Friday, October 26, 2007

RAIN!

I can practically hear my flowers and veggies sighing with relief. Supposedly 4 more inches on the way - could it be?!

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Local generosity

On Saturday I got a phone call from lovely older woman who had seen our photo in the paper. She and her sister had been trying to figure out what to do with some canning jars they had dragged up out of the basement, saw the article, and looked me up in the phone book. Sal and I happily went over to take the jars off her hands. We spent some time chatting with her - her family built her home in the 1930s, back when Market Street was a two lane road that you could park on - imagine that. Her mother lived to be 100 and had used many of the jars that she gave us. We came away with 7 boxes of beautiful jars of all different shapes and sizes - plenty for canning and some to use for storing pretty things. Love this small town.

And this here is why they call it North Cackalacky...

Letter to the Editor published in the Star News on 10/23:

Local vittles
Editor: I think these here locavores is on to somethin'! Why, after I read the paper this mornin', I swallered down a big 'ol Krispy Kreme slathered in Duke's Mayonnaise and Texas Pete, follered up with a cold Cheerwine.
Nothin' like eatin' local!

Robert Thompson
Caswell Beach


Awesome.

Monday, October 22, 2007

State Fair

On Saturday, Sal and I made our annual trek up to Raleigh for the North Carolina State Fair. We decided to make this a tradition when we first moved here, and have looked forward to it every year since.

I looove the State Fair for lots of reasons, but mostly because its a giant, messy, conglomeration of all things great and disturbing about North Carolina. It's supposed to be a celebration of NC Agriculture, and really is, despite the amount of commercialized junk that prevails there. I love seeing the craft and food entries; cases and cases of displayed jam, pickles, preserves, and even cakes, diligently created by folks all over the state and submitted with the hopes of winning the $8 or so first prize. I also love the art show, the produce competitions, cow judging, flower and garden displays, and all of the animal shows.

For all of the wonderful opportunities at the fair, here are some things I pretty easily managed to restrain myself from doing:
  • Buying an airbrushed sweatshirt with my own name on it
  • Joining the military
  • Eating a deep fried anything

Here are some things I couldn't help myself from:

  • Eating a scoop of NC State creamery ice cream as big as my head
  • Rubbing the heads of some cute animals even though the signs clearly said NO!
  • Pocketing a banana at the hotel buffet

Another fun year celebrating the varied agriculture of NC, and all the weird people who enjoy it.

Seriously, could you resist these guys?

Friday, October 19, 2007

In case you missed it...

Yesterday, our local eating made front page news. I was a little nervous about having such exposure, but I think Sam Scott did a great job on the article. Didn't make us seem like weirdos at all. I've gotten alot of positive feedback from people so far, not to mention lots of questions and stories about food. I love it! So, if you're checking out this blog as a result of the article, would you please leave a comment just to say hi? Thanks.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Pecan pickin'

My fingernails are still black from picking pecans this weekend. Soooo pretty. I'm not complaining though - the outcome was absolutely worth it. On Saturday, Trace over at Cricketbread was awesome enough to show us where there are some quality pecan and hickory trees around town. I for one couldn't have picked out a pecan tree had it dropped a big fat pecan right on my head. Now I least know what to look for and how to identify when they're ready to pick. Also to maybe wear some gloves next time. In a couple of hours we got around 8 lbs. of pecans and a smattering of hickory nuts... I'm already envisioning the holiday goodies.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Score!

I made a glorious find this weekend while conducting a thorough cleaning out of all our closets, drawers and various nooks and crannies throughout the house. I was looking for stuff to put in the yard sale we had Saturday, and came across our hurricane food supply shoved into a corner of the garage. We had stocked up on various canned goods when we moved here - convinced that a hurricane induced power outage would indeed one day force us to sit in the dark for a week eating green beans out the can while sipping Crystal Light. Needless to say we haven't had a storm that's left us without power for more than 10 hours and so haven't touched the kit in years. Well, except for the cans Chef Boyardee ravioli Sal has pilfered a few times as a snack.

The contents of the kit are expired, but we're going to give them a try anyway. The shining star of the group is the box of Saltines which is a key ingredient in Southern style squash casserole. I've been substituting bread crumbs, which are okay, but aren't quite right. There are also canned peaches, pineapple, fruit cocktail, pears, peas, corn, green beans and tuna. I'm not so sure about the tuna though. We've also got some boxed soy milk, peanut butter crackers, cereal, crunchy peanut butter, strawberry jam, cran-raspberry juice, applesauce, and the aforementioned Crystal Light lemonade mix. That's some high class hurricane planning, folks.

I'm going to figure out what I can make using all this found food, and incorporate it into our menus over the next few months.

Monday, October 8, 2007

A Monday moment

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind around here. Besides the brisk pace of our day jobs, Sal and I have had several home improvement projects in various levels of completion to contend with each day. We've been getting up around 6:30 - working all day, fulfilling other commitments - teaching, tutoring, etc. after work, then coming home to paint, clean, shop or organize our way through some aspect of our home transformation, usually followed by falling into bed exhausted around 10:30. Next day: repeat. Weekends: ditto. In reality, the projects aren't huge, just time consuming, and have eaten up lots of our "free" time. I have no idea how we'd do it if we had children - part of the reason we're taking care of these things now.

