Maryland's Pick June 24, 2010

Welcome to Week 5 of Maryland’s Pick! Thanks for all of your help and feedback with this program so far.  We recently spoke with Luke from Homestead Farms and the weather continues to be extremely tough on their crops. While we expected to have squash ready for this week, it was “cooked” by the heat earlier this month. Hopefully the rain we received earlier this week will turn everything around! Feel free to learn more about Homestead Farms and the current conditions by visiting the Homestead Farms blog at: http://www.freshorganicvegetables.com/blog/on-the-farm  

Here are a couple of highlights we’ve received from our Maryland farmers about what is on the horizon:

·         Homestead Farms tomatoes should hopefully be ready to go in two weeks.  When they start popping, we should have tons!

·         Homestead Farms has new red potatoes growing well, which should be ready to go at about the same time as the tomatoes.

·         Homestead Farms has planted watermelons and cantaloupes, which should be ready in about one month.

·         Colora Orchards should start shipping stonefruit the week of July 4^th or shortly after.  Locally grown fruit is otherwise pretty tight until then…

·         Chesapeake Greenhouse has some other varieties of lettuce growing for us.  You can expect some red bibb, lollo rosa, lollo biondi, and red/green oak leaf.

·         Local salad dressing company, Tessemae’s, will be introducing new dressing varieties this summer. We’re looking at getting some samples in the bags for you to try!

Below is the list of Maryland’s Pick items for Friday, June 24: 

Homestead Farms

·         Green Cabbage

Koinonia Farms

·         Basil

·         Poultry Blend

Chesapeake Green house

·         Green Bibb Lettuce

·         Spring Mix

Hummingbird Farms

·         Cluster Tomatoes

Update on Garage Progress June 21, 2011

Heavy rains are heading our way...so task tonight...

Tarp The Garage

Boys at Camp RVR: Tuesday Photos~JT

Spanish Lentils (lentajas)

I was looking for a new recipe for lentils.  I found a few recipes that looked Delicious.  The best recipe was Spanish Lentils Stew (lentajas)


I used Spanish Lentil Soup, I did have to change it to make it vegetarian.

1 onion, chopped
4 carrots, chopped
garlic, chopped
3 handful cherry tomato, chopped
1/2 bag frozen peppers
3 small potatoes, chopped
1 soy chorizo, chopped
1 cup shredded kale
2 cups lentils
4 cups veggie broth
1 t cumin powder
1 t sweet paprika
1 pinch saffron

Cook onion and garlic in water until starts to turn color

Then add all other ingredients in a pot and cook for 30 to 45 minutes until veggies and lentils are cooked

Boys at Summer Camp: Monday ~ Jake

Monday photos of Jake at camp! Looks like FUN!!!

Boys at Camp RVR

The boys and I drove 2 hours to River Valley Ranch camp. They just love the camp. It is much like a dude ranch. Although, this year the boys have chosen to take paintball camp. Wow, it is going to be exciting to hear of the war stories. The boys will not be able to battle each other. JT is in the Jr. camp and Jake is in the Teen camp.

When we arrived it was nice to see the camp the same as always. They have tons of smiling leaders.

JT was the first one to be dropped off. He was super excited!!

This is his 3rd year of away camp. I am going to miss him!

I hope he has fun!!

Jake is the pro at camp. This is Jake's 5th year of camping! Time really flies! He is talking about how one day he would like to work at RVR during the summer! What a cool Job!!
I am going to miss Jake. He is a cool teen.

Update on Garage Progress

Days are drawing closer to CO day!!

The garage is really coming along.

Thanks to my sweet husband (in photo below) and my brother in laws! 

Swell job guys!

Dreams are coming true before my very eyes!!

Lentil Shepard's Pie

With all of the hard work with the construction of the new home, I was craving some comfort foods!

What type of dish can make one feel good?

hummmm

Mashed potatoes layered on a pile of veg and lentils!

This cottage (Shepard pie) was delish!!

I must make it again!!

Maryland's Pick June 17, 2010

Welcome to week 4 of the Maryland Pick program!

We were hoping to move out of some of the lettuces and greens this week and into a slightly more diverse bag, however mother nature was not on our side.  We were scheduled to add cucumbers and zucchini, however the heat last weekend stymied the growth.  Some of you have also asked about fruit in the bags – the Maryland season for fruit is a bit later into the summer, but when it arrives in a few weeks it should be great. We expect some fantastic peaches out of Poolesville, MD!

