Tag Archives: tomatoes

Watermelon. Feta. Mint. Heavenly!

Posted on July 14, 2013 by AnnieRie

Finally, summertime! Don’t know what is better, the salad or the gazpacho.

I suppose you could call this my “Buy Local Challenge” practice meal. There are at least ten locally sourced items in the dinner. For the challenge, you need to eat at least one a day for nine days. No requirement that the nine be different, but in the spirit of the challenge, finding nine locally sourced items and using them during the nine days would certainly be successful as a participant.

The watermelon, feta, mint salad is a summertime staple in our house. Simple. The watermelon is from a farm stand on the way home from our visit to Linden Vineyards. Feta is Bowling Green Farms from right up the road here in Howard County. Mint from my garden, bought years ago from Greenway Farms. Add some olive oil, salt, pepper and at the last minute squeeze the lime over it. An amazingly flavorful salad that just screams Summertime!

The gazpacho. My first of the season. CSA tomatoes, onion, and cucumber. Basil from my garden. A green pepper from that farm stand. A cup of Bloody Mary mix bought in St. Michael’s and sourced from Virginia. Some red wine vinegar, salt, pepper and a couple of garlic cloves left over from my Breezy Willow CSA in May. Blended together. No measuring. Just four tomatoes, one red onion, one green pepper, half a huge cucumber, and all the seasonings to taste. We like our gazpacho garlicky so I did toss in a teaspoon of garlic powder since I am waiting for my garlic to cure and I have none left otherwise.

The rest of the dinner?

A small filet of ahi, sesame crusted. A CSA potato, baked in the microwave and served with Trickling Springs butter. The little vat of garam masala spiced butter is for the corn on the cob that finished the meal.

Oh, and the wine?

Summertime in a glass. Linden Rosé.

And to round out a lovely Sunday dinner, my table arrangement from the garden. I can’t believe how the gladiolus are going absolutely nuts from the rain.

Oh, I almost forgot. We harvested our first six sun sugar tomatoes this morning. Whoo Hoo! Summer really is here.

Here’s to many more lazy flavorful local dinners!

hocofood@@@

2 Comments

Posted in CSA, Farmer's Markets, Farms, Food, Gardening, Hobbies, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Weather, Wine and tagged cooking, CSA, farmer's markets, Food, gardening, heirloom tomatoes, Linden Vineyards, Locavore, real food, tomatoes, weather, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Simplest Summer Pleasures in the Garden

Posted on July 13, 2013 by AnnieRie

In a rare sun sighting, I was out checking on the state of the flowers, herbs, veggies and of course, the bunnies and the butterflies.

The butterfly bush finally bloomed and an Eastern tiger swallowtail was having a great time feasting on the flowers.

While out there I noticed that the yellow gladiolus are now coming into bloom. I am bringing in 5-6 new stalks every day. All this rain has created an explosion of them.

As for the herbs, the rosemary and thyme are so thick and getting so large, I am cutting them every few days. Rosemary is drying in the garage. I want this plant to remain short and bushy. As for the thyme, it is heading across the garden and creeping around other bushes.

On the tomato front, finally, the large cherry tomatoes and the sun sugar tomatoes are starting to turn color. I may finally have cherry tomatoes for salads by the middle of the coming week (three weeks later than last year).

As for the bunnies, they are overrunning the yard. At least they seem to be leaving my herbs and veggies alone for the moment. Half the time they don’t even run when I am out there.

Looks like if it stops raining, I need to do weeding again. They are rampant from all the rain. And, I have no idea where these volunteer plants came from, right in the middle of the herbs.

All in all, a good day out in the garden. Now, let’s bring on some sunshine and get the tomatoes ready for canning, eating and the fair. I did indulge in one of my favorite summer breakfasts. This was a CSA tomato, but I do it all the time with mine once they start producing.

