Farmer's Market CSA - Week 12

This is the final week of our adventure with the CSA at our Farmer's Market.  

Sadly, I was too lazy to set everything up and take a photo of it.  Again!

They gave us a red cabbage.  Seriously?  I never got around to using the first one.  They did give us a recipe to use the cabbage with.  Here's hoping I get to it before it goes bad.

Romaine lettuce.  Okay I can't complain about this one because this will get used.  Be it a salad or on a sandwich.  So yum!!

Rapeni.  Okay I'd never heard of this.  So I'm unsure if I'm happy about it or not.  I couldn't even find it on a VERY brief search on google.  Thankfully they provided a recipe.  Thankfully they also state it's a broccoli rabe, which helps a search on it.

Kale Siberrian.  I never get tired of getting Kale.  This is one veggie that I've come to love using!  I have an acorn squash on hand, so I'll be making soup very soon.  Which is a good thing being as it's winter and chilly!

One very large lemon, that was grown here.  Hooray!  Who can't find a use for a lemon?  Nice to see some citrus in the mix.

Four kiwi.  Okay now that seemed to come out of left field.  I always think of kiwi as a bit exotic, but it was there.  Yum!  I'm thinking fresh fruit for breakfast one morning soon.

And last, but not least...  Salted in the shell peanuts!  Yum!

All in all a really good haul. 

Sadly we won't be signing up for the next installment with the CSA.  But I do know when to check out the Farmer's Market for new stuff.

Farmer's Market CSA - Week 11

Okay I've gotten lazy, I admit it.  There will be no photo of this haul either.  Just greens, browns, whites and a bit of red.  It did not inspire me to whip out the camera and set up a still life shot.

Red Sweet Potatoes.  More sweet potatoes?  Really?  I still have all the sweet potatoes from our other CSA veggies.  I think we may make some sweet potato chips.  That might be quite tasty!

Two White Potatoes.  Two?  Really?  And this was a 'bonus'.  So in other words they were looking for a cheap filler.  Don't get me wrong, I can use the potatoes.  I just thought this was really kind of odd.

Bok Choy.  I will have to try and use this before it goes bad.  Such is the sad state of things in my life.  My veggies expire before I can get around to using them.

Spaghetti squash.  I can ALWAYS use this.  So this makes me happy.  Especially since I love pasta and it isn't a diet friendly item.  So I can substitute spaghetti squash for spaghetti.  YUM!

And last but not least...  York Apples.  Can't really beat apples.  Something nice to snack on and add to your lunch.

There is one week left of our CSA experiment.  Sadly, I think we've decided not to continue on with it. We will still go to our farmer's market and buy things, but won't participate in the CSA.  We had way too many things go to waste, so it seems silly.  I think I'll just go once a week and browse the selection for new and fun things to try.

Farmer's Market CSA - Week 10

There was no CSA for the week of Thanksgiving.  

And I have no photo to show you, so bear with me.  This week didn't really see all that inspired to me and the colors were SO bland that I decided to completely skip getting a photo of it.  It was all whites and greens.  Nothing to break it up and really blah.

We got a head of Cauliflower, which I know I can use in a soup.  Actually I am kind of looking forward to making a soup recipe that they included.  So yay on that front!

They gave us Crease Greens.  I'd never heard of them.  And to be honest I'm so terribly sick of all the greens that they include.  Ugh!  We aren't a big greens kind of family.  That and they tend to go bad before I can ever get to them.  *sigh*

Butter Beans.  Again!  I must say that we've had to pitch many of the bags that we've gotten because they've gone bad.  They're just really bland, in my opinion.  Don't get me wrong, they're great but we've gotten them more than three times (I think) so it feels like filler anymore.

Two Asian Pears!  I have missed these.  One was eaten almost immediately upon it's arrival at our house.  I love fruit and we don't get all that much.  So yay again!

Parsnips.  A blah color, but I've got a recipe for it to add to the cauliflower soup.  So I'm thinking that it will be quite tasty and filling.  Plus parsnips just cooked and mashed are good too!

Only two more weeks of CSA.  We'll see what it holds for us and if we'll decide to continue with the program.

Farmer's Market CSA - Week 9

Week nine I'm glad you are more colorful.  There won't be one next week, since that would be Black Friday and they won't be open.  So my next one will be done in December and it's not my fault this time.  :-p

More sweet potatoes.  Oh joy.  This time they're white.  So all told I have yellow/orange (the ones we're all used to seeing), purple and white.  Luckily my sweetie just gave me the great idea of making sweet potato chips with them, so I am breathing a sigh of relief with that thought bouncing around in my noggin.

Two more yummy tomatoes!  I don't think I can get sick of tomatoes.  Now they may sit around a bit, but I always like having them on a sandwich or even by themselves.

Butter beans again?  Ugh!  I had to pitch one bag because it went all slimy and I still have a bag in my fridge, I think.  Will have to make something with them soon.  Promise!

