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New to the Farm to Table Dinner this year, we are please to be serving Smith’s Farm produce in the following dishes:

Smith’s Farm Summer Squash with Springfield Farm Rabbit Confit and Linden Dale Goat Cheese and Springfield Farm Cocoa Braised Beef Short Ribs with Kilgore Family Farm Potato Anna, Roasted Root Vegetables and Smith’s Farm Swiss Chard

Located in Red Lion, PA Smith’s Farm grows natural, organic produce with a focus on heirloom varieties. They are also members of Certified Naturally Grown (CNG) for their organic growing methods as well as members of the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA).

Photo courtesy of LocalHarvest.com

Visit their page on Localharvest.com for more information about the farm’s history.

Experience this local farm on Saturday, September 10th!

Photo by the Susquehanna Photographic

The first stop on our 2011 Farm to Table Dinner Tour is Shaw Orchards. At last year’s dinner we used Shaw apples in our apple sorbet (coming back this year and served with candied hazelnut parsnip sticks) and their pears in the pear cobbler for dessert! This year, we will be serving Shaw peaches in the Grilled Peach and Frangipan Pizza served with Basil Ice Cream.

From Glen and Mary Sue Shaw:

Dear Friends,

For 102 years our family farm has been producing fresh fruits and vegetables. Located on the historic Mason-Dixon line, our farm market offers some of the best quality fruit you’ll find anywhere in the country, as well as local produce, jams, jellies, flowers, and canned goods. The orchard is open for pick-your-own strawberries, cherries, blueberries, and apples. Our website is updated weekly and is the best way to stay informed of the season. As always, we hope you find your visit to Shaw Orchards to be an enjoyable one.  We are committed to bringing you the finest quality, home-grown produce season after season.  See you soon!

Click here for directions and information about visiting the orchard and market. Shaw is truly a gem in the area and we are so lucky to be able to enjoy their fresh, delicious produce.

Photo by the Susquehanna Photographic

Photo by the Susquehanna Photographic

Learn more about Shaw Orchards on September 10th’s Dinner! 

This year, we are offering the ability to purchase reservations for the Farm to Table Dinner ONLINE! The link just went live this afternoon. Click here. As always, you can still purchase your reservation by phone at 717.252.1521.

Thank you to everyone that has already purchased their reservation. We are looking forward to the second year of this event and will be posting the menu and vendor information as soon as it is solidified.

Not sure what the Farm to Table dinner is all about? Click here for more information and photos of last year’s event.

photo by The Susquehanna Photographic

The weekend is here! We wish everyone a wonderful weekend and hopefully visiting a local Farmers’ Market is on your list of things to do! We wanted to focus today’s post on one of our beloved partners at the Accomac Inn and Accomac Events – Brogue Hydroponics.

For those that aren’t familiar, here is a little bit about this excellent company:

Established in 1983 by owners Bob & Nancy Kilgore, Brogue Hydroponics has grown from one greenhouse of butterhead lettuce to six-plus greenhouses filled with a wide variety of lettuces, herbs, edible flowers, garnishes, tomatoes, red raspberries, potted plants and hanging baskets. They bring only the freshest and best to their customers.

Their Method of Growing:
Hydroponics is a technology for growing plants in nutrient solutions (water containing fertilizers) with or without the use of an artificial  medium (we use perlite & peat moss) to provide support.

Our Hydroponic system is a closed system; meaning surplus solution is recovered, replenished, and recycled. In combination with greenhouses, hydroponic growing is highly productive, conservative of water and land, and protective of the environment.

We use Integrative Pest Management in all of our greenhouses.  In technical terms, Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is the coordinated use of pest and environmental information with available pest control methods to prevent unacceptable levels of pest damage by the most economical means and with the least possible hazard to people, property, and the environment. To simplify; we introduce natural enemies of insect pests to our greenhouses to control damage to our plants, only when absolutely necessary do we use pesticides and those we do use are certified organic.

Seedlings. (photo copyright Brogue Hydroponics)

Upper Greenhouse. (photo copyright Brogue Hydroponics)

Flower Confetti. (photo copyright Brogue Hydroponics)

Butterhead Lettuce. (photo copyright Brogue Hydroponics)

Visit Brogue at these Farmers’ Market Locations:

New Eastern Market – York, PA: Fridays All Year Round, 7am – 7pm

PA Open Air Market – Harrisburg, PA: Tuesdays & Fridays May – November, 9am – 5pm

Bel Air Farmers Market – Bel Air, MD: Saturdays Mid-April – Mid-November, 7am – 11am, Tuesdays April – October, 9am – 1pm

Fitler Square Farmers’ Market: Philadelphia, PA – Year Round, 9am – 1pm

Clark Park Farmers’ Market: Philadelphia, PA – Saturdays May – November, 10am – 1pm

Anselma Farmers Market – Chester Springs, PA: Wednesdays May – October, 1pm – 6pm

The Farmers’ Market at Great Valley – Malvern, PA: Thursdays May – October, 11am – 2pm

It’s official! Our garden project of 2011 is underway. We are so thrilled to be able to offer dishes sourced from our very own farm. As always, we will continue to bring you the best in local flavors from other farms and producers in the area. Check back to our blog, Facebook and Twitter as we will update throughout the season.

