Pawpaw Experience

The first ‘new-to-me’ food that appeared in my CSA share this season is pawpaw! I had heard about them but never eaten one. I cut the fruit in half….right along the seed-line evidently. The pulp was custard-like and very sweet. I like it so much that I planted the seeds in a corner of my yard…hoping to establish a pawpaw patch!

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Pawpaw is native to North America and grows well in Missouri where I live. So – I am including it as another native that will eventually reduce the amount of lawn in my yard. It might be years before the trees produce fruit; I like the prospect of enjoying them in the future. Maybe the fruit will provide more food in our yard for the birds and squirrels too…and the leaves will feed zebra swallowtail larvae.

Community Supported Agriculture (2)

Acclimating myself to being a CSA member (Milsap Farms) again is still a work in progress!

The third week, I was out of town; my husband took the whole distribution to my daughter: watermelon, kale, green beans, cucumber, bell peppers, zucchini, and mixed greens.

My son-in-law cut up the watermelon in wedges and we got half of it when I got back. My daughter also decided that she didn’t have an immediate use for zucchini, so I enjoyed that unexpected bounty too. What a difference it makes to have my daughter close enough to handle the share when I am gone! This probably cinches our continued participation next year; the only question still outstanding is whether we go with a full share or the smaller one that we are getting for the remainder of this season.

The fourth week we split down the middle except for the sweet potato leaves which I have for myself. Each of us got 2 carrots, a garlic head, 2 bell peppers, half the scallions, and half the bag of basil.

I am anticipating some excellent salads and then freezing any basil or sweet potato leaves I can’t use soon enough. Once frozen they can be used in smoothies or soups/stir fry. I didn’t have an extra freezer in my Maryland house; now that I do in Missouri, I have lots of options!

Community Supported Agriculture (1)

I enjoyed my membership in a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) when I lived in Maryland. When I first moved to Missouri, I decided that I would try to simply go to local Farmers Markets for locally grown produce. That remained my plan until recently when I realized that one of the best things (for me) about belonging to a CSA is the prompt to enjoy more variety…maybe even a totally new-to-me veggie or herb. So – I researched Springfield MO area CSAs and discovered that I could become a mid-season member of  Milsap Farms!

It is a bit different from the CSA in Maryland.

• Instead of being less than I mile from where I live, it is on the other side of Springfield. I pay a little extra for delivery of my share to my front porch.

• In Maryland I went to the farm every week and did ‘swapping’ while I was there. In Missouri, the share composition/swapping is handled with an email prompt and then an online app which is completed by the day before delivery. I didn’t quite get the routine the 1st time around, so I got the default delivery for that week. By the 2nd delivery, I was comfortable…knew when to look for the email and do the tweaking.

• My daughter lives closer to me now so we can split up the share after I receive it. For example, out of the first share I gave her half the carrots, celery, herbs, and onions (she suggested that I keep the kohlrabi since I like it better than she and her husband do). For the rest of this season (until the end of October), we are getting the small share and evaluating how well we like the CSA; at this point, we think we’ll sign up next year…but still need to decide if we want a small or full share.

The first week’s share (picture below) included: carrots, celery, Thai basil, dill, onions, and kohlrabi The second week included: salad mix, radishes, green bell peppers, pea shoots, basil, carrots, and watermelon.

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So far – a positive experience!

Farmers Market

The joys of summer produce….

I was overwhelmed by the bustle of the Springfield MO farmers market – decided to explore the smaller ones in the surrounding communities. The first one I tried was too small…the second was just right! They are open on Thursday afternoon, and I go before the after-work crowd. So far – I’ve enjoyed the heirloom tomatoes (big ones and small ones),

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Zucchini,

And basil (one time they had arugula…one of my favorites).

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There are more than produce vendors. I bought goat milk soap (with lavender) last week….tried a fried pie the week before.

There are more than produce vendors. I bought goat milk soap (with lavender) last week….tried a fried pie the week before.

There is not enough produce variety to support a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture); maybe there are some veggies that just don’t sell well enough for the farmers to grow for the market. Things like collards, kale, Asian veggies, tomatillos, fennel etc. I wish there were. I might look around next spring for a local CSA. I like to discover new favorites while I also enjoy the regulars. Freshly picked heirloom tomatoes are always better than the ones in the grocery store!

