Tag Archives: Howard County

Thirty Months

Posted on October 2, 2012 by AnnieRie

Two and a half years. Today. That’s how long I have been retired now. April Fool’s Day 2010 was my last day of work.

People told me I would get bored. I would want to come back as a rehired annuitant, or become what we called in DC, a beltway bandit. A contractor. But, that hasn’t happened. I have no desire to return to the work force.

My retirement “jobs” are way more fun. Jobs like volunteering at the Conservancy, and completing the HoLLIE program. I spent most of my career in DC and VA, while living in Howard County. Finally, I feel like I live here, instead of just sleeping and eating, between commuting and traveling for 30 years. I experienced some lovely days at places like Sharp’s Farm, with a talk about farming, and a guided hike by Denise Sharp. My interests in local foods and farms shaped my volunteer efforts for this past two years.

Denise Sharp, leading a hoLLIE hike on the farm

What is HoLLIE? Howard Legacy Leadership Institute for the Environment. I found out in 2011, when I completed the six weeks of lectures, field trips, reading and discussion, with 12 other class members. I did my internship at the Conservancy, where I am now a volunteer naturalist, leading field trips for local schools. Getting trained for it, using opportunities like a guided history tour of the property.

learning the history of the farmhouse at the Conservancy

I also am a member of the program committee. It was part of my placement to become a part of the committee and assist in planning Wonder Walks and other events. The cool thing about HoLLIE was learning more and more about local, regional, national and global concerns. But, we could focus on what mattered to us. Like for me, working with the local farmers, to bring programs to the Conservancy about their farms and food.

breezy willow at the glenwood market

Want to help the public school system with activities like the Our Environment in Our Hands activities for fourth graders, held at the fairgrounds? Or, volunteer at Robinson Nature Center, as the Gift Shop Leader, or maybe the Discovery Room Leader? Or, help keep the Patapsco clean by volunteering with the Friends of the Patapsco Valley? Or, with Parks and Rec?

All sorts of things for those of us who have retired, and want to still be useful. To make a difference. There is an information night being held at Miller Library, on October 9th, from 7 until 8:30 pm. Many graduates of the program will be there to talk about their experience.

If you are like me, retired and wanting to give to Howard County, check out this program. You can’t say you are bored if you do. My calendar is as full as I like it, with hikes and festivals and more.

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Posted in Adventures, Community, Farmer's Markets, Howard County, Retirement, Volunteering and tagged community, farmer's markets, Howard County, howard county conservancy, retirement, volunteering. Bookmark the permalink.

Eating Locally: Day by Day

Posted on October 1, 2012 by AnnieRie

I eat locally most of the time. Between the CSA and the farmer’s markets most of my food is local. Our challenge was to blog about a local meal. These days the CSA drives what I eat. Days with lots of local items are normal.

I made French onion soup in the crock pot the other day. Onions from the local market. Stock from the Briggs Chaney market. I put the soup away until today.

onions caramalized in a basic stock

I also had leftovers from my tomato sauce, CSA potatoes and Berkshire hog kielbasa. The kielbasa was from Shearer’s. Bought on a road trip to Gettysburg. Sometimes I forget to take pictures, but the food is definitely local.

The soup was covered with Canela bread. And Bowling Green Farm Smoked Gouda.

What I love most about how my cooking has evolved is the change to building a meal around local foods. Like those killer onions and that Bowling Green Smoked Gouda. Believe me. My husband said this cheese is like butter on a plate, but with smoke. This is an awesome cheese.

Find some at the Howard County markets.

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

Sweater Weather

Posted on September 29, 2012 by AnnieRie

It definitely feels like October out there. While picking mint, what’s left of it, I had on my fleece vest. Tonight I may indulge in hot cider, since we picked up some at Larriland the other day.

fresh apple cider

I should title this post, Rocking the Crock Pot, since I have put it into overdrive the past few days. I made onion soup, greens twice, and chicken soup, all in the past week. There’s lots of good stuff in the fridge to make quick meals all of next week.

