CSA crop share 2007 14

Yikes! My camera battery died, so no picture of the share board this week. Of course, if you're really dying to know just how many pounds of tomatoes that is, you can see notes at flick'r.

Ms. Cinder helped with the picture-taking and splitting-up of the share this week. What a gal!

> Cross-posted at www.farmtophilly.com.

OLS dinner 2007 09

This week's One Local Summer meal has been brought to you by the letter S: scrumptious squashed and stuffed spicy seitan!


One Local Summer 2007, Dinner Menu 09

• Pattypan squash (DelVal College - 12 miles), stuffed a sauteéd mixture of the squash, seitan (Ray's Seitan - 37 miles), onion, red frying peppers, carrots, garlic (all from Blooming Glen Farm CSA crop share - 5 miles) and jalapeño (our garden - 0 miles). I spiced it up the hot sauce Jason made last week with peppers from Blooming Glen and our garden. Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil, sage, thyme, black pepper
• Boiled red potatoes (Blooming Glen) with with vegan buttery spread (Earth Balance - 117 miles).
• Fresh, raw heirloom tomato slices and cucumber half-circles (Blooming Glen).
• Whirlwind Witbier (Victory Brewing Company - 45 miles).

I was planning on not featuring the same beer or wine twice at any of these OLS meals, but this Whirlwind Whitbier is awesome. We had a few bottles left over from last week and instead of going out to pick up something new, we stuck with it. At this point, the I'm confident saying that it's my favorite Victory brew. I love white beers like Blue Moon and Hoegaarden, and Victory does a fine interpretation with this spicy cardamom and citrus blend. I didn't even know that Victory made a white beer - another unexpected benefit of OLS this year - and I think it's becoming my favorite local beer overall.

Ok, now to the food!

I'm overflowing with produce to the point that I'm storing some of our CSA and garden bounty on the dining room table. It looks pretty and takes care of a centerpiece, but I discovered an added benefit, as well. Because they're always in view, all week, I've been considering how to use the peppers, onion, garlic and potatoes in my meal. And when I saw some gorgeous pattypan squash at DelVal, I immediately put them in the context of that bowl on the table.



From the recipes I found online, patty pan squash seems to be traditionally stuffed with sausage, so I incorporated some sausage-y spices like pepper and sage into the seitan mixture I put together for our vegan dinner. I upped the hotness a bit more by using Jason's pepper sauce. I decided to serve the squash with very simple veggies that would cool all that spice. It was a great meal, and two squash fit perfectly into the toaster oven. Hooray for no super hot kitchen or preheating a giant stove!


Only one more week of OLS. I can't believe it!

RI pictures

Whew! The last of the RI photographs have been flick'r-ed. I'm seriously taking forever to get my head out of this vacation. It was great to be away for two weeks, outside, in a tent and at the beach. Perfection.


We've done this camping trip to Fishermen's every year for the past 25-plus years, staying for 8 to 10 days each time. This year, we just couldn't stand the thought of having to pack up any sooner than we absolutely had to. Fishermen's has a maximum consecutive renting period of two weeks, so two weeks is was this year. And will be from now on.

It was during our last day or two that I realized I could've stayed away for another two weeks - and easily! It got me wondering, just how long would I have to be away before I started missing home? I often hear people saying about their vacation things like, "oh it was great, but I was ready to get home." Do you feel that? This trip made me realize that I never have. Of course, there must be a threshold, right? Maybe a month? Six months? A year?

I don't know what it is, but man, I'd love to find out. Anyone want to sponsor me? I'll travel about with my monster, you can make sure my bills are paid on time and my job will be waiting for me when (if?) we come back. I'll send postcards. A pictures! Any takers? :)

Speechless

So, uh.

Avery has a girlfriend.

...

?!

CSA crop share 2007 13

Daddy-O picked up the share for me this week because I had an appointment. What a guy!

(Click on the photos to see larger images and notes at flick'r.)

