Tag Archives: farms

Taking It Outdoors

Posted on July 22, 2013 by AnnieRie

The Buy Local Challenge. I keep trying and it keeps storming. The contest this year is “Take It Outdoors”. The facebook page is where the photos will be uploaded.

We are hosting a picnic at the Howard County Conservancy this Sunday. With our own contest. Best picnic spread. And, best baked goods. Using local ingredients. Not everything has to be local but the pledge to use at least one local ingredient a day applies.

Here is one of my “outdoor” dishes. I had to bring it in and broil it but you get the idea.

Those fava beans we shelled. In a classic dish with grilled (broiled) Halloumi. Beans, peas, mint, olive oil, salt, pepper and grilled Halloumi. You can find Halloumi at Roots.

For dinner tonight we also had corn and tomatoes, both from the CSA. Corn on the cob, grilled. Tomatoes in any salad. Easy dishes to eat outdoors.

Besides the picnic prize, the Conservancy is giving a baking prize. Here is your chance to rock that zucchini bread recipe.

This is “my” zucchini cornbread, using this recipe.

Lots of possibilities to eat locally. And, to meet a few new friends at the picnic.

hocofood@@@

A Trip Down Memory Lane … On White Bread

Posted on July 21, 2013 by AnnieRie

Combining two goals. The Buy Local Challenge and my Sixty@Sixty goal.

Yes, I know white bread is highly processed. Tell that to my mom who fed us Hauswald’s bread every day. Toast. PB&Js and those lovely tomato sandwiches aka “mater sammiches” (when you were four years old).

When in Royal Farms the other day to get ice for the trip to the Amish farm and money from the ATM, I saw that loaf of Hauswald’s and also thought of a blog post somewhere about simple tomato sandwiches, like we ate as children.

Hauswald’s was a staple in our house growing up. 75% of my heritage is German. We lived in a mostly German American community in west Baltimore. And, tomatoes? We loved tomatoes all summer. In everything we could make.

Heck, yesterday for breakfast I made toast and spread this on it.

Another local company, based in Frederick, with all sorts of old recipes recreated. Do you like pickled beets? Apple butter? All memories of my growing up.

As for the Buy Local Challenge, today, like most days included large amounts of locally sourced items. Like the milk for my husband’s cereal.

Bought at the Hospital Farmer’s Market Friday.

And, the wine at dinner tonight.

The new winery outside of Frederick. They only sell whites at the moment. Reds will be coming soon, and the winery will open next year. We bought this bottle in Frederick last week. Grape growers are farmers, too!

We had local foods at breakfast, lunch and dinner today. I didn’t cook much either. Simple local foods, as I said, it isn’t hard to support local farms.

Today we ate:
Milk, at breakfast.
Tomatoes, yogurt, beets, cucumbers and greens at lunch. The cucumber became that dill pickle in my crock.

Sheep’s milk cheese on the flatbread at dinner. The sheep’s milk cheese was from Breezy Willow. Pesto from CSA veggies (carrot tops, radish greens, arugula and scallion tops). The last container from the freezer from last year.

The rest of dinner was chicken/feta/spinach sausage bought at The Common Market in Frederick, which was baked on top of CSA onions, peppers and pattypan squash. They were drizzled with olive oil, and had nothing but salt and pepper on them.

Simple. Delicious.

Eating locally is easy around here.

hocofood@@@

A Visit to an Amish Farm

Posted on July 20, 2013 by AnnieRie

My second pot luck luncheon at the farms. My husband’s first. Today we drove to Christiana PA to attend one of the pot luck picnics at a member farm of Lancaster Farm Fresh Coop. This non profit cooperative supplies our CSA.

Most of us arrived by car to picnic in the barn. The barn was being used, just in case of rain. Some of us arrived by buggy.

There were quite a few cooperative member families who came to have lunch, talk to us, share their passion for locally grown food, and just create that bond. They had cloth bags for sale at the coop store today.

My favorite line on the bag — Don’t buy food from strangers.