CSA Bounty Continues

The Community Supported Agriculture shares ended in mid-October and my freezer and refrigerator were very full. I managed to use up the items in the refrigerator except for one sweet potato that got soft; it was good to have crisper space by mid-November! The freezer was still overloaded then but now is beginning to seem like it is just comfortably full.

I am trying to use a few things from the freezer every day. I thawed garlic scapes, cherry tomatoes and green onions to cook with bulgur wheat (I used scissors to cut them up after they thawed) served under a chicken stir fry).

The frozen greens (mostly kale) I use in smoothies.

I still have beets to give color to soups or smoothies….purreed orange veggies (pumpkin, sweet potato, butternut squash) to make custards.

And then there are the heads of garlic that I have on the counter and a small canister of dried stevia leaves I’ve been adding to tea as it steeps. Everything will be used up by the end of January --- with the garlic probably being the last of the 2020 CSA bounty.

I probably did the best job I’ve ever done of getting maximum value of the CSA’s produce because I was at home the entire season and had time to prep/preserve everything.

CSA Bounty – August 2020

We are certainly in the thick of summer bounty from our Community Supported Agriculture. This past week there were three kinds of tomatoes (cherry, heirloom, slicers) and two kinds of peppers (bell and hot…and there were 3 different kinds of hot ones to choose from).  I liked the choices for onions and cabbage too – I always get the more colorful ones. There is just enough leafy green for a salad or two. The zucchini squashes are still coming…and the carrots are large and wonderful. I got some huge beets as my choice from the ‘extra’ crates. I was glad that the bins of watermelons were near the parking since they were 30-35 pounds!

I got some snippets of basil from the cutting garden

Along with some flowers. One of the vases I am using for flowers this week is a glass bottle from store-bought kombucha. The label peeled off easily enough and it is a great size for 1-3 flowers. I’m going to save the bottles from now on…line them up on windowsills or group then together on a table…filled with flowers.

Flowers from the Field

Between the tropical storm and couple of days of thunderstorms/rain there was a sunny day. It was my usual day to pick up the Community Supported Agriculture share…so I felt lucky in the dry weather. The share was highlighted by three melons (cantaloupe, medium sized yellow watermelon, and large red watermelon) and heirloom tomatoes. I appreciated the bunch of basil in the share as well. I walked around to the cutting garden to get some flowers. It was in the 80s which feels hot wearing a mask…but I persevered. I looked for the flowers that were fresh enough for the butterflies to like – waiting for them to move to the next flower before I cut it. Can you find the two tiger swallowtail butterflies in the picture below?

I had taken a jar with some water in it and the flowers survived the trip home well enough. I might switch to taking a wet paper towel to wrap around them next time. I trimmed off the lower leaves and put them in a vase….am enjoying them in my office this morning.

They last for at least a week with the cut-flower powder added to the water. I have enjoyed the cut flowers from the CSA occasionally in previous years but this year there are flowers I bring home every week. During this time of spending a lot more time at home – I have honed habits that make that a joyous experience. Finding joy is something that helps me be more resilient to those aspects of the current situation in our country that are not going well.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Thunderstorms. We are having two days of thunderstorms. It was rumbling one morning during the time I usually spend out on the covered deck; I stayed inside and listened to the rain hitting the skylights of our den; the rest of the roof is well enough insulated that the sound is not as obvious in other rooms. It’s not windy so the only warning/watch is for flash flooding. The area was already soggy from the rain associated with Tropical Storm Isaias. On the plus side there are lulls that offer time to plug in my laptop, phone, and iPad to keep them charged.

During one of the lulls in the early morning – the moisture around the forest was obvious from my office window. And the birds came to the feeder to get a later-than-usual breakfast; this male brought back his whole brood just after I took this picture…more house finches that there are roosts on the feeder and some of them were clearly just learning to fend for themselves.

Ten Little Celebrations – July 2020

I’m celebrating that everyone in my family is healthy and staying vigilant. We’re all in states that have a growing number of cases, though. As usual – I am looking back of the month and highlighting 10 little celebrations.

Large Monarch caterpillar. Toward the end of the month, there were caterpillars on the milkweed in our front flowerbed. One morning I walked out and saw a large one almost immediately.

