Tag Archives: hoco loco

Eating Locally: Ratatouille

Posted on July 7, 2012 by AnnieRie

A go to veggie side when we drown in zucchini and eggplant. We don’t have eggplant yet but lots of zucchini and a few yellow squash Thursday in the CSA box.

I wandered into Wegmans after having the pickup serviced over at British American, to get some organic tomatoes and two small eggplant, to use with the squash, a yellow pepper from the farm stand, onions from the CSA and my basil pesto. All mixed up in a pan, roasted, and served with local beef sausage, the last of the deliveries from Zahradka in April.

The beef sausage is a good fit with the ratatouille. We also opened one of the Glen Manor 2010 Cabernet Francs that was left up in the dining room wine rack. A good match because the wine wasn’t overwhelmed, nor did it upstage the ratatouille. A simple rustic dinner.

This week’s contribution to our Southern Sole Food Challenge, using sustainable, organic, local and ethically grown or raised veggies and meats. The ten members of the challenge use Google Reader to keep track of what we are making using our local bounties, all of us living south of the Mason Dixon Line.

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Stealth Cucumbers …

Posted on July 5, 2012 by AnnieRie

… again, and other things found out in the garden. I posted a while back about cucumbers having a mind of their own and trying to escape. My garden in west Howard County is a source of many home grown meals in summer. Cucumbers and tomatoes will make great gazpacho, if the tomatoes will start coming in before the cucumbers stop.

The cucumbers are still going crazy, and still trying to escape the garden confines, only now in the back of the garden. This one was outside the fence hiding under a sticker bush.

I get weeds between the bunny fence and deer fence, which I leave alone as a deterrent to little critters trying to squeeze in. This cucumber plant decided to plow through two fences and climb the sticker bush. I didn’t find it until it was this large.

I have others coming through near the gate, and also winding their way into the tomato garden, so this year they are taking over. That does give us enough cucumbers, though, in order to make lots of salads, pickles and to can some. Not a bad year for them.

As for tomatoes, they are getting bigger, and the small ones continue to ripen. They were all lined up on the windowsill waiting to become part of last night’s dinner.

The gladiola have exploded. Never have they given me this much bounty. Maybe two or three per plant, but not there are dozens. In the heat, they will wilt quickly so I have been cutting them and keeping a large arrangement on the table.

Tomato update shows all but three plants with tomatoes, two pineapple tomato plants and one of the great white tomato plants. A few are suffering in the heat. The yellow pear, last year’s big producer, both plants look a little ragged. At least this year, the green grape, sweet olive, red fig and yellow plum plants will keep me in tiny salad tomatoes.

Sweet Olive tomatoes, lots of them

The chocolate stripes are getting bigger. And, on the three plants there are dozens of them.

While out there, I spied a visitor. A spicebush swallowtail. We have one Carolina spicebush, and two butterfly bushes in the yard, so butterflies are frequent visitors.

Plus, one little pest, who is probably mamma to the babies who are eating my herb garden.

At least she can’t get through the bunny fence. Her little ones still do, though, so I have to be vigilant for a few more weeks. It’s not like there isn’t enough other things out there for them to eat. The garden seems to be doing well, so far this year, and I hope to start seeing big fresh Maryland grown tomatoes soon. I will be out there with a bucket of water and a salt shaker soon. Nothing like fresh tomato, rinsed clean and lightly salted, eaten minutes after picking. Best lunch I get in west county!

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Posted in Food, Gardening, Locavore, Nature, West HoCo and tagged Food, gardening, heirloom tomatoes, hobbies, hoco loco, Howard County, nature, photography, spring flowers, tomatoes, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Location, Location, Location

Posted on July 3, 2012 by AnnieRie

That’s what all the real estate agents tell you. But, what about location? What is important? Peace and quiet? Access? Amenities?

Out here in West HoCo things are different. Slower. More people are self sufficient and don’t rely on outside services. We like it out here but you have to be prepared. We thought we were in pretty good shape. Wood stove for heat in the winter. UPS’s for power glitches. Gas grill. With a little advance notice, fill the tubs with water to flush the toilets. We should get a small generator to keep the freezer and sump pump powered but haven’t done it yet.

