Harvest at the Woodward ~ Localvore Week, Day 4

I first heard about a store named  Harvest at the Woodward in Mt.Vernon, Ohio, from my friends, Corinne and Matt Gompf of Heritage Harvest Farm. The Gompf's have a market stall at Mt. Vernon's farmers market, and the store carries the dip mixes, herbs, spice , and teas that Corinne custom blends.

Jim and I were in Mt. Vernon on Sunday for the Dan Emmett Festival. We saw this lovely display. I realized that it was made by the store that Corinne has talked about. The store was open, so we went inside to check it out. Man, oh, man, am I ever glad that we did!

I soon realized that the store only carries Ohio produced foods, most from Knox and surrounding counties. I think that the Harvest at the Woodward is a localvore's dream store!

Not only does the store carry produce, it also has milk, cheese, eggs, and meats. Here one can find goat's milk, sheep cheese, and yogurt made from local dairies. Isn't that wonderful?

The day was hot and I did not have an insulated bag with ice packs in the car, so I did not do any shopping that day. But I can hardly wait to go baaa-ack (hopefully next week) because I am more curious than the Cheshire Cat about how sheep cheese tastes like!

Marcheta *sheepish

Day 4 Localvore meals

 Lunch

Jim stayed in town where his job site is at, so for myself I heated up the leftover pork with peach/pear salsa and finished off the apple/pear cobbler.

Planned for Dinner

Roast beef sandwiches (the beef was slow cooked with yesterday's stuffed peppers)

mashed or fried potatoes

marinated cucumber/onion/grape tomato salad

fried apples

fresh homemade tomato juice

Not sourced locally:* 

sandwich buns

Everything else is local and from the same sources as listed yesterday.



Localvore Week, Day 3

I bought all of this fresh, LOCALLY RAISED, food yesterday at NorthSide Farmers Market, for about $35.00. I had planned to spend $25.00, but that was before I realized that we did not have much meat left at home.

After the market, I traded with several other vendors and came home with a large bag of tomatoes, a few cookies, and two cinnamon rolls (ah...the perk of being a vendor!)

But even without those extras, I think that I did pretty good. I got a variety of veggies, meat for at least 5 meals, and, for fruit break from peaches, apples, and pears, I bought a cantaloupe.



Today's local fare:

Lunch:
boneless pork, cut into strips and pan fried, served with peach/pear salsa
eggplant sautéed in the garlic scape oil that I made earlier this summer
fresh cantaloupe melon
apple/pear cobbler served with Hartzler's Dairy whole milk

Iced tea


Planned for supper:
stuffed peppers cooked in home-made tomato juice
cauliflower with cheese sauce
veggie sauté ~ carrot, yellow squash, onion 
Italian herb bread w/ butter

cantaloupe smoothie
water

Local sources:
Rus-Men Naturally Raised Meats
Witter's Produce
Charlton's bakery
That's My Farmer
Bebee's Bees
Our own orchard/garden 

Purchasing venues:
The Farmers Wife Store
NorthSide Farmers Market
Bucyrus Lil' Farmers Market


Items not sourced locally

tea
cheese
butter
olive oil
spices
oatmeal
orange

I'd say that this is a successful localvore day!

Marcheta *feeling successful

Localvore Week, Day 2 ~ Breakfast of Champions!

Tuesdays are busy days for me. Along with picking, sorting, and getting our fruit ready by 2:00 p.m. to take to NorthSide Farmers Market, I also do marketing P.R. on Facebook. After I get the press release done in the morning, I check the market's Facebook page several times to see if any vendors have updates for me to add and to answer any questions that customers may have.

That means that Tuesday's meals are usually quick and easy, and more often than not, a repeat of Monday's fare. 

This is Day 2 of my dedication to eating as local as possible. For breakfast, I had apple/pear cobbler that I baked yesterday, served with whole milk from Hartzler's Dairy. The dairy is in Wooster, I am able to buy their products from Mendy Sellman's store, The Farmers Wife.

At this point, I don't know what lunch and dinner will be, I am thinking that we'll heat up the "mess" of green beans/new potatoes from yesterday.

Market Day means Shopping Day. Most of the time, my market purchases are spontaneous ..if something catches my eye, I buy it. Today will be more focused. I am taking $25.00 specifically for this week's fresh groceries to see how far it will stretch. Just imagine the tasty, FRESH meals I'll be able to prepare for my localvore week!

Marcheta * keepin' it tasty!

Localvore Week, Day 1

Today is the first day of my experiment of having as much locally produced foods as possible for our meals. So far I'm calling it 99% successful. The glitch came about because Jim had bought green beans at Ashland's farmers market on Saturday when he was in that town on business. I was working at Bucyrus' Lil' Farmers Market, if I had known that he was coming home with fresh green beans, I could have bought ham, bacon, or ham-hock from Mendy and Russ, who also set up at the market with their naturally raised meats. 

Those beans needed to be cooked today, and Mendy's store is not open on Monday, so I thought the next best choice would be at Discount Drug Mart. Yes, it is a chain store, but it does a pretty good job of supplying local when available. DDM carries meat from  New Washington, a village in the northern part of the county. 

No luck, DDM was out of what I was searching for, (being Monday morning I am guessing that the delivery hadn't arrived). My only option that was left was to go to our main grocery store. I bought a nice ham hock, that I believe came from an Ohio farm. 

Back home, I cleaned the green beans and put them in a slow cooker with potatoes and onion from our garden. The ham hock went in for flavor.

Then it was time to fix lunch. The only thing on our lunch menu that was not local was lettuce.

