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April 10, 2021

The Talbot Spy

The nonprofit e-newspaper for the Talbot County Community

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Food and Garden Food Friday Spy Top Story

Food Friday: Improving Our Outlook

April 9, 2021 by Jean Sanders 2 Comments

Mr. Sanders and I took advantage of the long Easter weekend to get out of town for a couple of nights. It was a combination of birthday celebrations, the end of winter, and we were buoyed by the hope that the constant COVID fears are receding. Thus we enjoyed a road trip to Brevard, NC, where we stayed at a charming inn, keeping ourselves socially distanced from the hosts and the one other couple staying there.

The inn was an elegant 1920s stone house, surrounded by sloping lawns and towering trees. The house had a slate roof, slender Corinthian columns supporting the curved portico roof, a generous sun porch extended to the left side of the house, and an ancient dog wooffled at us as we entered. There were high ceilings and many, many ticking clocks. The dining room was home to a grandfather’s clock, a mantel clock, and a boisterous cuckoo clock. We gathered that we should be prompt for our 8:30 breakfasts, otherwise it would be noted.

Normally, here at home, except for Sundays when we cook elaborately and exhaustively, breakfast is a do-it-yourself meal. Most days Mr. Sanders brews coffee, has an egg, some sausage, and perhaps yogurt and blueberries. I, being contrary and moody, pour a Diet Coke and gnaw on a piece of Wasa toast. We sit silent, reading the news on our respective computers. At the inn we felt compelled to be outgoing and personable, before caffeine. We even showered and wore presentable clothing. We left our computers in the room, and promptly, at 8:30 AM, we walked into the dining room and gamely placed the cloth napkins in our laps.

Across an attractive table, laid with silverware, a variety of glassware and coffee cups, with a vase of fresh pink carnations, under a mullioned window we amiably commented on birds and flowers and the possible varieties of the bare branches of the shrubbery in the garden. We craned our necks, hoping for another glimpse of the fabled, though elusive, white squirrels of Brevard.

Our host brought coffee, cream, and a cup of ice for my Diet Coke. Then some fresh squeezed juices. At respectable intervals, more courses were served to us. Our hosts believed in a three-course breakfast, which, of course, included dessert! So I can’t just blame the Easter jelly beans I inhaled during the course of our out-of-town adventure for my little bit of weight gain. I was just being polite.

The first day’s breakfast was a fresh fruit cup with a sparkling cider dressing, individual vegetable and Italian sausage frittatas, toasted bread from a local bakery, gleaming orange slices and tiny ramekins of hot, buttered grits. And for dessert, there were freshly baked fruit scones. The second day called for more juice, a warm fruit compote, topped with fresh whipped cream and yogurt, apple walnut pancakes, vegetarian link sausages and wee tiny oranges, and individual apple hand pies for dessert. It is a wonder we ever needed to eat again, and yet, lunch never came soon enough.

It has been some time since we last stayed in an inn, and never in one which took such pleasure in feeding us. The food was tasty, the plates were artfully arranged, the presentation was charming. I guess after thirteen months of lockdown it felt nice to be pampered, and doted upon. And perhaps it is time to embellish our breakfast routine.

Our lockdown breakfast tropes are boring, but they needn’t be permanent. How inconvenient can it be to cut up fruit at night to have in the morning? When was the last time I thought about buying a kiwi? That vegetarian sausage was very nice – I didn’t realize it was vegetarian until after the fact. Shocking! I had never thought to chop up walnuts and apples and put them into pancake batter! In fact, I manage to congratulate myself if there is enough maple syrup in the house for a pancake breakfast. It’s time to splash out and actually read the many cookbooks on our shelves.

I’ll get my second shot on Saturday, which means soon, still wearing our masks, we can wander a little more freely. I probably won’t get another respite at an inn for long while, but I can use some of the lessons learned there to make life a little more enjoyable at home. It’s spring, after all. I’m going to cut some daffodils for the table.

