Archive for July, 2008
“Call of the Honeybees”
Flowers, pollination, nectar, devotion to a queen, their utter busyness and single mindedness, the efficiency of their operation; a piece of warm toast slathered with melting butter and sweet honey. Sweet honey. We love most things about honeybees, especially the honey part. We write poems about them. They conveniently appear in our language when we [...]
Fresh Peas Please
The season for peas is right this minute. Whistling Train Farm had piles at the market last weekend and I’ve been daydreaming about possibilities ever since.
I’ll blanch the first batch for a minute or less, drain and dress with butter, salt and pepper, maybe a smidge of mint. Featuring the pea, that’s it. Next, [...]
A Classic Made Local: BLT
With tomatoes in season, there is no place I’d rather be than North Carolina. Growing up, one of my all-time favorite foods was a tomato sandwich — just bread, big slices of ripe tomatoes, mayo and plenty of salt and pepper. There were hot summer days when I would be perfectly happy to have a [...]
When Life Gives You Sour Cherries . . .
. . make cherry pie.
Our Montmorency cherry tree is having its annual 15-minutes of fame. Loaded with bright pink and golden cherries, it glows festively and looks like it’s been decorated with a string of lights. Cherries are enticing and children sometimes find their hot pinkness irresistible, grab a couple and pop them straight [...]
Eat Local on the Road: NC
Shortly after we arrived in North Carolina Friday evening, we experienced a southern style thunder-and-lightning storm. There were lightning fireworks and torrential rain on our drive to my sister’s home followed by thunder that seemed to shake the house. I remember these afternoon storms from my childhood but I’m told that lately they have mostly [...]
Smaller Foodprints: An Edible Garden
Food for thought about living sustainably from Kitchen Garden’s International. This video gets interesting, after a brief intro, by showing a family’s edible garden in both their back and front yard.
Fritz Haeg’s website is informative on this topic of edible gardens and reflects his devotion as a designer to using yard space for something [...]
At the Locabar: Cucumber Mint Cooler
At last we have weather worthy of drinking a “cooler”. For a group of six thirsty drinkers, start out with 1 cup of mint leaves, packed with no stems. You’ll also need 3 japanese cucumbers preferably from Mair Farm-Taki at the Farmers Market. Regular or english cukes will also work but these japanese cucumbers are [...]
Take A Wok With Shades Of Green
Whistling Farm challenges us to try something new once in a while in the way of greens, so when I saw their chrysanthemum greens last weekend I thought I’d go for it. 
But first, what the heck are they? … I tried a stir-fry using the chrysanthemum greens and other veggies that I had around, along with lots of sliced garlic stirred together quickly in hot peanut oil and served immediately.
Crank It Out: Ice Cream & Sorbet
A couple of years ago I started hinting that I wanted an ice cream maker for my birthday. My hinting must have been effective because I ended up with two, luckily two different styles. Last weekend I pulled them both out of the basement after coming home from the Farmers Market with half a flat [...]
Growing Our Food: Billy’s Organic Produce
Shopping at Farmers Markets pretty regularly for several years now, I feel this camaraderie with the farmers that I admit is a bit of a stretch since we don’t actually know each other. I like to think that we have a symbiotic and friendly relationship anyway. I want to high-five, say thanks. And Billy’s [...]
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