The outdoor-living phenomenon only continues to evolve and grow in popularity. According to Jarod Hynson, president of Earth, Turf & Wood, the possibilities are limitless, whether you’re interested in a secluded patio that offers privacy for two or a full-out retreat that can accommodate a crowd.

Sixteen years ago, Jarod detected a change in the air. People simply wanted to stay home, where they could relax, bond with their children and entertain friends and family. They began eyeing their expansive backyard lawns and posing the question, “What if …”

By then, Jarod had been in the industry for nearly 20 years. As a 13-year-old, he had launched a lawn maintenance service in his hometown of Skillman, New Jersey, which ultimately became one of Central Jersey’s most elite grounds maintenance companies. In 1994, Jarod sold the company in order to finance his education at Messiah College. After graduating, he returned to landscaping and married a Lancaster County coed he had met at Messiah. “That’s how I ended up in Reamstown,” he says of his adopted home turf.

Realizing homeowners had become interested in venturing beyond simply landscaping their properties, Jarod began researching trends that were changing the way people lived in warm weather locations, such as Southern California, the Southwest, the Gulf Coast and Florida. Recognizing that the sky was the limit, Earth, Turf & Wood evolved from a landscaping company to one that specializes in design/build projects for outdoor spaces. “We can provide anything from a basic patio to the total package,” he notes. And, with Landscape Architect Mary Hatch Dresser on staff, the company can offer services that extend beyond the basic permits by developing and overseeing residential stormwater management plans that are now needed due to hardscaping restrictions imposed by the Chesapeake Bay Program’s watershed criteria.

Jarod and Mary share the opinion that the popularity of outdoor-living spaces is being fed by a multitude of scenarios, including our fast-paced lifestyles, a desire to commune with nature, family bonding, creating a new venue for home entertaining and adding life (and value) to spaces that are under used. “Some people just want to eliminate the rat-race of heading for the shore every weekend,” Jarod notes. “Why would they want to leave home if they have access to a resort in their own backyard?” he asks. “And, it’s accessible every day of the week.” Mary adds to that train of thought, noting that outdoor-living areas are stress relievers. “As soon as you pull into the driveway, you automatically begin to unwind,” she says, pointing out that such spaces “should call you to come out and relax.”

Families have also come to view backyard retreats as nurturing spaces. “Parents tell me, ‘Now I know where my kids are on the weekends,’” Jarod says of the outdoor-living areas that instantly become magnets for teens and their friends. Mary adds that they also serve to get younger children out of the house (i.e. away from technology) to enjoy the fresh air and get exercise.

Outdoor-living spaces have added an all-new dimension to home entertaining as homeowners are issuing invitations for al fresco dining, pool parties, televised sports-viewing events, s’mores parties around the campfire, celebrations for family milestones and even benefits for nonprofit organizations.

“Every project is customized,” Jarod explains. “No two are alike.”

Earth, Turf & Wood, For information: 721-3530 or earthturfwood.com

Outdoor Kitchens

Kitchen design has moved to the great outdoors! “All we’ve done is taken an interior kitchen concept and moved it outdoors,” Jarod says. Fortunately, the industry is keeping pace with demand. Cabinetry ranges from sleek stainless to hardwoods. Granite tops counters. Grills have been joined by smokers and pizza/bread ovens. Appliances range from refrigerators and beverage coolers to outdoor ranges and dishwashers. “Everything is waterproofed, making it completely functional,” Jarod points out.

Fire Pits

In Jarod’s estimation, there’s nothing more relaxing than sitting around a campfire. No doubt, fire pits have helped to make s’mores a universal treat. “Kids love them for that reason,” Jarod says of the first step of roasting marshmallows over a fire. This very natural-looking fire-pit area is man-made. “Natural-looking environments are the most difficult to achieve,” Mary remarks, noting there’s a fine line between the random and precise placement of stones, rocks, plantings, etc.