OLS dinner 2007 08

One Local Summer 2007, Dinner Menu 08

• Homemade whole wheat flour tortilla tower (McGeary Organics/Annville Flouring Mill - 94 miles). Nonlocal ingredients used: baking soda, salt, canola oil.
• First layer is lettuce (Blooming Glen Farm CSA crop share - 5 miles) and marinated and baked tempeh (Cricklewood Soyfoods - 28 miles). Nonlocal ingredients used: tamari, liquid smoke.
• Second layer is sauteed yellow squash brought home from Rhode Island (Fisherman's farmers market - o miles), red pepper (Blooming Glen) and onion (Lancaster - 83 miles). Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil, salt, cumin.
• Third layer is sauteed corn, green bell peppers (both from Blooming Glen) and onion (Lancaster). Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil, salt, cumin.
• Topped with raw tomatoes (Blooming Glen and our garden - 0 miles).
  
• And drizzled with Jason's homemade hot sauce (peppers from Blooming Glen and our garden). Nonlocal ingredients used: vinegar, cumin.
• A chilled salad of raw lettuce, blanched string beans, raw onion (all from Blooming Glen) and raw tomatoes (from Blooming Glen and our garden).
• Watermelon (Blooming Glen).
• Whirlwind Witbier (Victory Brewing Company - 45 miles).
  

This was by far the most time-consuming, though absolutely the most delicious, OLS meal I've done. From the time I started mixing the batter for the tortillas until we sat down to eat, over four hours passed. Because we've been away, I had lots of random veggies both from RI and from the crop share to use up. It felt good to be in the kitchen after a couple weeks away from home, though I can't say I was thrilled to be spending such a large part of my Saturday cooking one meal.

I was trying to come up with a clever way to utilize the variety of produce when I started making the tortillas. This time, I borrowed my dad's pasta maker to roll them out. It worked beautifully, creating rectangular, uniform pieces of dough that I quickly realized would lend themselves wonderfully to a tortilla tower theme - perfect for incorporating my many vegetables!

While I diced and chopped and stir fried and rolled, Jase decided to try his hand at homemade hot sauce. I must say, it was super-nice hanging out and creating this week's meal together.


My next OLS meal will for sure be much lower maintenance. Cereal is sounding very good right about now :)

OLS dinner 2007 07

Brought to you by... Rhode Island!


One Local Summer 2007, Dinner Menu 07

• Kalamata loaf (Fisherman's farmers market - 0 miles) with vegan buttery spread brought from PA (Earth Balance - 117 miles).
• Stir fry of onion, zucchini and yellow squash (Alternative Food Co-op - 5 miles) and string beans (Fisherman's farmers market - 0 miles). Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil.
• Seitan brought from PA (Ray's Seitan in Philadelphia - 37 miles) stir fried with onion and garlic scapes (Alternative Food Co-op - 5 miles). Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil.
• Blueberries and blackberries (Fisherman's farmers market).
• Boiled corn (Hodgkin's Farm - 18 miles) with Earth Balance.
  
• Trinity IPA (Trinity Beer Company - 34 miles) and Newport Storm Summer Ale and Rhode Island Blueberry Ale (Coastal Extreme Brewing Company - 24 miles).
  

Lucky for me, our campground has a weekly farmers' market. I visited both Sundays that we were there and, in addition to the above, I picked up flowers and basil. Another bonus is the great food co-op located just about five miles from the campground. Although I don't recall exactly what farms the zucchini, squash, onion, scapes, berries and bread came from, I know they were all from RI. When in Rhode Island, every place is a half-hour away - definitely local ;)

This is my favorite OLS meal so far. Probably because it was gobbled up while in front of the campfire.

CSA crop share 2007 12

Our August 14 crop share; pick up and photos by Brookie, again.



She thought this week's cherry tomatoes were especially cute. I tewtally agree :)

CSA crop share 2007 11

Our Blooming Glen crop share from August 7, picked up and photographed by the best seester ever, Brookie :)

Back already?

Man. I can't believe the holiday is over.

Although it's been slow easing my way out of this view:


I'll be posting my OLS 7 and 8 meals and CSA 11 and 12 shares soon :)

See ya!

I'm off to the land of lots of tents and no internets :)

I'll be back in a couple weeks with crop share, OLS and ocean pictures.

Bye!

PS: You can play with this while I'm gone, http://www.factoryfarmmap.org. And after you've had enough of reality, feel free to cheer yourself up at http://homestarrunner.com/sbemail173.html and http://www.newlaunches.com/archives/web_crash_2007.php.

