Backyard Grocery

Archive for the ‘Grab Bag’ Category

I’m so excited! Next Thursday, March 15, at 7:00 6:30 p.m. I will be speaking at The Maple Avenue Market in Vienna. Here’s a little bit about my talk:

Game On! Why hunting in Fairfax County’s backyards is good for you, good for the deer, and good for the environment.

Susan Rose of Backyard Grocery shares the joys of eating venison–one of the best foraged foods in Northern Virginia. You’ll learn about the nutritional benefits of venison and how urban hunting has a positive impact on the health of our herds and the environment. During the talk, you’ll enjoy two delicious venison appetizers made using Vienna White Tail and ingredients from the Maple Avenue Market.

Right now I’m planning on make pulled venison with a local BBQ sauce the Market sells and Venison Con Queso (I think I can get 90% of the ingredients I need for that at the Market).

If you’ve never been to the Maple Avenue Market, you are missing out! It is a wonderful source of locally grown produce, dairy and meats, as well as local artisan foods. And everyone there is fantastic.

See you Thursday.

I started this blog because we got a garden plot and, for the first time in my life, had a lot of home grown veggies. I thought it would be fun to write about what I cooked with them. It’s only been a few short months, but the mission is becoming bigger and, frankly, funner.

Rick reclaimed brick from a friend's construction project and now we have nice brick pathways in the garden.

Happy Dawg watches as Rick works on our plot. She loves the garden.

The summer of 2011 we had our first garden plot at our community garden in Reston. It was a 10×10 space, and boy did it produce for us! I had the best lettuces, kale, spinach, tomatoes and peppers of my life. Rick had a wonderful time tending it, and we both realized we loved the notion of growing our own food. So, when we had the opportunity to move over to a 20×20 garden plot, Rick jumped on the opportunity.