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It was eating way…probably getting close to the size to pupate. I’ll look around for the chrysalis in the bushes nearby in a few days.

Cantaloupe in the CSA share. Yummy melons…one of the best foods of summer.

Regenerative landscaping webinar. Sometimes a webinar just comes at the right time. This one had so many interesting ideas. The one that I’ll probably try first is over seeding with mini-clover instead of grass seed in the thin places of our yard.

Morning hour on the deck. I love the quiet time on the deck first thing in the morning. I enjoy my morning caffeine, create a Zentangle tile, read a little….usually with our cat as company.

Neighborhood pond in the morning. Lots of interesting things at the pond --- different every time…birds, turtles, plants, insects.

Milkweed. Blooms, pods, insects (milkweed bugs and beetles, aphids (aargh!), Monarch caterpillars). The plants are little worlds of activity.

Summer sunrise. It’s getting easier to get up and out to catch the sunrise.

Mt. Pleasant. Venturing out just a little…early enough that there are not very many other people around.

Western Regional Park (Howard County, Maryland). A place I hadn’t been before but worth discovering.

Goldfinches. Looking out the window at the right time.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

NOAA Get into Your Sanctuary! Events. There was a post on the NOAA feed about this; relatively short notice but maybe ‘just is time’ is good enough. The events are live 7/31-8/2. I am planning to watch as many of them as I can. https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/visit/giys.html

Observations at the grocery store. When it got to the grocery store, the sun had only been up for about 10 minutes, so the short drive was scenic with the glow of morning light. As usual – there weren’t very many people in the parking area or in the store and everyone was wearing masks. I noticed that most masks were similar to mine but there two outliers: a woman that was wearing something that looked more like a gas mask and then a shield over that and a staff person that was wearing a mask that looked like it was very thin (had been through a lot of washings).

There was a sign saying that the carts were sanitized when I approached the area to get my cart – so I didn’t wipe the cart down again but did use the hand sanitizer station for my hands.

Things seemed well stocked although some of the store brand products we bought previously have not been replenished; the more expensive ‘name’ products are available.

I am enjoying the SCAN app my store provides. My bags are loaded as I shop (in the way I want them) and the checkout is as close to contactless as one can get inside the store! I wonder if all grocery stores will develop this kind of app for their customers.

Tomatillos!

I was pleased that tomatillos was on the list in the CSA newsletter for this week and were included in the medium share.

Last year I made green salsa. I might do that again although I am keen to try some new recipes this year. And there is a beauty to the husks that are removed….enough to prompt a Zentangle!

My first use of the pound of tomatillos I got this week was to include them as an added ingredient to a chicken stir fry I make frequently. I bought bell peppers to include but the onion and garlic scape were other items from the CSA. And I ate the stir fry over a salad of lettuce, fennel, and cucumber from the CSA too.  I hope we are nearing the stage where I am not putting as much into the freezer from the CSA shares (my freezer is almost full of frozen veggies).

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Other plans for the tomatillos: 1) raw in a smoothie with melon and 2) stir fry then folded into taco filling. Maybe I’ll get some hot peppers in coming weeks from the CSA and make green salsa again – but that will be a later share of tomatillos.

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Last stem of yellow day lilies. The multiple buds on the last stem are continuing to bloom…almost one per day. There are still two more bud that might be big enough to open.

CSA Begins

Our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) finally started this week. The cool weather in mid to late May slowed down the development of the items normally ready in the first weeks of June. I am so ready for the glut of fresh veggies! We sign up for the medium share which is always a bit overwhelming in the beginning. Last year I was traveling a lot in June and the freezer got filled up very rapidly. I did learn to prep and freeze leafy greens for use in smoothies….my favorite summer breakfast.

The farmer has added signs to the side of the barn where the shares are distributed emphasizing the changes this year because of the pandemic. There were yellow markers sprayed on the gravel 6 feet apart so the line could space out appropriately. For the first day of the season, everything worked very smoothly – even for the two people in front of me in line who were new to the CSA this year.

The first share of the season included (from left to right):

• Butter lettuce – I had the outer two rounds of leaves in a salad almost immediately.

• Radishes – I cleaned and froze the leaves to use in smoothies and had one radish in the salad with the butter lettuce

• Garlic scapes – I will have these cooked with scrambled eggs or as a topping on chili or in a salad. These are one of the treats of getting veggies from the CSA.

