Merrimack Valley Magazine

CSA Merrimack Valley: The Winter Harvest ( Part 2 )

February 1, 2020 by Marc and Christopher Horne Leave a Comment

In the middle of winter, fresh local farm products can still be had and turned into delicious meals. For the January/February issue of mvm, we present classic recipes using readily available winter ingredients.

BACON AND EGG SALAD

Start to finish: 15 minutes

Servings: 2

Known in France as “salad Lyonnaise” after the Lyon region where it originates, this is a standard breakfast for dinner of eggs, bacon and toast on top of simple green salad — great as a starter or a main course. You can source excellent salad greens all winter from Little Leaf Farms in Devens, Mass. And, of course, New England is home to many notable farms that produce fresh bacon and eggs all year.

4 cups mixed salad greens 2 large eggs
4 strips thick-cut bacon, cut into bite-size strips
1 cup croutons 1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice 1 small garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard Salt and pepper

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once heated, saute the bacon strips until well cooked and slightly crispy. Remove from the pan and set aside to drain on a plate lined with paper towels.

Turn the pan down to low heat and spoon out the excess bacon fat, leaving enough to cook the eggs, then add the eggs one at a time. Cook gently until the egg whites set.

While the eggs cook, in a salad bowl combine the olive oil, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper. Whisk to combine. Then add the salad greens and croutons. Toss gently until the greens are well coated, and then plate.

Once the egg whites are set but the yolk is still runny, place the gently fried egg on top of the salad and cover with the crispy bacon.

While working for Mill City Grows, Christopher Horne was a FoodCorps service member and taught gardening and cooking classes to Lowell students. In 2017, Christopher graduated from The Farm School’s learn-to-farm program and now runs a half-acre market garden business that offers a small CSA service. He sells his produce to local restaurants in the Merrimack Valley area. Learn more at HorneFarms.com

Marc Horne is a lifelong Lowell resident. He works as a community development professional, developing affordable housing in the Merrimack Valley for nonprofit organizations. Marc also assists his brother, Christopher, with farming operations at Horne Family Farms in any way he can. His personal interests are strongly centered on food and the natural environment, especially cooking family dinners with local agricultural products.

Check back in a couple weeks for our final winter harvest recipe.

Home Beat – A Cracked Crystal Ball?

January 17, 2020 by Tyler McMillan

Predicting 2020 Housing Trends

The 2019 real estate market exhibited a surprising amount of momentum. In a year when many financial experts theorized that the housing market was nearing a crash or a correction, the real estate industry remained steadfast. What will 2020 bring to the Merrimack Valley? Although some data suggests a strong continuation of a healthy market, the combination of an election year and underlying exigencies creates a degree of uncertainty.

One of the longstanding realities of Middlesex County is lack of inventory. The most recent market statistics provided by the Northeast Association of Realtors (NEAR) confirmed this. According to NEAR, Dracut featured 57 houses on the market in September 2018. One year later, the town’s housing inventory was 39% lower, with only 35 homes for sale. This trend extended to Lowell, Lawrence, Methuen and many other cities and towns in the Merrimack Valley, and you can look for it to continue this spring.

Then there are the problems faced by young buyers. Methuen native and eXp Realty agent Chris Lefebvre understands the challenges awaiting millennials who are looking to buy a home. “It is estimated that about 33% of all buyers are millennials,” Lefebvre said. “Currently the demand for homes is far greater than the supply. Older ‘downsizers’ and cash investors hold stronger positions when purchasing homes due to their available liquidity. Many of the homes in the Merrimack Valley are receiving multiple offers, making it very competitive.”

This challenge could have a negative impact on the long-term housing market. In an interview that appeared in the May/June 2019 edition of mvm, North East Association of Realtors President Mark Kavanagh highlighted the significant lack of new construction in less expensive homes.

After hearing Kavanagh’s comments, Lefebvre agreed with the implications facing buyers in the lower price ranges. He has seen the effect firsthand. “The median sales price of single-family homes in Methuen during the month of September 2019 hovered around $400,000,” he said. “Right now, some of the new construction in Methuen is selling for the inflated price of $600,000, sometimes over $200,000 more than the median sales price.”

This illustrates a current problem with newly generated inventory. Builders are constructing homes outside the price range of many first-time buyers. These higher priced properties generally attract smaller pools of buyers and take longer to sell. Although the “move-up” buyers will likely sell the old homes they have outgrown (sometimes in the lower price range), the overall decrease of inventory in Massachusetts skews the opportunities for new buyers. This leaves Massachusetts with a market imbalance that will likely continue in 2020.