White hot flower lovin'

The ginormous hibiscus in my white flower garden finally bloomed. I saw the other white flowers taking bets as to whether it was going to bloom before it was being devoured by Japanese beetles. Fuckers. (The beetles, I mean, not the other white flowers.)


This photo and some others have been added to my flick'r album. I especially like this little guy:


Reminds me of fireworks :) Pretty, pretty, pretty!

CSA crop share 2007 10

A perfect ten, baby!

(Click on the photos to see larger images and notes at flick'r.)

Check out www.farmtophilly.com for my CSA report and lots more local awesomeness!

OLS dinner 2007 06

Dewds, I baked.

Sorta.

Look, homemade flour tortillas!

One Local Summer 2007, Dinner Menu 06

• Whole wheat flour tortillas (McGeary Organics/Annville Flouring Mill - 94 miles), a layer of lettuce (Blooming Glen Farm CSA crop share - 5 miles) stuffed with a tofu scrambler made from tofu (Fresh Tofu - 25 miles), red frying peppers, onion, purple spring onions (Blooming Glen) several varieties of tomatoes (from Blooming Glen, and our garden - 0 miles), jalepeno peppers (our garden) and mushrooms (West Grove, PA - 60 miles). Nonlocal ingredients used: Cumin, paprika, tumeric, salt, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, olive oil.
  
• A chilled salad of blanched Romano string beans, orange cherry tomatoes (Blooming Glen) and a julienned chocolate pepper (our garden) splashed with a bit of vinegar. Nonlocal ingredients used: vinegar.
• Boiled sweet corn (Blooming Glen) with vegan buttery spread (Earth Balance - 117 miles).
• Strawberries for dessert (Blooming Glen).
• Christian W. Klay Jumonville Glen Red wine (brought home from our Falling water trip - 0 miles).

Meredith turned me onto Annville Flouring Mill right before the start of OLS, and I contacted them right away. It's taken several weeks, but I finally received my package of organic whole wheat pastry flour from them. Oh, and that would be fifty pounds of organic whole wheat pastry flour. They would have mailed me a two-pound bag earlier, but I kind of thought that conflicted with the whole eat local thing, so while I waited for the big bag, I found some people with which to share. I ended up with ten pounds and this was my first shot using the flour.

As a rule, I don't bake. It's too specific and I'm distracted too easily. I also don't like being told what to do and certainly don't like feeling incompetent; baking does both of those things to me. Although I'm pretty comfortable knowing what substitutions are viable while following a cooking recipe (for instance, I have a ridiculous amount of squash in the fridge - something that I could substitute if I were using a recipe that called for eggplant), I'm all thumbs when it comes to baking.

Besides that, I can never remember which is which: baking soda or baking powder?

My definition of baking includes anything that requires flour and/or baking powder. (Or is it soda?). Tortillas contain both of those things and so, even though we eat them pretty often, I never even considered making them. That is until, of course, OLS.

My ugly tortillas are from this recipe. They tasted pretty good, but a were maybe a little too thick and a bit floury. I'm thinking that I may have over-floured the counter while I was rolling them out. They were sticking to the rolling pin (that I had to borrow from my dad), and I figured a little flour on the counter is good, so more is better, right? Still, they weren't bad for my first try. Considering I still have at least 9 1/2 pound of flour left, I'm sure I'll have another opportunity soon to perfect my recipe.

This meal also has about four different kinds of tomatoes. My favorite cherry tomatoes from Blooming Glen so far, are the green grape variety that I picked last week. They're perfectly acidic and so unique looking. I threw some in the scrambler along with some red cherry and regular tomatoes.

We also got to finally pick the chocolate pepper from our garden. This signifies the end of our experiment: it tasted like pepper, not chocolate. Just in case you were wondering.

So, that's it. Number six, can you believe it? Only four dinners left. Speaking of which...

I realize that this makes two OLS posts in a row! I had to get this week's meal done today because we're leaving for Rhode Island midweek. I do plan on scouring some local RI goodness while I'm there, but if anyone has a scoop (specifically where to find tofu, seitan, tempeh and/or bread), please let me know. I will post the meals I come up with when I get back in the middle of the month.

