Arugula!
This year, for the first time, I bought a share in a Community Supported Agriculture farm. I’ve been wanting to do so for several years, but this was the first time I actually did the research and committed to it. One of my primary concerns was that since I’m gone so much in the summer I wouldn’t have time to make good use of the produce. But after reading Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma, and In Defense of Food, and Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle eating locally became a priority for me. I’ll just have to be very pro-active about freezing what I can’t use immediately. Maybe I’ll get a juicer.
Cilantro (left) and thyme.
The farm I bought into is called Long Hungry Creek, and the farmer is Jeff Poppen. I chose this farm primarily because they deliver in Nashville on Mondays. All the other farms that deliver CSA boxes do so on Wednesdays, which is one of my teaching days, so I’d never be able to go pick it up. Also, if I can’t pick up my box they don’t have a problem with me sending someone else to get it, and if I don’t do that all of the leftover produce goes to a local food bank, and I’m good with that.
I waited impatiently for June 1st to roll around. Since Memorial Day was the Monday, they delivered on Tuesday instead. As it turned out, when it finally arrived I had to dash down and pick up my food in between banjo lessons.
Instead of pre-preparing the boxes, Long Hungry Creek figures up the portions and has all the produce in large baskets, so you can choose your own, taking as much as the sign tells you. (I’ll try and get a picture of that at some point.) I have a single share, which is about a quarter bushel of food every week. In addition to what they grow on the farm, they augment our shares with day-old bread from a couple local bakeries (as much as we want), and they also have local eggs, cheeses, and raw foods available for purchase.
Garlic scapes. What the heck?
My first batch of food included lots of green stuff (beet greens, lettuce, arugula, thyme, cilantro), potatoes, rhubarb, green onions, and garlic scapes. Even though they’re now in my fridge, and they thoughtfully sent a recipe for garlic scape pesto, I’m still not really clear on what garlic scapes ARE. One Block West, a local food restaurant in Winchester, Va. (is there more than one local food restaurant in Winchester?) blogged about their own vegetarian tasting menu, which included garlic scape pesto, so I know it’s a real thing. I’m SO curious what it will taste like.
Rhubarb!
My plans for the rhubarb involve the strawberries in my freezer, which I picked at Bradley Kountry Acres last week. (Sadly, their strawberries are all gone, so what I have will have to last me all year.) But so far all I’ve been able to do with my lovely farm-raised food, since I was only home for two days this week, is make a couple salads from the greens. The salads were pretty killer, with just some olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dressing.
My grand plan is to blog about what I do with this glorious bounty every week. We’ll see how long that lasts…
The two cute potatos that are about to become tonight's supper.
Lovely green onions. I think they're going with the potatos for supper...
Yummy, crispy, tender lettuce, which I paired with...
...these beet greens for a couple of killer salads.
Tags: CSA, Long Hungry Creek Farm
June 8, 2010 at 8:16 am |
No longer sorely neglected! When I first saw the name change, I thought maybe you’d gone into Civil War re-enactment. We have a small garden (a “square foot garden”), and there are good markets around here, but I don’t know whether we actually have a CSA. The main reason for my comment is to let you know about a book I’m reading which might interest you: “The Town That Food Saved: How One Community Found Vitality in Local Food,” by Ben Hewitt (ISBN: 1605296864). It’s about Harkwick, Vermont and surroundings, an area in decline after the granite business went bust, and about the “agrepreneurs” (author’s word) who are setting up a local food system for the area. Haven’t gotten very far into it yet, so I can’t say how well it works, but it’s an interesting read. Take care, and thanks for the behind-the-scenes looks!
June 19, 2010 at 7:31 pm |
They are VERY CUTE potatoes! Back in my hippie days, we lived on a NC farm and would go out and dig up a mess of those little red New Potatoes, boil them, w/skin of course, and feast. Lightly salted and buttered. YUM! I applaud your efforts on behalf of CSA, good food, perfect health (the slowest possible rate at which one can die). You’re a treasure, Casey.