CSA adventures

I think my blog is a good place to share some information about the CSA we joined this summer. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture and allows members to buy shares of a farm's produce. So we're paying to pick up a box of farm fresh produce every week! The produce varies based upon each farm, the weather, etc. We chose Misty Meadows Farm to try because for the most reasonable price they offered a variety of produce that we were mostly familiar with, along with others that we realized would be new and were willing to try. Matt picked up our first box of delicious food tonight... this is what it looked like (minus the kale which I was cooking with at the time):


So this is what we received this week in our half share (a good size for two)...
kale (not pictured, cooked and ate already!)
swiss chard
head lettuce
peas
strawberries
red onions

I had fun via text conversation identifying the lettuces with Darcie, while also using my on-line resources, Joy of Cooking from Hannah, and Martha's Cooking School book.

If you're interested in learning more about joining a CSA this is a great resource. And the Local Harvest web-site was our starting point for us as we searched for a good fit.

I bought a lettuce knife at Victoria's recommendation to use in cutting my lettuce so that it doesn't brown. I also invested in a salad spinner to store it, and some green bags for my other fresh produce. Those are all additional "investments" but will get a lifetime of use I think!

So this was part of our first dinner to include some of our bounty...


Gretchen sent this recommendation to me for Greens and Beans via Facebook, and I can't tell you how seriously AMAZING it was! I've never eaten "greens" before and didn't know if I'd find them too appetizing... I was wrong... these were so good. *a side note: some of the schools I've worked in serve greens in the cafeteria for student lunches, did you know of diversity in cafeteria foods? pretty fun I think!* I may even buy more kale at the Farmer's Market just to have it again soon :) If I do buy more Darcie also recommended Lemon Kale Chips which sound interesting. I found a Kale-Potato Gratin recipe in the Joy of Cooking which also sounded good. Who knew that there could be so many new foods to try with thought given to one new-to-us ingredient!?

So our dinner tonight which came to me on a whim included: baked potatoes (with cottage cheese for me), asparagus, greens and beans, and cheddar garlic biscuits (not really healthy but a good addition). A really filling and tasty vegetarian meal that Matt also enjoyed a lot! Now I think I'll go enjoy some of our strawberries over cereal for my night time snack.

*one more thing... I found out about a free canning/preserving class being offered in connection with our local Farmer's Market - I'm so excited to go on June 12, we'll see whether or not I can get off to a slow start with canning this summer or if it will have to wait :)