Homegrown Happy Valley

~Homegrown Happy Valley will be featuring guest bloggers during our Eat Local Challenge to allow others to share their experiences. This week Kristin Leitzel shares her passion for local food and why this week is the perfect time to get out and eat local.  Kristin is the Conference Program Coordinator for PASA, Centre County Buy Fresh Buy Local guru, and supporter of all things local.

There are two things I love more than (almost) anything. I love a fresh basil and tomato sandwich on Gemelli’s french country bread. I also love peaches. Well, blueberries, too. And fresh green beans are hard to beat. A good head of broccoli is a fine spectacle, come to think of it.

Every time my son and I go to the grocery store, he asks me to buy peaches. My typical answer: “Sorry bud, let’s wait until we see them at the farmer’s market–they aren’t in season for us yet.” Now that he’s used to that response, he’ll ask whether other foods are in season, too. The wait makes the reward even sweeter. When he finally spotted his beloved peaches at the market this week, he looked like a kid who had just walked into a candy store.

What food do you look forward to all summer long? Tell us in the comments below.

Summer is the easiest and hardest time to cook. Our CSA boxes and farmer’s market bags are exploding with vegetables, yet countless diversions–the beach, the pool, sign-ups for fall activities–keep us from actually doing anything with them. In a nod to summer’s hectic schedule (and the always present goal of preparing good local food) most of our dishes this week are fast and easy.

How did you transform your local food into quick meals?

HOT ITEMS OF THE WEEK:

• corn
• tomatoes
• peas

ON THE MENU:

Day 1

Tortilla pie served with garlicky kale

~Homegrown Happy Valley will be featuring guest bloggers during our Eat Local Challenge to allow others to share their experiences. This week Celeste Olmstead shares the secret to getting a big harvest out of a small space.  Celeste is a mom, former writer for Penn State, and supporter of all things local.

Festival fun plus the arrival of more amazing local produce equals a great week to live in Happy Valley. With good tunes in my head and kettle corn in my belly, I see chocolate zucchini cake in my near future.

It’s hard to believe that it’s mid-July and that “Local Foods Week” (sponsored by PASA) is around the corner (August 1-8). More on that soon; in the meantime, tell us what you did with your bounty for the Eat Local Challenge.

HOT ITEMS OF THE WEEK:

• sun gold tomatoes
• blueberries
• zucchini

ON THE MENU:

Day 1

Check out our Flickr slide show of the Central PA Festival of the Arts and People’s Choice Festival for 2009. If you have more photos of either festival (especially the musicians), upload them to our Flickr group.

WREATHS AND FLOWER ARRANGEMENTS

What do you get when a keen interest in gardening and flowers goes wild? Greensleeves Dried Flowers.

Mary Stanley, owner of Greensleeves, a small, family-run operation located just outside of Bloomsburg, Pa.,  always romanticized the work of florists. “All those flowers!” she says, “And the fragrance, so delightful.” But Stanley managed to top her dream of working in a flower shop by owning it, too.

Stanley, who is at the People’s Choice Festival this weekend, starts her wreaths and flower arrangements with seedlings in her greenhouse, which she then transplants into her gardens. The flowers are harvested when they reach the right stage of development and then hung to dry in her 150-year old barn. The flowers dry quickly in the heat and dark, thereby retaining their color and form.

Pipes–The Nittany Highland Pipe Band

One of the only pipe and drum bands in Central Pennsylvania hits the stage on Old Main Lawn today (Thursday) at 4:30. The Nittany Highland Pipe Band, which has been an area fixture since the 70s, draws a lot of its players from Centre County. If you can’t make it, check out the band’s weekly practice Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. to noon at the United Methodist Church in Pleasant Gap. And if you always wondered how you’d look in a kilt, the band is actually recruiting (no prior musical experience is needed–the band will teach you for free!)

Throughout the week, Homegrown Happy Valley will be profiling some of the local artists from the festivals. The artists below can be seen at The Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts in downtown State College.  We’ll be including artists from the People’s Choice Festival of Pennsylvania Arts and Crafts later in the week.

Painting

It’s that time of year again in Central Pennsylvania for reuniting with family and friends, hiding from the stifling heat, and renewing our love and commitment to art and the people who produce it.

This year 45 locals will display their creations at the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts.  And that doesn’t include the musical and theatrical performances by Happy Valley denizens. Meanwhile, in Boalsburg, The People’s Choice Festival will celebrate its 17th year showcasing arts and crafts from artisans around Pennsylvania, including more than a dozen local artists in our own backyards.