CSA Week 26

The past few weeks have been very busy! I have a long list of dishes to blog. Those should begin to appear soon.

The weather has also finally taken a turn toward spring here. The constant rains have stopped and the sun has returned. Our friends at Orchard Pond Organics report there are a number of crops in the field now - after several weeks of damaging frost and wet.

Our share at this half-year mark contains:

• Russian Red kale (in the bag)
• collard greens
• shungiku
• cilantro
• sour oranges (with the cilantro, I believe a pork dish is forthcoming!) 
• eggs

CSA Week 25

Sorry there is no information about our share this week. We were out of town visiting family. We asked our friends, Dina and Kim, to take our CSA goodies this week. The share included broccoli, arugula, eggs, sour oranges, and ... something else I have forgotten!

I hope to be begin blogging again regularly very soon.

CSA Week 24

Oranges? Yes, citrus continues to thrive in Florida despite the recent cold and wet weather. These are sour oranges - perfect for making mojo, a Cuban marinade for pork and chicken.

• Russian Red Kale
• Broccoli
• Arugula
• sour oranges
• eggs

CSA Week 23

It was a cold, wet evening. Things were a bit improved this morning, but I still didn't linger long at the market. Mary did allow us to select some additional items. The kale looked terrific - and I've been wanting to try "kale chips," so that was my choice.

• turnips
• carrots
• cauliflower (Very interesting! Mary, I forgot the variety.)
• collard greens
• kale
• eggs

CSA Week 22

Mother Nature has been more kind to our friends at Orchard Pond Organics. This week's share offers more variety and volume than recent weeks. We're excited to receive some new items, too. (Thank you to Junior Chef #1 for washing the vegetables and taking the picture!)

• kale, several varieties (My sister sent several kale pizza recipes. We'll try one!)
• broccoli
• carrots
• turnips (only the tops are visible here, having been removed by the Junior Chef)
• collard greens
• Where's Chuck? 

CSA Week 21

The weather continues to be wild here. Torrential rains two days ago produced widespread flooding. The ground is over-saturated. The nights cold but the days tolerably warm. Not the best weather for farming - especially the kind practiced by our friends at Orchard Pond Organics. Growing up in a rural farming village in the Midwest, I am very sympathetic to their situation: they are committed to producing high-quality, healthy food for a number of people who have agreed to share the risks involved but do also expect to receive fresh produce each week. The hoop-house (greenhouse) was nearly underwater the other day, and the fields too wet to work. Nevertheless, we received another full share this week. Though limited in variety, high on quality. Remarkable work given all the challenges. Thanks, Mary, Steven, Jennifer, Lydia, et al.!

• broccoli (with the leaves, yum!)
• carrots
• turnips (yay!)
• collard greens (hmm, need ideas)
• eggs

Oh, and we've recently bought several loaves of wonderful bread from Three Sons Bakery through OPO.

CSA week 20

Another cold Saturday at the farmer's market today, but with a constant drizzle to boot. There were a number of vendors out, nonetheless, and plenty of local produce. Jennifer said that Orchard Pond's plants have done well - except some of the thinner, younger crops. They are welcoming several people over the next few weeks to work on the farm. I heard there are great plans to prepare the worm castings and rainwater collection.


In this week's share:

• carrots
• baby radishes
• turnips
• rutabagas
• collard greens

CSA Week 19

Mary and Jennifer, from Orchard Pond Organics, were distributing our CSA shares in bone-chilling, finger-numbing cold yesterday. At 10 a.m., it was only 25 degrees here in northern Florida. There were a few other vendors out, too, including Ben from Manatee Mushrooms who was selling gorgeous oyster mushrooms. (He will be at the market in coming weeks with shitakes as the weather grows warmer.)


