be local, buy local

Tonight I had the honor of participating in the Buy Local presentation at the South East Anchor Branch of the Enoch Pratt Library. With a last minute request to speak about the South Mountain Creamery Dairy delivery and One Straw Farm CSA sent my way, I couldn't have been happier to oblige! [Oh wait, you mean I haven't yet glowed and raved about the Dairy yet?! What is wrong with me?! Oh, right, my camera broke and I refused to buy a new one for 6 months. And, really, what is a blog without photos? I'll write you a nice long blog about it soon, I swear]

The seminar/event was put on by the library as part of their Garden Club series, but really was much broader than gardening. There was a smorgasbord of cheese! There were sugar plumbs galore! There were slivers of sausage and fresh mozzarella and bowls of salsa, and Zeke's coffee! Oh, there was more than that, too! There were $5 tokens that can be used at any of the Highlandtown Farmers' Market vendors on Saturdays, and reusable totes.

But there wasn't just stuff - there was sweet information! For example, a lovely list of "10 Reasons to Buy Local:"

1. Keep money in the neighborhood
2. Help out the environment
3. Support community groups
4. Embrace what makes us different
5. Invest in the community
6. Put your taxes to good use
7. Get better service
8. Buy what you want, not what someone wants you to buy
9. Create more jobs
10. Show the country we believe in Baltimore

I also got a directory of Farmers Markets and Pick Your Own farms in Maryland, and an overview of the 3/50 Project. In short, it was a real treat for the palate and the mind. There are talks of doing a follow up event with more farmers and local business people, so stay posted! If there is another Buy Local event, I highly recommend you attend - and hope you let me know if you hear of one coming up so I can share the information and go with you!



love k

block buds unite to make taste buds happy

Need something Spring-y on this gray day? In the same vein as my post about indoor home projects to keep you busy this winter, here is one to get your outside ready to rock, and your summer and fall table bountiful. If your back yard is anything like mine, there isn't exactly room for a full seasonal vegetable, fruit, and herb garden - you have to pick and choose. But then you end up with an unmanageable amount of rosemary, and more sage than anyone could ever need. Peppers and tomatoes are awesome but they all seem to ripen in waves...hmmm....

So while at a neighbors the other evening, I got to talking about herbs and flowers and he mentioned that he'd had an enormous crop of mint. Mint! I forgot mint last year! While adding it to mental thing-to-plant list, I had a though: Why not try to divvy up herbs etc over a few different households? A sort of uber-local CSA of sorts. Not only could you get an AWESOME variety of veggies, berries and herbs that you alone could not produce, but it might also do some nice neighborhood bonding along the way. Why not do a monthly pot-luck alley BBQ where you try to use the literal fruits of your labors?

Between a CSA, block CSA and the farmers market, you could really keep things local and delicious this summer! Make some friends, eat fresh food, share the work...what's not to love? So get out there and meet your neighbors and start brainstorming what you can bring to the table.

love k

game balls and dough balls

Today I took a mid-afternoon break from work to relax before evening appointments and showings. I didn't exactly kick-back however... Instead, N and I headed to the park for a sort of sports camp-esque couple of hours. We played soccer in Patterson Park, where a couple of kids walking by got a real kick (HA!!) out of joining in. Then, we headed over to the courts for some basketball, once again joined by the same kids. They were both around 11 years old and just so much fun - they had the burgeoning swagger of teenagers, but none of the antagonism or angst. They were great sports, and the four of us kept up a lovely banter over a game of "fifty." Respectful, polite, and friendly, these kids exemplified everything you'd pray to find in inner-city boys. Just goes to show that if you don't expect the worst and are open to spending a little time with neighborhood kids, they might just surprise you after all.

Oh, and I baked these almond-apricot tarts with apricots from the farmers market:


And tonight I made this whole-wheat pizza for dinner, with basil and oregano from my garden, CSA broccoli, garlic and onions, and a whole mess of cheeses. Yummers:
I'm going camping for a few days, so I hope you all have a lovely weekend - feed the ducks, play some ball, hit the pool, bake a home-grown pizza... I've given you more than enough ideas, no?

love k

it is, however, delicious being green

To continue with my "green" theme I seem to have going...

As you all know, I'm sharing a CSA share with three other people. Conveniently, they are my roommate, my boyfriend and my neighbor which makes for fabulous ease when splitting it all up each week. But here's the challenge - what do you do when you have four people and 3 beets? 2 heads of broccoli? A head of cabbage? We decided this week we'd try something different and pool our resources and food and make a CSA feast together (or, as I like to term such occassions, a "group dinnie"). First, I'll list what we had so you can be impressed with how much we used later on:

• 4 zucchini
• 2 broccoli
  
• 1 cabbage
• 3 shallot onions
• 2 bunches of unidentifiable greens
• 3 beets

In my garden I also had:

• Thyme
• Rosemary
• Oregano
• Lots of other things that are irrelevant to this story but I'll post pictures of anyways

So what I made was:

• Cabbage salad with crumbled bacon, toasted walnuts and bleu cheese dressing
• Broccoli with melted sharp cheddar cheese and crispy shallot flakes
• Baked zucchini with grated parmesan cheese and pepper
• Roast beets
• Whole chickens roasted with thyme, rosemary, oregono and lemon (and bacon greese from the previousy fried bacon to crisp the skin)

I mean look how many ingredients were either homegrown or locally grown! And it was all delicious, inexpensive and lots of fun. I'm thinking this should be a weekly event and we can just rotate who's week it is to do all the cooking and who brings the wine.

Here are some gratuitious photos of my garden right now - my tomatoes are really starting to come in, as are bell peppers and a banana pepper. My herbs, especially the basil, are just flourishing and I can barely keep up!

love k

fresh from the farm

Today is the first day of my CSA! If you don't know what that is, it stands for Community Supported Agriculture - in short, you buy a share for the season (June-November) and each week pick up a big ol' bunch of fruits and veggies grown by a local farmer, which in our case is One Straw Farm. Four of us decided to share a share, which, according to OSF, is enough to feed a family of four for a week. Financially, it breaks down to about $5 each per week, since we paid for our share early. And guess what else! Our pick up location is about two blocks away at our neighborhood charter school, to which a portion of OSF's proceeds go. The prospect of six months of fresh, locally-grown produce practically delivered to my door just makes me swoon. Between the CSA, my (albeit) small garden, and JFX Farmers Market, I am hoping I can cut back on non-local produce, meat, and dairy (though many doubt I'll be able to resist out-of-season fruits and veggies available at Safeway...). The frequent complaint I've heard is, "there are just SOOO many greens in the beginning!" but I figure it'll just make me get creative and stay healthy. I've already googled several recipes for chard!

So it was with much anticipation that I headed up the hill and found myself faced with heaps of glorious produce, friendly volunteers, and a lovely new reusable bag in which to tote them home (the produce, not the volunteers that is).
Isn't all this rainbow chard just glorious?

On my way home, I had to stop and take a picture of SG and MV's house - it just looked so great with the flowers, new trim, and flag, don't you think?

When I got home I lay out all my CSA goodies and took a photo just for you:

Hmm, looks like I have me lots o' salad in store this week. As I find successful recipes, I'll share them. If YOU know of great recipes for seasonal produce, let us know!
love k