I have gotten where I don’t even measure much anymore when it comes to greens. Just cut them up, add onions and garlic, some broth, balsamic and salt and pepper. If I feel adventurous, I will put in some bacon, but not always. The first batch the other day had bacon.

greens ready to go

Yesterday, I just put in all the greens I had, with a container of black bean soup. Didn’t look that great, but cooked down beautifully. It will be a side dish tonight. Today I am slow cooking lamb in the oven, and roasting beets at the same time. This is the baker’s dozen of the beets I got Thursday. The big ones for a salad or two, and I am going to quick pickle the little ones with a couple of hard boiled eggs.

beets on a bed of kosher salt

I spent time yesterday and today cooking, so that tonight through Tuesday, it will be heat and serve. Tomorrow we are heading out to Sharp’s Farm to get my Halloween decorations. A hay bale, some corn stalks, some gourds and a pumpkin or two.

But, even though it is sweater weather, I found this late blooming lovely gladiolus in the side garden. Summer’s last hurrah?

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Posted in Community, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Weather, West HoCo and tagged community, cooking, crock pot cooking, crockpot soups, Food, foodie, hoco loco, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, real food, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Will I See You at the Farm City Celebration?

Posted on September 28, 2012 by AnnieRie

I may be a bit under the weather since getting my flu shot. Amazing how you get sick after getting your shot. But, that won’t stop me from making plans to attend some portion of the Farm Heritage Days this weekend at the Howard County Living Farm Heritage Museum, 12985 Frederick Road, West Friendship, MD across From The Howard County Fairgrounds.

If you want to attend something that brings together the farmers and the city residents of the county, this is the event. The Farm City Celebration overall encompasses two weeks of activities. The celebration at the Museum is a highlight. For those who really want something unique, check out the Rodeo and Bull Blast. Otherwise, come out and see the antique equipment, watch the lawn mower races, attend the bluegrass concerts, or the gospel service Sunday morning. Or the auction. I may be there looking for antique cooking items.

Plus, you can support the rest of the farms and events. There are events at Larriland, Sharp’s (which opens their corn mazes this weekend), Clarks Elioak, TLV, the Conservancy, and Days End as well as this weekend’s event at the Museum site. The pdf brochure is here.

The Fall Festival on the 6th at the Conservancy is part of the celebration.

Have you been to the County Farmers Markets? If so, and you support our local farmers, show them you appreciate them by attending events this weekend or next weekend. Or, just come support the five farmers markets in the county.

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Posted in Community, Farmer's Markets, Howard County, West HoCo and tagged community, farmer's markets, hoco loco, Howard County, howard county conservancy, local businesses, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

October Will Be Busy at the Conservancy

Posted on September 25, 2012 by AnnieRie

I just checked my schedule for October. Wow! Three events at the Howard County Conservancy, on Saturdays. Plus, for me, my volunteer hike leading for school fields trips.

The Fall Festival on October 6th from 11 am to 3 pm. This year there will be a new addition. Evelyn Mogren will be carving an owl using her chain saw. Here is a Sun story on Evelyn. The carved owl will reside in the new Natural Play Area between the goats and the barn. Admission to the Fall Festival is $10 a car.

natural play area

On October 13th, the wonder talk (instead of walk) will be on creepy creatures aka toads, worms, spiders and snakes. It starts at 10 am. This one is extremely popular, so advanced registration is recommended. Even though the wonder walks and talks are free, if the Conservancy reaches room capacity, only pre-registrants will be admitted. Nice that the programs have become so popular that attendance for many of the popular topics surpasses one hundred.

On the 20th, we will be leading another of our family hikes on the property. Again, a 10 am start. Naturalists will lead age appropriate groups. Little ones can see the animals and wander not too far from the main buildings with topics they can relate to, while adults and families with older children will go on a longer hike through the trails to the streams and through the forest.

Add to all this I see I have scheduled myself as a volunteer naturalist for five field trips with the elementary school children where I will be leading hikes. Maybe I need to go back to work to get a rest. Retirement is way too busy! But, satisfying.

hocoblogs@@@

One of Those Perfect Mornings

Posted on September 25, 2012 by AnnieRie

You know what I mean. The air is crisp. You slept with the windows open. The A/C has been turned off. Here in West County, we have seen temperatures in the 50s at night. Today I threw open all the windows and have the screen door in the kitchen giving us cross breezes in the back of the house.

