It’s not complete without fresh goat cheeses!

This past Sunday we had the honor of supplying a friend’s wedding with some of our goat cheeses!  We often barter with our friends for fresh veggies and salad greens (nothing like greenhouse-grown bok choy in January!), so we were thrilled when they asked us to supply cheese for their wedding!  All the food offered at their wedding was fresh and local, what a statement!

A few months ago we sent them a sample platter with the varieties of chevre and other cheeses we’ve been playing with.  They chose four varieties of chevre: plain, herb, chipotle, and pepper.  We also supplied a few chunks of feta for inclusion in their salad.

Photo by Spring Mill Farm

HB went over Sunday afternoon to deliver the cheese and set it up on platters.  The platters were old slate roof tiles and absolutely gorgeous.  While he was working the photographer came over and took some beautiful pictures of our cheese!  The picture above was taken by HB.  You can see them on the photographer’s blog.

Our best wishes go out to Chris and Melissa!

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Cooking With Goat Cheese: Sausage, Chard, and Chevre Quiche

I hope you enjoy the first of what I hope will become a regular series of posts.  In the words of my favorite lady, Bon Appetite! -Danielle

After a hot, busy Saturday we wanted something easy and fresh for dinner.  We pondered the contents of our fridge, reviewing the fresh fruits and veggies we picked up at the market today.  We did a few searches on the internet and came across this recipe for a crustless quiche with sausage and Swiss chard.  Perfect!

Sausage, Chard, and Chevre Crustless Quiche

Of course, we modified the recipe slightly, so here’s what we did:

Ingredients:

• 1 lb pork sausage, medium hot; cooked and crumbled (from Rocky Top Farm, Appomattox)
• handful Swiss chard (from Island Creek Farm, Huddleston)
• 1.5″ spring onion (from Three Springs Farm, Lynchburg)
• 6 eggs (from Rocky Top Farm, Appomattox)
• 2T evaporated milk
• 4T herb chevre (of our own making)
• 1/4c grated Gruyere
• salt
• pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease casserole dish.

Heat small amount olive oil in frying pan.  Once warmed, tear up the chard and saute with the onion until the chard is wilted and the onion is slightly brown and translucent.  Remove from heat.  Add crumbled sausage and chevre.  Mix well.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and mix with evaporated milk.  Stir in the sausage-chard mixture.  Add gruyere.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Pour into greased casserole dish and bake in oven until the egg is cooked through.  In a glass dish, it took the original author about 20-30 minutes.  In our ceramic dish, it took 35-40 minutes.

Enjoy!

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Let it rain … into my barrel

I had Wednesday off so HB suggested I head over to the market for Green Market Wednesday and the afternoon’s scheduled rain barrel workshop.  So I did.

The first part of the workshop presented a lecture on rain gardens.  Rain gardens are planned depressions in the ground that allow storm water to runoff and collect and slowly infiltrate into the ground.  When used properly, they can lessen the amount of polluted runoff water reaching streams and rivers by 30%.  Runoff water comes from parking lots, rooftops, driveways, sidewalks, roads, and other broad expanses.  Problems arise when large quantities of water, often carrying pollutants from pesticides, fertilizers, sediment, debris and other wastes  are dumped into streams and rivers.

I’ve become more aware of the local water situations living on a farm for a few years now with spring-fed creeks running through the hills.  Somethings cannot be controlled – our neighbors have a lease on the property fronting the road and we have no say in the choices of fertilizers and pesticides they use on land we do not own.  But we can attempt to make the correct choices on our own property.  And we may not be able to control the choices of our in-laws, but I can play a role in the choices HB and I make.

Anyway, back to the workshop.

Once the lecture was over, a gal from the local soil and water conservation group gave a quick talk and then we delved into making our rain barrels.  Literally, delved.  The barrels we were given were old pickle barrels, some (like mine) still containing old pickle juice.  For a person who does not like pickles, it was slightly disgusting.  For any normal person it was probably a little gross.  You tip the barrel to about a 45* angle, then bend over, shove your top half inside the barrel and find your bearings inside the dark and stinky abyss inside.  Lovely.

Creating the rain barrel was surprisingly easy.  Behold, the finished results:

The barrels come by way of a North Carolina pickle company; of course, the cucumbers weren’t American.  I’m sure the barrel isn’t made in American either.  Ugh.  This reminds me of the Mike Rowe (of Dirty Jobs fame) article I read this morning on the future of farming.