Lots of fruits are coming to the farmers’ markets now. This is a yummy, adaptable warm fruit compote recipe:
https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/mixed-berry-compote-103677

And don’t forget the creamy whipped cream and yogurt topping: https://food52.com/recipes/36877-yogurt-whipped-cream

As the weather warms up: https://food52.com/recipes/30137-berries-with-rose

“When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,” said Piglet at last, “what’s the first thing you say to yourself?”
“What’s for breakfast?” said Pooh. “What do you say, Piglet?”
“I say, I wonder what’s going to happen exciting today?” said Piglet.
Pooh nodded thoughtfully. “It’s the same thing,” he said.”
― A.A. Milne

In case you are curious, here’s where we stayed. Tell Abe and Pam we say, “Hi!” : https://thebromfieldinn.com

Filed Under: Food Friday, Spy Top Story

April Gardening Tips

April 7, 2021 by University of Maryland Extension Leave a Comment

“Spring will come and so will happiness. Hold on. Life will get warmer.” -Anita Krizzan. It is officially spring, and it is time to dig out of the wet winter weather and get outside. Here are some helpful tips to get your garden started this season.

Photo: Plant a butterfly garden – Butterflies add beauty and help pollinate flowering plants. A variety of nectar plants for adult butterflies and host plants (food) for the caterpillars will attract them. Milkweed species is a popular nectar and host plant for the Monarch butterfly. The Monarch Caterpillar goes through five instars or stages between molts, during which they can range in size from 1/12″ –13/4″. Their life cycle is dependent on the milkweed plant. (Photo of monarch caterpillar photo credit: Rachel Rhodes)

Outdoor Garden and Yard Tips

  • Cedar-apple rust disease forms its galls on Virginia cedar (Juniperus virginiana) in April. The odd-looking galls are at first bright orange gelatinous balls with long “horns” or projections; they later turn brown and become hard. They are the alternate host structure for a disease that does very little harm to the junipers but can be quite destructive to apple trees, hawthorns, and quince.
  • Continue planting and transplanting trees and shrubs.  Choose quality trees: shade trees should have a single, straight trunk. Planting and transplanting should be completed before the end of June.
  • Viburnum leaf beetle is a serious pest of native arrowhead viburnum, cranberry bush, and many others. Look for feeding damage on viburnum and yellow larvae. Control them promptly since they can defoliate plants. Repeated defoliation can result in the death of native viburnums.
  • Spotted lanternfly eggs will start hatching late April or early May depending on the weather.
  • Eastern box turtles and various species of snakes are coming out of hibernation and may visit your yard. Box turtles are becoming scarce through much of Maryland because of road mortality and habitat destruction. Observe it but leave it in the wild.
  • Many spring bulbs have fully emerged and are flowering. Remove spent flowers but leave the green bulb foliage alone until it yellows and dies back naturally.
  • Lawn mowing season begins in April. The height and how frequently you mow your lawn is very important. Cool season grasses such as tall fescue and bluegrass should be maintained between 3 – 4 inches for most of the growing season and no more than 1/3rd of the leaf blade should be removed at each mowing. Always make sure to sharpen your mower blades at the beginning of the season.

Vegetable Garden

  • Continue to sow lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, beets and other favorite salad vegetables.
  • Thin seedlings of leafy greens, to a few inches apart and eat the ones you pull. Check planting chart for final spacing between mature plants.
  • Plant seeds of carrots, turnips and parsnips in deeply worked, well-draining soil.
  • Don’t jump the gun with warm season crops; plant outside only after all danger of frost is past. (Night temperatures below 45º F. can damage plants and later fruiting.) Optional: lay down black plastic mulch to warm the soil, two to three weeks before planting warm season crops, like tomato, pepper, eggplant, and melon. Plastic mulch also keeps down weeds. (Biodegradable non-plastic mulch, made out of corn, is now available; www.highmowingseeds.com is one source.)
  • Sow beans and corn outdoors late this month or early May, when soil temperatures are above 50º F. (Or pre-start them indoors to get them off to a faster start.)
  • Start squash, melon and cucumbers indoors to be transplanted in the garden, in two to three weeks. (These plants also benefit from black plastic or biodegradable mulch.) Or, plant them directly in the garden, in late May through mid-June.
  • Start seeds of herbs, including rosemary, thyme, lavender, sage, basil and tarragon. Make cuttings of fresh mint, tarragon and rosemary from potted plants or from stems purchased in food markets. Root the cuttings in soil-less mix, under lights.

