A Rittenhouse Special

We came across ramps at the Rittenhouse Farmers' Market this past Saturday brought to us fresh by Down Home Acres out of Gilbertsville, PA. Since we already had purchased three bunches of asparagus from Rineer Family Farm on the other side of the market, we decided that we wanted to do something with asparagus and ramps together.

For those who are unfamiliar with ramps or have never had them, a ramp, which is sometimes referred to as a wild leek, is a wild onion native to North America. Although resembling a scallion, the beautiful flat, broad leaves signify the difference. The flavor and smell of ramps is a combination of onions and garlic so if you like those two aromatics, you'll love ramps.

We found a recipe online that incorporated the two along with a fried egg and multi-grain bread. We went with this recipe from Eats Well With Others because we had all of the main ingredients as proceeds from our Rittenhouse haul. How neat it would be to make the recipe with everything from one market. At least we thought it was neat...that's how we are here. 

Asparagus and Egg from Rineer Family Farm, Ramps from Down Home Acres, and a Yards Multi-Grain ESA Bread from Wild Flour Bakery - I call it a Rittenhouse Special

A Legend in Their Own Lunchtime

It has been some time since I have updated this blog. While I have been busy managing the Rittenhouse Farmers' Market and getting the Far Northeast's first Farmers' Market off the ground, there really is no excuse. I'm just a lazy locavore.

Last year Chef Andy Bates visited Philadelphia from across the pond and highlighted Philadelphia's local street food scene for an episode of his Food Network UK series - Andy Bates American Street Feasts. This episode, "Philadelphia - A Legend in Their Own Lunchtime", features many of our favorite local farmers and vendors including: Lucky Old Souls, Zea May's Kitchen, Weavers Way Farms and Sorbello Girls (at the Mt. Airy Village Farmers' Market) and even yours truly makes an appearance, albeit a brief one (16:15 if you are interested). Up until now, you could only view this in the UK so we called and got a DVD sent over.

Enjoy and tell us if you spot any of your friends!

The Chestnut Hill Growers Market - A Photo Exposé

Some of the bounty from Landisdale Farm 

Landisdale Farm Sweet Potatoes 

Kirby Cucumbers from Rineer Family Farms

Green Beans from Rineer Family Farms

Even more from the Rineer market table. 

Greens Galore from Taproot Farm 

Beets to the beat of the band from Taproot

Taproot Dandelions 

Taproot Peppers

Taproot Hebs

Another view of Taproot's table

Ravishing Radicchio

Fall is here

George from Taproot shows off some colossal Collards

Fresh & Local Fair Returns to Weavers Way Co-op Chestnut Hill, Saturday May 19

On Saturday, May 19, Weavers Way Co-op and their local vendors and farmers will celebrate the local growing season with our second annual Fresh & Local Fair, from noon to 4 p.m., in the backyard of Weavers Way Chestnut Hill, 8424 Germantown Avenue. In addition to Weavers Way Farms, we will have product samples and demos from: Iron Hill Brewery; Calkins Creamery; Moshe’s; Chung’s Sushi; Koch’s Deli; Bobbies Hummus; John & Kira’s Chocolates; Reanimator Coffee; Sun & Earth; My House Bakery; Real Pickles; Martin’s Sausage; D’Artagnan, and Philly Cow Share. Come by and enjoy some live music, sample lots of locally grown and prepared foods, and meet some of Weavers Way’s Farmers at this fun-filled event.

The Markets Are Back!!!

As you can probably tell by the lack of posts, the winter was boring and without much local fare to speak of. I guess I can't say it was boring. Plenty of things have happened to me over the winter, and I will insert them into posts as they become relevant. I know you will be waiting with baited breath and rightly so. For instance, take that picture up there, the radishes...the total access I have to them or some just like them can now only be described as unfettered. Five to seven days a week unfettered. So if you are into stuff like that, then I had a really good winter.

Enough about winter though, it's May and this past weekend the Feed stopped by two of Philadelphia's premiere farmers' markets to bask in the glory of all things local. On Saturday we visited the Chestnut Hill Growers' Market and on Sunday we made it out to the Headhouse Farmers' Market, the crown jewel of the Philly farmers' market scene. At both spots we saw more than a couple of old friends, met some new ones and came away with some of the freshest local bounty you can buy in Philadelphia. We also came away full which, lets face it, is pretty much the point. 

The aforementioned radishes are only some of the offerings we found at Chestnut Hill. They came courtesy of Taproot Farm out of Berks County, Pennsylvania. The fragrance which wafted from their farm stand as you passed by drew you in (I think the heirloom tomato plants were the culprit), and the vestiges of their vegetables kept you at bay while you decided how much of your current and future earnings you are going to deposit here. Makes me happy I have two jobs but a little unhappy that I don't have any more room in the raised bed for those heirloom tomato plants.