Cut the tomato into thick slices, sprinkle with salt, eat it standing over the sink to catch the juices. Yum!

hocofood@@@

1 Comment

Posted in Food, Gardening, Locavore, Nature, Weather, West HoCo and tagged Food, gardening, heirloom tomatoes, Locavore, nature, tomatoes, weather, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Way Too Much Rain …

Posted on July 12, 2013 by AnnieRie

… and other Friday ramblings.

We were supposed to have a tree removed this morning. Before the disease that is killing the pine spreads to adjoining pines. Our pine screen is important to us for many reasons and we have lost two trees in nine years to various pests. This will be the third.

What does this have to do with rain? Well, at o-dark-thirty (0630 am) our friend in the landscaping business called to cancel due to the huge amount of rain he was getting where he lives (north and east of us). It was only dreary here, not raining, but today like lots of other days would turn out to be pretty dismal.

My tomato plants have those ugly yellow stems from too much rain. And, I have NOT watered them since early June. Mother Nature is doing a number on them.

So, what did we do with a free day, and crappy weather? Of course, what else sounds appealing. Like a trip down to Linden Vineyards to taste the new releases and have some wine and cheese while watching their dreary weather. At least they aren’t getting the deluge that other parts of the two states have been seeing.

There is something about sitting on that enclosed porch with the doors swung open to watch the fog over the Shenandoah mountains north of the winery. Too bad it decided to rain because they have the most amazingly beautiful deck for enjoying the scenery and watching the weather change.

Today we tasted the newly released chardonnay, and riesling vidal, then sat down and had some Avenius Sauvignon Blanc with chevre, summer sausage and a warm baguette.

About the only thing this rain has been good for, is

making my flowers explode in blooming. There are literally dozens of stalks on the gladiolus plants in the corner of the yard. I cut two or three every morning to keep them on the counter or the dining room table. Crossing my fingers they will still be blooming the week of the county fair. I got a second place ribbon for them last year.

And, cucumbers. This wet spring and summer means lots and lots of pickling cukes. I added a few to the crock yesterday morning. We keep the dill pickle crock going for as long as we can in the summer. Looks like this may be a banner year.

The pickles from a little over a week ago are ready to eat. My husband has already been going in the crock and grabbing one to have with lunch. The dark green new ones, scrubbed and dropped into the dill vinegar mix, will soak up that mouth puckering mixture that a perfect dill can achieve. To give them the crunch, I take a few out and put them in the fridge for a few hours before eating them.

To keep them submerged, I bought a saucer that just fits inside the crock. This crock, for pickles, and a larger one for sauerkraut, are always on our counter, hidden in a corner when not in use. In a few weeks, the kraut process will start, so that all fall I can have kraut for sausages, for a side dish and my favorite time to pull it out, Thanksgiving.

Now, if it just would get sunny enough for my first tomatoes. Tonight, when we got home, I went out to pull in a few more cucumbers. I found that the cherry tomatoes and the sun sugar tomatoes are finally starting to get red. Plus, crossing my fingers, none of the heirlooms have split from the excessive moisture. I may actually have either Box Car Willie or Mortgage Lifter or Paul Robeson tomatoes for the fair in three weeks.

Rain, rain, PLEASE, go away. I can even handle those two extremely hot days they are predicting for the middle of next week. Just give us some sunshine.

hocofood@@@

3 Comments

Posted in Day Trips, Food, Gardening, Nature, Weather, Wine and tagged day trips, Food, gardening, heirloom tomatoes, hobbies, Linden Vineyards, nature, tomatoes, weather, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Fair Weather

Posted on July 5, 2013 by AnnieRie

As in the Howard County Fair. I know it is four weeks from now,

but planning for Home Arts entries starts when the fair books arrive in the mail. We got ours last week.

Unfortunately, the weather isn’t cooperating. My tomatoes this year are far behind schedule. The herbs were also decimated by the bunnies, so I am doing triage on the remaining stumps, and coaxing them to recover.

