Thursday, June 14, 2012

CSA - A Great Start to a New Season!

Last year, when I opened my first box from our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture or "Farm"), I was pleased.  The kale was delicious, as were the spring onions, and green leaf lettuce.  The cherries, on the other hand, were tiny and there weren't many of them.  If I recall, there had been too much precipitation during the previous weeks and a late frost to boot.  This year, when I opened our box, I was dazzled!   We were given peaches and 2 boxes of beautiful cherries (see photo above).  The cherries aren't the kind you eat as a snack.  They're the tart variety and I hear they make a nice pie.  I'll find out tomorrow.  I plan to use a modified version of the Blueberry Pie recipe I posted last year to make my first ever cherry pie.  We also received Swiss chard, which I cooked tonight with golden raisins, yellow onion,and bacon.  The zucchini we got was THE BEST I have had in years - since I lived in California.   I cooked up the smaller ones we got with a bit of lemon, pepper, and butter and they were incredible - not a hint of the bitter taste that the ones I find in our markets tend to have.  Our box also contained some flawless large ones that I plan to stuff the way my mother stuffs peppers and tomatoes - with ground meat (I use turkey), onion, parsley, tomato sauce, and rice; seasoned with salt, pepper, cinnamon, and mint.  The green onions are far superior to those that I buy at the market and I plan to use them to top an Indian dish I will make on Monday. 

If this first box is any indication of what this summer and fall will be like, I know we are going to be blessed with 5 months of the best of God's bounty.  I can not wait!   Last year, I was happy enough to join our CSA again even though our cherries and potato crops had been ruined.  This year, I have a feeling there will be very few, if any, disappointments. 

I seem to recall telling you all that quite often the produce I buy at grocery stores "bothers" me.  I feel queasy or downright sick after eating much of it raw.  Nothing I ate from our CSA did that last year.  These next 5 months, I will enjoy fruit and vegetables in quantities that I am usually not able to.  I wish I could find a way to eat like this all year long!   Oh well....

I hope you are all enjoying the end of what has been a very strange spring for me.  Until next time, happy and healthy eating!!