Tag Archives: Locavore

The Big Cheese

Posted on July 15, 2015 by AnnieRie

Today let’s talk about local cheese.

Cheese like Shepherd’s Manor Creamery Ewe Cream Cheese. Which you can find in many farmer’s markets and at Friends and Farms, where we discovered it. The dairy is in New Windsor MD. I love sheep’s milk cheese, and also goat’s milk cheese as they work for us lactose intolerant people.

Olney on Sundays is the closest farmer’s market where you can get this cheese.

Let’s move to Firefly Farms and Cherry Glen. Outstanding goat’s milk creameries. Their cheeses vary. I love Firefly’s chevre more than Cherry Glen, but CG’s Monocacy Ash is awesome.

I think we discovered Firefly at a Turf Valley Home Show, and Cherry Glen, we bought at Roots Market.

Goat’s milk cheese has that tang, that slightly different taste.

As for cow’s milk cheese, lots of options around here. Bowling Green is local and available at many farmer’s markets and farmstands. I really like their “feta” to put in my watermelon salad.

From yesterday’s post you saw a picture of a fresh mozzarella from South Mountain Creamery. There is nothing like fresh mozzarella. Only thing better than buying a local one is making it yourself from local milk.

Oh, and a PA source for goat cheese. Linden Dale Farm. Their feta made from goat’s milk graced this watermelon salad.

Hey, it’s Buy Local Days. What could be better than cheese? Tomorrow, bread to go with it.

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Posted in Community, Farms, Food, Friends and Farms, Real Food and tagged buy local challenge, cooking, farms, Food, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

@mdsbest

Posted on July 14, 2015 by AnnieRie

The Buy Local Challenge. Coming next week to our area. Are you taking the challenge? Will you be eating a local food at least once a day for the nine days of the challenge?

This year they have included the Farm to Table restaurants in the challenge. If your local restaurant features local foods on the menu, you can help both the farmers and the independent restaurant owners.

Every day until the challenge is over, I will be giving tips on where and how to eat locally, and to buy locally produced items.

I mean, it can be really easy. How about wine, beer or ice cream? A glass of local wine or beer a day. How easy is that? Or, ice cream from the local farms around here. Like Baugher’s. Or the eight dairies on the MD Ice Cream Trail.

Hmm, a nine day event. Nine places to eat ice cream. Sounds like a plan to me.

Beer!

Head off to Victoria’s GastroPub for Manor Hill draft beers. Brewed here in Howard County. Four of them available.

Head up to Black Ankle. Or Elk Run. Or Sugarloaf Mountain. Or Old Westminster. Or Big Cork. All local wineries making wines with grapes grown in Maryland.

Every day. A different local beer or wine.

Yep, you don’t have to buy vegetables to excel in the Buy Local Challenge.

Oh, I forgot cheese. There are many local cheese makers in the state. More on them tomorrow.

But, if you are into veggies, Wednesday through Sunday, the county has seven farmer’s markets. If you want to do something different, head out to Larriland to pick berries.

No excuses. Eating locally is easy.

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Posted in Farms, Food, Locavore, Wine and tagged buy local challenge, farms, Food, Locavore, MD Wine, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Ready for the Fourth?

Posted on July 2, 2015 by AnnieRie

The locavore way. Berries from Larriland. Chardonnay from Big Cork. Using Maryland’s best to celebrate the holiday.

I am getting ready for this weekend. Lots of good stuff from the garden, the CSA, Friends and Farms and other local farms for grilling, chilling and just kicking back. If only the weather would cooperate.

As for things to do, here is what is high on our list.

Lisbon.

You could go pick berries at Larriland, as they are open 9-1 on Saturday. Have a hot dog at Alex’s snowball stand. Watch the parade. Listen to the music.

For us, we are seriously considering heading out to Rohrersville to Big Cork to join in their celebration at the winery. The events page has the details. I mean, River House Pizza from Eillicott City is heading out there.

