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Fundamentals of Pairing Wine with Food

Post by Jamie Ryan, Wine Consultant & Educator, Mt. Nittany Winery

In wine and food pairing, the fundamental goal is balance. The flavors found in both the wine and the elements of a dish should be balanced and neither should overpower the other. A well-matched pairing should enhance the existing elements of each and ultimately bring out new flavors that are not detected in the wine or food when they stand alone. As a wine educator, the most frequent questions my students always ask how they can make safe pairing choices when they are on their own, either at home or dining out. Here are some basic guidelines that are fairly universal in the world and I find that they are a great place for beginners to dive in and start playing with their pairings.

Continue Reading: Fundamentals of Pairing Wine with Food

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: wine | foodpairing | JamieRyan | Mt.NittanyWinery |

PASA sows seeds of sustainable, innovative farming practices in Pennsylvania fields

Article by PASA Staff

Back in the early ‘90s a small gathering of Centre County “kindred spirits” came together around the idea of founding an organization that focused on a variety of sustainable farming practices, addressed issues family farmers faced, and filled a need for those who wanted to support “alternative” agriculture, as some may have called it back then. Through the dedicated efforts of this group (many of whom still live, work, and farm in Centre County), the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) took root over 20 years ago and today continues to flourish throughout Pennsylvania.

Continue Reading: PASA sows seeds of sustainable, innovative farming practices in Pennsylvania fields

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: PASA | profile | localfarms | localfoodweek |

LFJ Farm Report: Mud season at Green Heron Farm

Editor’s Note: The LFJ Farm Report is a sort-of-regular-whenever-I-get-copy series here on Local Food Journey that takes a look at what is happening on area farms. If you would like your farm to get a mention and report on what you have happening, please send an email to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Continue Reading: LFJ Farm Report: Mud season at Green Heron Farm

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: FarmReport | GreenHeronFarm | mud | spring |

WPSU radio story asks: Can State College support a local food co-op store?

A few weeks ago, WPSU ran a story by Kate Lao Shaffner during Morning Edition on the new Friends & Farmers organization. We wrote about them back in early April. Their goal is to establish a co-op grocery store with local food here in State College.

Continue Reading: WPSU radio story asks: Can State College support a local food co-op store?

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: Friends&Farmers | co-op | WPSU | KateLaoShaffner |

Want to become a food blogger? Write for Local Food Journey!

Hi everyone! We are looking for volunteer writers for Local Food Journey. If you have a passion for local food, the philosophy behind local food, and enjoy writing, then we would love to have you join us as a contributor. This blog has always been about the local food community and having the community contribute to content we believe makes perfect sense.

Continue Reading: Want to become a food blogger? Write for Local Food Journey!

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Elk Creek brewer offers summer beer/food pairings

Editor’s Note: This is part 1 of a two-part look at summer food and beer pairings with Centre County brewers - today, Elk Creek Cafe + Aleworks, and next Friday, Otto’s Pub and Brewery. Traditionally, pairings of food and drink has usually been about wine. But over the last decade or so, as craft beers and ales have become more and more prevalent, beer and food pairings have come to the forefront. Everybody knows how well a nice cold glass of beer goes with wings or burgers, but what about more adventurous pairings? I recently talked to Tim Yarrington, the brewer responsible for the excellent libations that Elk Creek Cafe + Aleworks puts out on a regular basis, about some beer food pairings that will make you want to head to Millheim and grab a growler or two.

Continue Reading: Elk Creek brewer offers summer beer/food pairings

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: beer | ElkCreekCafe+BrewWorks | beerpairings | summer |

Finally, someone sets the record straight on what’s “real” Pennsylvania Dutch food

I grew up in York, PA, which is part of what is considered the most famous of our state’s “Pennsylvania Dutch” country. While York doesn’t attract the throngs of tourists that Lancaster does, Pennsylvania Dutch cooking has had a big influence on the area’s local eating. Because of this, I consider myself a bit of a Pennsylvania Dutch food “purist”—for example, I know that if a book has a recipe for “Pennsylvania Dutch pot pie” and it includes a crust, then it’s not an authentic recipe. So, I was quite thrilled to stumble upon an NPR blog post about a new book by a Pennsylvania Dutch food expert, William Woys Weaver.

Continue Reading: Finally, someone sets the record straight on what’s “real” Pennsylvania Dutch food

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: Amish | PennsylvaniaDutch | book | NPR |

Local plant sales offer variety of food and ornamental plants

Plant sales are a fairly common sight in and around Happy Valley in May. They are a boon for gardeners who want to find unusual or native plants to add to their garden. They are also a good way to keep your garden a more “pure” source of local food, since instead of buying plants that were shipped to a big box store, you buy plants from a local vendor or organization.

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Farmer’s market season gets underway in Centre County

While a few farmer’s markets in central PA operate indoors during the cold months, the warmer weather of May means it’s time for outdoor farmer’s markets. Here’s a general guide to what you can expect at an outdoor farmer’s market.

Continue Reading: Farmer’s market season gets underway in Centre County

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: farmersmarket | buyfreshbuylocal |

At the Dinner Table with French Penn State Graduate Student Sandra Rosseau

Editor’s note: At the Dinner Table is a new series on Local Food Journey. The concept behind this feature is a type of conversation you might have at dinner with a friend. I am sure many of you have talked local food at dinner, while having local food on the table (how meta is that?), so this series will feature members of the local community talking about local food and the role it plays in their lives. This is the first in the series, and in this inaugural At the Dinner Table I talked to Sandra Rosseau, a PhD student at Penn State from France. She came to Penn State in 2007. Her research interests now focus on the roles that humor plays in the context of Franco-Algerian memory. In her free time, she enjoys music, photography, and as you will soon see, cooking.

Continue Reading: At the Dinner Table with French Penn State Graduate Student Sandra Rosseau

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: AttheDinnerTable | SandraRosseau | Frenchfood | localfood | recipe | michon |

Stanford student finds connection between local food and building a diverse community

Local food has many benefits, from supporting local businesses to just plain tasting good. But did you know that local food has potential to enhance diversity and improve race relations in the local community? A student from Stanford makes his case on the Huffington Post.

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Recipe: Spinach salad with bacon and smoked cheese

I didn’t care how many times Popeye beat Bluto after downing a can of spinach, as a kid I just plain HATED spinach. But as my culinary horizons broadened as I grew up, I quickly learned that spinach didn’t have to be a lifeless splatter of lumpy green on a plate. In fact, spinach has become my favorite salad green, and since it is a spring crop, we are in spinach season here in Central Pennsylvania.

Continue Reading: Recipe: Spinach salad with bacon and smoked cheese

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: recipe | spinach | cheese | bacon | HogsGalore | Gemellis | GootEssa | StarHollowFarm | GreenmoreGardens |

Otto’s spring/summer menu includes food grown in on-site garden

Otto’s Pub and Brewery finds a lot of what they serve both on the plate and in the pub glass from local vendors, but one source can be best described as hyper-local—a couple of onsite gardens. These onsite gardens may entail some work—when I talked to Pete Herncane, head chef of Otto’s, for this post he had just came in from weeding their garden—but they offer a source of very fresh herbs and vegetables for their local food menu.

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Five Reasons to Compost

You just made a big pot of soup with all sorts of stuff you got from the farmer’s market. Now you have carrot tops, potato peels, yellowed greens, etc. Throw them in the garbage? No way! You have compost, not trash.

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My Local Food Fantasy Revisited: Part Two

Editor’s note: You can read Part One of this post here.

What would a local food system look like? Unless really hard times come when we are unable to import anything, we are likely to continue to draw upon distant sources for such things as olive oil, citrus fruit, avocados, pistachios, and high fructose corn syrup (just testing to see if you are paying attention on that last one).

Continue Reading: My Local Food Fantasy Revisited: Part Two

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How Harrison’s innovation, partnerships with local vendors create great dishes for diners

As our Unpaid Field Hand pointed out yesterday, the local food scene here in Central Pennsylvania is growing as rapidly as a tomato plant in June. One of the pioneers and advocates of local food is Harrison’s Wine Grill and Catering, located within the State College Hilton Garden Inn. They do local food and they do it quite well, as evidenced by multiple awards for both their restaurant and their catering. This Local Food Journey post will take a look at how Harrison’s built relationships with local farms and other vendors to become a go-to source for innovative dishes made with Central Pennsylvania ingredients.

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My Local Food Fantasy Revisited: Part One

Several years ago, I shared what I called my “local food fantasy,” one of the results (besides soreness and sweat) of performing repetitive tasks on the farm that require little thought (think weeding and digging carrots). Could we move to a “local food system” here? We live in a rich agricultural setting, have an educated population and some large institutional purchasers of food (Penn State, the hospital, schools, retirement communities), a supportive media, and a small but growing supply of locally grown food. “Why not?” I concluded But this was, as my title indicated, just a daydream.

Continue Reading: My Local Food Fantasy Revisited: Part One

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Recipe: Oven-fried Pennsylvania panfish a surprisingly tasty dish

Saturday was the first day of trout season in Central Pennsylvania, and thousands of anglers hit Pennsylvania waterways in hopes of catching their own local food. While many fish for trout due to the fish’s delicious flavor, there is another group of Pennsylvania fish that are as tasty and like trout are often caught in the spring - panfish. Panfish such as crappie, yellow perch, and bluegill may offer small fillets, but their sweet, mild flavor make them a welcome addition to the local food table.

Continue Reading: Recipe: Oven-fried Pennsylvania panfish a surprisingly tasty dish

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How one CSA plans planting with you in mind

Participating in Community Support Agriculture - you probably know it as a “CSA” - is a lot like subscribing to a farm like you might a newspaper or magazine. You buy a subscription, or as it is better known, a share, at the beginning of the year. This helps participating farms, as they can establish their operating budget for the year, and gives the farm a known market for the produce, meat, eggs, dairy, etc. that their farm will produce that year. In turn, people with CSA shares get a regular source of the best food their local farm can offer. So, how do CSA farms manage this system? How do they plan the growing season and work with the community each year to give them a bounty each week or month? To find out, I talked to Kim Tait of Tait Farms.

Continue Reading: How one CSA plans planting with you in mind

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Pennsylvania moves up in 2013 Locavore Index

The Vermont-based local food advocacy Strolling of the Heifers, has released its second annual Strolling of the Heifers Locavore Index, ranking all 50 states and the District of Columbia in terms of commitment to local food. Where does Pennsylvania rank?