The barrels come with a permanent top that fits under the rim (similar to a canning jar), but for the sake of the barrel we remove the lid and fit a screen under the rim to keep out debris.

Pictured below is the overpour spout with attached hose.  When the rain barrel fills, water will flow out of this hose and (for now) onto the ground.  The real plan is to have multiple barrels so that when one fills up, the water travels into the next barrel via the hose.  Cool, huh?

And of course, we needed a spigot at the bottom of the barrel.  I want to build a small platform to raise this barrel just high enough to fit a bucket and/or watering can underneath for easy filling.

Interested in attending a rain barrel workshop at the Lynchburg Market?  The next workshop will be held on June 12th from 11am to 1pm.  You can get more information from the market website.

Created just in time for an afternoon thunderstorm.  Perfect!

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, the Library of Congress has uploaded to their Flickr account numerous photochroms of Ireland from the 1890s-1900s.

Cliffs of Moher, County Clare

Cliffs of Moher, April 2006

The first picture is the LOC’s photochrom.  The second is from my second visit to Ireland.  The Cliffs of Moher is my absolute favorite place on earth.  I would have married there if I could.  It’s beauty astounds me and leaves me speechless, and the sense of scale you have by looking off those cliffs is unfathomable.

Blarney Castle, County Cork

Blarney Castle, April 2006

Blarney Castle is home to the Blarney Stone, and it is said that by kissing the Blarney Stone you will be given the gift of gab, or better termed “eloquent speech.”  I’ve kissed the stone twice – which, by the way, you have to lay on your back and hold on to a bar while two attendants hold onto your body as you stick your head into a recessed area to kiss the slab of bluestone while you look down a 30′ drop. 😉

St. Stephens Green, County Dublin

St. Stephens Green, April 2006

St. Stephen’s Green is a beautiful public park in the heart of Dublin.  During my last visit to Ireland, I arrived in town a day before my parents arrived.  I was studying in Sweden at the time, and stupidly forgot that although my parents left on April 16, they wouldn’t be in Ireland until April 17!  So I arrived on the 16th, stayed in a hostel, and wandered Dublin alone.  It was great fun and I made a friend out of my roommate at the hostel.  While wandering Dublin in the (traditional) light rain, I stumbled upon this park and enjoyed it immensely!  I took my parents back the next day!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Now, if you’re around Lynchburg, go to the Community Market and pick up a loaf of Irish Soda Bread from Lorraine Bakery!!  I know I will! 🙂  For now, I’m off to Anita’s to play with her baby goats!

ps.  I now wish terribly for a third trip to Ireland. It is, seriously, my favorite place on Earth. Well, aside from the Norwegian fjords.  They’re pretty amazing too.

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Keeping it Local on Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching and in case you need a few ideas of thing to do or places to eat this weekend in the Lynchburg area, I thought I would share my favorites.

Events

Saturday, the Lynchburg Community Market is host to the 3rd Annual Chocolate Challenge.  I blogged about this earlier in the week, and now have some official news.  Tasting tickets are $5 each and available the day of (ie: Saturday, at the market).  Tasting starts at 10am so get there early and purchase your ticket!  While you’re at the market, check out the local vendors both in the Heritage Crafter’s Gallery and the weekly market vendors with delicious produce and baked goods.  There was talk of a joint chocolate and wine pairing between Chocolates-R-Us and Chateuau Z Winery!

Local Eateries

Main Street Eatery is hosting a special  Valentine’s Day Gala Menu as well as their regular menu AND their special OysterFest menu.  I’ve only eaten at Main Street once, the night of our wedding, and it was delicious.  A little on the pricey side, perhaps, but well worth it.

Other fun places to celebrate a special day around Lynchburg includes Mangia, dish, Bull Branch, Waterstone Pizza (and be sure to get the hot crab dip!), Robin Alexander, Isabella’s, Millstone Tea Room (with a focus on fresh, local, and humane), and Machu Picchu.

And for a special brunch on Valentine’s Day (since it is on a Sunday this year) check out Basic Necessities in Nellysford (reservations necessary for this lovely small restaurant), Neighbor’s Place, and Isabella’s (with a focus on local ingredients).

Great Gifts

The Lynchburg area is home to a wonderful group of artisans each with unique interests.

