Anne's Deep Dish Chocolate Walnut Pie

Neither rain, nor sleet or snow will keep us from our appointed rounds. Tomorrow is the final day for this year’s Wytheville Farmers Market. Y’all come and bring the young’ns for a little Halloween fun and some trick or treating. And please, buy some of Anne’s baked goods. My girlish figure is going to hell in a hand basket. The Market opens at 9am.

This year’s market has continued to grow in size and variety of vendors. Here’s a quick look at three of those vendors.

Bracken’s Trout Hatchery offers fresh, fully dressed fish at $4 per trout. I baked a couple the other night stuffed with sauteed mushrooms and onions, and bread crumbs with fresh herbs.Folks, I’m here to tell you the sweet, firm flesh of these little beauties is really something special.

Aurora Lucas fuses plastic packaging into material that she uses to make purses, slippers, and jewelry. Her products are truly unique.

Finally, Anne is now offering freshly baked cookies using her original recipes and one that has been in her family for over a hundred years. Anne is an excellent baker and plans to add pies and cobblers to her repertoire.

So join us Friday evening for some good food and good fun. Hope to see you there!

We’re in the sweet spot of the growing season right now. For the next two months, the land will be giving up its bounty. Each week will bring us something new. This past week at the Farmers Market, zucchini, yellow squash, and carrots made an appearance. One vendor had fingerling potatoes. Cucumbers, new potatoes, and summer squash will soon be arriving. The spotlight this week, though, is on blackberries.

The blackberries this year are spectacular. The weather this spring was perfect for this gift from Mother Nature. The bushes are loaded with plump, juicy fruit. Some of the clusters are so ripe and sweet that all it takes is a little shake and they fall into the basket. No picking necessary. Blackberry cobbler and syrup, maybe even another attempt at making jam, is in our near future.

Wild blackberries abound in Wythe County. Find a spot and pick yours before the birds do.

Anne and I have celebrated some memorable 4ths. We grooved to the Good Vibrations of the Beach Boys along with 500,000 other folks on the National Mall. We watched fireworks at a party on top of the Interior Department Building. The brilliant bursts of color exploded directly above us, high in the night air. There have been concerts and backyard parties; neighborhood get-togethers and seafood at the beach. Of all the ways and all the places, few have been as much fun and relaxing as this one.

In case you haven’t noticed, there appear to be more tourists in the area this year than in the recent past. Anne and I have been playing tourist in our own backyard. Friday, we drove to Heartwood, the new Appalachian cultural center located off I-81, exit 14 near Abingdon. This is a special place, and I look forward to returning to it again and again. The Grand Opening takes place July 16 – July 23 with different activities and entertainment each day. I’ll have a more in-depth post after the 28th of this month. I’m trailing the chefs in the kitchen that day and may do a little cooking.

After Heartwood, we headed toward Damascus on Rt. 58. Damascus, Virginia, bills itself as Trail Town, USA, and well it should. Seven different trails crisscross this charming little village. We stopped for a nice lunch at the Whistle Pig Cafe. We both had the the chilled gazpacho and the fried green tomato sandwich on wheat roll with fresh sprouts. They were both unique and delicious. We split a slice of excellent key lime cheesecake for dessert. Would that the service was as good as the food.

After lunch, we took a leisurely drive on Rt. 58 toward White Top, paralleling the Virginia Creeper Trail for part of the way. The scenery this time of year is beautiful. The mountain laurel is in full bloom and the rock formations can be breath-taking. A boulder-filled stream rushes beside the road in spots. State signs alert you to the areas that have been stocked with trout. The laughter of families riding the trail on bicycles filtered through the trees at some of the places we stopped. The excited children sound like birds chirping.

With the afternoon starting to draw to a close, we drove over White Top and picked up I-81 in Chillhowie. We made it back to our place in the world in time to have a glass of wine with the neighbors.

Saturday was spent at the Farmers Market and chilling at home. Sunday I did some cooking. Anne had bought some gorgeous organic cauliflower at the Market, and I roasted part of it and did a puree with the rest. Tonight, weather allowing, we’re going to town to dance to the music of the Embers and watch the fireworks.

Happy 4th of July, y’all!