I made hamburgers from ground beef bought at Mendy's store on Saturday. The bread was a hearty maple/oat loaf that I got at NorthSide Farmers Market last week. It is wonderful bread made by the Charlton's. The bread has no preservatives and has to be stored in the refrigerator, but believe me, I've never had any kind of bread keep as long as the Charlton's. :)

The tomatoes and red peppers were from our garden, the cauliflower from Witter's Produce (again bought at NSFM).

A peach smoothie, made with our peaches and fresh milk from Hartzler's Dairy in Wooster (again, purchased at Mendy's) served as beverage and dessert :)

Tonight's dinner is the green bean dish (it smells SO good!) and apple/pear cobbler, made with our apples and pears, honey from Dave Duncan (Crestline) and Hartzler's milk. 

All in all, I think that I've got a good start to a localvore week of eating. What do you think?

Marcheta *keepin' it real

Cruisin'

The attitude of this Trumpeter Swan (photographed at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge) seems to sum up my luck with nature photography this year...."take THAT, you crazy lady with the camera"!  Being at the right place at the right time just ain't happening for me so far this year (but there is always hope...fall migration is just around the corner).

So...today I am changing focus, literally. After a wonderful breakfast at our town's old fashioned eatery ,The Big Plate, with dear friends Nancy and Don (from PA, who are in town visiting family and friends), Jim and I are heading down the highway to the Dan Emmet Car Show in Mt. Vernon, Ohio.

Just like the Call of the Wild pulls me to nature spots, hood ornaments beckon me to car shows. As soon as my feet hit the pavement , the search is on.

Seven years and several hundred photos of hood ornaments later, I will be featured in a gallery show in downtown Mansfield during the big car show there. More on that later, for now, the search is on for things like this...

Marcheta *take THAT...you crazy Trumpeter Swan! 

Localvore Challenge

It's been a long day for me already. It began bright and early to set up at Bucyrus' Lil' Farmers Market. Sales were great, I think that most vendors, including me, came very close to selling out.



NICE!

This afternoon, I have been busy with peaches. Today's peachy project is to freeze them in quart bags, which is enough for a pie, cobbler, or crisp. I still have quiet a few to do, but did not want to miss blogging today (and I need a break from standing at my sink), so here I am for a minute or two.

I plan to begin a project this week of having the food for every meal coming from local sources. The crowds that shop at our farmers markets are people of like mind, people who are now being called "localvores".  Will you join my localvore challenge?  I think that it will be fun as well as healthy!

Marcheta *up for it

What Big Eyes You Have!

Here is one of the make it/take it activities Denise had for the children at NorthSide Farmers Market. The owls are fun and simple to make.

Using icing as glue, split an Oreo cookie in half and place them on a large sugar cookie. a Bugle snack is the beak,and any round candy or nut could be used for the eyeballs. 

The kids had a blast making (and eating!) their owlish treats :)

Marcheta *who? who?

Peachy Keen

I have been up to my elbows in peaches today. To start my kitchen session, I made a peach crisp. 

To make the crisp, I put the slices in a square baking dish, drizzled honey over the peaches, and topped with the same topping that I use for apple crisps.

While it was in the oven, I continued to peel and slice peaches for other uses. After the crisp came out of the oven I had errands to tend to and a small amount of work for  the Galion Inquirer, so the sliced peaches got shoved into the fridge...but not for long. Those peaches are soon to be turned into peach/pear salsa and peach butter.

****True Confession****

I've never made peach butter, but decided to make it this year because I think it is healthier than jam, which uses a TON of sugar. I looked several recipes up online and, once again, after understanding the method and ingredients, decided to make my own recipe.

Most recipes say to cook the peaches and then run through a sieve to get that nice, smooth texture. However, my NutriBullet blender was right at eye-level when I was peeling the peaches, and an idea crept into my brain: why not run the peach slices through the blender, then add sweetener and spices? Sounds a WHOLE lot easier to me...what do you think? (check the "agree" box).

So that is what I am off to do as soon as this blog blab gets published.

My plan: puree the peaches in the NutriBullet, heat the puree on the stove, add honey and cinnamon. 

Batta Boom....DONE!


*S*W*E*E*T*

Marcheta *off I go, into the wild peachy yonder

Chillaxin'

After two very busy and hectic days, I am heading to Reynoldsburg to visit two of my kids and my three grandkids this afternoon.

Just look a the smile on Isaac's face when he was introduced to cooling down in water while we were in Florida last June. Who can resist spending time with a baby who is as happy as he is?

Well, right now he's not so happy, his mouth is sprouting teeth and he doesn't know what to think about the changes in his body. But, either way, he makes *me* happy, as do Evan and Ava...and I am really looking forward to our time together.

Marcheta *outta here

With a Little Help from my Friends

Picking fruit is fun....for about five minutes. Then it becomes a chore, especially when a lot of stretching or bending comes into play. 

Lucky for me, I have several friends who don't mind picking their own fruit and then hanging around to help me. Yesterday, Denise came over after work. Not only did she pick peaches and pears, she cleaned onions that had to be pulled from the garden.

Our garden, along with most, is a disaster this year. The veggies didn't stand a chance against the rain but the weeds loved it and went wild. Well, wilder than usual...no matter what our Spring intentions are we always seem to end up with a messy garden at harvest. But, with a bounty of fresh veggies, we don't let it get us down too much. This year, there's not a whole lot of payoff in those weed patches :(

Thank goodness for farmers markets. The vendors at the two markets that we set up at are struggling, too, but so far we've been able to eat a nice variety of fresh, locally grown produce this year.

Marcheta *thankful for friendship