July 9, 2009 by Audrey.

PIZZA KIT CLASS w/ CHEF
TED McCORMACK – July 24th
5:30-8pm
Sign-up Deadline: July 15
Come enjoy a hands-on fun learning
experience with Ted and others
from our farm community. Make
and eat pizzas with fresh, local
tomatoes, basil, oregano, and other
in-season vegetables. Use mozzarella
and a sampling of other local cheeses
and sausages. Learn to make your
own dough. Enjoy the taste of fresh,
local, and homemade together with us.

Email Ted at crazylucie@msn.net

12 person limit/$25.00 per class

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June 28, 2009 by Audrey.

Here is a front page article from the Washington Post about the increase of women farmers and the direction they are taking agriculture.  I myself am following a similar path now.

Female Farmers Sprouting
Don’t miss the pictures either!  The pigs are soo cute.

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May 7, 2009 by Audrey.

Looking for organic plants and herbs for your garden this year?

Please stop by the Pilgrim Church on Saturday, May 23^rd from 9 am to 12 noon for Certified Organic vegetable seedlings, including 16 varieties of tomatoes. To pre-order seedlings, download and print the pre-order instructions, plant selection and order form and mail the order form in with your payment. Pre-order deadline is May 16^th, more plants available day of sale.   To insure you are able to purchase the heirloom or particular plant you would like, make sure you pre-order.  The plants sell quickly.  

The Pilgrim Church is located on Middle Rd., Route 111A, at Haigh Rd. in Brentwood. 

For more information and pre-ordering forms click HERE.

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March 29, 2009 by Audrey.

As the sap is literally running like a stream out of our over 100 year old Sugar Maple tree, damaged from the ice storm this past winter, my family and I headed up to SugarMomma’s for some good old fashioned maple syrup products.  We tried popcorn, ice cream, cotton candy, maple covered nuts, and yes they even served a pancake breakfast… delicious!   The actually Sugar Momma was feeding the fire for the making of the syrup and telling wonderful stories to whoever walked into the sugar shack.  Did you know that Maple Syrup contains vitamins, folic acid and enough calcium to match a cup of milk, unlike it’s copy cat of corn syrup, syrup?

Last night I tried a new recipe with our  maple syrup and I highly recommend it.

Maple Parsnip Soup

3 Tbsp of Butter

1 lb of parsnips chopped

2 medium onions chopped

2 cloves of garlic minced

6 cups of chicken or veggie broth

1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg

1/2 cup of evaporated milk

1/3 cup of maple syrup

2 tbsp of Dijon mustard

Salt to taste

3/4 cup toasted pine nuts or nut of your choice

Melt butter in heavy bottomed pan.  Add parsnips, onions, and garlic until onions are translucent.  Add stock and nutmeg, simmer until parsnips are soft, about 40 minutes.  Add the evaporated milk, and remove from heat.  Pour into a blender and puree until velvety smooth.  Stir in maple syrup, mustard and a little salt.  Serve with 3/4 cup toasted pine nuts or other nuts.

Serve with homemade baked bread.   ENJOY!

from Simply  in Season by Mary Beth Lind and Cathleen Hockman-Wert

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December 30, 2008 by Audrey.

Shrimp Creole Recipe

3/4 lb shrimp, fresh or frozen

1/4 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup chopped green pepper

1 clove of garlic, chopped

1/4 cup butter

3 T. flour

1 tsp chili powder

salt and pepper to taste

2 cups canned tomatoes

serve with rice

Saute onion, green pepper, and garlic in butter.  Blend in flour and seasonings.  Add tomatoes and cook until thick, stirring often.  Add shrimp and simmer uncovered about 20 minutes.

I love making this simple quick recipe and On the Vine in Exeter carries local Maine popcorn shrimp that are perfect for this meal.  And all the ingredients, except for rice can easily be grown/found local, especially if you plan ahead for a warm winter meal.

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October 21, 2008 by Audrey.

This year my family has been practicing the Red Queen principle from Through the Looking Glass:  “In this place it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place.”   Barbara Kingsolver speaks of this principle used by evolutionary ecologists to explain how plants and animals can stay ahead of the game from disease pathogens and predators.  I think this principle can also be applied to the human race trying to stay ahead of slowing down global warming, ironically though, brought on by themselves. My family of five challenged itself by practicing what we preach, which took a lot of running to stay in the same place, but we did it.

We took on eating locally, making our house and our habits energy efficient, consumed less, recycled, decreased our driving by biking and combining errands.  I took on a new job as a farmer’s assistant at our local CSA, Willow Pond.  We grew a  much larger vegetable garden,  worked towards making room for food storage, and took classes on canning and preserving food.

We erected a fence around our 25×60 foot garden, to insure that our resident ground hog would not be sharing our vegetable loot.   We rehauled our dilapidated greenhouse that came attached to our money pit house we bought 3 years ago, to help keep our tiny seedlings warm. We also had grand plans for a root cellar in our basement, but one large lesson we learned, was, “Wow! you really have to grow a LOT to save for everything for the winter.”  But that did not discourage us, we are proud of our butternut, red kuri and spagetti squash that is 20 deep each that take up a small space next to the 20.3 cubic foot freezer we purchased.    The 50lbs of  yukon gold potatoes we grew were so absolutely delicious, we ate them all already.  At least we have about 40lbs of French fingerlings left.