Continue Reading: Pennsylvania moves up in 2013 Locavore Index

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: issues | rankings | organizations | LocavoreIndex |

Tasting spring with grilled chicken with lemon-garlic arugula

Well, what do you know. During the last several days the weather finally began to resemble spring after what was a pretty cold March, followed by a chilly start to April. Yesterday was especially nice and really got me thinking spring, a time of year that I just plain love.

There are two local-food related things that I love about spring time—the first fresh greens of the year and breaking out the grill. While a spring greens salad with a grill burger made from local beef is a nice way to kick off the spring season, I decided yesterday to try to combine greens and grilled meat in one dish.

Continue Reading: Tasting spring with grilled chicken with lemon-garlic arugula

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: spring | grilling | chickenbreast | arugula |

Newly incorporated Friends & Farmers to hold local food potluck April 16

Some good news to report for those looking for more local food sources. Friends & Farmers, a food cooperative in State College committed to showcasing the best local products in support of a strong local economy, has taken several important steps toward opening a member-owned community grocery store that is open to the public, seven days a week.

Continue Reading: Newly incorporated Friends & Farmers to hold local food potluck April 16

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: localfoodorganizations | potluck | events |

Check your garden temperature before sowing (even after it finally gets warm!)

Even though winter is hanging around this week like a lazy brother-in-law who just won’t get off the couch, those of us who garden turn our thoughts to planting seeds. While many gardeners have already started seeds indoors in trays under artificial light, we are really one warm spell away from being able to plant seeds outside.

Continue Reading: Check your garden temperature before sowing (even after it finally gets warm!)

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: garden | BackyardLocal | seeds | earlyseason |

Local Food Journey announces new editor

Hello everyone. My name is Jamie Oberdick. You may (hopefully? maybe?) recognize my name as one of the gardening bloggers here at Local Food Journey. I am the new editor of Local Food Journey.

Continue Reading: Local Food Journey announces new editor

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Sneak More Veggies Into Your Recipes

The premise behind the Volumetrics Diet, created by Dr. Barbara Rolls, is that people like to eat. Her solution is to eat more food that is less dense, like non-starchy vegetables, and to sneak them in to the dishes we’re already eating. Dr. Rolls is a professor of nutritional sciences and the Helen A. Guthrie chair in nutrition at Penn State. She’s creator and author of The Ultimate Volumetrics Diet, a #1 New York Times Bestselling Diet book. Listen to her interview with WPSU’s Patty Satalia.

Continue Reading: Sneak More Veggies Into Your Recipes

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: food | diet | Rolls | BarbaraRolls | Dr.BarbaraRolls |

Hearty Chorizo, Kale and Potato Soup

It’s February. There’s nothing I can really say that’s redeeming about local eating in February in Pennsylvania except that we’re one month closer the return of good local veggies than we were in January. 

Okay, there’s one other thing I can say. It’s a good time for soup, and I love soup. Far and away my favorite soup of all time is a Portuguese chorizo, kale and potato soup. I don’t know where the recipe is from, unless “my mother” is a suitable answer. This soup is flavorful and hearty and a good way to use any potatoes you have put up from last year that are getting all wrinkly and soft. 

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Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: recipe | soup | kale | chorizo | potato |

Cranberry Walnut Salad

Tis’ the season to break out those crazy holiday recipes, and let’s be thankful for the ones that work!

Every year, cranberries are the one ingredient that I can’t seem to find a place for. I love them, but can’t bear the sight of that cylindrical slab or goopy sauce. After a myriad of berry-big failures, I’ve vowed to take a lighter, simpler approach: a salad.

Continue Reading: Cranberry Walnut Salad

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: recipe | winter | cranberries |

Go Natural and Go Local: Heritage Turkeys

Think back to your very first impressions of Thanksgiving. What were they like? Your young mind probably formulated heartwarming images of pilgrims smiling with Native Americans over warm, delicious food that they’d harvested and cooked together. Both parties truly thankful and dressed to impress; the natives in their tribal best, and the pilgrims in those oddly buckled hats and shoes.

Now think harder, what did the turkey look like? It was beautiful, of course, and looked just like your hand that you’d traced and colored in class: a sizeable bird, wild with full plumage and deep natural colors that was just large enough to feed the small village.

So, what’s different?

Continue Reading: Go Natural and Go Local: Heritage Turkeys

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: holiday | turkey |

Thanksgiving Recipes from PBS Food

Thanksgiving Day can be daunting for even the most experienced cook. PBS Food is ready to help you pick out your Thanksgiving recipes, plan ahead to stay on track, and remember what Thanksgiving is really about – being grateful and spending time with family.

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Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: holiday | turkey |

Community Profile: Tony Sapia

The smell of baking bread and the clatter of bakers working in the kitchen creep up to the still empty, sunlit front room of the Gemelli Bakers, where owner Anthony Sapia drinks his morning coffee on a wooden stool.

“I say I’ve been retired since I was 26 because I wake up with the same question as a retired person. What am I going to do today? If I want to watch birds I watch birds, if I want to drink 10 cups of coffee I drink 10 cups of coffee,” Sapia said, lifting his cup.

Continue Reading: Community Profile: Tony Sapia

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: bakery | profile |

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Carving pumpkins is a great family activity, but if you’ve had experiences like mine, the large mess it leaves behind is such a hassle to clean. After all the time spent effortfully cutting and sawing, usually, the inner guts are gratefully tossed into the trashcan.

Thankfully, my mom taught me this salty little secret when I was growing up and it led us to having yearly masterpieces on the porch and in the kitchen. It’s so simple and delicious how the flavors marry to create an Autumn-style sunflower seed.

The best thing about this recipe is that it will work with plenty of other seedy seasonals – in my opinion, most tastefully with butternut squash.

Continue Reading: Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: recipe | fall | pumpkin |

Apple Festival at Way Fruit Farm

The Saturday before last, Way Fruit Farm officially said “goodbye” to summer by launching into the fall season with the conclusion of the annual Apple Festival.

Continue Reading: Apple Festival at Way Fruit Farm

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: events | apples |

The State of Local Food at the Harvest Fest

Mount Nittany Winery was a busy place last Saturday as guests enjoyed the annual Harvest Fest. The main room was packed full of people moving from one table to another, sampling and purchasing local foods and beverages.

The festival is hosted by the winery each year and features local vendors selling cheese, honey, salsa, pumpkins, and even soap. Many of the vendors in attendance said they have been unaffected by any problems with the economy.

Continue Reading: The State of Local Food at the Harvest Fest

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: event | economy |

Spicy Beef Stuffed Bell Peppers

I’ve always thought the best part of fall is its’ warm colors: green, red, orange, and yellow. Not only do these colors represent a changing of the leaves, but the crisp, vibrant flavors of fresh bell peppers.

The bell pepper’s quirky shape is a perfectly sweet substitute for the average bowl, and can hold flavors twice as savory as its own.

Try adding a festive kick to your favorite fall dishes with these Spicy Beef Stuffed Peppers.

Continue Reading: Spicy Beef Stuffed Bell Peppers

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: recipe | fall | peppers |

Plow to Plate Harvest Festival

Guests of the first annual Plow to Plate Harvest Festival on Wednesday, October 10th enjoyed seasonal dishes and fall-inspired decorations at Mount Nittany Winery in Centre Hall.

More than 25 vendors from the Boalsburg Farmers Market supplied produce to the region’s best restaurant chefs, who prepared delicious dishes for guests to sample. The festival was organized to thank community members, customers, and vendors of the market for their support throughout the year.

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Greenhouse Woes

The frost hit hard last week, which did a few crops in, but made others perk up a bit. Anything in the cabbage family just got sweeter.

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Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: farming |

Apple Coleslaw: Tastebud Touchdown

Second quarter, 30 seconds until the half, and the only thing standing between you and the end zone is your hungry belly. What better way to continue this season than by combining seasonal ingredients in a way sure to spike your taste buds

If you love fall and football as much as I do, check out this simple recipe for a sweet and tangy apple coleslaw that everyone will love. Serve it cold or atop your favorite pulled pork recipe to land an automatic first down every time.

Continue Reading: Apple Coleslaw: Tastebud Touchdown

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: recipe | apples | carrots | cabbage |

Real Life on the Farm

Last night I attended a Local Harvest banquet put on by the Student Food Initiative at Juniata College where we feasted on the bounty of many of our local farms including our own. The students also invited me along with other farmers to talk about farming. Of course I lied out of my teeth because I didn’t want to dampen the enthusiasm these folks have for the idyllic life style which they believe we lead. 

We really need young people to get involved in farming if we want to continue enjoying fresh local food. A little deception is necessary to keep the tradition going, so I avoided talking about the first 15 years on the farm.

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It’s the Busiest Time of the Year

It’s official. The “we’ve crossed the threshold of the autumn equinox and stepped into what should be a leisurely stroll towards winter.”

Most people think this is the end of the growing season, but for farmers, it’s really the busiest time of year.

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Boalsburg Farmers Market to Sponsor First Annual “Plow to Plate” Harvest Dinner

Fall in central Pennsylvania brings with it the bounty, beauty, and variety of the harvest. To celebrate the fall harvest, the Boalsburg Farmers Market is sponsoring a dinner on Wednesday, October 10th featuring the best of late summer and early fall, including eggplant, peppers, okra, butternut squash, pumpkins, kale, and apples.

Continue Reading: Boalsburg Farmers Market to Sponsor First Annual “Plow to Plate” Harvest Dinner

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The Great Cilantro Debate

Love it or hate it? The great cilantro debate heats up as scientists start pinpointing cilantrophobe genes. Read more on NPR’s food blog.

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Apple Recipe Contest

Apple season has arrived! How do you like to eat the early fall fruit? Share your favorite recipe by October 1st for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to Mount Nittany Vineyard and Winery.

Continue reading for some of our favorite apple recipes.

Continue Reading: Apple Recipe Contest

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: recipecontest | apples |

Harvesting Tomatoes

I’ll wager that when most folks buy green beans, radishes, tomatoes, or nearly any other vegetable, they don’t think much about how they were harvested. Gardeners, of course, know better, but even they can forget that almost every vegetable is harvested by hand, usually one at a time.

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Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: farm | tomatoes |

Baba Ghanoush with Sea Salt

Just three more days left to enter our eggplant recipe contest! Share your favorite recipe now for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to Harrison’s Wine Grill in State College.

