One of My Happy Spots

Turkey Tracks: September 19, 2021

One of My Happy Spots

We have a local store that carries LOTS of organic produce and my raw dairy—among many other products.

It’s FRESH OFF THE FARM, which is located between Camden and Rockland.

The store makes good use of its outdoor space—which is filled with local outdoor furniture and plants of all kinds. The latter rotate with the seasons.

Right now, there is a veritable explosion of fall color.

There are bins along the front edge of the store that are filled with in-season delights—like all the different varities of onions. I truly love the ”sweet” onions and keep them on-hand. I use different onions for different cooking tasks. The sweet onions are best just sliced and eaten raw on a salad. The red ones are spicy and hot. The yellow onions are great in soups, stews, and roasted alongside meat or other vegetables.

Onions contain (or should contain) sulfur—which is really important for human health The destruction of soil in commercial agriculture has eroded sulfur levels. So that is another reason to buy organic products.

This time of year is when the fingerling potatoes come into the market. These potatoes are not great keepers, so it is best to enjoy them in their season. These are ”banana” fingerlings.

And the ones below are new to me. They are ”pinto” fingerlings.

They are all delicious. They cook quickly—and it is good to parboil them if you want to then add them to something roasting in the oven. Or just eat them when tender with some butter for dressing. Or cool some and add them to salads. I also like to slice them when cooked and heat them in a little fat in a frying pan before adding some eggs and scrambling the whole mixture. Ghee or a little butter or duck fat would be good choices for the fat in the pan.

Soon the local winter squashes will appear. And, local Brussel Sprouts. And there is always a large selection of greens (different varieties of kale and chard and collards in season or when available from elsewhere). Collards, by the way, when blanched quickly and cooled (and stem removed if needed) make great tortilla-type wraps. They are sturdy and delicious.

And sooner than many would like, we will have seasonal wreaths, stems of red berries, cranberries, and clementines and Meyer Lemons.