One Local Summer - Week of 8/19/2007

Despite our huge haul at the Farmer's Market - the chaos at our house has continued, in the form of chicken pox, goat sales, medical bills, car repairs, preschool orientation - but I digress. Despite the huge haul, we've had trouble putting it all together into a coherent meal for One Local Summer. So we weren't as local or as timely as we might have been.

Tonight's dinner was bratwurst and grilled vegetables over (local!) charcoal in the R2BQ.


Bratwurst (VanMeter Farm - 57 miles)
Zucchini (Ross county, 20 miles)
Bell peppers (Ross county, 20 miles)
Onions (Ross county, 20 miles)
Delicata squash (The garden, 0 miles)
Beer (Eliot Ness Amber Lager, Great Lakes Brewing, 169 miles)
Non-local ingredients: Buns, mustard, oil, thyme, cheap beer for simmering

If we were cooler, we'd have baked some buns, I'd have remembered that there actually was thyme in the herb garden, and I would have tracked down one of my favorite beers (and local to boot) from Columbus Brewing Company. (I can't seem to find Columbus Pale Ale in the neighborhood establishments). I would have also grilled those veggies for a bit longer. Some of them were still crisper than I would have preferred.

Even so, it was a good meal. The Delicata squash that I kept hearing about was quite good. Probably my favorite winter squash so far. The brats were as tasty as expected. And the beer was excellent as well.

Not bad for another time-crunched dinner window.

One Local Summer - Week of 7/15/2007

Pork Sausage with Potatoes and Onions
(Recipe heavily adapted from BH&G's Big Book of 30-Minute Dinners)
Pork sausage from VanMeter Farm, Latham, OH (57 mi.)
Onions from a Ross Co. farmer (20-30 mi.)
Red potatoes from Jones Farm, Chillicothe, OH (20 mi.)
Oil, salt & pepper, not local

Blanched Green Beans
Green beans from a Ross Co. farmer (20-30 mi.)
Localish(?) butter, "Amish Gourmet," purportedly from Minerva, OH (168 mi.)
Salt, not local

.... And local well water.

Everything turned out pretty well, considering I had to kind of wing it in places. (I was absurdly pleased to be using both the bulbs and the greens of the onions in the same dish....)

One Local Summer - Week of 7/1/2007

Slipping in under the wire....

Beef & Summer Squash with Basil
(Recipe modified from Recipezaar's Italian Beef & Zucchini Dinner)
Beef cubed steaks from Buckskin Valley Farms, Greenfield, Ohio (36 mi.)
Greek basil from our herb garden (0 mi.)
Summer squash and tomatoes from our garden (0 mi.), supplemented by a tomato from the Chillicothe farm market; again, I forgot to ask the vendor, but I'm going to assume it came from Ross County* (20-30 mi.)
Salt, pepper, garlic, and olive oil - not local

Boiled New Potatoes with Parsley
Red potatoes from Jones Farm, Chillicothe, Ohio (20 mi.)
Parsley from our herb garden (0 mi.)
Salt, pepper, butter** - not local

The steaks were rather chewy, although the flavor was pretty good. We still have another package of these and I'm hoping we'll find some local flour (or a flour substitute? Any ideas?) to make them into country fried steak. The summer squash and tomatoes, cooked in olive oil with garlic and fresh basil, were very good - I'm sure we'll use that combination again. The potatoes were simple and tasty.

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* This is not a terribly shaky assumption, as we've found out that the rules for the Chillicothe farm market are that at least 51% of a vendor's produce must be grown by them, and all the produce must be from the area.

** I did attempt to find local butter, with dubious success. At the Clintonville Community Market I found "Amish Gourmet" butter which purported to be from a dairy in Minerva, Ohio (168 mi.); however, upon closer examination, the words "distributed by" make me suspect it doesn't actually come from there. I could be wrong. I forgot to use it tonight, anyway....

One Local Summer - Week of 6/24/2007

Our very first local meal for One Local Summer - prepared by Lori


Sauteed Pork Tenderloin with Cream, Apples, and Sage
(Recipe from The Best Recipe)
Pork tenderloin chops from VanMeter Farm, Latham, Ohio (57 mi.)
Apple and apple cider from Hirsch Fruit Farms, Chillicothe, Ohio (25 mi.)
Sage from our herb garden (0 mi.)
Whole goats' milk (substituted for heavy cream) from our goats (0 mi.)
Nonlocal ingredients: butter, onion, salt and pepper, olive oil

Sauteed Zucchini and Summer Squash
(Recipe from Best American Side Dishes)
Zucchini and summer squash from Ross County (20-30 mi.) (This was purchased from an Amish vendor at the Chillicothe farm market; we didn't get the name or location of the farm but we're assuming it's somewhere around there....)
Lemon balm (substituted for lemon zest) from our flowerbed (0 mi.)
Parsley from our herb garden (0 mi.)
Nonlocal ingredients: salt, olive oil, onion

Wheat bread from The Roll Up Yonder, Adelphi, Ohio (21 mi.); with nonlocal butter. The bread was probably not made with local ingredients, however.

Everything turned out quite delicious, and our first OLS attempt has alerted us to a few gaps in our local eating resources: We need to find local butter (or find a way to separate cream from our goats' milk so we can make our own); we need to find local onions (or grow lots of our own and preserve them for year-round use); and we need to find more sources for local starchy foods like potatoes, pasta and grains (we're currently growing two kinds of potatoes, and hopefully we can harvest enough and preserve them for year-round use; also, we recently became aware of a nearby farm selling locally grown wheat flour and wheat berries, among other things).

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Comments from e4: Wow, the pork was really delicious. Actually so was the zucchini and summer squash. The bread was good, but not quite as good as Lori's best loaves. And I'm addicted to the apple cider. I've pretty much replaced soft drinks and other beverages with either our own milk or Hirsch's cider.