If you look at our menu for dinners to go this month you'll see ramps prominently featured.  Before I had them I'll admit to being scared.  I mean, I'd heard of ramp eating contests, the worst part of which was trying to get rid of the overwhelming flavor of the raw beasts. 

 

Well, eating them cooked is a whole other thing.  Brendan roasts and grills them and the flavor is amazing.  Smokey, earthy, rich, delicious.  Unlike onions or garlic or any other of those, ramps are a taste of here, of spring, of the woods. 

 

We make dinners to go Monday through Friday.

 

Call 252-1500 by noon or so and then come pick up your dinners between 3 and 7, when we close. Add a salad for 3.25 or bread for 1.25.

 

Monday, April 9

Cashew Crusted Chicken with Sorrel Sauce 8.25

 

Tuesday, April 10

Portabella Mushroom Polenta with Spring Vegetable Sauté 7.25 (GF)

 

Wednesday, April 11

Braised Lamb Curry with Basmati Rice 9.25

 

Thursday, April 12

Greek Style Shrimp with Olives, Basil, and Orzo 9.95

 

Friday, April 13

Call by noon and then come pick up between 4 and 7 that day!

 

Casserole:

Wednesday, April 11

Full: 32 Half: 16

 

Lasagna:

Friday, April 13

Why, I asked myself when I saw these, didn't I think of this?  A hanging bouquet of lettuce!  Genius!  Grow it, cut it, look at it.  I love my ferns on my porch, but this is a great idea.  There's a new farmer at the French Broad Wednesday market who sells these. 

 

The Wednesday market is still my favorite.  Could be because I simply have to walk across the street to shop and browse and taste and imagine.  This year there are a bunch of new farmers and purveyors, making it a handy one-stop shopping experience.  And, when you're done there, come by to pick up our casserole or some accompaniments to your dinner.

 

These folks are a new vendor for our Wednesday afternoon market.  A cute young couple has eggs and pastured poultry for sale. 

 

"Which Came First Farm" (fabulous name, eh?)

 

As we celebrate our 25th year in business I wander in and out of how I started and how a little fantasy in a single brain turned into this place that is so great.  I worked hard for a long time, true, but this year has been an incredible experience for me.  While I've had to step back, everyone else has stepped up. 

 

Barry and Laura were the first farmers I worked with, starting in 1991, I think.  Barry brought me a seed catalogue and off we went.  We still buy from them and have wonderful relationships with many other farmers and local food folks too - 40 or so at last count.

 

April 7, 2012

 

Good morning my friends. I hope it is as beautiful where you are as it is here in the mountains of Western North Carolina. We had some significant storms in the past couple of days and they really cleaned out the air and today all is crisp and clear and lovely. In a couple of hours it will be warm and I’m sure we’ll all be outside in our gardens or in someone else’s gardens. Or maybe we’ll all just sit on our porches.

 

I was invited to speak on a panel earlier this week. Convened by the Commissioner of Agriculture, with the topic of “local and sustainable foods,” I was moved to represent my tiny bit of this huge topic. I joined a dairy farmer, a produce farmer, a livestock farmer, an educator, and a couple of policy folks, including the Commissioner himself.

 

I’ve been off the radar screen for most of this past year, but hoped, when I was invited, that I would be well enough and coherent enough to add something to the panel. It turned out to be a heart-warming experience for me, personally. I loved being on a panel with these farmers, these people who care so much about what they are doing in this world. They work hard, make a living but not piles of money, but more than that, they help save land, and provide real food for us all.

 

I think that being a part, even if only a small part, of this circle of food, fills me. I feel good knowing we are helping keep the cycle going. We buy from these people who are growing food in a sustainable way. And we prepare that food and offer it to you, bringing you together with your friends and your families. It’s good.

 

And as the days pass I feel myself getting stronger too. I am down to one or two naps a day, a change from one or two waking times a day. I am back at work, well, at least in the mornings, and I can feel the energy from the sun and from my friends and from my dogs filling me, patiently helping me get incrementally better. My sister reminds me that it’s a two month healing time. I’m at one month right now but pretty soon I’ll be better than I am now and then I’ll be better and better and on I’ll go.

 

As I feel my body get stronger I can also feel an increase in my belief that I AM better. That’s a harder thing, trusting that all the treatments are really done and that I really can breathe with a deeper confidence. Grappling with all this is a tricky thing. Am I? Can I? Will I? When? Really?

 

But little by little the confidence returns. Little by little I step out, testing the footing, finding it strong enough to support me, taking that step, testing the next one. Little by little.

 

My garden is filling in. The dogwoods in my yard are beautiful. Birds wake me up as does the sun. The Tulip Poplar is about to burst open and that will mark the beginning of this spring’s honey flow. If all is good with my bees, we’ll have honey this year. And I am beginning to trust that all will be well with them and all is well with me.

 

Dave was my original inspiration for beekeeping, urging me to take a class, to get involved.  it took me a few years but I did finally start.  Today, when it warms up a bit, I will head home to look inside the hives and see how things are.  My mentor Debra calls it a "State of the Union" visit.