RFC Throwback: April

Lots happens in April- we start gardening in earnest, we hunt for open markets, and we come out of hibernation and start traveling!  Searching for posts to highlight for the April throwback was so fun- it was hard to choose which ones to highlight!  Here are some great memories from Aprils past.

Spring veggie garden

Here is a veggie garden update from 2008 (which still holds true today...)

I am so in love with the podcasts we used to do!  In 2009, we did recorded several dinner parties with featured seasonal ingredients.  This one is all about fennel- one of our all time favorite veggies!  Listen in for Virginia wine notes, and three dishes using fennel (soup salad, and shortbread!)

Feast for the eyes and the belly

In 2010, Shannon and I took a day trip to Charlottesville to visit Feast! and several wineries.  What a fun time!  In the first post about this trip (on Feast!) Shannon says:

I loved this place. It can be a bit hectic, so it may not be the right spot for a quite restful meal, but if your up for a bit of deli-market style energy then you will be well rewarded. The amount of delicious food that surrounds you, wines and hard ciders you can't find in Richmond, the cheese counter, the olives and olive oils, candies and chocolates, and packages of prepared foods made with local eggs, chicken, dairy and greens, all give you plenty to look at while you wait for your own meal to be served. 

And, in April of 2011, Casey wrote her first post for the RFC on a visit to the Homestead Creamery.  We are so glad she joined us!!

Delivery truck

The kids were able to bottle feed a young calf just recently weaned from his mother, and Donnie described the workings of the farm.

100 cows are raised on grass. In the winter months their diet is supplemented with corn and wheat raised on the farm. As we toured the milking building my son was disappointed we couldnt see the cows being milked... until we realized the first milking is at 4am! Donnie walked us through the milking process and the simple but impressively labor intensive process they repeat twice daily.

 Happy, happy April all!!