AnnieRie Unplugged

A Day at the Farm

Posted on May 26, 2012 by AnnieRie

Today was the first CSA picnic of the season. I took off this morning to drive up US 1 over the Conowingo Dam to visit one of the organic Amish farms that supply the Sandy Spring CSA, which delivers on Thursdays to Columbia. This is our second year of this CSA and a visit to the farms is a monthly treat in the summertime.

This organic farm is 12 acres of produce and 12 acres of pasture. There were baby chicks and ducks for the children to see, and lots of good food, brought by CSA members and cooked by the Amish families who supply us with our produce. Out of respect for the preference to not be photographed, I only took pics where the families were not present. So, no food pics or pics from the tour. We got lovely homemade ice cream from a farm up the road served with the berries from this farm. We all brought potluck to share.

This pic shows the kitchen garden that CSA members from as far away as Brooklyn NY were checking out. Notice the buggy that transported one of the neighbor families over to the farm for our picnic. We toured the barn and got baskets to go pick strawberries after touring the fields.

The view down the hill showing all the cars parked in a meadow. There were about a hundred of us there today. The CSA has 3500 member families in the Lancaster Farm Fresh Coop, about 500 of them are in Sandy Spring with us.

Strawberry picking on the hillside above the house and fields.

The strawberries are grown completely without sprays or treatments, all organic. That means little critters chew on the leaves but isn’t ugly fruit the best fruit?

This was a picture perfect day, and as I left I followed one of the neighbors up the hill.

By the time I got home, some of the berries were missing from my pint. Berries and ice cream for dessert tonight.

Can’t wait for next month, when we visit another farm.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in CSA, Food, Locavore and tagged CSA, day trips, Locavore, real food, value of CSA. Bookmark the permalink.

Summer CSA Week Three

Posted on May 25, 2012 by AnnieRie

I needed a wide angle lens and I had to stand on a stool to get it all in the picture. This week, the box was chock full of goodies.

Twelve items. Yep, we got to the pick up site and found the boxes full of veggies. The list from the site:

A peek down into a loaded box:

I swapped the kale for a second package of garlic scapes. I want to make another batch of pesto to put in ice cube trays and save for winter cooking. Easy, and so good to use in the dead of winter.

My cost analysis this week yielded even bigger savings than the previous weeks.

Lettuce mix – 18 oz. would cost $10 at Roots. Scallions $1.69. Garlic scapes $2 a bunch X 2 = $4. Bok Choy $3.69. Spinach $3. Collards $3. Radishes $2. Turnips $2.50. Kohlrabi $3. Rainbow Chard $3. Broccoli $2.50. Total for equivalent of organic and farm raised veggies is $38.40. I pay $29.75 a week for the CSA. Again, this week’s organic haul is a bargain. Total savings for the three weeks is $21.15. In good years like this one so far, CSAs are a real bargain, but the risk of a bad year is always out there.

Did I use everything last week? All but the kale, which I swear will become kale chips Sunday or Monday. A couple of red scallions, and half a head of romaine. Everything else got used. So, I did OK in the consumption department. I will leave this post with a pic of one of the mostly local dinners I made using CSA and market foods, and a local wine.

The wild ahi wasn’t local, nor was the Pacific Red Pepper Tomato Soup that made the sauce. The ahi was braised in sauce with red scallions from the CSA, and olive oil. The bread is Atwater’s rosemary Italian. The potatoes came from the Olney market. The garlic scape pesto I made using local scapes, not local pine nuts and parmesan and olive oil. The wine, a lovely Vin Rouge from Glen Manor in VA was the perfect weight to complement the big flavors in the pesto and in the red pepper tomato sauced ahi. 2010 was a hot dry year. This wine was 14.9% alcohol but didn’t feel like it. Good balance of flavors. I saw an email from Jeff White, the owner and winemaker, that came today saying this Vin Rouge is running low. If you want a lovely wine in a Bordeaux style produced here on the East Coast, this is a good one.

I will be using more of the garlic scape pesto tonight making Israeli couscous with pesto, and a side of fresh English peas, asparagus and mint. Dessert will be fresh strawberries with buttermilk cake from the market, and vanilla ice cream, not local unfortunately since South Mountain is missing from the market.

