Well, yesterday we were interviewed by CNN — What are farmers going to do?
(click here to go to the video)

Our response? Eat local!

At Evensong we’ve been very worried about how the corn portion of our Old Spots’ diet is becoming more and more expensive, and so we’ve been exploring native, healthy alternatives for our piggies. As usual, local and diverse eating is the answer. We’ll soon be adding grain sorghum — grown right next door on the Antietam National Battlefield — to our pigs’ daily mix of feed, and lowering their intake of corn (and our corn costs too!). Sorghum contains just about the same balance as corn of protein, lysine, phosphorous and fat.

Grain Sorghum is a really beautiful and interesting grass… I see a sorghum blog post in our future… Sorghum…

If you’re reading this post and new to Evensong because you enjoyed our CNN segment, welcome. We invite you to stay in touch through our blog, newsletter or Facebook page.

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That is before they get to know me.

I have a massive sweet tooth. I blame it on my Dad who likes dessert as much as I do.

When I lived in Rochester, New York my favorite restaurant was called Creme de la Creme (it had all the fun little things over the letters that I can’t figure out how to type). It was a dessert only restaurant with a menu that was amazing. The chocolate page (where I discovered the beauty of Bete Noire), the fruit page (tarts and pies), the drinks page (upon one would find the most amazing hazelnut milkshake).

The “lighter fare” page was where my favorite dessert could be found. The Viennese Meringue Torte had fresh strawberries and lightly whipped cream layered with crispy baked meringue pieces. Heaven on a plate (especially when paired with the above mentioned hazelnut milkshake.)

Before a night out on the town, a group of us would converge on the restaurant that was formerly a house on Alexander St by Park Ave. We would crowd into the front parlor under a pink lamp with long fringe on the shade, practically eating our knees since the cushion on the sofa was so worn out. The same group of sweet lovers would come often- Misa, Rob, Holly, Scott… Claire would order the carrot cake, I believe….. people might be fuzzy in my memory but not dessert!

This was after ’89 of course, when I had landed a job to pay for my “dinner” of desserts. Before that- ’87-’88, as a poor college student at RIT, I would have my late night dinners at Gitsi’s Texas Hots on Monroe Ave. My 3am meal would consist of a grilled hard roll with jelly… a meal that cost me 50 cents.

OK, sorry for the trip down memory lane, let me bring it all home to the farm and tie it in a nice little bundle.

My love of sweets is what drove me to cook this recipe for breakfast on a Sunday. I used our eggs in the pancakes and served it along with our bacon, so it counts as using our ingredients!!

But I can’t cook just what I grow, I need a little help from my friends! The butter, chocolate milk and cream all came from Clear Spring Creamery and the Strawberry Daiquiri mix came from Garner’s Produce- both farms sell by me at the Penn Quarter Market and are great operations.

Chocolate Pancakes with Strawberry Whipped Cream

For Pancakes- mix together in a large bowl-
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 cups flour
2 T sugar
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt

In a small bowl mix together-
2 cups chocolate milk
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup melted butter
1 t vanilla

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and cook over a medium griddle 2-3 minutes on the first side and 1-2 minutes on the second side….ya know, like you usually cook pancakes.

For the topping-
3/4 cup whipping cream
1/2 to 1 cup of Strawberry Daiquiri mix (or a strawberry syrup will do in a pinch!)

Beat cream until it holds peaks and then gently stir in as much of the strawberry mixture as you like. You can also add sugar if you need to, but you probably won’t.

To serve- place pancakes on a plate and put a dollop of whipped cream between each pancake. Drizzle additional strawberry mix/syrup over the top if desired.

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For the first markets of our vegetable season, Courtney isn’t spending a lot of time harvesting from the garden — she is heading into the woods. Spring grown Watercress is just big enough for harvest this week (and will be around for about 3 more weeks), we have a little bit of Stinging Nettle (it will be around for about 6 weeks) and Garlic Mustard (which is only around for this week and maybe next week). From the garden we have Cilantro, Chives and Sorrel.

Since Garlic Mustard is the most fleeting of all these wild greens I will tell you a bit about them. They are fairly strong and are good as a dressing or with another green. By themselves they might be a bit overpowering. You should eat as much of it as you can while it is in season because you are actually helping the woods by cutting it down. Garlic Mustard is an invasive weed and is harmful to the health of our local forests and woods.

You can find many recipes online but I was pleased to find a page of recipes by Friends of Sligo Creek that has a bunch of ideas! Now, you can go forage for your own or you can come to the Silver Spring or Penn Quarter farmers markets and buy some from us! Either way, you should be quick about it because these are very quick to go to seed and lose their tasty leaves.