Our worst outage before last weekend was 16 hours long during the ice storms a few years back. After Irene, it was only 10 hours while they repaired the sub station down the road. Saturday was 23 hours, and we expected quite a bit worse than that.

But, we were lucky. The gas stations up the road became important. Diesel for utility trucks. Gas for people’s generators. One by one, other stations ran out of gas and the ones in the Triadelphia circle, Shell and Royal Farms, had gas but no power. As we came home Saturday night, we saw trucks run up the road.

That Shell station was the reason we had power, since we are on the same feeder. They got power. So did we. Location. Just lucky while other houses around us were still without power. That was one of those Ah Hah! moments.

We had another of those moments during Snowmageddon. That Royal Farms on Superbowl Sunday was the closest source of food for the snow plow drivers coming out of the Dayton shop. They plowed the local roads down to blacktop on Sunday morning while all our friends in Columbia were snow bound. We only had to get to the road from our driveways and we were out and about.

I remember standing out in the road taking these shots on Saturday the 6th, but by Sunday we were clear and running around.

When we bought our home, we didn’t think of some of these things, but now we are very grateful that buying on a through road, heavily traveled by plows and utility trucks wasn’t that bad of a choice. Sometimes Mother Nature tells you what is important.

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Brinner

Posted on July 2, 2012 by AnnieRie

Breakfast for dinner. One of the simple pleasures. Lots of things left from the fridge and a couple of eggs. Everything locally procured, except for the bread which came from High’s. But, it was Hauswald’s, a Maryland bakery. You know, that weird white bread is just different after eating freshly made good bread from places like Atwater’s. But, when the roads are all messed up and High’s is open, you make do.

The A/C is fixed. Just a capacitor, a victim of the power surge. It is now cooling down again, but dinner was quick, easy to make and didn’t heat up the kitchen too much.

More tomorrow about our clean up and some thoughts about being in West HoCo after such a huge storm.

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

Eating Locally: Even With All the Craziness

Posted on July 1, 2012 by AnnieRie

Yes, the craziness. Loss of power. A Weekend trying to stay cool. Did we do it? Yes, mostly.

Tonight we grilled. Since the downstairs AC is down, we didn’t want to heat up the kitchen. I went to Jenny’s market this morning, and found them moved up the road since their tents were ruined with trees falling Friday night. They are still upbeat and have lots of good things to eat.

I had a pound of Black Angus beef taken out Friday to grill Saturday for friends. That didn’t happen after the storm, so we used it tonight.

The beef was formed around some Wegmans pepper jack cheese, and seasoned with salt and pepper. The beef is local, from this winter’s CSA. The cheese isn’t.

Tomatoes from southern MD. Onions local, too. Corn probably from VA. Not our good sweet corn, but not bad.

Salad made from CSA beets, greens and a pear from Harbin Farms farm stand. Beer and wine both local. He wanted beer. I wanted wine.

I added one of my frozen strawberry purees to my wine glass, making a sangria.

Honestly, what is better than a low carb meal, no bun, with fresh onions, tomatoes and cheese stuffed burgers?

Oh, I forgot. Grilled corn with seasoned butter.

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What A Difference A Day Makes

Posted on July 1, 2012 by AnnieRie

Friday I worried about tomatoes. Then, this derecho hit. What in the world is a derecho? Not something we want to see again.

We lost two trees. And power. Others are in much worse shape. We had almost no warning, as we did not expect this at all. Before we could even react and pull down antennas and batten down the hatches, the power went off. 11 PM Friday night.

Saturday, no power. We cut down trees and tried to stay cool.

Lots of downed trash trees, aka Tree of Heaven. They are leaning down all over our property line. Breaking off whenever the wind picks up.

Without power, we had no water. Flushing toilets. Not happening without the help of water from our neighbor’s pool. Buckets of it.

Water is precious when you are on a well.

We were lucky. Lots of houses still without power. Glenelg hit hard. Huge trees down.

When our power came back Saturday night at 10 PM, you could hear cheering through the open bedroom windows. Of course, now, one AC unit crashed and burned. Compressor won’t start. At least the upstairs unit is working. ESA will get called tomorrow. Wonder how long until they get here?

I hate derechos.