Plantings

Plantings also figure into the overall plan. “The goal is to achieve year-round color,” says Jarod, adding that native plants continue to have a positive impact on the industry. Another goal is to choose plants that don’t grow too slowly or quickly. “You’re looking for sustainable, long-term plants,” he says. Dogscaping – creating canine-friendly outdoor-living areas – is also a new trend, and one of its tenets is to incorporate pet-friendly (i.e. nonpoisonous/nontoxic) plants into the landscape. “Pets are part of the equation,” Mary says of designing outdoor-living spaces.

Indoor Style Translates to Outdoor Spaces

Your preferred style can be carried outdoors. This pergola-topped patio is reflective of the homeowners’ love of Arts & Crafts and Mission styling/furnishings.

Lighting

According to Jarod, the “LED market has taken over” the outdoor-lighting segment of the industry. In his opinion, there has been a marked improvement in color quality, brightness and intensity. Lighting brings an all-new dimension to the landscape, as it sets the mood, allows you to use the space well into the night, and provides an added sense of safety and security.

Pools

Pools now entail graceful curves and angles. Look closer and you’ll note features such as staircases, sun shelfs and “benches” beneath the water’s surface. Sprays and waterfalls provide soothing sounds. Exercise also figures into the equation as many homeowners begin or end their day with water running or lap swimming. “In view of the fact that there’s only a 90-day window for pool use in this area of the country, you have to weigh your options,” says Jarod. “It’s where the enjoyment factor versus the investment weighs into the budget.” Still, he estimates that 60-70% of clients put pools on their must-have lists.

Furnishings

Style has impacted the outdoor-furnishings market! Upholstery is plush, durable and waterproof. Colors are on trend. Frames offer solid construction. As far as the look goes, the market is brimming with contemporary, traditional and transitional furnishings for your outdoor world.

Patios

Again, the angular concrete slab has been replaced by patios that arc and curve. Surfaces include pavers, aged stone and travertine. A mix of products adds texture and creates rug-like configurations. Patios can also function as the bridge between indoor and outdoor spaces, creating private getaways for relaxing, reading or enjoying a beverage or cigar outside your bedroom, home office or living areas.

The Pavilion

Open-air pavilions are the top choice for housing outdoor kitchens, dining rooms and seating areas. Post-and-beam/timberframe construction is well represented in this region. Another popular option is lining ceilings with exotic woods such as mahogany.

The Fireplace

This often serves as the focal point of the pavilion or an outdoor seating area. When it’s under a roof, it’s often topped by a television. Jarod points out that if a fireplace is built correctly, it can expand an outdoor-living area’s window of opportunity to as much as nine months.

Technology

Audio and video components for outdoor use have become “extremely advanced,” Jarod reports. Apps and computer technology allow you to control everything with ease. For example, the fire and water in the containers seen above come to life with the touch of an app.

Water Features

Beyond a pool, there is a multitude of ways to incorporate water into the landscape, including fountains, ponds and stand-alone spas. According to Jarod, the newest water feature is the water wall, which is visually and audibly engaging.

Practice Makes Perfect

Amenities such as putting greens allow you to work on your game without having to drive to the club.

From a forager’s perspective, morel mushrooms and ramps are the real harbingers of spring.

In Jim Showers’ opinion, there’s nothing better than being one with nature on a beautiful spring day. April just might be his favorite month of the year. Even tax day doesn’t get him down, as he views April 15 as an important day in the cycle of nature rather than a date with the IRS. “That’s usually when my daffodils are peaking, and when the morels are starting to emerge,” he explains. “I love morels,” he muses. “They taste like the woods smell.”

Morel mushrooms might best be described as the holy grail of foragers and foodies alike. The delicate and elusive mushrooms are the bounty of foragers who traipse through the woods to reach their favorite hunting grounds. According to Jim, “hunting” is the operative word. “There are no guarantees,” he reports. “You can look all day and come up empty-handed. But, you know what? Part of the fun of hunting morels is just being outdoors and enjoying the woods before the trees leaf out.”

Like many foragers, hunting for morels is part of Jim’s DNA. “I’ve been hunting since I could walk,” he remarks. “It was always a family affair,” he says of engaging in the spring ritual with his grandfather, aunts and uncles. Now he hunts with friends like Dave Thompson, who is retired from Longwood Gardens and makes the trek to Lancaster from his home in Wilmington, and Kevin Lehman, who operates Kevin Lehman’s Pottery and Lancaster Creative Factory.

