Westminster Farmers’ Market Report from Maple Heights Farm
by Kerrie Hertel
Updated: Monday, March 08, 2010
Take up your Forks! You Can Now Begin Eating Seasonally in the Wachusett Region!
Seasonal Maple Syrup: Your Vote Counts! Vote for Local!
Our maple syrup producers are in full production! Look around you: taps are set everywhere, blue tubing running from tree to tree, metal pails hanging on the sides of trees, on my street alone (West Princeton Road) we have three syrup operations! Driving a bit further on Worcester Road, I see another! Forget those robins, this is really our first sign of spring! So vote local by committing to our own Wachusett Region Maple Syrup! Visit www.WachusettLocal.com where I will attempt to list local food producers. There, you will find the Maple producers that I know about in this area.
Food, Inc.
I realize I’m a little out-of-touch at times, but today it is more obvious to me than most days. I am using the “play” feature on my Netflix account to instantly (after buffering for a long time) watch Food, Inc. again. I really only want to see a few parts, but primarily the family that cannot afford to and does not have time for healthy food while the husband battles type II diabetes and the young daughter is likely to be diagnosed with it. I sit at the ready with the pause button (rewinding only causes another long buffering pause) and I discover that these “Rodeo Burgers” come in a bag that looks like a Burger King bag. Sure enough! A quick Google tells me that these burgers have been sold for more than 12 years! Never heard of them before! That makes my investigation a bit easier…
What I did not like about this segment was it did not ring true to me. This family is very unhealthy and unable to afford good food and they don’t have time to prepare it, yet from Burger King, they order seven sandwiches (five Rodeo burgers and 2 chicken sandwiches) and 3 sodas (not a great choice for diabetes). Being pretty good at nit-picking and having been accused at times of seeing things as too black-and-white, off I went to Burger King in Gardner. To my amazement, there on the dollar menu was in fact a Rodeo Burger for $1.49 (though I don’t think they paid this much in the movie) and a chicken sandwich (I had to ask if it was a sandwich). Upon returning home I weighed each sandwich and its parts.
The Rodeo Burger weighed in at 5 ounces for a whopping price of $4.75 per pound. Note that the meat and cheese together weighed a mere 1.5 ounces! Note that I did not separate the gooey cheese from the burger, this was the combined weight! The onion rings with sauce on them that topped the Rodeo Burger weighed 1 5/8 ounces with the remainder being bun with a bit of sauce. I did not know a burger could be made with less than 1.5 ounces of meat (makes me wonder why they need to add the “beef” filler that we saw in the movie). Let me just assume (in my own (non) endearing black-and-white way) that the meat was the only bit of the sandwich that had any worthwhile nutritional value. You really aren’t getting much for your money!
The chicken sandwich weighed 4 5/8 ounces with 2 ounces of spicy chicken patty (imagine 100 calories per ounce! I wish I had calculated calories per bite as this was not a large sandwich!). Since this sandwich only costs $1.00, its cost per pound is $3.46. In this case I cannot even go out on the nutrition limb and say the chicken patty may have had any nutritional value (sorry). In my opinion, all those hard to pronounce ingredients along with MSG cancel out any nutritional gain for me.
I estimate that the sodas came to $3.50 plus tax based on the order total of $11.48.
Next, the family walks through a grocery store. They complain about the broccoli being $1.29 per pound and pears being $.99 per pound (a sign that is ignored next to the broccoli is for carrots at .59/lb). The refuse to buy a pear for the youngest (pre-diabetic) daughter because it is too expensive! That scene is probably what bothered me most. You can purchase 2 or 3 pears for a dollar (believe me, I weighed the pears recently purchased from our local Log Cabin Orchard)! They would not spend 40 cents for a pear, but happily spend a lot of money on almost zero nutrients! What bothers me most about this segment is that they could have purchased 4 pears, carrots, cheese (or meat) and freshly baked whole grain bread for about $8.00 and would not have had to prepare anything. They could even upgrade the cheese to pre-cooked shrimp and still been at about $12.00 to feed their whole family. But they choose to go for fast food instead.
While walking through the store, the mom then talks about how cheap it is to buy soda, candy and chips. The soda is advertised as 4 for $5. That is infinitely more expensive than free water that they could bring along from home. And potatoes at 40 cents per pound are a small fraction of the cost of chips at $4.25 to $5.00 per pound (And YES I checked that today too)! How about an incredibly healthy serving of almonds instead for 23 cents per ounce (no kidding! cheaper than chips!). They taste as good (or better) and you aren’t as likely to eat three servings (when is the last time you had one ounce of chips) – and one ounce of almonds, alone, will keep you satisfied for hours.
Ok, now, forgive me for seeming like I’m picking on this family for their poor food choices. In my opinion, it is Food, Inc. that missed the boat on this segment. This is not a problem of high food prices, this is a problem of education and horribly poor choices. It’s okay to go for fast food and spend $12 on an inexpensive meal. But please don’t then tell me you cannot afford healthy food! If you can afford Burger King, you can afford healthy food! And if you prepare your food at home (it seems this family doesn’t have time), many homemade meals can cost under $5 for a family of six! I really liked this movie (would give it five stars), but just really object to this segment!
Visit our Westminster Farmers’ Market website…
We have a new (still preliminary and unapproved) website for the Westminster Farmers’ Market. Visit for ideas on how you can help the Farmers’ Market, participate as a vendor, or get information on our schedule for the season.
Visit us at www.WestminsterFarmersMarket.com. Google us too, by clicking here, then click on our farmers’ market. This will help us bubble up to the top of the search page. As of now, we are listed in the middle of the first page, but have tough competition (Westminster, London, being one competitor).
In the Garden…
Spring is in full swing in my house. And outside, Andy has set up a 4x8 cold frame for me on the driveway. It still needs a gasket but so far is holding at 10 degrees warmer than the outside temperature. In two weeks I’ll move my globe artichokes into it to give them a taste of winter. This is supposed to trick them into producing this year (we’ll see). All my seeds have germinated and moved upstairs into the sun (and florescent lights) and I have since started leeks, cabbage, cauliflower and lettuce. New lettuce gets started every two weeks from here on in.
If you are planting vegetables this year, run into Agway and get yourself a soil thermometer (and some pea seeds). As soon as the frost is out of the ground and this mud dries up, start monitoring the soil temp. When the soil temp is steady at 45 degrees (it does change from day to day, though more slowly than the air temperature) soak your peas overnight and plant in the garden. You can also plant onion sets and shallots as soon as the soil is dry enough to work.
In the meantime, start cabbage, cauliflower and lettuce seeds indoors. Order your broccoli, Chinese cabbage and more lettuce because you will want to start those indoors in two weeks.
All this information is in my garden calendar, but I only have five left. If you would like one, don’t wait too long…
Maple Heights Farm…
At Maple Heights Farm, we are well stocked with meat. Our products are available either through Mass Local Food or by pre-ordering by email. You can see our complete inventory on our website.
If you do not receive this weekly and would like to, send your email and we’ll add you to our list. Conversely, if you would like to get off this email list, reply to this note and let us know.
Cooking on the Edge: Pig’s Feet and Chicken Toes, Oh My!
Westminster Farmers’ Market has a new website…
We have a new (somewhat preliminary) website for the Westminster Farmers’ Market. Visit for ideas on how you can help the farmers’ market, participate as a vendor, or get information on our schedule for the season. Visit us at www.WestminsterFarmersMarket.com. Google us too, by clicking here. This will help us bubble up to the top of the search page (as of now, we are listed at the bottom of the first page).
Cooking on the Edge…
Because of our farm, we have some foods in our house that are out there on the fringe. We have an oxtail or two, pig’s feet, organ meats, and perhaps strangest of all, during the last chicken processing day and because my children’s favorite meals seem to revolve around our healthy broths (and because Julia Child and Weston A. Price tell me I can do this, and I know the nutritional value of homemade broth), I requested that they save a few chicken feet for me. Now, I know that puts me way out on the edge of strange, right along with the contents of my freezer, but I assure you, I wasn’t always like this.
When we first were married I said on more than one occasion, “if it doesn’t come wrapped in plastic on a Styrofoam tray, I’m not eating it!” So, what happened? It all started with fresh eggs from our first batch of chickens, progressed to dealing with a horribly territorial and dangerous rooster that had a personality conflict with my then 8 year old son. I felt the rooster’s life should not be for nothing, so we decided we owe it to him to eat him rather than bring him to the dump. Then we moved on to raising our first (48 lb) Thanksgiving turkey and I have continued to become more enlightened ever since ;-).
During this time, we traveled to France and throughout the trip I would jokingly tell Andy that I was certain that I was French in a past life. We stayed at Hotel Slalom in Les Houches (near Chamonix) for a week before moving on to Paris (and then onto Normandy and Mont Saint Michele). The owners of Hotel Slalom took great care of us (we were their first and only guests to start their winter season) and they spent a lot of time talking to us about local foods. Often they did not even present us with a menu but instead made the decision about what we should try at mealtimes: pate, fois gras, cheese fondue, beef bourguignon, wines and cheeses of the region (not that these were all new foods to us, but we loved that they wanted us to really experience France through the food, too!). Everywhere we traveled we were amazed by the food, many recipes made from things that we would discard instead of even consider eating in America, and yet, it all tasted so good!
Now, I wonder, am I enlightened enough to respect our animals by using every bit of them and not be wasteful??? I am about to find out! I am preparing to make stock with our own pig’s feet and chicken feet, armed with recipes and directions from a few websites (pork stock, chicken feet stock, pig’s feet soup)!
Day 1
Andy has now dug through the freezer and found what I need – and I’m losing my nerve! I can do this! I hope I don’t have to wash or touch them! “Chop off the claws”! Are you kidding me??? I do not want to touch them! “If any rough patches, cut them away with a paring knife”??? I’m not going to eat them, I just want to simmer them! Can I skip this step??? Julia Child says I can do this! I have my doubts!
Day 2
I washed the feet and put them in a large pot. I used my huge lobster pot so I would not have to keep rearranging feet as they stick out of the pot! I boiled the feet for 15 minutes and drained and rinsed them. I have decided not to chop rough patches and such. I don’t really want to examine them that closely! After rinsing, I added water, herbs and vegetables and put the pot back on to simmer. My house smells FANTASTIC right now. This is the richest smelling broth that I have made thus far. Two of my children know what I’m doing and are planning to avoid dinner tonight: one is skiing and will surely have other plans come dinner time, the other will probably be fasting. They are obviously not fully aware of the magic of the freezer and I will be able to feed this to them when they are not looking.
Later on Day 2
My broth is simmered and strained. The broth looks rich and smells terrific. The non-broth: not so great. Now, everyone in the house knows what I have been up to, only Russell (5 years) is looking forward to digging in. I think if I gave him a chicken foot right now, he would sit down with a plate and happily attempt to eat it! To him, there is probably no difference between that and a lobster leg. To the rest of us, we know it is not quite the same! Now that the broth is strained, we will chill the broth to solidify all the fat and Andy said he wants to pick the pork out of the pig’s feet. I have read that there is a lot of good meat in there, but I’m not going in for a look! If he picks it out, the meat will be a good addition to Hot and Sour Soup which I will make tomorrow.
