Something Wicked This Way Comes... To Lancaster

IT'S ALL IN THE NAME...

Autumn is just around the corner... and with that comes the Harvest Moon which is the moon at and about the period of fullness that is nearest to the autumnal equinox. ( usually in September) All that those three dollar words mean is that it is party time at the Harvest Moon Bed and Breakfast.

In Lancaster County, there is somewhat of a celebration this time of year... thankful for a successful growing season... thankful for the food that has been provided and thankful for being able to once again handle the fields. ( I talk like I work the fields myself; don't I). What that all comes down to, is that opening a bed and breakfast in Lancaster County has been an eye opener.

You see, I missed the area we once lived in... Rockport MA. I am sure you got that from a previous posting. However, living down here has grown into a new and exciting part of my lives time line.

Each winter here in Lancaster, I wonder how the fields could ever support life? Barren, Expansive and Gray... that is all I can think of. And then as if by cue, the little plugs of corn have sprouted into eight food giants. Each August we look in amazement at what was once those barren fields. And then you notice each and every plant in the fields, soy beans, tobacco, melons, pumpkins and so on. The list is ever growing and each year I have pick of the litter with the fall provisions for decorating the yard.

So as I prepare the Bed and Breakfast for the Harvest Moon... you know after all, it is our name sake, I look for the perfect pumpkin to decorate... well that would be many pumpkins. The house has to look just right for the many fall events that we have coming up. So yes, Something Wicked This Way Really Does Come to the bed and breakfast this year, something wickedly fun that is... great cooking demos, culinary tours and eerie lectures. It's all in the name; The Harvest Moon.

Whale Watching and Buggy Rides

I once lived on the ocean up in New England; far away from our Bed and Breakfast in Lancaster County. The name of this small bucolic fishing community was Rockport. The village on the North Shore of Boston has a quaint little downtown area that seemed to have been stuck back in time. Great little shops, the old time pharmacy, a country store and even the corner bakery were all mainstays when I lived there. Lobstering was a big deal in the area with every nook and cranny along the warf covered with a lobster trap just waiting to be baited and set. The town is all that a vibrant fishing community could be.

When I lived there, I never really appreciated the seafood; Working in a restaurant I ordered it, prepared it, cooked it... it was everywhere. So my desire for good seafood, although I appreciated it, was not great. I would nibble of some of the freshest of flounder or enjoy the richest seafood bisque one could enjoy. Often, I would enjoy a lost claw in the Lobster Pot, danggling the meat above a bowl of butter... Oh, no big deal. It was all there EVERY DAY!

So after living there for about 16 years, having enjoyed all that one could up there, I thought I had seen it all. The only thing I did not do is go on a whale watch... awww,that's ok! I don't have sea legs anyway. The time is good to leave, new beginnings, promising days ahead and besides, I had my fill of seafood... Or did I?

So living down here in Lancaster running our bed and breakfast we have grown to enjoy the freshest of produce, the home cooked meals and the exciting meats that are prepared at quite a few of the butcheries. The choices are many. One of the only things, as in Rockport, I have not done is something just as campy as a whale watch; A horse and buggy ride.

So that one day I wanted a great piece of fresh fish, you know the kind you get at the little family restaurant that sells fried clams, boiled lobster, backed haddock all fresh fresh fresh... you know... don't you? Anyone? Hey, who can help me? Rats it was no where to be found. I was lost. What was I to do. Where is that lost lobster claw swimming at the bottom of the pot? What happened to last drops of seafood bisque that was just enough for a taste. It was all gone.

So recipe for my problem... 1) Phone call to Rockport, 2) Drive to New England, 3) Dinner at Farnhams. And maybe just maybe while I am there I could go Whale Watching. Who knows it depends on how much of a tourist I become. I will let you know.

Lancaster Culinary Tours

We did it! The site is up and running and we could not be happier. Our friends at the Artist's Inn and Gallery and and we here at the Harvest Moon Bed and Breakfast have launched our new website for Lancaster County Tours. For all those
"Foodies" out there, this is the place for you.

Both Jan and Carl have been operating Lancaster County Tours since 2005 in an effort to bring to our guest the many unique "one of a kind" finds that only Lancaster County can offer on a culinary note.

We have conducted in the past Cheese and Wine tours, Beer and Pretzel Tours, Cajun Murder Mystery Weekends, Wine Camp and New this year will be the Paranormal Tour scheduled for October.

Each tour offered will be changed so that not two are the same. There is so much to explore in Lancaster County that the list is always changing for us. Local vintners and Cheese artisans are challenging locals and tourist alike to explore their new offerings to the culinary world, Lancaster County Tours has put together these tours for you to enjoy.