• The Community Market is home to the Heritage Crafter’s Gallery, open daily, with a variety of vendors selling everything from goat milk soap (Dixie Soaps) to bird houses to beautiful paintings and greeting cards to doll clothes to hand crafted furniture (Sticks and Stones).
• Brookneal is home to Night Sky Farm, a local Grade A Goat Dairy producing fresh cheeses, goat milk soap, and even laundry soap!  Jennifer has designed some lovely soaps with Valentine’s Day in mind.  It’s also that time of the year when Jennifer puts out her Chocolate Raspberry chevre! (I tasted it at the last Chocolate Challenge and it’s good!)
• Local goat milk soap producers include Shantara Acres and Delectable Hills.  You can buy Shantara’s soaps online, but Delectable Hills soaps are only available on-farm at this time of the year.
• Give the gift of great wine.  The Lynchburg area is home to several great wineries.  Chateau Z, in Amherest sells at the Lynchburg Market.  Also, in Brookneal, there is Sans Soucy Vineyards, available at the winery’s on-site tasting room and at the Lynchburg Market.  Sans Soucy is a member of the SoVA Wine Trail.  Both wineries at the Lynchburg Market offer tastings.  The Lynchburg area is also extremely close to the Bedford Wine Trail, hosting unique wineries such as Peaks of Otter (specializing in fruit wines, not necessarily from grapes).  In nearby Nelson County, you can find a host of fine wineries and breweries with delightful offerings — including some of my favorites, Lovingston Winery (by appointment only) and Devil’s Backbone Brewery.
• A gift of luxury?  What’s better than a massage or pedicure?  Luckily, Lynchburg is home to some amazing spas and salons.  Acorn Hill Lodge & Spa offers a chocolate truffle body wrap that is divine.  Trust me, I know, HB gave me one for my birthday last year.  And if you’re looking for a manicure or pedicure (or both!) in Lynchburg, look no further than the Parlor Spa downtown.  The Parlor Spa offers their signature mani and pedi which is amazing, complete with a massage.  The Spa is small and inviting, offering you a glass of wine or a bottle of water while you enjoy your pampering.  Their heated massage chairs are the BEST!  While you’re at it, include lunch at the new Market at Main (I’ve heard their sweet potato pancakes are amazing) just around the corner.
• Need a last minute gift?  Check out these fun local stores!  The Beeswax Candle Company has a beautiful selection of candles crafted from beeswax, some made right here in Lynchburg!  Their store front downtown has more than just candles, featuring local artists’ paintings, jewelry, and housewares.  Looking for a big gift?  Check out Lynchburg’s own Thomas A. Johnson Furniture Co. for a selection of beautifully crafted furniture.

*Vintage Valentine’s cards from Curly Wurly and Vintage Holiday Crafts.

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Coming to Lynchburg: Chocolate Challenge at the Market!

Have plans for Valentines Day?

Love chocolate?

For the third year, the Lynchburg Market is hosting the Chocolate Challenge on the Saturday closest to Valentines Day.  You have three options: look, taste, bake!

Look:  Head to the market on Feb. 13th and look at all the amazing chocolate concoctions.

Taste:  Go to the Community Market website and you’ll be able to purchase tasting tickets for a nominal fee.  Then, on Saturday, grab your ticket, put your diet aside, slip into your sweet tooth, and don those loose pants.  Head to the market and be prepared to taste dozens of delicious chocolate dishes.

Bake:  Love to cook?  Have an affinity for chocolate?  Then enter your signature chocolate dish in the contest.  Entry options are brownie, cake, candy, pie, other.  My annual favorite is Sweetie’s Chocolate Lava Cake, but there are always amazing dishes.  Entries are judged on presentation, taste, and wow factor.  You can find entry information on the LCM website (listed above).  Be advised – enter early because space is limited!

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Coming to Lynchburg: Bird Lover’s Day at the Market!

Love birds?

Want to learn how to attract them to your yard?

Then on Saturday, February 6th, you need to point your car towards downtown Lynchburg and join the festivities at the Lynchburg Community Market!

*Please note, the date on the flier is for January 30th, but due to snow the event has been postponed until the following weekend.

Vendors  at the market will have an assortment of items for sale — hand mixed bird seed, homemade suet, bird feeders, bird baths, bird houses, dried flowers full of seeds, and much more!

There will also be a book signing by a local author, and lectures by local bird enthusiasts.

Hope to see you there!

(In spirit, since I have to work.  But if you’re at the market around 7am, I’ll see you!)

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