Day 3
Here is where it is all worthwhile. My broth is a gelatin now with a surprisingly small amount of fat on it, probably firmer than any broth I have ever made. I want to see this in my broth as gelatin is an important part of our diet: it aids digestion, helps us absorb complete protein, and provides a concentrated source of easily digested vitamins, minerals and glucosamine. While there are also benefits to consuming packaged gelatin, it is not the same as making your own, and your house won’t smell nearly as good!
For my soup, I’ll leave out the tiger lily buds because I don’t have any and I’ll substitute dried oyster mushrooms for the wood ear mushrooms because that is what I have on hand. I’ll substitute honey for the sugar and I’ll try to recover some leeks from the garden because I don’t have green onions. I will have to purchase bamboo shoots and tofu because this soup should have both of those ingredients, and I’ll double the amount of egg because I love that texture and flavor in this soup.
Will I do this again? YES. If you read about the healthy qualities of broth, you will see that this is a worthwhile task. If you taste foods with homemade broth, you will know that taste is a great reason to try this. My broth has added a delicious flavor to my soup that I would not be able to get from bouillon cubes. It has no salt, but doesn’t need it because it has real, concentrated flavors that don’t need enhancement from the addition of salt or MSG.
Is it worth doing? For the health reasons alone, YES, YES, YES. It was a bit creepy (perhaps a bit more than a bit creepy), but the more I do something, the more routine it becomes, and the easier it becomes. Making broth from chicken, turkey and beef bones is second nature to me and takes about 15 or 20 minutes of my time. This broth may have taken more than that, it certainly seems like it did, but that is probably because I over-analyze the process until it is familiar. I have access to about 120 pig’s feet per year and probably over 100 chicken feet. I’m sure I won’t be able to use them all, but I’ll certainly use some of them! Now, what to do with that tongue…
In the Garden…
I hope you are considering planting a few seeds indoors on a sunny windowsill. You don’t need to go crazy with it, just try one or two vegetables or flowers. To me, the most satisfying things that I grew from seed last year were broccoli (start next month) and leeks (start this week), so if I were to only select two items, that is what I would select. Six broccoli plants fed us through most of the fall and into December. Late in the summer we started eating broccoli and every time we cut a head, new ones appeared, each as delicious as the one before! This year I will grow more! Leeks were so easy, and they are really beautiful and so are very appropriate for some green texture even in your flower gardens! Thus far, I am having great results with my geraniums and artichokes (though my ivy geraniums had only 50% germination and the seed company is shipping another pack). Both are ready to be transplanted into cell packs (which is what Bob Thomson in The New Victory Garden book recommends). I have had to give them a dose of wood ash early on as signs of fungus were springing up and I wanted to head-off damping-off. I would not start seeds indoors without a small dish of wood ash. I have started more geraniums, celeriac, onions and blue wave petunia… and those sit beside my fire until they germinate…
Bring a Little Spring Inside…
Now is the time to take a few branches of forsythia and pussy willows. Bring them into a cool room and put them in warm water. You will have blooms in less than 10 days!
Maple Heights Farm…
At Maple Heights Farm, we are well stocked with meat. Our products are available either through Mass Local Food or by pre-ordering by email. You can see our complete inventory on our website. We still have some calendars available that will get you started on vegetable gardening in 2010! You can now order online!
If you do not receive our weekly Farmers' Market Report but would like to, send your email and we’ll add you to our list. Conversely, if you would like to get off this email list, please let us know.
Super Size Me and My Garden
Come see Super Size Me with me…
This Friday, February 12th, there will be a showing of Super Size Me at the office of Dr. Linda Smith and Associates. This is an interesting movie about a month long journey of one person eating nothing but food from McDonald’s. This free evening promises to be enjoyable with comfortable seating, a room filled with people that are interested in food, great discussions and refreshments. The movie will be at 2 Narrows Road in Westminster, Suite 101A. I hope to see you there!
My Seed Starting progresses...
While we await the warm weather, spring has started in my sunny window. My geraniums are up, along with about half of my ivy geraniums and half of my artichokes. It is now time to start seeds for onions, celery (and celeriac) and very early tomatoes (I’m going to try a few cherry varieties). Start looking for seeds for leeks as you will want to start them in two weeks. Now, it is not terribly important that you start these seeds now as you will be able to plant onion sets in about another month, you can start regular season tomatoes later – or of course you can buy them already started at a nursery, though I am not certain that you will find celery or celeriac.
I am going to again recommend to you the book Square Foot Gardening. This book was given to me last month and I have re-read it (I think I have read every version) and this new version was well worth re-reading. There is quite a buzz about it among those planning vegetable gardens this year. The simple garden layout is well worth trying. Instead of laboriously digging up your yard, this method uses a raised bed (usually 4x4) filled with high quality soil. Then, you plant in a grid, making the most use of the space for vegetables while minimizing space for weeds. The methods used for building, planting, weeding, and watering will keep you going throughout the season and give you a successful harvest with minimal work.
What about just putting a raised bed over any old soil? I can tell you that this will work perfectly. My vegetable garden is in a location that couldn’t even be rototilled a few years ago (very hard soil). I have a few raised beds that I fill and then I make little rows, bean teepees, and hills wherever I find room. I plant my corn in “hills” that I just plunk in my garden wherever I have extra space. Then I mulch heavily and watch my vegetables grow. By the end of the season the soil around these hills is very friable. I can dig down beneath the “hills” and the soil (that was once hard and inhospitable to plants) is loose and filled with earthworms.
Farmers’ Market Vendors…
If you are planning to have a booth at the Farmers’ Market this year, or if you are just interested in learning more about it, we will be holding seminars on Board of Health requirements and collecting sales tax. Attending these seminars will get you a discount on the annual market fee if you pay that evening. Look for more information on the Westminster Town Website.
Maple Heights Farm…
At Maple Heights Farm, we are well stocked with meat. Our products are available either through Mass Local Food or by pre-ordering by email. You can see our complete inventory on our website.
Football and Valentine’s
Orders for Mass Local Food are now open…
Orders for Mass Local Food are open until midnight on February 1st with the delivery day to follow on Friday in Westminster at the Leominster road Farmers’ Coop building. Note that we also have pickup sites in Berlin, Sterling, and Holden. I’m placing my order which will include many locally produced items. But I’m dreaming of my lunch on Saturday which will include half a ginger scone and a pear that is ready to eat and is as sweet and juicy as any fruit you ate in August. I don’t hide food from my family as a general rule – not even the chocolate chips (though I’m tempted with baking powder – an ongoing story for another day), but, even though I have ordered 12 pears, I will be lucky to get even one! Last month I cut one in half (my first one even though I have ordered these over the past few months) to share with Andy and discovered why they disappear so quickly. I immediately ate my half and his half too as I was discovering this! My children would not go through a batch of cookies as fast as they can go through a bag of these pears!
Don’t forget to stock up on all your entertaining needs for this month. Plan a few local meals; believe it or not, this is still possible, even in February!!
Two Great Food Events in February…
On February 7th, we will be watching the Super Bowl in this house. Occasionally I do enjoy taking a Sunday afternoon off from the usually craziness and watching a football game. Andy is already planning to make a big batch of Country Style Pork Ribs for the Super Bowl. For the barbeque sauce, it will be homemade. Because the rib recipe is so simple, it is worth taking the few extra minutes to make your own sauce. After trying homemade sauces, you will find that many of the canned varieties have a chemical taste that you cannot (thankfully) duplicate in your own kitchen! I am not certain what I will serve with the ribs, but it WILL include rice. I’ll need the rice later in the week for pork fried rice (for which you need leftover rice and bits of pork – and I’ll have both). I’m thinking the fried rice will go well with an egg drop soup or wonton soup – and I have a couple of pig’s feet in the freezer. Now, I’m not really the type to deal well with cooking pig’s feet, but lots of people do it, and I’m also not the type to open a can of broth if I don’t have to. I can do this! Andy tells me they are sliced up so look less foot-ish. I’m glad for that…
Normally for the Super Bowl, I prefer chili. Our daughter, Meghan’s award winning (local prize – she and her friend Caitlin captured the middle school vote – anyone that couldn’t decide voted for them!) chili recipe is great because it uses so many fresh ingredients. You can actually taste the complexity of eight different vegetables, 3 different meats, and 11 herbs and spices. If you have the ability (or the guts) to fry, purchase some corn tortillas and fry them up for a delicious corn chip to accompany your chili (those chips may also be the reason they won the chili contest). Make enough for a nacho meal later in the week (chips, leftover chili, avocado, salsa, tomato, lettuce, olives all served with some corn and rice on the side). Frying may seem like a daunting task, but, if you have the right equipment, you can do this in about 5 minutes – not including the time it takes to heat the oil.
The other great food event is Valentine’s Day . If we were going out to dinner (which we are not) we would surely pick a local restaurant. No TGIFridays for us. Some favorite restaurants come to mind: The Angler, The Gardner Ale House, Harrington Farm, Sonoma’s, Il Forno’s, Bombay Tandoor, The Old Mill (beautiful for a light meal on a snowy evening, sit by the river), Joseph’s Bistro, McNally’s… There are plenty of local options. Try something new. Pick a restaurant that will serve you real food made from the freshest ingredients available. Investigate and go beyond for your Valentine!
But speaking about going beyond, how about cooking a local meal at home…together! Spend some time in the kitchen doing something enjoyable. Clean and declutter the kitchen the week prior so everything is perfect and within reach and easy to find. Purchase some great local foods – there are plenty available. I suggest a crown roast of pork, but a nice roast beef will work. Perhaps even some steaks actually cooked on a wood fire. Sure it is winter, all the more reason to have a fire outdoors. And have you ever actually had a steak cooked over wood? It’s not like the steak flavor that you are used to. You will get rid of your gas grill if you try this! Plenty of local vegetables exist, butternut squash is probably at its best now. See if you can find some potatoes and onions, Elim Lodge Farm has sprouts and Rachel’s everlasting has kale. Top it off with a dessert from Honeybee baking company for a special treat and serve it with locally roasted organic fair trade coffee from Billy Goat Beanery! Then don’t forget a chocolate or two from Priscilla’s. Not quite what you are looking for? How about a seafood casserole in your own puff pastry? Cook a live lobster for this. The difference is amazing and worth the extra effort. And save the broth as it will add some incredible flavor to your next soup! Served with sautéed butternut squash and onions (add brown sugar, butter and pecans – or local nuts if you can find them). Joe at Westminster Pharmacy has some local wines and if you tell him what you are serving for dinner he will even match the perfect wine to your meal!
