Florist Designs With Local Flowers for Year

Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 13, 2010 - Florist Designs With Local
Flowers for Year-round Beauty
Farms in Md. and Va. Supply Cut Flowers for Weddings, Events
Laurie Savage
Md. Correspondent
BALTIMORE, Md. — Ellen Frost
did not set out to work with flowers,
but instead she said flowers “picked”
her.
Frost never imagined she would
own a floral business after growing up
in Buffalo, N.Y., and later living in an
apartment in San Francisco working
at nonprofit organizations where she
did not have the opportunity to be especially creative.
Taking an entrepreneurial track in
college sparked her desire to do something on her own while still affecting
the same positive change as working
for nonprofits.
“For several years, my friends and
I did flower arranging for friends’
weddings. About three years ago, we
decided to see if we could get other
people to pay us for the same type of
services,” Frost said.
The effort was successful, and Local Color Flowers was born. Frost
has a workshop in the Mount Vernon
neighborhood of Baltimore and is the
company’s sole owner. Her two former partners still serve as lead designers.
Frost took her floral business one
step further. Local Color Flowers specializes in the use of locally grown
cut flowers for weddings and other
special events.
“There was such a large Buy Local
movement in Baltimore then — and
still is — and since we knew several
flower growers in the area, it seemed
like a good fit. Additionally, buying
local really fit in with our own personal values and priorities,” Frost said.
A weekend job working at a Maryland farm and a Baltimore farmers’
markets introduced Frost to agriculture. As a Baltimore master gardener,
she worked at the plant clinic
table at the markets,
where she found she
loved teaching
people about
plants.
“Spending time with
market customers, I saw
the great demand for fresh,
local produce and the
overwhelming support of
local farmers,” she said.
The book, Flower Confidential by
Amy Stewart, opened her eyes with
its behind-the-scenes look at the cut
flower business. Many cut flowers,
particularly when they are locally outof-season, travel thousands of miles
dipped in chemicals to keep them
fresh, she said.
“We can go to a farm, pick what we
want, have the farmer cut them, drive
home and arrange them for a wedding
the next day,” she said.
She estimates about 95 percent of
Photo by Ellen Frost
Flowers for a Mother’s Day
event.
Photo by Frank Hamilton
Ellen Frost, right, owner of Local Color Flowers in Baltimore, Md., at her booth with her husband Eric
Moller, shows that you don’t need to import to have gorgeous flowers.
the flowers used in the business come
from local growers, mostly in Maryland and northern Virginia. She may
occasionally buy flowers from Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey.
Buying from local producers means
the selection is limited to flowers that
are in season. For example, at this
time of year Frost said they have access to tulips, stock, lilies, pussy willow, curly willow and forsythia, and
sometimes anemones, gerber daisies
and flowering quince.
“We tell folks you can
choose the color, and
you can generally choose the
shape.
We
don’t
ever
promise any
one type of
flower,” Frost
said.
There is a
positive side to using flowers in season.
“Everything is custom
and unique, we never have two of the
same thing,” she said.
The first year in business, Local
Color Flowers did eight weddings.
Last year, that number increased to
22 weddings. This year, the goal is 40
weddings, and 18 are already on the
books.
Local Color Flowers also provides
flowers for showers, birthday parties
and other special occasions, and Frost
hopes to beautify restaurants, galleries and other businesses with local
flowers.
Photo by Wendy Hickok
Wedding decor details.
Photo by Wendy Hickok
A bridesmaid’s bouquet.
Photo by Jerry Mobbs
At a wedding, the bride and her father carry a fresh flower bouquet
and boutonnière designed by Local Color Flowers.
Photo by Wendy Hickok
(Left) A spring flower arrangement of wedding bouquets by Frost.
“We will be focusing on restaurants November, and a pool of designers
and other businesses that are already work flexible hours to pull everything
committed to local food, wine and together.
business,” Frost said.
The Growers
Frost’s goal is to work full-time
“I love our growers,” Frost said.
with her floral design business. For “They have been great to work with,
the past 10 years, she has worked part- learn from and hang out with. They
time at local produce farms, nurseries
are knowledgeable about flowers and
and farmers’ markets.
Her business is open mid-February flower growing.”
More FLOWER DESIGNS, page B8
to the end of October or beginning of
Photo by Carol Masica
Hanging basket at a 2009
wedding reception.
Photo by Ellen Frost
A wedding napkin decorated
with a sprig of rosemary at a
May 2009 wedding.
Photo by Carol Masica
Photo by Ellen Frost
One of Frost’s designers, Marina Merrick, here puts together a bride’s
bouquet.
Photo by Ellen Frost
Here grower David Dowling, of Farmhouse Flowers in Maryland,
picks ranunculus from his greenhouse for Frost’s floral business.
Jen Bryant, one of Frost’s
designers, added dahlias, hydrangeas and berries to this
wedding cake.
- Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 13, 2010
Cook’s
Question
Corner
If you are looking for a recipe but can’t find it, send
your recipe request to Anne Harnish, Cook’s Question Corner, in care of Lancaster Farming, P.O. Box
609, Ephrata, PA 17522. There’s no need to send a
self-addressed stamped envelope. If we receive an
answer to your question, we will publish it as soon
as possible. Check your recipe to make sure you
copy the right amounts and complete instructions
for making the recipe. Sometimes we receive numerous answers to the same request, but cannot
print each one.
Answers to recipe requests should be sent to the
same address. You may also e-mail questions and
answers to [email protected].
QUESTION — Lucinda Donough from Port Royal,
Pa. is hoping to locate someone who may have a video
of the Angel Food Cake Contest at the 2010 Pennsylvania Farm Show. Anyone willing to share such a video
with Lucinda can reach her at 2293 Mountain Road, Port
Royal, PA 17082 or (717) 527-4466.
QUESTION — Michael Hutnick from Bloomsburg,
Pa. is searching for a recipe for molasses cookies. His
grandmother made them when he was a child, but the
family never kept the recipe.
QUESTION — Carol Hostetler of Spring Run, Pa.
would like a recipe for a “starter” for Hawaiian friendship
fruitcake. She has the recipe for the cake, but she needs
the starter recipe.
QUESTION — Lucille Werley, Hamburg, Pa., is looking for a recipe for Italian Wedding Soup.
QUESTION — Connie Correll, Sherrard, Ill., is looking for a recipe for the roast beef that is “fall-apart tender” and “melts in your mouth” like the roast beef served
at Shady Maple Smorgasbord.
QUESTION — Barb Fenstermaker, Watsontown,
Pa., would like to know where to buy the large, seeded
raisins known as Muscat raisins.
QUESTION — A reader purchased a new “Cook’s
Essentials” pressure canner and gadgets at a thrift store.
There are no instructions included. The reader would
like to know where to find the instruction booklet.
QUESTION — Sylvia Fryberger is looking for a recipe for crockpot or slow cooker rice pudding.
QUESTION — Mike Lucas from Jim Thorpe, Pa.
wonders which type of apples works best in the recipe
for caramel nut-dipped apples that appeared in the Nov.
7 issue of Lancaster Farming.
QUESTION — Luci Essig from Bernville, Pa. is looking for a recipe for mock strawberries. She recalls that
it had fresh cranberries; fresh apples; salt; sugar; and
drained, crushed pineapple. The apples and cranberries
had to be put in a food processor to chop them up.
ANSWER — Alfred DiPretno from Mt. Laurel,
N.J. was looking for a really good recipe for bean
soup that includes vegetables but no meat. Thanks
to Ginny Ranck, Paradise, Pa., for sending in this
recipe. She writes that this is a “heart healthy” treat
for a cold winter day. The ham can be eliminated for
a meatless soup.
Bean Soup
4 (15-ounce) cans of beans (a variety of pinto,
lima, white, kidney, navy beans can be used)
1 tablespoon butter
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped carrots
2 cups chopped ham
4 cups tomatoes and/or juice
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon basil
2 cups milk or chicken broth
Salt
Pepper
Saute onion, pepper and garlic in butter for 4 minutes. Add celery and carrots and cook until tender.
In large container (approximately 6 quart-size)
combine beans, sauteed vegetables, ham, tomatoes, chili powder and basil. Add milk or chicken
broth. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.
ANSWER — For the reader who was looking for
a pie carrier, Shetler’s Wholesale sells the pie carrier that can hold 4 pies. It is sturdy, and pies won’t
slide out when carrying. It costs $19.95. To request
a catalog, write to Shetler’s Wholesale Company at
P.O. Box 8, Geneva, IN 46740, or fax (260) 368-9902.
ANSWER — A Berks County, Pa. reader had requested a recipe for a chocolate peanut butter
cheesecake. Thanks to Mary Ann Martin from Penn
Yan, N.Y., who sent in this recipe.
Candy Statistics
Chocolate continues to be the
overwhelming favorite food for
Valentine’s Day. Most Americans
will give — or get — this timehonored classic on Feb. 14.
Heart-shaped boxes filled with
chocolate treats, chocolate truffles
and peanut butter-chocolate hearts
remain firmly at the top of the candy list. However, according to the
National Confectioners Association, conversation hearts (with new
messages including “tweet me” and
Flower Designs
Continued from 3
Frost deals with growers who specialize in producing only flowers, and
many are part of the Association of
Specialty Cut Flower Growers.
Often when a grower doesn’t have
what Frost needs, that grower will
call around to others to find out if they
have it in stock.
“That has been a huge part of our
success,” Frost said.
John McKeown, owner of Locust
Point Flowers in Elkton, Md., said
“text me”) and cherry-flavored candies such as gummies and jellies
remain as Valentine’s Day staples.
In 2007, the most recent year for
which statistics are available, $4
billion worth of commodity ingredients were used to produce U.S.
confectionary products valued at
$27.4 billion.
There are 450 companies that
manufacture, supply and market
chocolate, non-chocolate and gum
confectionary in the U.S. There will
be 36 million heart-shaped boxes of
chocolate sold for Valentine’s Day.
