Greetings from the farm. I will be returning to Frederick this Saturday, March 5. I will be at the Dutch Plant Farm from 10 AM until noon. I have some product in my freezer that I would like to move. I have an abundance of pork ribs which will be offered this week at buy 2 get 1 free. I also have a few turkeys which I will offer at 20% off. Weights are 12, 16, 20, and 22 pounds. These specials are good as long as my supply lasts, so it might be a good idea to order ahead.
I have some other "unusual" meats which I can bring if you ask in advance. I have beef heart, tongue, and liver; pork heart, tongue, and liver; lamb kidneys and liver; and chicken hearts, liver, and 1 pack of gizzards. These meats make good pet food as well.
Lamb sausage and Canadian bacon, popular products that I don't always have, are supposed to ready this week as well. Joan plans to make ham salad and red velvet whoopie pies.
Beef this week will include strip, ribeye, porterhouse, sirloin, skirt, and flank steaks; sirloin tip, eye round, and chuck roasts; steak burgers, ground round, stew cubes, and shin bones with meat. Pork will include boneless loin roasts, pork chops; spare, country style, and baby back ribs; boneless butts, ground pork, bacon, Canadian bacon, and a limited amount of pulled pork. Applewurst, maple, and country sausage are fresh while mild Italian, hot Italian, bratwurst, and sage are frozen. Lamb will include butterflied leg, boneless shoulder roasts, kabob cubes, loin chops, arm chops, racks, shanks, ground lamb, and lamb sausage. I will also have chicken wings, back/necks, Cornish hens, eggs, and cheese, including Caprikorn's goat's milk cheeses.
Eat fresh, be well, and I will see you at the market.
Danny
Rohrer's Meats
301-432-8350
Dakarohfarm@aol.com
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Fresh this Week from Rohrer's Meats
Fresh This Week from Summer Creek Farm: CSAs
I know it has been a cold winter. Up here on the farm this weather makes everything we do tougher and we spend more time cutting wood just to stay warm. It makes everyone just want to crawl under the covers and wait for spring! But while everyone is in their long winters nap the world is a changing. What has been going on in Egypt is just the tip of the change. Much of us do not realize that in other countries people spend a much larger percentage on income on their basic food. In the US we spend about 9.8% of our income on food, and a fair percentage of that is the cost of pre-prepared food. In Egypt they spend about 40% of their income on food, and it is not microwavable dishes either. On top of that they have experienced 17% food inflation just this year. No wonder they march in the streets.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Today's Groupon: Elk Run Vineyard in Mt. Airy
Fresh in my inbox, a new offer from Groupon for half off a wine tasting at Elk Run vineyard in Mt. Airy. What better way to try some local wines? You can get the offer if you go to Groupon in the next two days.
Fresh this week from Rohrer's Meats
Greetings from the farm. I will be returning to Frederick this coming Saturday, February 19, from 10 AM until noon. As usual, I will be located at the Dutch Plant Farm ion Baughmans Lane.
Some of you may remember that I will occasionally let a steer grow to a larger size. These more mature animals usually have more marbling and an even better flavor. I have one of those animals this week, he weighed over 1800 pounds and produced a carcass weighing 1131 pounds. Cuts from this big boy will include porterhouse, T-bone, ribeye, sirloin, flank, and skirt steaks; boneless chuck, sirloin tip, eye round, and clod roasts; brisket, shinbones with meat, stew cubes, steak burgers, and ground round.
Pork will include boneless loin roasts, pork chops; country style, spare, and baby back ribs; boneless butts, ground pork, and bacon. Hot Italian, bratwurst, and country sausage will be fresh while applewurst, mild Italian, maple, and sage will be frozen.
Lamb will include butterflied leg, kabob cubes, boneless shoulder roasts, Frenched racks, shanks; loin, arm, and sirloin chops; and ground lamb. I will also have chicken backs and necks for stock, eggs, and cheese.
It looks like tomorrow will be much nicer than my last visit to town. I hope to see you there.
Danny
Rohrer's Meats
301-432-8350
Dakarohfarm@aol.com
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Derelict in my duties
Hey friends of local food! Sorry I've been AWOL for a month. I've been doing a lot of cool stuff but haven't been writing about it. Honestly, I have been pretty tired, being almost five months pregnant with twin boys! Here's an update:
Yesterday, Chef Christine from the Kitchen Studio gave an AWESOME demo at the North Market Farmers Market and made both panzanella and corn salad. The dishes were simple, super-fresh, and they brought out the best in seasonal flavors. In other words, the samples went really fast! Chef Christine really knew how to draw in both kids and adults, and I realized while watching her demo that I would really enjoy taking one of her classes, maybe the farmer's market class, or the sushi class...