Looking for inspiration? Try this recipe for Baba Ghanoush from Jenna Weber for PBS Food. It makes use of the final eggplant of the season and is delicious as a sandwich spread or an appetizer with crackers and olives. 

Continue Reading: Baba Ghanoush with Sea Salt

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: recipe | summer | eggplant |

Corn Fritters with Sweet Tangy Chili Soy Sauce

I rarely find the time to sit down and watch TV, but when I do, you better believe it is almost always going to be food-related.

I recently caught a re-run episode of The Best Thing I Ever Ate on Food Network. This particular episode was about crunchy food and featured the Indonesian Corn Fritters served with a sweet tangy chili soy sauce from E&O Trading Co. (now known as E&O Asian Kitchen) in San Francisco. They looked and sounded pretty heavenly. Since I don’t have any plans to visit San Francisco in the near future, my next step was to re-create the dish in my own kitchen.

Continue Reading: Corn Fritters with Sweet Tangy Chili Soy Sauce

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: recipe | summer | corn |

Measure of garden success?

Recently, several fellow gardeners and I discussed something that ended up being very interesting: how do you define a successful garden year?

We came to a conclusion—it’s all subjective. When you garden, you go into it with a variety of goals in mind. These might include fresh-grown herbs and veggies, saving money, or just making the yard look prettier. These are the yardsticks to measure a good garden year.

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Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: gardening |

Potato Patch

It’s hard to keep focused on a farm in the middle of August. Most people think of it as the beginning of harvest time, with smooth sailing into bucolic fall days as we stuff our coolers, barns and root cellars with nature’s bounty.

In reality it’s always harvest time on a vegetable farm and August poses a special challenge because after months of ceaseless activity fueled on the previous winter’s lethargy, the farmer has to pull out of some unmentionable orifice the energy and enthusiasm that made spring planting seem so appealing.

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Celebrate Julia Child

Celebrate Julia Child’s 100th birthday this month! Find recipes and share your favorites. Watch early episodes of The French Chef and Baking with Julia. And read tributes from celebrity chefs.

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Too Much Zucchini? Try Ricotta Stuffed Squash Blossoms

Tons of zucchini are a garden cliche. They are so easy to grow that’s it’s almost impossible to not have more zucchini than you need. By this time of the year, all your friends politely turn down your offer of free zucchini because everyone in their family, at work, and in their circle of friends has given them about 1,000 zucchinis.

Continue Reading: Too Much Zucchini? Try Ricotta Stuffed Squash Blossoms

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: recipe | summer | zucchini |

Ides of August

The Ides of August are upon us, which as everyone knows has no particular historical significance other than the looming advance of summer into fall.

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Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: summer | farm |

The Inevitable

The inevitable finally happened. Late blight has taken most of our tomatoes.

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Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: farm | tomatoes |

Harvesting Eggplant

Many Americans have lost touch with the land and food production, and know little about what the folks who grow vegetables actually do. A student of mine on a class visit to a farm was amazed when she pulled a carrot out of the ground. So this is where they come from!

People around here often either grew up on a farm or have gardens, and know how carrots grow. Still, I suspect few know the details of growing less common vegetables. Today’s discussion reveals the shocking truth about life in the eggplant patch at harvest.

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Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: farm | eggplant |

Eggplant Recipe Contest

How do you eat an eggplant? Share your favorite recipe by September 1st for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to Harrison’s Wine Grill in State College.

Submit your recipe today!

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Eggplant Caponata

Caponata is a classic dish from Italy—the eggplant soaks up the flavors of the salty and sweet ingredients and is a pleasing, flavor-filled way to eat lots of this healthful vegetable. There are additional health benefits in this recipe from the fresh, in-season garlic, the rice wine vinegar, and the cocoa powder. August is eggplant season with plenty available at the farmers markets, so stock up now! 

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Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: recipe | summer | eggplant |

Local Chefs to Compete for Boalsburg Farmers Market Golden Basket Award

Customers at our many fine local restaurants place their orders and waiters magically produce delicious food, but most know little about what happens in the kitchen or who is preparing the dishes. Likewise, the chefs working in the kitchen rarely have a chance to meet their guests beyond an occasionally brief hello.

August 4th through 7th is Local Foods Week in Centre County, an appropriate time for restaurant goers and chefs to get acquainted. On Tuesday, August 7th, the Boalsburg Farmers Market is sponsoring an event that provides an excellent opportunity to do so.

Continue Reading: Local Chefs to Compete for Boalsburg Farmers Market Golden Basket Award

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Field Notes: Late July and Recipe for Fresh Basil Pesto

Cooler temperatures and rain offered some much needed relief over the weekend. Fortunately, it was gentle and steady enough to soak in and provide moisture to farmers around the county. The plants in the field should grow like crazy given the forecast for sun and warmer temperatures this week.

As we have been saying all season, the crops are coming on early and fast this year. This week we will have an abundance of basil, carrots and cucumbers. It is a great time to make some pesto, as well as freeze some basil for the winter months.

Continue Reading: Field Notes: Late July and Recipe for Fresh Basil Pesto

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: recipe | summer | basil |

Blueberry Buckle

Blueberries are plentiful now at local farmers markets, as well as at our partners’ retail locations, Way Fruit Farm and Harner Farm. Here is a delicious recipe for Blueberry Buckle from Clare Traynor of Sweet Indulgence Desserts.

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Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: recipe | summer | blueberries |

Blueberry Ice Cream

Celebrate National Ice Cream Month and July’‘s sweet berries with this easy blueberry ice cream!

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Cocktail Recipes from Sc’Eric Horner of Fuji & Jade Garden

Sc’Eric Horner is a local bartender and “foodie.” He moved to State College in 1991 to attend classes at Penn State. Since graduating from the College of Communications in 1994, he has worked at many area establishments including Q’s Café / Café SerendipiTea at Encore Books, Gopper’s Pizza, Zola New World Bistro, and Webster’s Bookstore Café. He is currently the beverage manager at Fuji & Jade Garden restaurant on Westerly Parkway in State College. Sc’Eric would someday like to own his own bar and late-night coffee and tea shop.

Last week at the Learning Kitchen event, Sc’Eric shared recipes for: Sichuan Carrot Smoothie; Beetnik’s Tonic; Bee Kind Cranberry Sangria; Frozen Punch Mould. Continue reading to see the recipes!

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Recipes from Nate Bruny of Zola New World Bistro

Last week at the Learning Kitchen event, Nate Bruny, executive sous chef at Zola New World Bistro, demonstrated how to make dishes from market fresh vegetables.

Continue reading for the following recipes: Classic French Salad; Grilled Moroccan Beets with Ginger-Lime Vinaigrette; Salmon Niçoise with Red Pepper Mustard Vinaigrette.

Continue Reading: Recipes from Nate Bruny of Zola New World Bistro

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: event | recipe | summer | carrots | beets | potatoes | salmon |

Five Unusual Edibles from the Garden

Right now, people are beginning to harvest all sorts of stuff from the garden. Some of it is conventional stuff, like tomatoes. However, there’s a lot of food in gardens that many people ignore. Some of these may sound outright, well, weird—but give them a shot. They are the “best kept secrets” of the garden.

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Tomato Avalanche

We’re finally on the brink of the much anticipated tomato avalanche. Months of preparation and anxiety over late blight has brought us to the place we’ve been waiting for since last fall when frost finally took the patch to the great compost pile in the sky.

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The Learning Kitchen at the Boalsburg Farmers Market: Cocktails, Okra, and Kohlrabi

On Tuesday, July 10th, a crowd gathered at the Boalsburg Farmers Market for the second Learning Kitchen event. Sc’Eric Horner, beverage manager at Fuji & Jade Garden, demonstrated how to make “cocktails from the garden.” And Nate Bruny, executive sous chef at Zola New World Bistro, showed how to make several dishes from market fresh vegetables.

Continue Reading: The Learning Kitchen at the Boalsburg Farmers Market: Cocktails, Okra, and Kohlrabi

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Wine and Cheese Fundamentals

Mount Nittany Vineyard and Winery held its second (sold-out!) wine and cheese pairing event, “Wine and Cheese Fundamentals,” on June 30th. The event was led by Jamie Ryan, a central Pennsylvania native and Penn State graduate. Jamie is a wine consultant with a distinguished fifteen year career in wine sales, purchasing, and education and brings with her a comprehensive knowledge of the wine industry from vineyard to the table. The class enjoyed a casual evening of guided wine and cheese pairings and an interactive discussion of the connection between them. Here, Jamie shares with us her insights on the topic:

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The Great Coffee Adventure: Webster’s Bookstore & Cafe in State College

Webster’s Bookstore & Cafe has been around for years and years. Longer than I’ve been a coffee-lover, but definitely during the years when I was a book-lover. I treasure hunted through their shelves several times and obtained some interesting vintage children’s novels (my favorite kind!) to add to my overflowing home collection. I also obtained a beautiful hard cover version of The Complete Poems of Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Webster’s disappeared from the State College area for a little while when they had to move from their downtown location, then into and out of another location (where the Callao Cafe is now located!). But they have finally found a perfect space to combine book-browsing and cafe-eating for State College patrons.

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recipes from the last Learning Kitchen plus details about tomorrow’s event

The Boalsburg Farmers Market will host its second Learning Kitchen event tomorrow, July 10th, from 2-4pm at the Pennsylvania Military Museum.

Join Sc’eric, Master Cocktailian from Fuji Jade Garden Restaurant, for “Cocktails from the Garden,” and Paul Kendeffy, Executive Chef at Zola’s New World Bistro and The Gamble Mill Restaurant, for “Farm to Fork: Fast and Flavorful.” Find out how to use market fresh ingredients to make cocktails and sangria and learn how to incorporate less common vegetables into everyday meals.

If you missed the first Learning Kitchen event, continue reading for recipes from Mark Johnson and Grace Pilato.

Continue Reading: recipes from the last Learning Kitchen plus details about tomorrow’s event

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Field Notes: Early July

One of my fondest childhood food memories was frequenting local farm stands in the summer to get fresh fruits and vegetables. I remember our dinners often consisting of sweet corn, green beans, sliced tomatoes, and peaches for dessert. I was fascinated that the fields growing the food were right there, sandwiched between the rapidly expanding housing developments of Southern California. But it was that experience that developed my true appreciation for the taste of fresh food and I have never looked back.

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Celebrate July 4th with Summertime Favorites

Need help with your July 4th menu? Continue reading for recipe ideas.