Our tours are smaller and not the commercial tours that traverse across Lancaster County. We keep them smaller on purpose to maintain that same personal connection that we emulate through our inns.

To find out more of our tours, check us out at http://www.lancasterculinarytours.com and find out what all the buzz is about.

The Bunny and the Lancaster Innkeeper

I might want to be careful how I title this particular blog; you will see soon enough what I am talking about though. I have grown to love the gardens here and find myself fooling around with them over the course of the season. I have extended them to the hilt, or so I tell myself each year, but with each year, the gardens seem to expand. I just have to have that new perennial, or the plants have spread so much that they are busting out. Whatever it is, I have made the back yard into an area to relax, unwind and enjoy. However, it is not always like that

It all started last fall; I planted these wonderful tulips that were going to be the envy of the neighborhood. I was gloating just a little bit. I put them in the ground and let them go. As with all bulbs, they do not give you instant gratification. You wait throughout the winter and then as the first signs of spring come along, you wait for the first leaves to poke on out, as with every plant that you put into the garden, from flours, to herbs and so on.

So as that first leaf started to poke its self through the cold winter soil, I knew that my wait would soon be over, it was beginning to happen. The dark days of winter were behind us and new life was just getting ready to burst. Soon after I saw quite a few of the bulbs I planted poking out and all was on track.

Then one morning, as I was performing my routine of walking around and checking out the progress, I noticed that the tulips leaves were gone! I could not find some of them. Some were still there, but in one section, they were gone. I could not believe it, what was soon to be the envy of the neighborhood, was gone???

Well, it was not all that bad, there were still more just getting ready to poke on through and they would soon be all that I wanted. The next morning I awoke to a fresh chill in the air and I thought that maybe the frost did something to the plants. I went outside to look and noticed that the daffodils were all still ok. I looked for the new growth that was left from the tulips and could not find it. Could this be... more is now gone. I looked around it the garden and found a hole as if dug from something... RATS! Well, not really, but for sure rodents. Just about then out of the debris left from last season shot out a rabbit. It had dirt on it's paws and a green mustache around his face. That little devil. He was the one eating my tulips and a number of other things in the garden.

So now I am constanly reminded of Elmur Fudd and his never ending pursuit of making the rabbit, "kick the bucket". I have tried so much over the past few months. The tulips finally did pop out of the ground, but boy did they look spindly and all chewn up at first. At one point I did get this spray that seemed to work a bit... putriefied egg is what it is and boy oh boy was it nasty. Seemed to work for a while, but as soon as it rained, I had problems again. Now it seems that they have calmed down a bit, although I see them everywhere.

I will be careful this fall when planning the gardens for next year, not so many tulips. When you creat the opportunity for a motley crew of bulb yielding bunnies vollieing for prize tulips, the frustrations seem to mount. I will try to remember! ( Do not creat opportunity for bunnies... Do not creat opportunity for bunnies...)

"Cause I Eats Me Spinach"

I remember being young, how influenced I was by me surroundings. The world was a big place and I was mesmerized by what was in it. As I stretch me mind and leave the comforts of me Lancaster Bed and Breakfast, I recall living in Reisterstown MD; I was only five at the time. I remember this commercial of people using soap and it made them float. That is what I got out of it being only five years old, I think what they were trying to say is that it brings you to new levels or heights, ones not achievable without this soap. To this day, I still think about how influenced I was.

There were others that as a child, brought me to this place where everything was possible. One of them was eating spinach. As I watched Popeye and all the antics that went on in that cartoon, I recall the times when Olive Oyl was caught in some type of trouble and needed the help of Popeye. She would call him and he would have a can of spinach (pulled sometimes out of mid air) in his hands. It never failed. Well of course as gullible as I was when I was a child, I thought that if you opened a can of spinach, you would be super strong. And although I do believe that spinach does have powerful benefits, I don't believe it will produce biceps that will impress my grandma and strength that will leave any bodybuilder envious... anymore!

So today, after eating spinach for about twenty years, I question why me biceps are not the size of baby melons. I eat it in soup, pasta, pizza, clazones... in omelets and so on. Yet I don't have those "guns" as my daughter likes to call them.

Lesson learned: your imagination leaves you as you get older. As much as I wanted to believe that soap carried special levitational qualities and spinach would instantly scare off any would be thug, I have grown to realize that those funked out 70's commercials were pretty darn good at making me believe.

Well, one thing I gathered out of it all is how to use spinach in so many different ways. I make me own spinach bread each Friday night to go along with the pizza. I can't get enough of it, and secretly I tell me-self that after eating me spinach, I might just be a bit stronger.

