CSA August 8, 2009

My CSA partner said I could have ALL of the CSA veggies this week, since I'll be away for the next 2 pick ups. Hmmmmm, that's a lot of tomatoes for a gal with a husband who doesn't eat tomatoes. Actually, that's just a lot of vegetables to eat in 5 days!



As usual, I was drwan to the beautiful flowers in the pick your own garden. This week, I went with a purple and pink theme.

I attacked the veggies with great vigor! I am detemined not to let anything go to waste:

1. Shredding/freezing squash for future sweet bread or muffins.

2. Blanching/peeling/freezing tomatos for a winter sauce.

3. Pesto... this jar might last until next summer!

CSA catch up!

I've missed blogging about CSA treats for 2 weeks. This weekend, I'll play catch up!



July 4...











July 11...






July 18... first pepper and tomato!









Lots of spinning to share... but first I have to ply something together! ;)

CSA 2009, Week 5: June 27, 2009

Mostly greens this week! Turnips, beats, kale, garlic scapes, squash and zucchini, spring onions, salad greens, head lettuce, fancy lettuce, tons of cilantro, and (one of my faves) kolhrabi!!

New flowers in the pick your own garden this week: poppies!

CSA 2009, Week 4: June 20, 2009

That's a lot of greens: lettuce mix, head lettuce, garlic scapes, beets, turnips, radishes, zucchini, braising mix, and kale.



Not only were we inundated with greens this week, but the wildflowers were just to beautiful to resist. I picked 4 bouquets for the party we hosted on Saturday. So pretty!! I need to learn the names of all the flowers... one day. But for now I can appreciate how beautiful they are to look at!

CSA 2009, Week 3: June 13, 2009

Each week's pick up is getting more and more bountiful! This week we had spring onions, lettuce mix, radishes, garlic scapes, Swiss chard, and summer squash. I also picked flowers, dill, and cilantro from the garden. The herbs smell heavenly!

I mixed the dill with chickpeas and served them over brown rice cooked with the spring onion. For an added zing, I added lemon juice and a dollop of yogurt.



Flowers!!

This morning I cast on for a new pair of socks. This is the second pair of socks that I'll be making with this yarn. I frogged my Jaywalkers due to poor fit. The new pattern I choose (Herringbone Rib Socks) is nice and stretchy and, so far, I like the way the pattern and the yarn work together.

CSA 2009, Week 2: Saturday, June 6

CSA week 2: kale, radishes, spinach, salad, peas, spring onions, asparagus, strawberries, garlic scapes. And from the pick your own: wildflowers and cilantro. Yum!



I finally took pictures of my "Little Green Monster," a pattern of my own creation. The only thing it's missing is 4 little buttons. I'm thinking red would go well with the green... hmmmm?

This was a fun project, not only in that I improvised the pattern but also in that I used 2 different yarns: the light green is Karabella Aurora 4, a sport weight merino, and the dark green is Spirit Trail Fiberworks "Brigit," a fingering 100% superwash merino. It adds some depth and texture to the sweater and it helped my use up some project leftovers. Win-win!

CSA is back!

Yay! CSA Week 1!! This year we have the Saturday morning share, so my "CSA partner" (a dear friend :) ) and I went for a 3.5 mile run before heading to the farm to pick up our goodies. This week's haul: braising mix, asparagus, spring onions, collard greens, strawberries, cilantro, irises, and wildflowers. What a great morning!



Oh, and I just picked 5+ pounds of strawberries with some of my knitting/spinning buddies this afternoon. Yet another activity where we don't have to look at each other when we talk... I think we're developing an unhealthy pattern. :)

CSA Extended Harvest 5: November 19, 2008

The last CSA pick up for this year. :( I still have enough veggies for the next two weeks (at least... there are still a few items in the freezer too), but I'm sad that I will actually have to pick up my own veggies at the market soon.

A little surprise in this week's veggie stash: cilantro. Who knew cilantro was still growing? I think I'm going to add it to a rice dish.

Thanks to TeamKnit and evergreenknits for your advice on the kohlrabi I got last week! I ate them raw and they were delicious! I got a few more this week and can't wait to eat them!!