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Zucchini Recipe Contest Winners

Congratulations to Ashley and Ruth, winners of our June recipe contest and recipients of a bunch of organic zucchini from our friends at Jade Family Farm. Continue reading to view the winning recipes.

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Chocolate Zucchini Cake

A chocolate cake that’s healthy, too? You got it.

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Summer Solstice Celebration a Success

Tait Farm hosted the second annual Summer Solstice Celebration of Local Farms, Food, and Art on Saturday, June 16th from 1-4pm. The event, which benefited the Centre County Farmland Trust, drew a crowd of over 500.

Attendees enjoyed live music, local food and beverage sampling, and an art exhibit presented by the Farmland Preservation Artists.

Continue Reading: Summer Solstice Celebration a Success

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The Great Coffee Adventure: Global Libations in Kutztown

Our next stop on The Great Coffee Adventure took us all the way to Kutztown. Kutztown is a fascinating mix of old-school architecture and new-world culture. While the town is quite interesting, our focus was Global Libations.

There were several bikes parked just outside the front door. Evidently, this is a frequent stop of biking townspeople. It makes sense to me. Bike a few miles, burn some calories, stop to fill up that food/drink tank of your stomach, then bike away again. Everyone’s happy!

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Rabbit vs. Gardener

I have heard before that a mild spring means a lot of rabbits the following summer. 2012 seems to be proving this true, as we have had both a warm spring and seemingly, a lot of rabbits.

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Summer Field Notes + Recipe for Cucumber Salad with Mint and Feta

As we roll into summer, things on the farm seem to be going pretty well. The sugar snap peas are coming on, and we will start seeing them in the share this week – they are such a treat! The farmers got the strawberry plugs planted late last week, and we will look forward to having delicious berries in the share next year. We thought we might be able to get one more year out of the old patch, but it gave up the ghost earlier in the spring.

Continue Reading: Summer Field Notes + Recipe for Cucumber Salad with Mint and Feta

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The Great Coffee Adventure: Cornerstone Coffeehouse in Camp Hill

Located just across the river from Harrisburg, Cornerstone Coffeehouse offers a wide variety of food, drink, ice cream, and desserts. Correction: This place has a mind-boggling array of food choices.

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Corn and Zucchini Bisque

Making soup is one of my greatest pleasures. After you know the basic models and processes, you can do just about anything and use up just about anything. Plus, it is obviously about the best comfort food you can find.

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The Disease That Must Not Be Named

The rain has finally let up, but not before it brought imminent danger to certain crops. The word in the farmosphere is that late blight has been sighted in certain central Pennsylvania counties.

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The Learning Kitchen at the Boalsburg Farmers’ Market

The Boalsburg Farmers’ Market welcomed Mark Johnson and Grace Pilato to the new Learning Kitchen on Tuesday afternoon to showcase a variety of recipes featuring local ingredients. 

Johnson, chef at Elk Creek Café + Aleworks, and Pilato, local chef and cooking instructor, demonstrated how to use and prepare products from market vendors like radishes, garlic scapes, beets, and basil.

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Summer Solstice Celebration this Saturday

You’re invited to Tait Farm this Saturday from 1-4pm for the 2012 Summer Solstice Celebration! Enjoy local food and beverage samplings while supporting the Centre County Farmland Trust.

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The Great Coffee Adventure: The Cafe on Walnut Street in Howard

In between the green mountains of Pennsylvania, there lies a little town called Howard. This town is so little that there’s only one stoplight. Life is quiet here. Walking down the street, you can almost hear the soft whooshing sounds of lake waters lapping the shores. We like Howard. And its small-town, slow-paced life. We like the itty-bitty post office, the blooming bushes in the park across the street from the cafe. And now Howard boasts a new cafe called The Cafe on Walnut Street.

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Zucchini Recipe Contest

Zucchini is in abundance during this time of year. How do you eat it? Shredded and baked into bread or muffins? Grilled with yellow squash and mushrooms? Or seasoned and fried?

Share your favorite recipe by July 1st for a chance to win a pound of organic zucchini from our friends at Jade Family Farm.

Continue Reading: Zucchini Recipe Contest

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Boalsburg Farmers Market to Host Cooking Demonstrations on June 12th

The Boalsburg Farmers Market will host a “Learning Kitchen” tomorrow at 2pm featuring two prominent local chefs and ingredients from market vendors.

Mark Johnson, chef at Elk Creek Café, will demonstrate quick pickling techniques for fresh vegetables and methods for brining inexpensive cuts of meat like pork bellies.

Grace Pilato, accomplished chef and cooking instructor, will show how to make a variety of pestos and goat milk ricotta cheese with seasonal herbs.

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Early June Field Notes + Recipe for Garlic Scape Pesto

Very well watered would best describe the condition in the fields. Thankfully we have most of the newly planted summer crops on raised beds, which keep the plants up and out of the saturated earth. The black plastic we use to cover the raised beds keeps the soil temperature a bit warmer, the weeds at bay, and the moisture in—all good things if you are a heat loving tomato, pepper, or eggplant.

Continue Reading: Early June Field Notes + Recipe for Garlic Scape Pesto

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It’s Raining Again

It’s raining again. The intermittent stream that runs by our house is so full I could kayak down to the pond. Nothing like a little white water rafting after a brief interlude of weeding the beets. That’s just the way it is on a farm, you go with the deluge.

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Grilled Chicken Bread Salad with Asparagus and Fennel

There are certain recipes that have nearly cult followings online, and the Zuni Cafe Roast Chicken and Bread Salad is one of them. I’ve never had it in person, but have heard so many people rave about it that I decided to put my own spin on it.

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The Great Coffee Adventure: Julie’s Coffee in Williamsport

In the business district of Williamsport, there is a coffee shop always bustling with hungry customers. Large windows and wide-open spaces fill Julie’s Coffee with sunny light and good cheer.

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VeggieCommons

Please welcome our newest contributor, Dana Stuchul, founder of VeggieCommons—a resource for Growing Food Where We Live. At her home in State College, Dana has backyard chickens, a small apiary, a front-yard terrace garden, a backyard “mini-farm,” numerous fruit trees and shrubs, a roof-top water collection system (and bici-bomba, a bicycle powered pumping system), and a wood-fired bread oven. Take it away, Dana!

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Winners of the Rhubarb Recipe Contest

This month we selected three winners for our monthly recipe contest. Congratulations Ruth Nissly, Anne Trout, and Terri Lukens-Gable. You are the recipients of a pound of rhubarb from Jade Family Farm!

Continue reading to see recipes for rhubarb sorrel crisp, banana rhubarb pie, rhubarb torte, and more. And check back early next week for our June recipe contest!

Continue Reading: Winners of the Rhubarb Recipe Contest

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Diverse Beans a Warm-Weather Garden Star

Beans are a popular garden plant, with good reason—they are one of the tastiest vegetables in the garden. They are also pretty easy to grow, and with a little bit of TLC you can get quite a yield of tasty pods or shelled beans that can be used in all kinds of recipes. Beans are also a perfect garden crop for vegetarians because of their high protein content. What’s not to like?

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Rhubarb Applesauce

I wanted to do something slightly more savory with my recent bunch of rhubarb, which is tough because it is very tart and needs some sugar. I settled on the idea of something “applesaucey” and it was a hit with our grilled pork. It would be great with some strawberries added in (if you like the strawberry-rhubarb combo and are willing to part with your strawberries—but I’m not there yet.)

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The Great Coffee Adventure: Helena’s Chocolate Cafe & Creperie in Carlisle

Have you ever walked into a place and smiled? It’s like finding your “happy place.” Happiness may not be found in coffee (or chocolate), but they definitely help. And when you meander into a little cafe like Helena’s Chocolate Cafe & Creperie in Carlisle, and look around, I guarantee that you will smile.

It’s a little touch of European cafe-style happiness in the middle of a historic town. It’s the feeling of being involved in the community, and yet, somehow elevating the community … adding something special to the recipe of community. A sprinkle of joy + a dash of delectable delights + sunny sentiment = Welcome to Helena’s!

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Fire up the Grill

What are you grilling this Memorial Day weekend? Fire up the grill and try one of these summertime recipes!

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The Amazing (mostly unknown) Rhubarb

When I moved to State College in 1972 and noticed five large plants growing in my backyard in suburban Lemont, I had to ask what they were. Rhubarb, I was told. I had never heard of it. So I took out all but one of them to make room (ironically) for a strawberry patch. Who knew?

I know better now, of course. And judging from the (modest) increase in sales of our Jade Family Farm rhubarb, folks in Happy Valley are catching on, too. Now you can find it from several vendors at most local farmers markets – and sometimes in supermarkets. 

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How to Transplant Tomatoes Now for Great Harvests Later

It’s mid-May, which is peak time for “putting in the garden,” an old saying that means planting your frost-sensitive plants now that we are mostly past the risk of frost. (Although not completely, more on that later.)

Whether you started tomatoes from seed or bought the plants at your favorite garden center or farmer’s market, transplanting them the right way is very important.

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The Great Coffee Adventure: Pump Station in Boalsburg

Welcome to the Pump Station Cafe. One of the only free-standing cafes that we have visited, it stands out among the rest. It’s just past the only stoplight in the middle of Boalsburg, near the Pennsylvania Military Museum and the bronze statues of three ladies who founded Memorial Day in this historic small town.

While the Pump Station does not memorialize fallen soldiers like the historic attractions surrounding it, the cafe seems to memorialize the long-lost time of gathering by the gas station for a chat with neighbors and friends. This place has a happy sort of nostalgia. A little gas station/garage that used to shelter cars in need of repair now takes a turn as a place for human refueling, refreshing, and restoration. Massive windows encourage the sunlight to flood in, which we all know gives us necessary vitamin D and improves our moods!

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Vale Wood Farms: Local Dairy Farm Delivers

One of our new local partners at Harrison’s Wine Grill & Catering is Vale Wood Farms. Located in the town of Loretto, PA, Vale Wood Farms is named for the farm’s location in “the valley by the woods.” This five generation family farm was first established in 1933 and began milk deliveries to local families and to the former Penn Cress Ice Cream Company in the local town of Cresson, PA. Vale Wood continues its tradition of home deliveries – you might see their trucks in your neighborhood early in the morning.

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Save the Date: Summer Solstice Celebration is June 16th

Mark your calendar for the 2012 Summer Solstice Celebration on Saturday, June 16th from 1-4pm at Tait Farm in Centre Hall. Locavores, landscape art enthusiasts, and interested community members are invited to attend the second annual event to benefit the Centre County Farmland Trust (CCFT).