Mary and I talked about how the recent weather extremes were affecting their efforts. October and November saw an historical heat wave that took its toll on new plantings. That was followed a few weeks ago by daily rain - leading to the third wettest December on record. This kept them out of the field. Now we are experiencing some of the coldest days and nights in recent decades. At a minimum, this slows growth; at worst, it damages or kills plants. Difficult days for farmers - and requiring patience among those who support local agriculture.


Our share this week was, therefore, understandably light. Mary anticipates it will continue to be so for another couple of weeks. But she hopes to see increasing yields in the near-term. In addition, they will have OPO broilers for sale. 

• Shungiku (the small greens, which went unidentified last week)
• Lettuce
• Turnips
• Carrots
• Radishes
• eggs
• oyster mushrooms (from Manatee Mushrooms)

CSA Week 18

After forgetting to collect our CSA share last week, we were determined to arrive early at the farmers' market today. Lydia was kind enough to reward this effort with a few turnips she had harvested yesterday. Yay! Thank you! In addition, we received:

• mustard greens
• arugula
• radishes
• carrots
• eggs (the OPO hens are laying well)
• fennel (hmmm, fish perhaps?)
• kale
• small green chile

I also bought this incredibly large cabbage from my favorite grower. Take a guess at its weight...

7 pounds, 12.7 ounces

I'll use half to make haluski this week, and half for stuffed cabbage leaves.

CSA Week 17

While you may believe in Santa Claus (and I hope you do), you cannot imagine my disappointment this morning when I realized that we’d forgotten to collect our CSA share this week. With family in town and everyone recovering from a long Christmas day of eating, talking, and – yes – more eating, it didn’t even occur to me to head to the market.

We have enough left0vers to feed ourselves for the next three weeks, but I am sadden to know my eggs and veggies had to be sent to another home.

CSA Week 16

Our friends at Orchard Pond Organics has struggled with the constant rain over the past few weeks. They haven't been able to get into the field with the tractor. But this week's harvest is beautiful:

• Carrots
• rutabagas
• broccoli
• purple kale
• and ??? (Jennifer twice told me the name of the small bunch of greens, but I forgot.)

CSA Week 15

A cold, wet week and even more miserable Saturday morning, but the OPO folks were waiting for us at the farmers' market. The weather has kept them out of the field for the past several days. But, I learned, they did finally mow down the okra. (Hooray!)

This week's share offers some deeply-colored vegetables: perfect items for cooking warm dishes. Beautiful, aren't they?

• collards
• kale
• carrots
• turnip greens
• radishes
• broccoli leaves and heads
• eggs

CSA Week 14

Our first CSA session is drawing to a close. Orchard Pond Organics is in its second year of operation, and is doing well I understand. They are looking ahead to the winter season. Mary reports they will have: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, beets, radishes, turnips, kohlrabi, rutabagas, and lettuce. The March of the Greens will be unrelenting, but I may release myself from the "new recipe" requirement. We are very excited for the Brussels sprouts - a favorite here.

Registration is open. $400 for a full share, $224 for a half.

OPO's hens are now laying, so they are providing the eggs themselves. The partnerships with Red Bridge (beef) and Sweet Grass Dairy are continuing. Oh, and they have honey, bread, and preserves on offer, too.

Week 14 saw a nice mixture of root vegetables and greens.

• Bok choy
• Rutabagas
• carrrots
• arugula
• radishes
• other greens (I failed to take a picture)
• We also bought Red Bridge ground beef and a ribeye, along with two cheeses from Sweet Grass: a gouda and "Lumberjack" (a salty-tangy  cheese, a bit like a really good feta).

CSA Week 13

Fewer greens in this week's share than previously. We did receive a bunch of beautiful carrots. In addition, there was:

• mustard greens
• bok choy
• arugula 
• red radishes (gorgeous - sandwiches on the menu!)

Somehow we missed taking a picture again. Trust me, everything looks very tasty!

CSA Week 12

After three weeks of nearly full-time travel, I'm back in the kitchen. The rest of the home kitchen staff collected the CSA produce and cooked while I was away. 


