State College startup Green Towers LLC pushes the innovation envelope for local food

Note: To support honeybees and Green Towers LLC’s efforts to help pollinator populations that is mentioned later in this article, please go to their KickStarter campaign.

A State College startup company is working on some innovative ideas that are aimed at taking local food into the future.

Green Towers, LLC, is a local food business that was created based on an entry to the Penn State College of Agricultural Science’s Springboard Competition for young entrepreneurs, according to Dustin Betz, founder and president of Green Towers. They won the 2012 competition, and from there created a company with some very innovative ideas on growing food.

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Tags: GreenTowers | startup | microgreens | bees |

Lemony-garlic flavored recipe for all those CSA greens you just got

Many CSA’s across the area are ramping up production, with plenty of boxes filled with the best spring produce our area can offer. This includes spring onions, radishes, and of course, spring greens.

Greens are a fantastic dish to add to any spring meal, whether it’s a family cookout or a weeknight dinner. They are good for you, and there are lots of ways to cook them, including ways that will even make the most finicky greens-hating member of your family love eating well.

This recipe is makes a nice side dish for an evening dinner on the patio. It’s quite simple to make and combines two things that makes the flavor of greens really pop: garlic and lemon.

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Tags: recipe | greens | CSA |

Believe it or not, still time to plant summer vegetables/herbs/flowers

While many of us have a full garden by now, there may still be holes to fill due to rascally rabbits, devious deer, disastrous disease. Or, you just haven’t had a chance to get out and plant certain parts of your yard. No worries, believe it or not, there’s still time to plant summer vegetables (and soon time to plant fall vegetables, more about that in a future post). And there are bargains to be found at local garden centers/greenhouses.

For vegetables, we basically have about 80-90 days left in our growing season, depending on where you live. So, any plant that matures by that time, you can plant and harvest.

Continue Reading: Believe it or not, still time to plant summer vegetables/herbs/flowers

Tags: gardening | greenhouse | peppers | tomatoes | vegetables | perennials | herbs |

Even in a tough winter, Greenmore Gardens offers community fresh, local produce

Referring to this winter as “freezing” would be an understatement. The snow was relentless, not to mention temperatures were lower than I had ever experienced. Nevertheless, as brutal as Pennsylvania winters may be, I try to remind myself, while laboriously scraping the ice off my windshield, that spring will arrive in just a short while. In fact, farmers in the area are also anticipating warm weather by planting their spring harvest right now! Greenmoore Gardens, an organic farm located just outside of State College, began planting this week in hopes of a healthy spring harvest.

Laura Zaino, an employee of Greenmoore Gardens, gives the ins and outs of preparation. “We seed onions in mid-February, which is the first of the spring crops to get seeded.” Using their own potting mix, the seeds are planted in a greenhouse where the seedlings germinate and begin to grow. “Then we either put them into bigger pots or transplant them outside in the fields. The larger pots are for plants like tomatoes that need warm soil to grow,” explains Laura.

She goes on to further explain that the bigger pots allow for longer time in the greenhouse, hence, more growth before being transported outside. “Other crops, like turnips, carrots and beets, we seed directly into rows in the fields,” she says.

Continue Reading: Even in a tough winter, Greenmore Gardens offers community fresh, local produce

Tags: GreenmoreGardens | winter | greens |

Restaurant puts local food in your Green Bowl

The Green Bowl is one of those interesting restaurants that let you build your own meal. The concept is simple. You choose your vegetables, fruits, noodles, etc.; then specify what sort of meat you want, if any; pick your sauce; then a staff member stir fries it for you. It’s sort of like being your own prep chef.

Some places refer to this sort of thing as Mongolian barbeque, although there are some difference such as a wider variety of sauce selections at the Green Bowl as opposed to other places like it. Along with the great flavor, one aspect of the Green Bowl that makes it stand out from similar establishments is inclusion of local food ingredients, thanks to owners Scott and Marley Wong.

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Tags: GreenBowl | restaurants |

Local Food recipes for Labor Day

Labor Day already? Seems like the start of summer was about two weeks ago. Time truly does fly, and soon the focus here on Local Food Journey will turn to autumn-y things like pumpkins, apples, winter squash, soups, etc. All the things we like to have when the weather gets frosty and footballs replaces baseballs.

