CSA Year Two - Week One

This year is our second using a CSA (community supported agriculture). When we lived in the city we hooked up with a very nice farm that delivered to our local market. It was super convenient since we really didn't have enough room (or sunlight) to garden ourselves either.

This year, with our move to the country in December, we hooked up with a different CSA, The Good Food Collective. We had friends who joined in the first year of this collective and they really sang GFC's praises, so we joined up and tried them out.



So here's our share. It's a half-share because there is only two of us. It turned out to be:

1 QT strawberries
1 bunch red beets
2 small bunches swiss chard
1 head bok choy
1 large lovely head of lettuce
1 bag of garlic scapes


My plans for these items:

Strawberries: Some of them are a little soft, they are so ripe! So, I sorted them, rinsed and dried the whole ones and cut up the softer ones. The soft ones I am going to use to make homemade strawberry lemonade. The whole ones we'll use throughout the week to add to our yogurt as a mix in, make parfaits and smoothies with.

Beet Roots: A couple of weeks ago, I pulled a recipe for Golden Beet Salad with Wheat Berries and Pumpkinseed Vinaigrette. I am going to alter it, using red beets and do it without the Pumpkinseed Vinaigrette. Instead I may do a basil infused oil or a mint based homemade dressing.

Beet Greens: I am going to blanch them and do a warm salad with them. Possibly with some feta cheese and some hard-boiled eggs with some homemade bacon bits.

Swiss Chard: This I will most likely saute with a little olive oil and garlic. My theory is that when you can't think of something else to do with an item, saute it with olive oil and garlic! Seriously, I'm not a *huge* chard fan, but I do really enjoy it this way!

Bok Choy: This is headed right to the grill with some shrimp that we are marinating. I'll mix up some soy sauce, garlic, ginger, rice wine and grill it lightly.

Lettuce: Salads, salads, salads. Sandwich topping too!

Garlic Scapes: This is the one item I eagerly await every year. Why? Because of Garlic Scape Pesto, that's why. Seriously, just Google it. Every year how I make it changes based on what I have in my bread box (which is where I keep my nuts) and herb garden. Most likely this year it will be mixed with just a touch of basil, Parmesan cheese and pine nuts. I wanted to start that tonight....but I currently have 16 ice cube trays full of watermelon puree in my freezer. And I need the trays to freeze my pesto, so it will wait until tomorrow.


Keep Posted every Friday for CSA Friday! Tune in later this weekend for an important programming announcement!