This past Friday 9/3 I worked with our Office of Sustainability at work (I work for Frederick County Government) to put together a brown bag lunch about local food. We had a panel that included Chef Bryan Voltaggio from Volt and Zoe Brittain and Sally Fulmer from the Common Market. These folks talked about how they work with local farmers to get local produce into their establishments, and what they get out of it. It was really a very smart conversation about how to create direct relationships that benefit the farmer, and how it these relationships benefit a local restaurant and grocery store. More than that, the speakers talked about intersecting profit with purpose, and it was a very engaging. We also talked a little about the loss of family farms, and other outlets to access farm products directly, including farmers markets, CSAs, and direct farm sales. One resource we shared was the 2010 farm guide published by the County's Office of Economic Development. Get a copy if you don't have one.
I didn't grow a garden this year- I started a bunch of seedlings in my friend Chad's greenhouse and then got caught up in things like making babies. Chad ended up planting some of my stuff (especially the lettuces) on his farm and got some enjoyment out of them. So I've been shopping a lot at the farmers markets this summer, more than I usually do, because I am determined to eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables while they are in season so that the babies get lots of good nutrition! Right now, I am obsessed with tomatoes and honeycrisp apples and watermelon.
I discovered Spriggs Delight Farm goat cheeses and am totally hooked. I am a cheese lover, and finding out I had a dairy sensitivity last year was a total bummer! But I was happy to discover that I could still eat goat and sheep's milk cheeses, and that has saved me from getting too skinny. I am a big fan of a lot of local goat cheese producers like Caprikorn farms. Each farm has totally different products despite using the same basic ingredient, and that's very exciting. Spriggs has very rustic, old-style cheeses with complex flavors. I tried the Hillside Feta and Torre cheeses yesterday for the first time and was so impressed. The Hillside Feta is smooth, creamy, and goaty without having the metallic tang that can sometimes infiltrate goat milk. It is honestly better than any other feta I have tried. The Torre is an aged, complex cheese with lots of character, despite being mellow- It's solidly in the stinky cheese category, in a good way. And the dairy also makes goat milk fudge- needless to say, I spent all of my farmer's market money there yesterday and then had to walk past the Cortland apples at Lewis Orchard and all of the other market goodies with a blind eye.
Three words: FRESH LOCAL EGGS. With the disgusting conditions revealed on a daily basis at the mega poultry operations in the midwest, I am SO GLAD to be eating local, free range, organic eggs. They also taste better. I got my last batch from Persimmon Pond at the West Frederick Farmers Market from Wendy and they were wonderful.
I hope you are enjoying the harvest season! Corn is coming to an end, but melons and squashes are reigning supreme. Tomatoes will be good until the first frost and then a little later as the green ones ripen. Enjoy apples- the different varieties will phase in and out- right now you have to try Cortland and Honeycrisp. Ooo, and don't forget peaches! And I see all of the summer vegetables are still hanging in there because of all the heat we've had. It's been a hard summer for your local farmers because of the heat and drought. It's a good time to appreciate your local farmer.
Shannon
P.S. Sweet Potatoes.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Tomato Festival August 22
Our friends at Volt are having a Tomato Festival at the Big White Barn in Buckeystown on August 22nd. For $50, you can taste over 40 varieties of heirloom tomatoes and try dishes made by Frederick's own Bryan Voltaggio of Volt Restaurant. Sounds like a fun and fancy way to enjoy local food on a lazy Sunday afternoon! 
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Results of the Blueberry Challenge!
Hey pals! I'm behind! The banner on top of this website says it's still June. I am also a few days later than I wanted to be reporting the results of the blueberry challenge. C'est la vie! I am excited to report we had three entries for the blueberry challenge (four if you count my muffins and the awesome blueberry/peach cobbler that we ate before we remembered to take a picture of it):
- April F's Gingered Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins from her 1000 Pizza Doughs blog, which look totally adorable in this picture. I could seriously eat them up! She was also kind enough to post the recipe! I must say, these put my muffins to shame.
- Chelsea's Blueberry Lime Jam from her blog figs and twigs, with a gorgeous picture that is something of a tease. More please! She also included the recipe, so I can have my wish!
- Omar's Blueberry Buckle, which had so many blueberries that it buckled in the middle.
It's always fun to do a challenge and see what people make! Thanks to the talented cooks who participated in the blueberry challenge- I want to come visit your houses now to thank you in person ;D