PS: Here's an extra shot of AC and his sloppy plate. And sloppy hair. He started dredlock-ing it yesterday.

Eat your lettuce!

OLS dinner 2007 05

Barbecue!




















One Local Summer 2007, Dinner Menu 05

• Grilled Summer squash, zucchini and onion (all from our Blooming Glen FarmCSA crop share - 5 miles) marinated in dressing and chopped purple and green basil (Blooming Glen) with grilled tempeh (Cricklewood Soyfoods - 28 miles) smothered in barbecue sauce (DelVal College - 12 miles), on a bed of steamed-then-sauteed beet greens, Swiss chard (Blooming Glen) and garlic (bought at the Skippack Farmers' Market from Jack's Farm - 24 miles). Nonlocal ingredients used: olive oil, and Italian dressing*.
  
• Chilled salad of blanched string beans and orange and red tomatoes (Blooming Glen).
• Sliced peaches (bought at Plumsteadville Natural Foods from a farm in Solebury - 23 miles) and strawberries (Blooming Glen).
• Butt Monkey Chiller Chimp Ale (Lion Brewery - 84 miles)

*I'm one of those people that always ends up with the leftovers. You know how at the end of a party or a picnic, when things are getting put away, packed up and tossed, and there are always those two or three things that could stay or go? The, "If you don't want it, I'll just throw it away" things? Yeah. That's how I got an industrial-sized bottle of Italian dressing. What can I say? My maternal instincts kick into high gear when I see food being thrown away :)

Barbecue was a One Local Summer dinner that I had stashed away in the back of my mind since I signed up for the challenge. It's something that I knew I would do eventually, but wanted to save for a busy week. Coming down from the Fallingwater trip has pretty much depleted all of my energy this week, so barbecue it was.

Earlier in the week, I went to Plumsteadville Natural Foods to stock up on local tofu, and at the last minute asked if they carried seitan; specifically, my local Ray's Seitan. I was happy to learn that they did, and when I went to pull it out of the freezer, I saw a row of an unfamiliar tempeh. Knowing that the owners of the store have a special interest in small, regional manufacturers, my heart skipped a beat as I picked up the package. Could it be local? Hell yeah - it was!




















And this is a perfect example of the frustration I have been experiencing in finding local vegan protein sources. Since last year, I've been scouring the internet looking for "tofu in Pennsylvania," "quinoa in Pennsylvania," "Tempeh in Pennsylvania," "amaranth in Pennsylvania," etc., etc., etc., and coming up with nothing. I've spent the last 12 months thinking that southeatern PA is just a dead zone in the way of local vegetable-based protein. It turns out, I'm all wrong. They're out there, but why are they so hard to find? Why aren't these companies listed on the buylocalpa.org website? Better yet, besides Fresh Tofu, why don't Ray's and Crinklewood Soyfoods have a website?

I mean, really. I gotta get on this. I'm going to go write some letters :)

Fallingmikaela

Our mini holiday to Fallingwater was absolutely amazing. Dare I even say that it was a spiritual experience?

I think I may.

I've been a fan of America's most famous architect for over a decade, though had never seen one of Frank Lloyd Wright's buildings in person until this weekend. Chasing his architecture on the internet and in books for ten years in no way prepared me for experiencing his most famous and unequaled home. It was magical and surreal. So magical and surreal, in fact, that less than 24 hours after touring it the first time, I had to go back.


Fallingwater was built for E. J. and Liliane Kaufmann and their son Edgar, Jr. on their land in Bear Run as a weekend home. The story is that E. J. requested that their "county cabin" be built in such a way that it took advantage of the view of the waterfall on their property. No doubt, the family was a bit surprised upon seeing Wright's plans to build the home over the falls.

Construction began on the main house in 1937 and ended with the guest house in 1939. The original budget for the project was $40,000; the final cost was $150,000.

Throughout the home, you can hear the rushing of the the falls and stream. This is thanks in part to the many windows and doors, but mostly to the "hatch" Wright built in the great room. The hatch provides a sound-scape, air conditioning and a staircase to the stream, into a swimming area.