As for the grilling sometime this weekend, if it ever stops raining, I am looking forward to those goodies from my Friends and Farms basket.

I am thinking bratwurst with German mustard.

As for fireworks, not a fan. I know they are all around the area, but we just stay out here in west county and watch the neighbors’ fireworks. Someone, somewhere out here will set off a few.

Happy Independence Day to Howard County.

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Posted in Community, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, West HoCo and tagged cooking, Food, holidays, Howard County, Locavore, MD Wine, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Vampires

Posted on June 18, 2015 by AnnieRie

Or lack thereof due to the high concentration of garlic in the house.

After all, how many people do you know that are curing garlic in their laundry rooms? The garlic hanging there is destined for the Howard County Food Bank. The first of many harvests to give us about a month’s worth of garlic to donate. I took about a dozen heads of garlic out of the ground this week. The largest ones, which were already turning brown on their tops. The rest. Will get harvested as they dry out. If it ever stops raining. Garlic is easy to grow, but needs to be dried somewhere cool and dry.

Besides that garlic, I have scapes from the CSA and green garlic also. Green garlic are those immature plants that are culled out to make room for the more robust plants that will become mature garlic.

In this picture you can see green garlic on the right and scapes all curled up on the left. I made some pesto. Cut some in pieces to use in stir fry dinners. I should have left a few of them whole so I could wrap bacon around them and grill them. Too late for this batch.

If you have never had scapes, I know that Love Dove Farms sells them at the various county markets. I used to buy mine there before the CSA started inundating us with scapes.

Tonight a few ended up in this meal.

An almost completely locally sourced meal. The salad. Arugula and butter lettuce and chive blossoms from my garden. The main dish. Pappardelle’s garlic chive pasta from Secolari, served with shrimp from Friends and Farms. Pesto from my freezer (last year’s basil). Snow peas, scallions and scapes from the CSA.

With all this garlic, there will be no vampires in this part of western HoCo.

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Posted in CSA, Farms, Food, Friends and Farms, Gardening, Locavore and tagged cooking, CSA, Food, foodie, gardening, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

Tidbit Tuesday Again

Posted on June 16, 2015 by AnnieRie

Just some random thoughts on a Tuesday evening.

The zucchini are officially out of control already, less than a week after finding the first few. The behemoth in the picture weighed 24 ounces and was hiding (the usual ploy of zucchini not wanting to be harvested). All told. 84 ounces in 8 zucchini. And, this is just the beginning.

Notice the two little mini white cucumbers. My first cukes of the season. Pickling cukes. They are far ahead of the other cucumbers. All of these vegetables came from my #grow100 challenge area. What can you grow in 100 square feet? Obviously, beaucoup zucchini.

Moving on to other pictures from my camera since the weekend, congratulations to the volunteer of the year at the conservancy, Woody Merkle. We swear he lives there, we see him all the time.

We had our volunteer appreciation strawberry social on Sunday. Well attended. Lovely berries from Baugher’s and ice cream from Hoffman’s.

Today after harvesting for the food bank and for the winners of the auction basket at Wine in the Garden, I got those zucchini and cukes and headed off for my CSA pick up.

Something new. Red Leaf cheese. Not just any cheese, but an award winning goat cheese with attitude. The joys of our CSA. Finding things like this.

This week we also got something new in our meat share.

Country spare ribs from the heritage hogs at Razorbacks and Barbed Wire Farm. We have gotten pork chops from this farm. Very tasty. I am thinking ribs tomorrow night.

As for the fruit share.

Stayman apples and strawberry jam. I just finished the raspberry jam from the winter CSA. Am so happy to see a new flavor to try. Heaven on toast in the morning.

My veggie share?

Completely insane. Almost too much to photograph. There will be lots of cooking going on. I am thinking of using the massive escarole in a soup with the last of the green garlic. Romano beans and snow peas.

OK, another new one.