Like most hunters, Jim, a floral designer who lives near Elizabethtown, is vague when it comes to divulging the location of his favorite hunting spots, only saying that morels “grow all over; you just have to find them.” He does add that for some reason, they tend to pop up in old apple orchards and around dying or dead elm, sycamore and ash trees. “They like to grow along old dirt roads, too,” he adds. Jim also keeps his eye on the weather. “I find that they like damp, wet weather and cool nights. If you have those conditions, they pop up overnight.”

The cone-shaped morels, which grow throughout the United States (with the exception of the desert Southwest and coastal areas of the Deep South), resemble sponges or beehives. “Five or six varieties grow in this region,” Jim says of the mushrooms, whose color tones range from cream to brown to gray. They are fragile and highly perishable. “I never carry mine in a plastic bag,” Jim says. “Mesh bags are much better; they help to spread the spores.” By late May, they’re just a memory.

If foraging isn’t your idea of fun, don’t despair. Morels, which can cost as much as $50 per pound, are now available through online sources and at farmers markets and specialty stores. They’ve also become a cause for celebration at restaurants across the country – in California, restaurants are adding foragers to their staffs in order to have the inside track on morels and other goodies – and are the basis of fundraising festivals that are primarily held in the Midwest and Appalachia.

Morels are not easily cultivated, although the Internet is awash with growing kits of all kinds. “Everyone I know who has tried one had no luck,” Jim reports.

Jim likes to use his prized finds in stir fry, risotto, soups and pasta dishes. Sometimes he simply sautés them and serves them as a side with steak. “I always slice them down the middle to make sure no critters are living in them,” he says. He also cautions that you should never eat a raw morel and that it’s better to overcook the morels rather than undercook them, as it could lead to an upset stomach.

Peruse the Internet, and you’ll discover all sorts of ways to prepare morels. Fans like to sauté the morels and place them atop a cut of beef, a breast of chicken or a pork chop. Still others like to fry them (you’ll need eggs, butter, salt and some sort of coating, i.e. corn flake crumbs, flour, cracker crumbs, cornmeal or even potato chips). One morel fan cooks them in Diet Coke for 10-15 minutes to add sweetness. Still others suggest cooking them in heavy cream, wine or beer. Fans also offer variations on wrapping them in bacon and broiling them until the bacon is thoroughly cooked, while others suggest working crabmeat or cheese into the nooks and crannies. Some people have luck preserving morels by freezing or drying them. One of the best recipe sites is thegreatmorel.com.

Ramps

Ramps are also on Jim’s radar in the spring. Also known as ramsons, wild leeks and Tennessee truffles, ramps are part of the allium (onions, chives, leeks) family. Early settlers depended on them for their “cure-all” qualities; due to high quantities of Vitamin C, ramps helped to prevent scurvy and other diseases caused by malnourishment. In Appalachia, where ramps grow rampantly, they were commonly referred to as “Spring Tonic.” Jim describes their taste as having a unique “garlic/onion flavor.” Chicago is actually named after ramps – it’s a derivative of the native word shikaakwa, which referred to the plants that thrived along the river.

To find ramps, Jim must forage farther afield. “I’ve never found ramps in Lancaster County,” he says. “I do find them in York County, and they absolutely thrive in the Hazelton area.” Indeed, the somewhat finicky plants tend to grow/propagate in hillier terrain. Yet, they are somewhat widespread, growing in the woodland as far south as Georgia and as far north as Quebec. While they’re rare on this side of the river, Jim says they’re easier to spot than the elusive morels. “I look for indicator plants, like Jack-in-the-pulpit and May apples. The three of them tend to grow together.” According to Martha Stewart Living, they also favor the understories of beech, birch and sugar maple trees. Like morels, they come and go in the spring, making an appearance before the trees leaf out and disappearing once exposure to the sun becomes limited.

Like morels, ramps have captured the fancy of the culinary world. According to the New York Times, ramps have become the No. 1 culinary obsession among the city’s chefs and foodies. But, they don’t come cheap – of late, ramps have been fetching $25 (or more) per pound. Because of increasing demand, their sustainability is being debated, hence Quebec deemed them a threatened plant in 1995, and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where Cherokees once revered and harvested them, has totally banned their harvest.