This entire month I went to a chain grocery store once, and spent less than $50 getting staples. You can eat well in season using local markets and your CSA. I really love this time of year. The start of the fresh food season. Now, what to do with kohlrabi?

hocofood@@@

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Posted in CSA, Farmer's Markets, Food, GGSAC, Howard County, Locavore, Real Food, Wine and tagged cooking, CSA, farmer's markets, Food, GGSAC, hoco loco, Locavore, real food, value of CSA, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

You Like Tomayto, I Like Tomahto

Posted on May 25, 2012 by AnnieRie

No matter how you pronounce it, tomatoes are my summer candy. So, I was excited yesterday morning to find this in my garden.

These are yellow plum tomatoes. I noticed the blossoms last week. Now, I have teeny tiny tomatoes there, and I have blossoms on the Sweet Olive plants, which are a determinate grape cherry tomato. They are an early bloomer and will be done before others produce.

The Wayfarer cucumbers are blossoming, and even have really tiny cukes starting to emerge. And yes, after I snapped the pics I went in and weeded out the emerging morning glories that inevitably come up from seeds left in the soil after last year. I use them as an attraction for pollinators at my perimeter, but they tend to take over unless you grab them out before the seed pods open in the fall.

The wild asparagus in my crepe myrtle is still producing. Besides the four spears in this pic, there are two more tiny ones coming out of the ground to the left of the plant. This year I have harvested 15 spears so far. These six would bring the total to 21, the most I have found in this location.

These two long thin spears will be sliced, blanched and find their way into some pasta with the garlic scape pesto tonight.

As for the lettuces and mixed greens, the rain rejuvenated them and there are all sorts of goodies hiding among the bolted plants. Time to harvest these and use as a garnish on a pizza.

I also think I need to do some serious mint pruning, and maybe make mint simple syrup for iced teas and summer drinks. This pot of mint is about six years old, coming back every spring.

Herbs and greens right now, with the promise of other goodies in the next few weeks. Gardening is one of those simple pleasures. What is your garden producing now?

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Food, Foraging, Gardening, Howard County, Locavore, Real Food and tagged cooking, Food, gardening, heirloom tomatoes, hoco loco, Howard County, Locavore, real food, tomatoes. Bookmark the permalink.

Getting Ready for a Hectic Holiday Weekend

Posted on May 23, 2012 by AnnieRie

So much to do this weekend, with the holiday and with all the other events going on. What will tempt you to spend time out and about? Are you a beach goer? Or do you stay local?

Our weekend kicks off early with Wine in the Garden at the Conservancy tomorrow night. Cross your fingers for good weather. If you haven’t pre-purchased tickets, they will be selling them at the entrance. Come sip and taste in the loveliness of the Honors Garden.

Saturday I may be off to PA for a picnic at one of the farmers who supplies our CSA. It may be me and a friend, as my OldMan (OM in amateur radio speak) will be contesting and a weekend of listening to him calling “CQ Contest, CQ contest”, is hard to take. Oh wait, this is the CQ WW WPX CW contest, so all I get to hear is key clicks. Translation of the above, means it is the Morse Code only contest, and one where hams try to work as many unique prefixes, like JY, which is Jordan, or 9WA which is Malaysia.

Complicated, and easy to do if you have a unique prefix and everyone wants to call you, harder if you are a W something, like my hubby is. No one looking for him once they have worked W3LPL. He has to work hard to find all the unique prefixes out there. And, we only have wires, not towers.

Sunday I will wander back to Olney to get some fresh berries, and hope that the VA farmers there have cherries. We got our tentative list of what will be in this week’s CSA basket so I only need fruit to supplement the greens this week. I don’t want to touch the berries I processed while fresh goodies are still in the local markets. I will know tomorrow what I will be grilling if it stops threatening storms every night.

Monday we will be chilling out and avoiding those traffic clogged roads. Memorial Day traffic on the highways around here is crazy, so a day of grilling, chilling and drinking local wine sounds like a perfect ending to the holiday weekend.

Then, as retirees with nothing pressing to do later in the week, we will take a day to visit my hubby’s hometown and check on the grave sites for his dad and mom.

hocoblogs@@@

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Posted in Community, CSA, Day Trips, Farmer's Markets, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Retirement and tagged amateur radio, community, CSA, day trips, farmer's markets, Food, grilling, hoco loco, Howard County, howard county conservancy, local businesses, Locavore, volunteering. Bookmark the permalink.

Enjoying Friday’s Bounty

Posted on May 22, 2012 by AnnieRie

Last Friday I wrote about picking strawberries, and visiting the hospital market where I found garlic scapes and rhubarb. These fresh fruits and veggies will be part of tonight’s dinner. Two dishes, one made Saturday and one made this morning.