#########

pureed cauliflower recipe

Wash cauliflower in cold running water and separate into florets. Drop the florets into rapidly boiling, salted water. Cook for seven minutes and drain. Spread the florets out on a baking sheet and dry in a pre-heated 325 degree oven for five minutes. Transfer the florets to a blender and puree with heavy cream, butter, and grated gruyere cheese ( Two parts cream, one part butter, one parted grated cheese melted together in a small sauce pan.) Blend to the consistency of mashed potatoes. Add sea salt and cayenne pepper to taste. May be made ahead of time and reheated in the microwave. Will keep tightly covered in the refrigerator for a week.

###########

Meet Pseudotriton ruber ruber, the northern red salamander. I found this nifty newt on the mulch pile this morning.

copyright 2011 ron dees all rights reserved

Remember this number: 811.000.00. You’ll be seeing it again soon. There are a few people in this county who will be seeing this number in their sleep.

The Wytheville Farmers Market

When it comes to the Farmers Market, I know I have a tendency to go a little overboard, but our market has a growing and well deserved reputation for excellence. Aside from the products offered, it is also becoming a weekly social event. I mean really….anyone who is anyone goes to the market to shop and just hang out. Come by for a cup of Dave Richert’s coffee and one of Roxanne Winesett’s cheese Danishes and get your morning started right.

Crystal Springs Recreation Area

This weekend is the perfect opportunity to take the kids or that special someone for some quality time in the great outdoors. Call ahead to Fran’s Deli (276-578-2005) for a picnic lunch, and spend the afternoon exploring Crystal Springs Recreation Area. The newest addition to area parks, located on Pump Hollow Road just south of town, has something for everyone.

West Wind Farm Vineyard and Winery

David Manley invites you to join his family and friends Saturday evening to help celebrate the 5th Anniversary of the opening of West Wind’s tasting room. Dance to the soul sounds of Winston Salem’s Envision from 6-9 pm in one of the county’s most relaxing environments. Have a little wine and some mouth-watering North Carolina barbecue. It’s a southern beach party mountain style. Click the blogroll link for contact information.

We’ve picked about a quart and a half of strawberries the past two days from our 5′X4′ patch. Thanks to the wet weather, they are the plumpest, sweetest, and juiciest we’ve ever grown. We added a scant tablespoon of sugar to the first pickings, but we probably shouldn’t have. These little beauties are just fine by themselves. The bushes are full. It’s a race now between us, the birds, and the assorted furry little fornicators with whom we share Our Little Piece of Paradise to see who gathers the most berries.

In the top picture, the berries are served with a slice of homemade pound cake purchased yesterday at the Wytheville Farmers Market.

Springtime in the Blue Ridges is heaven on earth. Can I get an amen?

Most folks refer to the Board of Supervisors simply as the BOS. BOS spelled backwards is SOBs.

My heart goes out to the farmers in Missouri as they face the loss of their homes and farms because of the Army Corps of Engineers’ decision to blow holes in the Mississippi River levee system in order to prevent the flooding of Cairo, IL, a town of 2,500 people. The 200 square miles of Missouri farmland, which is being intentionally flooded, is among the richest and most productive in the nation. It will take decades for this land to recover; most of the farmers will not. This is one decision I’m glad I didn’t have to make.

Now the good news.

The Wytheville Farmers Market opens Saturday at 9:00 am! This year’s market will be bigger and better than ever. Market Director Suzie Richert reports that there will be more vendors, including more artisans, than ever before. Suzie’s husband Dave and The Artist George Krause volunteered their time to do some remodeling. There are 22 vendor spaces now, most of which have been rented. Opening day, we can expect organic lettuces and greens, spring onions, free range eggs, hormone free meats, baked goods, herbs, starter plants, and that’s just the stuff I know about. Click the link on my blog roll on the right for more up to date info.

Here’s a little something for farmers everywhere.

The ones pictured above include heirloom radishes, baby turnips, and scallions from the Artist George Krause, purple potatoes, baby carrots, fresh rosemary and thyme from our garden, and red and white new potatoes from the Wytheville Farmer’s Market.

I did a really simple preparation for these. Toss them in some melted butter and olive oil, sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, and the chopped herbs. Roast them at 375 degrees for an hour, then turn the heat up to 425 degrees for fifteen minutes. They’re done when the potatoes are easily pierced with a fork. Each of the vegetables retains its own individual flavor when done this way. I served them with a pot roast made from Mike Cassell’s grass fed beef and a bottle(s) of excellent wine from West Wind Farms. There wasn’t a better meal served that night in all of SW Virginia.