But let’s not bury summer yet. There’s plenty of warm weather to go, including September. Here’s three great recipes that together make for a fantastic Labor Day grill meal.

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Tags: LaborDay | recipe | greenbeans | groundbeef | zucchini | tomatoes |

Things are just Peachey in Belleville

Tucked into a beautiful slice of Pennsylvania known as the Big Valley, Belleville is a small town around 25 miles to the southeast of State College in Mifflin County. Belleville is a community with a variety of different Amish and Mennonite groups. One of the groups of Amish are known as the Peachey or Renno Amish, also known as “black-toppers”. Named after the Peachey family, the Peachey folk are industrious with a variety of businesses in the general Belleville area carrying the Peachey name. Two of my personal favorites are local food related—Peachey Greenhouse and the famous A.J. Peachey and Sons. This past Saturday, I decided to take a drive and pay a visit to both of them.

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Tags: Peachey | Belleville | meat | greenhouse | garden |

LFJ Farm Report: Mud season at Green Heron Farm

Editor’s Note: The LFJ Farm Report is a sort-of-regular-whenever-I-get-copy series here on Local Food Journey that takes a look at what is happening on area farms. If you would like your farm to get a mention and report on what you have happening, please send an email to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

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Tags: FarmReport | GreenHeronFarm | mud | spring |

Recipe: Spinach salad with bacon and smoked cheese

I didn’t care how many times Popeye beat Bluto after downing a can of spinach, as a kid I just plain HATED spinach. But as my culinary horizons broadened as I grew up, I quickly learned that spinach didn’t have to be a lifeless splatter of lumpy green on a plate. In fact, spinach has become my favorite salad green, and since it is a spring crop, we are in spinach season here in Central Pennsylvania.

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Tags: recipe | spinach | cheese | bacon | HogsGalore | Gemellis | GootEssa | StarHollowFarm | GreenmoreGardens |

Field Notes and Mesclun Salad with Mango Chutney Dressing

Farming is hardly ever a perfect world. It is often too wet or dry, too hot or cold—but then every once in a while along comes the perfect day.

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Tags: fieldnotes | recipe | spring | greens |

Change is in the Air and a Recipe for Vegetable Soup

The unusually wet and cool weather of mid-September must be a prelude to a fabulous Indian Summer coming our way. Nature has its signals in every season, and the fall is no exception. The dizzying activity of insects and migrating birds, the prolific blooming of goldenrod and asters, and the breathtaking color transformation of the native Sumac all confirm the change that is in the air. And even though the tomatoes are slowly slipping away, the abundant greens, hearty squashes, pears and more, are ready to make their debut and step in where the others are leaving off. Oh, how lucky we are!

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Tags: recipe | fall | soup | celery | onions | garlic | carrots | potatoes | greenbeans | tomatoes | corn |

Chef Harrison’s Green Beans Gorgonzola

Eleven years ago, former Farmer Mark from Tait Farm had a bumper crop of freshly grown green beans and showed up at our back door with several large boxes of them. Chef Harrison created this recipe and officially and deliciously launched our local foods menu.

Over the years, Harrison’s Green Beans Gorgonzola has become a seasonal summer favorite. It is easy to make at home and is a great recipe for those beautiful farmers market green beans this summer. Enjoy!

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Tags: summer | recipe | greenbeans |

Field Notes: Cold, Wet Days

Erin McKinney is one of two full-time farmers at Tait Farm in Centre Hall who oversees the fieldwork for the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, Community Harvest. Find out from Erin what is “growing on” in the fields at Tait Farm this week.

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Tags: farm | fieldnotes | recipe | spring | springgreens | garlic |

Green Week: Kale

Want to add more greens to your diet, but can’t get excited about iceberg lettuce and broccoli? Give kale a try; it’s the “super food.”

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Tags: kale | green |

Slow Cooked Green Beans

Green beans are sold canned and frozen year round. But you can find cartons of fresh whole beans at your local market now through September.

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Tags: recipe | summer | greenbeans | onions | tomatoes |