• Collards – I had a choice of kale, collards or chard and picked the collards because I already have some kale left from the grocery store and I like collards better than chard.

• Strawberries – These will be gone very quickly…another treat of the first weeks of the CSA.

• Red leaf lettuce – I could have gotten Romaine, but I opted for the more tender and colorful red-leaf.

• Spinach – I was pleased it was in a bunch rather than having to weigh leaves -  always slow going. I cut the root end off the bunch and cleaned the leaves thoroughly before putting it into the same bag as the radish leaves….to use in smoothies in the upcoming week.

 That’s quite a pile of veggies!

Unique activities for yesterday:

Climate and Sustainability Webinars (via Zoom). The first one was yesterday and was focused on healthy soil. They continue every other week for the remainder of the summer. I’m looking forward to the upcoming topics: regenerative gardening, regenerative landscaping, what can the pandemic teach us about being (un)prepared for climate change and other global disasters, the power of individual choice and climate change is bad for your health. I am already way over the number of education hours needed to sustain my Master Naturalist certification for 2020 but these are too interesting to pass up!

Turkey Vulture. Just before the webinar started, I noticed a vulture swooping low over our yard…and then – Surprise!!!e - it landed on the roof of our covered deck. It seemed to be making eye contact with me through the window.   I see them frequently soaring over the landscape….but usually not at such close range! I took a picture zoomed a little then zoomed more to get more detail on the feet and head.

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 3/30/2020

Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

Here are the unique activities for yesterday:

Hearing traffic noise in the early morning. I woke up about an hour before my time to get up and heard traffic noise. We’re close enough to I95 that sometimes in the winter when the trees don’t baffle the sound and the weather conditions are right…we hear the trucks. I hadn’t heard it as much recently and thought it was the effect of the pandemic. Today it seemed more like a pre-coronavirus Monday. I dosed until my Fitbit vibrated at the usual time.

Discovered HiJinx podcasts from my local library. I listened to the most recent one - ‘A most notorious woman’ about a Grace O’Malley – Ireland’s Pirate Queen. (Anne Chambers’ book on O’Malley available at Internet Archive here.)

Seeing deer just after 8 in the morning….going back to the forest. I wonder where they spent the night. The forest behind our house is part of the green space along the river. Did the deer spend their night elsewhere or did they leave the forest for a morning browse on tender plants in the neighborhood (like my daylilies) for ‘breakfast’ and were returning to the forest because a car or two had come down our street.  

Later in the day – when it was warmer – I walked around the yard and noted that the daylilies were recovering from the deer browsing several weeks ago. They were not eating them this morning. Also, the daffodils are on their last legs. I took some macro shots of them.

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More violets were blooming.

Dandelions are becoming more numerous too. I’m being lazy and leaving them alone. After the heavy rains a few years ago caused some of our lawn to turn to dirt with patches of grass I have come to appreciate the deeper roots of dandelions that hold the soil.

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The leaves on the tulip poplar are a little bigger but the flower buds are not open yet.

The cherry tree was attracting bees!

It was a wonderful sunny day and warm enough to have the windows open again. Hearing birdsong in the forest never gets old.

Remembering something I forgot to include in the post for last Friday – my husband had a telemedicine session. It was a first for us. It was a follow up after some tests and lab work from back in February….not coronavirus related. It was a lot less stressful than going into a doctor’s office during this time.

Receiving a communication from our Community Supported Agriculture farmer about what they have been doing to social distance while they work and the modified share pickup process planned when the season starts for us in June. I am reassured that they are thinking ahead…that I can still enjoy the bounty of fresh veggies this summer.

Photographing the sunset. The sunset is not in my line of sight from my desk, but I can see it if I stand in front of the window and look to the left. I timed it right last night. The clouds reflected the orange light in an arc over the tall trees.