So a bit of my going on about how busy I've been is to offer an explanation of why the past few weeks have been more about others than about how we're faring here. Much of our busy-ness has been due to local eating issues: in direct ways - like planting veggies, and in not so obvious ways - like putting in a fence gate and an additional door in our garage for easier access to our garden and composter.

Instead of posting a Local Producer Spotlight this week, I thought I'd introduce you to some of our newest crops - which will be our own local producers in the coming months and years.

Here's proof that life is moving way too quickly. There was nothing sprouting in this pot just 48 hours ago. I went out this morning to find a ton of little carrot plants fighting their way out of the soil. I'll have to thin them out later, but for now; look at them go!


Here are our newest surprise additions from Shelton Herb Farm: Lemongrass and Ginger. I had no idea either of them would grow here. Ooooh, the cooking possibilities!


Part of our little potted jungle: basil, chives, dill, cilantro, parsley, tarragon, mint, jalapenos, rosemary, lemongrass, ginger, and avocado.



Oh, and by the way, I'm also hoping to make this site a little more user-friendly, as I'm anticipating some increased traffic in the next few weeks. So if you get an "Under Construction" message, don't fret.

Farmers' Market in the news

I also wanted to mention that the Farmers' Market was highlighted in Si Cantwell's Newcomers column on Sunday, October 7th. Our favorite folks were mentioned, and there's even a quote by yours truly.

Monday, October 1, 2007

Local Producer: Nature's Way Farm and Seafood

Let me just say that I cannot live without cheese. (If you haven't noticed, I like to make dramatic statements.) I tried once, for awhile, when I was on a non-dairy diet for health reasons - recommended by Woody Harrelson during a yoga class, but that's another story. I was okay with switching to soy milk, and made do without butter, but I just could not do without the cheese. I have actually been called "the crazy cheese girl" once. If the shoe fits...

That said, I was a little worried about the cheese factor going into this way of eating. Lucky for us then, and everyone else around here, that Nature's Way Farm exists. Over the past few months I have tried their chevre, mozzarella (smoked and regular), pepperjack, cheddar, feta, gouda, romano, parmesan, and raw caraphilly - all made from goats' milk - and have never been disappointed.

Nature's Way is run by Tina and Bill Moller. Bill is their representative at the Farmers' Markets on Wed. and Sat., and he does his job well. He's friendly, generous and kind - which is a good business plan in my book. I'm looking forward to stopping by Nature's Way soon, when life is a little less hectic - you can too. In the meantime, stop by their stand and stock up on some amazing cheeses, fresh seafood, and great goat's milk products like cucumber-melon lotion and coconut soap.
Tina and Bill took some time out from their busy schedule to answer my questions:

You've got quite the combination of products - from shrimp to soap to cheese! Can you tell us a little bit about how you got started in the seafood and goat business?

I've been commercial fishing since 1971. In 1981 I hired Tina to pick clams for me on my clam dredge, by 1983 we got married. With the same goals, we got 3 1/2 acres in Sloop Point about 1/2 mile from the sound. Tina wanted livestock for pets, so sheep were selected followed by goats. Both being milk & cheese lovers Tina wasted no time in trying her hand at cheese making. By trial and error she developed a goat milk chevre that won best in show at the North Carolina Dairy Goat Breeders Association 2 years in a row. By then the soaps were also doing well and we started retailing some of my shrimp at the house. We slowly made the transition from selling wholesale to fishhouses to dealing direct with the public. In 2000 we became the only certified goat cheese dairy east of I 95. Our sales at the farm weren't enough to make it, but thanks to the Wilmington River Front Farmers' Market and now the Poplar Grove Farmers' Market, we are able to continue doing what we enjoy.

I'm always impressed with the number of cheeses you produce. What are some of your specialties, and how long does it take to make them?

The chevre was Tina's first cheese and is still her personal favorite. She makes it in 8 flavors - it takes 2 days to make. The mozzarella and blue are both very unique. The blue takes 6 weeks to make. Mozzarella takes about 2 days. The pimento is made with 3 different kinds of goat cheeses. Besides feta, Tina makes a variety of hard cheeses & they take 2-6 months. Oh, she's always working on something new, like a hard cheese soaked in red wine.

What are some of the differences between goat's milk and cow's milk products?

Goat's milk is easier to digest for two reasons. First, the fat particles are very small and second, the lactose is different from cows milk so many people who are lactose intolerant can drink it. It is also lower in fat and higher in calcium.

Where and how do you catch your seafood?

I mostly work close to home out of Topsail Sound. I fish crab pots, which not only supply my crabs but also stone crab claws. I set nets for the flounder, and the clams and oysters are caught either locally in public bottom or out of the 7 acre clam/oyster lease I have. Do to multiple reasons I chose to sell my shrimp boat this past spring. My many years in the business allow me to be able to get shrimp from friends still shrimping that maintan the same high standards I do. The dry pack sea scallops and hand picked crab meat is from Garland F. Fulcher Seafood Oriental, N.C. The crab cakes are made by Caroon Carb Co. Southport, N.C.

Is there anything else you'd like us to know about Natures Way?

Being a small working farm we not only enjoy our livelyhood but take pride in the products we offer to the public.

Nature's Way Farm is located at 115 Crystal Ct.Hampstead, NC. You can reach them at (910)270-3036.