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Field Notes and Mesclun Salad with Mango Chutney Dressing

Farming is hardly ever a perfect world. It is often too wet or dry, too hot or cold—but then every once in a while along comes the perfect day.

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The Great Coffee Adventure: Allegheny Creamery & Crepes in Hollidaysburg

Finding Allegheny Creamery & Crepes was unintentional. A fully-delicious-delectable accident that I am very grateful for! We had intended to check out another cafe in Hollidaysburg, but it wasn’t open when we thought it would be. Just imagine us, trudging slowly back to our vehicle, saddened, dejected, and desperately in need of the espresso/coffee/sugar-blended beverages that we regularly consume. Then I looked up, “Oh! Crepes! I love crepes!” I said to my husband “Maybe they would know of another coffee shop?”

So in we went.

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The Zen of Weeding

You may think that spending some 20 hours hand weeding asparagus would be an onerous task, but only because you haven’t had to slog through grading a big stack of blue books or papers. I’d much prefer the weeding, though my knees and back provide a dissenting view.

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Mother’s Day Brunch

Don’t forget to spoil your mother this weekend! Here are a few recipe suggestions for an extra special Mother’s Day brunch.

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Rhubarb Vinaigrette

Serve this sweet and tart vinaigrette from Chef Harrison Schailey over mixed greens. Then toss with sunflower seeds or almonds and local strawberries for a satisfying spring salad. And don’t forget to share your favorite rhubarb recipe!

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The Great Coffee Adventure: The IngleBean Coffee House in Millheim

One of my favorite things about independent coffee shops is how they’re grafted into the fabric of a community. They’re more than shops or restaurants; they are gathering places. They’re not just another “Starbucks” (no offense to my dear Sbux, I’m going back for a mocha one-a-these-days!); they’re a snapshot of small-town life. And even if a local coffee shop has only been around, say “just over a year,” when things are done right, it feels like the place has been around forever.

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Ten Tips to Get Your Garden off to a Great Start

Despite some recent backsliding into winter, spring weather is mostly here to stay. If you are like me, you are steadily spending more and more time in the garden, getting things growing to start the season. A good start is very important for a successful gardening season, as your plants are very young and tender at this point.

Here are ten tips, in no particular order, to get your garden off and moving toward a big harvest.

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Rhubarb Recipe Contest

Rhubarb stalks are typically boiled with fragrant spices or a squeeze of citrus, then combined with sweet fruit to make jam, or condensed into a sauce for pie filling. What is your favorite way to prepare this spring fruit? Share your recipe by Thursday, May 31st for a chance to win a pound of rhubarb from Jade Family Farm.

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Tequila Lime Chicken

Just in time for your Cinco de Mayo celebration: chicken marinated in a mixture of tequila, limes, garlic, jalapeno, and cilantro. Serve with scoop of guacamole and a side salad of corn, tomatoes, and black beans. And don’t forget about the sangria, or choose from a variety of margaritas at PBS Food.

¡Salud!

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Field Notes and Stir-Fried Asparagus with Shiitake Mushrooms

This crazy spring just keeps on coming! Thankfully we are getting a bit of rain to settle the dust and take the dry edge off of everything.

The asparagus was starting to come on early last week, but rapidly retreated after a few cold days – so we have a just small amount for everyone. The early spring greens we planted in March are growing and this week we get to enjoy yukina savoy. Between the flea beetles and the extreme temperatures, it doesn’t look beautiful, but it still tastes good. This vegetable needs very little cooking, which makes it perfect in stir-fry, or as a late addition to Asian style soups.

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Sangria for Cinco de Mayo

What better way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo than with a pitcher of Sangria! This recipe has been adapted from Cook’s Illustrated and makes use of readily available ingredients. For the main ingredient—red wine!—I suggest a bottle of Mt. Nittany’s Rock Hill Red. It’s on sale now, two bottles for $20.

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The Great Coffee Adventure: Callao Cafe in State College

Callao Cafe is the new kid on the block in State College. With a soft opening in November 2011, they’ve been open for about six months and going strong!

Tucked back in a little shopping center off West Aaron Drive on the North Atherton side of town (if you’re from State College, these directions are completely normal), Callao Cafe appears like a breath of fresh air. The place is not-too-big. Just enough room to grab a little table with a friend—for actual lunch or coffee and conversation. No solitary working here (no free wi-fi). I actually admire that move. Way to be counter-cultural, Callao Cafe!

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Winner of the Mushrooms Recipe Contest

Congratulations to Amy Grenoble of Sandy Ridge! Her recipe for vegetarian stuffed mushrooms is the winner of our April contest, and she is the recipient of a $25 gift certificate to Fasta Ravioli Company.

Continue reading for all recipe submissions and stay tuned for the start of our May recipe contest.

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Roller Coaster Ride of Weather

Last week brought with it a roller coaster ride of weather events – one day sweating into the black plastic as we lay out the onion crop; the next day freezing in an arctic wind as we try to tack down row covers to protect tender seedlings from impending frost. 

And, of course, there was the freak snow storm that came and went like a gaff from presidential candidate. It was horrible at the time, but we were over it by the next day, having forgotten what all the fuss was about as we went on with the daily task of surviving in an uncertain world.

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Spring Pasta Salad with Asparagus, Spinach, and Mint

One of the best things about belonging to your local Community Supported Agriculture farm (CSA) is how quickly the season gears up — and how big your box of veggies gets. It starts small with bunches of asparagus, spinach, and rhubarb. And radishes, how I love the radishes — they are eaten the minute they get in the house.

You start to plan meals based on what needs to be used, rather than what you are in the mood for. But I find that it allows you to become much more creative in the kitchen — matching what you have with what sounds good. This dish is a perfect example.

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April Weather and Asparagus Salsa

Mid-April felt more like July. We had full irrigation running on the crops in the fields since the beginning of the month, as we took turns waiting for the next available hose to water a greenhouse. It was dry, dry, dry!

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Green Coconut Curry with Chick Peas

Curries fall into the category of totally flexible and easy and cheap weeknight meals. Lentils (or in this case, garbanzos) or Tofu are perfect for vegetarian options — but any kind of meat or seafood protein works equally well. Vegetables can be anything that you have on hand, provided that you have a nice amount of ginger and garlic. If you don’t have coconut milk and Thai curry paste (which take you in the Thai Curry direction), you can go the Indian Curry route and use a good quality Indian/Madras curry powder and garam masala with some broth or water. Serve it over rice if you like — or without rice and thick like a stew, or thinned out as a soup.

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Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: recipe | spring | mushrooms | spinach | potatoes |

The Great Coffee Adventure: Standing Stone Coffee Company in Huntingdon

There is a “welcoming feeling” that permeates Standing Stone Coffee Company in Huntingdon. Like a bear hug you get from your big brother after being away all summer. It’s nice and warm and all-kinds-of-happy. It says “I’m glad you’re here! Sit down and stay awhile.”

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Harrison’s Seasonal Spring Menu

Snow may be falling today, but it is April, and Harrison’s Wine and Grill is serving its seasonal spring menu.

The globally-inspired menu includes a few new partners that attended the PASA conference in February—Vale Wood Farms and Clover Creek Cheese Cellar, with several more in the works. Harrison’s now has over 25 local growers and purveyors. See the full list here.

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Paper Pots Offer Cost-Effective, Environmentally Friendly Home for Seedlings

In my last post I talked about planting seeds indoors. And given that we are four to six weeks away from the last frost as I write this, you should have seedlings growing somewhere in your house.

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Pink Slime

Americans have turned up their noses at the hamburger additive officially known as Lean Finely Textured Beef, now infamously called Pink Slime. Technically it IS beef, just not what consumers generally think of as beef. A celebrity chef’s televised expose about the amonia-treated beef scraps set off consumer outcry, prompting supermarkets nationwide to stop selling the stuff. So, what’s all the fuss about?

WPSU’s Patty Satalia begins her audio report at the meat case in the State College Wegmans.

Continue Reading: Pink Slime

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The Great Coffee Adventure: Saint’s Cafe in State College

When you talk to any State College resident about locally-owned coffee shops, Saint’s Cafe is without-a-doubt the first place they mention. And it’s no wonder; it’s been voted State College’s Best Gourmet Coffee for years!

My husband and I drive by Saint’s Cafe on our daily commute, and we’re always amazed at its popularity. People practically tumbling out the door all of the time. And so it would be Saint’s Cafe and their obvious success that determined our visiting time at 7:00 am on a Friday morning. We arrived before the place opened and were the first ones through the doors.

Continue Reading: The Great Coffee Adventure: Saint’s Cafe in State College

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Why Organic? Part 5: GMOs

Two fundamental truths proved most useful to students in my environmental politics class—both from the field of ecology. The first is, “You can’t do just one thing.” The second explains why the first is true: “Everything is connected to everything else.”

Previous parts of this “Why Organic” series illustrate the usefulness of these two principles. A conventional farmer can’t just kill harmful insects or noxious weeds or boost crop growth with chemical fertilizers without doing other not so wonderful things. Not so wonderful things include killing pollinators and other beneficial insects, depleting the soil, reducing the nutritional content of food, and jeopardizing human health with pesticide and herbicide residues in food.

Continue Reading: Why Organic? Part 5: GMOs

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Field Notes: An Unusual Start to Spring

Thank goodness the weather seems to be back to normal for this time of year. The past few weeks of warm weather had us moving around at warp speed trying to get fields prepared and planted.

In all my years at Tait Farm, I have never seen anything quite like this spring. We already have kales, chard, beets, Asian greens, and head lettuce seedlings planted out, as well as peas, carrots, and lettuce mix seeded in the fields.

Continue Reading: Field Notes: An Unusual Start to Spring

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Early Spring Pruning at Mount Nittany Vineyard

If you’ve been to the winery lately, you may have seen owners Joe and Betty Carroll out in the vineyard with their pruning shears. Assisted by winery staff, Jinx Proch, Jeff Proch, and Sandy Alexander, they are attempting to stay on top of the seasonal requirements for grape pruning that will set the stage for the quality and quantity of this year’s grape production. This task has been a challenging one thus far given the early warm weather, which led to an early bud break.

