Week 4

This week we got:

• 2 medium Red onions (conventional) — Long Plain Farm, Whately, MA
• Baby Bok Choy — Lady Moon Farms, Fla
• Romaine lettuce — Lady Moon Farms, Fla
• Baby spinach — Equinox Farms, Sheffield MA
• 2 Pink Grapefruits — Spooners Organics, Fla.
• 2 Apples (low-spray/IPM) — Bashista’s, Southampton, MA
• Red potatoes — Deep Root, Prince Edward Island
• Beets — Deep Root, VT
• Carrots — Winter Moon Farm, Hadley, MA
• Eggplant — Somerset Farms, FL
• Roma Tomatoes — Homestead Organics, FL

I must admit, the beets, carrots, and potatoes are starting to stockpile. I think this is ok, but we need to make a conscious effort to use them soon. Other than that, we’ve been doing fine with all of the produce. Last night we finally used the eggplant from last week’s share and made a spinach/eggplant lasagna based on last week’s farm share recipe. Our recipe (which turned out OK—needed a bit more salt or something) went like this:

1 ¼ cups whole fat ricotta cheese
~5 oz baby spinach (we just used up our leftovers)
~5 oz arugula (again, leftovers)
1 egg
1 eggplant, sliced lengthwise
Some baby portabellas, sliced
¾ box of lasagna noodles
16 oz. tomato sauce
Thyme, coriander, salt, and pepper to taste

Begin boiling the lasagna noodles and cook to very al dente, maybe 10-12 minutes. As they boil, mix the ricotta, spinach, arugula, egg, and spices in a bowl. Once the noodles and ricotta mix are ready, start layering in a greased baking pan! Eggplant first, then a uniform sprinkle of mushrooms, a thin spread of the ricotta/arugula/spinach mix, then tomato sauce, and top with a noodle layer. Repeat until you’ve filled your baking pan, ending on a noodle layer with some tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese. Bake at 375 for 35-40 minutes, and voila!

Third Share!

I didn’t have the pleasure of picking up our third CSA share last night due to class, so the responsibility fell to my boyfriend. For me, picking up the CSA share and bringing it home is such a treat. There’s anticipation and excitement throughout the day and then finally comes the reward of opening the box and seeing what’s inside. I’ll have to ask my boyfriend if he feels similarly. If not, I will demand to pick up our shares for the rest of the season once class is over. It’s just too much fun.

When I got home, I found:

Onions (conventionally grown) — Long Plain Farm, Whately, MA
Greenleaf lettuce — Lady Moon Farms, FL
Baby arugula — Equinox Farms, Sheffield, MA
Tangelos — Eagles Nest, FL (the ones we got last week were the best citrus I’ve ever had, so hopefully this batch will live up!)
Apples (low-spray/IPM) — Clarkdale orchard, Deerfield, MA
Sweet potatoes — Eastern Carolina Organics
Carrots — Winter Moon Farm, Hadley, MA
Eggplant — Somerset Farms, FL
Green beans — Homestead Organics, FL
Avocado — Homestead Organics, FL (another jumbo sized one!)

All produce is organic, unless otherwise noted. From last week, we still have a few carrots, beets, sweet potatoes, tangelos, and baby spinach. From the first week, we are still hanging onto the wheat berries (does anyone know a good recipe for these?) and some potatoes. A 10 lb. share per week is turning out to be just right for us. I don’t think anything will go to waste, and we definitely don’t have much left over. We also haven’t had to go out shopping since we’ve started our farm share, so that’s another plus.

I regret not having more time and energy to be more inventive in cooking with our farm share. On the flip side, we haven’t really been getting anything too crazy. Turnips and wheat berries were a little out there, but other than those, our CSA shares have been okay for the faint of heart. Pretty normal produce. Perhaps this weekend I’ll be able to get creative. I remember a friend’s mother who had a wonderful pasta with arugula recipe, so maybe I’ll be able to get that from him.

