Locavore In Training

As I mentioned, we lost every bit of our food due to the power outages from Hurricane Irene. Figured this was a pretty good time to get refocused in local food! Thus, my weekly shopping on Saturday went from one stop to three. First up was the Anne Arundel County Farmer's Market. I was clearly in good company with this plan- the traffic was crazy! But, I ended up with some good loot!

• Gala apples
• Asian pears
• Peaches
• These tiny fruits that seem like a cross between a plum and apricot - wish I'd written down the name! Plum cot?
• Blueberry jam
• Onions
• Garlic
• Green beans

I could have bought more but the crowds used up my patience!

My next stop was a new destination - My Butcher and More. How great is this:

Our meats are hormone, steroid, and antibiotic free at the time of harvest and come from independently owned farms where the animals are humanely raised. The animals are 100% grass fed or they are fed all natural non-animal by-product feeds.

I'd seen them on the listing for a local dairy, and figured it was worth the visit. Yes, it definitely was! Even though they were in the process of restocking due to Irene (popular task, apparently) they still had most everything I was looking for. They were closed almost a full week due to power outage, and told me they had lost over $8k worth of meat. So sad!

I tried to add ground pork to this list (for meatball making) but their machines were busy making their italian sausage. As a concession, they offered up the option to buy the sweet Italian sausage, fresh off the machine!

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (sliced in half, so I can pound for Gina's Chicken Rollatini - wonder if I'll ever find local prosciutto?) from New York
• 4 links house-made sweet Italian sausage (only 3 remain... so tasty!)
• 1 package pre-formed Bison burger patties from Gunpower Bison in Monkton, MD (Really excited to find a source for this that doesn't require a trip to the Downtown Annapolis Farmer's Market!)
• Quart of 2% milk Kilby Cream in Rising Sun, Maryland. (Ironically, this was not the dairy who lead me to My Butcher, but it was what they had in stock. They may have also had their ice cream, which I'll have to try at some point... but trying to remember the goal of local food consumption and at least weight maintenance!)
• 1 lb tub salted butter Kilby Cream

I rounded out the day at Safeway for some necessities like soda and flavored water. Also, bread and mayo, which yes I could make myself... but it wasn't on the agenda for this week. I ended up making some peach, pear skillet jam on Sunday, which I'll share soon!

Pretty much the first thing I did after arriving in Colorado, was visit the Crested Butte Farmer's Market. I visited last year, and remember it being pretty great... but what I didn't remember was how this tiny town's market puts all the Maryland Farmer's Markets I've visited to shame. Seriously, Maryland... we need to step it up! Their brutal winters and extremely short growing seasons hasn't limited them... what's our excuse?

I figure those who are in Maryland might be a little miffed at this point... so, don't take my word for it! Here's a picture tour from the market! (Warning - this post is picture heavy! Give it a minute... it's worth it!)

My mom could not have been more excited about these Fava Beans! She's been on the lookout for them earlier in the season in Florida and now here... It's apparently the last week for them, so she loaded up!

Baby squash! So cute!

Circle A had 4 kinds of garlic?? Yes, please! The Spanish Roja was quickly dispatched into spaghetti sauce last night. The cloves had a beautiful red color, and the flavor was amazing!

Fresh apricots! I never did find any at home.

Freshly made crepes... because every farmer's market has that...

They even have the dreaded kohlrabi.

Kids love beets? These kids do!

Not pictured... the bluegrass band, the smoker BBQ station, the massage booth, the jewelry and other art... And all dogs! This area is dog crazy! It's awesome.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go have goat cheese and pumpernickel bread for breakfast.

I'll leave you with the sunset from my first night here.

I'm continuing to enjoy a few days between the old job and the new job, and decided to devote a portion of today to strawberry jam. Clagett Farm (my CSA) was offering You-Pick strawberries to members, so I high-tailed it over there! I ended up coming away with about 2 1/2 pints of the freshest strawberries I've ever had. But, the recipe calls for 4 pints. I figured I could hit the farmer's markets this weekend to supplement the rest, but then I remembered - the Amish Market!

They had a nice spread with lots of in-season produce. Kale, rhubarb, spinach... and, oh look! Beautiful strawberries. I did a lap though, because I felt odd about what was about to happen next. Once I got back, I waited until other customers weren't around anymore. I gingerly walked up to the older Amish lady, took a breath, and said:

"I know this is a silly question, but you guys don't use chemicals on your strawberries, right?"

(I'm sorry, but I'm mostly uncomfortable grilling the workers/producers at markets. It's my own issue, but I have trouble with it. And it's the Amish. They're a little scary, and... AMISH.)

And my answer:

"I have no idea what they use on them. They're from California."

Oh, ok. Nevermind then.

Now, I knew they sell produce from other places. (Evidenced by the Dole sticker on the bananas.) But, strawberries are in season! Seriously? Seriously?! At least in a conventional grocery store, I can get certified organic!!

Just before my hard labor on Saturday, I took a quick stop at the Riva Road Farmer's Market in Annapolis. I love farmer's markets, and feel so lucky that there are 4 so easily accessible to me. (It was 3, but there's a new one at the Annapolis Towne Center this year!) I'm not sure I'll need them too much this year, what with the farm and community garden, but I suspect I'll be visiting anyway.

Check out my Examiner article if you'd like to see a list of what was available at Saturday's market.

