RSS Feed

Daily Archives: June 7, 2012

Sandy Spring CSA Week Five

Posted on June 7, 2012 by AnnieRie

Thursday. CSA day. What are we getting this week?

Eleven items. All certified organic. I swapped herbs as usual. Value taken using what I find in organic markets and farmers who follow organic practices and sell at markets.

1 Bag Pickling Cucumbers – five cukes, value approximately $2
1 Head White Cauliflower – value $3
1 Bunch Collards – value $3
1 Bunch White Scallions – large, worth 1 1/2 of what I find at markets, so $3
1 Head Green Deer Tongue Lettuce – $3
1 Quart New Red Potatoes – 2 pounds, worth $5 at organic pricing
1 Bunch Garlic Scapes – $2
1 Bunch Broccoli – $2
1 Head Green Cabbage – $3
1 Bag Young Rainbow Chard – I swapped the herbs for this, equivalent each bag to $4 worth of chard at farmers markets, $8

Value this week: $34. Price of CSA is $29.75, so add another $4.25 to my surplus from week 4 tally, now at $44.40 for 5 weeks in.

What am I going to make? Definitely more of this garlic scape hummus.

This was on the Lancaster Farm Fresh Coop Recipe Blog, where we get lots of ideas of what to do with our weekly haul. Easy peasy, as they say. Just need a food processor and a can of beans.

It doesn’t use all the scapes, so this week I will be grilling the rest with the scallions, potatoes and my turkey parts, that are brining as we speak. The turkey was from last winter’s CSA meat share. Grilling bonanza Saturday night, if the weather cooperates.

As for pickling cucumbers, time to make these again. I love them. Bread and butter pickles. Made these last year.

Cabbage. Hmmm, sauerkraut, maybe?

Who knows? The possibilities are endless! Eating locally? Having fun reconnecting with making real food. That is what a CSA lets you do. Dinners like this. Join a local CSA or shop the farmers markets. Much better food. Fresher. And so tasty. There’s at least one of these on my menu in the next week. Scallions, scapes, local cheese and bacon and eggs. Yum!

hocofood@@@

8 Comments

Posted in CSA, Farmer's Markets, Food, Locavore, Real Food and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Foraging Wild Asparagus

Posted on June 7, 2012 by AnnieRie

All my past posts about my asparagus growing under my crepe myrtle sparked interest in how to find asparagus, and what it looks like when it goes to seed.

This is a really good example. Caught Tuesday night while I was volunteering at the transit of Venus. This is cultivated asparagus. The wild asparagus in my yard came with the crepe myrtle. Now that you know what it looks like, you can look around your area and see if you find some. This is a climate they like and plants will produce for 20-30 years.

Ours has been producing for the eight years we have lived here. I harvested what seems to be the last three spears yesterday. Nothing else coming up. A total of 36 spears from the one plant this year. They are fun to watch as they push through the deep layer of mulch. Particularly when they come up white.

The size differences are interesting to observe, as well. The thin ones stay thin, and don’t fatten. The thicker spears push through at the same size as they grow. The thin ones just get taller, not thicker. Took me a while at first to realize that leaving them in the ground won’t change their diameter much. Just pick them and enjoy. The thinnest ones don’t even need cooking, they are so tender.

My final three spears will probably find their way into something like my steamed spring veggies with butter and mint, that I made the other day.

Check around your area now that asparagus would be visible like the pic above, and maybe you can find a source of foraged deliciousness. Or, with patience, put in your own asparagus beds. Either way, spring flavor unique and fleeting.

hocofood@@@

1 Comment

Posted in Food, Foraging, Gardening, Howard County, Locavore, Nature, Real Food, Volunteering, West HoCo and tagged , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.