Previous “filling a day of social distance” posts: 3/15, 3/16, 3/17, 3/18, 3/19, 3/20, 3/21, 3/22, 3/23, 3/24, 3/25, 3/26, 3/27, 3/28, 3/29

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 3/29/2020

Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

Here are the unique activities for yesterday:

Catching up on the Cincinnati Zoo’s Home Safaris:

• Cheetah Kris and Puppy Remus

• Red Pandas

• Giraffes

• Bearcat Lucille

• Snow Leopards

• Galapagos Tortoise

Savoring a dark chocolate reward for a weight loss goal achievement! I’m still slightly ‘overweight’ for my height so I’ll be celebrating each ‘new low’ from now on until I get into the ‘normal’ range. I have a supply of dark chocolate to reward myself to make 9 more step reductions since I only eat 2 squares (the serving size on the packaging is 3…but that makes the servings come out uneven). It should be easier to watch portion size and stick to nutritious and lower calories food now that I am eating at home. My downfall is usually eating in restaurants (particularly when I am traveling) and events where food is provided (it always looks and tastes so good).

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Replacing cabinet/drawer bumpers all over our house. My husband had ordered them from Amazon when he noticed that a lot of the ones on the cabinets were gone or degraded after 25 years. They came in the mail early this week. After letting the package sit for a few days (to let any coronavirus die), he went around the house to apply them yesterday….a little home maintenance while we have time for it!

Completing proxy voting prior to stockholder meetings. Most companies with near term stockholder meetings will probably shift to virtual meetings…or some other way to insure social distancing. I never go to the meetings…but I do vote!

Using up the last of the garlic from the 2019 Community Supported Agriculture share. I used the last cloves of garlic…and that’s all I had left from the CSA…everything in the freezer or dried has been used. I hope the weather cooperates and the pandemic is stabilized enough that the CSA starts at its normal time in June.

Hearing children at play. I had my office window open in the afternoon when the temperature was in the 60s…lots of birdsong…then I heard the voices of young children playing. Their dad was running with them through the long ‘playground’ of unfenced back yards. What a joyous way to send off the day!

Previous “filling a day of social distance” posts: 3/15, 3/16, 3/17, 3/18, 3/19, 3/20, 3/21, 3/22, 3/23, 3/24, 3/25, 3/26, 3/27, 3/28

Last of CSA Veggies

Last week was the end of the regular season with are Community Supported Agriculture (Gorman Farms CSA). The share was robust as usual. I was surprised by the late season tomatoes. They had both purple and green cabbage; I chose the purple, of course. The choice table was overwhelming, but I decided on the fennel after staring at it for a minute…with big a big feathery top that made the reusable bag look too small. I’ll use that top part first (chopped up and combined with grated sweet potato to make a colorful chicken salad.

I haven’t quite kept up with the veggies this summer. The freezer is reasonably full and a bit more will go into it from the freeze from this last week. Nothing goes to waste! I’ll enjoy the tomatoes, mixed greens, and onions in at least one salad; maybe I’ll eat them fast enough to avoid putting them in the freezer to use in smoothies or soups. With the shift in seasons – I lean toward the soups. I’ll probably not buy any veggies in the produce section of the grocery store for at least 6 weeks!

I’ll miss the weekly newsletters and ‘about your harvest’ boards. Every season with the CSA is a learning experience.

This was the first year for popcorn. There were lots of my favorites too - veggies I’ve learned to love with the CSA (fennel, sweet potato leaves, all kinds of peppers, uncured sweet potatoes, all kinds of squashes, all kinds of tomatoes…the only thing I’ve not learned to love is eggplant). This year was a drought year and last year it was too wet. Our farmer pulled though with lots of good veggies in both years but the variety this year was greater than last. CSAs are a great way to ‘eat local.’

Green Tomato Salsa

This is my year to make green salsa. I posted about the tomatillo salsa I made back in August. This month – it’s was with green tomatoes. It is more golden than green…but just as tasty. As usual for my culinary experiments, I was prompted by getting a key ingredient in my Community Supported Agriculture share:

Green tomatoes (3 of them…about a pound). I’d also gotten some of the other ingredients: a red jalapeno pepper, some medium ‘heat’ peppers, and 3 garlic cloves. I put everything in the food processor with some ginger preserves, a little salt and cracked pepper, and 3 tablespoons of lime juice…pulsed a few times. Then it cooked for 15-20 minutes. Yummy!

I used it as a savory side for grilled chicken, a salad dressing, and in lieu of stir fry sauce. It didn’t last long!

Favorite Summer Foods

I have two favorite foods that are new-to-me this summer.

