Locavores of Foodsville

A group for people who are interested in promoting and discussing the ecological, political, health, and general benefits of preparing and eating local foods.

Striper true to Form

by Pinckney

It’s October – late October – the time of year that Nagle goes fishing for Striped Bass off Long Island. The call came Friday, “I have stripers, come get some …” I got there this morning after a trip to the Hastings Farmers Market to pick up the end of season vegetables. I loaded a cooler with some venison and plowed down to the city.

Nagle gave me a side of stripper and what looks like an equal amount of blue fish. Blue fish is a favorite of mine, but Nagle-caught striper almost str...

updated Oct 26, 2008, 7 comments

CSA's shouldn't be a secret

by EJ

CSA's, anybody ever heard of 'em? CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture an idea that was brought to fruition by farmers back in the late eighties. The idea behind the CSA is to cut out the "middleman" a.k.a.-grocery stores, long travel, and pesticide laden foods. The way they work is similar to your local farmers market, except that you dont pick the produce(sounds kind of weird right?). A co-op of local organic farms puts together a box of combined produce from thei...

updated Sep 01, 2008, 5 comments

Farmer's Markets. IT'S TIME!

by Pinckney

The stalls at the farmer’s market are getting bigger each week because they have more and more stuff to sell. Being as how we are in the high season of the farmer’s markets here in the lower Hutson Valley when the produce starts to overwhelm the farmers, the vendors and the consumers the time seemed right for a completely local dinner.

Thirty minutes at the Hastings market provided us with the following; two young chickens fresh from a chicken yard, Several pounds o...

updated Aug 31, 2008, 2 comments

Summer ONLY Tomato Sauce - Madelines way

by Pinckney

This is a very nice fresh, easy sauce for summer time when the basil is getting tall and the tomatoes are fresh and local. If you can find local garlic, use that as well. If you live in California you can even use local olive oil. We don't have any that I am aware of on the east coast.

Ingredient amounts are impresise as this is a very casual dish and you can't hardly get it wrong - unles you substitute 10w30 for the olive oil and use canned tomatoes from the local odd lot store. EVERYTHING...

updated Jul 30, 2008, 1 comments

Unearned Tomatoes and Local Garlic with Yard Basil

by Pinckney

For many years I have planted tomatoes in big green plastic grow boxes from Gardener’s Supply and been frustrated with the results. Some years the dogs ate them. I mean, who knew that dogs would love tomatoes – any kind at all?! Some years the squirrels and birds got into them and sometimes the weather didn’t cooperate and the plants would get blasted all to hell and never recover from the sudden thunderstorm micro burst in the front yard. When they weren&rsq...

updated Jul 30, 2008, 3 comments

Field Peas

by Pinckney

I just spent seven days among the wild grape vines dancing with a chain saw and fertilizing ancient fields with liberal amounts of money and so - coincidentaly - can report on the state of the Edisto Island tomato crop. The state of the crop is there ain’t one this year. The farmers might plant some soy beans because they can do most of the work with machinery. Vegetables take hand labor and there isn’t any certainty this year that there will be any. Much of the large scale tomato pl...

updated May 26, 2008, 2 comments

Making Red on Edisto

by Pinckney

My niece, Kirsten, spent a lot of time with my mother and learned to make Tomato Catsup from her. She and her sister, Elizabeth, are now carrying this recipe forward to glory and it is a big seller at the annual Trinity Christmas Bazaar in Columbia. I never did it because my mother always made it in August when the last tomatoes were still on the vines and the temperature was in the high and soggy nineties. She usually undertook this task with my aunt Ellie in the kitchen on E...

updated May 09, 2008, 2 comments

Herbs coming

by Pinckney

A few days ago I went out to the front yard to get some overwintered rosemary for the lamb chops and saw that the herbs were beginning to green up. The sage has gone from dusty grey to bright green and thickened considerably. The mint has surreptitiously expanded out of its bed over the winter and will have to be fought back into place. It's half way across the yard. The rosemary hasn't really started to do a lot relating to spring. This could be because we kept having war...

updated May 17, 2008, 2 comments

Endangered Foods from The NYTimes.

by Pinckney

There is a very interesting article about disappearing foods and how to save them in the NYTimes at this location.

updated Apr 30, 2008, 1 comments

Deviled Crabs from Charleston Receipts

by Pinckney

There are four recipes for Deviled crabs in The Charleston Receipts and five more for casseroles, souffles and so on. All four are variations on the following,

"Quickly prepared and eaten.... Mix 1 pound crab meat with one cup mayonnaise (a commercial brand may be used); season with juice of 1 lemon, 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce, 1 tablespoons chopped parsley, hot sauce, salt and pepper. put in shell, cover with buttered crumbs, bake in 400 degree oven for 30 m...

updated Apr 09, 2008, 2 comments