This is my favorite cooking weather. The kitchen stays cool. It is soup and crock pot stew time. Yesterday I processed the last of the green tomatoes found hiding in the garden. There were another dozen or so that escaped notice when I was there over the weekend. I froze slices of the larger ones. They will come out in the winter to see if I can make that pesto pasta with frozen tomatoes. Some will become fried green tomatoes as a side dish.

flash frozen green tomato slices

All of the little ones and those still left on the windowsill were put together to make tonight’s dinner. I am going to make the pesto and the green tomato sauce, but put it on a whole wheat pizza crust as a variation on the pasta dish I have made numerous times. Might as well get the most out of the green tomatoes.

This morning I did a “twofer” in the food processor. Pesto and ajvar. Just enough of each to use for dinner tonight. I am making the pizza using ajvar on one side and green tomato pesto on the other. Should be interesting. If it works out, I will post pictures. If it is a bust, well, at least I will talk about it.

The pesto.

Parsley and basil combined. Some pine nuts. Parmesan. Two roasted garlic cloves. Salt and white pepper. Olive oil to make it the right consistency. Absolutely no idea how much of any of it. This is where I have fun when I cook. Creating by taste.

The ajvar, that wonderful Serbian spread I discovered a while back.

Again, no measuring. I roasted all the baby eggplant from the CSA, and three small red peppers, the other day and put them away with two roasted garlic cloves in the fridge. This morning I put them in the processor after scraping out the pesto, added balsamic and some olive oil to process, then just to see what would happen, dropped in a small handful of pistachios. Wow, what an interesting kick the nuts added to the spread.

I had my coffee on the patio and listened to the birds, particularly the blue jays who are out harassing a hawk somewhere near here. Loving the changes of color in the meadow, and seeing the first leaves turning.

the meadow in the morning

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Posted in Food, Gardening, Howard County, Locavore, Nature, Weather, West HoCo and tagged cooking, foodie, gardening, heirloom tomatoes, Howard County, Locavore, real food, weather, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Hello Fall, Farewell Summer

Posted on September 22, 2012 by AnnieRie

It was warm today, those last Indian Summer days are upon us. Still, the markets and my garden reflect the change of the season. Stone House bakery had apple dumplings at the Glenwood market today.

apple dumplings at the farmers market

I think it’s great they list love as an ingredient. I did buy one last gasp summer fruit today. A watermelon from TLV.

It will become a watermelon, mint and feta salad tomorrow, and the rest pureed to freeze for watermelon margaritas on the coldest day this winter. If it isn’t summer, we can still pretend.

I whacked down the last of the basil today. The monster basil plants that kept growing.

Some of these plants had stems that reminded me of serious shrubbery.

But the bees really loved the flowers as these plants went to seed.

I did some productive pruning and salvaged a small glass full of cuttings. I have two more ripe tomatoes, and some mozzarella. Definitely caprese salad material here. It may not look pretty but it tastes great.

I stopped at Gorman Farms yesterday after a trip to drop off our pickup. The passenger window gave up the ghost and refused to work. In the down position of course. Parsley and the last of the sun gold tomatoes looked wonderful. The parsley will become pesto with the last of the basil. The tomatoes. Those are candy. We eat them right out of the box.

parsley from Gorman farm stand

Loving that change in weather, with the change in fruits and veggies. My favorite time of year.

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Posted in Farmer's Markets, Food, Gardening, Howard County, Local Businesses and tagged cooking, farmer's markets, Food, foodie, gardening, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, tomatoes. Bookmark the permalink.

Wanna Do Something Fun Tonight?

Posted on September 21, 2012 by AnnieRie

How about a twilight hike and s’mores around a campfire? Story telling, too! The Howard County Conservancy is offering a twilight hike on the grounds, ending up at a campfire where you can roast marshmallows and make s’mores while listening to stories around the fire. Bring flashlights to light the way back to the main building after the hike.

on the trail near the campfire site at HCC

A great Friday evening family offering. Check out the details on the Upcoming Events page.

The weather should be beautiful tonight. Lows in the 60s. Crisp and mostly clear. One of those special fall days that make us remember why we love living in Howard County.

night sky in the fall

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Posted in Community, Family, Howard County, Nature and tagged community, family, hoco loco, Howard County, howard county conservancy, nature, weather. Bookmark the permalink.

That First Hint of Fall

Posted on September 19, 2012 by AnnieRie

Fall is definitely coming. We will hit lows in the 40s sometime this week. I harvested all the tomatoes left in the garden.

the last of the heirlooms

One lonely ripe red fig. A few yellow plums from the ground, where they fell. All the others were green, and will become one more dinner of green tomato pesto pasta, for the little ones. The larger ones will be cut, cored and sliced to freeze. Deep in the winter, I will do my fried green tomato dinner. They fry best when taken directly from the freezer, coated and fried.