The first is one I started when my freezer was close to overflowing with frozen veggies from the early weeks of the Community Support Agriculture (CSA) season (while I was traveling). I started making green smoothies for breakfast: vanilla soymilk, frozen ‘greens,’ frozen banana, protein (peanut butter, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, raw cashews).

I put them all in the Ninja without measuring exactly; the consistency is thick shake to soft serve ice cream…always cold and yummy. Perfect for summer mornings. The past few weeks I have been getting cherry tomatoes at the CSA. I freeze them…and combine tomatoes and greens. Then the banana can be room temperature. The smoothies are a great way to start the day.

The second favorite for this summer is tomatillo salsa. This was the first year for tomatillos from my CSA. We’ve had two weeks where the share included a pound of tomatillos. I had to so a little research to decide what a wanted to do with them. I decided on salsa. The husks of the tomatillos are star-like…I enjoy the shape before putting them into the bin to go out to the compost pile.

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I pan roast most of the ingredients in a skillet first.

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After they are cooked and cooled – I put them into the Ninja along with the cilantro (one time I used parsley because I had a big bunch of it) to make it into salsa….and then store in glass jars left over from other salsa or preserves. It lasts for a least a week in the refrigerator. The salsa goes fast since I like it for salad dressing, stir fry sauce, a topping for hamburgers, or dip for chips/veggies.

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Savoring the flavors of summer!

Gorman Farms CSA

I am overwhelmed with the weekly bounty of vegetables from the medium share from Gorman Farms CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). My freezer is full because I have made two road trips from Maryland to Springfield, Missouri since the season started – eating very little at home during those two weeks. Now I am closer to home for the rest of the season and anticipate keeping up better week to week…so much good food to eat! I love green smoothies for breakfast (frozen greens, frozen banana, soymilk, peanut butter) on hot summer mornings and there are plenty of frozen greens in the freezer. The farm also has pick-your-own flowers and herbs. Marigolds (the orange flowers in the picture) are pretty….and edible. I ended up just putting them in the center of the table as a little bouquet.

Each week the message board at the CSA highlights some of the veggies. This week the shishito peppers and tomatillos are new to me. My plan: roasting them and making green salsa.

The share board lists the contents of the share for the week. The picture below is the board from this week. There was a choice between purple and white onions ….and I picked purple since I had white ones left from last week. The melon choice was watermelon or cantaloupe. I picked cantaloupe because I had just bought a watermelon in the grocery store. From the choice section I chose turnips since the last ones I got were great for snacking. I’ll cut them to use for dipping the tomatillo salsa. There were enough reusable bags in my totes to contain the summer squash, cucumbers, eggplant, and tomatillos for weighing… I am avoiding single use plastic entirely when I pick up my share.

The cabbage white butterflies were thick on one segment of the cut-your-own garden and I went to check what plant was attracting them – catnip! I cut some for my cat and he enjoyed the CSA share this week too!

As in past years – the CSA is providing great food…and the satisfaction of eating produce grown very close to home in a sustainable way.

Ten Little Celebrations – June 2019

There was a lot going on in June – the last of the spring field trip season with Howard County Conservancy, the Wings of Fancy shifts, helping my daughter move from Pennsylvania to Missouri….and there were a lot of little celebrations along the way.

Springfield Art Museum – The first visit to a museum is always the best…because everything is new. This one was no exception….and it was free!

Luna moth – Finding a Luna Moth at a rest stop in Missouri was the high point of a long day of driving toward home. I celebrated that it was there….and that it was a pleasant surprise in an unexpected place.

First week of CSA – I am always thrilled to get the fresh produce from the Gorman Farm Community Supported Agriculture. Every meal I prepare with the CSA veggies is a celebration.

Frogs at Mt Pleasant – Finding the frogs in the small pond is like working a puzzle…you look carefully and finally see….and celebrate. I celebrated along with my hiking groups of elementary aged students too.

Perfect field trip weather at Belmont – I was braced for June field trips to be overly hot…but the weather for all of them at Belmont was near perfect. The pre-schoolers at Belmont celebrated being outdoors and I did too.

My summer office – I moved my home office to a room that doesn’t get direct sun in the afternoon (so doesn’t heat up) and celebrated that the new location provided a better vantage point to the bird feeder while I am working at my computer.