A Nice Evening Out with Dr. Smith…
On January 15th, Andy and I went to see Food, Inc. for the second time (first time was at home and ordered from Netflix). As I expected, it was really nice seeing it with a group of people that are interested in their food. In attendance was one man who worked at one of the meat packing plants shown in the movie, several local producers, teachers, and people that were really interested in our local economy and our local food.
My one concern about seeing a movie in this setting was the seating. I’m mentioning it here because that may have held you back from attending. I can assure you; the seats were very comfortable and worked perfectly for this two hour event!
On February 11th, Dr. Smith will be showing Supersize Me!, another great food movie. Consider coming along and enjoying the movie, discussion and local flavors! It’s a great way to spend an evening, it’s free, and the discussion at the end is really interesting! It’s a great way to meet some new people and to get out of the house on these cold winter nights!
On Wednesday, some friends told me that Oprah was going to do a show on food. I don’t usually watch Oprah because I rarely watch TV before 8:00 at night but I decided not to miss it! Oprah started off the show with a quiz. I got them all right, but two of the questions were particularly horrifying, one about the amount of soda children drink and one about the amount of antibiotics going into our meat! I particularly liked her talk (interview?) with Michael Pollan who wrote The Omnivore’s Dilemma. If you are interested, you can watch it here. Well worth a few minutes of time…
My Seed Starting has started...
I have started my artichokes and geraniums and I have a nice “potting shed” set up in my garage. I don’t need florescent lights yet as the seeds have not yet germinated. They are just sitting next to the fire until they do. At that point, I will set up my lights to keep them going. Next month you can start celery, celeriac, onions (from seed) and leeks. I have never grown celery before, but now is as good a time as any to try. Leeks are easy and would be a great addition to even a flower garden as they look so beautiful (read Edible Landscaping to get ideas of how to work your vegetable plants into your landscape). I have never even eaten celeriac, but alas I have succumbed to the marketing miracle of the seed catalog. We ate so many vegetables from our garden and from storage this winter that I think celeriac will be a great addition – and I think we will enjoy it in our winter soups.
The Agricultural Commission would like to know what kind of interest there may be in a community garden. If this is something you need or want, please let me know by emailing me here. Also, please let me know your level of interest. Would you definitely participate? Would you like more information before you decide? Do you think it is a good idea for the general community, but you don’t need one? We really do want to hear from you!
Maple Heights Farm…
At Maple Heights Farm, we are well stocked with meat. Our products are available either through Mass Local Food or by pre-ordering by email. You can see our complete inventory on our website.
We still have some calendars available that will get you started on vegetable gardening in 2010! You can now order online!
Kerrie Hertel
January 13, 2010
Five Months on One Tank of Oil? We Can Hope…
Come see Food, Inc. with me…
And you will have one more reason to shop at our Westminster Farmers’ Market and Mass Local Food! This Friday, January 15th, there will be a showing of Food, Inc. at the office of Dr. Linda Smith and Associates. I saw this movie over the Christmas break and it is really well done and definitely worth seeing (and if you’ve seen it, you know it is worth seeing again).
To be able to view this in a group setting is fantastic because it is a movie that evokes discussion! I have heard it said that you shouldn’t plan to go out to eat after seeing this movie, and I didn’t get that feeling, but I think I have read EVERY book written by EVERY author that was interviewed for this movie, so it held no surprises for me. Still, there was an interesting sub-story or two within the movie that really got me thinking…
This movie is free. I plan to attend and I’m already thinking of what I might donate to the (optional) refreshments table… The movie will be at 2 Narrows Road in Westminster, Suite 101A. I hope to see you there!
A trip to King Arthur Flour:
Over the Christmas Holidays, Gwen Farley, Carol McGee and I took the day off from family life and headed up to Vermont to King Arthur Flour. We signed up for a class on baking using whole grains. It was a great experience. The class was about four hours in length and we picked up loads of tips to improve our baking. Between the three of us we have a lot of experience baking about 15 or 20 loaves of bread each week (combined), yet as soon as the class started we were all learning new tips and tricks!
During the class, we made the following:
Spice Cake: The recipe we used was modified as follows: 2/3 cup of sugar, 1 tsp baking soda, and reduce the oil to 2 T. All in all, not bad for a snack cake. My children loved this cake, I didn’t care for it, but I only tried the instructor’s cake and I think it wasn’t mixed as well as it should have been.
Whole Grain 5 seed bread: This is similar to a five seed braid that we made in class. This loaf is absolutely delicious. I made it yesterday for my family. By the time lunch was over (for Russell and I) most of the loaf was gone. Russell ate five pieces and our normally very well behaved dog snatched 2 more pieces from Russell. I can’t think of too many times our dog has snatched food so I have to guess that the bread was too good for her to pass up. It may be because we decided to eat on the floor by the fire – but the dog loved the bread, too! The recipe we made in class was sugar-free. I used two tablespoons of brown sugar.
Multi-seed crackerbread, for which I cannot find a comparable recipe. This was so much fun to make and delicious to eat. I really enjoyed these with fresh goat cheese from Capri. When I came home we experimented with the cheddar cheese crackers. These were delicious and were gobbled up in short order – even by my cheese-hater (whose favorite food is pizza).
The class was great fun and a welcome day away with good friends. I think we will make it a holiday tradition! One word of caution if you try these or any King Arthur recipes. They are based on a cup of whole wheat flour weighing four ounces – which is VERY light. All purpose flour (for their recipes) weighs 4.25 ounces per cup. I always weigh my flour rather than measure it at home, but these weights are much lighter than what will work in many of my own recipes. For the whole grain 5-seed bread, definitely lightly sprinkle the flour into the cup until it is piled to the top, then even it up with a knife. Do not scoop the flour for these recipes. Better yet, weigh it if you have a small kitchen scale. It is worth this slight extra attention, especially for the whole grain seed bread!
One other interesting event from the class. The instructor passed around a “rancid” batch of whole wheat flour. Everyone in the class smelled it and most of the students felt that that is what whole wheat flour is supposed to smell like! Interesting! I have been using whole wheat flour from Four Star Farms in Northfield. I gave it the sniff test. It actually smells sweet with absolutely NO TRACE at all of the sharp smell of some whole wheat flours. Of course, it was just milled 5 days ago! This is a worthwhile addition to your pantry. Although it is more expensive than what are used to at the grocery store ($2.00 per pound instead of $.50), your family just may give up nutritionally bankrupt white bread forever – and that alone is worth it!
The Hertel, one-tank-of-oil project…
We are doing well with our tank of oil. I filled my tank on November 13th making the assumption that the price would be higher as winter got under way. I was going to top-off the tank around December 21st in order to start the winter with a full tank. I never did this. So, we are now two months into this tank of oil. The gauge on the tank is exactly half way between ½ full and ¾ full. I don’t know exactly what this means because the gauge is this red floaty thing that is about 3/8 inch thick. I don’t know if I need to look at the top or the bottom or the middle of the floaty thing. Either way, it looks like I’ll still be above (or at) ½ tank by January 21st (about 2 months and 1 week after filling the tank). I’m estimating we will make it at least to the beginning of April before we need to consider refilling! That is about 4.5 months on one tank of oil. I’m pretty happy with that considering the weather. Although we haven’t had many dreadfully cold days, we have had constantly cold days and I’m sure we have all forgotten by now how WARM a 35 degree day is!
In November, I estimated that I would need to run the central heat (radiant floor heat and hydro-air) if it gets below 20 degrees with a westerly wind or at 10 degrees no matter how much the wind blows. As it is now, we have only turned on the heat for less than one hour so far this winter! Andy turned it on in one of our upstairs rooms, I turned it off. He mumbled something about freezing pipes in the attic, but the house was not cold enough to freeze them (and we do have antifreeze in the pipes). As I sit here now it is about 68 degrees with two wood stoves running (one in the basement and one on the first floor). This is pretty constant for the temperature of the main part of the house during the day. It is a bit colder in the morning and the kids bedrooms are colder than 68, probably closer to 60 degrees but they have warm bedding and would probably be too warm at 68 degrees anyways. They also occasionally use a hot water bottle to pre-heat their beds before crawling in (probably an enormous energy saver over all!) Our bedroom thermostat is set at 50 degrees but the room stays warm enough that the gas fireplace has turned on only few times this winter. Note that I do keep a heavy sleeping bag weighted against two exterior doors that should have the weather stripping upgraded without this; we would probably be using the central heat from time to time.
I continue to run the furnace in the evening for one cycle (which we are only using for hot water). This gives us enough hot water for one run of the dishwasher (all we need), water for cleaning up, and showers for everyone. If we don’t use up all the hot water, it stays warm until evening (probably longer but we reheat it after supper anyways). I have yet to figure out if it is more efficient to run the furnace all the time, or just once per day. My genius brother in law is going to solve this for me. He is going to wire an analog clock to my furnace which will run only when the furnace runs. At the end of the day and the end of the week, we will know for how long the furnace runs. We will test this by leaving the furnace on for a full day and also by running it just for one cycle per day, then comparing the results and rerun the test, but for a week at a time. I’m really curious about his one!
Well, the Fed-Ex truck just delivered a new motherboard for my refrigerator (which has been out of commission for almost a week while I try to guess at the problem – I’m very thankful for the internet!). I’m off to swap that out to see if we can get this thing cold again! Wish me luck, as all this oil savings isn’t going to amount to much if I’m facing the purchase of a new refrigerator!!
Gardening Year 2010:
I am wondering if anyone is interested in swapping any interesting cherry tomatoes with me? Perhaps four seeds from your interesting cherry tomatoes for four seeds of mine? I like to grow interesting colors and shapes of cherry tomatoes because they are more fun for my children and I think it is a great way for them to get a bit more interested in the garden and in the food that they eat. They are also great as little snacks for school in September. This year, I have ordered the following:
Juliet – not really a cherry, but a beauty that will make any gardener feel like a professional. Use in salad, cooking, or dry them for the winter.
Maple Heights Farm:
We still have some calendars available that will get you started on vegetable gardening in 2010! You can now order online!
Kerrie Hertel
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December 17, 2009
Why NOT Make Your Own Puff Pastry?
The Holidays are upon us and everyone is in crazy mode preparing to have a relaxing Christmas day. We are no exception as we are triple-booked some nights with meetings, elementary school chorus performances, holiday gatherings and parties! With all the craziness, it is harder to gather my thoughts around dinner every night – and our local fruits and vegetables are becoming scarce. Still we have no trouble finding the following:
• Apples from Bolton Orchard that are as crisp as the day they were picked.
• Butternut squash from Hartman’s Herb Farm (Mass Local Food)
• Kale and sprouts from Elim Lodge Farm (Mass Local Food)
• Jerusalem artichokes and greens from Rachel’s Everlasting (Mass Local Food)
• Cheese, eggs and whole grains
• Beef, Pork, Lamb, Goat, Veal
I recommend a new year’s resolution to start you on your way for 2010. New Years is a great time to change a habit, and changing it slightly and permanently is better than changing something drastically but impossibly.