Dandelion greens.

We are slowly transitioning into summer, with a mix of squash and beans, and many different greens.

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Posted in CSA, Farms, Food, Gardening, LFFC, Locavore and tagged CSA, Food, foodie, gardening, howard county conservancy, Locavore. Bookmark the permalink.

Lovin’ Summertime

Posted on June 13, 2015 by AnnieRie

Summer has arrived. Really arrived. Hot, humid, perfect weather for the garden to flourish.

The first zucchini. Out of that 100 square ft area in my garden. I like to pick the earliest ones when they are small, and do a simple dish with them. The massive zucchini will come later when I find them hiding under the leaves.

We got some really good stuff in our Friends and Farms basket Thursday. Atlantic Bluefin and ground lamb are the stars.

We did the tuna Thursday, and made mega meatballs tonight from one of the packages of lamb.

I do a “no measure” meatball. Putting in bread crumbs, an egg, za’atar and cumin, salt and pepper, a few scallions. Baking at 350 degrees until perfectly browned.

A few meatballs. Sautéed zucchini. New potatoes from up at Jenny’s market.

Followed by one really great dessert. Strawberry rhubarb dessert bars.

Not too bad for a hot humid Saturday. Here’s to more meals from local foods. Here’s to celebrating summertime.

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Posted in Food, Friends and Farms, Gardening, Locavore, Weather and tagged cooking, Food, foodie, gardening, Locavore, real food, weather. Bookmark the permalink.

Scapes Season

Posted on June 10, 2015 by AnnieRie

It has arrived. Garlic scape season.

That first bunch of scapes in the CSA box from Lancaster Farm Fresh. Time to head over to the recipe page and start browsing.

It was a great transition box this week.

Strawberries and rhubarb in the fruit share. Spring onions. Baby fennel. Greens. Beets. Cilantro and mint.

The meat share.

Beef stir fry. Pork links. Boneless pork chops.

Tonight I was just in the mood for a stir fry. Using quite a bit of the box, and one of those precious scapes.

Scapes, scallions and chard stems. In the wok with some light olive oil and toasted sesame oil. Fresh ginger.

Add beef, soy sauce, straw mushrooms and curly kale.

Served over brown rice. With a very lovely Linden Rose.

Get yourself to the local farmers markets and see if Love Dove Farms has their usual supply of scapes. So many ways to make them. Not just in pesto.

A short season, but a flavorful one.

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Posted in CSA, Farmer's Markets, Food, LFFC, Locavore and tagged cooking, CSA, farmer's markets, farms, Food, Locavore, real food, VA wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Perfect Pork Chops

Posted on June 5, 2015 by AnnieRie

I finally figured out how to make the perfect pork chops. It’s only the third or fourth time we have gotten chops in our Friends and Farms order, or in the meat share from the CSA.

This was yesterday’s protein and dairy bag. From Wayne Nell and Sons, four large beautiful boneless pork chops, extra thick.

As for the rest of the basket, we are getting eggs again from Miller Farm in Clinton MD. A nice changeover to really farm fresh eggs instead of our regional winter supplier. We got some chicken apple sausage from Logan’s, in Baltimore. And, boneless skinless chicken breasts from Locust Point Farms in Elkton, MD. Instead of milk, as usual, I got my weekly substitute “extra produce”. An option for those who don’t drink milk. Two bunches of scallions.

As for those pork chops, I took apart the package and vacuum sealed two of them to freeze for later use. The others.

I pounded them with my mother’s old meat tenderizing mallet. Breaking them down a bit and getting them both to the same thickness so they would cook at the same rate. Nothing on them but salt and pepper. Pan fried in light olive oil. Very high heat to sear. Finished under a lid with a splash of white wine to deglaze the pan and get the centers to that perfect state of doneness.

Then, I forgot to take pictures. So there is no “after” shot. Still, my husband declared them to be the best I have ever made. They weren’t tough anywhere. They weren’t chewy. They were moist and flavorful.

