Tag Archives: gardening

The Harvest Begins …

Posted on July 22, 2014 by AnnieRie

… in earnest. Before today, it was just ramping up. Now, we are moving into the period of time where I will be harvesting, roasting, freezing, canning and processing to fill the freezer for winter.

Today’s community garden harvest. Minus the chard and the chives that I harvested to donate to the Food Bank. That was part of the 131 pounds we collected this morning.

The above food is just from my plot. The tomatoes! The first Big Boys.

All in all, fifty ounces of tomatoes. Ten ounces of sungold and eighteen of supersweet 100s alone.

I also got my first three cubanelle peppers. With the weather changing to sunny and hot, I hope to see the peppers kicking in.

I did make the pesto with all the basil.

Two cups of a mix of lemon and African blue basil. One cup of a mix of toasted pecans and almonds. 2/3 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano. Salt. Pepper. Olive oil. I got one whole ice cube tray plus about six ounces in an eight ounce container. All in the freezer now. In the dead of winter, nothing screams summer like pesto.

As for those Big Boys!

They went into today’s lunch. A small side Caprese salad. With greens and blackberries there, too.

The next few weeks will see a mess in my kitchen. Canning jars. Food Saver bags. Vegetables. Fruit. Herbs. My favorite time in the summer. When it all gets enjoyed or saved for the winter.

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Posted in Food, Gardening, Hobbies, Real Food and tagged cooking, Food, foodie, gardening, real food, tomatoes. Bookmark the permalink.

Can’t “Beet” That Berry Salad

Posted on July 21, 2014 by AnnieRie

A repeat for lunch today, with a few enhancements.

Looks just like Saturday, doesn’t it? Except I kicked it up a bit. Made my own dressing.

Jam jar dressing using locally produced items. Two tsp. of raspberry jelly. Two tbsp. plain yogurt. Splash of white balsamic vinegar. Two tbsp. olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste. A pinch of demerara sugar.

I used the Secolari brand oil and vinegar today. They are a family owned business located in Columbia Mall, and their original store in Bethesda.

This is “local” olive oil, so to speak. Only two states I know grow olives to make olive oil. California and Texas. This oil is from California.

The salad was made with the Baywater Greens Salisbury MD leaf lettuce. The raw milk gouda from PA. Chiogga and red beets from the Amish farms. Blackberries from Agriberry. Blueberries from PA. Walnuts not local. Bought in bulk at Wegmans.

Eating locally for lunch today, and again for dinner. I slow cooked some Wayne Nell pork. Made pulled pork sandwiches before heading out to Iron Bridge for a tasting. Served with a side of roasted vegetables from my garden.

Last night we went to Bistro Blanc for a “bottle Share” night. Had a few local items in that meal, too. They buy their beef locally and we had a very nice Angus tartare. And we took a local wine.

Brunch yesterday was an omelet with Miller Farm eggs. My tomatoes. My onions and shallots and leeks.

Breakfast today included those lovely berries with cereal.

I am doing well on the Buy Local Challenge.

Tomorrow I am making pesto with my basil. Some of it will make it into dinner, that’s for sure.

Three days down. Six to go.

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Posted in Farms, Food, Gardening, Locavore and tagged buy local challenge, cooking, farms, Food, foodie, gardening, Locavore. Bookmark the permalink.

Extreme #buylocalchallenge

Posted on July 19, 2014 by AnnieRie

As is eating something local at every meal. Easy to do if most of your food comes from a CSA, a regional food service, and your garden.

I count my garden as supporting local farmers as most of the plants were purchased from local farms. I don’t buy plants from national chains like Lowe’s or Home Depot, but from local farms like Sharp’s or Greenway. Both Howard County farms.

Today was the first day of the challenge. Breakfast included toast with CSA raspberry jam, for me. And for my husband, cereal with CSA blueberries.

Lunch for him. Tuna salad with my onions. For me, cucumbers, tomatoes and carrots, dipped in a yogurt dressing. Yogurt from PA. Cucumbers and tomatoes, my garden. Carrots, CSA.

Peaches from the CSA for a snack.

Dinner tonight.

Local wine!

Big Cork, from Rohrersville MD. Ready to go to the table with some of my flowers from my front yard.

CSA chicken thighs being baked with CSA potatoes, my onions and Wayne Nell smoked bacon (Friends and Farms supplier from York PA). They buy from farms in the area surrounding York.

The salad.

Baywater Greens from Salisbury supplied the leaf lettuce. CSA spinach, beets, gouda, blueberries.

Oh, I forgot, there was corn on the cob, too. From the CSA.

Very little today that didn’t come locally. Off to a good start. On to Day Two tomorrow.

Growing Onions

Posted on July 16, 2014 by AnnieRie

This is the first year I have attempted onions in the garden. I have white onions, yellow onions, plus I have shallots and leeks, both related to the onions.

