Eat Like Ben

After arriving back in Maine last April, I reconnected with the farmer network that I grew up with, plus friends from high school still living in the area. I helped Jean Noon muck out a stall and got paid with a truck full of sheep manure. I helped Jordan of Two Toad Farm plant out onions, and met another farmsteader who was also there helping out. Jordan's partner Marybeth organizes the Sanford Farmers Market. Through her we've connected with new local farmers as well. Jean

Endive is good late crop, not only for farmers, but also for kitchens. Getting ready for the first frost in the fall is always a rush. All those peppers and tomatoes still on the vine! All that heavy squash to lug into the barn! Any crop you can leave in the field and not even think about is like gold in the bank. Endive is cold hardy, and even if the outside leaves get discolored from freezing or desiccated from wind, inside there is still a beautiful beating heart waiting t

Most of the keepers we’ve been selling at the coop over the winter came from two Longmont Farms: Rough & Ready Farm and Sunflower Farm ....

The round-bottomed wife tries to eat local as much as possible but at this time of year she begs for big earthenware bowls of Arizona...

We meet people on market days that don’t eat lamb because they think lambs are babies. “Baby lambs” are the young animals they are...

In case of emergency, do not break glass! The round-bottomed wife is a bit of a chipmunk. Hearty food in small bundles disappear into her...

Sometime in early February, spring fever sets in. The sun-deprived wife pesters me to go out and hunt around between retreating patches...

To relax in the evening, my wife watches films and TV series on her France channel – that is, when she’s not watching her German,...

Soma (pronounced “Shoma”, it’s a Hungarian name) wanted to smoke a Thor’s Hammer, which is a specially prepared beef shank. That’s because we were selling them at the markets all summer, telling our customers “It’s a novelty cut. Good in the smoker.” What Frank said. But we’d never actually smoked one. As we got down to the last Hammer in the freezer this fall, I could see Soma had his eye on it. Bone-in cuts often get a hole in the plastic, breaking the vacuum seal. He waite

Having grown up in New England, I remember making candy coated apples using a sticky caramel sauce. Worse, I recall eating store-bought...

A few years back, we held a Valentine’s party where we invited guests to bring red food. Our contribution was the main dish, a set of...

This time of year, we remember a tiny bodega, with one forlorn window on the street. Visible in the window was an electric crock pot with...

Around our house, I am the pie-crust maker. We make our crusts out of organic white rice flour. Mary cannot have gluten and I can't...

Some days I just don’t plan. Then, ravenous, I have to do food, fast. Last night I was lucky. I found ground meat thawing in the fridge....

The round-bottomed wife has been irritable for days. She got a project in her teeth like a puppy with a juicy marrow bone, only...

My estimable, round-bottomed wife is a bit of a kitchen witch. She keeps a half dozen large pots busy with all manner of things. Today,...

Originally published 31 October, 2024 My neighbor's dad knows many good streams here along the continental divide. He catches trout. When...

On Saturday while I headed to Denver to run a pop-up farm stand at Nurture Wellcare Marketplace, my wife Mary was rendering beef fat into...