The spring ahead one hour to observe daylight saving time often is connected to an ages-old practice credited as a benefit for farmers.
However, in today’s agricultural circles, most farmers would agree it’s other businesses — such as dining and retail, outdoor recreational and leisure activities, including sports — that rank as the entities that enjoy greater benefits to this mandate.
It was Benjamin Franklin who first planted the seeds about advantages to imposing a daylight saving time, rationalizing that if people started the work day earlier, it would save on expenses for candles, and later, electricity.
Unseasonable winter weather hasn’t made it easy to adjust to waking up to the alarm clock on cold mornings. The first official day of spring isn’t until March 20, and despite the lack of measurable snowfall in January and February, we’ve seen more than a few snowflakes in March.
At our farm, we’re still using the last of the field potatoes my dad dug up and stored in the fall. We are enjoying the sweet corn, green beans, tomatoes, beets, blueberries and wild mushrooms carefully preserved with my mom’s 2016 freezing and canning efforts.
Even though St. Patrick’s Day isn’t until Friday, at our farm we’re celebrating the first traces of green in our gardens.
Despite our asparagus still hiding deep in the ground, our chives bravely have burst through the cold ground. The chives in our garden are tasty treasures. We garnered our chive starts more than three decades ago from grocer Harvey Miller Valparaiso. Miller, who died in 2012, occasionally would dig up clumps of chives from his own herb garden, pot them and bring them to sell at his market.
As Miller and many gardeners realize, chives easily spread and take over garden spaces. During one of my interviews in previous years with Martha Stewart, I asked her for some ideas for how to incorporate chives into more recipes and menus. She suggested I adapt one of her cheeseball recipes to use chives as the key ingredient flavor. After some experimenting and plenty of taste testing, this recipe is a crowd pleaser and ideal for satisfying a meat-free craving during the Lenten stretch.
Since St. Patrick’s Day is on a Friday this year, the bishop for the Catholic Diocese of Gary is allowing a special dispensation for corned beef to be consumed by Catholics on Friday.
“The Fridays of Lent are marked by the discipline of abstinence from meat. For those who wish to eat meat in conjunction with their celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, Friday, March 17, 2017, I commute your abstinence on that to abstinence on another day of your choosing or some other special act of penance,” Bishop Donald Hying said in a statement.
Archdiocese of Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich has also granted the same general dispensation.
Columnist Philip Potempa has published three cookbooks and is the director of marketing at Theatre at the Center. Mail questions to From the Farm, P.O. Box 68, San Pierre, IN 46374.
Phil’s Easy Savory Cheeseball with Chives
Makes 4 servings
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
5 dashes of hot sauce
1 small shallot, minced
Sprinkle of salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 cup minced chives
1/2 cup dried parsley flakes
1. In a small mixing bowl, use a fork to blend together cream cheese and butter. Add lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce and combine until incorporated. Mix in the shallot, along with the chives and salt and pepper.
2. Form mixture into a ball and roll in parsley flakes.
3. Chill for 30 minutes prior to serving to allow flavors to acquaint.
4. Serve with crackers of choice. Martha Stewart prefers to serve with slices of English cucumber.
