@ South Mountain Creamery

If you’re hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year, it’s time to pre-order your local turkey! If you read a lot of food magazines (or blogs) to prepare for your Thanksgiving feast, you’ve probably seen a lot of talk about brining the turkey in recent years. Soaking the bird in a saltwater is supposed to add succulence to the meat. But here’s a secret: turkeys are naturally juicy. Conventional turkeys, like conventional chickens and other animals, are raised in confined quarters where they are stuffed full of grain (often genetically-modified, aka GMO) and antibiotics to grow rapidly. Turkeys who eat a natural diet of bugs, grubs and grasses will naturally produce meat that is juicier and more flavorful. And, birds who roam in fresh air lead happier, healthier lives.

What is a Heritage turkey? Today, 99% of all turkeys raised in the U.S. are the “Broadbreasted White” variety, which have been bred specifically to produce unnaturally large breasts. The breasts are so large, in fact, that these turkeys are unable to reproduce naturally! (Source: Sustainable Table/UN Food and Agriculture Organization)

free-ranging @ Fields of Athenry

Sustainable turkey farmers raise various traditional species of turkeys, Heritage breeds such as Narrangassett or Bourbon Red, to protect the genetic diversity and provide tastier options for your Thanksgiving table. Heritage birds take longer to reach market size — 24 to 30 weeks compared to 18 for supermarket turkeys — which is one reason why they more expensive. (Source: Heritage Turkey Foundation) The article on Sustainable Table has a more detailed explanation of the difference between heritage, organic and sustainable birds and questions to ask your farmers.

Wondering how to find a local, organic, free-range bird for your holiday meal? Here in the DC Metro area, organic turkeys are harder to find, but several local farmers and butchers provide heritage and/or free-range turkeys. Organic birds will be the most expensive, but they are fed only organic feed, not treated with antibiotics or hormones, and required to have access to the outdoors. Ask your farmer or butcher what their free-range turkeys are fed. Organic grain feed is less important if they are truly free-range, as turkeys prefer to eat bugs and grasses anyway. Where “all-natural” is used below, it means turkeys are not treated or fed with any antibiotics, steroids or hormones.

EcoFriendly Foods (Moneta, VA)
type: all-natural, free-range, Heritage and hybrid breeds, 12-20lbs.
price: n/a
order: order at Arlington Courthouse or Dupont Circle markets, $40 deposit required.

Fields of Athenry (Purcellville, VA)
type: all-natural, free-range, Heritage, 15-35lbs.
price: $7.25/lb.
order: download order form online and send $40 deposit; pick-up at farm only; likely to sell out early.

Let’s Meat on the Avenue (Alexandria, VA)
type: Amish-raised from Pennsylvania and Minnesota; organic from Fauquier County VA; all free-range, all-natural, fresh
price: $3.95/lb. for Amish turkeys
order: call 703-836-6328 or stop by the shop; orders will be accepted until about a week prior to Thanksgiving (or until sold out)

MOM’s Organic Market (VA and MD)
type: all-natural, free-range from Maple Lawn Farm (Fulton, MD) and Eberly’s Organic
price: $1.99/lb. Maple Lawn, $3.49/lb. Eberly Organic
order: call or visit store (locations in Alexandria, College Park, Columbia, Frederick and Rockville)

Smith Meadows Farm (Purcellville, VA)
type: all-natural, free-range turkeys, 10-12lbs. or 13-14lbs., frozen
price: $4.25/lb.
order: Place a $10 deposit at their markets, pick-up on Saturday 11/21 or Sunday 11/22 at the market where you place your order. Orders will be accepted until about mid-November. You can also call 877-955-4389 to place your order by phone.
markets: Arlington Courthouse, Del Ray, Falls Church and Chevy Chase on Saturdays; Takoma Park and Dupont Circle on Sundays

South Mountain Creamery / Hillside Farm (Thurmont, MD)
type: free-range, fresh
price: about $2.50/lb.
order: existing South Mountain delivery customers must reserve a turkey by Saturday, November 7; they will be delivered with your regular delivery the week prior to Thanksgiving.

