In the field: Senek Farms
This article originally appeared in Buffalo Spree Magazine’s November 2017 issue. Apples are the indisputible harbingers of fall. Come September, the round, red fruit signals “back to school” from every store ad and end cap. Their role in pies sends taste buds into a spiced autumnal tizzy that rivals pumpkin for many. Apples are bobbed […]
In the field: 3 Guys Garlic
This article originally appeared in Buffalo Spree Magazine’s September 2017 issue. To some, garlic is an ordinary ingredient that gets chopped up and lost in the sauce. To others, it’s a one-item food group around which meals are made—and there’s no such thing as too much of it, social norms be damned. A trio of […]
In the field: Erba Verde Farms
This article originally appeared in Buffalo Spree Magazine’s August 2017 issue. On Porterville Road in East Aurora, a gravel driveway winds past a cozy red 1800s farmhouse, beyond a wood-clapboard barn and resting tractor, to lush fields that quietly undulate toward a pine tree line in the distance. This farm is Erba Verde, Italian for “green […]
Berry picking: A summer tradition
This article originally appeared in the July 2016 “Foodie 40” issue of Buffalo Spree Magazine. indigo clusters. The distinctive, earthy-sweet fragrance of real strawberries that’s nearly impossible to imitate in a candle, try as manufacturers may. Thorny tangles of raspberry bramble studded with fragile, intricate jewels of fleeting sweetness. For many, summer in Western New […]
Homemade yogurt & butter
About six years ago we started getting a raw milk share from a local farm in Vermont, a half-gallon a week, a habit we continued when we came back to Buffalo in 2012. It’s legal for dairy farmers to sell a certain quantity of raw milk directly from their farms in Vermont, but it’s illegal […]
The great scape
The first time I ever saw garlic scapes was at a mid-day farmers’ market on Main Street in downtown Buffalo back in 2004ish. A farmer had a bushel basket full of these swan-like curly tendrils that looked like a cross between a flower and a fairytale. He graciously explained what they were and I bought […]
Local farmers, local chefs
In Vermont, chef-farmer partnerships are normal. Expected. Taken for granted, even. In other parts of the country – Buffalo included – the Sysco truck still fills the walk-ins at most restaurants. More Queen City area growers and culinary artisans, though, are seeing the value in forming partnerships that benefit the field, the fork, the patron, […]
The ABCs of the CSA
Your glass-of-wine count might be higher than the number of degrees on the thermometer right now, but if you’ve been wondering about getting a Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) produce share this summer, it’s time to get your fleece-covered butt moving – spots at good farms can sell out by mid-February. First, an ode. Even though I […]
The freeze and the thaw
This past weekend it snowed enough to soften the edges of the landscape into the easy lines that liken it to a plush, white, lumpy comforter. It’s 12 degrees outside. And I cooked with corn that I met and fell in love with in the sweaty, barefoot soil of August. How? Freezers. Yes, plural. […]
Old school turkeys
Every year around this time, my brain automatically brings up a vivid but strange image from my past. I’m crouched down in a muddy pasture, trying like hell to keep my fingers from freezing, surrounded on all sides by several dozen turkeys. They’re wearing dark, creepy feathers and making sounds that are a mix of […]
Hurricane Irene: Three Farms, One Town, One Storm.
One of the most difficult stories I’ve covered in the ten years I’ve been a journalist, but the resilience of farmers its a story always worth telling. This story originally appeared in Vermont’s Local Banquet in December 2011. Three Farms, One Town, One Storm
Come on, Irene
Two nights before hurricane/tropical storm Irene was due to hit Vermont, Kevin and I were taking it seriously, but only just a little. We had bought a battery-operated sump pump, just in case the predicted deluge flooded the basement and the winds cut power to our crappy plug-in pump. I took mental stock of the […]
