Farm Fest Highlights!

Farm Fest was so much fun! We really enjoyed spending time with everyone who came out. Thank you so much for supporting us and joining us for a wonderful day! Here are a few highlights:

Zaw, who works with Linda at Maret School, and his neighbor Shawn rode their bikes from Silver Spring all the way to the farm. (Yes, the Silver Spring in Montgomery County)

LOVE the sign!

The trip is close to 50 miles!!

We were so excited to see them when they arrived, and it only took them about 3 and a half hours! Incredible! Thanks so much Zaw and Shawn for making the day even more exciting!
Shawn and Mark spent several hours cooking pizzas, in a 500 degree oven, on a 95 degree day. Needless to say it was HOT in that kitchen, but they made some amazing pizza - it was eaten up as fast as they could make it. It included toppings such as basil, pineapple, green pepper, beets, and turnips. Regina, from The Farmer's Daughter (oh so famous for her delicious, and huge, cinnamon rolls) made the whole wheat, rosemary and chive dough for the crust. A few days before Farm Fest, we got to help her knead the dough, it was great fun!

Two of the delicious pizzas with basil and parmesan toppings.

This was a Zero Waste event, so we had glass jars to drink from, cloth napkins, recycling and compost bins. It worked out really well, we had no trash at all at the end of the day!

We set up our farm stand and included Linda's new book called "Yellow Bird". The limited first edition is on sale for $18 a copy - let us know if you are interested!! So exciting!

It was a beautiful, but hot, day so many people spent time in the breezy shade overlooking the garden,
or under the oldest black walnut tree watching the kids play on the swing set.

Jack enjoying a cool drink of water.

One of the cutest puppies in the world.

Scott Trexler, who has a stand right next to us at the Westminster market (selling organic chicken, eggs, beef, rose, and pork), brings his lovely puppy with him to market every week. It is great fun to watch her grow! And grow she will, she is half rottweiler and half Saint Bernard...

Here is Regina reading to David, her son, in the shade in front of the farm house.

Smile David!

Some of the many musicians who played at Farm Fest, pictured here are Dave, Joel Hoskins, and Pawpaw. They set up in the workshop and it worked out great! We will have to remember that for the next party.

Thanks again to everyone who came, to Dave and Linda for making it happen and making the property look gorgeous, to Mark for all your help, and Regina for the yummy crust!

Broccoli, Beet Greens, and Turnip Pizza

The garden has been doing great and in the past couple weeks we have been enjoying some of the delicious fruits of our labor. We have been eating lettuce for almost a month, asparagus (fruits of Linda's labor :) ) for almost two months, broccoli, beet greens, and various other fun spring yummies. Our favorite recipes are simple - roasted asparagus with a little olive oil and sea salt, steamed broccoli and beet greens, raw turnips sliced thin with a little balsamic vinegar, sauteed kale with garlic and olive oil...the list goes on. Here are a few things we have made recently.
First: Broccoli and beet green pasta with butter and Parmesan cheese. We grabbed some broccoli from the garden,
and some of those delicious beet greens from when we thinned all the beets,
and got some pasta boiling on the stove. When the pasta had about 5 minutes left, we threw in the veggies to cook along with the pasta. Strain, serve with a little butter and some fresh cheese.

Yum!!

Next: Pizza
Shawn LOVES to make pizza, and he is really good at it. This weekend we had Mark (bee partner and great friend) down for a visit to come to the fair and hang out with the bees! For dinner Mark (also a proficient pizza maker) and Shawn decide to make two delicious pizzas. The first was a traditional pizza with crisp crust, tomato sauce, mozzarella, and fresh basil from the garden. It was unbelievable.

We had also picked some young turnips to sell at the fair, and Mark came up with a really cool idea for the second pizza.
After Shawn worked his magic on the crust, Mark drizzled an olive oil, garlic mixture over the crust, then added paper thin slices of turnips, some turnip greens, Parmesan cheese, coarse sea salt and a little more olive oil mixture. Into the 500 degree oven, and out came this:
It was SO good; the turnips crisped up like chips, the greens seared from the heat, the salt and garlic olive oil flavored the crispy crust...heaven! It's amazing how well (and how cheaply) you can eat with a little creativity.
Stay tuned for some more delicious eats....:)