Taproot wasn't the only farm flexing farmer muscle. This army below marched in from the Rineer Family Farm which " is nestled in the rolling hills of southern Lancaster County along the banks of the Pequea Creek" (from their site). What a description...picturesque, really. You can almost hear the birds chirping, and see the creek cascading through the valley as you wolf down half the quart in the car on the way home. 

  

Remember when I said we came away full? This market also comes equipped with a food truck that if you have not heard about yet, you will. Well, of course you will because I'm going to write about it now but even if I wasn't, you would be hearing about them anyway. With burgers like what I had on Saturday, Lucky Old Souls will be on the tip of everyone's tongue from Mt. Airy to Society Hill (of course this is in part because they were at Headhouse this Sunday, but that doesn't detract from the food). 

Everything at Lucky Old Souls is housemade. Everything. The burgers? Of course, housemade. The bacon? Housemade. The ketchup? The mayo? Their L.O.S. sauce? Housemade. I wouldn't be surprised if they had a rubber tree in their back yard which they harvest for their truck tires. The ingredients are pretty much all local and the ground meat is grass-fed (from Rineer Farm - keeping it in the market - BOOYAH!). I got a burger with habenero cheese, fried onions and ketchup. The taste of yum still lingers and the only problem was I needed about three more. Glad I'm coming next week. 

There is much more to talk about regarding this market and I could go on, but there is a 100% guarantee that I will be returning and it's a long season. Trust me, everyone here will get their due and rightfully so. This is a great market.

Speaking of great markets, Sunday was kick-off day for the Headhouse and I needed to say hello to my friends from the Food Trust and farmers I have been frequenting for over three years now. Market manager Katy Wich was happy with the opening but thought that the crowd could have been a bit better. Considering that many of the healthy patrons who would normally frequent the market were running down Broad Street on Sunday, a smaller than expected crowd can be tolerated. However, those who didn't show up missed some beautiful beautiful food. Rather than bastardize the bounty with words, here is a small photo expose':

    

So there you have it. We are looking forward to an exciting season and hope you plan to enjoy it with us here at the Feed. If you have any suggestions for places to visit or recipes or anything at all, leave us a comment or shoot us an e-mail. See you at the market

Blueberry Pumpkin Muffins

I mentioned the other day how much my family loves pumpkins and how we have been using the proceeds of Fall's pumpkin bounty to make baked goods galore throughout these not-so-cold winter months. We found one of our favorite recipes on Allrecipes.Com and have tweaked it enough to make it a super healthy snack for the Philly Food Feed Family - Blueberry and Pumpkin Muffins. When I first found this recipe my wife thought it would be an odd combination but since we became blueberry freezing fanatics over the summer, we have an abundance of the blue buggers. I just typed in pumpkin and blueberry into Google and the first recipe that came up has been what we have been going with. I substituted part of the flour with wheat germ and add flax meal as well. Antioxidants (blueberries/flax), Fiber (pretty much all of the dry ingredients, and Beta Carotene (from the pumpkin) makes this recipe healthy as well as delicious. Here is the recipe we have been using - Enjoy!

1/4 Cup of Wheat Germ
1/2 Cup of All Purpose White Flour
3/4 Cup of Quick Cooking Oates
1/3 Cup of Flax Meal
1/2 Cup of White Sugar
2 tsp. of Baking Powder
3/4 tsp. of Salt
1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Ground Nutmeg
1/2 Cup of Pureed Pumpkin
1/2 Cup of Milk
1 Egg
1/4 Cup of Butter, melted
3/4 Cup of Blueberries

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease and flour muffin pan or use paper liners.
2.Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl until evenly blended.
3.In a separate bowl, stir together the pumpkin, milk, egg, and butter.
4.Gradually stir in the flour mixture, just until all ingredients are moistened.
5.Fold in the blueberries. Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling to the top.
6.Bake in preheated oven until tops spring back when lightly pressed, about 20 minutes.

If you make this, please let us know. If you take a picture, even better!

Greetings From the Pennsylvania Farm Show!

This year, one of my New Year's resolutions was to post more on this blog; what better way to start working on that resolution than by taking a trip to the 96th annual Pennsylvania Farm Show?
On Wednesday, we packed up the car and took a trip to Harrisburg to take in the sights and sounds (and tastes) of Pennsylvania farming at it's finest. The PA Farm Show is the largest indoor agriculture expo in the country with an attendance of about 400,000 people yearly. When we arrived, it seemed like all of those 400,000 people were there at once. 

There is fried fungus among us. 