Still, they are celebrated. Chefs at New York restaurants adore ramps and add them to salads, mashed potatoes and butter and serve them atop cuts of beef, chicken, pork, etc. Jim reports that fire companies in the mountain towns of Pennsylvania have turned ramps into fundraising gold.

The Honey Brook farm has added to its impressive resumé by publishing a cookbook, Field & Feast, Sublime Food from a Brave New Farm.

Dean Carlson is a former bond trader turned farmer. In 2009 he took a leave of absence from his job. Nothing was on his agenda except for relaxing, traveling, surfing and reading. Fate intervened when he started reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. In his book, Pollan theorizes that the demand for food will outlast the resources – specifically fossil fuels – that are needed to grow and produce it. According to Pollan, today’s farming methods require 10 fossil-fuel calories to produce one food calorie.

The book transfixed and transformed Dean. With Wall Street in his rear-view mirror, he bought a 320-acre, bank-owned farm that was in woeful shape. In his introduction to the book, Dean writes that in purchasing the farm, he was able to save the acreage from developers, and he did not deprive a new generation from working the family farm. His goal was to create a new-style farm that would become totally sustainable and serve as a classroom and community center for visitors.

Six years later, this new-age farmer is well on his way to achieving his goal. Demand for seating at the farm-to-table restaurant outpaced availability, prompting him to add an open-air pavilion that made its debut last summer. He also added star power to the kitchen by recruiting Chef Andrew Wood to oversee the menu that changes seasonally and according to what is available. Andrew and his wife, Kristin, own Philadelphia’s Russet, a farm-to-table restaurant that was recently named one of the city’s 50 Best by Philadelphia magazine. And, Dean has a mentor of sorts in Ian Knauer, who worked at Gourmet magazine for 10 years and went on to take over the family farm (located nearby), which served as the inspiration and backdrop for his own cookbook (The Farm) and television (PBS) show of the same name. Ian now operates The Farm Cooking School, which is located in Stockton, New Jersey.

Everything – from herbs to animals – is grown on the farm without using artificial fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, hormones or antibiotics. Many of the animals are heritage breeds (Berkshire, Gloucestershire Old Spots and Tamworth hogs) and rely on the land for nourishment (grass-fed Devon cattle and the free-range chickens). Visitors are more than welcome to tour the farm and gain a fresh perspective of the “farm-to-table” process. Many are so inspired that they enroll in the farm’s popular butchering classes.

Alternatively, the farm’s market can supply visitors with cuts of beef, pork and poultry, artisanal cheese, milk products and other goodies that are procured from area farms and companies such as Lancaster Farm Fresh.

The farm is also home to yoga classes (last summer they were held Saturday mornings) and live entertainment that begins in the spring with a music festival (April 30) and continues through the fall. Wyebrook-sponsored bike rides of varying lengths are also held (the first is May 21). Guest chefs – many from Philadelphia restaurants – bring their specialties of the house to Wyebrook for Chef Dinner events.

It was only natural that a cookbook would emerge and that it would be a collaboration of Dean (the visionary), Andrew (the chef), Ian (the wordsmith), Guy Ambrosino (the photographer) and Burgess Lea Press (a New Hope publishing company that specializes in restaurant-based cookbooks and contributes profits from the books to farm-related museums and organizations, which in the case of Wyebrook is Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in Tarrytown, New York).

The cookbook, which contains 100 recipes, is a celebration of the farm and pays homage to its past, present and future. In Dean Carlson’s estimation, “When you purchase local, sustainably raised food, you contribute to changing our food system. The impact of our collective decision can be incredibly powerful. If Wyebrook’s customers feel like they are a part of something bigger, it’s because they are. They choose to spend their food dollars in a way that can make a difference. And, there is community inherent in that. We are all in it together to eat better and to live better.”

Sue Long

Wyebrook Farm, 150 Wyebrook Rd., Honey Brook. 610-942-7481 or wyebrookfarm.com. “Field & Feast” is available at the farm or through Amazon.com.