So far, only the Box Car Willie plants have the potential to give me ripe heirloom tomatoes in time for the fair. Mortgage Lifter and Paul Robeson are lagging in their production. Pineapple tomatoes are late bloomers anyway, and this year they are far behind. And, the hillbillies are downright disappointing.

Want to know about heirlooms? This is a good site to learn about the varieties.

Want to know about the fair? Check out their web site.

This year my husband gets the senior discount. I still buy the season pass for $20, as we go to the fair at least four or five days. Can’t miss the fun events, like tractor pull. Skid loader competition. Iron chef. The 4H auction. And, so much more.

This year, too, being the beginning of the election season, candidates will be out in force.

Put the fair on your calendar. It truly is a community event, and for 68 years it has been going strong.

Me, I just want one of these for tomatoes. The blue ribbon. I got one last year for my herbs. I keep trying to grow great heirlooms, or cherry tomatoes, or this year, my foray into massive amounts of canning tomatoes.

I also had success with the gladiolus. Crossing my fingers that they flower in time.

This one got a second place ribbon last year.

I am thinking about photographs to enter. And, maybe some of my crape myrtle. And, my zucchini bread. It’s fun. Easy to do. Download the fair book and think of the possibilities. You still have four weeks to go.

hocoblogs@@@

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@@@

2 Comments

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

Why I Like This CSA

Posted on June 27, 2013 by AnnieRie

Week Six. It’s the unusual veggies that make my day, when the email comes and things like this are in the list.

Fava Beans. Something you rarely see around here. I have a great recipe for grilled halloumi with fava beans and mint. It will be part of dinner tomorrow night.

The Complete List:

1 pack microradishes – Eastbrook Produce
1 bag green beans – Healthy Harvest Organics
1 bag fava beans – Bellview Organics
1 bunch chioggia beets – Plum Hill Organics
1 bunch blue hyssop – Lancaster Farmacy (swapped)
1 bag white cucumbers – Liberty Branch Organics
1 bunch carrots – Red Fox Organics
1 bunch sweet basil – Noble Herbs
1 head broccoli – Organic Willow Acres
1 slicing cucumber – Valley View Organics
1 bunch red kale – Sunny Slope Organics
1 bunch fresh red onions – Windy Hollow Organics

The total package:

I also love the white cucumbers. A treat we get once or twice a summer. And, those microradishes. And, that lovely bunch of very fragrant basil.

I am tempted to try and make pickles with the white cucumbers, but they are so good and so crunchy that they won’t make it into the pickling crock. I still have a week or two for my planted pickling cukes to produce. Lots of greenery and yellow blossoms, just a few tiny cukes out there.

Transitioning from spring veggies to summer ones, and anticipating those first tomatoes. Tomorrow I will be putting together a post about what I have been doing with the CSA veggies, and maybe have pictures of my first garlic harvest. I think the garlic is ready to be dug out of the ground.

hocofood@@@

3 Comments

Posted in CSA, Food, Gardening, Locavore and tagged cooking, CSA, Food, gardening, Locavore, tomatoes. Bookmark the permalink.

Weathering the Storms

Posted on June 26, 2013 by AnnieRie

All of them. Thunderstorms. Rain. Wind. Political. Seems to be a busy week around here. And then some.

Did you know we were almost 3 inches above normal for rainfall in west county so far this year? That would be a good thing, for our wells, but a bad thing these days for my tomatoes. They are way behind when it comes to blossoming and ripening. The good thing is the fact that I don’t have to water the garden. The bad thing is the yellowing of the vines from too much water.

I know this is affecting the farmers. I see our emails from CSAs about what we can get. And, how far behind the crops are. Last year I had cucumbers. This year. Not even close. Maybe in a week or so.

I also only have a few small cherry tomatoes on my plants. Lots of blossoms. No real production. Should be interesting when the county fair rolls around, to see what survived.

