CSA Week 4

The medium share at the Gorman Farm CSA was large again this week. I’m going to take two bags instead of one next week…since the bounty really does require the spaces – and I can more easily spread the weight to carry it all to the car. This week the share included (starting in the upper left corner and moving clockwise: mizuna (my choice from the overage bins…it is only available early in the season and I really like it), peas, scallions, beets, chard, Romaine lettuce, collards, broccoli, savoy cabbage, and kale.

I took some close up pictures of the broccoli,

Chard, and

Peas….so many beautiful foods for this next week.

I fit the leafy things into two plastic bins and some plastic bags. The beets (minus their leaves, cabbage, and broccoli in the crisper. So far, I’ve not had anything go to waste via spoilage and I want to keep it that way.

I’ll make fruit beety tomorrow. While the beets cook I’ll make kale chips. Both will keep longer in processed form although the fruit beety is one of my favorite summer snacks so I probably won’t put any of this batch in the freezer.

CSA Week 3

Wow – week 3 of our Community Supported Agriculture share was a very full bag! Starting at the far left and moving clockwise around the image: Napa cabbage, kohlrabi, lavender, oregano, pac choi, red leaf lettuce, broccoli, spinach and parsley. The pac choi was from the ‘overage’ table but I like it so much I couldn’t resist. The ¾ pound of spinach was a stuffed bag…several salads for sure (and I plan to use as least part of it in one of my favorite salads: spinach, strawberries, almonds with marmalade dressing). It will take some heavy veggie meals to finish off most of this before next Wednesday. I still have some of the romaine, chard, and garlic scapes from the week 2 share.

One of the things I have learned from the CSA over the past few years is how to end up with relatively little waste from the veggies. For example – when I process collards, chard, kohlrabi, beet, or kale leaves, I cut out the tougher stem first (example below is a collard leaf) and then save it for use in soup or stir fry.

This past week, I made a stem soup: cut the stems into ½ inch lengths, cooked at a slow boil in beef bouillon and seasonings with dry roasted peanuts added for the last few minutes of cooking for protein. It was an excellent lunch.

Before I started getting veggies via a CSA, I didn’t buy large leaved veggies. I have become better at handling them over the last few years. Now I roll the halves of the leaves together,

Cut the roll lengthwise and then across. It makes small bite sized pieces! I have discovered that I like using collard leaves in salads when they are cut this small. My plan is to add some of the last of the collards from week 2 to the spinach salad with strawberries!