Kombucha – My new food find of the month was mint lemonade kombucha from Wegmans. I didn’t drink the whole bottle all at once…wanted to savor it so I had about 1/3 each day for 3 days. Yummy! I might not get it every week…maybe only for a celebration.

1st monarch butterfly and caterpillar sighting of the year – I celebrated a Monarch butterfly on some milkweed at Brookside Gardens and then a Monarch caterpillar on another milkweed nearby. It’s always a milestone for the butterflies to make it Maryland and start laying eggs. The milkweed is blooming and sweet…plenty of food for the caterpillars.

1st Zentangle® class is history – I celebrated leading my first Zentangle class…and the tiles created by the students.

Fledglings – I celebrated seeing several fledglings come to our birdfeeder over the past few weeks: downy woodpecker, titmouse, Carolina chickadee, and catbird. Our maple tree seems to be a popular place for many of these birds….or maybe they just come through that tree from the forest and return to the forest the same way.

Community Supported Agriculture – Hurray!

The Gorman Farms CSA summer season started last week. As usual – I am enjoying the bounty and not buying any produce at the grocery store. I’ve had stir fry and salads…seasoned mostly with garlic scapes and spring onions that were part of the share. Will I be able to use all the first share before I pick up the next one? Probably not. I can always use the bunch of kale to make chips; they always getting eaten fast. I’ve discovered that I like to process the salad greens in the Ninja or food processor to make very green slaw rather than tradition bigger chunks of green.

When I got the veggies home – I just put them in the crisper as they came from the farm. It means there is a little more prep to use them than there would be if I did the first round of prep before I put them in the refrigerator. It also means that they won’t last quite as long as they would in a bag or more airtight container. Maybe I’ll do the work when I pick up the share this week.

CSA Share

The Gorman Farms CSA season is about done but I am enjoying everything in the shares we are getting. A recent share filled the ceramic top of my stove. There are carrots with more top that carrot – but I like the tops in salads and soups; as soon as I got them home I cut the tops off, cleaned them and put them in a plastic bin with the parsley. I’ll eat the carrot tops first since they won’t last as long as the parsley. The carrots themselves will be eaten with hummus for snacks. They were very muddy. Heavy rain and mud has made harvesting more challenging than usual in our area.

I haven’t tried the watermelon radishes yet but I have enjoyed them in seasons past. We’re still getting a couple of onions every week which fits well with the way I cook. I’m a little behind on the winter squash; at some point I’ll cook them all and freeze the pulp to use like pumpkin. There were three tiny versions of butternut squash in this share; supposedly they are even sweeter and cook faster because they are small. The purple cabbages are small – struggling in the soggy fields probably. The peppers are holding strong; there were bell, banana, and roasting peppers in the share. And then there are sweet potatoes…several pounds every week; I’m saving the ones that are cured to eat after the CSA is over for the year. There was quite a selection at the overage table and I picked the fennel; I’ve developed a taste of it…since joining the CSA several years ago; I’d never tried it before that.

Good eating in October!

Fall Harvest

My freezer and refrigerator are overflowing with foods from my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). In the freezer I have a build up of items that I couldn’t eat quickly enough from the beginning of the season: zucchini and garlic scapes from the beginning, some kale that I chopped up in the food processor and then frozen in a sheet, tomatoes. Each week has brought more bounty, so I haven’t drawn down on much once it went to the freezer. Sometimes I manage to finish off everything from the share the week after I got it.

Right now the refrigerator is very full. My strategy is to eat the parts that will spoil most quickly, wait a little for the winter squash…but not too long (I already have 2 in the refrigerator)….and try not to freeze anything else. That looks tough with two crispers, two plastic bins, and squashes overflowing into the other part of the refrigerator along with 2 pounds of freshly harvested sweet potatoes.

What not to like about 3 kinds of peppers and scallions and tomatoes and tatsoi and Romaine lettuce and Napa cabbage and fennel and onions and collards and butternut squash and acorn squash….it’s just the volume that is the challenge.

I made a yummy ‘pudding’ this morning in the food processor with half of a leftover (cooked) acorn squash: acorn squash, 1 tablespoon almond butter, ¼ cup soy milk, a little honey. I sprinkled cinnamon on it right before I ate it. Yummy!