Current Issue

“THREE SMOOTH STONES”
March Newsletter, 2010

A New Brand... And New Beer! by Liz Gallery

Hello world!  We are very excited about our new and improved web site. Stone Soup is also proud to be serving up draft beer!  We have 2 micro brews and Chimay triple flowing like life. Chimay is a Trappist beer.  Hand crafted under the spiritual watch of Belgium monks. The Abbey of Scourmont was founded on a plateau over pure table water. The Abbey started brewing beer in 1862 to sustain the abbey’s charitable activities. We serve the Chimay in a wide rimmed glass allowing the beer to open and breath. The characteristic of the brew is a lively foam, fruit, orange and bitters. The vitamin B contained in the yeast makes for a nice clean buzz. It’ll melt in you mouth. Come drink one today!

Evensong Farm

“Your chicks are here,” says the voice on the phone. The postman probably knows our number by heart but it is good that George, the man who hatches our chicks, writes our phone number on every box, so we can pick them up as soon as they arrive. Today’s trip to the post office is our first of the season for the tables at Stone Soup Bistro.

The day-olds start off in a brooder, and as soon as they've replaced their baby fluff with feathers they go out on pasture. In the beginning these birds live in portable shelters that are moved every day to fresh ground. A few weeks later the doors to the houses are opened and the birds, which are now big enough to stay inside the field fencing, are given a much wider area to roam. Keeping predators at bay is one of the most challenging parts of raising chickens on pasture, but our two Great Pyrenees dogs, Lilly and Sissy, are always on the job. Making sure that our heritage Poulet Rouge and Cornish birds are able to peck at the soil, chase grasshoppers, scratch up worms and grubs, and eat grass is how we believe they should live – not in some large temperature-controlled warehouse with 100,000 of their kin, never knowing what a blade of grass looks like, much less what it tastes like. Raising chickens in such a natural, humane way gives the meat a pure, clean taste. It also leads to healthier birds – our medicine cabinet for our chickens is apple cider vinegar. That’s it.

Evensong Farm has worked with Stone Soup Bistro since it opened, providing a variety of naturally raised and humane products for their chefs’ magic. We sell our meats, eggs, veggies and herbs at farmers markets in Silver Spring and Washington, DC. When you’re next at Stone Soup, give us a call. It’s just a quick trip across the Potomac and through a corner of Antietam Battlefield to visit the farm.

Wild Leeks reprinted from The Forager Press, LLC

The Wild Leek, also known as the Ramp or common Wild Leek (Allium tricoccum), is our best wild onion and a source of food and spiciness all year round. Broad, smooth, light green leaves, often with deep purple or burgundy tints on the lower stems begin arriving in small troops as soon as the snow disappears. Scallion-like bulbs are strongly rooted just beneath the surface of the soil. Finish off your identification by tearing a leaf or stem and taking a sniff of the strong and distinctive onion scent of the Leek.

Look for soil habitats that are sandy, moist and often on hillsides and near streams. I almost always find them while searching for Morels so a bad day of mushroom hunting can often be a good day for leeks! The leaves are very tender early in the Spring and the bulb is edible year round, though they can toughen up in the summer. Don't bother collecting more then a few handfuls unless you want to blanch and freeze some, because the wild Leek is very pungent. Use it sparingly and you'll have good luck as the flavor of both the leaves and the bulb are quite strong.