We shared wonderful homemade goodies, brought by over 100 CSA members, and also provided by the Amish families in attendance. Today’s picnic was at the farm of one of the founding members of the coop. Followed by a Q&A with the managers and the farmers, then a walking tour of the farm.

After the tour, the opportunity to pick tomatoes and corn from the farm.

My husband picked a bag of tomatoes in one of the high tunnels while I talked with the wife of one of the farmers.

Heirloom cherries, yum!

We were also invited to come to another farm to pick up some “seconds”. Produce not good enough to put in a CSA box, but still quite wonderful. At lunch, my husband struck up a conversation with one of the farmers. He grows radicchio, Napa cabbage, purple viking potatoes, green romaine, something I can’t remember now, and Fava Beans for the coop.

Why the emphasis on fava beans. Because they gave us a box full of them from their cooler.

These were pods with maybe one bean in them, or pods that had a cut on them. They can’t use them in the CSA, so they were at the farm. He had ten boxes left of these, and they were going to the hogs this week for food. He has given them away in the past to CSA members, but they weren’t here this year. He asked us if we wanted some. Little did we know he meant about 25-30 pounds of pods, which netted us about eight pounds of beans.

We sat out on the patio tonight drinking a glass of local wine and shelling favas. Tomorrow I will blanch them and freeze most of them. We will use a couple of batches of them in recipes this week though.

Today was an overdose of local eating. Some people may say, “They aren’t Maryland farms” but the challenge doesn’t require the farms to be in Maryland. And, I took watermelon, feta and mint salad to the picnic. The feta was Breezy Willow feta, so I definitely had very local ingredients in my salad.

Besides, we have lovely VA and PA farms in our Howard County markets. Those of us who buy from the markets are supporting farmers from within a 100 mile radius of our homes. Even if we cross a state line here or there.

The Amish farmland is amazingly beautiful to visit. The people are wonderful. The food is awesome. When we went to pick up the fava beans, we turned down a ride in the family’s buggy. I wish we had the time to have taken it but we wanted to get home and shell all those beans before it stormed.

A perfect day to kick off the first day of Buy Local. Visiting a farm and supporting them.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Adventures, CSA, Farms, Food, Locavore and tagged CSA, farms, Food, foodie, heirloom tomatoes, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

Kicking Off the Buy Local Challenge

Posted on July 19, 2013 by AnnieRie

The challenge begins tomorrow, but for whatever reason, I kicked it off tonight with dinner.

Lots of local goodies on this plate. Local lamb, zucchini, onions, cucumbers, and potatoes.

Paired with a Maryland wine.

And, if you don’t cook much. Hit the local restaurants participating in the Farm 2 Table restaurant weeks.

If you want to support local farms, take the pledge. Join thousands of us eating at least one local item every day for nine days.

Heck, just go visit Maryland wineries, and hit a few farmer’s markets to support the local farmers. Like Love Dove.

I found their new bags today at the market at the hospital. Tomorrow they are in Silver Spring, and next Wednesday at Miller Library. For me, I love getting fresh greens from their high tunnel. Today I bought arugula and spring mix. Oh, and some sun gold tomatoes since mine aren’t ripe yet. Gotta love those high tunnels.

You could eat at locally owned restaurants during the week, hit a few wineries on the weekends, come to our picnic at the Conservancy next Sunday bringing local goodies.

Or, you can get really into it, like me, the foodie/locavore/locapour and dine with locally sourced items for most meals.

We have a picnic tomorrow to attend. I will be taking watermelon, feta and mint salad. Feta picked up at Breezy Willow. Mint from my garden. The plants were bought from local farmers.

Check my blog daily for suggestions of easy ways to eat local foods, even if you don’t cook.

As for those gorgeous kebabs.