Possibly the most important and unpredictable factor is the overall health of the market. For years, financial analysts have been predicting a market correction, and many real estate agents agree that we are overdue for a decline in real estate values. According to Lefebvre, however, the prices may continue to rise throughout 2020. “The median and average prices have been rising since 2010,” he said. “The stock market is still going strong, and signs of growth are still present.”

Ultimately, it’s impossible to predict with certainty what the real estate market will do, and many industry professionals aren’t comfortable with taking a definitive position on what will happen during the early months of 2020, but the underlying complications in the local market are clear. On the surface, the average price of homes and the consistent increases in the value of real estate positively affect outlook, but we shouldn’t ignore the current imbalance between our local inventory and perspective buyers.

Sources:
Northeast Association of Realtors
Massachusetts MLS PIN
Massachusetts Association of Realtors

CSA Merrimack Valley: The Winter Harvest ( Part 1 )

January 13, 2020 by Marc and Christopher Horne Leave a Comment

MUSHROOMS ON TOAST

Start to finish: 15 minutes
Servings: 2

This is a staple of English dining tables. Mushrooms are relatively inexpensive and available year-round. Fat Moon Mushrooms in Westford, Mass., is one local source. The trick to this recipe is to cut the bread thick for the toast, and don’t skimp on the butter.

1 pound mixed mushrooms sliced thin (suggestions include shiitake, oyster, portabello)
2 thick slices bread for toast
2 tablespoons butter
1 large shallot, chopped
1 teaspoon chopped rosemary
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup cream
Salt and pepper

Heat a large-bottomed pan over medium high heat for 1-2 minutes, then add the butter and stir until fully melted. Add the mushrooms and chopped shallot. Saute until both are soft, 3-4 minutes.

Next, toast the bread. While the bread is toasting, add the chopped rosemary, salt and pepper to the pan and stir until combined. Then add the white wine and cook for 1-2 minutes.

Finally, add the cream to the pan and stir until everything is combined and the sauce has a uniform texture and color. Remove the toast when golden brown and plate. Spoon the mushroom mixture evenly over both slices. Serve immediately; this is best served quite hot.

Check back in a couple weeks for our next winter harvest recipe.

Home Beat – The Grass is Always Greener?

December 10, 2019 by Tyler McMillan

How the Legalization of Marijuana Impacts the Housing Market.

In November 2016, Massachusetts voters legalized the statewide use of recreational cannabis. Two years later, the state’s first two recreational pot shops opened their doors in Leicester and Northampton. Now, the dispensaries are budding throughout the commonwealth.

Due to the stigma of marijuana and a market factor called economic obsolescence, it’s possible that this development could negatively affect some property values. Economic obsolescence occurs when outside factors such as the local crime rate, job market, school system and traffic conditions have an adverse impact on real estate prices.

In 2018, North Andover banned the legal cannabis industry in a special town election. At the time, an organization called Massachusetts Innovation Works was planning to transform Osgood Landing, the former home of Western Electric and Lucent Technologies, into one of the largest pot-growing facilities in the world.

North Andover Selectwoman Rosemary Smedile voted for the ban. “It was a very passionate town meeting, with almost an evenly contested split amongst residents,” Smedile recalls. “Personally, I felt that there was too much ambiguity with the conflicting federal statutes.”

In the town vote, 55% of residents voted in favor of the ban. “I think it was for the best,” Smedile says. “We were already being labeled as a pot town, and there was some concern about how the stigma could affect our residents. Now we have Amazon creating a warehouse on that same land, and that vote passed with nearly 100% of our residents approving of it.”

Concerns about legalization extend beyond weed and its recreational use. Massachusetts communities have already experienced the disrupted traffic associated with legal dispensaries. In November 2018, Leicester had to call an emergency meeting to discuss the influx of automobiles brought on by Cultivate, the newly opened dispensary there.

To get a sense of how the marijuana industry might positively affect our area, consider the situation in Colorado. The Centennial State was one of the first out of the gate, passing legislation in 2012. If Colorado is any indication, the impact on the real estate market might be largely positive.

Kelly Moye, a former spokesperson for the Colorado Association of Realtors, spoke with National Mortgage News, a residential mortgage industry newsletter, regarding marijuana’s impact on the Colorado housing market. According to Moye, “The legalization of marijuana has caused an increase in population in the state of Colorado. … People flocked to Colorado to either work in the marijuana industry or to gain access to marijuana itself.”