Continue Reading: Early Spring Pruning at Mount Nittany Vineyard

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The Great Coffee Adventure: Cool Beans Coffee and Tea in Bellefonte

Cool Beans Coffee and Tea is located right in the middle of Bellefonte—my hometown—and is surrounded by the Victorian architecture the town is famous for. An imposing courthouse sits at its center, and Tallyrand Park—home of my favorite bridge and a million ducks—is on the other end.

Where Bellefonte Gathers.

That’s the motto of this little shop. And it’s so true. There’s such a melting pot of customers throughout this place. Businessmen, retirees, students, people on first-dates (I have both been this person and been a laptop worker overhearing the conversation of an obvious blind date!), teenagers, women just finished with exercising at the local YMCA, moms with little children, etc. People of all kinds and varied interests/ages gather here. For coffee. For conversation. For quiet. To get away from distractions at home. Or maybe to find some distractions.

Continue Reading: The Great Coffee Adventure: Cool Beans Coffee and Tea in Bellefonte

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Why Organic? Part 4: The Biosphere

Parts 1 through 3 of the “Why Organic?” series explained that organically grown food is more nutritious—reason enough to eat (and produce) it—and contains far fewer pesticide residues, whose effects are not fully known. But if that isn’t enough to convince you to eat organic, perhaps contemplating the ecological damage caused by conventional agriculture will change your mind.

Continue Reading: Why Organic? Part 4: The Biosphere

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Planting Cold-Hardy Veggies for Spring Crops

As you probably noticed, the weather in mid-March was more along the lines of early June. This caused some absolutely incredible early spring scenes as spring growth is about a month ahead of schedule—blossoming trees, daffodils in full display, and perennials peaking out of the dirt at a much earlier date than normal.

For us gardeners, it was so tempting to get out there and plant something. So I did. I planted several rows in my garden, knowing full well that they would need protection later from the inevitable cold snap. If you still haven’t planted, no worries—you still have lots of time to plant cold-hardy vegetables in your garden.

Continue Reading: Planting Cold-Hardy Veggies for Spring Crops

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Mushroom Recipe Contest and Shiitake Mushroom Bisque from Chef Harrison

Did you know that Pennsylvania is home to the mushroom capital of the world? (It’s in Kennett Square, near Philadelphia.) And there are plenty of foragers in the central part of our state, as well. So let’s celebrate mushrooms this month!

Tell us—do you like cremini, portobello, shiitake, chanterelles, or the very exotic truffles? Do you eat them raw or sauteed or roasted? Share your favorite recipe with the Local Food Journey by May 1st for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to Fasta Ravioli Company. Find details and submit your recipe today.

Continue reading for Chef Harrison Schailey’s Shiitake Mushroom Bisque, which he serves at Harrison’s Wine Grill in State College.

Continue Reading: Mushroom Recipe Contest and Shiitake Mushroom Bisque from Chef Harrison

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The Great Coffee Adventure: Cafe Lemont

I’ve never been to Paris or any charming little French town, but I feel like Cafe Lemont should be there.

Continue Reading: The Great Coffee Adventure: Cafe Lemont

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Winner of the Gift Certificate to Nature’s Pantry

Congratulations to Kristin of Millheim, winner of a $25 gift certificate to Nature’s Pantry! She can’t wait for the chives to come up this spring. Others are looking forward to peaches, strawberries, tomatoes, and peppers.

Thank you to all who participated in the contest. Stay tuned for details of upcoming opportunities to win gift certificates to your favorite local establishments.

Continue Reading: Winner of the Gift Certificate to Nature’s Pantry

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Winner of the Radishes Recipe Contest

Congratulations to Jude Griswold of Mt. Jewett! She is the winner of our March radishes recipe contest and the recipient of a $25 gift certificate to Mt. Nittany Winery.

Stay tuned for the start of our April recipe contest. Details to come!

Continue Reading: Winner of the Radishes Recipe Contest

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Farm Diary: Pruning in March

Most people know that pruning does not consist of attaching prunes to fruit trees and bushes, despite what Amelia Bedelia understood it to mean. But beyond that, I’ll wager that most folks who read Unpaid Field Hand only know that it involves some sort of cutting and thinning of fruit trees and canes.

Of course, you can learn all about it by going on the web and googling “fruit pruning.” But even after reading the 7,280,000 results available, you might be forgiven for still not knowing just how to do it. And for good reason. That’s because even the most knowledgeable experts sometimes give contradictory advice. Even Michael Phillips, whose book The Apple Grower is considered an authority to many apple cultivators, confesses that he hopes to know how to do it by the time he is eighty.

Continue Reading: Farm Diary: Pruning in March

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Vignoles Cake

This weekend Mount Nittany Winery is concluding its month-long celebration of our local wine trail with a special desserts offering.

Continue Reading: Vignoles Cake

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The Great Coffee Adventure: Avenue 209 Coffee House in Lock Haven

For our first stop on The Great Coffee Adventure, we elected to begin in Lock Haven, Pa. Home of Lock Haven University, this is a sleepy little college town with an incredibly unique and impressive coffee shop called Avenue 209 Coffee House.

Avenue 209 Coffee House is just straight-up COOL. They are industrial and artistic and thoroughly local. Like someone’s little brother who went to college as a scrawny 18-year-old kid and came back as a hipster musician with style.. and everybody raises their eyebrows. I don’t know what I was expecting, but Avenue 209 definitely went straight up and over those expectations and delivered the ambiance that I’ve been longing for in a local coffee shop.

Continue Reading: The Great Coffee Adventure: Avenue 209 Coffee House in Lock Haven

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Food Safety Study

Pennsylvania supermarkets are increasingly requiring that local growers show proof of good agricultural practices. For local growers to maintain wholesale market opportunities, they will have to put forth substantial effort to comply with and verify their on-farm, food-safety practices.

Continue Reading: Food Safety Study

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Starting Seeds is Easy: How to Plant the Seeds

If you followed my last blog post, you should be ready to plant some seeds indoors. First things first, fill your cell flats with moistened potting soil or seed starting mix. You want it moist, not saturated.

Next, plant the seeds. This is by far one of the most important tasks of your gardening year, and you need to make sure you do it correctly because, well, you want them to germinate.

Continue Reading: Starting Seeds is Easy: How to Plant the Seeds

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Why Organic? Part 3: Pesticides

It’s confession time. I made a small mistake, so uncharacteristic of me, as I’m sure you will agree. You see, in Part 3 of my series “Why Organic?” I wanted to talk about how pesticides are bad for our health and the environment, and then do the same for GMOs.

I intended to make a few, short, simple points about the health effects of pesticides—like they aren’t good for us (especially children) and they aren’t adequately tested and regulated.

My mistake? I decided to do a little Google research for the health effects paragraph, anticipating my inquiring readers’ insistent demands for “evidence.” The more I found out, the clearer it became that just one paragraph wouldn’t do.

Continue Reading: Why Organic? Part 3: Pesticides

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The Great Coffee Adventure: Introduction

Hello Local Food Journey fans! I’m Naomi Elle. I’m a local photographer enamored with the personalities and products of small-town Pennsylvania. While I have been a Pennsylvania resident for the majority of my life, my husband is a recent “transplant” from the Northern Virginia/Washington DC area.

And we both LOVE coffee.

Continue Reading: The Great Coffee Adventure: Introduction

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Why Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)?

For over 25 years, the CSA movement has been gaining popularity with small to medium size farms across the country. In its simplest form, a group of individuals become paying members of a farm and in return, the farm grows fresh produce for the members. In this mutual partnership, the farm and the members share in both the abundance and short falls associated with farming.

Continue Reading: Why Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)?

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Starting Seeds is Easy: How to Set Up

The weather has been warm lately, warm enough to start thinking about gardening. However, while the mild weather is great for daffodils, crocuses, and forsythia, it’s still too chilly to plant vegetables, especially frost-sensitive types like tomatoes and beans. You want to hold off planting those outside until early-mid May.

Continue Reading: Starting Seeds is Easy: How to Set Up

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Mediterranean Recipes from Mount Nittany Winery

As part of the celebration of our local wine trail, Mount Nittany Winery is offering special wine and food pairings during the month of March. This weekend we will feature local food products including cheese from Clover Creek Cheese Cellar, gourmet crackers from Rip Rap Bakery, and Cooke Tavern potato soup in honor of St. Patrick’s day!

Purchase your “Ticket to Good Taste and Adventure” at one of the ten participating wineries. Cost is $20 each or two for $35. For more information, visit: www.pawinetrail.com.

Continue reading to see recipes for the Mediterranean dishes that we served during last weekend’s pairings.

Continue Reading: Mediterranean Recipes from Mount Nittany Winery

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Why are Dairy Farms in the Marcellus Shale Closing?

Is mighty Marcellus squeezing the milk industry? That’s the finding of a new Penn State study. The Allegheny Front’s Reid Frazier set out to find why dairy farms are folding amidst the gas boom.

Continue reading to hear Frazier’s audio story.

Continue Reading: Why are Dairy Farms in the Marcellus Shale Closing?

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Muddy Boots

Spring has established a strong foothold in spite of some chilly mornings. The distinct smell of thawing earth has brought on the irresistible urge to roll shamelessly in the grass – or at least to get my boots muddier.

Continue Reading: Muddy Boots

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Win a Gift Certificate to Nature’s Pantry

Spring is just around the corner, which means that asparagus, cucumbers, and peaches are not far behind. What food are you most looking forward to eating as winter draws to a close? Sweet strawberries or watermelon? Heirloom tomatoes or green beans?

Simply leave a comment below with your favorite spring or summer food, and we’ll enter you in a random drawing for a $25 gift certificate to Nature’s Pantry in State College. You may receive extra entries by following WPSU’s Local Food Journey on Facebook and Twitter. Just leave an additional comment letting us know that you’re a new follower.

Continue Reading: Win a Gift Certificate to Nature’s Pantry

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Susquehanna Heartland Wine Trail

During the month of March, take a trip along the Susquehanna Heartland Wine Trail. The tour includes ten wineries, and the cost is $20 per person or $35 per couple.

Continue Reading: Susquehanna Heartland Wine Trail

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Field Notes: Early March

The feel of early spring is already in the air. The smell of sleeping soil waking up, the reddening tips of the trees as the sap begins to flow upwards, and the songs of robins are just a few of the early harbingers of spring. We are continuing to stay busy seeding in the greenhouse, spreading compost on the fields, finishing up the new high tunnel and generally trying to get all the winter
work completed.