If you don’t want to cook, The Butcher’s Block in Alexandria will have ready-to-go Thanksgiving meals available; visit the website for details.

To find a local, Heritage turkey in your area, search the listings at Local Harvest — or ask your favorite meat vendor at the farmers market!

Shared with Real Food Wednesday — visit the round-up @ Cheeseslave for more Real Food inspiration.

You may have seen this floating around the internet lately, but the intrepid locavores who spearheaded the White House Organic (WHO) Farm movement have moved on to encourage all 50 states’ governors (and Washington’s Mayor Fenty, I presume) to serve local and sustainably sourced foods this Independence Day. Take a moment to sign the Food Independence Day petition and see if your governors have responded. Locally, Kim O’Donnel reports that Maryland Gov. O’Malley’s July 4th menu will feature, naturally, Chesapeake Bay crabcakes and salad greens from the first lady’s vegetable garden. Join the cause by declaring your own independence from the industrial food system (seen Food Inc. yet?) and plan your own locally-sourced July 4th meal.

5 Tips for A Local 4th of July Cook-out:

1. Make those burgers local and grassfed — and avoid worry over the latest e.coli beef recall.
2. Buy the buns from a farmers market vendor or local bakery — they’re fresher and most likely made without the high fructose corn syrup and preservatives of most supermarket brands.
3. Stick with seasonal veggies — sweet corn is just beginning to appear here, along with fresh from the field tomatoes, garlic and plenty of herbs for a homemade fresh salsa.
4. Skip the made-in-China, flag-covered disposables — take sheets outside or have the kids decorate a (recycled) kraft paper banner to use as a tablecloth — local and green.
5. Nothing’s more patriotic than domestic beer or wine; just skip the (now Belgian-owned) Bud Light and search for a local craft brewer or vineyard, or stir up a red, white and blue sangria with berries from the farmers market. (And reserve some of those berries for a family-friendly cobbler for dessert!)

Some favorite summer cook-out recipes from the archives, for added inspiration:

• Roasted Tomatillo Peach Salsa
• Patriotic Potato Salad
• Peach Berry Sherbet

My son has requested that we spend the holiday at the Farmers Market and the pool, and I’m happy to oblige — with perhaps a few minutes spent getting a fresh Pennsylvania cherry pie in the oven. What’s on your plate for the holiday?

(Submitting this to Fight Back Friday over at the Food Renegade – go check it out!)

Saturday morning I awoke thinking it must still be night given how little light was coming in through the blinds. No, just yet another rainy morning. My heart sank fearing that our “fork to farm” summer solstice dinner, to be cooked by Vermilion’s Chef Tony Chittum in the fields of our CSA farm, Potomac Vegetable Farm in Purcellville, would be canceled. Fast forward eight hours — after a damp trip to the farmers market where the farmers were practically giving food away in “rainy day sales” for the dedicated few who braved the storms — and here is the vista that awaited as we strolled from the reception at neighboring Moutoux Orchard to the dinner site.

We began the evening sipping peach-infused sparkling voignier in the peach orchards, before moving on to a surprisingly intimate feast for 100+ fellow diners, ingredients provided by six Virginia farms and Horton Vineyards, and prepared by Chef Chittum and his crew over a grill and makeshift kitchen in the middle of the field.

The additional farms — Greenstone Fields, Tree and Leaf Farm, Wheatland Vegetable Farms, and New Frontier Bison. An appetizer paired sweet beets with Alberene Ash goat cheese; the salad featured “this morning’s deviled eggs”; heirloom beets accompanied sweet Virginia ham-wrapped scallops and magnificent crab cakes; a mixed grill of beef, rabbit terrine and bison was served family-style with a sheep’s milk yogurt dressed potato salad; and luscious Caromont Farm chevre cheesecake, spiced with strawberry black pepper preserves, and Virginia peanut cookies swept us away at the conclusion of the meal, while fireflies punctuated the fields and the sun settled behind the Blue Ridge Mountains. A truly magical evening!