Garlic scapes. Never knew what they were until last year in the CSA. These are from Love Dove Farm. I bought four bundles, enough to make a double batch of pesto.

If you look closely, you can see the bulging area where a flower would emerge, if left on the plant. The farmers remove this scape, in order to force the plant to devote energy into growing the root, or the heads of garlic. Not removing the scape will inhibit the growth of the heads of garlic. These curling plants have a more delicate flavor than garlic cloves but they still pack a big punch when whirled up in the blender with parmesan, pine nuts, olive oil and salt.

I made enough to freeze some in small containers, and put a large container covered in olive oil in the fridge. It will be served tonight with pasta as a side to some tomato braised ahi, which will be slow cooked in the oven later today.

The small containers were coated lightly with oil, sealed and put in a bag to go in the freezer. The large one more heavily coated as it will be in the fridge a few days. Besides tonight, I will be making bruschetta this weekend using the ends of the Atwater’s rosemary Italian bread. I don’t always follow recipes. I cook by taste, but this was 24 scapes, about a cup of Parm, a half cup of pine nuts, salt to taste, and oil streamed in until it reached the consistency I wanted.

As for dessert tonight, it will be the strawberry rhubarb crisp I made over the weekend. Using the Larriland strawberries and rhubarb from Falcon Ridge Farm, bought at the hospital market, I made a simple crisp. The juicy strawberries made this crisp moister than the rhubarb crumble I made a week ago.

We had some Sunday night and will slice off some more tonight. If I look back at my plans, I didn’t do either thing I said I would in my Saturday post. The chicken was made with a fruit salsa, and I made the crisp instead of a compote. I tend to cook on impulse, so planning sometimes goes for nothing. I didn’t get around to doing the pesto until today.

I also did get the strawberry ice cubes popped out and packaged for use later in the summer. These little nuggets will find their way into vinaigrettes, sangrias, wine coolers, and compotes.

Can’t wait to see what we get in the CSA box Thursday. I did use up almost everything except the kale. I do want to make kale chips. Let’s see if I find the time to do so. Check out this week’s goodies at the markets and make something fresh and seasonal this weekend.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in CSA, Farmer's Markets, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food and tagged CSA, farmer's markets, Food, hoco loco, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

Market Envy

Posted on May 21, 2012 by AnnieRie

Yes, I admit it. I envy those who live in Olney for the size and selection at their community market. Don’t get me wrong, I love our markets but they don’t have that festive community atmosphere that Olney has.

This market is only in its sixth year. It is a farmers and artists market, and also has food vendors. On opening day, they had special events and it was pretty crowded.

Yesterday when we went, they had a special display for kids, a bug petting zoo. Right next to the Master Gardeners who are committed to be there each week.

We started with Zeke’s Coffee and an omelet burrito, made while we watched the early attendees fill the area.

Some of the same farms frequent this market, like Falcon Ridge, who sold me rhubarb Friday in Columbia at the hospital market. Only here, they had a huge presence, with dwarf fruit trees and lots of plants.

Atwater’s was there, so I don’t have to drive to Catonsville to get artisanal breads. A loaf of rosemary Italian came home with us.

This market was the brainchild of one woman, who pitched it to the community. It took hold and grows every year. It would be wonderful to have something like this here in Howard County, like at Symphony Woods. I would volunteer to help. Why can’t we “Choose Community” and do something better than five small scattered markets?

I already posted that I was concerned at Glenwood, that South Mountain is no longer coming. Neither is Woodcamp. Thankfully, TLV stepped up to bring meats to Glenwood. Breezy Willow will be there in June, but Saturday, there was only one farmer selling spring produce at Glenwood. That is sad. There were three last summer.

It looks like I will be getting my meats by going directly to TLV and getting other things I need at Olney. It is closer to me in West County than most of the Columbia markets and Ellicott City, and equidistant to get to the hospital market. I don’t want to abandon Howard County, but if we don’t step up what we do as a county, will we lose to markets like Olney?

Should we add artisanal foods and art? That is a sticky subject, but brings in customers. Is purity more important than profit? I don’t know that answer. I just feel that our farmers are being shortchanged, and good vendors are going where the communities support them with bigger draws.

Am I off base?

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Commentary, Community, Farmer's Markets, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, West HoCo and tagged commentary, community, farmer's markets, Food, hoco loco, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

To Market, To Market

Posted on May 19, 2012 by AnnieRie

Friday and Saturday markets in HoCo were fairly busy, but not to the level they could be. I attended both this week, mainly to see what the local vendors have, and to round out my CSA box items.