The recipe. Take one pound of ground lamb (I buy mine from England Acres). Generously spice it with garam masala, cinnamon and pepper. Add a teaspoon of salt if your garam masala doesn’t contain salt (Spice Island is very salty; McCormick isn’t). Add about a 1/4 cup chopped sweet onion. Mix it all together by hand and form around skewers. Grill until it reaches the level of doneness you prefer. I like ours medium rare to medium. Still juicy. Serve with a tzatziki. I made this cucumber yogurt dip with dill instead of mint. It works, even though it isn’t a traditional tzatziki.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Farmer's Markets, Farms, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Restaurants and tagged cooking, farmer's markets, farms, Food, foodie, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, MD Wine, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Monday Meandering

Posted on July 15, 2013 by AnnieRie

One of the true pleasures of retirement. Getting up on Monday morning and deciding “Road Trip!”.

We did have somewhat of a mission. Get to the Gettysburg outlets for work boots for my husband, and some Hanes/Bali/Leggs shopping for me. My husband really needed new boots for the outdoors work. We have always found them at the footwear outlets, since he goes through them about once a year. PA doesn’t charge sales tax on clothing, something that for years made our trips home to his family include a side trip to Bon Ton or Hess’s or Boscov’s.

Mondays at the outlets are pretty quiet. We had driven up Rte. 97 into Pa in about an hour and did our shopping. I did score something I have wanted for quite a while. A mortar and pestle. Now, I can grind spices, or make pesto the old fashioned way. I just have to find someplace to store it.

We were making a loop. Gettysburg. Thurmont. Frederick. And home. After the outlets, off to stop at Catoctin Mountain Orchards for some fruit. We did decide to indulge in lunch at one of those long time restaurants in that part of Frederick County.

The Shamrock.

Right on Rte. 15 north of Thurmont and south of Emmitsburg. Celebrating their 50th year in business. Family run. It checks off one of my list of things to do in my 60th year. Eating at small business family owned restaurants and diners.

I did not take pictures inside. One thing I try not to do while traveling.

We then hit Gateway for my husband’s Hershey Ice Cream fix (salted caramel with truffle cone), and for me to find some interesting candy to take to book club (which unfortunately was canceled).

The candy hit? A little bit of nostalgia.

After the visit to Gateway, we headed around the back road to Catoctin. For peaches, apricots, plums and nectarines. Apple cider (a simple Buy Local item for those not inclined to cook much). The view today.

Worth the trip just to wander down Rte. 15 and check out the orchards and farms. The last destination. Frederick Wine House, across from Wegmans. The only location I know where you can buy Big Cork Wines. Dave Collins was winemaker at Breaux. He now is working in his new venture in Maryland, Big Cork.

Getting ready for Buy Local Challenge. Easy choices. Big Cork Wine. Catoctin apple cider. And, we found Bedlam Rose from Black Ankle.

Three items for the nine day challenge. Easy to use daily. Along with all that lovely fruit. You don’t have to know how to cook to complete the challenge successfully.

Today I scored:
Nectarines
Peaches
Apricots
Plums
Apple Cider
Chardonnay from Big Cork
Rose from Black Ankle

If I added cheese, tomatoes, corn, watermelon and cantaloupe from the farmer’s markets, I would have more than enough to succeed in the challenge.

hocofood@@@

Veggie Mama

Posted on July 8, 2013 by AnnieRie

Some days it is how I feel. The veggie pusher, so to speak.

Today I gave my mom some of my CSA veggies and some farmer’s market finds. She doesn’t always have access to fresh fruits and veggies. When I have the opportunity, I give her real treats.

Like some of these beauties. Yellow wax beans. I also found some awesome huge Brussels sprouts at Jenny’s market the other day. I made the rounds Saturday, for a few items. Like meat from TLV, and peaches from Lewis Orchards, followed by a stop at Breezy Willow for yogurt to make peach pops, and butter for cooking. Then, because I really wanted tomatoes and don’t have any, I stopped at Jenny’s.

Jenny’s is back at their original site off Rte. 32. They had to relocate last year after the derecho, but have their place fixed up. Not all their stuff is local, but they will tell you what is and what isn’t. Besides the tomatoes, I found huge Brussels sprouts, and tonight for dinner some got sauteed. My mom got a handful too. I also gave her some red potatoes and some of my peaches.

