My last Think Local column in the Philadelphia Weekly came out today. Budget cuts led to the elimination of the second page of food coverage. For this final piece, I explored a local fruit cannery. Click here for the full story.
Archive for Agriculture
Farm Bounty
Top Row (from left): One World Coffee, raw milk, lardo, bacon. Bottom Row: beef cubes, Pub Cheddar, Cow Pie, Parmesan, Orange Cardamom Sausage Read the rest of this entry »
Anyone out there?
If anyone remains faithfully checking this blog, all two of you will be excited to see my latest article. I saved some gas this month and took the EL up to scenic Kensington to visit Greensgrow Farms. I was pleased to be able to stroll over to the Memphis Taproom for the beginning of Mystery Beer Weekend. Turns out I guessed wrong on all three beers. Anyway, here’s the story.
What Does a Quail Egg Look Like, Anyway?
You’ll have to stay tuned for a future post about how I’m making use of the remaining half dozen quail eggs in my refrigerator. In the meantime, here’s a link to my latest story, on Griggstown Quail Farm, outside of Princeton, NJ.
They Put Potions in the Manure?!?!
Welcome to the world of biodynamic yogurt. My latest column in the Philadelphia Weekly is on Seven Stars Farm in Phoenixville, PA.
More on Local Cheese
Hopefully people aren’t getting tired about local cheesemakers. Here’s a link to my latest article. This one is about Shellbark Hollow Dairy, outside of West Chester, PA. Click here to read the article.
I’m hoping they just screwed up the title on the online version. I haven’t seen the printed copy yet, but I’m pretty certain that I didn’t write anything about the role of oats in milk production.
Farming in Kensington
One of these days I’m going to have enough free time to resume putting up original content up here. Until then, I’m going to have to resort to providing links to relevant articles. Are they always going to come from the New York Times? Let’s just say it’s my first resource when it comes to squandering my time online. Today’s example:
Amid the tightly packed row houses of North Philadelphia, a pioneering urban farm is providing fresh local food for a community that often lacks it, and making money in the process.
Greensgrow, a one-acre plot of raised beds and greenhouses on the site of a former steel-galvanizing factory, is turning a profit by selling its own vegetables and herbs as well as a range of produce from local growers, and by running a nursery selling plants and seedlings.
They also do honey. This is the type of shit I’ll be writing about in my monthly column in the Philadelphia Weekly, starting tomorrow. But it looks like I got scooped on this one.
The Ranch Steak
Get the cardiologist on the line
This cut of beef, pictured above as an integral part of Sunday’s breakfast, is a bit of a mystery. Procured from a Pennsylvania purveyor at the Clark Park Farmer’s Market on Saturday, the “Ranch Steak” is the ideal size for the “steak” half of the classic “steak and eggs” combination. Grass-fed and dry-aged, the steak had a nice degree of marbling. I seasoned it with salt and pepper, cooked it for about five minutes in a pan over medium-high heat, then put it under the broiler to cook the other side, until the steak reached medium rare.
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Coming Back to Earth
Lest my readership assume that I’ve lost every bit of my social conscience, and embraced a lifestyle of decadence, I should reemphasize that not everyone in the world gets to consume in quite the same way that we Americans do. Read the rest of this entry »
Pigs!
Continuing on yesterday’s farm theme, cows aren’t the only animals running around Hendricks Farm. Either the sow pictured above or her companion, who were both about a week away from producing a litter, is now a mother.
That is indeed a streak of blood across pig’s nose, sustained while battling with her friend for a heaping bucket of beet scraps.
These pigs are evidently at the foreground of Hendricks Farm’s nascent charcuterie operation, something I’m looking forward to following up on.
