Groovy. Local. Food.

Cherries galore

Jul 7th, 2010 by groovylocalfood

By Vicki Needham -- Fresh cherries

Cherry season is here and I’m using cherries in a variety of ways, although I have to admit that sorbets and ice creams are the easiest and most fun.

What’s great about working at the farmers market is that folks have so many different ways they use cherries, just eating them right out of the container and spitting the pits at their siblings — by our younger customers, of course.

I do pit the cherries and toss them into smoothies or into plain yogurt and they add great flavor. Keep it simple.

Delish.

So far, I’ve made a cherry sorbet — so easy — and an ice cream, which isn’t difficult either. Ice cream can be as easy or difficult. There are recipes that easily mix up, need to be chilled for a short time and can be put into the ice cream maker. For others, you need eight arms but it’s always worth it.

Here are some recipes to choose from:

Continue Reading »

Posted in Cooking, Focus on local, Markets | 1 Comment »

How do you grow this?

Jun 10th, 2010 by groovylocalfood

Herbs for sale ... get your herbs here

That’s pretty much the most popular question I get during the Saturday farmers market.

As all the yummy tomatoes and peaches grow and ripen in the fields, we sell herbs, tomatoes, peppers and a lot of pretty plants to fill the excruciatingly painful gap. Yes, it’s hard to wait for all the good stuff to arrive. But it’s worth it.

So every week at least a dozen people hold up a little plant in it’s temporary black plastic home and ask, “how do I grow this?”

Now I’m not expert, but my answer is almost always in the form of a question — “Does your growing spot get a lot of sun?”

If they answer is yes, then plant it in the ground or in a pot, add sun, water and maybe a little fertilizer and watch your little plant spring to life.

Seriously people, if I can grow a variety of plants I’m pretty sure anyone can. Give it a shot.

If you’re unsure about your level of commitment try a tomato plant or two and maybe a favorite herb.

Pretty plants

Besides sun and water, I used fish emulsion last year and mixed it with water and the plants loved it. My growers have recommended osmocote, which can be found in most stores that sell garden stuff.

What’s great is the satisfaction of seeing your plants grow. Last week one young lady I had helped out returned to tell me that her tomatoes are growing like crazy. Excellent.

Tomatoes and herbs love sun and will grow like crazy under the right conditions. They shouldn’t need too much more attention than ensuring they get that sun and a regular watering. Hopefully, Mother Nature will help take care of some of that watering duty.

As I’ve probably mentioned in previous posts, I had several tomato plants spring up without my help from one of my deck pots from last year. Those plants, with really only some regular watering, already bear some little green tomatoes.

I’ve got my deck garden planted — photos will follow soon — with several tomato plants, rosemary, basil. oregano, sage, thai basil, cilantro, jalapeno peppers and even some catnip for my creatures.

I’m also still growing some lettuce and hope to have that for a bit longer.

Happy growing!

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Summer equals fruity margaritas

May 24th, 2010 by groovylocalfood

Margaritas here I come.

Warm weather = tasty, cool margaritas.

During the early part of the summer I don’t settle for any margarita — I prefer one made with my strawberry-infused tequila.

Nothing could be easier, really.

The real key is good strawberries — the ones you buy in the store will work but won’t be quite as good as what you find at the farmers market — and good tequila.

Last summer I mixed market berries with store berries and it wasn’t anywhere near as good as the all-market berry concoction. Yes, I taste-tested so you don’t have to. I’m always willing to make those kind of sacrifices.

Click here to see more.

Strawberries are in season and they’ve been incredibly delicious. So get yourself to a market and grab some — ours fly off the tables. While they are around I try to keep a few infusions going. Right now I have one but will expand next week.

So … to the important part.

What you’ll need

A bottle of tequila, a quart of strawberries and a quart mason jar. You can use a smaller mason jar, just divide up the tequila and berries and pour enough over so they’re covered.

I cut up the strawberries and pour a bottle of tequila into the jar over the berries. For tequila, I go with white and buy Cazadores Blanco — it has a big deer head on the front and runs about $28 a bottle in the Washington, D.C. metro area. If that’s too rich for your blood look for something less expensive but try to avoid the cheapy stuff.

Now here’s the hard part — waiting. Three weeks. Yep. Good things take time.

I put the jar in my pantry and give it a daily shake and let it sit for about three weeks in a dark, cool space.

When it’s ready I drain it into a mixing bowl or large measuring cup with a spout so it’s easy to pour. Then chill. I do make an effort to squeeze the tequila out of the strawberries because they soak up a fair amount of alcohol. But I don’t eat the fruit because, well, it’s kinda gross after sitting in the alcohol for three weeks and doesn’t taste too good.