Friday was better than Saturday, as I see Breezy Willow isn’t coming until June, and South Mountain Creamery isn’t coming at all. At least that is what their web site says. That’s too bad, because I loved their yogurts, mozzarella, ice cream and other goodies, like their butter. Don’t know why they canceled but it was a disappointment.

Friday I went to the Hospital site specifically to see if Love Dove Farms had garlic scapes. And, yes, they did.

Pesto will be on the menu in a few days. I picked up pine nuts at Costco in anticipation of getting scapes. I also found some lovely rhubarb from Falcon Ridge Farm in Westminster, to go with those Larriland strawberries from my morning picking frenzy.

Strawberry rhubarb compote, pesto for the TLV Tree Farm chicken from Miller Library market and I have a great meal planned for tomorrow or Monday.

This is a good warm up for our next challenge. It’s the Southern SOLE Food Challenge. Ten of us who did the winter challenge to eat locally at least once a week have informally decided to have our own summer challenge to showcase south of the Mason Dixon line cooking with market and home grown goodies. Our challenge will run from June to Halloween. Stay around and see what we cook. I will be putting up a sidebar linking to the nine blogs besides mine. All of us enjoyed learning new recipes and commiserating about finding grains and other difficult locally sourced items in the winter. This informal get together will show what we can find to cook during the high seasons here in the Southeast.

SOUTHERN SOLE FOOD CHALLENGERS
AnnieRie Unplugged – me
Backyard Grocery Northern VA
Bumble Lush Garden near DC
Eat. Drink. Nourish. South Carolina
Eating Appalachia Blue Ridge VA
Eating Floyd Southwest VA
Family Foodie Survival Guide Northern VA
Sincerely, Emily Texas
The Soffritto right up the road in Woodstock
Windy City Vegan North Carolina

Victoria from The Soffrito and I met on line here and found out we live less than 10 miles from one another. Today we met face to face for coffee at Casual Gourmet before hitting the Glenwood market. I did get some nice flowers from Greenway, and some beets and radishes from Zahradka. Plus, a buttermilk cake from Stone House, highly recommended by Lewis Orchards to showcase the local strawberries.

The flowers are already in their pots on the deck. Above the mint and with some chives I picked up at Larriland yesterday. The herb garden is done. The veggies, almost. I need to pull out the greens and put in some rainbow chard seed to get chard later this summer.

Tomorrow we are off to Olney to have brunch at their market and see if they have any dairy sources to replace South Mountain. I don’t feel like driving to B’more to get dairy, or to Frederick. We may have to resort to home delivery once a month. I do love their mozzarella, and their yogurts enough to set up a delivery schedule. It is sad we have lost all the dairies except for Bowling Green in HoCo.

Support the markets. Don’t let them lose vendors due to lack of interest. Today is Food Revolution Day, if you follow Jamie Oliver. Cook with real ingredients and enjoy the local summer bounty.

hocofood@@@

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Breakfast Al Fresco

Posted on May 19, 2012 by AnnieRie

My favorite time of day. Early mornings before it gets hot outside. The birds are singing, the squirrels and rabbits are running around, and my neighbor’s dog comes by to say Hi, before fruitlessly continuing his rabbit chasing in the meadow.

This week the Kousa dogwoods are blooming.

They are heavy with blossoms and I baby those trees to keep them from having breaking limbs. We have them pruned, along with the Japanese lace maples, and the crepe myrtles every other year, in order to keep them healthy. They are my privacy screen from my neighbor’s driveway and they allow me to sit out in the morning in peace and solitude.

Friday I went out to have coffee and fill the feeders.

No, that isn’t wine for breakfast. It is hummingbird nectar in a wine bottle. My feeder uses a recycled bottle as the vessel with a copper wire and a cap. A little tricky to assemble but easier to clean.

The empty messy feeder. Pop off the cap. Rinse and throw the bottle in the blue bin. Clean the cap. Reassemble with a new bottle and you have happy hummingbirds.

Notice the double sided sticky tape ant trap. I have to get a permanent ant barrier, but so far this works. We have a hummingbird family who comes every summer and hangs out in my flowers, and my next door neighbor, too. We both have feeders for them.

As for the squirrel log, and the suet, we try to keep the squirrels from the bird food, and it usually works. I give them one of these logs and one unprotected suet but keep the high protein good birdfood away from them. The birds are busy feeding babies, and they are very active. I have a couple of feeders full of nuts, safflower and sunflower chips and cracked corn. It goes fast this time of year and then slows down once the trees and bushes start getting seeds and berries.

