Photo Credit: Zdenko Zivkovic via Compfight cc
We’re approaching the end of month two and I’m still very pleased with the CSA. Beet chips are a new favorite at our house. Zucchini and carrots are regular favorites already, so they fit right in. We had our first small share of wine berries two weeks ago. Wow! Absolutely delicious. One week there was a cooler of extras so I got double the usual selection of green beans and some large zucchini. Those kinds of foods are big hits around here. The beans were gone within the week, and the zucchini shortly after.
I’ve been getting creative with fresh garlic as well. This is never something I would have considered eating. I made garlic mashed potatoes, and used roasted garlic as a savory base for a vegetable soup.
It is interested to see what I’m learning about seasonality. In this area, it is almost impossible to have lettuce and tomato ripe at the same time. I really wonder how recent the advent of those two items in salad is. So I’ll find myself tempted to buy lettuce at the store to supplement the tomatoes coming from the CSA. But instead I’ve been forgoing salad all together and instead using the tomatoes in omelets or just sliced up raw for my son. He loves his “matos.”
I think I’d like to do a full share next year. For two reasons. First, wider variety. There are a number of yummy things that we didn’t get very much of because we only had half shares. We also did a half share because we were afraid we wouldn’t eat it all. But we haven’t had too much trouble, except maybe the braising greens, which I can always freeze for smoothies over the winter. So now I have to figure out how to save the full amount needed for next year’s full share.
This has really changed my feelings about eating locally and seasonally. I’ll still be buying imported produce (whether nationally or internationally) in winter because in the north east there isn’t much you can grow from about November-May. But I’m learning to modify what I cook and eat around what we get each week. It’s been rather fun. I wish we could more easily and affordably get other things locally, such as fruit, meat and eggs.
I’m looking forward to what the next few months bring as winter squash, apples and potatoes come into season and we see a second crop of greens and peas.
Whether you buy your foods locally or now, what have been some of your summer favorites?
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