(full photoset here)

If you’ve ever taken a close look at the lamb that floods the grocery stores around this time each year, you might have noticed that it nearly all comes from New Zealand or Australia. Even our neighborhood butcher, who sources most of his meat from here in Virginia, gets his lamb from outside the area.  But looking to create a more sustainable Passover/Easter menu last year (we celebrate both, so Easter dinner is usually leavening-free, though not strictly Kosher), I was thrilled to meet the “lamb lady,” Elaine Boland, at our local organic grocer, MOM’s. We served her leg of lamb last Easter and found it to be the freshest, most tender, and flavorful lamb any of us had ever tasted.

Sadly, MOM’s no longer stocks Elaine’s lamb (they have a largely vegetarian customer base), so on a recent sunny spring day my sister-in-law, the toddler and I hit the road to visit the farm in person. Fields of Athenry, near Middleburg, Va., is just over an hour’s drive from the District. The family farm is nestled in the foot hills of the Bull Run Mountains, and the drive through Virginia’s horse country with freshly blossoming trees and new spring grass just popping up could not be more refreshing.

Pulling up to the stately country house, a troupe of friendly dogs rushed out to greet us. A voice called from down the hill, beckoning us down to the watering station and chicken coop. Geese chased each other in the pond, while ewes and lambs lazed about in the sun. A chicken sauntered up and lured the toddler to follow him over to see the chickens and (heritage) turkeys nesting. Two llamas and a horse rounded out the menagerie, all looking content as they soaked up the sun on the grassy hillside.

After visiting with the animals, we ventured into the store. A children’s area with chalk and crayons kept the boy entertained while Elaine and her assistant filled me in on the freshly processed, 30-day aged Black Angus beef that had literally just arrived from the butcher. (Cows and additional sheep are pastured at other locations nearby in Virginia and Pennsylvania.) I picked up some NY strip and short ribs, and selected a lamb shoulder from the freezer. They had just sold most of the lamb to one of the local restaurants they supply. (Last summer, we sampled the phenomenal Baa Baa Black Sheep pizza, with Athenry’s lamb sausage, feta, tomatoes, spinach and balsamic glaze, at Fireworks Wood-Fired Pizza in Leesburg – which, incidentally, has an impressive craft beer list as well as locally-sourced pizza toppings.)

As we witnessed, all the animals raised by Fields of Athenry are able to roam and graze freely, grass-fed and well cared for. In fact, their methods met Alice Waters’ exacting standards and Athenry’s lamb was served at Waters’ exclusive Inaugural dinner party earlier this year.

We had arrived near closing time, and Elaine was rushing out to pick up her kids from school, but took a minute to invite the boy inside the house to meet her 14-day-old puppies. He had been pretty excited by the geese and sheep, (singing “We’re going to the sheep farm, the sheep farm…” as he got dressed that morning) but the look of pride and wonder as he gently held a tiny puppy under his arm was truly priceless. (Click here for more photos from our visit.)

Fields of Athenry is open this weekend (Sat. 10am-3pm, closed Sundays), and is accepting orders for Easter weekend until noon next Weds., April 8. (Note that they will be closed Easter Saturday, so all orders will have to be picked up by Friday, April 10.) They deliver to various drop-off points in Loudoun County (see below), and with enough interest, may be able to arrange a drop-off in Northern Virginia – so do sign up for their email list and let them know if you’d be interested. And if you’d like to visit the farm, be sure to check the event schedule for upcoming “Farm to Community Health Outreach” seminars.

Where to Find: Fields of Athenry’s sustainable meat products (lamb/beef/chicken and heritage turkey for Thanksgiving) are delivered by pre-order to locations in Broadlands, Ashburn, Leesburg and Reston, and are available at the farm five days a week (Mon., Tues., Thurs., Fri. and Sat.).

And, their meats are served at Equinox in DC and these Loudoun County, Va., restaurants: Good Stone Inn, Tuscarora Mill, South Street Under, Fireworks, Midas Touch, Bluemont Vineyards, Natural Mercantile of Hamilton, thewinekitchen, Vintage 50, and American Flatbread.