Enjoy and remember what Popeye said all the time... "I yam what I yam!" I will just keep eating the spinach; maybe in a few more years it will all pay off.



Spinach Bread

Your favorite recipe for bread dough,

Spinach Filling

*Two bags of frozen spinach or three bags of fresh ( washed and stemmed and drained)
*1 pound of loose sausage meat- Turkey or chicken is fine.
*2 cloves of fresh garlic
*1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
*salt and pepper
*Olive oil
*1 can of black olives

Saute sausage in pan with a drop of oil in bottom of pan, crumble and brown just till cooked. Add garlic and brown. Then add drained spinach and olives to the pan and cook out all the moisture. Season with salt and pepper and then remove from the heat. Add about two tablespoons of Olive oil and the Parmesan cheese. Let cool. Roll out bread dough and drop cooled spinach filling onto dough, roll and pinch closed. Bake in oven at `375 till golden brown and brush with olive oil when it comes out of the oven. Enjoy!

The Amish in Lancaster County

The Amish in Lancaster County.... it took some time for me to get use to living here. As we decided to settle down to open up our bed and breakast in this bucolic community, we had to get use to "slowing down" Now I say slowing down with all due respect. I have never been as busy as I am now. However, I hear it all the time when guest come here to stay at the Harvest Moon. They say, "what a slower paced life you have here... it is so quiet and you have it so easy".

In the beginning I really did not understand what it was that they were talking about. Then as I started the discovering the county, I began to realize what they meant. You hear it as you pass through the country side, (off the main drags) you hear it as you go to a small road side stand, ( the friendly service ) and you see it as you stand out of the car and look at the country side from a hill top, ( nothing but beautiful farmland ).

Our area is something else, there are a lot of special places in the world; Lancaster is most definitely one of them. From the small local bakers that sell their home baked bread on the side of the road to the quilter that just hung her latest masterpiece for sale. If you are looking for what my guest call "quiet" you will find it, in all senses of the word.

Join Jan from the Artist Inn and myself for our tour as we dig deep into the Amish way of life, Go to a bakery and learn the process of Amish baking and canning, see age old traditions of how they make a buggy and top it all off with a dinner an an Amish Household. You will be totally immersed; we guarantee.

To find out more go to the Harvest Moon. We hope to see you on this one.

Lancaster Cheese

Just when I think I've got a hold on Lancaster County, WHAM!!! I find a new part that simply amazes me. I just need to suggest to our guest here at the bed and breakfast to join us during our next Cheese and Wine Tour.

Today was most definitely one of those days. I was on a mission; find an Amish run dairy farm that makes their own cheese. Should not be too hard.... Well no it was not too difficult, how could it be? Sampling cheese is always a lot of fun.

I found just the place... in the southeastern part of the county below Christiana. A place really close to Chester county where you have the feel of the rolling hills, beautiful forest with small streams meandering through and covered bridges that span across. The place was serene. So as I continued to drive along in search for my Dairy farm, the road became narrow, and the houses were now sparse. I was deep into the county.

I sprang up over a hill and there it was, Grass Valley Dairy. Just a small place that with the blink of an eye, one would not know of it's existence. No website, no email address, you probably wont find it on the map anywhere; a hidden gem!! I am glad I found it. So as I took the car down the long and winding road, I could not wrap my head around the beauty that lay in front of me. Nothing short of spectacular!!! I could see no other sign of life other than the entourage of friendly canines that came to greet me. One was even crying as I bent down to pet him as if longing for some type of attention.

So as I waited with my friends tossing the ball a bit and could not get over how quiet it was here. Really a place to just unwind... and once again, how beautiful it was. Moments later from over the hill I saw a figure chopping wood; soon after Mr. Stolzfus came down to greet me.

He talked with me about his Dairy Farm and his cheese. Explained the process from beginning to end and gladly answered my trivial questions. Then the moment of truth, he presented to me his cheese; both Colby and Cheddar. Wow was it good, I really like the Colby. Just the right kick behind it. Knowing that we do our Cheese and Wine tours with our friends at the Artist's Inn, he presented me with a small sample bag of each to bring along. My hope is that I will not eat it all before I see Jan, ( Good Luck Jan)

Sooo... paired with the perfect wine, this cheese would be the perfect accompaniment ...ohh and some great crusty bread would be perfect... and maybe a bit more wine... get the picture??

Can't wait to bring guest to meet Mr. Stolzfus on one of our cheese and wine tours. Oh, and did I mention how beautiful it was back there...