Your guide the final day of Ag Progress Days

After a bit of a hullabaloo yesterday due to visits by the dueling gubernatorial candidates, Ag Progress Days returns to a more normal schedule for its final day. The event goes until 4:00 p.m. today, and up until then the schedule is packed with events, tours, exhibits, and good food. There’s 80+ acres of crop and machinery demonstrations, and 55 acres for indoor and outdoor exhibits, so there’s plenty to do. Here’s a guide to attending the event on its last day:

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Tags: AgProgressDays | agriculture | events |

Recipe: It’s still blueberry time! Giving blueberries a chance to shine on the grill

Blueberry season can last well into August here in Central Pennsylvania, and you can still find the little blue globes of greatness at farmers markets, farm stands, and pick-your-own farms like Mountainhome Farm in Julian. Blueberries have a lot of things going for them beyond taste, including lots of antioxidants.

Most people think of blueberries as a dessert food, but blueberries can be a star in savory recipes, such as salads and meat dishes. I have found that blueberries go well with meats such as pork and chicken. With this in mind, this recipe for grilled chicken thighs with honey blueberry sauce is a good introduction to the idea of blueberries as part of an entree.

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Tags: blueberries | recipe |

Nittany Lion Inn chef wins the 2014 Golden Basket Award with…guinea fowl?

So, my only prior knowledge of guinea fowl was via a bait and tackle shop in rural Washington County, which I used to visit when I lived in Pittsburgh. No, they didn’t use them for bait. There were a ton of the noisy things wandering around outside of the shop, and the reason they were there was apparently due to their propensity to control ticks by eating lots of them.

I tried not to think of my previous experience with the critters as Kirsch McMaster, a la cart sous chef at the Nittany Lion Inn, brought out a plate that featured a remarkable dish called “Guinea Fowl, Two Ways” to the judges’ canopy at the annual Boalsburg Farmers Market Golden Basket Award, held Tuesday afternoon. I was one of the six judges seated under that canopy, joined by State College Magazine editor Kate Delano, State College Mayor Elizabeth Goreham, Health and Neighborhood Services Director Kevin Kassab, local food writer and Friends and Farmers Coop board member Michele Marchetti, and WPSU television producer and personality Patty Satalia.

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Nine Local Chefs to Compete for Boalsburg Farmers Market Golden Basket Award

Nine of the best local chefs from Central Pennsylvania’s finest restaurants will compete for the Boalsburg Farmers Market Fourth Annual Golden Basket Award on Tuesday, Aug. 5, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Part of Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA)‘s “Local Foods Week,” the event will feature the chefs preparing a main dish and two sides from ingredients produced by Boalsburg Farmers Market vendors.

This will be the largest judged competition among chefs in the State College Area, and it has been described “as the culinary Olympics of Centre County.” The chefs will gather their ingredients at the start of market, then prepare their plates for submission to the judges in front of market guests.

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Tags: GoldenBasketAward | LocalFoodsWeek | BoalsburgFarmersMarket |