The onions look great as they are growing. I am still in that learning curve though. I didn’t stop watering them when the tops started falling over. Then, we got 1 1/2 inches of rain. So, some of them look to be soggy and beginning to rot at the top.

I took eight of them out today. Trimmed them back. I hope to dry half of these, and I have a couple in the pot with the chicken carcass, making stock.

My Tractor Supply starter set had eighty onions in it. They were bulbs, which are easier to grow.

I have to admit. These have been a really good producer. I know in the future there will be onions in the garden.

Tomorrow I get eggplant, eggs and bacon from Friends and Farms. I have squash. I have mega amounts of zucchini. I have onions and shallots. I have garlic. I have tomatoes. Sounds like ratatouille pie to me.

Tidbit Tuesday

Posted on July 15, 2014 by AnnieRie

Where I run off in all directions and have no single thing to say in a post.

There were 75 pounds of vegetables collected today for the food bank. A lighter day for squash, and the tomatoes aren’t ready yet.

I was up at the Conservancy gardens this morning, “basking” in the 70something degree temperatures with about the same amount of humidity. I hadn’t been there since Saturday, which was fairy house building day.

This is what 118 people look like before they headed off into the woods.

Creativity, a great time, and lots of pictures for this year’s album.

Now, on to the next events, and the continuous harvest of my garden.

The bulk of the five dozen little tomatoes I harvested. Fifty supersweet 100s and 10 sungold. Mixed with olive oil, salt, pepper, thyme, basil, chopped onion and banana pepper, and a touch of sugar. Roasted at 250 degrees for a couple of hours. Destined to be frozen and used as one of my recipes in my presentation next month on preserving food.

Then, there were the onions.

I had to harvest a number of them today, as they were getting mushy at the top. We had 1.5 inches of rain in the rain gauge at the garden (in a 36 hour period). It is driving us nuts, splitting tomatoes and washing away my mounded soil over the onions, leeks and shallots.

Some of those onions, along with new red potatoes and bacon from England Acres, roasted along with the tomatoes. There will be a very nice salad made from this.

As for zucchini, I did make that lemon blueberry zucchini bread. Thanks to the Lean Green Bean.

I did substitute, as usual. Used all AP flour. Upped the sugar to about 4/10ths of a cup. It tastes wonderful.

There is more shredded zucchini sitting in the fridge so that tomorrow I can make zucchini fritters and freeze them. Another project for that preserving food program scheduled in late August.

I have been a busy bee today. Time to head off and watch the All Star Game.

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Posted in Community, Food, Gardening, Howard County, Real Food, Volunteering and tagged community, cooking, Food, foodie, gardening, Howard County, howard county conservancy, Locavore, real food, tomatoes, volunteering. Bookmark the permalink.

Lancaster Farm Fresh

Posted on July 10, 2014 by AnnieRie

Today I picked up my CSA. Like I do every Thursday. I decided to concentrate today on the CSA. And talk tomorrow about the other major source of food into our home.

Since 2011, I have been a member of this cooperative. They provide me with fresh organic vegetables, and now, chicken, fruit and cheese. The cooperative has 3000 members across a six state area. Around 80 Amish farmers belong to the coop. With the assistance of a transportation and management effort that connects them to the “plugged in” world.

As for what we got today. In my “half” share, costing me $19 a week. Seven to ten items, usually.

We got:

Red Leaf Lettuce
White Onions
New Red Potatoes
Red Beets
Eight Ball Zucchini
Royal Burgundy Beans
Dill
Fennel (we actually got cabbage, I swapped for this)

I really like the variety. And the just enough amount.

I added a chicken share.

Today I got a pound of boneless skinless chicken breasts. Destined to become chicken salad tomorrow. And two pounds of wings. There will be Buffalo wings Sunday.

I have a fruit share. Today:

Two pints of organic blueberries. And, the first of the fresh peaches.

The berries. A mix. Some will become the basis for a lemon blueberry zucchini bread (hey, gotta use those zucchini). The rest. Flash frozen on a cookie sheet. And saved for the dark of winter.

We also have a monthly cheese share. Which gave us great stuff a few weeks ago. Still loving that raw milk cheddar.

Between this, my garden, and Friends and Farms, we don’t need grocery stores except for staples.

Loving that local regional sourced food.

#hocofood

260 Pounds

Posted on July 9, 2014 by AnnieRie

That’s how much food from the Food Bank garden plot we donated the past two weeks. July is my month to “manage” the collection of food from the food bank plot and other garden plots designated by their “owners” for delivery to the Howard County Food Bank.

At our Conservancy community garden site, we have roughly 800 square feet designated for food bank growing. As well as a 250 square foot annex. And, many gardeners ask us to harvest and share their bounty when they are away on vacation. Or, they drop off bags of veggies the morning we collect.