Our freezer is filled.  Upon opening the door, you see red, mixed with orange, and the occasional green.  The jars of homemade jam from strawberries, raspberries and peaches, stand coldly next to pesto of all kinds including, lime basil and garlic scape.  It’s got local meat, such as bacon (”we treat it like gold”, says farmer Kate from Willow Pond) from Kellie Brook farm,   ground lamb (to go with the Kusa grown in my garden to be eaten with the secret Kusa recipe, please see previous posts) from Riverslea Farm, and free range chickens from Lasting Legacy farm, all sitting aside of homemade chicken stock.  And don’t forget the veggies.  We have many bags of summer squash, corn, green beans, peppers, and green tomatoes.  Yes, mostly green, because our tomatoes and Willow Pond’s did not escape the extreme weather conditions this summer that had tomato plants wilting with humid happy diseases.

We have also been busy making extra large dishes of locally prepared foods and freezing entire ready to eat meals, such as chicken, green tomato, and serrano pepper chili for a cold winter’s day when the kids are screaming and time is short.

In the spirit of community, we decided to share  all this with another family.  We split our gardens, the connections we made, and most importantly the mishaps.  We learned oh so much through the mishaps…  the planting of 100 seedling tomatoes and then realizing only 15 each would actually fit in our gardens (they are so tiny and cute when they are young).  The challenging weather then caused those poor tomato plants to yellow and rot, but not before the alien monster tomato hornworm grew to at least 3 inches long (I swear) devouring them.  The eating of all the potatoes in hash browns, mashed potatoes and potato salad long before the leeks were ready to be added for soup, also will effect how I plan my garden for next year.

My family has come a long way this past year in the changing of our habits.  We hope all around it’s good for us, good for the environment, and good for others, because we love to share a wonderful meal with company we enjoy.

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March 26, 2008 by Audrey.

I found this article front and center, including pictures on the Washington Post website. This is an old haunting ground of mine, and it was great to see local foods moving into the mainstream. A real change from the typical food system.

Polyface Farm supplying large local restaurants

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February 23, 2008 by Audrey.

I just got a postcard in the mail from Stonyfield Farm for carrot soup. Now I hope they don’t mind, but I tried it because it calls for lots of plain yogurt. I just discovered the delicious Brookford Farm plain yogurt and was looking for a way to use it. You can pick some up every Thursday in Exeter from 2-4pm at 9 Newfields Road. Luke Mahoney set up his own farmer’s market once the regular season ended. He didn’t want to stop. It’s great, because you can also pick up fresh organic milk, salad greens, eggs, and occasionally beef. Here’s the recipe:

2 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves
3/4 cup onion, diced
1 tbsp ginger, peeled and chopped
3 cups carrots, peeled and chopped
4 cups vegetable stock
2 tbsp rice
1 cup plain yogurt
2/3 tbsp cornstarch
salt and pepper to taste

Using a small stock pot, heat olive oil over a medium-high flame. Once hot, add ginger, onions, and garlic, and saute until onions begin to soften and turn translucent. Add carrots, vegetable stock, and rice and simmer for 30min or until carrots break apart easily. Using a blender or food processor, puree the soup until smooth. Return the soup to the pot and heat over a medium flame. In a small bowl, combine yogurt and cornstarch and blend until well mixed. Stir this mixture into the soup, being careful not to bring the soup back to a boil. Season with salt and pepper (I like to add cayenne pepper) and garnish with a dollop of plain yogurt.

I make a lot of soup and this was a particularly good one. Sorry for no picture, we ate it all before I thought of it. And I would recommend doubling the batch.

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December 5, 2007 by Audrey.

I just came across a great little short film about consumerism. It is highly motivating to keep things local once you watch it. Check it out:

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

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October 3, 2007 by Audrey.

School has started up and I thought I would have more time to get to my favorite farmer’s markets, but it hasn’t happened! Waiting for school buses and Saturday morning kid activities has put a damper on that, but what it did was led me to think of new ideas of how to continue getting local foods for my family.

If I do miss the farmer’s markets, I found that by going to Kellie Brook farm on Route 33 for my meat and eggs, and then hitting Barker’s farm stand, which is open all the time, down the road in Stratham for fruits and vegetables, I can get the majority of the food we need. It’s easy and nearby! Barker’s farm stand even has milk and cheese too. Hopefully, next year I’ll be off the waiting list for the CSA, which will make it even easier.

Another time saving tip is the recipes I choose to make. I try my best to pick easy meals and save the long preparation meals for the weekends, like stuffed butternut squash with Kellie Brook farm sausage and Apple Annie apples. Some of our fast favorites are grilled eggplant sandwiches with local tomatoes, lettuce, cheese. I use mayonnaise with fresh garlic and basil and buns made at On the Vine. If I have time, I make homemade french fries. I also usually roast one whole chicken a week for a great family meal and the leftovers always makes a variety of different soups with whatever vegetables I have around. Other family favorites are lots of different variations of pizza, ratatouille and beans and rice, along side with a big piece of locally made or homemade bread with butter. And yes, my kids eat the meals with vegetables.

And can you believe it, a fairly good and informative local and organic foods article is actually on the CNN website. The way we eat is changing for more and more people.

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