You can see three items apart from the usual array of greens:

• carrots
• green chilies
• lemon basil (front center)

CSW Week 11

The seasons are beginning to change, but apparently the okra continues its steady advance on humankind (or at least upon our CSA). Fortunately, our friends at Orchard Pond Organics ASKED if I would like okra this week. I politely (?) declined, but did accept their offer of additional salad greens. The younger man in line behind me opted for the ubiquitous green pods. I almost offered to run home and bring him the bag we have from last week's share, but he had gleefully trotted off before that idea had come to me.

This week's picture shows the share as it's received. Several delicious, recurring favorites were among the items:

• mustard greens
• mubuna (sp?) (Thank you to the OPO women for identifying this for me. Front center, below the eggplant.)
• bok choy (two types)
• salad greens (lots)
• three baby eggplants
• arugula
• eggs

Sunday will need to be filled with aggressive cooking, or else Senior Chef #2 and the Junior Chefs will be stuck with plenty of edible leaves while I am away for another business trip.

By the way, a quick word about washing greens. After trying several approaches, we have settled upon the triple-soak and spin. We fill the sink with cold water. Drop a load of leaves in and churn them about for a few seconds, then allow them to sit for a couple of minutes. Then spin them dry in the salad spinner, re-rinse (generally in the same water...the sand /dirt sinks). Repeat three times. This seems to produce the best results for storing (they last longer) and eating (no grit).

If you have a better method, let me know!

Finally, breakfast today - courtesy of Senior Chef #2 - was homemade french toast using the remaining Anadama Bread. Fabulous!

CSA Week 10

A week of travel for work and plenty of activity at home has kept me away from cooking and the blog. Our week ten CSA share contained the usual suspects and a couple of less frequent items:

• an array of greens (mustard, bok choy, mabuna)
  
• salad greens
• okra (hmmm...should I hope for a heavy frost?)
• white radishes
• broccoli
  

I wasn't even in town to collect them from the farmers' market, but my kitchen staff obliged. Alas, we have no picture.

We spent the week eating simple salads dressed with a balsamic vinaigrette. Junior Chef #1 has become quite proficient at preparing the dressing - in part because he likes the word "emulsify." We added thinly sliced radishes, too. There was some complaint that this precluded the creation of radish sandwiches. Epiphany becomes legacy.

CSA Week 9

Look very closely. Can you see my source of joy? No OKRA! Yay!

Plenty of other goodies this week.

• Sweet potatoes
• A few red potatoes
• Salad greens
• Mustard greens
• Baby turnips 
• and...courtesy of Red Bridge Farm, a grass-fed ribeye and 1# ground beef
  

CSA Week 8

The heat has continued to take a toll on Orchard Pond. Nonetheless, we received a large share. Two new items, white radishes and salad greens, appeared.

• Okra (last week was so busy we didn't cook the red okra; I'll combine both in a curry)
• Salad greens (lunch today?)
• Turnip greens
• Basil
• Mustard greens (stuffed pork shoulder, along with the turnip greens?)
• White radishes
• Baby arugula

Requisite Chuck shot (she ate the salad greens):

CSA Week 7

The chilly weather today was accompanied by a change in our CSA share items this week. Joining our weekly array of greens of various sorts, the color red makes a dramatic appearance along with a vegetable I associate with holiday dinners at my grandparents: the turnip (or is it rutabaga?).

• Mustard greens
• Basil
• Arugula
• Kale
• RED okra
• red, hot peppers
• eggs

I'm tempted to try another solo okra dish this week, as I've heard the red variety is less "slimy" than the green. The turnip may also receive individual treatment. I will add the mustard greens to the dish I intended to make this past week, chickpeas and mustard greens with balsamic glaze. 

Chuck is somewhere playing with Ticho. The haul smells delicious, so she must be having fun because she didn't undertake her weekly inspection.