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W3AO, It’s All About Logistics

Posted on June 25, 2012 by AnnieRie

After sleeping almost twelve hours, we sort of feel like human beings again. One of the most important aspects of planning and executing an event of the size of Field Day is this. You can always improve your performance with advance planning and, when operating almost non-stop for 50-60 hours, you need to pace yourself and not overheat, dehydrate or work when you are exhausted.

There were many new helpers and many more people at Field Day this year. Lots of younger people, thankfully, for us old folks 😉 to help us out. And many interested dedicated workers who help make this event a huge success.

I already posted once the team picture just before the start of the event. There were at least 10 people not there, who were out in the field making last minute set up adjustments.

These did not include a large number of people who came Friday to set up, and who returned Sunday to tear down. Set up and tear down teams help relieve the operators who were there almost round the clock starting Friday.

Advance prep like having the more than 2 miles of coax ready to go, already designated for where in the field each roll is placed. At tear down, they are rolled back up meticulously and marked so that the following year there is no delay to figure out where they are placed.

AB-577’s otherwise known as rocket launchers, are pre-loaded for quick slide off at marked sites. Everything is ready to bring into the site with no loss of time for sorting or handling. This year, the club had volunteer help in sorting, repairing, lubricating and repacking all twenty-two kit bags that contain the guy wires, couplers, rings, cranks, stakes and nails that were dropped behind the launchers, presorted and ready to install.

Before

In Process

Tower, gear and antenna arrive in sequence and are ready to assemble by roving tower teams.

We have an amazing member who brings all the generators and keeps us powered up for the 48 hours. Three generators. We even had the Chief of Howard County Emergency Management checking them out in detail Sunday while he was visiting the site. Sunday I ended up so busy cooking, I forgot to take enough pics of the event and tear down. But, without reliable power, this event could not take place.

IT support is also important. Networked computers. Coordination. Again, dedicated club members keep all this organized and use a system to track what gets down where and how.

And, all good armies march on their stomachs, right? My contribution to Field Day (surprised?) is assistance to the food tent, ably executed by the wife of one of the club members who organizes the event. I have been assisting now three years. Every year we get more efficient and make constant adjustments in keeping 50-75 people fed and hopefully, very happy. Enough of them say we do, so I think we succeed.

Friday Night Pizza while still setting up

Saturday Lunch

Saturday while last minute preparations go on, we set out a cold cut, sloppy joe, salad, veggies/chips and dip, luncheon bar for people to grab and go, or take a break before the two o’clock start. It is nice to have good generators to power the crock pot. And, to allow us to hook up a Keurig in the evening for all night long fresh brewed coffee.

Saturday during the most active ops time, we bring in Mexican food. Easy to grab and eat, soft tacos, beans and rice, brownies, grapes, strawberries, all minimally interfere with calling CQ. We even deliver to the operators at their stations if they are holding a frequency and don’t want to lose momentum by taking a break.

Sunday breakfast has become simpler, since I cook it at home and drive it up the road a mile to the site. The site is near the top of one of the higher points in Howard County. We live near there (so do lots of other club members since HAAT is important). It means many things can be transported to the site easily, and for me as cook, it means they get hot bacon and eggs on Sunday morning after operating all night. I cook four pounds of bacon Saturday night, and 4 1/2 dozen scrambled eggs Sunday morning.

Get it all there 10 minutes before the 8AM breakfast call. Coffee is perked. Toasters are ready. Love having enough generator power for fresh toast. We were so busy serving, I forgot again to take pics.

Lunch is grilled burgers, hot dogs, smoked chicken, salads, toppings, all the leftovers as well.

After 2PM, it’s off to tear it all down and put it away for next year. No pics of that either as we were all busy.

A few random pics of the fun times.

Jim, far left, happy after blowing the air horn for 1800 UTC start of Field Day

My OM taking a two hour nap before tear down. Behind him the trailer for the towers, and the camper that is parked right in the middle of it all on Friday night to provide security before everyone arrives Saturday morning to complete set up.

Some of the youngest GOTA operators enjoying themselves Sunday morning.

Another good year. Lots of memories. Tired but happy people from all around this area. Who says there’s nothing to do in Howard County? Anyone interested in joining the fun, check out the Columbia Amateur Radio Association for local club events, county event support, emergency service support and other interests. Potomac Valley Radio Club, more widespread than just Columbia but with lots of local members, does lots of contesting and has social events in the area.