How about having one non-processed, as local as possible, day each month through the winter – just one day out of 30 – but for the entire day. This habit can get you started on healthier eating. Stick to the whole foods and do some of the preparation yourself. Pick the day of the month that is easiest for you, perhaps a weekend when everyone is home and you can possibly put some little hands to work helping (or should I say “helping” in quotes?).
• Breakfast: Home baked bread (dust off the bread machine and try it, it’s easier than you think) or eggs with sausage or bacon, or simply hot oatmeal, plain or stir in a bit of peanut butter and maple syrup.
• Lunch: vegetable sauté or leftover homemade soup or perhaps a cheese sandwich.
• Dinner: roasted chicken or pot roast or homemade pizza or quiche with your own homemade pie crust. It doesn’t have to be elaborate; it can be simple and fun and will surely be healthier than something from the freezer section!
One year I resolved to learn to make puff pastry. I wanted to perfect what I put on the table without relying on the refrigerator or freezer section of the local grocery store. My kids don’t love pie crust but I found that they would devour my turkey pot pie if I used a single crust of puff pastry over the top instead of pie crust. And I can tell you that puff pastry is almost a pie crust with a bit (just a bit) more folding and rolling. I like knowing how to make puff pastry because it is free of added chemicals and is very versatile and it also contains butter instead of chemically laden shortening. One time Andy and I went to a very nice restaurant in Princeton (someone had given us a gift certificate) and I had a creamy lobster dish wrapped like a cornucopia in puff pastry. It was beautiful and a delicious (and expensive) meal, but my puff pastry is more tender and flaky! In addition to topping my pie, I use puff pastry for pastries filled with chocolate hazelnut spread and farmers’ market raspberry jam (if you try this people with think you stopped at the bakery on the way to the party). I also fill it with Smith’s Country Cheese Gouda and bake it until the cheese melts.
Another great recipe for your puff pastry bag of tricks is Cream Puff Shells. I use this recipe on Christmas Eve for our Seafood Newburg to take to Andy’s family gathering – a bit unconventional I know, but it works surprisingly well! It is a unique and interesting way of making pastry and is a terrific substitute for those Pepperidge Farm shells – and they come from my own kitchen – which I like. Of course they can be used for Cream Puffs too! It is easier than you think and probably one of the most fun and simple recipes you can make!
My Broccoli Days are probably over…
Last week after the snowstorm, with a night of 16 degrees in the forecast (that’s -9 for my UK readers!); I picked most of my remaining broccoli. I skated through the 8 inches of ice-crusted snow to my garden, dug through the snow where I could and collected to my heart’s content. It was delicious and a real treat so late in the season. I did leave some just to see how much mileage I can get out of it this winter, but it was covered by snow at the time and I’m fairly certain it will be frozen solid by now (3 degrees with wind chill (-16C))! I had planned to have hamburgers for dinner that night, but when I saw the broccoli, I decided on broccoli with cheese sauce and cornbread instead. It was delicious and very sweet (not how you might usually describe broccoli) and a welcome addition to our table this time of year! So, next year, when you are planning your vegetable garden, don’t forget to read the chapters on double-cropping, winter gardening and carryover gardening. The gardening season does not have to end on September first. My new gardening calendar will keep you on track!
Christmas Farmers’ Market…
We filled the DPW barn to overflowing last week with vendors selling everything from terrific food to holiday gifts and decorations. We appreciate the terrific job that the DPW did in keeping us warm (I’m sure not an easy task considering the cold outside). It was a great ending to a great Farmers’ Market year and many of us are already looking forward to 2010 when we will plan to reopen early in May. The Agricultural Commission is already planning to make 2010 our best season yet! Stay tuned for updates over the winter.
Orders are opening for Mass Local Food on December 21st and will stay open until January 4th with a delivery day of January 8th. This is your simplest method for obtaining all the fresh local farm products that this region has to offer!
News from Our Farm
At Maple Heights Farm, we will have our last batch of 25 chickens processed on December 20th, just in time for a Holiday meal if you wish (pair it with a small boneless ham and you have the makings of a terrific Christmas dinner). These chickens are a heritage breed, Barred Plymouth Rock, and are listed by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy protects genetic diversity in livestock and poultry species through the conservation and promotion of endangered breeds.
Now, if you followed along with my suggested reading last summer, you will know: if you eat them, the species will recover an interesting paradox to say the least. Our chickens have been free-ranging outside since they were old enough to survive the elements without protection (though we brought them in on Tuesday night for the first time due to the weather). We have used a “chicken tractor” that gets moved to fresh grass every few days, providing a clean and rich source of food. This is not your oven-stuffer roaster (we had those in October and they were delicious in their own right) but should have a more chicken-like flavor, though not as plump and tender (or mushy as some would say). We will take orders by email or at the market on Friday. Price is $4.00 per pound and I estimate they will weigh between 3 and 5 pounds each. Pickup will be at our home in Westminster later in the day on December 20th. These can be eaten fresh on or before Christmas Day or put in the freezer for later this winter.
We have also developed a “Gardener’s Calendar” for your Christmas gift-giving needs (for those vegetable gardening gift recipients living in or near Zone 5), and we think you may want one for yourself! This beautiful, 11 x 17 wall calendar guides beginner and expert gardeners through planting, fertilizing, weeding, thinning and harvesting of all the major vegetables and also keeps track of all your household appointments.
Created by Maple Heights Farm, this calendar will be the most valuable guide for all vegetable gardeners, new or experienced! Did you know you can plant onion, shallots, peas and spinach in March? In April: radish, scallion, seed potato, kohlrabi, turnip, and carrots?
By following the schedule outlined in this calendar our family has eaten out of our vegetable garden since May and we will still have beets, carrots, shallots, kale and leeks if they survive this cold! These calendars are $14 each or $12 if you order 5 or more (pair them with a trowel, a packet of seeds and some plant labels for a terrific gift – Agway is well stocked). You can view a sample of the calendar here.
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Westminster Farmers’ Market Report from Maple Heights Farm
Eating the Best Quality Food and Saving Money at the Same Time…
Thanksgiving is over, table cloths and napkins washed and stored for the next celebration, leftovers packed and stored in every available corner of the refrigerator, furniture placed back in its proper place, and now onward toward Christmas!
The Thanksgiving farmers’ market was fun and it was great to see everyone again, vendors and customers! The children that come to the market brought their free spirits with them and are definitely not used to the confines of the DPW garage, but they survived the day (and so did we), hopefully without bothering too many people. I think they were a bit spoiled all summer being able to run and scream and play (and throw apples at each other) to their hearts content! My own children included!
Our next and final farmers’ market for this year is scheduled for December 11th from 3:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. You will be able to purchase meat, bread, eggs, winter vegetables, plants, fudge, baked goods and many gift items including hats, mittens, cutting boards (Bob Richard has added a beautiful cheese board that is as beautiful as his existing boards, but smaller and less expensive), pet treats, ornaments and more. I purchased a hat and scarf made of the softest alpaca wool from Jessica at buzyhands. It is a really comfortable set and very warm. The only problem that I have with it is I tend to leave it on, even after I arrive home, just too warm and comfy!
Massachusetts Local Food is growing and now has goat, pasture raised veal, eggs (limited), whole grains and flour, winter vegetables, Cheddar, Gouda and Harvarti cheese, Christmas decorations and more. Delivery day is this Friday at the old Finnish Farmers’ Cooperative building at the east end of Leominster Street. Stop in and see what we are doing.
Wow! Is that Mass Local Food Expensive!This month my bill for Mass Local Food is $96.03. Seems so expensive, but is it?
My bill for Mass Food Coop is really high for the relatively small package (I am old enough to remember filling the back of my car for $100). But when I look at what I get, there is a good reason. If I separated my weekly/monthly grocery list into the every-day items and the specialty items, like really great cheddar and goat cheese, fine meats, bakery products, even the grocery store bag filled with the specialty goodies would probably cost about the same, or possibly more than Mass Local Food.
• I cannot compare (in price or quality) my Cheddar that I get from Smith’s Country Cheese with the Land o’ Lakes type variety that I might get on sale at Market Basket. And I want my children to know what Cheddar and Gouda taste like – the finer nuances of the flavors. Now, for economy and convenience, I will admit to always having a shrink wrapped bar or two of junky Swiss (in case I decide on Quiche Lorraine) or cheddar (in case I am having a tomato based soup), but I want the good stuff too.
• The meats that I purchase are not even comparable to anything in a butcher shop or grocery store (including Whole Foods – which is NOT a farm store. It is a big box grocery store). Mass Local meats actually come straight from the farm. The producer knows what the animal ate, how much exercise it got, how fast it could run into a new pasture when it was first opened, where it spent its afternoons on a hot summer day… Unless you are shopping at a farmer-owned meat shop, your butcher is likely purchasing animals wherever s/he can find them, and butchering them as-is. Not quite the same thing…
• I’m purchasing a vanilla “solid perfume” on my list for my lovely and sophisticated teenage daughter who has purchased a bottle of scent with her teenage birthday money. I’m sure the solid perfume that I purchased will last as long as the bottle that she purchased and is about the same price. Not having to smell the sticky sweet cotton-candy smell around this house anymore?…Priceless!
• Coffee, freshly roasted the Wednesday or Thursday before delivery day by Mark Johns in Holden. Delicious, and $10.00 per pound is about the same price as a good quality coffee that was freshly roasted in a far-away manufacturing center before being packed and shipped half way across the country to you.
• Freshly milled flour and whole grains grown in Northfield. It is just not possible to get fresh flour any other way. I’ll be making whole wheat bread and beef barley soup the first week of December!
• Echinacea from Turessa Botanical and it is half what I would pay elsewhere. And I have talked to Dawn and feel comfortable with her knowledge and skill in making these tinctures.
Well, I could go on, but, in case you are still reading, I’ll stop here. These items are so far superior to the same items from your grocery store. It’s just that they are collectively the more expensive items on your list whether you are getting them at the grocery store or Mass Local Food.
Even with this Mass Local Food monthly bill of approximately $100 (which is my commitment primarily to my family to purchase the best foods that I can for them and secondarily my commitment to our local economy) my food bill per person is almost certainly less than most.
In addition to Mass Local Food:
• About $150 each month at local grocery stores that have the sale items that I need. This will go up over the winter as I have to begin purchasing more fruits and vegetables. While I have fresh goat milk in my refrigerator and vegetables in my garden I only make it to a grocery store about once every 3 weeks.
• About $100 each month at an unnamed big box store from which I am trying to wean myself. This is for cleaners and items in the grocery aisle that are cheaper than I can get them elsewhere. This also includes toiletries, plastic trash bags, kitchen supplies and such items. I include them as my “grocery” expenses, but I don’t think the USDA does as you will see in the comparisons below.
