S'mores Brownies

My candy, er, cookie, jar

In attempt to shake up the usual boring? batch of brownies I made S'mores Brownies.  I gave up sweets for Lent and can't taste them, but the family said they were good!

S'mores Brownies

Start with your favorite brownie recipe.  I love the Baker's Chocolate One Bowl Brownies recipe.

Put it in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.  While it bakes, mix together, 2 cups mini marshmallows, 1 cup broken up graham crackers, and 1 cup chocolate chips. 

Take the brownie pan out of the oven.  Press the marshmallow, graham cracker, chocolate chip mixture into the top.

Put brownies back into the oven for 10 minutes or until the marshmallows are golden.  Cool before cutting and eating.  

A little trick I learned.  Line your brownie pan with parchment paper before adding the batter.  You'll be able to pull the brownies and any mess right out of the pan!  

Enjoy!

Coudersport Farmer's Market Is Shaping Up For A Great Year!

On Sunday, we had our second Potter County Farmer's Market group meeting and I feel that all the farmers are becoming very excited about the upcoming season.  We have a few new people joining the group and I know that our customers will be excited by the new additions.  Our market continues to grow, evolve and diversify!  

The meeting was a potluck and most everyone brought something that has elements of the food grown on their farm.  The pasta with pesto was divine.  The french bread had the perfect crunchiness.  Dilled garlic scapes made a fiery and tasty hit.  Lamb pate?  I've never had it before, but I hope to have it again!  Chili, lasagne, and much much more.  Every bite tasted absolutely delicious!  

When I get this season's scapes they will be canned in a dilly bean brine.

Thank you to the Metzger's of Metzger's Farm for hosting us!        

Gotta Love Calvin and Hobbes!

by Bill Watterson

Oh, I do so wish......  

My knees will only be snowy, wet, and cold by the end of this maple tree tapping day!

Maple Update February 2013

We have a few of our sugar bushes (this is what an area of tappable maple trees is named) tapped, but oh boy did the weather turn cold and nasty!  It is just too cold for humans to be outside when the temperature is 15-degrees, the wind is howling, and snow blows by sideways for hours at time.  There's nothing like a few inches of fresh, powdery, slippery snow to make everything a little more difficult.   Needless to say, we're a bit farther behind on tapping than we would like to be.

However, we finally had our sugar shack inspected by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and we are officially certified to start bottling maple syrup and honey!  So when the wind howls outside we can still stay busy inside getting everything ready for sales.  

You will see a link to our web page as soon as we are fully operational.  Happy days!

Aaaah, Yes. Maple Season.

Clearing falling branches from sap lines.  Repairing squirrel and chipmunk chewed lines. Moving giant sap collection tanks into place.  Cutting wood.  Climbing hills laden with tubing.  The excitement of watching drops of clear maple sap drip from trees after you drill the hole and before you tap the spile into place. 

Maple season is here!

Spile and tubing in maple tree.

Over the next few weeks you'll see trucks with giant white tanks driving around.  The tanks look like they're filled with water, but what they're actually carrying is pure maple tree sap!  That sap will get taken to evaporators to be boiled and boiled and boiled some more.   After a whole lot of steam boils off, 40 gallons of that sap will reduce to one gallon of delicious maple syrup.  

And as I look out at very thickly falling snow, I know that spring can't be too far behind!

Taste The Rainbow

Borrowed from Food Inc.

First Baby Plants 2013

Isn't there something so very exciting about the very first baby plants peeping - and then leaping up from the soil?

First Planting 2013:

Lettuce: Lolla Rosa

Lettuce: Black Seeded Simpson

Lettuce: Green Oakleaf

Lettuce: Buttercrunch

Pak Choi

Swiss Chard