Once it’s chilled I mix it with a bit of orange liqueur or Grand Marnier (yum) and shake over ice. Add salt or not to your glass and pour. I don’t add any mixers – it’s all alcohol. I love the flavor of the tequila on its own. Smooth. But if it’s too strong there are plenty of mixers.

Let me know if you come up with a cool recipe and I’ll post it here.

Enjoy!

Posted in Cooking, Markets | 2 Comments »

Market bliss …

May 15th, 2010 by groovylocalfood

Eli hangs out during the farmers market.

Wow. Two very quick Saturdays down at the Reston Farmers Market. Hard to believe how fast the week has flown. Seems like just yesterday my deck was piled with 3 feet of snow.

Now it’s covered with tomato, basil, rosemary and lettuce plants. Ahhh, much better.

The market and even our stand got some local publicity this week. Here’s an article about the market with a photo of moi hawking our wares. Pretty cool, as I had several people tell me today they recognized me from the local paper.

Here’s the link.

I’ve started off this post with a cute kid photo — Eli — the 10-month-old son of Matt and Mary, the owners of Chesley Vegetable Farms. He hangs out, usually eating, sleeping and observing during the market’s four hours — although they arrive about 6:30 a.m. and leave around 1 p.m. Their trip down from Frederick, Md., is another 1.5 hours. So, needless to say, they’re dedicated.

Yum.

So, what are we selling? Right now we’ve got some great strawberries, rhubarb to go with those strawberries. I’ve been hearing about many a planned strawberry-rhubarb pie. We’re also have apples and apple cider we’re selling, stored from last fall — they’re great and have been going fast.

During these first few weeks of the market — as plants grow in the fields — the focus is on selling plants — tomatoes, herbs and some flowers — so everyone can get their gardens going. You name the herb and we’ve probably got it, along with plenty of advice on how to grow it.

Posted in Focus on local, Markets, Vendors | 4 Comments »

Here we go … the season of taste is here

May 6th, 2010 by groovylocalfood

Hello everyone, I’m so sorry for my lapse in posts but it’s time — farmers market time. So it’s time to wake up those taste buds and get busy eating fresh, local food.

As we’ve moved from the Snowmaggedon of winter to the warm breezes, bright sunshine and, well, yeah … pollen of spring, my taste buds have eclipsed the point when just any ol’ strawberry or tomato will do.

I can’t even express how giddy I am at the thought of fresh veggies and fruits. It’s finally my “eating” spring. I have literally felt like I’ve been in a holding pattern and I’m ready to break free on summer recipes. Yum.

Sure you can see the bright sun, feel the warm breezes, smell the freshly cut grass (achoo!) and hear the spring birds chirping but there’s nothing like the *taste* of the fresh produce at the farmers market.

When you’re roaming around, checking out vendors make sure you try the samples and not just because you’re hungry but really *taste* the difference.

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Endless possibilities

Mar 31st, 2010 by groovylocalfood

Joel Salatin at Polyface Farms

Finding local food is definitely getting easier — finding *groovy* local food is a bit trickier. The good news, growers and farmers are getting the word out about their meats, cheeses, veggies, fruits, yogurt, seafood and even vinegar.

There also was After visit screening of the movie “Fresh,” which explores factory farming and alternative farming methods like Joel Salatin’s Polyface Farm in Virginia.

So there are plenty of choices, the trick … finding people you like, who get their hands dirty and follow good farming practices, whether for weekly or occasional farmers market trips or CSAs.

It’s really all about building a relationship, which makes it so different than your local grocery store.

At a recent event in Annapolis, a couple of dozen purveyors — growers and restaurants — came out for a meet-and-greet — hat tip to my friend Kc for inviting me and friend Robin for joining in the fun. Continue Reading »

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Chicken for dinner

Mar 16th, 2010 by groovylocalfood

By Vicki Needham

I grew up eating a comforting chicken dinner most Sundays. I remember asking my mom, “What’s for dinner?” and frequently hearing, “Chicken.” “Oh,” would usually be my response. Now, as a grownup (a relative term) I’m finding there’s more to just sticking a chicken in the oven with a couple of potatoes. Cooking chicken is … sexier.

For the record, I didn’t eat any of the chickens in these photos — they were at a B&B in Vermont I visited in August 2009. Their eggs were delish though and they were pretty darn entertaining as you might be able to guess from the shot of the guy giving me ‘the eye.’

So on to chicken cooking …

I buy my chicken from a local butcher, The Organic Butcher. Don and Wendell get their chickens from a couple of organic farms in Pennsylvania. If you eat meat, it’s a great shop located in McLean, Va. They sell a wide variety of meats, wine, local cheeses and produce. They make some *outstanding* chorizo, as well as a nice rotation of other sausages, steaks and roasts, all from local farmers.