We would like to continue our CSA through the summer, but aren’t sure which share to sign up for. I’m partial to the Re-Vision House CSA or The Food Project’s CSA because I know the people who work at those places, but there aren’t any convenient pick-up locations based on where I live. Also, committing through October or November is a bit tricky, not knowing where we’ll be next fall. Enterprise Farm’s CSA has been flexible and our pick up location has been convenient, but I’d really like to get an all local summer CSA share. I think I need to do some more research.

2nd share

Despite having a terrible week at work, I still was jazzed to pick up our second share. Nothing like fresh veggies to get you going. I could barely stand waiting on the bus ride home to open the box and see what we got this week. This week's share contained:

* Purple Kale, Lady Moon Farms, Fla
* Redleaf lettuce, Eastern Carolina Organics
* Baby spinach, Equinox Farms, Sheffield Mass.
* Tangerines, Eagles Nest, Fla.
* Apples, Clarkdale Orchards, Deerfield, Mass.
* Sweet potatoes, Eastern Carolina Organics
* Carrots, Enterprise Farm, MA
* Parsnips, Winter moon farm, Hadley, Mass.
* Yellow squash, Lady Moon Farms, Fla

Produce largely from southern producers, which is kind of a bummer. I think I'd rather have more root vegetables from around here. Definitely would give up the lettuce or kale for more local food. I was pleasantly surprised that the baby spinach came from Sheffield, MA. This week's share was a farm share for the faint of heart, if you will. Nothing too weird or exotic in there. Parsnips are about as far down that line as we're taken. We roasted our ones from last week and they came out beautifully. Added a bit of thyme, tarragon, and corriander and sauteed in olive oil. They had a nutty, licorice-y taste. Lovely. Kale is a bit weird too, I guess. I think I read somewhere this week that kale contains more nutrients per calorie than any other veggie. Pretty ridiculous that it's often used as a garnish. I always try make a point to eat it if it's ever presented as a garnish.

We haven't really delved into the new share yet. I did bring a tangerine to work on Friday that was absolutely delicious. So juicy and sweet, low acidity. Just how I like them.

From last week we still have a few potatoes, the wheat berries, and the delicata squash. The squash will be eaten today, probably, and the potatoes can chill out in our pantry. We will have to figure out what to do with the wheat berries, since neither of us has ever cooked with them before.

I'll post more about our culinary adventure's with this week's share once I get our kitchen in order and have a sense of this week's meal plan.

Weekend fare

Despite being slightly disappointed with the stretch of our $30 share, we still have:

• A head of garlic from Eastern Carolina Organics, NC
• An ample avocado from Homestead, FL
• A box of organic grape tomatoes from Florida
• A bag of wheat berries from Four Star Farm in Northfield, MA
• Three Yukon potatoes from Full Bloom Farm in Whately, MA
• Four parsnips from Deep Root, VT (where we used to get a lot of produce at the Middlebury Co-op!)
• One delicata squash from Czajkowski in Hadley, MA
• One low spray/IPM apples from Bashista Fruit Farm in Southampton, MA

left over from our share last Wednesday. We didn't cook as much of it as we expected to for New Year's and the weekend, and it's a good thing that a lot of it will keep for a while (i.e. potatoes, squash, parsnips, garlic, wheat berries). We dutifully brought along our kale and lettuce for New Year's at our friend's house in New York, but they were not consumed at the alarming rate we had anticipated. And, the refrigerator at my friend's house was ridiculously cold and they semi-froze and lost a lot of their crunch. Bummer.

We still managed to salvage the kale in our Japanese nabe soup last night and I brought the remaining lettuce to work for lunch today, determined to suck it up and eat my flimsy lettuce like a real woman. We ended up buying a lot of extra produce for nabe last night (daikon, napa cabbage, scallions, broccoli, onion, mushrooms) so we'll have to make a conscious effort not to neglect our farm share veggies. The delicata squash and remaining apple will be eaten, no problem, I'm sure. I'm not worried about potatoes, wheat berries, and parsnips. They'll survive. I anticipate a "biggie beanie blowout" to come later this week to incorporate said garlic, tomatoes, and avocado.