73 de PVRC and CARA

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Whiskey Three Atlantic Ocean

Posted on June 24, 2012 by AnnieRie

The start of Field Day approaches. This is the second of three reports about how PVRC and CARA put together a large auxiliary communications set up and operate for 24 hours. W3AO is the call sign. Using our adaptation from the NATO phonetic alphabet, which would be Whiskey Three Alpha Oscar.

For those CW cognizant, we are:
Dit Dah Dah
Dit Dit Dit Dah Dah
Dit Dah
Dah Dah Dah

Let’s start with the team picture. Just before starting out. A few missing as we were still setting up minutes before the start.

Last minute set up still going on at the VHF tent.

We know we are ready when Maurice gets the flags raised at the VHF site.

The Calm Before the Storm. I even got LPL to smile. 🙂

And, they’re off. More later after we finish today and clean up.

Come out and visit. We love having the community there, and you can operate the GOTA station. Get On The Air. You can’t miss us. Look for all the antennae in the fields. Triadelphia Ridge Elementary School. Triadelphia Rd. off Rte. 32.

73 de W3AO.

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CQ Field Day, CQ Field Day

Posted on June 23, 2012 by AnnieRie

Sometimes I think this phrase is imprinted in my brain for weeks after we finish our annual foray into supporting a traditional and interesting tradition among amateur radio operators.

Field Day. A twenty four hour period where amateur radio clubs and individuals across the USA and Canada practice their communication skills using auxiliary power. It is meant to keep them capable to support natural disasters, loss of communications or power, or assist emergency officials in the event of a large scale incident that requires support of communications.

We have one of the largest and most innovative collaborations here in Howard County.The T shirt from 2010 shows 11 years of making the most contacts in our class. This year’s shirt is simple. Front and back alike with no scores. But, we are now at 13 years running of working the most stations and last year set a new record for number of contacts. This is pretty much a Type A personality group. Striving for better performance year after year.

The shirts include the phrase “48 hours” which means 24 hour set up and 24 hour operations. A few shots of set up are included here. I will have more when we finish tomorrow. I just fried four pounds of bacon and need to get up at 0 Dark Hundred to scramble 4 dozen eggs to take breakfast up there. They are set up a mile up from the road from us. Lucky me. I get to avoid the spot a pot.

This is Columbia’s club testing out our satellite communication capability to see if everything works.

This shot I like particularly because it shows how much fun the younger family members of current operators are having while learning to put up temporary towers. He was not the only young person we had out there Friday.

Yes, we are crazy. We put up eleven of these using old military surplus crank up towers. Here are a few. we had other wires and crank ups as well. We operate as 27A, which means 27 simultaneous transmitters using generators.

The clubs are operating until 2PM Sunday. Come out and check it out. Anyone can Get On The Air (GOTA) at our station designed to get inactive licensed operators on the air, and to introduce unlicensed operators to the hobby. We are at Triadelphia Ridge Elementary School on Triadelphia Rd. just off of Rte. 32.

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The State of the Garden

Posted on June 21, 2012 by AnnieRie

Other than slightly wilted. I have been good about watering it. The heat index today will make it difficult to keep the container plants hydrated, but I will get out there and keep them from scorching. I love the celosia that is blooming on the steps and I wouldn’t want to lose them.

I hope the heat doesn’t mess up the cucumbers. There are lots of little ones on the vines and one monster that was hiding under the fence. I usually like the pickling cucumbers smaller than this, but I think a few large dill pickles can be handled.

The tomatoes are coming along nicely. One large Amish paste, and lots of little ones on all four plants. I was worried about them at first because they seem to wilt more, but they are hanging in there.

Both orange blossom tomato plants have tomatoes now. The biggest ones are hidden deep down in the midst of the shady leaves.

The pole beans are over the top of the fence and climbing the extensions and even attaching themselves to fence posts.

With three or four slicing cucumbers ready to pick today and two coming in the CSA box, I think I will be making cucumber salad for the weekend. Hard to believe a few weeks ago the garden was just starting out, and now it is full of large healthy tomatoes, cucumbers, and pole beans.

Time to go mist the plants with a water bottle containing a little dish soap since I found a few aphids on one of the tomato plants. Can’t have them spreading. Have a good Thursday, and stay cool.

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