After picking up a nice 6" pot of cilantro (I really can't go to a FM this time of year... maybe ever... without coming back with a plant.) I headed out to the community garden. Imagine my surprise with this sight met me:

Another benefit of driving a prius? Being able to drive just a little closer (with the engine off) for a better view.

Turns out, there's a guy who has 4 of them pretty close to the garden and every so often they make a run for it.

Hi, Readers!

This week I finalized something I'm very excited about! Starting today, I'll be doing some writing for the Examiner.com's Annapolis Fresh Foods section. Even though I will be writing about Annapolis things, I hope to include recipes and other tips that anyone who eats(!) can use. Hopefully you'll find it useful, be entertained and informed!

My first article Fresh food available at Annapolis farmer's markets is live.

You'll be able to see all my articles over time on my page.

It's turning out to be a quiet, stay-at-home kinda day today. It's a little chilly, and has been raining off and on all day... definitely not the kind of day you want to be out in the world! It's too bad though, I had planned to hit the Riva farmer's market this morning to catch and kill a pumpkin! Maybe I'll run over to one of tomorrow's markets (downtown Annapolis or Annapolis Mall).

I've got my third round of bread from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day going. This method is brilliant. Really good bread with almost no effort! I switched to the 100% whole wheat recipe after my first try, and wasn't completely happy with it. So back to the master recipe! We all loved! the master recipe, so why mess with success? Even though the book was very clear that the flour used should be unbleached and not King Arthur brand (an issue with the gluten content, apparently), my first round used bleached King Arthur and it worked out just fine. This time I've got organic, unbleached, so we'll see if it makes a big difference.

I'd had the first major issue with the dryer balls this morning. They only work if the last person to use them returns them to the laundry room! Not sure I can fault the product itself for this issue, but it does make it difficult to use them. Never had that issue with the dryer sheets! Hopefully they can be liberated from the "kid's" room sometime soon. I poked my head in and quickly ran back our for fear of infection or being attacked by something he's spawned in there.

4 eggs for breakfast, so 44 to go.

I read earlier today that there's a pumpkin shortage. I love pumpkin as much, or more, than the average person... but this doesn't seem like a big problem to me initially. Are we really running out of pumpkin? It seems to me that I can't go anywhere lately without running into (or falling over) them. Hell, I have 3 on my porch right now.

The problem seems to be a shortage of canned pumpkin. Um, I've only ever cooked with canned pumpkin. What about Thanksgiving? I'm hosting it this year for the first time. (Gasp!) Well, if worse comes to worst, I'll just make this year's Thanksgiving pie with one of them, right? I was sort of thinking about it anyway, actually.

Well, that article mentions that you can't eat the jack-o-lantern variety. I'm guessing that's what I have. This leads me to a question - is the problem that people just don't usually eat them? Or is there something inedible about them?

A quick Google search leads me to what I can only hope is good information. It seems you can eat any of the pumpkins lining the shelves, porches or streets these days. But you might not want to. Apparently they are stringy and not sweet enough. They'll serve for baked goods, but not for pies. For pies (or soup), you'll want a different variety. A smaller variety. 3-6 pounds seems ideal. I do have a smaller one on the porch, but there's really no way to know what variety it is. What's a girl to do?

This all leads me to the conclusion that I need to schedule a pumpkin-hunting excursion. I'll need to rely on the nice people at the Farmer's Market to point me in the right direction. And then? Then, I'm going to kill (and eat) a pumpkin.

I managed to get to the Farmer's Market (Riva Road, Saturdays 7 - Noon through Dec 20) about 10 minutes after its opening this morning. About a third of the vendors were missing, but those that were there were ready to go! I scored some REAL local things this time!

• Large bag of kale
• Large bag mixed lettuce
• Small bundle of green garlic
• Free range organic eggs from Ivy Brand. I actually pass this farm on my way to the farmer's market. 12 miles from home, although it's further if you factor in getting to the market. If only the farm was open to the public!

(Clearly, I didn't need more eggs after the 2 dozen I bought yesterday, but I was so excited to find truly local eggs - and the vendor talked me into it. She promised I wouldn't want to buy store-bought eggs ever again. I wonder what she'll suggest when the market ends for the season!)

I picked up some herb plants ready for the garden:

• 2 oregano
• 1 sage
• 1 thyme
• 1 Italian flat leaf parsley
• 1 large bundle of cilantro plants

I grabbed a couple of orange cranberry muffins before noticing they were from the Great Harvest Bread Company. Really tasty, but not really local.

I also scored two bags of granola bars. They contain mostly organic ingredients, and the vendor stand looked like a local maker, but I didn't stop to verify.

The herbs are already snuggled into the garden. I'm also working on hardening off some plants I bought yesterday from Homestead Nursery. In addition to some flowers, I bought some packs of 6 seedlings:

• brussel sprout
• broccoli
• lettuce
• mixed greens

I tried to grow all these things from seed last year and only had moderate success with the lettuce. Here's to hoping this year goes better! I already have a head start though - my strawberry and rosemary plants are still around from last year and I've got two old herb pots my parents left me when they moved. I noticed yesterday I have a very healthy looking pot of chives and the other pot has tarragon and parsley growing.

Jay and I are headed out to the Eastern Shore today, I'm going to keep my eyes open for any early farm stands! Before we leave, I'm going to order my starter cheese-making kit!