Tatsoi, now that's something I had to look up.  I've never even heard of it.  It's that pretty green thing in the back of the photo.  They did give me a recipe to try this with, so we will see.

Four persimmons.  I've never had these.  And they gave me a number of recipes to try with it.  So I'm excited about this as well.  I love it when they add new things that I've never had and there aren't a ton of repeats.  I think we'll eat at least one by itself and then I'll try out a recipe or two.  Depends on how many of the fruit each recipe calls for.  I've only got four of them.

All in all I'm really tickled with this week's batch!  

Farmer's Market CSA - Week 8

Green cabbage, again.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this.

Kale.  More of the acorn squash soup that I enjoy.  That's the great thing about fall.  You can make lots of soups!

Turnips!  I can eat these things raw.  I'll have to see what I can think up to make with these.

Organic yellow onions.  You read that right.  It was advertised as organic, which they do as often as possible.  Which doesn't happen as much as I would hope, but that is okay.  Fantastic!  I always need onions for something or another.  They always come in handy.

Organic raspberries!  Oh hooray!  Fresh fruit that isn't an apple.  I think I'm going to make something breakfasty with this.  Yum!!!

Farmer's Market CSA - Week 7

Much more colorful and a better variety this week.  

Tomatoes!  Hooray!  I for see a BLT in my future.

Button mushrooms.  You can't go wrong with mushrooms in my opinion.  I'm sure I'll find something to do with these.  :-)

A bag of green beans.  Now I'll just have to snap them and cook them up.  Yum!

Mustard greens.  Okay I admit that they died a terrible death as I never got around to cooking them.  I really hate when they send greens.  I can never get around to using them before they go bad.  *sigh*

Broccoli!  I'm looking forward to that broccoli soup since the weather is turning colder and it is definitely soup weather.

Pink Lady apples.  More apples?  I still have lots from our other CSA jaunts.  A body can only eat so many apples.  I ended up bagging a a good chunk of our supply and delivering them to our wonderful neighbor, John.  He seems to be enjoying them.

Farmer's Market CSA - Week 6

So, week 6 is a tad more colorful than last week.

Collard greens?  Really?  Why?  We're dieting, and I know of no healthy way to prepare these.  Sadly these died a sad death.  Greens don't hold up well with us.  Especially things you might want to load down with not so healthy stuff.  We're really trying to do better.

Eggplant, which I eventually turned into eggplant pizza.  Oh it was so yummy!

Purple sweet potatoes.  Yes you read that right, they are purple.  I haven't used them yet.  I'm not a big sweet potato person and we're trying to cut back on our carbs.  Maybe I'll use them for Thanksgiving.

More butter beans.  We'll see if I can actually use these before they turn to mush.

And gold rush apples.

Farmer's Market CSA - Week 5

Wow!  Where did the time go?  I know I'm way behind on my blogging.  I don't know where the time went, but let me try to catch up.  

So here's week 5, not all that impressive looking I know.  

This will be a short blog since I am very behind with my blogging and I've got lots of things to blog about.

We got butter beans, which went bad before I could actually get to them.  Insert a sad sigh here.  Green bell peppers, which were quite yummy raw!  Grape tomatoes, which we loved on our salads!  Smooth kale, which I love in my acorn squash soup.  Red cabbage, which I have yet to use but do have a really good recipe that I want to try.

Farmer's Market CSA - Week 4

So here I am in week 4 of the Farmer's Market CSA.  Not the prettiest of pictures, but that's okay.  I'm enjoying this.

This time we got a bag of edamame, which I've never had before.  Cool expanding the palate here.  But I've no clue what to do with them.  Luckily a recipe was included for a dip that I think I'll be trying.  Fingers crossed!

There were 4 granny smiths in this batch.  Which is one of my FAVORITE apples.  However, I must admit that I've got more apples than I know what to do with now.  We aren't that big of an apple eating couple (maybe I have Snow White issues LOL) so I'm going to have to figure out what to do with the massive amount of apples I seem to have amassed.

Also got 2 baby ginger root, which I will be using in that dip recipe.  Always love it when they give you a recipe that will use more than one thing that you've gotten that week!

We got 3 beets!  I'm so not a beet person, but I think I can do something with them.  I promise not to make anymore ick faces when I say beets.

A spaghetti squash was included.  I normally bake this up and use it as spaghetti noodles.  YUM!  I've read you can just add butter to it and then salt and pepper and it's very good too.  However, I may be using the lasagna recipe that was included instead, because I'll admit I'm really intrigued.

And last, but not least we got 4 sweet potatoes.  I've honestly never used sweet potatoes before.  I mean I know what I can do with them, I just never have.  So I think I'll save them for Thanksgiving.

All in all, not a bad haul.

Farmer's Market CSA - Week 3

A pretty decent haul this week.  You can tell it's fall as this progresses because we're getting more root vegetables.  That's okay though I like root vegetables.