Continue Reading: Field Notes: Early March

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Farm Diary: Seeding Fun in Late February

Seeding is a critical component of farming. No seed flats planted in February means no crops later. It is a laborious and painstaking, but oddly, satisfying task that I tackled two weeks ago. Here is how it works.

Continue Reading: Farm Diary: Seeding Fun in Late February

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Farms and Customers Gather at Centre County CSA Fair

This is the time of year when many Community Supported Agriculture Farms, or “CSAs” are selling shares for the coming growing seasons. WPSU’s Kristine Allen visited a CSA Fair in State College last week to get the lowdown on this growing practice.

Continue Reading: Farms and Customers Gather at Centre County CSA Fair

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Leek and Porcini Risotto

Good risotto is one of those things that is nearly impossible to get at a restaurant. Certainly, there are places that do it well. But if I order it, I am usually disappointed nine times out of ten. It just doesn’t lend itself well to advance prep and requires lots of stirring while cooking. And you would think that would make it family unfriendly — but I find it to be the exact opposite. It is a quick and simple meal (wonderful for a vegetarian night, too) that can be done in under an hour. And the actual cooking part really only takes about 30 minutes.

Continue Reading: Leek and Porcini Risotto

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: recipe | winter | leeks | mushrooms |

Winner of the Parsnips Recipe Contest

Congratulations to Maureen Ittig of State College and her Parsnip Cake recipe, winner of our February contest! She is the recipient of a $25 gift certificate to Tait Farm Foods.

Thank you to everyone who participated. Continue reading to see Maureen’s Parsnip Cake and other recipe submissions. And stay tuned for the start of our March recipe contest. Details to come!

Continue Reading: Winner of the Parsnips Recipe Contest

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Farm Diary: Late Winter on the Farm

Every occupation has its rhythm. The rhythms of farming are special because they coincide with earth’s yearly swing around the sun. January and February provide an opportunity to contemplate the prospects of the upcoming growing season. So my unpaid field hand’s diary for 2012 begins with news from winter.

Continue Reading: Farm Diary: Late Winter on the Farm

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CSA Fair in State College Today

Join the Centre County Chapter of Buy Fresh, Buy Local today from 3:30pm - 6:30pm at the Friends Meeting House in State College (611 E. Prospect Ave.). Mix and mingle with CSAs from Greenmore Gardens, Jade Family Farm, Tait Farm Foods, Healthy Harvest Farm, Village Acres, Plowshare Produce, Howards End Farm, and GroundWork Farms. Learn about price and size options, workshare programs, and product availability to find the CSA that will work best for you!

The Sustainable Kitchen will also be there with ready-to-eat food.

Continue Reading: CSA Fair in State College Today

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Early Signs of Spring

Signs of spring are appearing a little early this year, as can be seen from the picture above showing new garlic shoots poking through the soil. Garlic is always the first crop to make an appearance and has more credibility in predicting the beginning of spring than pampered rodents. 

Continue Reading: Early Signs of Spring

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Take a Jar of Summer off the Shelf

In my last post, I talked about the benefits of freezing vegetables to use in the winter. Now let’s look at another way of preserving your garden harvest—canning.

Canning for me brings back memories of my mother and grandmother, who both canned. They canned stuff like pears, green beans, tomatoes, etc. Pretty much straight up, old-fashioned canning.

Continue Reading: Take a Jar of Summer off the Shelf

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Why Organic? Part 2: Nutrition

If, as I argued in Part 1, organically produced food is more nutritious, it makes sense to eat it. It may cost a little more, but you are getting more for your money.

Over the past 15 years, we’ve learned more about complex healthy soils. They are teaming with little critters, beetle grubs, earthworms, bacteria by the billions, and fungi. Together, they facilitate plants’ ability to obtain micro-nutrients and minerals essential to good health. Compost, manures, and other organic substances in the soil provide these organisms with what they need to do their thing.

Continue Reading: Why Organic? Part 2: Nutrition

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Field Notes: Mild February

The mild February temperatures are allowing things to roll along pretty smoothly these days. We have made great progress on the new high tunnel and should have the ends completed, the roll-up sides installed and the plastic cover on within a couple weeks. Once this is complete, we will lay in compost and seed an early spring greens mix, which we plan to be eating come April!

Continue Reading: Field Notes: Mild February

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Muenster Chicken with Mushrooms

Here is a delicious winter recipe that we ate all the time growing up, and I have just updated it a bit. It’s a great casserole for a big group, kids love it, and it makes a great drop off dinner for your friend or neighbor who just had a baby.

Continue Reading: Muenster Chicken with Mushrooms

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Wine and Chocolate Pairings Event at Mt. Nittany Winery

You and your Valentine are invited to Mt. Nittany Winery in Centre Hall this weekend for a wine and chocolate pairings event. Treat yourself, your sweetheart, or a group of friends to Mt. Nittany’s wines paired with local sweets from Chocolate Madness.

Event hours are Saturday, Feb. 11th from 12-5pm and Sunday, Feb. 12th from 12:30-4pm. Cost is $4.50 per person, and reservations are required. Contact the winery at (814) 466-6373, 300 Houser Road in Centre Hall.

Continue reading for a chocolate truffles recipe from the winery.

Continue Reading: Wine and Chocolate Pairings Event at Mt. Nittany Winery

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Pulling Summer from the Freezer when it’s Freezing Outside

During my garden harvest season, which stretches from summer through much of fall, I preserve a lot of what we get from our backyard in two ways—canning and freezing.

I like to do both because of cooking flexibility. You can do a lot of great things with canning: sauces, relishes, pickles, etc. But freezing for me tends to be about just the vegetable/fruit.

Continue Reading: Pulling Summer from the Freezer when it’s Freezing Outside

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: gardening | recipes | kale | winter |

Rustic Italian Fare at Harrison’s

In addition to the regular local menu at Harrison’s Wine Grill in State College, the restaurant is also featuring the flavors of rustic Italy during the month of February. Beginning today, sample a salad of arugula, fresh pear, and Pecorino; veal ravioli with fresh sage brown butter; seared sea scallops with whipped potatoes; and polenta with berries. Download the full menu. 

Continue Reading: Rustic Italian Fare at Harrison’s

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Parsnips Recipe Contest

Parsnips are root vegetables, similar to carrots, and are one of the few pieces of produce available locally in Pennsylvania during the winter. They are buttery and slightly spicy and get sweet when cooked. Parsnips are commonly broiled, roasted, or cooked in soups and stews. Let us know how you prepare parsnips by sharing your favorite recipe this month. Submit your recipe for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to Tait Farm Foods.

Continue reading for some of our favorite parsnips recipes.

Continue Reading: Parsnips Recipe Contest

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Farming for the Future

The Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture’s (PASA) 21st Annual Farming for the Future Conference begins today at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel. Each year the conference gets bigger and better. Discover successful tomato growing techniques, take back the means of beekeeping, reclaim leftover landscapes, raise healthy chickens, and more. See the full workshop agenda and follow PASA on Facebook and Twitter for updates throughout the week.

Continue Reading: Farming for the Future

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Roasted Potato Salad

Tomorrow is the last day to enter our potatoes recipe contest! How do you prepare Russet potatoes, sweet potatoes, fingerling potatoes, and new potatoes? Share your recipe for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to Nature’s Pantry.

Looking for inspiration? Continue reading for my favorite potato salad recipe.

Continue Reading: Roasted Potato Salad

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: recipe | winter | potatoes |

Why Organic? Part 1: Introduction

My brother, a witty fellow indeed, never misses an opportunity to respond to my every utterance of the term “organic food” by saying that he much prefers it to inorganic food like rocks and plastic. His response follows a long tradition of cleverly tormenting his little brother, but it also revives my suspicion that many people don’t actually know what “organic food” is or why anyone would want to produce it or consume it. If this sounds like you (or even if it doesn’t), read on.

Continue Reading: Why Organic? Part 1: Introduction

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Late January Greens

Green Heron Farm still has a nice supply of greens this week, but order early for those items – they fly off the shelf this time of year:

Baby Arugula
Baby Spinach
Baby Chard – Green, Red and Gold
Italian and Red Rib Dandelion

Continue Reading: Late January Greens

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Curried Chick Pea and Red Potato Hash

I love the challenge of taking very disparate items and somehow bringing them together into a coherent dish. Certainly some of the dishes turn out a lot better than others, but it is always a fun experiment. In this case, I had new potatoes, garlic scapes (the green flower shoot from the garlic), green onions, parsley, and lots of eggs. I settled on a “hash” sort of thing and I was not disappointed. I love putting a slight twist on a very traditional approach and it was a delicious vegetarian entree. I served it with sauteed snow peas and a nice glass of Sauvignon Blanc.

Continue Reading: Curried Chick Pea and Red Potato Hash

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: recipe | winter | potatoes |

Don’t wait to make online seed orders for 2012 garden season!

We are in the heart of winter, so buying garden seeds may not be the first thing on your mind. However, if you are planning on ordering seeds online (you will more choices online than you will in a store), now is the time to do so.

Continue Reading: Don’t wait to make online seed orders for 2012 garden season!

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Mark Your Calendar: Fiesta de invierno with Chef Pati Jinich

Join Chef Pati Jinich of the new PBS series Pati’s Mexican Table for WPSU’s 20th Annual Connoisseur’s Dinner on Saturday, February 18th. Experience firsthand the adventurous cuisine found across Mexico with each dish serving as a point of departure into the country’s rich history and culture.

For more details, visit http://wpsu.org/events/conndinner2012.

Continue Reading: Mark Your Calendar: Fiesta de invierno with Chef Pati Jinich

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Year Round Good Eating and Gratin Recipe

Our local food partners are the stars behind the scenes at Harrison’s Wine Grill – we purchase from more than 20 local businesses during the growing season. During the winter, we focus more on the year-round products, especially locally produced cheese like our Goot Essa cheddar and Three Belle goat cheese, both from Millheim, Pa. We are working to bring more Pennsylvania artisanal cheeses onto our menu this year because our menu items designed around Goot Essa Sharp Cheddar have been so popular, especially the gratin recipe featured below.

Continue Reading: Year Round Good Eating and Gratin Recipe

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: recipe | winter | potatoes | squash |

Potatoes Recipe Contest

Russet potatoes. Sweet potatoes. Fingerling potatoes. New potatoes. How do you eat this starchy vegetable? Share your favorite recipe this month for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to Nature’s Pantry in State College. Entries must be submitted by midnight on January 31st. See contest details. And good luck!