I have blogged often about the stormwater fees too. Nice to see that they are somewhat on hold while assessments are made. I have seen lots of stories and lots of comments.

Like the Green Central Station update.

And, hocorising had a good piece, but with an interesting comment from a reader of his blog calling us names out here in west county. So much for civility and #summerofneighbors. Now, we are bullies.

Just a little clarification, though, from my perspective. Yes, many of us out here have more impervious surfaces. But, as a percentage of land, it is minuscule compared to what we had when we lived in Columbia.

My fee for stormwater would have been $30 when I lived in the townhouse. A house on a cul-de-sac. 100% of our stormwater went into swales or drains that emptied into a stormwater management pond that when it was full, drained off into a stream that fed the Patuxent. With a $30 fee, do you think I would have been really gung-ho to spend money to mitigate the run off?

Out here, we were going to be assessed $165 for our 5500 square feet of impervious surface, none of which enters any streams, drains or ponds. A large fee, with property that does not impact the Bay. Lots of our neighbors facing even higher fees because of the length of their driveways. But, we have no curbs. No drains. No streams within a mile.

Out here, water is precious. Without it, our wells run dry in drought years. Plus, if the farmers’ ponds run dry, it affects irrigation and the health of their livestock. Not to mention the fact that those ponds out here are a large source of water if you have a fire. No hydrants for the fire trucks. Finally in the past few years they have put in underground tanks to store water for fire fighting.

If you have ever replaced a well, or dealt with problems with your well, you would understand better why we resent being taxed for something most of us don’t do. Which is encourage run off. Price the cost of drilling a new well and you will see why.

Our current well is 487 feet deep. Just this exercise, when the wire to the pump shorted out due to nicks and cuts and had to be replaced was an eye opener as to expense. I don’t want to have to drill another, deeper well to find water. We are very careful about keeping our ecosystem healthy. The trees, the meadows, the grading, all of the contributors that help us retain water.

It is lovely out here, even when it storms. And, we are not bullies. Many, many of us are stewards of the land, and we care deeply about it. I have to admit, it annoyed me to be called a “bully”.

Thanks, Greg Fox, for caring about the farmers, the long time residents and everyone else, including us, that live out here in wide open spaces, lovely spaces, even with all the rain.

hocoblogs@@@

3 Comments

Posted in Commentary, Community, Farms, Gardening, Howard County, Nature, Weather, West HoCo and tagged commentary, community, farms, gardening, Howard County, tomatoes, weather, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

The Wild Wild West #HoCoMD

Posted on June 14, 2013 by AnnieRie

At least sometimes it feels wild, but isn’t so.

Yesterday, we had storms, wind, sun, fire, and life just is interesting here in the western part of the county. We did agonize a bit about whether to take the tower down, in anticipation of the storms.

Without five people, this wasn’t happening, so we just decided to ride it out. In the morning, the major storms passed us by to the north. We could see them coming but they were just above us. A good thing, so far. Then, we heard massive amounts of sirens just as I was going out for gas and ice. I figured if I bought ice, nothing would happen.

Turns out there was a grease fire at Ten Oaks Tavern. All sorts of fire trucks everywhere at the Glenelg/Dayton circle. I picked up what I needed and came home to find a tornado warning. OK, this is way too much excitement for one day. This time, the severe weather passed ten miles south of us, below Olney.

We never lost power, had about an inch of rain, no real wind or damage. Compared to last year, this year’s derecho was a no show. Well, at least the flowers are loving all the rain.

I have to admit, living out here in the rural districts has its advantages and disadvantages. Still, that “lure of the land”, the reason we moved here, still makes it all worth while, to fill the tubs with water, bring in the furniture, get ready to possibly bail out the sump pump when the power goes off, and all those other little things to weather the storms.

