Welcome to Mary Margaret's Blog

Fresh herbs, ahhhh! They are just are so luxurious with their beautiful scent, fresh appearance, and unbeatable taste! Do you ever just put your nose into them to get the full herby experience?? I totally do! Basil, dill, parsley, cilantro, sage, thyme…. Mmmmm! The list that can be grown in Maine is long and wonderful! (We even have lemongrass in our CSA member PYO gardens this year!) But, what to do with them all?? It seems like abundance is a theme with fresh herbs, because even one small bundle goes a long way with flavor. And you don’t want to waste anything, right? So how to use them all without overwhelming the taste of the fresh veggies? Here are some great ideas for doing exactly that, just in time for the bounty of gardens and CSA shares to be hitting your fridges!     How to use more fresh herbs… Read More

Are your eyes bigger than your stomach? Is your garden going to be bursting with fresh green-ness SOON? Are you anticipating that your fridge could be full of greens from your CSA share that you just can't quite keep up with? No matter what, summertime brings a welcome bounty of green food, after a sparse spring and white winter. But once the garden comes in, you may find yourself overloaded and not sure how to eat them all before they go bad.      How to preserve greens for later use: Freeze them! The best, easiest, and simplest way to preserve greens is to freeze them. Have you ever bought a package of frozen spinach at the grocery store? Who hasn’t, really? I grew up eating that stuff! Well, actually freezing greens is super easy and a great way to preserve the nutrients much more effectively than canning. Plus they’re easy to… Read More

I was recently talking to a friend of mine who is really into veggies. He said, a little regretfully, “The one thing I don’t do is make my own salad dressings.” My conversation with my friend gave me the idea to write this blog post!  Maybe you also wish you made your own salad dressings but don't know where to start? I can help! We make all of our own salad dressings at our house and not because we are super hardcore or anything, but because it really is that easy and so much less expensive. Not to mention doesn’t contain all of that bad stuff that you’re trying to avoid in the first place when you go to the effort to eat healthy!   But there is a bigger reason to make your own salad dressings... Read on to find out!     5 great reasons to make your own… Read More

Everyone knows that veggies are vital for a healthy diet in the best of times, right? Right now supporting your immune system has gotta be especially important with all that’s going on! And you may have some unexpected time on your hands and might be getting a little stir-crazy looking for things to do! How about cooking up some immune-boosting veggie recipes while you’re staying at home? That’s my idea of a productive time! Here are some ideas that I’ve come up with for helping boost your immune system with fresh veggies! (A special thank you goes out to family friend, Dr. Morgan Titus Rau, ND and to our employees Robert and Hannah who helped with a brainstorming session for the ideas contained here.)     How to boost your immune system with fresh veggies Here are some great ways to get that boost that many of us are looking for… Read More

Are you feeling the same way I am? Has your whole world been turned upside down in the matter of a few weeks?? Is the thought of going to the grocery store for your vegetables terrible to you at this point? But let's face it.  You've got to eat.  Farm fresh food is essential. Your number one goal right now is to maintain your health and minimize your exposure, right? A CSA farm share, aka a subscription to a weekly box of organic vegetables grown safely with care at our family farm, is a solution to consider ESPECIALLY at this time.   Plus, participating in a CSA program can bring you some of the positive feelings that we need to focus on right now... Abundance, Hope, Love, Community, Support!   But, what is a CSA? Our farm’s primary and most important source of income is our CSA farm share program. CSA stands for Community… Read More

A common question I get is… “How do I buy from you?” No, we don’t attend the farmers market and don’t have a traditional farm stand… "So what exactly do you do??" You may ask. We feed over hundreds of local couples and families fresh vegetables grown on our small farm Dover Foxcroft all year round! Intrigued? Read on…   Here’s what we do on our small family farm Our farm’s primary and most important source of income is our CSA farm share program. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Sounds like a bunch of jargon, right? In a nutshell, we provide local families and couples an alternative to the wilted and boring produce at the grocery store with weekly beautiful organic veggies grown on our farm and seasonal recipes to inspire them to eat more veggie variety and love every bite!   How Ripley Farm's CSA works When you buy… Read More

I totally get it. It takes a lot of time to prepare your family meals full of all natural ingredients, especially lots of fresh vegetables like you want to! So much chopping, slicing, dicing, right? Who has time for all of that?? You’re busy. You’ve got kids or grandkids… You’ve got work… Doctor's appointments... Or just LIFE to keep you busy and you can’t spend all day in the kitchen. I’m the same way! Running a farm business, a household, caring for my child, all while putting three healthy home cooked meals full of fresh vegetables on the table every day IS a challenge. And because I understand, I know you can do it, too! I hope that sharing my experience will help you feel like you CAN do it despite your busy life!     My favorite FOUR ways to save time in the kitchen and eat more veggies… Read More

You want to eat more veggies, right? Don’t we all?! Snap your fingers, and there it’s done, right??? Wait, it's not that simple for most of us! Having a little inspiration makes it easier and more fun! Today I want to share with you one of the BEST ways that I’ve found to keep veggies interesting to ALL ages and palettes: Making veggie pancakes!!!   What are veggie pancakes? Veggie pancakes are pancakes made of mostly veggies! Skip the grain and substitute veggies for yours. It’s really that simple and if you are confused, I’ve got my favorite recipes for you below. These are the very recipes that my family makes and loves at any age and any time of day! Why do they get you eating more veggies AND having fun? They’re fun because of the unique shape! Who doesn’t love a pancake?? And they get you eating more veggies… Read More

“Mmmm! What is in this soup?” Soup is one of the things I serve that I get the most complements on. Why? It’s kind of like building a house. It needs to start with a solid foundation or else it won’t be very successful. Soup is the same way. And broth is that foundation. Broth is a magical ingredient in soup that you can’t see, but makes it taste so much better. Because I love good tasting food, it is something that I don’t like to compromise on. And when you have tasted homemade broth, you’ll know why. Not only does broth taste great, but it also helps reduce waste from your vegetable scraps.  And captures all of those great nutrients from the food you might otherwise throw away. I started doing it many years ago and have never looked back. It is practically as easy as boiling water and… Read More

Are your eyes ever bigger than your stomach? (It's okay, mine so totally are!  Hehe!) Do you ever have a big pile of veggies in your fridge that want to eat up before they go bad? Do you have a CSA share and are determined to use it all up? Or just want to get in a routine of eating more veggies in general? Have I got an idea for you! Make a huge harvest bowl dish with all of the veggies in your fridge and pair it with a grain of your choice and a protein of your choice each night of the week! Here’s how easy it is…   What is a harvest bowl? Well, I’m not really the expert here! Haha, I wish! Actually several CSA members who post in our private CSA members Facebook community group have been telling me about how they use their veggies… Read More