Real People Eat Local

Some of us wait all year for this chance to eat delicious, local fruit right off the bush or tree. You just can't beat the flavor of a berry still warm from the sun! From now through the beginning of fall, you can pick your own fruits and veggies around the region. If you aren't sure where or when, check out www.pickyourown.org and click on the state you desire.

 

Whether you're interested in storing food for the winter, teaching your kids about the origins of food, or planning a unique date, pick-your-own is just great. When you pick your own, you also learn more about choosing ripe fruit and you'll feel more confident when shopping at the farmers market or grocery store.

Honey, award-winning local beers, eggplant recipes from Baltimore chefs, Pennsylvania and Virginia mushrooms, fast but good food on the streets of DC -- you'll find all of this and more in the 56 pages of summer issue of Edible Chesapeake. Check your mailbox if you're a subscriber, or check one of our advertisers' locations for a free copy. And send us an email to let us know what you think of the magazine.

If your summer travels take you through Middleburg, Virginia, check out the Home Farm Store for locally and humanely raised meats to take home and cook. The store is the retail outlet for Ayrshire Farm in Upperville, which is doing groundbreaking work with heritage breeds of poultry, cattle and hogs. A team of staffers from Edible Chesapeake recently visited the farm as part of our research on grass-fed beef, which we'll feature in our winter issue. In addition to meats from the farm, the Home Farm Store features a variety of other local, organic and gourmet products.

 

Just down the street, Market Salamander is a working chef's market, featuring prepared foods crafted by an inhouse culinary staff led by Todd Gray, executive chef of DC's Equinox. The store stocks a variety of wines and gourmet specialties from Virginia and around the world in a charmingly rustic setting.

Support for local food processing facilities, including small slaughterhouses, is urgently needed, said renowned farmer and writer Wendell Berry at a recent conference at the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC. "Goods produced locally should be processed locally," he said. "No products should be exported until local needs are met," he added. Calling especially for local meat slaughtering facilities, Berry drew attention to the dwindling number of locally oriented slaughterhouses, which are critical, if small-scale farms supplying neighboring customers - who can easily scrutinize methods and sanitation - are to survive, no less thrive.

Discussing philanthropy in rural America at the conference June 30 hosted by the Institute's Bradley Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal, Berry (pictured above left) also said "our present willingness to destroy our country is limitless." Nevertheless, he is hopeful for the future, he said. "Leadership from the bottom" - such as by farmers and foresters using environmentally sustainable practices - is necessary, if we are to bring our agriculture and forestry in line with the capacity of the ecosystem.

Berry spoke on a panel that also included internationally recognized geneticist Wes Jackson (above right), President of the Land Institute in Salina, Kansas; and Herman Daly (above middle), the granddaddy of ecological economists, a professor at the University of Maryland.

 

A complete transcript of the event will be available at the Hudson Institute's website by the end of next week. (Click here to watch the web page where it will be posted.) 

Summer is grilling season, but what folks put on their grills can be very different. In our area, burgers or tender steaks like ribeyes and strips seem to be the favorite beef cuts for grilling. In the southwestern US, skirt steaks, the traditional cut for fajitas, often take center grill. If you're not familiar with it, skirt steak is one of the most economical cuts and one that you're likely to encounter if you order beef in bulk from a local farm. It is also extremely tasty and easy to cook. 

 

To prepare your skirt steak, simply rub generous amounts of coriander, cumin, oregano and some cayenne (using the hotter spices to your taste), as well as a little salt and black pepper, all over the meat on both sides. Let it sit for an hour or two. Place the steak on a hot grill and sear it on both sides for about a minute each, to seal in the juices. Monitor carefully, and continue to grill to your liking -- we recommend medium rare, which takes only a few minutes and is finished faster than you'd expect. Remove the steak from the grill and allow it to stand for 5 or 10 minutes. Finally, the trick is to cut the skirt steak in thin slices on the diagonal against the grain of the meat, for tender, flavorful strips of grilled goodness!