In a typical year, 70 million pounds
of almonds and other nuts are used
by confectionary manufacturers.
Confectionary manufacturers use
759 million pounds of cocoa beans
in a typical year, 1 billion pounds
of milk and milk products, 2.3 billion pounds of sugar and 1.4 billion
pounds of corn syrup.
Source: National Confectioners
Association
Local Color Flowers’ approach to
selling local flowers is unique and
the only business with which he deals
with that philosophy.
McKeown sells his cut flowers
mostly locally to several florists and
farmers’ markets.
“Buying and selling locally keeps
money in the community and reduces
pollution. It has helped us keep our
farm in the family for years,” he said.
The family farm previously was in
grains and vegetables, and McKeown
said the move to cut flowers came
about due to the difficulty in finding
farmland and the expense of land.
McKeown has been in the cut flow-
er business for 20 years. Currently
he grows about an acre and a half of
flowers and also has plants and flowers in greenhouses.
McKeown agreed that selection is
difficult when growing locally.
“When we have a lot of flowers is
when florists are not very busy,” he
said. He does grow some poinsettias
for Christmas and tulips for Valentine’s Day.
“People want to deal locally,” he
said.
For more information on Local
Color Flowers, visit www.locoflo.
com, call (410) 262-1494 or email
[email protected].
Chili’s Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake
Crust:
1-1/4 cup Oreo cookie crumbs (remove filling before crushing)
1/3 cup butter, melted
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix crumbs and
butter. Press into bottom of 8-inch springform pan.
Bake 10 minutes. Spread 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter over crust. Set aside. You may warm up peanut
butter in microwave before spreading over crust.
Filling:
In a large bowl, beat until smooth:
3 8-ounce packages cream cheese
1 cup sour cream
1-1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Fold in just until blended:
3 beaten eggs
Remove 1 cup of batter and fold in 1/4 cup chocolate syrup. Pour remaining batter over crust then
pour chocolate batter over plain batter. Wrap bottom of pan in foil and place in water filled 10x15inch pan. Bake at 300 degrees for 1-1/2 to 2 hours.
Cheesecake is done when center becomes firm.
Turn oven off, and let set in oven 1 hour to prevent
cracks and falling.
When cheesecake has cooled completely, remove
from pan and soften 1 cup fudge ice cream topping in microwave, and spread evenly over top of
cheesecake. Chop 4 peanut butter cups into small
chunks, and sprinkle over fudge topping. Serve at
room temperature. Keep refrigerated otherwise.
ANSWER — A reader was looking for a recipe for
soft pretzels. Thanks to Mary Ann Martin from Penn
Yan, N.Y., who submitted the following recipe.
Auntie Anne-Style Soft Pretzels
3/4 cup warm water
1 tablespoon yeast
4 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/4 cups high gluten flour
1-1/4 cups cake flour
In a medium-size bowl sprinkle yeast over warm
water; then sprinkle sugar over yeast, and let set 10
minutes. Let rise 15 minutes then turn dough out on
a clean, unfloured surface, and divide into 8 pieces.
Roll into a rope and twist into pretzel shape. Dip
into mixture of 1 cup warm water and 4 teaspoons
baking soda, then place on a greased baking sheet
and sprinkle with pretzel salt. Let rise until double
in size. Bake at 500 degrees, approximately 10 minutes. Brush with melted butter before serving.
Happy Fastnacht Day
Tuesday, Feb. 16
Here is a traditional recipe from the historical Landis Valley Cookbook of Pennsylvania German Foods and Traditions.
Fastnachts
2 cups scalded milk
1 cup mashed potatoes
3/4 cup sugar
1 package yeast
1/2 cup lard
2 teaspoons salt
2 beaten eggs
1 grated whole nutmeg
7 cups flour (approximately)
Add mashed potatoes, sugar, salt and lard to scalded milk. Let cool
until lukewarm. Add eggs and nutmeg. Add yeast and enough flour
to make a soft dough. Knead well and place in a greased bowl. Cover
with a cloth and let rise about 1-1/2 hours. Roll out about 1/4-inch
thick on a floured board. Cut with a doughnut cutter or into squares.
Place on a cloth and let rise until doubled in size; then fry in hot fat
until lightly browned on both sides. Drain on paper. Serve warm with
molasses, syrup or honey, or sprinkle with sugar. Leftover fastnachts
can be made fresh again by placing them in a brown paper bag and
warming in a 350-degree oven for about 10 minutes.
Master Gardeners to Offer Tree
Biology, Pruning Workshop
MCEWENSVILLE, Pa. —
Northumberland County Master
Gardeners are offering a free tree
biology and pruning workshop,
Saturday, March 13 at 10 a.m. at
the Montgomery House Library in
McEwensville.
Featured speaker is Northum-
berland County Master Gardener and
certified Arborist, Lee Murphy. The
program also includes an overview of
tree identification, selection, installation and diagnosing plant disorders.
Call the Penn State Cooperative
Extension office at (570) 988-3950
to register.