Indoor Plants and Insect Tips

  • Groom houseplants by removing dead and diseased foliage or spent flowers; this reduces insect and disease problems and improves their appearance. Gently dust the leaves with a soft rag. If possible, periodically place your plants in the shower to remove dust and to give them a good drink of water. This can revive a tired houseplant and helps to leach soluble salts (from fertilizers) from the soil.
  • Fungus gnats are small, harmless black flies that hover around, breed in and feed on moist growing media. Be careful not to over-water houseplants. Growing media should be allowed to dry out before watering again.
  • Different types of foraging ants may appear in your home. Try using bait stations to control minor infestations. Liquid and gel formulations are usually quite effective.

Rachel J. Rhodes, rjrhodes@umd.edu is the Horticulture Educator and Master Gardener Coordinator for the University of Maryland Extension in Queen Anne’s County. She is one third of the Garden Thyme Podcast. The Garden Thyme Podcast is a monthly podcast where University of Maryland Extension Educators, help you get down and dirty in your garden, with timely gardening tips, information about native plants, and more!

For further information, please visit https://extension.umd.edu/queen-annes-county/master-gardener-home-gardening  or see us on Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/QueenAnnesCountyMasterGardeners or listen to The Garden Thyme Podcast at:  https://www.buzzsprout.com/687509

University programs, activities, and facilities are available to all without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, age, national origin, political affiliation, physical or mental disability, religion, protected veteran status, genetic information, personal appearance, or any other legally protected class.

Filed Under: Garden Notes Tagged With: Gardening, local news, University of Maryland Extension

Adkins Mystery Monday: What Blooms this April?

April 5, 2021 by Adkins Arboretum Leave a Comment

Happy Mystery Monday! We’ve been seeing lots of spring blooms this April, do you know which plant produces these flowers?
Last week, we highlighted the black widow spider! Female black widows are identified by their shiny black body and bright red hourglass pattern on their underside. Males are smaller and have red or pink spots on their backs. They are known for their extremely painful and poisonous bites, but generally keep to themselves as long as they aren’t disturbed.

Filed Under: Food-Garden Homepage, Food-Garden Portal lead

Old Wye Mill Opens 2021 Season

April 4, 2021 by Spy Desk Leave a Comment

Old Wye Mill invites you to its Opening Day on May 1, following a year of closure due to the public health crisis. OWM is one of Maryland’s most remarkable places: the historic grist mill is the oldest continuously operated water-powered mill in America, and Maryland’s oldest continuously operating business. In case of rain, the event is postponed to June 5.

On Opening Day, visitors will enter the Mill in small groups from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., receiving timed entry tickets. Please wear a mask and maintain social distancing during your visit. The interior features a new panel exhibition explaining the operation of the Mill and its history, while Docents and Millers will be on hand to demonstrate and interpret the Mill’s operation. Suggested contribution is $2/person.

Opening Day will feature a festive mix of outdoor demonstrations, sales, music, and hands-on activities. While awaiting their timed entry slot to visit the Mill’s grinding floor, guests may purchase organic and conventional flour and cornmeal produced onsite by the Mill; try their hand at grinding on a replica quern (hand-operated mill); and watch re-enactors demonstrating colonial cooking techniques. They will enjoy musical entertainment in traditional styles by Greg Remesch (banjo) and Rebekah Geller (fiddle). The Wheeler Family Deep Fried Seafood and YoJavaBowl food trucks will be selling their delectable specialties. Picnic tables are available.