It saves her driving quite a distance to their nearest farm stand. I know we are lucky up here in Howard County. Lots of stands, markets and CSA options.

These days I do pretty well at using almost all my CSA items quickly. This week for example, I have plowed through quite a bit of it, because of all the picnics and parties.

We got this from Sandy Spring last Thursday. Already I have made dill pickles from the pickling cukes. Roasted the beets for salads. Blanched the carrots to freeze (they will be used once I get canning tomatoes to make sauce for freezing). Made pesto using the carrot tops. Shared the beans and used the rest for a dinner. Used some of the potatoes for a salad. Leaf lettuce went on the sliders with those tomatoes from Jenny’s.

I need to get a few oranges to make orange fennel red onion salad. I will be making zucchini fritters tomorrow night for dinner, and am making tzatziki with cucumber and some of the plain yogurt I have.

Amazing to me is how I have changed my cooking and our eating style to use up this bounty most weeks. With a few extras to make my mom smile.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in CSA, Family, Farmer's Markets, Farms, Food, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food and tagged cooking, CSA, family, farmer's markets, farms, Food, foodie, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

One Straw Farm and Other CSA options

Posted on July 3, 2013 by AnnieRie

One of the oldest CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) farms that includes delivery sites in Howard County. I forgot to mention them in my farms page, and I need to add them. I first heard about them at the Slow Cook blog, which I read when I retired. They deliver all over Maryland. Lora adds comments to my blog about what she gets each week at her pick up site at MOM’s.

They deliver to MOM’s in Jessup and to a private residence in Ellicott City. For $24 a week, eight items. They are a large operation, well rated and a good choice for those on the eastern edge of the county. The eastern Howard Countians have a choice. Gorman or One Straw. Western and central Columbia have many more choices. Like Love Dove. Breezy Willow. Sandy Spring using Lancaster Farm Fresh Coop. Zahradka. I believe Roundabout Farms in Glenwood still is active but their web site isn’t.

Friends and Farms is another option to buy locally. They aren’t a farm but they partner with many local farms to provide weekly boxes of good veggies, plus other foods.

So many of my fellow bloggers belong to CSAs these days. It is interesting to learn the differences, and to see the commitment to supporting local seasonal eating.

Take the Buy Local Challenge and support the local farms. Those of us in CSAs can eat locally every day, just from our farm shares.

This was my CSA share just before Buy Local Challenge week last July. Possibilities. Potato salad. Salads with cucumber and tomatoes. Add some Bowling green cheese and lovely lunches every day can be on your menu.

Even if you don’t cook much, you can still buy local farm fresh items to eat, like fruit, yogurt, ice cream, honey, jams and jellies, tomatoes, cheese. Easy to do. Sign up and make this year the best ever.

hocofood@@@

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

My New Farm Page

Posted on July 2, 2013 by AnnieRie

I added a page to the blog. My links to the farms where most of my food is purchased. I will be adding more and more to this page before the Buy Local Challenge begins, but right now it is just a series of links to the home pages.

We are blessed with a variety of farms in this region. Farms with CSAs. Farms with farmstands. Farms that come to the local markets.

There are abundant sources of eggs, cheese, produce, fruit, and plants, right here within a 100 mile radius of Ellicott City. Taking the pledge to Buy Locally for the Maryland Challenge is really a cinch.

Even if you don’t cook much. How hard is it to use fresh fruit? Jams, honey, eggs, meat, tomatoes, corn. Not much skill necessary to use these items.

Every time we replace corporate sources with local sources, we are helping our local economy.

Something as simple as eating local fruit every day. Or, making a salad using local greens and tomatoes. Or, buying three local cheeses and using them on salads, breads, or as appetizers.

Between the spreads and the feta and gouda, I can easily go through Bowling Green’s cheeses as part of our everyday dining.

How about yogurt and ice cream? Breezy Willow sells both, at their farm store open Saturdays year round.

