CSA Week 21 - The Last of the Season

The only left over veggie I had in the crisper from week 20’s share was a bell pepper. That was a very good thing because the last week for the Gorman Produce Farm Community Supported Agriculture was quite a lot:

• 2 green bell peppers
• 2 pounds sweet potatoes
• 3 garlic
• 2 baby lettuce
• 1 butternut squash
• 1 bunch kale
• 1 bunch chard
• 1 bunch watermelon radishes
• 4 snack peppers
• 1 bunch turnips

The turnips and watermelon radishes were about the same size. I’m going to cook the green tops too!

The garlic and peppers are pretty enough to be a centerpiece.

And the lettuce is a melding of gentle green curves.

I am going to miss the weekly trek to the CSA and the bounty of fresh veggies. It is going to take some focused attention when I go grocery shopping next week to buy a similar range of vegetables in the produce section of the grocery store; the CSA has broadened my palate. Now it is up to me to sustain the improved eating habits that have developed over this summer and fall.

Ten Days of Little Celebrations - July 2014

Noticing something worth celebration each day is an easy thing for me to do. The habit of writing it down reminds me to be grateful for these and a myriad of other things in my life. This month has been full of ‘little celebrations;’ here are my top 10 for July 2014. I’ve categorized them into 4 groups: CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), Howard County Conservancy, travel and outdoors.

CSA

Kohlrabi is a new food for me this summer. It has been included in my CSA share twice and I’ve enjoyed it nutty flavor in stir fries. I may even buy it from the grocery store produce section after the CSA ends in the fall.

Fruit beety has become one of my favorite treats this summer - it is a healthy splurge to celebrate summer…..and a beautiful color to savor too.

Turnips are foods that I liked as snacks growing up but had eaten very infrequently for 30 years. I’m celebrating the re-discovery of how good a crunchy turnip can be.

Howard County Conservancy

Fairy Houses - The Howard Country Conservancy had an event for families to build fairy houses in the woods. I volunteered to help out with the crowd….and it was a lot of fun. The children were very creative with the natural materials of available!

Views in the Forest Shade - I celebrated the natural jewels in the shade on a summer day.

Bugs - Insects and spiders - oh my!

Travel

Travel purse - I found the perfect purse for travel at a thrift store: a pocket on the outside for my Kindle and boarding pass, good closure so nothing can fall out accidently. I am celebrating the bargain!

TSA Pre - I celebrate every time I get a boarding pass with TSA Pre; it is so much easier to go through security with shoes on and the laptop in the backpack.

Outdoors

Heron on the Lotus Pond - The second trip we may to the Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Garden in Washington DC - there was a Great Blue Heron that was so intent on fishing that there was plenty of time for pictures. The scene of bird and lotus were the celebration of the day.

Blooming sweet potato - Previous sweet potato plants have grown lots of foliage and potatoes….but this year the plant has blooms too!

CSA Week 6

This is the first that my crispers were totally empty by the time I went to pick up this week’s share from the Gorman Produce Farm Community Supported Agriculture. The last items to go were a leek I used with some scrambled eggs for breakfast and a cucumber that I diced to fold into yogurt for lunch.

The two new-to-me veggies this week are Japanese Eggplant and the Sun Jewel Melon. I may need to do some web surfing to decide how I want to eat them. I’m already planning to make Fruit Beety with the beets - probably tomorrow.  I am missing leafy greens so have added them to the list for the grocery store.