Old Wye Mill is located at 900 Wye Mills Road (Route 662), in Wye Mills, Maryland 21679, near the intersection of Route 662 and Route 404. The Mill is open May 1 through October 31, Mon – Sat 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sunday 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., and by appointment at other times. Please visit https://www.oldwyemill.org for more information.

This program is made possible by a grant from the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority, with Maryland State funds, through the Stories of the Chesapeake Heritage Area. The contents do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority.

Filed Under: Garden Notes Tagged With: gardens, local news

Food Friday: Rites of Spring

April 2, 2021 by Jean Sanders Leave a Comment

Food Friday is on the road this weekend, heading to a socially distant weekend get-away in Asheville. Mr. Friday is fully vaccinated, and I have had one shot, but we are stocking up on masks and hand sanitizer to enjoy a road trip and a change of scene. I feel your cabin fever, and am looking forward to the Fourth of July! Please indulge me and enjoy our making our favorite Easter dessert. Play nicely at your Easter egg hunts, and let the little ones find all the eggs. You can sip on a Bloody Mary or two.

At Easter I like to haul out my dear friend’s lemon cheesecake recipe, and reminisce, ruefully, about the year I decorated one using nasturtiums plucked fresh from the nascent garden, which unfortunately sheltered a couple of frisky spiders. Easter was late that year and tensions were already high at the table, because a guest had taken it upon herself to bring her version of dessert – a 1950s (or perhaps it was a British World War II lesson in ersatz ingredients recipe) involving saltines, sugar-free lime Jell-O, and a tub of Lite Cool Whip. The children were divided on which was more terrifying: ingesting spiders, or so many petro chemicals?

I am also loath to remember the year we hosted an Easter egg hunt, when it was so hot that the chocolate bunnies melted, the many children squabbled, and the adults couldn’t drink enough Bloody Marys. The celery and asparagus were limp, the ham was hot, and the sugar in all those Peeps brought out the criminal potential in even the most decorous of little girls. There was no Martha Stewart solution to that pickle.

Since our children did not like hard-boiled eggs, I am happy to say that we were never a family that hid real eggs for them to discover. Because then we would have been the family whose dog discovered toxic nuclear waste hidden behind a bookcase or deep down in the sofa a few weeks later. We mostly stuck to jelly beans and the odd Sacajawea gold dollar in our plastic Easter eggs. It was a truly a treat when I stepped on a pink plastic egg shell in the front garden later that year, when I was hanging Christmas lights on the bushes. There weren’t any jelly beans left, thank goodness, but there was a nice sugar-crusty gold dollar nestled inside it. Good things come to those who wait.

We won’t be hiding any eggs (real or man-made) this year, much to Luke the wonder dog’s disappointment. He’ll be at the spa, anyway. Instead we will have a nice decorous brunch outdoors, with Mumm Napa Brut Rosé and maybe a couple of slices of lemon cheesecake, sans the spiders, sans the lime Jell-O and Cool Whip. And we will feel sadly bereft because there will be no jelly beans, no melting chocolate, and no children.

Chris’s Cheesecake Deluxe

Serves 12
Crust:
1 cup sifted flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 egg yolk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
Filling:
2 1/2 pounds cream cheese
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 3/4 cups sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 400° F
Crust: combine flour, sugar and lemon rind. Cut in butter until crumbly. Add yolk and vanilla. Mix. Pat 1/3 of the dough over the bottom of a 9″ spring form pan, with the sides removed. Bake for 6 minutes or until golden. Cool. Butter the sides of the pan and attach to the bottom. Pat remaining dough around the sides to 2″ high.
Increase the oven temp to 475° F. Beat the cream cheese until it is fluffy. Add vanilla and lemon rind. Combine the sugar, flour and salt. Gradually blend into the cream cheese. Beat in eggs and yolks, one at a time, and then the cream. Beat well. Pour into the pan. Bake 8-10 minutes.

