.

After two 30 second cycles in the microwave, I added the salt and started to massage it and stretch it.

It needed another 30 seconds microwaving to get to the right temperature. I also lost my photo assistant to lawn cutting, so no pics of the stretching cheese. Here is the final product.

Fresh raw whole milk makes a softer creamier cheese. 2% milk, not ultra pasteurized supposedly makes the shinier white more solid version. It will be served tonight with venison steaks, for my local meal. Pics of the chilled sliced cheese later tonight or tomorrow.

I was surprised at how easy it was. Now, I need to figure out what to do with a large amount of whey. I hear I should use it instead of water in grains, soups, couscous, stews, and that it freezes well. I have about 50 ounces of whey in the fridge. More experimentation this week.

You know you’re a locavore when you make your own cheese. Next project, maybe a simple goat cheese with herbs. We know people with goats.

hocofood@@@

8 Comments

Posted in Food, Locavore, Real Food, Sixty@Sixty and tagged Food, foodie, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

Early Bird CSA Week Seven

Posted on April 17, 2013 by AnnieRie

Lots of greenhouse and high tunnel goodies this week. Things we crave, and now due to the proliferation of high tunnels and greenhouses, are ready to harvest early in the season. Breezy Willow delivers the freshest goodies, as always.

We got:

3 grapefruit
3 pounds red potatoes
1/2 pound salad mix
1 pound spinach
2 pounds zucchini
1 pound green beans
1 bunch beets with greens
1/2 pound mushrooms

We had a note this week about the citrus. It seems oranges were adversely affected by the cold weather this winter in Florida, so our citrus was limited to grapefruit.

I also picked a big parmesan sourdough bread from Great Harvest, and we got the dozen eggs. These are from Nature’s Yoke. I do miss the pretty colored eggs from Breezy Willow, but with the size of the CSA, they have to use eggs from more than one farm.

They still taste wonderful, and have those lovely deep yellow yolks.

I already put some of the spinach in tonight’s dinner.

Spinach, along with the rest of the bean sprouts from last week, some onion, garlic, ginger, water chestnuts, sesame oil and soy sauce. Served with sweet spicy spare ribs from Boarman’s.

I am loving these beets.

I dry roasted last weeks, and they went into salads. This week, I will probably do the same, as beets with spinach and cheese, and vinaigrette made using my frozen fruit. Yum! Doesn’t get much better.

The green beans and red potatoes will become a lunch salad.

As for the bread, this parmesan sourdough is dense and chewy and really tastes wonderful. If it does cool down this weekend, I am making a stew and sourdough dipped in gravy is heaven!

I already ate the crusty end with dinner tonight. Love fresh bread with butter.

hocofood@@@

3 Comments

Posted in CSA, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore and tagged cooking, CSA, Food, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore. Bookmark the permalink.

In Search of Seedlings

Posted on April 16, 2013 by AnnieRie

The primary objective this week. Get my seedlings and veggie plugs to be ready to plant the garden in about three weeks. I will be going to two farms, and hitting Earth Day at the Conservancy to achieve this.

last year’s tomatoes

I will add these two farms to my farms series after I get there, Sharp’s at Waterford on Friday and TLV Tree Farm on Saturday.

I will be getting heirloom tomatoes and also cucumbers at Sharp’s. Love their extensive selection of heirlooms. I will get all my herbs from TLV, except for that African blue basil, which will come from Greenway at the farmer’s market in May.

As for Earth Day, the Master Gardeners bring veggie and flower seedlings to the Conservancy to sell. I got some awesome heirlooms last year from them.

Add to all these seedlings, the ones in my window at home.

Kale. arugula and mesclun.

Thelma Sanders squash, including two that took weeks to germinate (slow metabolism maybe?). There are nine seedlings now. I am giving a few to friends to grow, as nine squash plants would take over my garden.

The organic garlic is going gangbusters.

Oh, and this was just for fun.

Starting ruby chard in an egg carton. These will get transplanted all sorts of places, to see where they do the best. Chard is so beautiful, you can use it as an accent plant, and then have it for dinner.

Getting that green thumb itch, and waiting until after the last chance of frost to move it all outside.

hocofood@@@

AnnieRie Unplugged

Category Archives: Locavore

Co-Inky-Dinks (or Coincidences)

Just Us Chickens …

Grillin’ Chillin’ and Whatever

Early Bird CSA

To Forage, To Forage

Under the Weather

Early Bird CSA Week Eight

Making Mozzarella

Early Bird CSA Week Seven

In Search of Seedlings

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