Local Food Resources

Epicurious has developed a great interactive map that lets you know what foods are in season in your area, then links to recipes for those foods. It's a nifty tool.

For Cincinnatians, the Enquirer posted a wonderful comprehensive list of pick-your-own-produce farms, community sponsored agriculture and farmer's markets in our area.

Digging out

It took me twenty minutes just to clear the snow off of my car this morning. There was a good ten inches piled on the hood and the windshield, somewhat less on the rear window. Once I'd cleaned the car I drove over to Hyde Park, one of Cincinnati's tonier neighborhoods. There are always joggers in Hyde Park and today was no exception, snow and ice be damned. I saw a man jogging down the street holding what looked like a pizza box at first glance. When I got closer I realized he was jogging with a box of donuts from Busken Bakery.

The reason I drove to Hyde Park this morning was to meet a woman from Mohr's Animal Acres in Urbana, Ohio. They are regulars at the Hyde Park farmer's market and in the off season they've arranged a pre-order system and they meet their customers in a bank parking lot to drop off the orders. I picked up some lamb for my traditional Irish stew for St. Patrick's day and some smoked ham to put into bean soup.

So since I've set out on my quest for locally produced food during a Cincinnati winter I've found an untended honor system store, where you write down what you took and leave payment in a lock box, I've picked up pre-ordered winter greens from a porch in Wyoming and bought meat out of a parking lot. It seems so very clandestine for some reason and I'm having so much fun doing it. I'm really looking forward to visiting farms that will be selling peas, asparagus and strawberries this spring. Those goodies are generally in season well before the farmer's markets open, but I feel sure they'll be worth the extra effort.

Future Music Festival

I found out today that the Loveland Castle, Chateau Laoche will be hosting a music festival and farmer's market June 13th through the 15th. They are raising money to put a new roof on the old castle. It's a most worthy cause and I plan on attending provided I'm in town. It's just so freaking cool to have an honest-to-goodness castle nearby.


The people from England can stop pointing and laughing at me now.

Farms, Movies and Fava Beans

Yesterday I drove out to Red Sun Farm in Loveland to see what they had to offer. They had beef, pork, chicken (frozen) and fresh eggs for sale, as well as a small selection of organic cheese, honey and various other natural products. I ended up spending about $40 on bacon, pork country ribs, ground pork, stew beef, ground beef, a whole chicken and a jar of dried basil. That's probably enough meat for two months for the likes of me.

I cooked an egg this morning for my breakfast and I'm happy to report it was fantastic. The yolk was a deep, almost orange, yellow and the taste was wonderful. Plus, they were about a dollar cheaper than the organic eggs I've been buying a Trader Joe's; bonus. Tomorrow I'm going to cook up some of the pork ribs in a orange-garlic-chile sauce in the slow cooker. I have high hopes.

I did a quick mini-bird count for the Great Backyard Bird Count on the Kingfisher Trail in Winton Woods yesterday too. I totaled 12 species and 36 individuals, the most numerous being Carolina Chickadees. Nothing rare made an appearance, but I did hear a Barred Owl calling in the distance.

I also went with some friends to see The Spiderwick Chronicles last night. I enjoyed it; it was a good story and the movie was fast paced and action packed. I need to read the books now; it seems the entire fourth book was left out. Go, take the kids, you'll all like it.

I've been thinking about fava beans today. I have a jar of dried fava beans (called broad beans in the UK) and I was thinking about tossing them out. I cooked up a batch of them some time ago and I just didn't care for them. But I really hate to waste food so I'm going to try making ful medames (one of the national dishes of Egypt) before I give up on them entirely. I've heard that fava beans are best when they're fresh but they are only available for a short time in the spring here. I'll try to grab some this year. I also came across a tidbit of information which said that fava beans are the only bean native to the Old World, but I haven't had time to delve into that yet so I'll leave it for another day.

Green green green

I was really in the mood for green things today. I'm ready to be done with the winter root vegetables and move on to green spring leaves. I bought kale, spinach, watercress, zucchini and green beans at the grocery today. The spinach went into a frittata with goat cheese and some tomatoes that were getting a bit too soft to use in salads. I thought it came out so pretty I took a picture of it. It tastes damn good too. I also whipped up a Thai green curry with mushrooms, green beans, zucchini and tofu, so there's breakfast and lunch sorted for tomorrow.

I came across the term hoophouses a couple of times this weekend and found out that's the name for those inexpensive, portable greenhouses I see on farms from time to time, usually in the spring. I believe that's how the Greenacres Foundation is producing green vegetables this early in the year.

Of local interest

In between laundry and deep cleaning the kitchen and bathroom today, I did some research on local farms. I hit the farmer's market almost every week (in season) for fresh vegetables and fruit and I love it. However, that still leaves me going to the grocery store for cream, bread, eggs and the little meat I buy. Since I only eat meat once or twice a week at best, I can afford to spend a little more for organic meat. I'd just as soon support my local farmers and I managed to find a few places that aren't a very long drive from me. Mind you, I haven't actually been to any of these places yet, so this is not a recommendation list.

Turner Farm

• Located in Maderia, Turner Farm sells their produce at Findlay Market from June through Thanksgiving and from their farm year round. It looks like they have loads of produce variety and they sell chicken, lamb, pork and honey in season.

Red Sun Farm

• Red Sun is in Loveland and they sell grass-fed, free-range beef, pork and poultry. This will be one of my first stops.
  

Greenacres Foundation

• A farm and educational center in Indian Hill. They have Black Angus beef, pastured poultry, fresh eggs, raw honey and produce. It looks like they already have some spring greens available!

I've also been wanting to find a good bread bakery and I found a couple of possible candidates:

Old World Bakery

• I've been buying their pita bread in Krogers for years, but I've never visited their store. They sell pitas and bagels and they're located in North College Hill. They have a restaurant there which serves gyros; I'll report back.

Breadsmith of Cincinnati

• OK, it's a franchise, albeit a small one. They have several varieties of whole wheat/grain bread available and they bake fresh each day. I'll give them a shot.