Reduce oven heat to 200° F. Bake for 1 1/2 hours or until set. Turn off the heat. Allow the cake to remain in the oven with the door ajar for 30 minutes. Cool the cake on a rack, and then pop into the fridge to chill. This is the best Easter dessert ever.

Perfect Bloody Marys:
http://food52.com/recipes/8103_horseradish_vodka_bloody_mary

Remedial hard boiled eggs:
http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/04/how-to-make-perfect-hard-boiled-eggs

More than you thought you wanted to know about eggs:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/jacques-pepin-eggs-are-on-the-outs-again-to-me-theyll-always-be-perfect/2019/03/22/8d2334e0-4cc1-11e9-93d0-64dbcf38ba41_story.html?utm_term=.a6dd368aa915

https://inspiralized.com/potato-and-leek-frittata/

“Probably one of the most private things in the world is an egg before it is broken.”
― M.F.K. Fisher

Filed Under: Food Friday, Spy Top Story

Adkins Mystery Monday: Admire with Eyes, not Hands

March 29, 2021 by Adkins Arboretum 2 Comments

Happy March Mystery Monday! This week, we ask you what kind of spider did we find? Hint: this is definitely one to admire with your eyes, not your hands.
Last week, our video had the sound of the white-breasted nuthatch! There are three species of nuthatches in Maryland. The white-breasted nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) is relatively common throughout Maryland and is often observed spiraling down tree trunks foraging for food. White-breasted nuthatches have a unique laughing or yammering call. Fun fact: their common name comes from their habit of placing nuts in the tree trunk and then smashing it with their bill to open the seed. Very resourceful.

Filed Under: Food-Garden Homepage, Food-Garden Portal lead

Food Friday: Bittersweet for Passover

March 26, 2021 by Jean Sanders

The Passover holiday is an annual, weeklong festival celebrating the freedom of Jewish people from slavery in ancient Egypt. During COVID times we have had to modify our celebrations, but we have learned to do and share so much on Zoom that virtual Passover seders should prove to be memorable. Next year we should be able to share the holidays together.

This Saturday night, as Passover begins, gather your pod people and turn on your tablets to retell the story of the Exodus in song, prayer, and in eating symbolic foods. The seder meals should include eating matzo and bitter herbs, and include four cups of wine. Matzo is a reminder of the suffering of the slaves, and for getting out of Egypt: staying humble while still rejoicing.

The seder plate holds the symbols of the journey from slavery to freedom that are told in the Passover story. The plate is the centerpiece of the Passover seder. It holds the ceremonial foods on which the Seder meal is based: matzah, the zeroa (shankbone), egg, bitter herbs, haroset (an applesauce-like mixture with wine, nuts, apples, etc.) and karpas vegetable.The Mishnah names five types of bitter herbs eaten on the night of Passover: ḥazzeret (lettuce), ʿuleshīn (endive/chicory), temakha, ḥarḥavina, and maror. We are going to use radicchio, a kind of colorful chicory. These herbs symbolize the bitterness of slavery and are usually served on a seder plate, but they can also appear in salads served with the meal.

For years I confused radicchio and red cabbage, because they look quite similar, but taste wildly different. Radicchio is a red chicory that is sometimes called Italian chicory because of its common use in Italian cooking. It is grown as a leaf vegetable and is a red burgundy color, with white-veined leaves that form a head. (I had to spell the name for the clerk at the market during checkout. Everyone gets confused.) There are two types being most widely available: Treviso and Verona. Treviso leaves are oblong and grow in small, tightly packed heads. Verona radicchio has loosely packed round heads which are about the size of butter lettuce heads. Be sure to pick a head with crisp leaves, and no spots. They can be stored in the vegetable drawer of your fridge, and wrapped, it will keep for about a week.