CSA Extended Harvest 4: November 12, 2008

I am absolutely amazed at what is still coming out of the ground in this cold weather! The leaves have mostly fallen off the trees in Maryland, but the greens are still coming.

The Red Wiggler staff is more and more bundled up with each pick up... hats, gloves, boots... I'm so grateful for all the hard work they do to bring delcious food to so many tables.

One more week of veggie bliss and then I have to buy my own veggies. Not looking forward to that. I like having my greens forced on me. It's definitely getting me to eat plenty of them!



I'm excited to try out the kohlrabi this week. We had it once before in the spring as a "bonus," but I had no clue what to do with it and gave it to my mom. This time I will try to cook it up myself!

CSA Extended Harvest 3: November 5, 2008

My half of this week's share (the other half already with my CSA "partner"). I am loving fried green tomatoes, so I was excited to see more green tomatoes this week. I still have 2 peppers from last week so I wasn't sad to see only one green pepper this week. The greens have been wonderful... I'm going to miss them 3 weeks from now!

CSA Extended Harvest 2: October 29, 2008

Here's this week's veggie haul. Lots of green stuff! Yum yum! I've got quite the back up in the fridge, which means I'll be spending a few hours "processing" goodies this weekend.





In reading news, I finished 3 books this month! Two more Laura Lippman Books (Another Thing to Fall and In Big Trouble) and Barbara Kingsolver's Pigs in Heaven. The only reason I picked up Kingsolver's book is because I loved Animal, Vegetable, Miracle so much. Pigs in Heaven was the story of a little Cherokee girl who was abandoned and adopted by a white woman. A lawyer from the Cherokee Nation believes the little girl belongs with her tribe, even if the birth parents are not around. The conflict between a mother/daughter bond and community/culture tie challenged at my intellect and pulled at my heartstrings.

CSA Extended Harvest 1: October 22, 2008

We signed up for the extended CSA harvest season! The cost was $125 for 5 weeks. Check out the haul this week. Ten peppers! We still have tomatoes! Tons of greens! Wow! I had no idea the fall harvest includes so much. Even Chloe was impressed and had to check out the haul. I'm going to have to think of a clever way to process and store this week's veggies. There's no way our half will be finished by the time we get next week's "stash".

CSA Harvest 18: October 8, 2008 (and what a day!)

Today was a good great fabulous day! Let me count the ways:

1. Traffic wasn't too bad this morning. I started a new Laura Lippman audio book called Another Thing to Fall on the way to work this morning. I'm excited because this one seems to take place in Baltimore. The book I finished over the weekend (In Big Trouble) was set primarily in Austin. Good book, but one of the big appeals of Lippman's books is the Baltimore setting, so I was a little disappointed.

2. Work was relatively quite. And I found out my promotion paperwork is being processed.

3. Today was the first day I practiced yoga at work since a run in with my appendix on June 16. The only reason I remember the exact date is because it was Father's Day and instead of me visiting my dad for a backyard cookout on Sunday afternoon, he was visiting me in the hospital on Monday morning. But I digress. With a 4 week recovery, followed by a 2.5 week vacation, followed by late Wednesday morning meetings, I have not been to yoga in almost 4 months. It's a shame, really. The classes are lead by a co-worker who is just a fabulous teacher. And the classes are only $9 a pop. And the classes are held 50 feet away from my office. Anyway, I've continued with my practice at home for the last 2 months, but it felt great to be back with the class today. I felt great after our practice: my muscles felt longer, my posture was improved, my mood was lifted!

4. I left work right after yoga practice to get some blocking pins for the hemlock ring blanket and some milk from my favorite grocery store. I sampled some delicious fair trade coffee and headed up to Red Wiggler for our last CSA harvest pick-up.

5. Wow! Look at the amazing harvest this week! This alone would have been exciting enough to make my day fabulous! This week's full share was HUGE, including green tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, pumpkins, butternut squash, kale, turnips, radishes, beets, salad greens, arugula, apples, peppers, eggplant, gourds and garlic. The apples and pumpkins made me giddy with delight! My fall favorites!