Continue Reading: Potatoes Recipe Contest

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: recipecontest | potatoes |

Winner of the Cranberries Recipe Contest

Congratulations to Dee Saylor of State College! Her recipe for Cranberry Salsa Dip with Cream Cheese is the winner of the December recipe contest and the recipient of a $25 gift certificate to Elk Creek Cafe + Aleworks.

Continue reading for Dee’s salsa recipe, along with others for cranberry cookies, cakes, and muffins.

Continue Reading: Winner of the Cranberries Recipe Contest

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: recipe | recipecontest | cranberries |

December Cookies: World Peace Cookies from Dorie Greenspan

Dorie Greenspan is an accomplished food writer and cookbook author, and her World Peace cookies are all over the Internet. (Find out how they got their name here.)

They are French shortbreads with a generous amount of bittersweet chocolate and a touch of fleur de sel (French finishing sea salt) to yield a really intense flavor. Find more of Dorie’s delectable dessert recipes in her book, BAKING: From My Home to Yours.

Continue Reading: December Cookies: World Peace Cookies from Dorie Greenspan

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December Cookies: Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

The combination of pumpkin puree and oatmeal makes these cookies nice and chewy. The white chocolate chips are sweet, and the dried cherries are sour. And the spices couldn’t be more festive.

Continue Reading: December Cookies: Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

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December Cookies: Rum Balls

‘Tis the season to indulge! Enjoy favorite holiday cookies from Local Food Journey contributors this week and next. And feel free to share your own recipes in the comment section below.

First up: Rum Balls from Kristin Camplese of Cuizoo.

Continue Reading: December Cookies: Rum Balls

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: recipe | cookies |

Five Gift Ideas for the Gardener in Your Life

Looking to buy a holiday gift for that special gardener in your life? Here are five great suggestions:

Continue Reading: Five Gift Ideas for the Gardener in Your Life

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: holidays | gifts |

Holiday Greetings from the Farm!

We are home to many local families’ holiday traditions and lasting memories. There is an honesty and simplicity that comes with the annual pilgrimage to Tait Farm. The ritual is predictable, as well as comforting—it often includes cutting a tree, chatting with friends, visiting the Bassets, sipping a cup of tea, and sampling our food products in the Harvest Shop. 

Continue Reading: Holiday Greetings from the Farm!

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Weather Woes

For most people, the weather gives us something to talk about besides religion and politics. Bad weather can produce gloom, glorious days joy, rainy spells inconvenience. But really, we live indoors and travel mostly in enclosed spaces, so life pretty much goes on regardless of the weather. Not so for folks who work outdoors. Bad weather means no work for roofers and tree trimmers. Rain means less pleasant work for garbage men and traffic police.

But for farmers, the state of the weather has profound consequences that most people are not even aware of. So read on and improve your comprehension of just what a huge impact the weather has on folks who grow your food.

Continue Reading: Weather Woes

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Orange Marsala Cranberry Sauce

‘Tis the season for cranberries! Share your favorite recipe this month for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to Elk Creek Cafe + Aleworks.

Continue reading to see Kristin’s recipe for Orange Marsala Cranberry Sauce.

Continue Reading: Orange Marsala Cranberry Sauce

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: recipe | winter | cranberries |

Winner of the Pear Recipe Contest

Congratulations to Sarah Zappe of Port Matilda for her Cream Cheese and Pear Tart! She is the recipient of a $25 gift certificate to Fasta Ravioli Company.

Continue reading to see Sarah’s recipe, as well as Pamela’s Stewed Pears.

Continue Reading: Winner of the Pear Recipe Contest

Comments (0) | Permalink | Tags: recipe | fall | pears |

The Ten Dollar Solution

Pennsylvania Buy Fresh Buy Local has proposed an interesting Ten Dollar Solution that we would like to share and encourage all Local Food Journey readers to consider supporting.

Continue Reading: The Ten Dollar Solution

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Turkey Croquettes

Most of us will admit that one of the best parts of Thanksgiving is the leftovers. Here is a favorite recipe for creating another delicious meal from the turkey that might be left on the platter at the end of your annual feast.

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Turkey with Marsala Gravy over Rosemary Belgian Waffles

Looking for a tasty way to use those Thanksgiving turkey leftovers? This dish takes a savory, rosemary-infused Belgian Waffle and tops it with turkey stewed in marsala-laced and butter-rich gravy.

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First National Thanksgiving and York County Filling

I grew up in York, PA. Christmas and Easter were at my grandma’s, but Thanksgiving was at my parents’ house. There was typically a crowd of 12-15 relatives, but it always felt to me, as a kid, like 50 people because my childhood home is pretty small.

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Sweet Potato and Apple Soup

This thick and creamy soup is full of some of the season’s best flavors and would make any Thanksgiving table a more festive one.

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Countdown to Thanksgiving

Less than a week to go until Thanksgiving Day—a holiday created for foodies! What do you plan to place on your table this year? Check back next week for some of our favorite recipes and ideas to take care of those turkey leftovers. Until then, take advantage of holiday specials offered by some of your favorite local shops.

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Sowing the Seeds of a Great Marriage

Going to go a bit off-topic here, but I had to share this story with everyone who reads this blog. Gardening is something that often is done together by couples and who knows how many relationships are sparked at a plant sale or garden center. However, gardening is not really thought of something as romantic, per se.

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Fall Garlic Fun on the Farm

It is now late fall on the farm, and the last vegetables have been harvested. Time to sit by the fire, do our nails, and dream of spring, right? Yes? Shows how much you know about life on an organic vegetable farm.

Now is the time to plant next year’s garlic. Notice the nifty planting grid our intrepid intern Hannah is using to make sure the cloves are properly spaced. If you squint and look at the front of the wooden form, you’ll discover both some intact garlic bulbs and some individual cloves ready to stick into the soil. 

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Field Notes: Rainbow Carrots in November

I had never belonged to a CSA before I came to Tait Farm. I read about them, knew of some, and had friends and coworkers who picked up their shares weekly and absolutely loved being a part of it. We, however, were lucky enough to have a plot of land large enough to grow more than enough of our own produce.

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Apple Muffins

Honeycrisp apples are crisp and sweet and ideal for fresh eating, as well as for cooking and baking. Our friends at Way Fruit Farm harvest Honeycrisp apples each year and may still have some left this season. For hours and directions to Way Fruit Farm, visit their website. Then enjoy this recipe for Apple Muffins. They can’t be beat served warm with a glass of milk.

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Field Notes - Early November

There is an impatient feeling in the chilly, Fall air here in the fields. The heavy, wet snow that came down on Saturday had us curiously waiting to see how all the crops carried the weight.

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Winner of the Butternut Squash Recipe Contest

Thanks to everyone who participated in this month’s butternut squash recipe contest! Congratulations to Ashley of State College and her Butternut Squash Risotto recipe. She is the recipient of a $25 gift certificate to Harrison’s Wine Grill & Catering

Continue reading to see all of the submitted recipes. Enjoy!

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The Splendid Table Comes to WPSU-FM

We’re pleased to announce that starting November 6, the The Splendid Table with Lynne Rossetto Kasper will be joining the WPSU-FM line-up Sunday mornings at 11:00 a.m. (with The Thistle and Shamrock moving to Sundays at 8:00 p.m.).

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Field Notes

This week as we are adding more fall greens to the selection of choices, we are embarking on a project that will provide us with the ability to extend the season and have even more greens!

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Get your garden ready for a long winter’s nap

While we haven’t quite yet had a true killing frost, it’s inevitable - at some point, your 2011 garden will be covered in frost, and soon after, snow. The garden will go to sleep until it warms again, but there is some work yet to do on your garden that will make things easier next spring. Time to put it to bed.

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Butternut Squash and Apple Muffins with Pumpkin Seed Streusel

With two hungry children, I am always trying to find healthful snacks that the kids perceive to be treats. A piece of fruit may be healthy, but every once in a while kids (and grown-ups alike) crave something more substantial.  In our house, anything freshly baked is usually a winner.  This recipe qualifies as both delicious and healthy—with whole wheat flour, butternut squash puree, fresh apples, and not too much sugar.  It’s your choice whether you call it breakfast, a snack, or dessert.

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Bon AppeTait:  Spicy Autumn Salad

I love fall on the farm. It is the season of bold flavors and stunning natural beauty. The changing leaves are slowing winding their way up Tussey Mountain, creating a tapestry of subtle color. The fields abound with beautiful fall greens and root crops, still soaking up as much sun as they can before harvest. And after months of ripening in the fields (or drowning), the winter squash have been harvested. Our attention will now turn to getting the fields into cover crops for the long winter’s rest. And all the while, I will delight in the flavor of my first butternut squash soup, as well as the site of colorful, funky pumpkins and gourds that bring fall blessings to my home.

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Pumpkins - not just for pies and front stoops anymore

The humble pumpkin at one time was known for being just two things - a front porch decoration and a pie. Also, unless you lived in Pennsylvania Dutch country like I did as a kid and saw “neck pumpkins,” pumpkins were always orange and round.

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The Market Bell

Have you ever been to a farmers market a little earlier than start time and were told that market sales cannot begin until a certain time? Has that ever knocked the wind out of your local food shopping sails (sales?) and caused you to be disappointed or confused?

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Field Notes

The approach of the Fall frost has us hustling around the fields, trying to get everything prepared for it. There is the first frost, which will knock out most of the common annuals such as peppers, summer squash, eggplants and if you still have ‘em, tomatoes.

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Roasted Butternut Squash Bisque from Harrison’s

For perfect fall flavors—the mild sweetness of butternut squash is perfectly offset with savory garlic and vegetables.  Using some local cream helps to make it rich and velvety – but minimizing cream and using vegetable stock and roasted garlic helps to keep the fats and calories down. This recipe has a lot of steps in it – and that’s what creates the complex and award-winning flavors. 

Stop in to Harrison’s for a bowl, or enjoy it from your own home.

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Winner of the Eggplant Recipe Contest

Thanks to everyone who participated in this month’s eggplant recipe contest! Congratulations to Albert of State College and his Lavash Flatbread recipe. He is the recipient of a $25 gift certificate to Mount Nittany Winery in Centre Hall.

Continue reading to see all of the submitted recipes. Enjoy!

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Frost looms in the garden, but that’s not always a bad thing

While the weather in recent days has been more like summer, the changing leaves are a definite sign that it is autumn and gardening season is coming to a close. While much of central Pennsylvania hasn’t seen the first frost as yet, that soon will change. It’s definitely frost season.

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