Garlic Scapes

Garlic Scapes
Originally uploaded by lilysecret42

One of the local farmers down at Findlay Market last Saturday was selling garlic scapes. I wasn't familiar with them but after the woman selling them broke off a bit and let me taste them I was sold. Very garlicky but not overpowering. She told me they could be cooked like a vegetable. Once I got them home I looked them up on-line and found a few recipes for scape pesto. I used about half of them to make a pesto out of the scapes using them and some fresh basil from a pot I have growing outside, Parmesan cheese, olive oil salt and pepper. It was too thick to puree in my mini food processor, so as I was planning on lathering a fish fillet with the stuff, I added some fresh lemon juice to smooth things out. Incredible taste.

I stir fried the other half of my bunch of scapes with local asparagus - olive oil, salt and pepper, finished with a splash of balsamic vinegar. Delicious.

Mother Earth News has this to say on garlic scapes:

If you grow your own garlic or have a good farmer’s market, then you can enjoy a new kind of vegetable — garlic scapes. The scapes are the flower stems that garlic plants produce before the bulbs mature. Growers often remove the scapes to push the plant’s energy toward bigger bulbs, and when harvested while they are young and tender, the scapes are delicious.

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.

Color Me Intrigued...

Mangosteens:


How To Eat A Mangosteen


Now I just have to track them down. I imagine Jungle Jim's will carry them. I'm planning a trip there soon anyway - when I was getting my hair cut the other day, the owner of the salon was going on about how excited he was to have found dried squid in Cincinnati. He was disappointed he's not convinced anyone else to try it and I told him I loved squid and I wanted to try it myself. He went in back and brought out a pack of dried squid and I have to say it was delicious. It was slightly sweet, slightly salty with a nice seafood taste and the texture was more tender than that of beef jerky. He found it at Jungle Jim's in the Asian section, so I need to hunt some up myself. It would make a great snack to take along hiking or kayaking.

Weekend Report

Saturday morning I got up bright and early and dashed down to Findlay Market to see what goodies were available. I found (and brought home) asparagus, spinach, sorrel, eggs and a pot of thyme, all locally grown. I also found fresh fava beans at Madison's so I grabbed some of those as well. I'm going to make sorrel soup from the recipe I found on the Cincinnati Locavore blog tomorrow night.


I'd planned to spend the rest of the weekend at home finishing my spring cleaning, but today was just too nice outside and I dropped everything this afternoon to get in a quick two and a half mile hike over at French Park. I'm glad I did; I heard reedy calls of Gnatcatchers several times and I also heard the first Red-Eyed Vireo and Hermit Thrush of the season. Larkspur and Blue-Eyed Mary were in bloom as well. Unfortunately, French Park seems to be a bit sparse on native wildflowers and heavy in the introduced and problematic Garlic Mustard; there was scads of it blooming on the hillsides. I guess deer don't care much for its flavor.

Alder Catkins

Alder Catkins
Originally uploaded by lilysecret42

Somehow I managed to walk four and a half miles today - a workday no less. The weather was sunny and in the sixties and I couldn't stay inside. I spent my two breaks during the day doing laps around the office building (five laps equals one mile) and after work I went over to Sharon Woods and walked all the way around Sharon Lake.

There are many alder trees bordering the lake and they are already in bloom. This photo depicts long catkins, which are the male flowers of this tree. You can also see the woody remains of the female catkins from last year, still clinging to the tree. They look like tiny pine cones.

Alder trees are water loving and their oily wood is found throughout Venice, Italy in underwater foundations and pilings. It was also commonly used to build bridges. The wood does not rot in water, instead becoming hard as stone. Alder trees are also very useful in environmental reclamation projects, as the nitrogen fixing nodules on their root system improve soil fertility.