We fill wheelbarrows full of fresh vegetables every week.

And sometimes that squash thing gets out of control.

This was July 1st’s harvest of squash. That day they counted 117 pounds of food. Mostly greens, cabbage, squash, beets and carrots. Tuesday this week I drove over in my Jeep piled full of vegetables, totaling 143 pounds. This week we had our first tomatoes, Plus, being a holiday week for many, we had donations from a large number of community garden members.

We harvested garlic Tuesday. But, it needs to cure before we donate. A couple dozen heads of garlic went home with a fellow gardener to be cured in their garage.

Gardens are like that. Some years you can be overrun with something you planted, and others you lose plants to pests or the weather.

It is nice to see that we provide fresh ripe vegetables to the place we call home.

#hocofood

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Posted in Community, Food, Gardening, Howard County and tagged community, Food, gardening, Howard County, howard county conservancy. Bookmark the permalink.

The Garlic Harvest

Posted on July 8, 2014 by AnnieRie

Every year I plant garlic. Just because I love garlic. Last year I planted 18 cloves of my LFFC CSA garlic. Organic garlic. Red and white versions.

If you try and plant grocery store garlic it won’t sprout. It is treated not to sprout.

This was a harsh winter. But most of it survived under the snow.

Yesterday was harvest day. I got 11 heads of garlic out of the ground. I had three not make it through the winter. And, three that were so puny they became spring garlic. I have no idea where the missing one is. It just wasn’t out there.

I got a dozen scapes earlier this year which mostly became pesto.

Out of the eleven harvested, three had issues.

You can’t dry bruised garlic, so these were roasted today. Probably will be used in a pasta dish the next few days.

As for the eight good heads of garlic, they are hanging in the dark cool powder room off the mud room.

My new hanging method. Skirt hangers. It keeps them separate so they can dry evenly.

If you get excess garlic this year in your CSA, you can plant some in the fall. Just cover it heavily if you expect sub-freezing temperatures. I planted in October last year. Garlic needs to over winter.

#hocofood

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Posted in CSA, Food, Gardening, LFFC and tagged CSA, Food, foodie, gardening. Bookmark the permalink.

Ninety Eight Ounces

Posted on July 6, 2014 by AnnieRie

That would be how much zucchini I harvested Saturday morning.

I wrote the other day about zucchini recipes. Now, we need to add a new one to the list.

Zucchini Fritters. Recipe courtesy of Smitten Kitchen. Although I did modify it a bit. I used shallots and baby leeks instead of scallions.

I did make them as recommended in my cast iron skillet.

The recipe yielded a dozen tiny fritters. Perfect with kofta.

Topped with homemade tzatziki.

A completely local meal. Lamb from England Acres. Onions from my garden. Zucchini and shallots from the garden. Egg from Miller Farms in Clinton. Tzatziki from my cucumbers, mint, dill and Pequea Valley yogurt.

The wine.

One of Breaux’s stars. A 2007 Reserve Cabernet Franc. Lots of alcohol though. 16.4%. Big wine. Stood up to the kofta.

So far, I am beating those zucchini. But barely. I did put away two packages of shredded zucchini in the freezer. Saving for a cold winter’s day to make bread.

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Posted in Food, Gardening, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Wine and tagged Food, foodie, gardening, local businesses, Locavore, VA wine, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Zucchini Squared

Posted on July 3, 2014 by AnnieRie

This week, a couple of great recipes using all those zucchini. The ones from all sources.

Double chocolate zucchini bread. Modified.

The recipe started from King Arthur Flour. Substitutions in parenthesis.

2 large eggs
1/3 cup honey (I used agave)
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used grapeseed oil)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon espresso powder
1/3 cup King Arthur All-Purpose Baking Cocoa or Dutch-process cocoa (I used Hershey’s)
1 2/3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
2 cups shredded, unpeeled zucchini, gently pressed
1 cup chocolate chips (I used peanut butter chips)

I did it all in one bowl. Mixed by hand. One by one I added ingredients and mixed. Poured into a 5 by 9 inch pan. That was pre-greased. Baked at 350 degrees for an hour (I have a convection oven, non convection may take 10 minutes more).

Took it to a committee meeting, and brought some home that was dessert tonight.

As for the other recipe. There wasn’t one.

Pour all sorts of things into a baking pan. I used six small zucchini. Various types. Sliced. Added a 28 ounce can of San Marzano tomatoes. Peeled. Smashed up. A can of Roland roasted red peppers. Sliced onions. Italian herb mix. Salt. Pepper.

Go for it. Zucchini, peppers, onions, tomatoes. A perfect combination. Served as a side dish. With bread to dip. Whatever. This is a staple during zucchini season.