The car ride was over two and a half hours long and the baby needed to eat (yeah, the baby...) so when we got there we decided to explore the Food Court first. So did everyone else evidently but that was okay. Although crowded, the lines were fast and there were plenty of places to stand and eat. In fact, the long tables that were set up for eating actually promoted conversation between strangers. Strangers whose camaraderie began and ended with which vendor they purchased their meal from and "Wow I'm going to that stand for dinner!" I decided to honor Pennsylvania's foremost fungus, the mushroom. Thanks to the PA Mushroom Growers Cooperative, I was able to enjoy some deep fried breaded mushrooms and a chaser of some cream of mushroom soup. I know, much mushrooms but the proceeds go to the American Mushroom Institute which supports mushroom growers throughout the country. In fact, the income from all of the food court fair goes to support the various Pennsylvania Agricultural Commodity Organizations and we were going to help as many of them as our waistlines allowed. Sarah and Ethan did their part to help the PA Potato Growers Cooperative with their copious consumption of fresh cut french fries. Sarah also helped me with my mushroom bounty. It was a farm show family affair indeed.
After lunch it was off to the Large Arena for some Kids Tractor Pulling and Tractor appreciation. We didn't arrive in time to enter Ethan into the Tractor Pulling, but it was cute to watch young kids peddling their hearts out to win a tractor toy and the affection and adulation of the audience. While that was going on we decided to tour the infield and appreciate all of the various tractors lined up for the Tractor Square Dance. No, we didn't see the actual square dance (would have been nice) but we did see some fine pieces of machinery, I tell you what:

After much tractor appreciation, it was time to seek out some livestock. We promised Ethan animals on this trip and he was not to be trifled with. Good for us that this expo did not want for animals. As long as you could tolerate the odor, you could mingle with cows and chickens and turkeys and pigs and goats and sheep...you get the picture. Never had I seen so many cows in one place in my life. It was utterly ridiculous (yep, I went there). Ethan was bombarded with bovines; at one point a cow hit him in the face with it's tail. I guess that was the cow's way of telling him to moooove over. The cows didn't have to tell us...if I ever see a cow poop again in my life, it will be too soon. Ethan liked that part however, and demanded throughout the rest of the day to see more cows "pooping and peeing". On a more serious note, when you go to the Farm Show, you can't help but learn about the aspects of farming that you usually take for granted. Continuing with the cows, we were surprised to learn that there are 7,304 dairy farms in Pennsylvania, home to over 541,000 dairy cows. Of those dairy farms, 98% of them are family owned and operated. This information was provided by the PA Dairymen's Association, as well as fried cheese cubes on a stick (that was dinner, along with pulled pork nachos...slimming). Moovelous! (I know, definitely going overboard).

Gladys, I wish this guy would stop taking pictures of us.

After cows came chickens, goats, rabbits, alpacas (yes, alpacas)...there were so many animals I can't chronicle them all - this would be less of a blog post and more of a novel. We went without consulting a map and it seemed like whenever you thought you were at the end of a hall there would be an opening to another hall...it was endless. All I have mentioned so far is the animals and as we all know, farming in Pennsylvania also consists of fruits and vegetables. And of course, with over 10,000 exhibitions we were bound to come across some of their offerings. Little did we know, we would also come across an old friend of the feed...Ben Wenk (actually we did know, he has been regaling his Facebook followers all week of his Farm Show exploits. It was more of a little did we know if we could find him). We caught up with him on the Main Floor selling, you guessed it, apples! 
Ben was splitting time between his Main Hall apple selling and the food court where he was dishing out apple dumplings, caramel apples, dried apples...pretty much anything apple under the sun. Ben's fruitful labor (ha ha, I'm on a roll) was on behalf of the State Horticultural Association of Pennsylvania (SHAP) and its major benefactor, the Penn State College of Agricultural Science Fruit Research Extension Centerlocated in Biglerville, PA, which happens to be in Ben's backyard. From their website: "In addition to providing site-specific conditions for research, the facility increases opportunities for growers, consultants, consumers, and students to observe experiments and to consult with scientists. Extension specialists apply experimental findings to local conditions, and, in turn, make suggestions to scientists about new research needs." For the laymen reading (and writing) this post, centers like this one help ensure the best quality fruit hits our lips through research, experiments and information sharing. For those who just think farmers' only spend part of year at their craft, Ben Wenk is an example of how that just isn't so. Next time you see him at the Headhouse, thank him for his commitment. I was thanking him on the way home while I was chowing down on a famous Three Springs Fruit Farm Honeycrisp Apple.

Speaking of fruits and vegetables, I would be remiss if I didn't talk about all the various pumpkins we saw at the Show. We love pumkins in this house whether for ornamental purposes or for cooking. We have been making pumpkin muffins with blueberries from the summer all winter long. In honor of those muffins, Ethan posed with a pumpkin that would have us making muffins between now and when Chelsea Clinton is President.

So there you have it. I mean, I could write so much more but I'm going to let some more photos tell the story. It was really a great time for our family at the Farm Show. If you have a chance to check it out this weekend, it's worth the trip. Pennsylvania farmers are the best and this Farm Show proves it!