• About $50 at our local Vincent’s Country Store, usually for orange juice, the odd dairy product or baking ingredient and ice cream. More if I include the newspapers that we purchase but don’t eat.
• About $40 miscellaneous for apples when we drive by Bolton Orchard in the winter or find unique squash varieties if we are in the Deerfield valley, live lobster from the our local fish store to celebrate Sydney’s unrelenting efforts to teach Russell to tie his shoes (Sydney’s choice of reward) and other such things…
• About $35 per month at BJs (almonds, cashews, peanuts, raisins, chocolate chips, cocoa powder, M&Ms (the 52 oz bag)). I purchase enough so I do not have to return for 2 or 3 months (sometimes sooner depending on how long it takes my kids to find and then eat their way through the chocolate chip bag).
• About $15 or $20 (price varies) for a month’s supply of King Arthur flour from Dean and Debbie Johnson in Westminster. They sell me a bulk 50 pound bag for less than half what I would pay at the store. I just call ahead and it’s ready when I get there (reply to this email if you want more information on this).
• About $25 per month average to restaurants (only local non-chain unless we have a gift certificate – which we sometimes do). We do not go out much, every few months at most, perhaps for the odd birthday or celebration (but the kids usually choose a special meal cooked at home instead). We make our own pizza and subs and other kid fare such as French fries.
That is about $515 a month for six of us from Mass Local Food, grocery stores and restaurants (and also includes cleaning supplies and toiletries). Then I have the cost of our own, home grown meats for about $100 per month. If I didn’t have these from our farm, I would order them from Mass Local Food bringing my total to $200 per month. Grand Total, rounded to about $615 per month for 6 of us.
If you are comparing this to your grocery bill, include your meals eaten in cafeterias and restaurants and school lunches (in my house, if you aren’t old enough to get an allowance (6th grade) you bring your lunch from home. If you get an allowance, you can decide if you want to eat your allowance or take your lunch from home for free). Note also that this does not count the odd meal that Andy may pick up on the road. He usually eats lunch at home if he is in the area, but will sometimes get a sandwich on the run. I don’t know what this amount is and have not included it in my grocery totals.
The USDA cost of food at home report says that in October of 2009 it should cost a “thrifty” family of 6, accounting for all the ages of each member of my family, would have cost me $715.40 per month ($864.40 average per month for the year). Even with $100 of my groceries coming from Mass Local Food, I’m one or two hundred dollars below these numbers – and remember that my bill includes cleaners, trash bags and toiletries.
The USDA “liberal” plan for October would allow for $1,671.70 for the month for my family. Hmm, I wonder to what parts of the world I could travel by saving over $1,000.00 per month? Better not start thinking of such things…especially since I cannot cut $1,000 out of my bill each month.
Can Mass Local Food products be part of a healthy and thrifty meal plan? It works very well for me!
Our Home for sale… Great home with beautiful views, overlooking Mt. Wachusett (across the street) and the private Noyes pond (in the back), and absolutely the most peaceful place I have ever lived in my life.
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Westminster Farmers’ Market held a pre-Thanksgiving Market
The Westminster Farmers’ Market held a pre-Thanksgiving market on Friday, November 20th from 3:00 until 7:00 in the Westminster DPW barn in Westminster. Watch for our pre-Christmas Farmers’ Market that will take place on December 11.
This market was well stocked with all your fresh local Thanksgiving needs including: Sausage and hamburg for stuffing and meat pies, cheese for appetizer and dessert trays, fall vegetables for the dinner table, breads for dinner and breakfast, pastries and confections for desserts and evening buffets, fruits and vegetables for pies and juices, eggs for all your baking needs and so much more.
There were hand crafted cutting boards, birdhouses, hats and purses, art tiles and earrings, soaps and lotions/hand-creams, hand painted tin pieces including mailboxes and antique reproductions, ornaments, quilted items and tote bags.
From all the vendors, organizers and supporters of our Westminster farmers’ market, we thank you for a great season. We have all had a wonderful year bringing you fresh, local foods and handmade products. Thank you for your support.
If you would like more information on this topic, or to schedule an interview with the Agricultural Commission or the Market Manager, please call Kerrie Hertel at 978-874-1077 or email at MapleHeightsFarm@verizon.net
Swine Flu Seems to Have Hit Westminster, Make Broth!
Last week many farmers’ markets ended for the season and ours was no exception. And what a wonderful season it was. Some of our best memories as we get older will be of our summer of 2009 on Academy Hill. We met so many interesting and supportive people, and we were able to catch up with old friends every week. It was a great meeting place, a great socializing place, just a great place to be and I am glad that we had the chance to be a part of it!
Our pre-Thanksgiving farmers’ market will be November 20th and we plan to have the market overflowing with all your Thanksgiving needs!
Mass Local Food has a new winter location thanks to the generosity of those that maintain the old Finnish Farmers’ Cooperative building on Leominster Rd. This building is just below Academy Hill and is less than a tenth of a mile from the light at the Rt. 2 on-ramp. Stop by to pick up your orders on Friday from 3:00 until 6:00 or just stop and see what we are doing, or to check out this historic building. This past month we have added veal, Smith’s Country Cheese, some vegetables and dog treats to our already outstanding line-up!
Doing what we can to keep the flu at bay…
I hope you are surviving this swine flu that seems to now be sweeping through our town and schools. We have been lucky so far. I hear it is not that bad for those that have a healthy immune system, but I have a high school student (along with three others ages 5, 9, 13) and some of you know how difficult it would be to recover from a missed week of school in senior year! Especially in the month that college applications are due! We are hoping to avoid this virus altogether! In an effort to do this, we are making more broth (beef broth this week). You can read about the health benefits of broth here. And judging from the number of bones we have sold this month, apparently a lot of you have done just that!
In addition to broth and orange juice purchased by the gallon, I have ordered Echinacea (for the first time in my life). People have recommended it to me over the past ten years – even given me a bottle when we were traveling with our kids to places where we could be exposed to leprosy, malaria, cholera and more! I never thought too much about it. Then, Dawn Pavone listed it on Mass Local Food and I did a bit more reading about it. I decided it would be worth trying through this flu season. I’ve made it optional in my house; most of us are taking it. Dawn Pavone has her own herb garden in Boxboro and completed an Herbal Apprenticeship in 1998. She has studied with some of the world’s most respected Herbalists in workshops, symposiums, etc. She has explained her sterilization process and the process she uses to make her tinctures. That is enough for me, and I figure, it can’t hurt! None of us have autoimmune disease which would be a reason not to take this tincture. I did a bit of reading online at WebMd and Umm.edu.
Making Juice…
Well, our grape juice (a few weeks ago) was so delicious and easy, that I decided to experiment a bit. I’m sharing this with you to save you the bother of my failures. Crabapples, not so great. I have three trees that are loaded with berry sized crab apples. The juice was really a beautiful bright red, but it was very tart. I’m sure a concentrate of this would have great use in many recipes, perhaps where lemon flavor is desired, but too tart for the group of preschoolers that I had here that day! Then I tried Autumn Olive. We did not drink the juice. There was not color to it at all (the berries are bright red). It was a milky gray and very little flavor. Perhaps I strained it too much. I will say that the pulp had a nice flavor and I think would be delicious in a sauce, perhaps the constancy of apple sauce. I probably will try that at some point. I did read about an Autumn Olive sauce in last winter’s “Edible Boston”. I do think that would be worth a try. My Kousa dogwood is missing every single berry so I don’t have the opportunity to try that this year. So, I’m out of ideas until next September. It is already on my calendar to collect grapes around September 1st. The grape juice was that good!
October 22, 2009
Farm Fresh Food for the Holidays and Beyond!
This week is the last regular season farmers’ market for 2009, but don’t worry, I have the answer to your fresh food needs for the Holiday season and beyond! Our market is looking for an indoor location for a pre-Thanksgiving (November 20th) and a pre-Christmas (December 11th) market. And Mass Local Food will be open all year, providing delivery once per month (next delivery November 6th – check the website for the soon-to-be-determined Westminster delivery Location – or Berlin or Sterling for that matter).
Massachusetts Local Food.....
Orders are closing for Massachusetts Local Food on Monday so don’t forget to place your order. Membership fees are refundable through the end of this year if you decide this program is not for you, so you can try it risk free! All products are locally produced and offered directly from the producer – just like at the farmers’ market. We are adding more eggs this month and we hope to have pastured veal and organic yogurt online soon. Go online and read about each producer and consider your food needs for the winter. Orders close on Monday and Delivery day is Friday November 6th -- after our farmers market has closed for the season.
What’s in the market…
Even this late in the season there is plenty of food available in the market. If you have spent the past six months eating one (at least) local meal a week, this is your last Westminster Farmers’ Market local meal in a while. If you haven’t taken the challenge of one local meal a week, might I propose one local meal a season? And it is not too late for that. Of course there are still plenty of opportunities to jump on board the one-local-meal-a-week bandwagon using a bit more planning and Mass Local Food, but why not just one last Westminster Farmers’ Market meal? You could have chili (I’ll even share Meghan and Caitlin Bell’s award winning chili recipe if you ask). Along with the chili, some salsa made with Karen Sargent’s salsa kits and Pat Glover’s tomatillos. Smith’s country cheddar and some greens that you find in the market. I saw a few tomatoes last week and there are plenty of onions and peppers to add to your condiments. Don’t like chili? How about burgers on some thick slices of fresh bread served with beets? Meatloaf and oven roasted potatoes (with onions and rosemary), make enough of both for sandwiches later in the week? Not your thing? Top round roast of beef with all the trimmings. Have one last Farmers’ Market meal to get you through until May!
I have a 100% whole wheat bread in my oven now, in an effort to try to duplicate the delicious whole wheat bread that Ann Patsis is selling. I’m using a 4.5 hour “sponge” method and I know I still won’t come close to hers. I am using molasses and I can taste that she is using honey (I don’t have enough to spare). I’m crossing my fingers, but I suspect I’ll be visiting her booth to buy my whole wheat bread for next week.
I was lucky enough to attend Oakmont’s National Honor Society Banquet last evening and we were served a delicious dish of butternut squash that everyone raved about (everything was delicious but where conversations revolved around food, this squash dish was the talk of the evening). People were still talking about it this morning – it was that good! It was butternut squash, pearl onions, peas and cranberries. Rumor has it that this was all sautéed in a skillet. I’ll be experimenting on my clan this evening. Here are some other great squash recipes for you to try.
Don’t forget to plan ahead with meatloaves, pot roasts chili and soups on the weekends. A bit more work up front, but worth the effort as the week progresses (and gets busy) as they provide you with endless opportunities for delicious, high quality and quick meal preparation.
For Christmas, it’s time to stock up now!