Food52 has it covered: https://food52.com/blog/11879-radicchio-and-our-11-favorite-ways-to-use-it

I am partial to mixing sweet and bitter flavors. This is a bright and colorful citrus salad: https://www.kosher.com/recipe/radicchio-citrus-salad-6611

This version incorporates tart radishes, always a springtime favorite. https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/salad-of-bitter-greens-and-oranges-106407

Other salad ideas are:
38 Passover salad recipes from Jamie Geller: https://jamiegeller.com/holidays/salad-recipes-for-passover/

Passover Friendly Bitter Lettuce Salad: https://crunchyradish.com/thecrunchyradish/2019/4/1/passover-friendly-bitter-lettuce-salad

Passover Green Salad: http://recipes.beewild.buzz/passover-green-salad/

If you are looking for a new way to combine spring flavors with your mother’s brisket, try this: https://www.nrtoday.com/print_only/a-sprightly-brisket-for-your-passover-table/article_645dbf92-b8b8-558e-96fc-ffaca5536386.html

Chag kasher sameach — Have a happy and kosher holiday!

“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.”
― Charlotte Brontë

Filed Under: Food Friday, Spy Top Story

Adkins Mystery Monday: A Small Gray Bird in a Walnut Tree

March 22, 2021 by Adkins Arboretum

Happy March Mystery Monday! This week, we have a bird song for you to identify! Hint: it is a small gray bird on a walnut tree.
http://ts.spycommunitymedia.org/files/2021/03/Nuthatch-3-22-21.mp3
Last week, we highlighted the pickerel frog! Pickerel frogs look similar to the southern leopard frog, but have slightly more rectangular blotches and yellow on their inner hind leg. Another key identifier is that southern leopard frogs have a white spot on their tympanum while pickerel frogs do not. Pickerel frogs sound a bit like a guttural snore.

Filed Under: Food-Garden Homepage

Food Friday: In Just Spring

March 19, 2021 by Jean Sanders

Tomorrow is the first day of spring. I trot around our garden, looking for the green shoots of daffodils poking up through the fallen leaves. There are purple and white crocus blooms emerging in unexpected places, where the squirrels have redesigned my grand garden scheme. I’m pretty sure it is the squirrels, because I find their other contributions: acorns and pecans tucked into the soil in window boxes and in some of the neglected pots left outside all winter. We are all waiting and watching for winter to move on. We are hungry for change and new, green beginnings.

Winter makes us cocoon for warmth and comfort in wooly sweaters and warm scarves, candlelight and cosy fires. With spring nearly upon us we can pivot, and put the dark wools away. I have found bright colors squirreled away in the back of the closet. I can’t wait to discover new and tender, fresh green spears of asparagus at the farmers’ markets, just in time for Passover and Easter feasts. We can eat trucked-in asparagus all year long, but the spring-time emergence of local, farm-fresh asparagus sparks joy. Goodbye, stodgy winter stews. Hello, asparagus.

Have you ever noticed that asparagus changes color when you blanch it? It goes from an inert olive-y green to a wild, dramatic chartreuse, verging on grass green in a flash. I always thought the change of pigment was magic, but instead, as Thomas Keller explains, it is science. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmIutCFXpHE

Who better to sing the praises of asparagus than the French Chef, Julia Child? Julia exhorts preparing asparagus the way the French do, by trimming the bottom of the stalk, and peeling tough outer skin with a vegetable peeler, just like Keller. But we are concentrating on asparagus that has just been plucked from the earth, and is brand spanking new, and does not need much peeling. This is the immediacy of springtime asparagus. Bon appétit! https://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_B0D9EDA444FC425C8932E0BE8198AAA5

Passover is the holiday of spring, and asparagus is the perfect seder dish. Passover starts starts on Saturday, March 27th. Green is key to Passover, which celebrates spring, family, freedom and the Exodus. http://kosherlikeme.com/welcome-spring-green-to-your-passover-table-with-asparagus/

This past weekend we tried something new, with grocery store asparagus, so imagine how much more delicious it will be with slender, farm fresh asparagus. We love anything that includes capers. Thank you, Melissa Clark: Roasted Asparagus With Crispy Leeks and Capers. https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1021977-roasted-asparagus-with-crispy-leeks-and-capers?

