Tag: Ideas

There’s No Place Like Home

There’s No Place Like Home

Out here in the Black Dirt area of Orange County, NY, we have to deal with very unique circumstances and events, and after 40<cough, cough> years of living here, I'm kinda used to those things.  My father, after 70 years on Celery Avenue, probably knows the place better than anyone else, except maybe his big sister Beverly.  Hell, my kid has seen 3 devastating floods in his short lifetime, each one worse than the last, and he thinks it's just the way things are here in the farmland. Twisters, or dust devils, are a regular occurrence around here and while...Read More
Back to Basics: Chicken Stock

Back to Basics: Chicken Stock

We all know how badly Hurricane Sandy devastated our area. For once I was glad the media  hyped it to death. Many communities were close to 100% evacuated and countless lives were saved because of it.  Having survived Hurricane Irene and tropical storm Lee and the resulting power outages and floods, I know that advance warning and preparation take some of the pain and suffering out of an event like that. My first thought after hearing that Sandy would impact the Northeast was, "Oh, dear GOD, no.  Not another flood." Then, I cried. Then, I gathered supplies.  I shopped for...Read More
I see no point in reinventing the wheel

I see no point in reinventing the wheel

I'm too busy for that. The last two weeks of second grade are a blur. We had third grade orientation, Moving Up Day (The Boy will be going to a new school for grade 3), Spring Concert (he had a solo with his friend who happens to be a girl but is ABSOLUTELY NOT his girlfriend), and Field Day.  Then we had his class play (The Foolish Little Hare) complete with classroom 'reception' following performance.  I made Whoopie Pies.  They were incredible. I said something to Mom the other day and she replied, "You'd rather be too busy than bored......Read More

‘Royal’ly Cool Ideas for Cookie Decorating (Part 1)

Yes.  I think that's funny.  I'm lame like that. I was doing some Christmas shopping at Michael's craft store the other day and couldn't resist the adorable assortment of cookie cutters.   WHAT?  Michael's has great percent-off coupons!  I NEVER make rolled cookies and I NEVER have the time to decorate rolled cookies without a small child at my side.  This week, I had the time.  And obviously I now had the cutters.  I know, you're shocked.  My resistance is really low at Michael's, Target, and Bed, Bath and Beyond. It was cookie week on the Martha Stewart Show, and in...Read More

Anybody Baking Cookies This Week? Read This.

Anyone who has joined us at our farm Open Houses knows that I know a little bit about making cookies. We set up a table of assorted snacks and drinks for our guests to nibble on while they shop around the barn. There are times when guests/ vendors bring something to share, but most of the time I make about 100 dozen assorted cookies. Despite the number of times I've been asked, I do not sell them. It's basically all-u-can-eat while you're here. There are some tricks that I've learned over the 6 years we've held Open Houses, tricks that...Read More
Brrrr!  Where are My Fuzzy Slippers?

Brrrr! Where are My Fuzzy Slippers?

'Cause it's getting REALLY cold out here on the farm! [caption id="attachment_973" align="alignright" width="240"] Good Morning, Sunshine![/caption] Temps have been consistently in the 30s each morning, but the frost lingered until long past the time when I usually take Thomas out for the bus today.   Amazingly enough, very few of the green items we have at market right now are from the greenhouse.  Most, like spinach, kale(s), collards, turnips, brussels sprouts, lettuce and bok choy, are still being harvested from the fields weekly. As long as the weather isn't too harsh right away, the plants become accustomed to the weather and actually thrive. ...Read More
C’mon Daddy, Light My Fire!

C’mon Daddy, Light My Fire!

[caption id="attachment_861" align="alignright" width="158"] The Tools of the Trade (meaning, I trade food for repairs): note the all-important cigar (Fletch!)[/caption] Ok, so my dad doesn’t look like Jim Morrison… OR Val Kilmer…  But he IS handy with doors, as he fixed mine only a few short months ago.  The fact that in a previous life The Doors provided good make-out music probably should have led me to a different title, but eh.  I’ve never been known for being PC. And since I’ve got this horrific earworm now, so should you!  <insert evil cackle here> Many thanks to Dad  who re-lit my...Read More

Don That Bonnet and Pinafore, Half-Pint — It’s Time to ‘Put Up’ for the Long Winter

I'm hoping that at least SOME of you will get the Little House on the Prairie reference in there.  I'm also hoping that none of my relatives have either photographs of me in a bonnet and apron or the wherewithall to scan and post said photos (face it - my childhood was waaayyyy over before digital cameras were even born).   [caption id="attachment_550" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="How many forklifts does it take to change a lightbulb?"][/caption] This is a busy time of year at the farm, especially when we hit mid-September and haven't had a frost.  Frost wipes out most summer crops - tomatoes, beans,...Read More

The Little Black Dress in the Kitchen

 * So here I am trying to type and post these recipe ideas and The Boy is being very affectionate and needy.  He's wonderfully happy, and ridiculously talkative, as any young man would be after riding along with Papa in the John Deere for the last hour.  He is emptying the contents of his piggy bank (ie coffee can with slit in lid) on my desk between me and my keyboard.  He reminds me of my cat (RIP, Miss Book), climbing all over me 'in the heat of the moment' like nothing important is going on (no comment) and why can't I interrupt?  This is...Read More
Afternoon Delight… Or Love Apples, the Stinking Rose, and… Crest?

Afternoon Delight… Or Love Apples, the Stinking Rose, and… Crest?

[caption id="attachment_242" align="alignright" width="225"] SunGold Low-acid Cherry Tomatoes[/caption] Afternoon Delight, Tomatoes, Homegrown and Full of Summer The calendar turns to June and people's tongues start hanging for a real, vine-ripened, homegrown tomatoes.  Anyone who has lived in the Northeast for more than a few growing seasons KNOWS that you will NOT find a local tomato in June, but we can hope... and crave... and dream a little. We farmers aren't immune to the siren song of the Love Apple either.   Why 'love apple', you ask?  It is, according to Food Lover's Companion, "a tomato moniker that originated in the 16th...Read More