Homegrown Happy Valley

Five questions for Lyn Garling of Over the Moon Farm, which is selling its boneless no-nitrate organically-raised hams for Easter:

What makes your organic hams better than the supermarket version?

Our pigs are raised outside with a diversity of things to eat including lots of organic greens. They also have a lot of room to roam around freely–unlike supermarket pigs who are fed a strict diet and confined in cages their entire lives. Our pigs never experience any stress at all. Then they are custom butchered by Leona Meat Plant, Inc., which is certified in organic animals and does the entire process with a no nitrate cure, which you cannot get in supermarkets.

As a busy student I’m always looking for ways to relax. But I lack the time and money to really spoil myself. I almost gave up on finding something until my roommate introduced me to a new type of free yoga taught by instructor Laura Mills at Yoga in State College.

Kirtan is the meditative practice of singing different mantras over and over again to stretch the voice muscle. In fact, that’s the only muscle that gets a workout; you don’t move at all, so flexibility isn’t a factor. The idea is that repeatedly singing these simple Sanskrit phrases eliminates thoughts of exams, kids, money, and anything else that’s on your mind.

It’s hard to leave a party these days without someone making reference  to their “CSA” or “farm share.” If you’re thinking about joining the trend, now is the time. The ground is thawing, leaves are sprouting, and farms are gearing up for their busy season.

So what’s it all about? CSA is short for Community Supported Agriculture. As the name implies, locals support the farm by buying “memberships” that give them a share of the weekly or bi-weekly harvest. That means signing on for the ups and downs of agriculture, whether it’s a bumper crop of butternut squash or a dearth of strawberries.

For many in Happy Valley, Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center’s Maple Harvest Festival marks the real start of spring. This annual celebration of sap rising, which takes place this weekend, will once again herald the start of longer, warmer days.

The main attraction is the all-you-can-eat pancakes—well, actually, their syrup, but what’s one without the other?  Over two days about 10,000 pancakes are consumed, estimates Laurie McLaughlin, the festival organizer. For an additional fee, you can add local organic sausage to your plate;  it tastes just as good as the pancakes when doused with Pennsylvania maple syrup. The Penn State Sustainability Club provides the sausage, which is from Brenneman’s in Huntington, while the syrup comes from Wagner’s Maple Sugar Camp southeast of Pittsburgh.

My daughter is fearless when it comes to most everything.  And that makes me incredibly fearful.

With the summer months (hopefully) arriving soon, my biggest source of concern is the water.  Whether it’s Spring Creek, our neighborhood pool or even the deep end of the bath tub, safety is my priority.

So I’m pretty excited about  Infant Swim Resource (ISR), which is new to State College.  Kristen Stahl Sharp, with the help of a local family that has been impacted by the tragic drowning of a child, decided that this area could use the service and skills ISR provides. Sharp and ISR Master Instructor Tanja Bacigalupi are teaching children life-saving skills to use if they fall into water without an adult around to save them.