California Woods

March has decided to come in like a lamb here in Cincinnati. After last month's bitter cold, snow, ice and slush, today's sixty degrees felt heavenly. I grabbed my camera and binoculars and headed out to California Woods to hike the trails. I was hoping to catch some early emerging wildflowers but there were none that I saw. I did spot my first Turkey Vulture of the year though. Of course, some of them don't migrate all that far south in the winter; they just mosey down to Kentucky or Tennessee for a couple of months before heading back this way.

The park is collecting maple sap for syrup and many of the trees near the nature center had buckets attached. One was overflowing so I helped myself to a few drops of the faintly sweet sap. It helped convince me that spring is truly on its way.


There was a nice stand of horsetails in the park and I hunkered down to get a few snaps of them. They get the name horsetail from the feathery fronds that sprout up later in the year. Horsetails are primitive plants, reproducing from spores or rhizomes and they have been around since the reign of the dinosaurs. The stalks contain crystals of silica and were at one time used for polishing and scrubbing pewter ware; their other common name is scouring rush. They prefer wet soil and I found these growing along the flood plain of the Lick Creek.

Corn Mache

Lamb's lettuce
Originally uploaded by Berlinalex

I stopped by someone's porch today to pick up my order from the Wyoming Farmer's Market after hours party. I got a huge bag of corn mache and another huge bag of arugula - probably more than I can eat before it wilts. Corn Mache is a tender winter green, also known as Lamb's Lettuce or Corn Salad. It has been cultivated in Europe since the 16th century and it said to have a flavor reminiscent of mild hazelnuts.

I also ordered some indulgences from the market: a great smelling beeswax candle, an equally great smelling bay-lime handmade soap and thricely great smelling hand salve. Speaking of nicely scented extravagances, I had an email from Lush Cosmetics announcing a couple of special events at Kenwood Towne Center. Which alerted me to the fact that there is now a Lush Store in the Macy's here in Cincinnati. I'm not sure how I missed the fact that they were opening a branch here. They have lovely handmade cosmetics, mostly of the soap and shampoo varieties, but I've usually been too cheap to spend the money on shipping charges. Now I won't have to.

Thanks to Berlinalex for making this lovely photo publicly available.

Winter Greens and Bird Behavior

Today I found out that the Wyoming Farmer's Market has a few items available even in mid-winter. The market sells locally produced goods and food and they've arranged a pre-order and drop-off system for the off season. I ordered a beeswax candle, some soap and hand salve, as well as arugula and corn mache. I know I've had arugula in salads before, but I've never purchased it separately. I've never had corn mache to the best of my knowledge. I have a couple of days to learn about both of these greens before I bring them home.

Oh look, I found a lovely recipe for an arugula salad and I just happen to have most of the ingredients on hand. Perfect.

After placing my order for the farmer's market, I happened to witness some fascinating bird behavior, although I'm rather ashamed to say it was on America's Funniest Home Videos. I tried to find it on YouTube; no luck on the original but the following video shows the same actions. The Green Heron drops bits of bread in the water as bait to lure fish into striking range:



It's not the only bird that uses its brain to get at food. Crows have been witnessed placing hard-to-open nuts into roads; after the nuts are crushed by a passing car the crows help themselves to the freed nut meat. I've seen Grackles steal dry dog food from pet bowls and carry the nuggets to a bird bath, where they dunk them until they are soft enough for the bird to swallow. Bird brains indeed.

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.

Citizen Scientists

One doesn't have to hold a science degree to contribute to the sum of human knowledge. I just learned of a new project today, called Budburst, which is enlisting the help of citizen scientists across the country to record the timing of the leafing and flowering of plants.

People can also help with monitoring amphibian populations through FrogWatch, sponsered by the National Wildlife Federation. The website has helpful identification tools, including sound recordings of the calls and croaks of various frogs and toads.

This very weekend is the Great Backyard Bird Count, which is a huge four-day event involving people reporting the number and species of birds found around their homes. Anyone can participate; this is a great introduction to the world of birding for novices. It doesn't involve any special equipment other than eyes and ears (although binoculars really are helpful).

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.