This past weekend, we had the pleasure of attending the Pennsylvania Herb & Garden Festival at The York Expo Center. We made our way around the crowed room, which was stocked full of fresh, locally-grown herbs of every kind. Our goal was to purchase edible plants for the planter boxes at the Accomac Inn and that we did! Here are the yummy varieties we picked up:

Pineapple Mint

Sage

Pineapple Sage with edible flowers

Society Garlic with edible flowers

Chive

Rosemary

Chocolate Mint (This will be perfect with Zak’s new chocolate cocktail rimmers)

Orange Mint

Mojito Mint

Purple Basil

Green and Purple Basil

Society Garlic was an interesting find!  The flowers and leaves are both edible. The story is this:  Society Garlic comes from Capetown, South Africa. Legend has it that Cupid shot an arrow into the air and it went through a violet and landed in the globe of the garlic. The flower is really a violet that tastes like garlic. The leaves can be used as a chive, but it is mainly the flower portion that is used for salads, pastas and vegetable dishes. As soon as you eat the blossoms, another will appear.

Society Garlic Flowers (image courtesy of iloveherbs.net)

Stay tuned for more herb info as we head toward the summer season!

We came across this article yesterday and thought it was worth sharing!

Darya Pino of  Summer Tomato created this flowchart to navigate those supermarket aisles in the quest of finding real food.

“The chart is likelier to tickle your funny bone than help you at the supermarket, but the scientist, foodie, and local food advocate makes her point: buying food ain’t what it used to be.”

(Chart found at Summer Tomato, Created by Darya Pino)

For many of you who get engaged this holiday season, it can be difficult to get your head into another season while planning your wedding. This is assuming we’re talking about a spring and summer wedding.

A new trend  next year will be organic popsicle treats using seasonal produce to make luscious flavors like salted cucumber and lime, or Grapefruit Chambord pops. Tomato Soup pops seasoned with Old Bay would put a unique twist on a popsicle, as well as Honeydew and mint pops. These work best if made in bite size servings. This way, they can be butlered to your guests and there’s no mess when the serving is petite.

mini popsicles (image courtesy of foodproof.com)

Another interesting trend is savory cupcakes. This is a growing trend out west and making their way East for casual , yet elegant receptions. Meat Loaf cupcakces with mashed potato icing, lasagna cupcakes, fontina cheese and spinach cupcakes are just a few to get you thinking about how cool that would be instead of the same old plated dinner!

Savory "calzone cupcake", from cupcake project

Culinnovate your wedding reception!

image courtesy of cleanclearbody.blogspot.com

In a recent blog post on Susquehanna Style Magazine’s website, Keely Childers Heany wrote about eating fresh and local even as we go into these cold winter months. She includes numerous recipes for utilizing seasonal root veggies and tips on how to cook with these somewhat “lesser known” items. We wanted to repeat one of her recipes for you on our blog:

Roasted Root Vegetable Lasagna with Sage Béchamel & Chestnuts

Recipe By: Keely Childers Heany, Susquehanna Style Magazine

(Serves 6-8)

2 parsnips

2 carrots

2 turnips

2 rutabagas

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 package no-boil lasagna noodles

1 cup grated Parmesan, Fontina and/or Pecorino Romano for topping

½ cup chestnuts, chopped

Slice root vegetables semi-thin using the thickest setting on mandolin and roast at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes, along with onion and garlic.

Toss chopped chestnuts with honey and roast for 5 minutes, set aside.

Layer between noodles with sage béchamel and bake according to package for noodles, covered. Uncover and top with cheese and bake until melted. Remove from oven, top with chestnuts and serve (with pickled onions – optional).

For the sage béchamel:

5 Tbs butter

4 Tbs all-purpose flour

4 cups milk

2 tsp salt

½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg

2 Tbs fresh or 1 1 ½ Tbs dried sage

In a medium saucepan, heat the butter over medium-low heat until melted. Add the flour and stir until smooth. Over medium heat, cook until the mixture turns a light, golden sandy color, about 6 to 7 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the milk in a separate pan until just about to boil. Add the hot milk to the butter mixture 1 cup at a time, whisking continuously until very smooth. Bring to a boil. Cook 10 minutes, stirring constantly, then remove from heat. Season with salt, nutmeg and sage and set aside until ready to use.

Read Keely’s full blog post here.

Stay tuned to our blog for more information about eating locally this winter!

This Saturday, during our Farm to Table Dinner, we will be donating a portion of the proceeds to the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA).  Two representatives from the organization will be in attendance at the event to talk about the goals of the association and answer any questions.

Until then, here is a little bit about PASA and the mission your event ticket will be supporting.

PASA works to bring farmers together to learn from each other, and to build relationships between those farmers and consumers looking for fresh, wholesome, locally and sustainably produced food. As the largest statewide, member-based sustainable farming organization in the United States, PASA seeks to improve the economic viability, environmental soundness and social responsibility of food and farming systems in Pennsylvania and across the country. They place great value on efforts to build bridges between broadly diverse participants in the agricultural industry, from “farm to fork.”

PASA is also responsible for coordinating The Pennsylvania Buy Fresh Buy Local® program, with the goal of making it easier for consumers to find, choose, and appreciate great local foods while supporting the farmers and lands that produce them. To further this goal, they create food guides, coordinate tasting events, organize farmers’ markets and sponsor farm tours, among other activities! The chapters of Buy Fresh Buy Local® are managed by a diverse coalition of partnering organizations and agencies, supported by a growing community of local volunteers.

We are very proud to be members of PASA. Learn more about them this Saturday at the Farm to Table Dinner.

Accomac Garden veggies photo by the Susquehanna Photographic