In the past, I’ve roasted chicken in the oven. While that came out really well I wanted to give it a shot in my crockpot, a Christmas gift from my parents. It has served me well during the cold winter for soups and stews.

By Vicki Needham

So here’s what I did to make a fall-off-the-bone chicken and it couldn’t have been easier.

I put some frozen pumpkin — a New Zealand pumpkin, gray outside and bright orange inside — grown by my friends Matt & Mary on the bottom of the crockpot. I then added a few red potatoes, some mushrooms and poured a little bit of chicken stock on top of the veggies.

Then I cleaned the chicken, patted it dry, sprinkled salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme on the chicken and the veggies, placed it into the crockpot and put it on low. That was it. After about 4.5 to 5 hours, the chicken was done. It was tender and juicy and fell off the bone. Yum!

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Living la vida locavore

Mar 14th, 2010 by groovylocalfood

Get your local food here

Besides the promise of massive snowstorms, (I can laugh now … sort of) there’s a growing number of benefits to living in the Washington, D.C. area when it comes to buying locally grown fruits, vegetables and meats.

Farmers markets are growing in popularity and while farmers and growers usually haul their own goods, there’s at least one locally owned small business helping those folks get their goods into the hands of consumers.

Maple Avenue Market, http://www.mapleavenuemarket.com, (the Web site is still under development) owned by the husband-and-wife team of Chris and Sara Guerre, stocks local produce such as cheese, honey, veggies/fruits, pasta and meats in their Vienna, Va. store.

The market also brings organic milk from Trickling Springs Creamery in Chambersburg, Pa. http://www.tricklingspringscreamery.com/.

Between the market and Chris and Sara’s companion business http://onthegourmet.com/ (the site is a bit behind because they’ve been so busy), they are providing their customers a one-stop-shop for high-quality local goods brought in from within a few hundred miles.

Posted in Focus on local | 1 Comment »

Extra! Extra! Get your CSA Here

Mar 6th, 2010 by groovylocalfood

Farmers market bounty

I just ran across this Washington Post article from the end of January reminding folks to sign up for Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs. These are located in the Washington, D.C. area. Go to www.localharvest.org for CSAs in your area. Local harvest includes a nationwide list.

I haven’t gone back through the list provided to see if any have sold out since the article was printed. The Virginia section is a bit messed up (not my fault). For some reason the last letter on the end of the sentence is at the beginning of the next line. I dunno. But you’ll want to pay attention for the Web links.

For an annual membership fee, CSAs provide a wide array of options of fruits, veggies, meats and flowers. Each farm has different prices, products and delivery methods.

Here’s how CSAs work: Customers pay an annual membership fee in advance to cover farm production costs. The farmer provides a “share” of the harvest — a box of seasonal produce — on a weekly basis for a predetermined number of weeks. On most farms, a full share is enough vegetables to feed a family of four (two adults, two children) or two vegetarians for one week. (Half-shares and mini-shares are also available.)

There are a few more recommended in the comments. If you have any to add please post here.

Another cool thing about getting connected to local farms that are open to the public — a lot of them have cute animals, a bonus for kids. So you can go check it out, maybe buy some products and let the kids check out the other kids (goats).

Here’s the link: http://tinyurl.com/yly3k2d

Spring is on the way — catch some rays this weekend!

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Eat Your View

Mar 4th, 2010 by groovylocalfood

By Vicki Needham -- Apples for sale at the Falls Church farmers market.

Yes, I’m reading “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan (for those of you way ahead of me on that count) a book that explores the who, what, where, when, why and how of our food chain from the industrial complex to the simply complex, where one farmer moves his animals and crops so they work together in agricultural harmony.

This little gem of a phrase “Eat Your View” defines exactly what I’m trying to do — eat as much local, (within a few hundred miles), seasonal food as possible. The concept may sound easy but I’ve found it’s much harder than grabbing your reusable shopping bags and heading to the local grocery store.

As a whole, there’s a lot to consider. I’ve really tried to simplify my food choices over time, sticking mainly to fresh produce and healthy grains while eliminating most of the *bad* foods (in my opinion) — fast food, soda and processed foods loaded with fat and sodium. Nixing the bad stuff wasn’t too hard. It’s what’s left that provides the challenge.

It’s one thing to pick a delicious, vine-ripened tomato in August from my deck garden — I know exactly what effort it has taken to plant it, grow it, pick it and, of course, EAT it. Yum. Same deal if a friend passes on their surplus backyard-garden produce or my grower friends Matt and Mary plant and harvest a tomato, zucchini or eggplant. It’s about 75 miles from their farm to, pretty much, my plate. Easy enough.

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