100% Local Feast!

You're looking at the serving line for the 53rd Annual Beaver County Farm-City Banquet held at the Big Knob Grange on Wednesday night. Reservations were capped at 150 and it was a sell out! The Farm-City Banquet exclusively showcases Beaver County produced food from vegetables to beef to ice cream.
The Big Knob Grange, New Sewickley Kiwanis, & Penn State Cooperative Extension of Beaver County organize the dinner every year. The food is donated by the farmers' market members of the Beaver County Fruit & Vegetable Growers Association and other local farmers ...... this year, Rovidale Farm and Brunton Dairy helped support the dinner with beef, milk, and ice cream. Proceeds were donated to the Beaver County 4-H Foundation.

Local produce items on the menu included spiced beets, sweet corn, butternut squash with local honey & butter, mashed potatoes, coleslaw, and that perennial favorite (where else could you get it?!?) roasted turnips being dished up below!
Follow that up with apple pie and ice cream and everyone left the tables feeling grateful for our local farmers ............

Hey - it's dark out here!

Yes, we (one of my friends from work) went to the Ambridge Farmers' Market yesterday. But with the time change, we had to move around quickly before it got too dark. I didn't bother to pull out the camera, but I did buy Winesap apples, red potatoes, and peanut butter cookies. Among other things, my friend got a loaf of French Bread from the Wood Street Bread Company. They always have a nice selection of breads at the Ambridge market as well as at the farmers' market in Beaver on Saturday morning. http://www.woodstreetbread.com/. In fact, if you look at the picture just below this post from last weeks entry, the white tent with the red table is the Wood Street tent.

What a Difference a Day Makes

Driving home from work on Wednesday I passed through a whiteout! Even though the ground isn't frozen, the snow covered the road and the tracks of the cars for about 10 minutes. By the time the Thursday afternoon Ambridge Farmers' Market rolled around, thankfully the temps were in the 50's and the sun was shining!

Here are some nice pictures of the market and produce in the setting sun. Look at what is still available in the way of tomatoes. Thursday was Trick-or-Treat night in Ambridge, so the crowd came early and headed home to pass out candy ......

We're Sitting on the Fence ....

Well, here they are ....... the fencesitter pumpkins at home. They'll stay up until the ram knocks them off or until the November freeze/thaw cycles start turning them mushy. Then we feed them to the sheep. Local food for local sheep!

Looking for ideas for your pumpkins? http://www.countryliving.com/30-days/pumpkin-parade-1008

There are still plenty of pumpkins, squash, and gourds at the farmers' markets. I'll be interested to see what can be found tomorrow at the Ambridge Farmers' Market. The temperature dipped today to a high of 41 degrees. Throughout the day, we had snow flurries, rain, & tiny hail stones in the air. It should be in the 50's on Thursday for the market.

How Local is Local?

Here's another story on defining "local" food. http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2008-10-27-local-grown-farms-produce_N.htm
At a program last weekend, we learned that the PA Dept of Agriculture defines local as being produced in Pennsylvania. This was in reference to the PA Preferred program. http://www.agriculture.state.pa.us/papreferred/site/
Some "Locavores" have a tighter definition of local ...... the "100 Mile Diet", for instance. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1200783,00.html
How big is your "foodshed"? I try to write about the farms & food that are "local to me". Sometimes, as you can see from my posts, it can be a farmstand, farmers' market, or farm that I pass closeby while traveling. So that's my own version of local!

Mission Accomplished (well almost ......)

Another Sunday in October and another diversion related to the Pittsburgh Steelers. This time my return trip from State College was affected, since driving in on the Parkway East pre-game would not be a good idea! So ....... I came across the area on Rt 422 W and then dropped down to Rt 68. This gave me a chance to include a stop at Brenckle's Farms & Greenhouses as I passed by. Well, I finally completed my pumpkin shopping for the season. I added 3 large pumpkins & a group of gourds to the decorative "One Too Many" pumpkin that I had purchased at the Ambridge Farmers' Market a couple of weeks ago. The pumpkin search is over for this year. I looked all over, but I really wasn't able to find good specimens (ahem) of the heirloom varieties that I like to use. The Long Island Tan Cheese were scarce and smallish this year. The Rouge Vif d' Etampes that I found were nicked & scratched and their stems were broken. The Galeux d'Eysines were completely covered with warts & no pinkish orange was showing. I understand that they must be picked before they get too mature because the warts keep growing.

Picky, picky, picky!

The end result is that this year's display will be much more "conventional". And that's not a bad thing anyway. If you're interested in looking at or trying some of these unusual pumpkin & squash varieties check out Seed Savers Exchange http://www.seedsavers.org/ and Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds http://rareseeds.com/.

Since I use these for display through Thanksgiving, they tend to go soft, but they do not go to waste ....... they're fed to my sheep when we're finished with them! I even have an antique "long handled pumpkin cutter" that we use to break them up so that the sheep can bite into them.

How about these apple gourds? These aren't the little ones, they're 8 -12 inches around. I was impressed with the selection of pumpkins and home grown produce at Brenkle's. It's definitely worth a stop and the price on the pumpkins can't be beaten.

Running Late Tonight ......

I dashed over to the Ambridge Farmers' Market a little late tonight after work, and ended up watching folks tearing down their stalls by the time I left. You've got to hand it to these farmers ..... when you do this several times a week, you get pretty good at it. Just look at how neatly & efficiently Oak Spring Farm has their trucks packed up. Everyone has their own system depending on what they sell.

I did get what I wanted today - red potatoes & Winesap apples. Check out your farmers' market and orchard stands for the uncommon varieties of apples that you can't find in the supermarkets. You're hearing from someone who hasn't has a Red Delicious (<---- yes, I did that on purpose) in the house for 20 years!

Even a little pile of salad tomatoes made it home, maybe the last ones we get our hands on for the season. :~( We've had a couple of frosts in Beaver County during the last week, so most of the tomatoes have been picked.

Beaver County Fruit & Vegetable Growers Association update:

The Ambridge Market will start at 3:30pm once the time changes so that you still have time to get over while it's still light. I also understand that their last market of the season in Ambridge is the TUESDAY immediately before Thanksgiving. Perfect timing for your Thanksgiving dinner!

More on Pittsburgh area farmers' markets:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08297/922008-34.stm