I’ll tell you about a shower gift that we gave that would have also worked well as a wedding gift or a gift for that hard-to-please person on your list. It was a bit pricey for a shower gift but the gift was from my two daughters and me, so it was a three way gift – and it was really fun for the three of us to pull together. It was a steak set. We put together a reusable shopping bag filled with (of course) our own tenderloin steak along with a beautiful cutting board, spice rubs, and really nice steak knives – the kind that everyone should have, but most of us won’t buy for ourselves. In addition we added kitchen odds and ends that would be used for a steak dinner – grill items, salt and pepper shaker, garlic press… go crazy and have fun with it.
Get creative and try to come up with some other winning combinations from our market. How about a baby basket filled with beautiful clothing, socks and lotions? For the college student on your list, how about a box of cards already stamped and addressed so they don’t miss any important family birthdays? Perhaps add a calendar so they even have a reminder to send them out. How about a super-bowl kit for your favorite football fan: cheese, meat, and all the fixins for a super super-bowl party? There are many items in our market that would work as terrific Christmas gifts. Hand crafted cutting boards, Baby clothes, knit goods, hats, mittens and hand warmers, jewelry and tiles, wine gift sets, cards, baskets, soaps, perfumes, birdhouses, fudge, goat cheese, cheddar and gouda cheese, meat and so much more. And don’t forget treats for the dog in your life!
How we are Saving on Home Heating Fuel this Winter…
I thought I would pass along a few ideas that we are using this winter in order to keep our home heating costs as low as possible. We have an oil burner for hot water, radiant floor heating and hydro air system. We also have propane for our cook top, two fireplaces and our dryer.
Now, we don’t hear from the propane or oil company too much during the year (maybe once or twice), but then winter sets in and they are in my driveway about every other week. I have cancelled these automatic deliveries, partly because we don’t need fuel that often, partly because I want to watch the prices and fill up when prices are lowest and partly because I hate writing and sending checks within 10 days of delivery. So, we have entered the fall season with a fill up on our oil and propane tanks – mostly because it should be cheaper now than in December. Around the beginning of winter (middle of December) I am going to top-up both tanks. From that point on, we are going to try to get through the whole winter with just one tank – I can almost hear Spadafore laughing. I’m not saying we can do this, but trying to do it will automatically reduce our fuel consumption. This idea originally came from the news that the formula for home heating oil would be changing in January due to Massachusetts state mandate and the rumor that it *may* have a detrimental effect on many furnaces. We don’t want to be testing this new formula on our furnace (I have since heard that this formula change has been postponed, probably until July 2010).
Our house is well insulated and holds its temperature very well. The only real exception to this is westerly wind (which is most of the wind that we get) which seems to suck the heat out of our house very quickly. We will need to turn the radiant heat on if it is below 10 degrees and very windy. The hydro air system is in the bedrooms and not required very often as most of the bedrooms open into our wood-stove heated area of the house. Bedroom doors are closed during the day and opened in the evening to warm them up. All the beds now have a very thick/plush comforter (after looking for the entire spring, summer and fall, I only found what I was looking for at Wal-Mart for $34 each. Not a great selection of color or texture but I was going for heavy and warm).
As I write this, the oil burner has kicked on to heat water that will not be needed until at least 5:00. During the morning I will be shutting off the furnace, turning it on in the evening and leaving it on overnight. That way, if the house gets too cold overnight, it will go on automatically and we will have hot water for the dishwasher and evening and morning showers. If the house gets cold during the day, firewood is only a few steps away.
So, for oil, we basically need to reduce our hot water consumption and we should be all set. We run the dishwasher once per day, mostly wash laundry in cold water, and take showers (6 people including two teenagers in this house). I’m hoping to have everyone keep their showers under 10 minutes (and only one a day). I’m thinking of investing in a timer-style light switch (about $15) but I have yet to find one that sets for 10 minutes or less. Turn the light on when you go into the shower (no windows in the bathroom) and try to beat the timer. If I was designing my bathroom from the beginning, I would consider a 10 minute timer switch outside the bathroom with no light switches in the bathroom. Take too long and you have to step out of the shower to turn the light back on. You may say to me that this seems a bit harsh, and I will say to you that you probably aren’t paying for teenagers to shower in your house.
For propane, we don’t use that much and I’m not willing to reduce my dryer time or my cook top time. We will only use the propane fireplaces as needed – which shouldn’t be too much, just to occasionally warm up the living room if it is in use, and the master bedroom if my bed warmers don’t feel like reading in my room before they go bed.
Think we can do it? Let’s hope. If you decide to take on a similar challenge, please let me know all about it!
Entertainment for the Upcoming Weeks
I hope you had a chance to stop by and listen to Gibby Lashua last week. He was wonderful on the accordion, providing stories and songs along with his music!
This week we have the encore performance of the award winning team of Ron and Meghan McGuire! And the singing and songwriting talent of Tess Rembetsy-Brown. If you have never been to the market, you should at least come to hear this group of talented performers!
At Maple Heights Farm we will have meat available throughout the winter. You can find it on Mass Local Food and you can order by email during the month. We will schedule a pickup day and we will have your order ready when you arrive.
For a little fun, Russell (5 years old) is selling horse chestnuts. Help us create a little fun and entrepreneurial spirit for him. Stop by our booth and get a quarter from us, then find him and “buy” a horse chestnut or two. He is deciding if they are a nickel or a dime, but either way, use one of our quarters and help him make the change. And you can keep the horse chestnuts! Thanks to all of you, he has had a wonderful season (as we all have) and enjoyed every minute. That is thanks to your kindness and thoughtfulness. Some kids spent Friday afternoons at home watching TV, but Russell has spent the entire season at the market, running errands for vendors, shopping, chatting, visiting with his friends, and having the time of his life. Thank you all for that! If it takes a village, look around you. The village is here.
Winding Down with the Pumpkin Festival
Join us for the Pumpkin Fest this Friday, October 23rd! Come for a hay ride, chowder, cider, coffee, homemade pumpkin donuts, and the musical talent of Gibby Lashua. Between 3:00 and 5:00 there will be a pumpkin art contest for grades k-5. Judging will begin at 5:00 and winners announced at 6:00. Many thanks to Wiinhaven farm for providing the pumpkins and for the hay ride! Donation for the pumpkin art contest is $5.00 and your child will be able to take home their painted pumpkin. All proceeds will help fund Mass Agriculture in the Classroom programs in our schools.
Massachusetts Local Food…
Orders open for Massachusetts Local Food this Friday. All products are locally produced and offered directly from the producer – just like at the farmers’ market. We are adding more eggs this month and we hope to have organic yogurt online by Friday. Go online and read about each producer and consider your food needs for the winter. Orders close November 2nd and Delivery day is Friday November 6th (after our farmers market has closed for the season). Deliveries will be made to Westminster, Sterling and Berlin – so pick the location that is more convenient for you.
What’s in the market…
It seems too early to be saying this, but you only have two weeks to finish preparing your larder for Thanksgiving and filling your bags with Christmas gifts from the market. I have seen some small blue hubbards (probably the finest winter squash, but usually too big to be practical) and delicious Delicata. Don’t wait. A New England Thanksgiving should be all about New England food! This is your insurance that your vegetables are as fresh as possible and not shipped in from 3,000 miles away. Stock up on cranberries, carrots, onions, garlic, potatoes, squash, sugar pumpkins, did I miss anything?? All of these items will store well between now and Thanksgiving if you find a cool, protected place in your garage – off the cement floor. The variety that you find over the next two weeks will likely be unavailable by Thanksgiving.
For Christmas don’t forget, two gifts each week! Baby clothes, knit goods, hats, mittens and hand warmers, jewelry and tiles, wine gift sets, cards, baskets, soaps, perfumes, birdhouses, fudge, goat cheese, cheddar and gouda cheese, meat and so much more. And don’t forget treats for the dog in your life!
This week I met a friend for lunch. She had a loaf of Ann Patsis’ homemade 100% whole wheat bread. I have to tell you it was delicious! I have been trying to perfect this type of bread at home and thought I was doing pretty well until I tried Ann’s. Hers has a mild, sweet flavor that is perfect for toast or a sandwich, or buttered and served with soup. And it did not have that overpowering, almost tart flavor that 100% whole wheat can have. Delicious and worth a try! Even if you don’t like whole wheat, you will probably like this!
I have a pumpkin in the oven at this moment. I cut it in half, removed the seeds and popped it in the oven to roast. When it is done I will turn it into pumpkin donuts for the festival tomorrow. Meghan will be serving this along with her regular raised donuts that she usually has. This may be the only time we make them this year, so don’t forget to try one when you stop by for your coffee. Donuts are $1.25. And about those seeds… Save your seeds – not just from pumpkin but from varieties of squash too. Rinse them in a colander, air dry the on a cookie sheet and store them in a glass jar in your pantry. When you want a snack for a movie or TV night, roast them in the oven and enjoy.
Eating Locally…
How can you eat the best quality food and keep the cost down? By stretching meals you create a savings for yourself both in dollars and in time. With a few minutes planning you can extend a roast into two or three (or more) meals and it won’t require too many hours in the kitchen. This week we cooked a chuck roast ($15.00). We had a delicious pot roast with all the standard vegetables, potato, onion and carrots. We ate half the meat leaving half for another meal. I also saved the broth which went into a sausage soup ($4.50 for the sausage) and I skimmed the fat for some gravy. There was enough leftover soup for another meal which I put it in the freezer for another day. Finally, we had shepherd’s pie with the remaining half of the chuck roast. We used carrots instead of corn (no local corn and I just can’t switch to frozen while summer corn is still so fresh in my mind).
Altogether we had 4 dinners (for 6 people) plus three lunch boxes packed for school, for a total of 27 meals. The roast and sausage totaled $19.50, ingredients for the soup and some cornbread an additional $4.00. I substituted dumplings for tortellini (unprocessed, cheaper, and the kids like is as much) and cauliflower for zucchini because I only have my dried zucchini and I don’t want to use it while I still have fresh veges available. The remainder of the vegetables came from my garden, but they are all vegetables that are easily available at the farmers’ market this time of year (carrots, potato, onion, garlic) and would have added only $3 to $6 to the total cost of these meals. So, for less than $30 it is possible to get 27 individual meals on the table. That does not count the cost of drinks (we drink water) or the remainder of the bottle of wine (required in the recipes) which has since been finished, but you get the idea.
All of these meals were prepared with the very best ingredients and absolutely no junk or non food items of any kind. No trans fats, no genetically modified anything, just real, healthy food. Could I have done this cheaper? Yes and no. I do have a Ramen Noodle Frittata that I can serve for about .25 per serving; it tastes good, but has a lot of junk in it (whatever Ramen is). I’m not sure that I can buy convenience foods (processed foods) for less, but I am sure that they would contain a lot of junk. I can certainly buy the meat for less per pound, but I’m not getting the same nutrition (Omega balance, CLA, fats, lack of chemicals and medications). Is it worth the price? Yes.