While there, one of the younger chickadees came to visit.

There was also a very young house sparrow hopping everywhere, but too quick for me to capture. Two days before, a very young sparrow was unsuccessfully trying to fly high enough to make it to the feeder. Unsuccessful then, but eventually they get the hang of it.

I did wander down to check on my garden and found my first blossoms on the yellow plum tomato.

The tomatoes have survived their planting shock and are doing well. I cluster plant them along the fence, with small cages and then use string and poles to keep them aloft. I find that the support system works better than really huge cages. At least in the area where I plant.

I also noticed while sitting out there that the sage and rosemary bushes are spreading so much they are no longer separate. They have been there three years now. They somehow survived snowmageddon in 2010. I am getting huge beautiful sage leaves, big enough to look really nice as fried sage to decorate gnocchi.

Breakfast on the patio. A lovely way to start the day. Cheers!

Larriland Strawberries

Posted on May 18, 2012 by AnnieRie

My kitchen smells like strawberries. My truck smelled like strawberries. What is it about strawberries that just screams summer is coming.

OK, this is only nine pounds of strawberries. To do twenty and get the discount was way too much work. I did forget there was no school today as there were families all over Larriland on their opening morning.

Today you could pick strawberries, spinach and chard.

I obviously chose strawberries and spent about 45 minutes collecting my berries.

I then came home and started processing. These strawberries are destined for the freezer. Farmers market strawberries get eaten. I wanted three different preparations but first I wanted lunch.

Leaf lettuce from the CSA, Larriland strawberries, and Marcona almonds from Costco (not local obviously), drizzled with berry vinaigrette from Catoctin Mountain Orchards.

After lunch, the first phase. Freezing whole berries to keep them from clumping. They were dipped just on the tips in super fine sugar before freezing.

Once I came back from my other errands (will be in another post), I took them out and packaged them.

I then did the puree, in order to have cubes for vinaigrettes and for plopping into sangria.

Finally, sliced berries to put away for the winter. A little lemon juice, some super fine sugar, sliced berries, and come February I will be loving these.

Larriland’s website did say they might not have enough ripe berries to cover the weekend so call or go early. It was definitely busy today.

I did stop up at the barn to pick up a few supplies, and some chives to plant. Larriland is just a hoco tradition. For me, only ten miles from the house. Closer than all but one grocery store. How can you resist the lure of the farm?

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Community, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, West HoCo and tagged community, Food, foodie, hoco loco, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, traditions, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Sandy Spring CSA Week Two

Posted on May 17, 2012 by AnnieRie

Never fails. Buy something at the farmers market and you get it in the box. Strawberries. Weren’t listed in the preview post, but we always know there are substitutions and often additions. This was a pleasant addition.

And yes, we are officially drowning in greens. But, I did swap cilantro for mushrooms. Better to make mushroom pate. We are allowed one swap a week. I swap herbs usually, since I grow so many of them. Cilantro without tomatoes to make salsa, not my thing. I also have more than enough greens to do pesto, which I will make since I stopped at Costco today and got pine nuts and pistachios. I do some interesting pestos. Like the garlic scape pesto in this often posted pic of mushroom pate and garlic scape pesto I took to a party.

Ok, I never knew what vitamin greens were until we got them. Now I know. They are interesting and can be made many ways. Learn something new every week. Don’t have any clue what they would cost if we bought them, but suppose they are as expensive as microgreens.

This week we got:
14 ounces vitamin greens
one bunch red scallions
one head green romaine
one head red leaf lettuce
one box cremini
one box white mushrooms
one bunch cilantro (I swapped this to get another box of white mushrooms)
one large bunch of green kale
one pint strawberries

All organic. The estimated cost came to somewhere between $32-$35 depending on where you source it. Finding all this is difficult as a source for vitamin greens means a trip to DC to a market there.

After two weeks, paying $29.75 a week for our CSA we have $38 and $34, which means we are up $12.50 for cost. If I used the cheaper cost for the mushrooms, which can be found at Frank’s Produce in Waterloo behind Costco for $1.99 for the white mushrooms, it would have been $2 less. But, the gas mileage to get there just for mushrooms would have negated the savings.

What am I going to make?

Kale Chips. I love them and make them once every spring.
Mushroom Pate
Lots and lots of salads.
Strawberries with ice cream from South Mountain, or buttermilk cake from Stone House Bakery (I will be buying both this Saturday at the Glenwood market.)

Two weeks in. Loving the surprises, and the quality of the veggies.

hocofood@@@

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