And, my tomatoes are loving the weather. Should have tomatoes in a few weeks. Cucumbers, too.

hocoblogs@@@

The Garden Report

Posted on June 3, 2013 by AnnieRie

Yesterday I spoke about finally getting garlic scapes out behind the deck, where I planted organic heirloom garlic last October. I haven’t had the chance to talk about the rest of the plantings, and what I am seeing out there daily.

Like the cucumbers.

There are blossoms on the marketmore slicing cucumbers. The pickling cukes are larger, but have no blossoms yet. This slow start to spring has set most of us back with seeing production in our gardens, but we are slowly getting there.

The garlic I put in containers didn’t do so well. Between the small critters constantly digging at it in the pots, and the temperature fluctuations, most of it died. I did get two stems of spring garlic, out of the twelve cloves planted. The twelve plants in the ground will give me scapes this week, and garlic in about three-four weeks. I will be curing garlic in the back room in the cellar. Cool, dark and dry. What garlic needs to dry out.

You will notice in the background, the spirea is blooming finally. So are the kousas, and hurray! the bees are back.

I hold my breath every spring, hoping I don’t lose my pollinators. I need those little “busy bees” to get veggies and fruit. Let’s just say Sunday was a good day as I saw dozens of little bees enjoying the flowers behind the house.

As for the herb garden, the thyme has come back thick as a carpet. So have the rosemary bushes. And, of course, the mint varieties.

Thyme is such a great herb, so easy to grow. Snip some off and add to whatever you are making for dinner. It seems to go well with almost everything.

Ruby chard. The second planting. In the planters by the back door. Interesting that the bunnies aren’t coming up here. They must have more than enough to eat down in the yard and meadow, so they don’t bother my herbs, greens and flowers.

Finally, all 48 tomato plants are surviving and thriving. Crossing my fingers. I haven’t lost any of them, even those that were puny and looked susceptible after the cold spell. I may truly be putting out a roadside stand to sell them if they all stay healthy.

I leave the wildflower border to attract bees. The morning glories are just starting to come up, but the wild violets are getting thicker. It looks like this cool wet spring is good for my garden.

Let’s hope we keep up the good growing conditions. I am so ready for homemade tzatziki, fresh tomatoes and all those other treats of summer.

hocofood@@@

3 Comments

Posted in Food, Gardening, Nature, Weather, West HoCo and tagged Food, gardening, heirloom tomatoes, hobbies, nature, spring flowers, tomatoes, weather, West HoCo. Bookmark the permalink.

Gardening As …

Posted on May 21, 2013 by AnnieRie

… circuit weight training and more.

It took me seven hours total yesterday and today to plant the 40+ tomato plants in the garden. I say 40+ because some of the plugs had more than one stem. All told, there were four dozen plants, but some of them were so intertwined they went into the same planting hole. Between digging the holes, adding the organic fertilizer and soil amendment, planting the plants, shoveling in the topsoil and then finishing off the entire garden in mulch, I am wiped out.

If you want something better to do than walking a treadmill at a gym, plant a garden. Add to all my other tasks, horsing around a 200 foot hose to water it all.

Two months from now I will be blessed with lovely yellow, orange and red tomatoes that will grace our table.

Cherry tomatoes are easy to grow, even in a container. Add a container of basil and instant salad. Plant a few flowers in your yard. Weed by hand, instead of by pesticide. Just that little activity to water and weed and fertilize is one amazingly easy way to keep your metabolism elevated. I know it works for me.

Now, I just need the patience to wait two months to get tomatoes. And, keep watering, weeding and caring for my plants. Sounds like much more fun than circuit weight training.

hocofood@@@

2 Comments

Posted in Food, Gardening and tagged Food, gardening, heirloom tomatoes, tomatoes. Bookmark the permalink.

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Tag Archives: tomatoes

Watermelon. Feta. Mint. Heavenly!

Simplest Summer Pleasures in the Garden

Way Too Much Rain …

Fair Weather

The Harvest

Why I Like This CSA

Weathering the Storms

The Wild Wild West #HoCoMD

The Garden Report

Gardening As …

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