I had to stop using my prior CSA. The mutant root vegetables were starting to drive me crazy. They would just end up sitting in the fridge until it was too late to use them. I also became increasingly frustrated with the lack of variety. Week after week, I got bags of greens and root vegetables. I did a quick search of other CSA’s in the area and found that other CSA’s were offering items that I can’t grow like artichokes and asparagus. I went with Full Belly because it’s pick up location is not far from work and it has a great range of vegetables.
List of First CSA box:
Carrots
Apricots
Summer Squash
Potatoes
Collard Greens
Parsley
Garlic
Onion
I went through these vegetables very quickly. The carrots were used in salads and snacks. The apricots were also consumed after a couple of days. The Summer Squash was sliced thin and grilled on the barbecue with a sprinkle of olive oil and pepper. The parsley, garlic onion were used in various recipes over the past two weeks.
This box also introduced me to Collard Greens. This thick leafy green sat in the refrigerator for a while until I built up enough nerve to cook with it. I followed the Cook’s Illustrated recipe which involved sauteing for an hour with garlic and bacon. I must say that I take after the Yankee side of my family. I found them to be disgusting and worse than Swiss Chard. But I’m glad I got to try them.
The next discovery was the potatoes. Earlier this year I had read Barbara Kingsolver’s book about living off her local farm and resources for a year in, “Animal, Vegetable, Mineral”. They describe in detail the amazing taste of fresh harvested potatoes. They also explained how potatoes contain more pesticides than any other produce. I was skeptical about the taste of potatoes. I have always like potatoes but I couldn’t imagine a huge change in the flavor compared to store bought. Wow, was I wrong. We just sauteed them and sprinkled with salt and pepper. These baby potatoes just melted in your mouth. They were sweet and buttery and just amazing. I am looking into growing my own for next year.
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