This week I got a peck of red apples.  That's right I said peck!  Click the link if you have no idea what that is.  And two Asian Pears.  Loving the fruit aspect of this!

I forgot to pick up a sheet that gives me descriptions and recipes this week.  I could smack myself over that.  Ugh!

I got two turnips.  I prefer them raw.  Yum.  Yum.  Yum.  I know there are other uses for them though.

Collard greens, which will probably go bad because I can't seem to get to them fast enough.  And the only way I know how to make them is totally unhealthy.  Which is not going to happen because the hubby and I are trying to loose weight.  *sigh*

Three tomatoes, which are always appreciate and gobbled up.  I've yet to put them on anything other than salads.  Or better yet just sliced up as a side.  Yum!

And the last thing we got was sprouts.  Good for salads is about all I know about them.  Oh and in sandwiches with cream cheese, but that moves in on the 'I'm dieting' territory and will most likely not happen.  They're supposed to be a blend of garlic, clover and alfalfa.  We'll see how that goes.

Farmers Market CSA - Week 2

I will say that I'm a little more impressed this week.

Not a lot of color in this batch, but a much fuller bag.

With this batch I can honestly say I know where it was grown and on what farm.  Which I think is really cool

We got broccoli crowns.  I think I foresee some of my hubby's yummy broccoli soup in my future!  A large head of green cabbage.  I think I'm going to have to look up some recipes for cabbage.  A bunch of curly kale, which I've NEVER had.  So there's more research for me.  Two acorn squash.  One is pretty big and the other not as big.  I'll have to look this one up as well.  I know I could bake them, but I want to be a little more daring with this stuff.  And four Piney River Gold Apples.  I've never heard of these.  It recommends refrigerating them.  So we'll see.

All in all I'm quite happy with this weeks haul.  It felt MUCH heavier and I get more meals out of this.

Farmer's Market CSA - Week 1

So last Friday was the start of our CSA.  You are told to bring your own reusable bags, so I brought my thermal picnic tote from Thirty-One.  I wasn't sure how much room I would need so I went with a big bag.  I love Thirty-One products!

A bit of color, but looking a bit bare.

I will admit that I wasn't overly impressed with the 'haul'.  It doesn't seem like much to me, but I think things will improve.  At least that's the hope!  I honestly thought I'd be getting tomatoes and other leftovers from the summer.  So I was surprised with a few things that I think of as fall items.  The good thing about this is that they do give you recipes and you do pick your own.  So you definitely want to get there first so you pick the best of the best.

The leafy greens in the middle are Hon Tsai Tai, which I had no idea what it was.  Apparently the girl working there didn't either, but she looked it up and provided some recipes for it.  They also tell you how it should be stored, which is a handy piece of information to have right there.  I'm not sure if I'll get to it in time though.  I'm just not one for leafy greens.

Four Asian pears, which we've never gotten before.

Two heads of garlic and they're organic I might add.  Also I had a friend give me a great idea of roasting the garlic and then blending it with a bit of olive oil and then freezing it so I'd have it on hand for cooking.  Sounds good, so I'll try it.

A bag of green beans and a pie pumpkin.  All of which were from the area.

Here's hoping for a little more next time.  Since it's only two sides, a pie and four pears.  The garlic can be used for a while, which is good.

Farmer's Market CSA

I meant to blog about this sooner, but you know how time flies.  It's so hard to believe that summer is up and fall is starting.

So the hubby and I signed up to be in the local CSA program for fall.  We decided to eat healthier and thought this was a great way to support local farmers.  What is CSA you might ask.  I'm glad you did!

A Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program consists of a community of individuals who pledge their support to the farmers and the Farm Market through a subscription to purchase seasonal produce.  Subscribers pay for the produce in advance, which provides the farmers with the ability to plan their crops with the knowledge that a portion of what they produce is already sold.  Cool right?

This also benefits the Farmer Market by providing it with known quantities of produce to procure and a steady flow of customers who may want to add to their produce with other grocery items from the Farmer Market.  Also, as a Farm Market CSA, the Farm Market works with many farmers across the region, providing a better variety of produce and cushioning the subscribers against drought conditions, plant diseases and pests that may affect produce supplies.

So each Friday I pick up fresh, seasonal local and regional produce as part of my CSA.  It says that each subscription is enough to generously feed two veggie lovers or a family of four with vegetable side dishes.  In addition, they'll give recipes and ideas of how to prepare the produce.  We'll see how well this works.

I really like the idea that they work with local and regional as well as small family farmers state wide.  They say that the farmers use as little fertilizer and other treatments due to the expense.  Which I really like.  Not the expense part but the fact they don't use as many chemicals.  They conduct farm visits to ensure the quality and treatment of the produce.

Some times they will go as far as North and South Carolina, Georgia and northern Florida to help provide variety, but thy will identify where everything is from.

And sometimes they will have organically grown items.  I'm really looking forward to this.  Here's looking forward to the next twelve weeks!