"Organic" does not even begin to describe the way in which this home was built. Because of it's cantilevered structure, views of the outside are fully exploited with rows of glass wrapping around corners so as not to disrupt the flow. Keep in mind that this was during 1937, before silicone; these glass panes are cut to join one another and to meet walls. In several cases, corners were simply eliminated. Wright called this effect "exploding the box."



The home is built on several boulders that are visible from both the outside and the inside of the house. Most poetically, the hearth of the fireplace on the main floor is part of a large rock that previously had been one of the family's favorite sunning spots. Outside, the boulder is in its natural state, growing moss and other vegetation, all at once while supporting the terrace off of E. J.'s bedroom and providing a cozy wall for the walkway between the main house and the guest house.


At Fallingwater, outside becomes in and inside becomes out, and there is almost equal square footage dedicated to the outside terraces, as there is to the indoor floor plan. In addition to the use of glass and utilization of the site's boulders, window ledges and floors are seamlessly transitioned between windows and doors. In the hallway that connects the home to a walkway to the guest house, there is a corner built around a boulder that, when it's wet enough, will run with water from a spring.


We were at first disappointed that our visit was during a rainy couple of days, but one of the owners of County Seasons Bed and Breakfast (where we stayed) was actually excited for us. He said that the rain and wet grounds would make for a better tour and was actually his preferred setting of Fallingwater. Once there, we had to agree. The water made an appearance in the spring inside, we were able to see the drainage spouts in action (simple holes and small chutes from the terrace floors into the creek below) and outside, the rock walls were just dripping and pooling with water running down the mountainside.


Fallingwater, entrusted to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, is essentially part of the 5,000-acre Bear Run Nature Reserve, and so everywhere we looked, we were taken by the home itself, as well as the natural beauty of its landscape. Of course, that was Frank Lloyd Wright's intention: that visitors would be forced to see, acknowledge and appreciate the amazing landscape. He built completely in concert not just with the waterfall, but with the entire stream, the trees, rhododendrons, sandstone, shale, limestone, and sun.


And there are gobs and gobs or artwork everywhere. Picaso, Diego Rivera, John J. Audubon and Hiroshige are on the walls, Tiffany lighting is in every room, chairs by Laszlo Gabor and Bruno Mathsson sit quietly in reading corners, a Jacques Lipchitz statue praises the plunge pool - it's almost overwhelming. There's just too much to see, too much to take in!


Which is why we went back for a second tour. We easily could've stayed for the week. Seriously.

I haven't even mentioned the inside of the house: The beveled ceilings, the lateral shelving, the flagstone floor, the low ceilings, the efficiency of space, compression and release, the simple colors and materials used, how it has the largest collection of Wright furniture.

Or of the era in which the construction took place: Can you imagine what the neighbors thought? A house with glass walls, over a waterfall, with four indoor bathrooms, cantilevered everything and a "great room." The idea of an open floor plan is common to us now, but it certainly wasn't then.

Or of the divine intervention it took to get this home built: Merchant prince E. J. Kaufmann and Frank Lloyd Wright each have a personality that can hardly be imagined and egos to match. At the time of this project, Wright was at on of the lowest points of his career. The fact that this patron came to this architect with this piece of land at this moment is a story in and of itself.

Or the energy of the house: Synchronized, alive, breathing, Cubism, linear, flowing, moving, confusion, realization, mathematical, noisy, calming, serene, and on and on...

Clearly I was moved by my encounter with Fallingwater. Did you get that? ;) Visit the flick'r set for more interior, exterior and grounds photographs.

And can you believe that this was just the beginning of our holiday? Man, that Jase sure is an amazing guy. He put together this whole get away package for my birthday last year. He booked an early morning tour at Fallingwater, a late afternoon visit to Kentuck Knob, two nights at Country Seasons Bed and Breakfast (an easy five-minute drive to Fallingwater which was perfect for that 8:45am tour) and two nights at Angelspring Farm Wellness Retreat where we had massages and hot vegan dinners brought to us in a picnic basket each evening. Not to mention tons of stops in between for meals, wine and sightseeing. I'll write more on those later.

For now, I'm happy to just revisit Fallingwater, the centerpiece and catalyst to the trip.

Sigh.

PS: Yes, of course we had food at Fallingwater, too. They have a cafe that was serving, in addition to other things, a fantastic seasonal summer vegetable soup ;)