As a disclaimer: the meat is ours, but our opportunity cost (we can sell all of it) dictates that I add it as part of my food budget at the price everyone pays. In other words, I buy it from myself.
In the Garden…
I checked the remaining Concord grapes on Saturday in between soccer games. They had frozen and thawed at least once by then. On Monday the grape juice that we made last week was gone and I was told that we needed more. It did not matter to this particular child that the grapes were squishy and probably rotting on the vine, so off we went to pick more (in between soccer practices). I have to say the second batch of grape juice was almost as good as the first and I’m glad we tried it again. Now that the grapes are surely past any quality worthy of juice, we are eyeballing our crabapple tree and our Kousa dogwood. The juice is really very easy to make (boil it with sugar and strain it) and it may be worth trying other fall berries just to see how it tastes!
We are lucky enough to have found (the library has it) The New Victory Garden book by Bob Thomson and have followed it as closely as time permitted this year (minus all the parts where he instructed us to weed). Because of this we are still eating plenty out of our garden and should be perhaps into January (though it will be limited to leeks, mache and borecole by then). Russell and I spent a few hours digging potatoes and getting them ready for storage. We are still trying to dry the remainder of the bean vines which I will hang in our “cold storage” room. We will also dig and store our dahlias, carrots, beets, along with storing squash, kohlrabi and pumpkins. The remainder will get mulched and we will hope that we don’t misjudge the weather and lose it all to a freeze. If you choose to use this book, make the decision before January which is when the garden season begins for Mr. Thomson. For my purposes (to successfully harvest any vegetables at all from my garden) this is the best book gardening book that I have read so far.
It is time to plant garlic. Find some good quality garlic and pop it into the garden now. Set aside about 15 minutes for this task (assuming you have a place cleared out). Hardneck will give you scapes in the spring. Ask the vendors at the market about planting instructions.
Entertainment for the Upcoming Weeks
We have the following appearances scheduled over the next few weeks. And I so appreciate the performers that take time out of their busy schedules to support our efforts at the farmers’ market:
· October 23rd: Musical and comic talent of Gibby Lashua.
· October 30: The encore performance of the award winning team of Ron and Meghan McGuire! And the singing and songwriting talent of Tess Rembetsy-Brown. I hope she sings her fifth grade graduation song that she wrote for her class. I have yet to hear it!
For next week: Saving on home heating fuel this winter and reducing our dependency on big box stores…
We will be selling meat through the winter. Stop by our booth to get information on ordering throughout the winter.
Have a good week and see you at the market.
Westminster Farmers’ Market: Fridays 3:00 until 7:00 until October 30th.
Preparing your Pantry for Thanksgiving
Our Pumpkin Festival has been postponed due to a chance of showers predicted for tomorrow. Painting pumpkins gets incredibly messy if the weather is at all wet. So, plan on next week for our harvest activities. Come this week to enjoy the market, work on your Christmas shopping, and stash a few more morsels for Thanksgiving.
Drizzle and a chill did not dampen the spirits of our vendors or shoppers last week! The market continues to thrive as shoppers seek out the last of the great summer flavors. Our free raffle was a great success! We gave away two bags full of farmers’ market treasures, fine food and gift certificates! Congratulations to our winners Francis Landry from Westminster and Jean Brady from Gardner.
What’s in the market…
Westminster grown cranberries, all the fall (cool weather) vegetables that taste so good this time of year, beef and pork roasts, cheese and most of the usual items that you expect to find. Don’t forget to get your last meal of corn in (if we are lucky enough to have it available), and get an extra dozen for your freezer (remember to blanch it first). I continue to hear a buzz about Robin’s (Honeybee Baking Company) scones. I would appreciate it if you all would finally leave a few for me to try! I’m hoping this is the week I can get some before they sell out. I have visions of Saturday lunch (in between FOUR cold soccer games) of some hot tea with a warm scone slathered with fresh Farmers’ Market raspberry jam and some of Brenda St. Claire’s chocolate goat cheese at room temperature.
Have a Local Thanksgiving…
Think about stocking up. Cranberries for this very easy sauce, Baked goods that can be frozen for breakfast and dessert (but definitely don’t get scones until I at least get to try them!!!), onions, celery, butternut, pumpkin and other squash, breads that can be cut up for stuffing, sausage and ground beef for meat pies and stuffing, herbs that you can hang in your kitchen until you need them, apples if you think you can keep them fresh until then, cheese for appetizers, and dessert. Don’t leave anything out! It may be a bit of work now, but it will be worth it. It will make your shopping easier when the grocery stores are elbow to elbow with shoppers – and you will enjoy dinner so much more because you will know where it all came from.
In the Garden…
As the last few petals of dahlias fall from a vase on my nightstand, so go the plants in our gardens. We have had a few nights into the lower thirties and it seems to me that most areas around town have experienced a frost.
My daughters picked some grapes off some ancient vines that had been touched by frost. I have cranberries piling up in my kitchen, tomatoes in all sorts of shades from green to red, pumpkins and squash awaiting attention, and the remains of Russell’s bean teepee drying in the garage. Grapes have been turned into a delicious juice (about as easy as making a cup of tea), cranberries will be refrigerated for jellied cranberry sauce for our Thanksgiving dinner, tomatoes wrapped and stored with the hope of a few fresh ones left for Thanksgiving, beans dried for a few baked bean meals this winter… The garden is still loaded with plenty of cold weather vegetables that should get us through until December or January.
As the weather warms next week we (Russell and I) will be composting the remains of the tender vegetables and preparing the beds for next year. Lime, compost, manure, mulch where needed. Fight back nature in the form of raspberries and sumac as they fight to get a foothold in the garden. I’ll plant some garlic and prepare a bed for peas. Perhaps I’ll even try planting a few seeds that will come up in early spring. I have read about success doing this with peas and lettuce, perhaps I may try kohlrabi and spinach, too. If nothing else it will give me an indicator about when it is safe to begin planting outside next spring. I am lobbying for a couple of cold frames, but it seems that everyone is too busy to make them for me. Perhaps I will try to make them myself (it will take me a LOT longer than it would take Andy or Max what with having to read all the circular saw manuals and all – just finding those manuals could take hours). I’m thinking I may be too busy making those cold frames to clean the toilets, do the laundry or prepare meals. Hmm, I may be onto something here…
Entertainment for the Upcoming Weeks
We have the following appearances scheduled over the next few weeks. And I so appreciate the performers that take time out of their busy schedules to support our efforts at the farmers’ market:
· October 23rd: Pumpkin Festival. Art contest, hay rides, prizes, food, fun. $5 donation for pumpkin art contest. All proceeds will fund local Ag in the Classroom projects.
· October 23rd: Musical and comic talent of Gibby Lashua.
· October 30: The encore performance of the award winning team of Ron and Meghan McGuire!
Andy and I will not be at the market this week, in our place Max (our 17 year old) will be filling in. If you would like to pre-order, please email and we will prepare your package so it is ready for you when you arrive. Please note that if the weather is particularly bad, we won’t expect him to stay until 7:00, so please arrive as early as possible.
For your Christmas shopping pleasure:
Only three more shopping days left until Christmas! Remember, two gifts each week while you enjoy the farmers’ market may make your Holidays stress free! Don’t forget to use our farmers’ market bags for gift wrap! The bags are on display by the water cooler and can be purchased through Al Magane, our market manager!
Help us find some coolers:
Mass Local Food is looking for coolers. If you know what happens to Styrofoam medical supply coolers, please let me know. Where do they come from? Pharmacies? Mail order medications?? Do they get thrown away? Recycled? Returned for deposit? These would be a great size for us to use for orders and if these coolers are just getting thrown into the dump, we would put them to good use instead. Remember that Mass Local Food is an all volunteer endeavor and there is really no budget to purchase supplies. It would be great to reuse something that may be ending up in our landfills anyways!
Have a good week and see you at the market.
Westminster Farmers’ Market: Fridays 3:00 until 7:00 until October 30th.
It’s Still Easy to Eat Seasonally!
Our market is still as active as it has ever been! We had several new vendors last week and I hope you were able to find them and visit their booths. This week we expect a new soap/lotion vendor and also a vendor who will be selling salsa kits! Don’t think for one minute that our market is slowing down!! A bit of a nip in the air, a few raindrops, no matter -- you still have to eat and you deserve farmers’ market fresh! In addition, keep in mind that it is your patronage that keeps our vendors coming. The reason that you are able to find such great food at our farmers’ market (when many area markets are closing for the season), is simply because you shop there! Keep up the good work!
I hope you have been able to time your visits to enjoy our market entertainment! So much thanks to Dr. B and the Homemade band and the father/daughter team of Ron and Megan McGuire for performing at our market over the past few weeks! The music has been fantastic and makes the afternoon incredibly enjoyable for everyone!
This week Warren Rasmussen will be performing. He is raising new awareness about ground nuts in this area and will also be selling his book, The Mary Rowlandson Story, which is a piece of local history involving Mary, Wachusett Mountain and Redemption Rock!)
And don’t forget that this is the week for our free raffle. We will be raffling off 2 bags of farmers market products (each worth about $100). Included in the raffle we have everything from Nancy Sampson’s pottery to a beautifully handcrafted cutting board from Bob Richard. We have gift certificates from vendors, meats, cheese, a beautiful birdhouse donated by Bob Richard’s adorable grandchildren, spice rubs, photo cards and more. These items will be divided into two baskets. To enter the raffle, bring your free raffle ticket (handed out during the parade) and drop it in the picnic basket by the cooler. We have extra forms by the picnic basket if you forget yours. At 6:00, Dean Johnson will draw the 2 winning entries!
Next week (October 16th) is the pumpkin festival so come along, enjoy the festivities, bring your children to enter the pumpkin painting contest and enjoy a hayride. Have a hot cup of soup or coffee and enjoy a homemade pumpkin donut!
It is still easy to eat seasonally
We are in this great overlap of seasons where we can still have the freshest summer vegetables along with any of the fall and winter varieties which include leeks, squash, potatoes, beets, carrots, kale, Brussels sprout, salad greens, onions and so much more. Salads are not as appealing as they were on a hot summer evening, now it’s all about comfort food. I made a crock pot of chili for dinner last night. Two pounds of chili stew meat, tomatoes, peppers, and butternut squash (no one could tell) made a huge pot. Normally I would make cornbread for chili, but we can still get great corn-on-the-cob. We can have cornbread all winter, but corn-on-the-cob for just another week or two (so don’t miss this opportunity to savor the last of this summer flavor). And the chili went to school/work in several thermos containers this morning with enough left over for a simple and fun nacho meal later in the week. We will fry some corn tortillas just to make the nachos a bit more homemade (just a bit), heap them with chili, cheese and warm in the oven. I’ll be looking to try one of Karen Sargent’s salsa kits for a farm fresh topping for yet another farmers’ market meal!