The leaves are starting to fall. The wet weather yesterday has them glistening on the deck. Won’t be long until we are sucking up leaves and turning them into compost.

the cherry tree drops leaves earliest

I filled the hummingbird feeder with lots more nectar than normal. I have three hummingbirds that regularly visit. Mom, Dad and a baby girl. The baby was there again this morning, as usual when the camera was inside. She nails that nectar.

The trees and shrubs are full of berries, and acorns on the oaks. You can’t walk in the yard without crunching acorns beneath your feet. The animals are gathering nuts and the birds are feasting on the berries. The crab apples will keep the berries all winter, and attract flocks of cedar waxwings.

Fall is my favorite time of year here, even though I will be busy cleaning up the yard and filling bags to use in our compost, with the extra going to a master gardener that we connected with. We used the rake and take program in the county to do this. We make bags of leaves and bags of grass clippings, then mix the two to get the green/brown ratio. Using the bags over and over until they finally fall apart makes this a fairly less back breaking exercise. We rake everything into a long snaky line, then efficiently and quickly vacuum the yard under our oak, maple and cherry trees.

Vacuuming leaves to turn into compost

I am also keeping an eye on the herbs. The thyme and rosemary will hang in there for quite a while. The basil is giving up the ghost, so to speak and all will be harvested today. I saw the last of the plants drooping over this morning while I was collecting acorns for the Conservancy to use in their critter creations at the Christmas craft fair. I have a carpet of thyme on the ground. I may cut it back and cover the rest, to see how long it stays viable.

Let’s just hope we don’t get snow for Halloween like we did last year.

October 29, 2011

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Monday Odds and Ends

Posted on September 17, 2012 by AnnieRie

Sometimes a recipe just becomes one of those favorites. A keeper. Like the green tomato pasta from The Chew. I already wrote about it once, but I have made it at least three times since I found it.

I do experiment with it, though. Today I did it with tiny shells, and I added wild Alaskan pink salmon. I had a plate full of green tomatoes.

not ripe grape, plum and pear tomatoes

The last from the garden. The ripe ones will go in a salad later this week.

ripe yellow plum tomatoes

Out in the garden, nothing is left but a few Amish paste and two or three pineapple tomatoes. I will pick them soon, even if not ripe. I want to make this dish one more time before fall sets in and tomatoes are history. I sauteed them in olive oil, with scallions, garlic and oregano.

green tomatoes cooking in olive oil

No pictures from dinner. I was too busy getting the lovely pasta on the table while it was still warm. I did make some late last month that I served with ravioli, that looked like this.

green tomato pesto with ravioli

Use any pesto you like. Use any pasta you like. It is those green or slightly under ripe tomatoes that make this dish special. And, having inventoried the freezer today, I found I have lots and lots of pesto to use. Now, I just need to figure out how to get the tomatoes for the dish.

garlic scape pesto cubes in the freezer

The freezer is full. I did inventory today. All winter long, I will have pesto, fruit, tomato sauce, veggies like caramelized onions, veggie stock, beef stock, whole tomatoes, peppers, all to pull out and enjoy the CSA and my garden’s contributions to my meals.

Almost seven cubic feet of food. I didn’t think I would get that much preserved and processed. The freezer up in the kitchen is half empty, in hopes of getting some venison from my neighbor. It does have a half dozen chickens, some lamb, brisket, bacon, sausage and roasts, all from the farmer’s markets, to use all winter. I have almost turned the corner into having 100% locally sourced foods in my freezer. It is a good feeling to replace what I had with locally grown meats, veggies and fruit.

I do admit though, that I have to keep that citrus supply coming, for making those lovely Meyer lemon basil fizz drinks.

basics for meyer lemon basil fizz

Three simple ingredients as a base. Vodka is optional. Refreshing, yet with that hit of basil. I use lemon basil, since I grow it. I first discovered these lovely drinks back in April. They have become a staple in our summer dining. I just add a splash of vodka, keeping them light and refreshing. I get the lemons and the Aranciata at Wegmans. Too bad they don’t have the liquor store to give me one stop shopping.