Check out the spikey gourd. How pretty!


6. I went for a run after I got home from Red Wiggler. My leg muscles were still feeling nice and long from my earlier yoga practice, so I had a great run! Sub-nine-minute miles for the first time since before the appendectomy! Rocky was a little winded from the pace, but happy to be out and about.

7. To top it off, today was my "ideal" weather day. Overcast and crisp. A high of about 68 degrees. Have I mentioned that I love October?

8. I finished knitting the hemlock ring blanket today! Blocking and pictures to come!

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Oh, also, a blog I meant to post on Sunday:

This weekend was busy busy! By Sunday evening, I didn't feel much like blogging. But I did capture of a few of things I whipped up in the kitchen.

First up, a mild curry with peppers, okra, and bok choy. A dash of garam masala at the end for a little kick of flavor. I've been eating this for lunches this week with with a wild rice/brown rice mixture. Delicious! I even had a co-worker ask for the recipe as I was heating this up in the kitchen on Tuesday.





And then, beer bread! This mix was a gift from last Christmas. So easy (open mix, add beer, bake) and delicious! I expected a lot of unpronounceable ingredients in the bread mix, but I was pleasantly surprised to find just a few items (flour, baking soda, salt, etc.) on the label. We ate the last of the bread this evening with eggs, breakfast sausage, greens, tomatoes, bananas, and cheese. Breakfast for dinner is a favorite in this house!

CSA Harvest 17: October 1, 2008

It's October! I LOVE October! Happy October, one and all! And what a great way to start my favorite month than with a truckload of local veggies!

Here's the full share for this week. The gourds are beautiful! And I'm excited to roast the butternut squash. Yay! I can't believe we are still getting tomatoes. Oh, and I got a little bonus: some okra to try. We'll see how that turns out.





I picked a bunch of basil from the pick-your-own garden today. That plus my own stash of basil (from my on-my-deck-and-in-big-clay-pots garden), yielded a lovely batch of pesto this afternoon!




In knitting news, I FINALLY put the buttons on my Ellin mekko and wrapped it up for shipping! The parents are going with a lady bug theme in the little one's room, so I knew these buttons were perfect when I saw them.

CSA Harvest 16: September 25, 2008

This week's goodies! The braising mix from last week was wonderful with barley, parsley, and shreded carrots. Oh, and the bok choy was fantastic -- sweet and very mild compared to other greens. A fantastic contrast! I'm looking forward to this week's greens....mmmmmm.

CSA Harvest 15: September 17, 2008

My half of this week's veggies! I forgot to put a big bag of braising mix in the picture. By the time I realized I had forgotten, I already had most of the yellow cherry tomatoes in my belly! :)

CSA Harvest 14: September 10, 2008

Here's this week's haul. In the bags: beans, beets, arugula. Yum!





I tried to pick pink and white flowers this week. The snapdragons smell amazing!


Oh, and a little gift from my home country. My grandparents are visiting the States for 3 months and brought some childhood favorites for me. :)

CSA Annual Harvest Supper

The Red Wiggler Annual dinner should have been on Saturday, but Hurricane (or was it Tropical Storm?) Hannah postpone the event to Sunday. But it was worth the wait! Sunday brought beautiful weather and a more cheerful atmosphere, I imagine, than we would have had in the wind, rain, and mud.

The pictures don't really capture the warm and cheerful sense of community that one felt during the event, but they do give a idea of the time and care that was put in to planning all the details!

Tasting of local wines!



The center pieces were made from the farm's wild flowers. They did a much better job than I do with the arrangements!


Everything at the event was reusable, recyclable, or compostable.


A silent auction in the barn to raise money for Reg Wiggler.


Artwork in the barn.



Dinner! I think my favorite dish was the goat cheese stuffed peppers. The roasted potatoes and beets were a close second though.



Dessert featured all kinds of homemade goodies, including fruit pies, lemon bars, cookies, brownies, and cupcakes. It was impossible to try one of everything, but I certainly had a good sampling!