Here is the list of what each bag should look like this week:

 From Homestead Farms:

·          1 head of napa cabbage

·          1 head of green cabbage

·          1 bunch of swiss chard

From Koinonia Farms:

·          1 clamshell of organic chives

·          1 clamshell of organic thyme

From Chesapeake Greenhouse:

2 heads of Bibb lettuce

1 head of “spring mix”, roots included!

From Arnold Farms:

2 lbs of yellow squash

Bunny Update

The Bunnies are alive and doing well!

I was taking the recycling and trash out to the curb and got a gimps of the baby bunnies!

So, luck me....I had my camera out and was able to capture a few photos.

Chocolate Cake

Last day of School Celebration Chocolate Cake

I wanted to make a special dessert today to celebrate the return of Summer Mom! I just LOVE Summer Mom!! She does require some school work...but, mostly thinks of fun things to do!
I do not have plans this summer. BUT, the boys and I will do some fun stuff!
In addition to all of the work that must be done for the new home.

Chocolate bunt cake with butter cream frosting and chocolate shavings. Can you say YUMMY!

I do have a request in for my carrot cake. So in a few days....

I hope your summer is filled with delish food, family, friends and fun!!!

Black Bean Taco

Napa Cabbage with Chickpeas and Peanuts

This salad is from my Maryland's Pick produce. 

Napa Cabbage with Chickpeas and Peanuts

1/2 a head Napa Cabbage, shredded

2 lg carrots, shredded

1 red pepper, chopped

1/2 c parsley

1 c chives, chopped

3 cups chickpeas

combine and mix

dressing: 

lime juice

soy sauce

onion

agave

hot sauce

water

ginger

apple cider vinegar

combine in blender and mix

Add dressing to the salad mix.

Toss

Serve cold

Maryland's Pick June 10, 2011

We are still early in the Maryland produce season, so the bag this week is again heavy on the early “growers” such as lettuce and kale. We spoke with Homestead Farm about the produce variety and his answer got us excited – there’s a lot to look forward to in the coming weeks! Here’s a quick snapshot…

From Luke at Homestead Farms, “I would expect we will have onions, kohlrabi, and green cabbage within the next week or two. Tomatoes are on the vine, but just starting. We should also have some peppers, summer squash and egg plant early summer. We also tried sweet corn this year, but don’t hold your breath for that. The worms seem to like it more than the customers…..”

Your Maryland Pick bag for Friday, June 10 should contain the following:

From Homestead Farms:

·          1 head of Napa cabbage

·          1 head of Green Romaine Lettuce

·          2 bunches of Dinosaur Green Kale

·          1 bunch of Swiss/Rainbow Chard (medium bunch with red stems)

From Shenandoah Growers, Virginia*

1 clamshell of Organic Chives

·          1 clamshell of Organic Thyme

*Note – the herbs were originally sourced from Koinonia Farms in Stevenson, MD however there was an unexpected production issue, and we replaced them at the last minute with local herbs from Virginia. Also, some of you have asked about why the herbs come packaged as opposed to a bunch. While you can purchase some herbs in a loose bunch, the farms have provided us with herbs in a plastic clamshell container to help maintain the quality and keep the herbs fresh longer.

From Tessemae’s:

1 bottle of Tessemae’s dressing – With an abundance of lettuce this week, we wanted to throw in one of our favorite local dressings. Tessamae’s is a fantastic company, based right here in Annapolis! Learn more by visiting: http://www.tessemaes.com/

From Chesapeake Greenhouse:

2 heads of Bibb lettuce

1 head of Bouquet lettuce

House being set 6.8.11

rabbit nest

June 13: update
Mommy bunny has relocated the bunnies. The nest was empty. She probably moved the babies to higher ground. We had a long hard rain last night.
It was fun having our out door bunnies!

I was mowing the lawn and discovered a wild rabbit nest. We are going to watch the nest to help protect it from predators (namely, Molly--the family dog)

Per my sister, April's request: Here are photos of the bunnies.

I lifted the covering (placed it back after looking)

It looks like we have 2 baby bunnies!