1 pound thick asparagus, ends trimmed
2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 large leek, white and light green parts, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons drained capers
Lemon wedges, for serving
¼ cup parsley, leaves and tender stems, torn

Mustard sauce
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons drained capers, finely chopped
1 small garlic clove, finely grated or minced
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and black pepper

PREPARATION
Heat oven to 425ºF. Put asparagus on a rimmed sheet pan and toss with 1 tablespoon oil and 1/2 teaspoon salt until well coated.
In a small bowl, stir together leeks, remaining 1 tablespoon oil, and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Sprinkle leeks on top of asparagus, then sprinkle with capers. Roast until asparagus are tender and golden brown, about 12 to 18 minutes.
While the asparagus stalks roast, make the mustard sauce: In a small bowl, whisk together mustard, capers and garlic. Slowly whisk in olive oil a few drops at a time to create a thick, emulsified dressing. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Once asparagus stalks are out of the oven, squeeze a lemon wedge over it and sprinkle parsley on top. Serve with mustard sauce and more lemon wedges on the side.

Frittatas always seem decadent and impulsive for dinner, yet completely respectable for breakfast. Thus, this dish can only get better with a glass of wine: https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/frittata-with-asparagus-and-scallions-358321

A light take on risotto: https://www.skinnytaste.com/spring-asparagus-risotto/

Heartier fare comes from Ina Garten’s kitchen: https://barefootcontessa.com/recipes/asparagus-prosciutto-bundles Bundles of asparagus are wrapped with prosciutto and dusted with grated Gruyere cheese. (And you will be glad to know, are gluten free!) These will be perfect as Easter side dishes, or a light spring dinner as you sit by an open window and feel the cool evening breezes waft through the back yard. Keep looking for the first fireflies.

“For a lot of people, poetry tends to be dull. It’s not read much. It takes a special kind of training and a lot of practice to read poetry with pleasure. It’s like learning to like asparagus.”
–Thomas M. Disch

Filed Under: Food Friday, Spy Top Story

Adkins Arboretum Announces Spring Native Plant Sale—Online!

March 18, 2021 by Adkins Arboretum

Prepare for spring in the garden! Adkins Arboretum, offering the Chesapeake gardener the best selection of landscape-ready native plants for more than two decades, announces its Spring Native Plant Sale. All proceeds benefit the Arboretum’s rich variety of education programs, scheduled to resume later this year, that teach about the Delmarva’s native plants and their connection to a healthy Chesapeake Bay.

Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca). Photo by Kellen McCluskey.

Due to ongoing recommendations regarding COVID-19, the spring sale will be conducted entirely online. Orders will be accepted through Thurs., April 8 at adkinsarboretum.org and will be fulfilled via timed pickup. There will be no in-person shopping at the Arboretum.

Plants for sale include a large variety of native perennials, ferns, vines, grasses and flowering trees and shrubs for spring planting. Native flowers and trees provide food and habitat for wildlife and make colorful additions to home landscapes, whether in a perennial border, a woodland garden or a restoration project. Native honeysuckle entices hummingbirds, while tall spikes of purplish flowers grace blue wild indigo. Milkweed provides critical energy for monarch butterflies on their winter migration to Mexico, and native azaleas present a veritable rainbow of colorful blooms.

As always, Arboretum members receive a generous discount on plants that varies according to membership level. To join, renew your membership or give an Arboretum membership as a gift, visit adkinsarboretum.org or contact Kellen McCluskey at kmccluskey@adkinsarboretum.org.

For more information on plants, purchasing or pickup procedures, visit adkinsarboretum.org, send email to nativeplants@adkinsarboretum.org or leave a message at 410-634-2847, ext. 0.

Adkins Arboretum is a 400-acre native garden and preserve at the headwaters of the Tuckahoe Creek in Caroline County. For more information, visit adkinsarboretum.org.

Filed Under: Garden Notes Tagged With: Adkins Arboretum, gardens, local news

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