New restaurant hailed as ‘an oasis in a food desert’
Seventy-five years ago Silk City Diner number 59 left the factory in Paterson, New Jersey. The 42-seat restaurant—with a stainless steel and cream enamel exterior, traveled to Conowingo, Maryland, about 35 miles from Baltimore. There it served customers for decades. From Maryland it was hauled to Pennsylvania, then Ohio, where was partially restored. it landed in Blue Mountain Lake, NY, in 2017, during a blizzard.
A program of the Joint Council for Economic Opportunity (JCEO) and the Heart Network, the Mobile Market provides access to fresh fruit and vegetables, baked goods and a salad bar; the market made its debut in 2018 and has since expanded its stops and offerings. The Mobile Market accepts Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits with the additional bonus of the Double Up Food Bucks Program that doubles the amount of produce SNAP recipients can purchase; customers can also use farmers market vouchers.
JCEO and the Heart Network will continue to follow all state and federal COVID-19 guidelines and protocols. Only one person and a JCEO employee are allowed on the bus at a time. Masks are required and customers waiting to enter the bus are asked to maintain social distancing.
June is National Dairy Month, which originated in 1937 as “National Milk Month” by the National Dairy Council in an effort to encourage consumers to drink more milk during a time of surplus. Today, many organizations and regions continue to observe June as Dairy Month along the same theme.
Another sign that we’re getting back to “normal”: The return of farmers markets. Many have opened around the Adirondack region and Adirondack Harvest has compiled them here.
Wild Spring Greens Salad with Maple Balsamic Dressing
One of my favorite things to do in the springtime is to gather young wild greens for my salads. I love eating salads full of dandelion, common evening primrose, red clover, and chicory greens. When harvesting any of these greens, make sure to follow safe and ethical harvesting practices, and wash thoroughly with cold water prior to consuming. Enjoy!
These crispy sweet roasted chickpeas are the perfect choice for your snack craving! Rich in B vitamins and folate, chickpeas also provide a decent amount of iron, fiber, protein, and healthy fatty acids.
If you do not want a sweet snack, you can switch out the sugar and cinnamon for other spice combinations (curry powder, cayenne pepper/chili powder, za’atar, and more!).
These chickpeas can be kept for a day in an airtight container, but do tend to lose their crispiness fairly quickly. However, they are so delicious, that you won’t have to worry about leftovers!
One of my favorite plants is either highly versatile, or confused. On one hand, professional herbivores like deer refuse to touch it, but many people, myself included, gladly eat it every day it’s available. While contacting it is painful, it has been proven to relieve certain chronic pain. It is steeped in over a thousand years of folklore, at one point imbued with the power to cleanse away sin, yet medical science recognizes it as a legitimate remedy for many disorders. Some gardeners consider it a bothersome weed, while others cultivate it.
The stinging nettle, Urtica dioica, is native to Europe, Asia, and northern Africa but has been widespread throughout North America from northern Mexico to northern Canada for centuries. Experts disagree as to the number of species and subspecies worldwide, as nettles freely hybridize.
Nettles sprout little hypodermic needles on stems, leaves, and even flowers. Called trichomes, these glass-like, silica-based needles inject a mixture of irritating chemicals upon contact. The cocktail varies by species, but usually includes histamine, 5-HTP, serotonin, formic acid and acetylcholine.
Garden asparagus, asparagus officinalis, is a perennial flowering plant. It belongs to the Asparagus genus, along with other perennial bushes and plants. Asparagus is dioecious, meaning some plants have flowers with a stamen and produce pollen, and other plants have flowers that have a pistil and make seeds. This means that a variety of plants are needed for reproduction. When you eat asparagus, you’re actually eating the immature stalk of the entire plant. Most asparagus is harvested when it is about six to ten inches long, but when left to mature, it grows into four-foot-tall plants with long fern-like branches.
Although I am not a huge fan of baking cookies, I do enjoy making these chocolate chip cookie bars for my family! This recipe comes together quickly, and produces delicious cookie bars from scratch (so much better than pre-made cookie mixes!). For variety, substitute butterscotch, mint chocolate, or dark chocolate chunks for the chocolate chips. You can also leave out the chocolate entirely and substitute dried fruit for the chocolate chips (dried cranberries and coconut are a favorite!).» Continue Reading.
In celebration of Earth Day 2021, the Adirondack Park’s largest environmental organization awarded 21 micro-grants totaling $29,601 to local farmers and value-added food producers, in an effort to build a climate-friendly local economy in the Adirondack Park.
*Author’s Note: As we look all eagerly look forward to packing our gear and heading into camp, I thought I’d share a Monroe family “First Night in Camp” meal tradition: “Hunter’s Stew.”
I first drafted this piece shortly after my “Cliff the Bear” story was featured by Adirondack Life magazine for the second time (once in print, once on-line). For a variety of reasons, I never submitted it.
Sometimes writing, like a good recipe, has to sit & simmer awhile. This one has, so I thought now might be a good time. I hope folks enjoy it. I know everyone, hunter and non-hunter alike, who visits our camp for a meal sure does!
If you weren’t a gardener before, the COVID-19 pandemic may have inspired you to start a veggie garden. Johnny’s Selected Seeds in Fairfield, Maine, saw a 270% jump in orders the week the coronavirus pandemic was declared a national emergency. Many local nurseries sold out of vegetable transplants fast last spring, citing they couldn’t keep up with demand.
This simple and easy recipe not only produces mouth-wateringly delicious spaghetti and meat sauce, but it can also be adjusted to meet different dietary needs. For those on a gluten-free diet, use gluten-free spaghetti. Although ground turkey was used in this version, you can substitute any other ground meat or even meat substitute.
I threw in a handful of dried bean flakes and some shredded carrots for added nutrients when I made this a few nights ago, and my son never even knew that they were there (shhh!).
Hoping to promote a more resilient local food system and better understand regional food insecurity issues, a collaborative new effort has launched the Adirondack Food System Network. Comprised of a group of Adirondack food system stakeholders from across the region, the initiative was launched with seed funding from Adirondack Foundation.
Adirondack Health Institute announced the initiative April 5 after teaming up with multiple organizations to identify food insecurity issues and regional solutions.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, AHI said, market supply chains and trade disruptions have limited food accessibility, especially for vulnerable residents lacking access to transportation and the means to purchase fresh food.
At the same time, farmers have been faced with significant disruptions in market access, especially due to the closure of restaurants, retail, and other food establishments, and the threat of the loss of market access for area farmers.
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