Now is a great time to put away a few more items for Thanksgiving dinner. You may not be able to find blue hubbard or delicata squash – or a nice sugar pumpkin by the end of November. Make sure you get five or ten (or 50 or 100) pounds of potatoes now, try some of the unusual varieties (remember most will store until Thanksgiving, but beyond that, some varieties are better for storage than others). Carrots and beets and onions will store well and all can be used in your Thanksgiving menu. Cellars in new homes may be too warm, but we tend to have good luck storing items in baskets in the garage under blankets up until the thermometer hits about 10 degrees which shouldn’t be before Thanksgiving.
If you have enjoyed local farmers’ market meals this summer, you will be glad you thought ahead for your Holiday meals.
Gardening – the season is not over…
The weather has been beautiful and I have been trying to get my vegetable garden in order so I can get the most out of it this fall. I have spent time mulching with coffee, ash, compost and goat droppings. My leeks are small but plentiful so I plan to get a few good winter soups out of them. I transplanted some broccoli and borecole (seeds given to me by my friend from England last time she visited). I still had some seedlings left over so I brought those in to add to a salad. I still have tomatoes, strawberries, raspberries and three struggling eggplants and two struggling okra. I have dill and cilantro that has faithfully reseeded and I have shaken additional seeds from this year’s plants all over certain areas of my garden so I can look forward to plenty next year. My carrots are coming along and could do well with 2 more weeks without frost. This may be a possibility as it looks like we will soon be passed the full moon without a frost. (The full moon usually brings cooler weather – and with it, a frost in October.) Russell and I have started a few herbs and greens in the house, basil, marjoram, cilantro and lettuce. In addition we have purchased more rosemary and will plant a pot of scallions. I will also try to take cuttings from my Juliet tomato that has looked so healthy all year. It doesn’t matter if we get tomatoes or not, it will be fun to try.
Russell spent the earliest part of our gardening morning complaining about being bored. That lasted for a few minutes until he found his butterfly net (nice little net on a 3’ bamboo pole from Job Lot for $1). When he couldn’t catch butterflies or dragonflies he turned his attention to an unfortunate Japanese beetle who is now living in a plastic container in our garage (hopefully with no chance of reproducing). He is being fed well on bean leaves and raspberries (I told him raspberry leaves, but Russell found raspberries instead). And Russell is already making plans for their afternoon activities together – I’m sure that little bug will be praying to be thrown into the chicken pen by day’s end! Please tell me who needs full time kindergarten?? I’m glad to have one more year with that little guy.
For lunch, Russell wanted pasta. I have so much broccoli in the garden that I decided to cook some up for myself. I steamed it and then sautéed it with some of Christine Rainville’s gourmet garlic (which is now my favorite variety – my old favorite was whatever the grocery store had – I highly recommend that you try this), some olives (or artichoke hearts), tomatoes and some of Kelly Burstall’s hot pepper infused into olive oil, topped with some of Russell’s pasta and parmesan cheese. Delicious and I am already looking forward to tomorrow’s lunch!
Entertainment for the Upcoming Weeks
We have the following appearances scheduled over the next few weeks. And I so appreciate the performers that take time out of their busy schedules to support our efforts at the farmers’ market:
• October 16th: Pumpkin Festival. Art contest, hay rides, prizes, food, fun. $5 donation for pumpkin art contest. All proceeds will fund local Ag in the Classroom projects.
• October 16: Musical and comic talent of Gibby Lashua.
• October 30: The encore performance of the award winning team of Ron and Meghan McGuire!
For your Christmas shopping pleasure:
Only four more shopping days left until Christmas! Remember, two gifts each week while you enjoy the farmers’ market may make your Holidays stress free! Don’t forget to use our farmers’ market bags for gift wrap! The bags are on display by the water cooler and can be purchased through Al Magane, our market manager!
Help us find some coolers:
Mass Local Food is looking for coolers. If you know what happens to Styrofoam medical supply coolers, please let me know. Where do they come from? Pharmacies? Mail order medications?? Do they get thrown away? Recycled? Returned for deposit? These would be a great size for us to use for orders and if these coolers are just getting thrown into the dump, we would put them to good use instead. Remember that Mass Local Food is an all volunteer endeavor and there is really no budget to purchase supplies. It would be great to reuse something that may be ending up in our landfills anyways!
Have a good week and see you at the market.
Westminster Farmers’ Market: Fridays 3:00 until 7:00 until October 30th.
September 24, 2009
Parades, Music, Fun, Food, and a Great Raffle!
Plan to spend a bit of extra time at the market this week as you will want to listen to Bart Sides and his band, Dr. B and the Homemade Band. They will play from 5:00 until 7:00 and you are going to love them. So, stop by and enjoy the afternoon, grab a cup of coffee, linger with your friends and neighbors (or start your Christmas shopping – ideas to follow). Please remember that tips are always appreciated for all our performers.
Our 250th Anniversary Parade is this Sunday at 1:00. Our Agricultural Commission is representing the farmers’ market with a fleet in the parade with the theme, “Growing the Westminster Farmers’ Market”. That is not a mistake, fleet, not float! There will be three floats and seven tractors and farm equipment! And if that is not enough fun, we will be distributing free raffle tickets with a chance at a farmers’ market food baskets and items worth more than $200! (Note that the actual ticket incorrectly states $50) So make sure you ask for a raffle ticket when you see the floats go by. We will put a drop-off box at the farmers’ market where you can leave your entry! The drawing will be on October 9th which is also the day you will want to come to hear Warren Rasmussen entertain our crowds!
So, what are your parade plans? Tailgating during the parade??? How about a cookout after the parade? Of course you will want the very best quality for your parade entertaining and we have it for you at the market. Burgers and sausage or steak with plenty of potatoes and vegetables fit the bill for your grilling needs, and how about salads to bring to those pot-luck after parade parties? You can find it all at the farmers’ market!
Orders are now open for Mass Local Food and orders will be closing on Monday. We have well over 400 farmers’ market products. Delivery day will be at the farmers’ market on October 2nd. This is the last delivery day that coincides with the Westminster Farmers’ Market for this season. But don’t forget, Mass Local Food will continue throughout the winter (location to be determined). Deliveries are typically the first Friday of each month. I realize you may not need Mass Local Food while the markets are open, but consider giving it a look so you know where you can get your farm fresh food this winter.
Great Comfort Food!
Meatloaf. Comfort food. Why is it worth making? Well, because it is delicious and healthy (when made from farmers’ market ingredients, remember those CLAs and health benefits of grass-fed beef?). It’s a simple meal served with baked potato and corn (or some nice winter squash) and you have great leftovers. The next day, meatloaf sandwiches for lunch. What could be better?
Here is a great recipe submitted by Kelley O’Connor.
1.5 lbs ground beef
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 chopped onion
1 egg beaten
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 15 oz Hunts sauce
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup water
3 Tbsp vinegar
3 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp mustard
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
Mix first five ingredients and 1/4 can Hunts sauce. Form loaf in shallow 7x10 pan. Combine rest for sauce and pour over loaf. Bake at 350 for 1hr and 15 min. Baste often. 4-6 servings
I love this recipe for its lack of processed food and associated chemicals. And you can even find the eggs and vegetables at the market, perhaps even check out Patty Hurd’s terrific spice combinations for extra flavor! If you make three meatloaves you can freeze two. Then you have convenience food for a meal next week and the week after. Making three meatloaves is no more work than making one. You can also vary the size according to your family size (and your desire for meatloaf sandwiches). Just form the loaf with your hands into the size that you want. You don’t have to make these in a loaf pan.
Also, now is a great time to be purchasing a winter squash each week. Try a different one each week and work it into a great recipe. Roast it, sauté it, or turn it into soup or muffins. Make this the year where you find your favorite (try them all) because you are going to need it for Thanksgiving. My personal favorite is probably blue hubbard. Even my family is not big enough to eat one of those though! Butternut is delicious and who can resist the beautiful acorn squash roasted with a bit of butter and brown sugar? Don’t want the endless chore of peeling? Cut it in half, roast it and scrape it out of the shell. This won’t work for all recipes, but where it will work, save yourself the effort!
I have only three free-range chickens left for sale. These have to be picked up at our farm due to state regulations. They are $4.00 per pound and range in size from an estimated 3.5 pounds to 6 pounds. Pickup will be on Sunday (before and after our parade) at our farm on 70 Howard Rd in Westminster. Email me at MapleHeightsFarm@verizon.net to reserve your chicken.
Entertainment for the Upcoming Weeks
I am thrilled to also have the following appearances scheduled over the next few weeks. And I so appreciate the performers that take time out of their busy schedules to support our efforts at the farmers’ market:
· October 2: Ron and Meghan McGuire which promises to be a wonderfully entertaining event. You saw them in the Westminster 250th anniversary talent show where they won overall!
· October 9: Warren Rasmussen (read about him at his website. He is raising new awareness about ground nuts in this area and will also be selling his book, The Mary Rowlandson Story, which is a piece of local history involving Mary, Wachusett Mountain and Redemption Rock!) · October 9: Free raffle drawing for Farmers’ Market Basket!
· October 16th: Pumpkin Festival. Art contest, hay rides, prizes, food, fun. $5 donation for pumpkin art contest. All proceeds will fund local Ag in the Classroom projects.
For your Christmas shopping pleasure:
Only six shopping days left until Christmas! Remember, two gifts each week while you enjoy the farmers’ market may make your Holidays stress free! If you haven’t started shopping yet, don’t worry. If you start this week you will have TWELVE gifts out of the way by the end of the season! At our house we have been using reusable shopping bags in place of gift wrap this year and recipients seem to really like it. So, I suggest to you that you consider purchasing our farmers’ market bags as gift wrap for your farmers’ market gifts. The bags are perfect for Christmas wrap as they are a Christmas green color and will be perfect tied with a red and/or gold bow! The bags are on display by the water cooler and can be purchased through Al Magane, our market manager!
· Jean Keene will be selling adorable baby and toddler hats in the shape of fruits. I particularly love the strawberry and the pumpkin. Too cute! The hat, a dark green sweater and a bale of hay is all you need for an award winning photo!
· In addition to hats we have three vendors selling high quality baby clothing and accessories. Some beautiful hand knits that remind me of what you would find at The Velvet Goose (an upscale children’s store in Gardner) and some embellished clothes that are just a step above adorable! Look around for those babies on your list.
· Beautiful Hand Painted Antique and Reproduction pieces by Ann Patsis. Her work is sought after by Old Sturbridge Village and she produces many antique reproduction one-of-a-kind tin pieces. The slate pieces are from the roof of a 185 year old barn that was torn down in Templeton.
Have a good week and see you at the market.
Westminster Farmers’ Market at Academy Hill:
Fridays 3:00 until 7:00 until October 30th.
Gardner Farmers’ Market at the Mount:
Mondays 12:00 until 2:00.
Ashburnham Farmers’ Market:
Mondays 4:00 until 7:00
Winchendon Farmers’ Market:
Thursdays 4:00 until 7:00.