Meats! We are so fortunate to have local farms offering chickens, turkeys, pork, lamb, and beef, all year round. If you want to eliminate pink slime, antibiotics and growth hormones, you don’t have to travel far to get fresh meat from the farms surrounding Columbia and Ellicott City.

CSAs! There are over a half dozen available. Many using local farms.

If you haven’t signed up to take the Buy Local Pledge, think about it. Even if you only transition a few things to being locally sourced, it is a step in the right direction.

Look appetizing?

hocofood@@@

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Posted in CSA, Farmer's Markets, Farms, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food and tagged cooking, CSA, farmer's markets, farms, Food, foodie, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, real food, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

The Harvest

Posted on July 1, 2013 by AnnieRie

The first veggies from my garden. Two little pickling cucumbers, taken a few days ago. At least 4 or 5 will be ready in the next couple of days.

There will be dill pickles soon, in the crock on the counter.

I also dug up my first garlic to see how it is doing.

I had to dig deep to get it out of the ground. It isn’t ready yet, still young garlic, so about another week until I go after the other 11 plants. I hope to have 9-10 heads of garlic suitable for curing.

This one will make a good addition to a stir fry, or to a pot of greens.

As for other adventures in gardening, much of my basil bit the dust, literally and figuratively.

We are pretty sure it was the baby bunnies that devastated the basil. I lost 10 plants. Six are left in the garden and four in pots waiting to replace the garlic when I finish that harvest. It could have been cut worms, but something gnawed off the potted plants sitting on the deck, and cut worms can’t get into those shallow pots.

I think it was this little menace, or one of their siblings. They run all over the yard. They also devastated my neighbor’s sunflower seedlings.

I think hasenpfeffer should be on the menu soon (just kidding, they live a fairly short life around here once the local fox figures out where they live).

Tomatoes are about a week out. The cherry tomatoes closest to turning red.

On another note, Clark’s produce stand opened today. We saw them when we arrived at Iron Bridge for dinner. Gorman Farm opened their stand last week. Freshly harvested veggies are a real treat.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Farms, Food, Gardening, Howard County and tagged farmer's markets, farms, Food, gardening, heirloom tomatoes, Howard County, tomatoes. Bookmark the permalink.

The Buy Local Challenge

Posted on June 30, 2013 by AnnieRie

Coming up on 20-28 July. Maryland has a Buy Local Challenge the last full week of July every year. What do you have to do to participate?

It’s easy. Go to the web site and register. Pledge to eat one local item every day during the challenge. These days, eating locally is pretty simple.

Some ready made ideas. Like honey, coffee, biscotti, bread, milk, ice cream, eggs, cheeses, jams and jellies, tomatoes, fruit.

Some that require a little cooking, like corn, meat, squash, potatoes.

Yesterday, my lunch plate was full of locally grown ideas.

The blueberries from Larriland. Arugula and salad mix from Love Dove Farms, bought at the farmer’s market. The onion in the tuna salad. The potatoes, scallions and chives in my potato salad. The goat cheese.

This year’s theme for the challenge is to Enjoy Local Foods Outdoors. Picnic items like potato salad, deviled eggs, cole slaw, sliced tomatoes and onions on burgers made with local beef.

Bread and rolls from Stone House, or The Breadery, or Great Harvest, or Atwater’s. Bowls full of fresh berries with ice cream from Misty Meadows, bought at the Friday market.

Grilled corn on the cob, with fresh butter and spice.

Caprese style salad, with goat cheese from Firefly Farms, or fresh mozzarella bought at Breezy Willow. They also have ice cream, fresh Trickling Springs butter, honey, yogurt that is awesome.

If you are a CSA member, it is really a snap to beat this challenge.

Or, check out the local farmstands, like Clark’s or Baugher’s or Breezy Willow.

Buy some mint. Put it in a pot. Make mojitos.

The possibilities are endless. How about peach pops made with fresh local peaches, local yogurt blended and frozen?