I served them with the last of the cabbage from a month or so ago. I kept that whole cabbage in the fridge, and I slow cooked it in chicken stock in the oven. Falling apart. I also got a bag of apples as an add on this week, and baked two of them to use as a side for the pork chops.

These were the add ons this week.

Five pounds of apples. A pint of vanilla ice cream to use with some of those strawberries around here. Sechrist Brothers beef hot dogs. Because sometimes you really want to grill hot dogs and hamburgers and these all beef hot dogs are just awesome.

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Posted in Farms, Food, Friends and Farms, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food and tagged cooking, Food, foodie, local businesses, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

Coop Benefits

Posted on June 2, 2015 by AnnieRie

Strawberries. Many, many strawberries.

I think almost everyone got strawberries today at our Cooperative CSA pick up. The benefits of a good season. When we get much more than expected due to a good yield.

We got an email last week. It said “Surprise!” Fruit shares were starting a week early. Without any cost. Two pints of organic strawberries for all our fruit share members. That’s a lot of us in Columbia. I think we have 40 fruit shares at our pick up site.

Plus, the small, medium and large vegetable shares had strawberries tucked in our boxes, too. All told, I went home with 48 ounces of berries. Sweet. Juicy. Ready for desserts or baking or maybe margaritas.

The large share had ten more items this week. Huge amounts.

There were white kohlrabi. Red and white scallions. Green garlic. Another POUND of spring mix. Red leaf lettuce. Green butterhead lettuce. Rhubarb. Galantina chicory. Baby crinkled cress.

Still that heavy greens season. Can’t wait for the transition to summer vegetables but we are enjoying the salad mixes.

I also picked up my weekly meat share.

I should have done a happy dance for that bone in ham steak. We got one last winter. The best ham steak we have ever eaten. We also got my favorite chicken, the boneless thighs. And, bacon. The bacon is different. I bake it, and use it for greens and frittatas. Flavorful, but definitely fatty.

Biweekly cheese share this week too. A full basket to bring home.

My fave. The Millich Kivvel.

So creamy. Yet pretty assertive, if you eat the rind, like my other half does.

Lancaster Farm Fresh keeps getting better and better. A really good value. Very fresh food, that lasts for weeks in the fridge. And surprises. Like those strawberries.

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Posted in CSA, Food, LFFC, Locavore and tagged CSA, Food, foodie, local businesses, Locavore, real food, value of CSA. Bookmark the permalink.

Protein and Dairy

Posted on May 31, 2015 by AnnieRie

An option from our Friends and Farms baskets. One that we enjoy during the summer, when our garden is producing the bulk of our vegetables, and Larriland becomes the source for most of our fruit.

I miss the South Mountain Creamery truck at the Glenwood Market. But, I am happy to report that you can get wonderful yogurt and ice cream and milk from Friends and Farms.

This week’s protein and dairy bag, with a couple of add ons.

The add ons. Pequea Valley plain yogurt. No sugar in it. Just plain yogurt. Thick, rich. The flavored ones are good too, in particular I love the maple yogurt. Still, plain yogurt can be used all sorts of places.

As for that ice cream. If you love hot stuff, you must try it. If you are a heat wimp, you will freak at what is in this ice cream. Trickling Springs in Chambersburg PA makes this ice cream. It contains cinnamon, chipotle powder and habanero powder. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. I can’t eat it all by itself but I am thinking of one amazing milk shake.

As for this week’s protein items we received. We got two lovely rainbow trout. Cleaned. Split. We grilled them with lemon and dill.

Also, a couple of pounds of short ribs. They are in the freezer. Crock pot dinner later next week.

My typical dozen eggs. Already gone. Frittatas.

We don’t do whole milk. I choose to get a surprise veggie instead. This week. Beets with greens.

If you want really good meat and eggs and dairy, this is the way to go.

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