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| just a glimpse of this week's bounty |
Week 14 pick-up:
- 1/2 lb. carrots
- 1/2 lb. kale
- 1 1/2 lbs. red peppers
- 1/2 lb. patty pan squash
- 2 red onions
- 1 rutabaga
- 1 sm. eggplant
- eat 'em soon, 'damaged' potatoes
- all u-can-pick grapes
- all u-can-pick tomatoes & tomatillos
- all u-can-pick beans
- all u-can-pick herbs
We started Friday nite with bowls full of veggies.....potatoes topped with yellow beans and sun gold tomatoes. An ear of steamed corn with butter finished the meal. Kris had gone out with friends and in his absence, Giada and I decided to 'camp-out'. Kris and I used to drag our comforter and pillows out to the living room where the TV was and lay on the floor to watch a movie. At the time, we were as giddy as kids when we'd do this because it was such a treat. We'd even gone so far as to drag the whole mattress out on occasion. Giada and I didn't go that far but pillows and blankies were for sure, part of the camp-out.
Even after a full night of camping and movie watching, Giada and I got up fairly early and I figured that we'd be to the farm and back before Kris ever opened his eyes. That certainly did not happen! After a million distractions I looked at the time and realized that now I had to boogie. I still needed to shower and then run into town to get gas before venturing to the farm. Last week, we were busy picking up the yard and missed the distribution by 25 minutes. I refused to let another week go by without our veggies.
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| rutabaga, red peppers & eggplant, green, soon to be fried, tomatoes and......lemongrass! I have learned to love the imperfections in my farm fresh food. |
We got to the farm with 15 minutes to spare and we grabbed what had been
pre-picked and headed off to the u-pick fields. On the way, we passed a
free class on canning and pickling that had started at 10:30am. I
would have loved to have gone but it wasn't meant to be this week.
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| beans, beans, grapes, yum! |
If you didn't know what to look for, you would have thought that the
fields were picked over with nothing to spare. Fortunately for us, we
love just about everything we've gotten this season so we were happy to
have free reign. There were 3 to 4 different types of beans so we
picked the prettiest. Some bright green ones like haricot verts and
some we haven't tried yet which are broad and pale yellow with purple
striations. I believe they are called
'Dragon Tongue'. We easily picked 5lbs. of green zebra tomatoes and
some plain green tomatoes. I have never had fried green tomatoes but
it looks like this will be the week to try them. I believe we can just
dredge them with flour and cornmeal and them pan fry. In addition to
all of these things, we got grapes! Giada, being only 3' tall, was the spotter. She'd point and I'd grab. I don't know what variety but they
are very similar to concord grapes, just not that dark, powdery skin and
although they are tart, it's nothing compared to the traditional
concord.
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| fresh oregano, lasagna with farm-fresh, homemade tomato sauce |
As I mentioned in the last CSA post, I was looking forward to lasagna dinner with that homemade sauce chock-full of farm veggies. This morning, I got it all together and finally broke in my Le Creuset lasagna pan that Kris got me for my birthday. I usually make two separate pans; one veggie and one with meat. This pan is large enough to do both so I just did 2/3 veggie and the remainder with meat for Kris and G. It's not that I don't want to be fair and go half and half but this way, when I have to freeze some, I will just freeze veggie ( I know Kris will have already devoured the meat) and when I re-heat, anyone can have it. I mix it up and try different veggies but this time, I used zucchini. The beef I used was local grass-fed from someone my parents know and I seasoned it with CSA herbs and garlic before adding.
Before I wrap this up, I want to thank you for reading this blog and especially the CSA posts. I started adding the CSA pics and posts for myself to see if this was a worthwhile investment. I continue to get feedback from friends that are interested in or have joined a CSA because of my experience. I can't begin to tell you how happy it makes me. I hope everyone can have a farm as great as we do. Please continue to share with me and let me know about your own experience!
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| Giada and I got to witness our butterfly bush with probably a dozen butterflies on it. We stood right next to it with the butterflies swooping around us to get to the next flower. Simply amazing. |
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