Lastly, one of my favorite Passover/Easter lamb recipes is “Roasted leg of lamb with Artichokes” from Gourmet. I’ve also made one with a shallot red wine sauce, but can’t find it at the moment.

(Shared with Food Renegade’s Fight Back Friday – check out the round-up for great info and ideas from fellow real foodies.)

If you’ve read enough about conventional farming, dabbled in farmers markets and want to take your commitment to local, sustainable farming to the next level, now is the time to consider signing up for a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm.  CSA membership is a commitment and they are not for everyone. A couple questions to ask yourself before taking the plunge:

Do you cook at home most nights? Make sure you ask how large the typical weekly share is and have a plan to use it all before it goes bad.

Are you willing to go with the flow and meal plan according to what’s in the bag? Adapting to a CSA can be difficult for type A personalities. This is the primary reason I started with a mini share, and supplemented our weekly produce intake at the farmers markets where I could pick and choose what I was in the mood for.  Some CSAs offer more choice than others, so if that’s important to you ask about options to choose your items or make substitutions.

Does your family enjoy the types of vegetables you’re likely to get a lot of? CSAs can be great tools for getting kids (and veggie-skeptical grown-ups) to try new things, but if you know that your family just won’t touch kale no matter how you dress it up/hide it, that’s something to consider.

Are you willing to spend time searching for new recipes to avoid greens (or squash or tomato) fatigue? There will be times when you just can’t stand the thought of another batch of sauteed chard, perhaps, or tire of zucchini bread. If you have friends or family nearby you can unload excess veggies on, that may help. You can also freeze batches to revisit in the winter when cravings for anything fresh set in. (Of course, stay tuned to FoodieTots for ideas during the growing season!)

If you decide to give a CSA a try, you might want to start with a half share, if offered, or find another family to split a share with for your first year. CSA Days, the blog of Basket of Life farm in Ohio, offers some good questions to ask of your farmers before selecting a CSA.

Stacey raised the question last week about the seasonal and price variations in different parts of the US. Price varies depending not just on location (more close in farms have higher land costs) but you might pay a premium for organic certification as well. As you might expect, those in southern regions have a longer growing season, but you might be surprised by how much variety CSAs offer even up north. Here’s a glimpse of what some CSA members take home from coast to coast:

Janette in Southern California is one of the lucky ones who gets fresh citrus and avocadoes in her CSA box (pictured right, photo (c) Janette Larson). Here’s her take in July: lettuce, bok choy, beets, oranges, leeks, heirloom tomatoes, tomatoes, white green beans, basil (still with roots), avocado, and beets. (Be Wise Ranch, year-round, $25 per week)

A June box from Timberwood Organics in North Carolina netted: kale, spinach, salad mix, cherry tomatoes, yellow cucumbers, green beans, yellow beans, bok choy, cucumbers, yellow squash, beets, zucchini, eggplant, broccoli. ($630 regular share, 28 weeks = $22.50/wk)

Here in Virginia, our CSA season runs from June through October, and hits its peak in August. Here’s an August mini-share haul (pictured left) from Potomac Vegetable Farms: tomatoes, fingerling potatoes, pole beans, garlic, purple and anaheim peppers, basil, corn. ($690 full share, 24 weeks = $28.75/wk; 16 week summer-only option available)

From Minnesota’s Easy Bean Farm, Jill typically receives: onions, potatoes, leafy greens, cucumber, zucchini/yellow squash, carrots, cabbage, leeks and green beans. ($490 full share, 18 weeks = $27.22/wk)

Check out the CSA group on Flickr for more glimpses at CSA offerings from past seasons.

Ready to take the plunge? Visit Local Harvest (or the Washington Post’s annual listing here in the DC Metro area) to find farms that are still open for new subscribers. And let me know, whether you’re a first-time member or seasoned supporter, in the comments and I’ll do another round-up of what folks are getting when the deliveries begin this spring.