According to the Colorado Association of Realtors, the median price of a single-family home in Colorado rose from $187,900 in 2011 to $411,200 in July 2019. It’s fair, of course, to question how much of the increase can be attributed to the marijuana laws or to other factors, such as low mortgage rates, the national economic boom, a cultural shift in favor of the adventure lifestyle exemplified by the region, and the rise of marketplace platforms such as Airbnb.

Massachusetts markets that have embraced the cannabis industry seem to have experienced favorable results. A look at the year-to-year comparison (2018-2019) using data from The Multiple Listing Service shows the median sales price in Leicester increased by 7.81%. Northampton saw an increase of 2.07%.

Only time will tell what the long-term impacts of legalization might be on the housing market. The impact on our region, along with the 10 other states that have legalized marijuana for recreational use, will be studied and scrutinized for years to come.

Sources:

National Association of Realtors

Massachusetts Association of Realtors

North East Association of Realtors

Colorado Association of Realtors

Boston.cbslocal.com/2018/11/26/leicester-cultivate-pot-shop-traffic-concerns-emergency-town-meeting/

CSA Merrimack Valley: Honey and Vinegar

May 13, 2019 by Marc and Christopher Horne Leave a Comment

Farmers markets and CSA shares in early spring often include produce that’s unfamiliar to many people. Spring in New England produces a variety of bitter lettuces, pungent greens, spicy root vegetables and brightly flavored herbs. Finding a way to use these fresh local ingredients can be a challenge. However, other readily available ingredients can add balance and complexity to the assertive flavors of New England spring produce.

To soften the strong flavors, consider using two classic New England products: honey for its sweetness, and raw apple cider vinegar for its complexity.

The combination of honey’s sweetness and the cider’s sharp acidity brings balance to spring harvest dishes (see the following pan-roasted radish dish as an example). Honey and apple cider vinegar also can be used to make a refreshing seasonal cocktail, the recipe for which we’ve included below.

PAN-ROASTED RADISH
Start to finish: 20 minutes
Servings: 4

Radishes come in an array of varieties and sizes. Farms will be producing many different radishes this time of year, and this recipe works great for all of them. The roasting is best done in a cast-iron or enameled cast-iron pan. However, any heavy-bottomed metal pan will work well.

Ingredients:
1 bunch of radishes (approximately 1 pound, washed, trimmed and cut in half if they are large)
1 tablespoon butter
1 ounce honey
1 ounce raw apple cider vinegar
4-6 sage leaves, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Microgreens for garnish

Directions:
1. Place a cast-iron pan on the stove at a medium-high temperature.
2. Once the pan comes to temperature, add the butter and cook until fully melted and no longer bubbling.
3. Add the radishes (cut side down if they are halved) and the sage. Cook on high heat for 2 to 3 minutes until golden brown on one side.
4. After the radish is sufficiently browned, add the honey and vinegar and a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir until well combined.
5. Plate, and garnish with microgreens. Best eaten immediately.

Left: Pan Roasted Radish. Right: Farmer’s Switchel Cocktail. Photos by Kevin Harkins.

FARMER’S SWITCHEL COCKTAIL
Start to finish: 30 minutes
Servings: 1

This is a take on an American classic. Traditionally, a switchel is a sweet and sour fermented beverage that farmers would consume during peak harvest times. It’s also great as a refreshing nonalcoholic drink — simply substitute additional seltzer water for the vodka. Note: You can purchase honey simple syrup from specialty markets, but we’ve included a recipe for those who prefer to make their own.

HONEY SIMPLE SYRUP
1 cup honey
1 cup water

Directions:
1. In a small saucepan, combine 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup honey. Cook on medium-high heat, stirring constantly until the mixture gently boils.
2. Remove from heat and cool.

SWITCHEL
4-6 basil leaves
1 ounce honey simple syrup
1 ounce raw apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 ounces vodka
Seltzer water

Directions:
1. In a tall cocktail glass, place the basil leaves and gently muddle until fragrant.
2. Add the honey simple syrup, apple cider vinegar and vodka. Stir gently until well combined.
3. Fill the glass with ice and top off with seltzer water.

CSA Merrimack Valley: The Winter Harvest ( Part 2 )

Home Beat – A Cracked Crystal Ball?

CSA Merrimack Valley: The Winter Harvest ( Part 1 )

Home Beat – The Grass is Always Greener?

CSA Merrimack Valley: Honey and Vinegar

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