Weekend Bounty

Sunday, November 18, 2007

We made a Morgantown run yesterday and came back with this bounty of local produce.  Our first stop was Weaver’s Orchard.  I found this farm on localharvest.org and, since it is located close to Shady Maple Farm Market where we planned to stock up on some (alas, non-local) dried pasta and nuts, we were excited to check them out.  If you love apples, this place is worth the trip.  There’s a great selection of homegrown apples of all types, plus ciders, pears, jams, honey and a bunch of other produce (like the garlic, potatoes and brussel sprouts we got).  We also bought various types of apples, Seckel pears, Asian pears and some Harrow’s Delight pears on the recommendation of the farmer.  I grabbed a pick-your-own schedule because I’ll definitely be returning.

Then it was off to the zoo that is Shady Maple.  This is a really big conventional grocery store that also sells a lot of bulk foods, like the pasta and nuts we were after, and a pretty good selection of Lancaster-grown produce.  We bought a half-bushel of Jonamac apples for applesauce – lots and lots of applesauce to freeze.

We were almost ready to leave when I saw a bin advertising enormous, Lancaster-grown Fairytale pumpkins.  At $3.99 for any size pumpkin, I chose the biggest, heaviest pumpkin I could get my hands on!  Mind you, I’m not the one cooking the pumpkin pies this year for Thanksgiving so I have no immediate need for a pumpkin, let alone one that our cashier couldn’t lift.  But how could I pass them up?  I’ve heard that this variety is good for baking and so far it hasn’t disappointed.  I’ve been baking big pieces of it in batches all day and pureeing them for the freezer.  So far I have about 16 cups of puree and I’m just about halfway done with the job. I’m thinking pumpkin bread, maybe some soups and Jennie’s pumpkin roll. Any other ideas?