I’m trying to be more healthy.
The winter was bad for me. I hurt my knee in August and then couldn’t run for months on end. In fact, I’m still struggling to run. It hurts if I run on concrete, and even extended running on dirt still causes my knee to act up.
And then there’s the lack of fresh, local produce here in Massachusetts during the long, dark winters.
It means I was less inspired to eat vegetables. And instead spent the winter playing around with my pressure cooker making dishes such as lamb osso bucco, lamb bolognese, and French lentil soup;
or used my sous vide machine making such beauties as a 36-hour Chashu Pork Belly.
But now there’s really no excuse. Spring produce is exploding everywhere, and the longer days are finally motivating me to get out and exercise – even if it means doing low impact activities (yes, my bike is tuned up and ready to go!) or joining a gym and learning new things (pilates, anyone?)
As added motivation, I decided to join a CSA (community supported agriculture) this summer. In a CSA, you invest in a farm by paying up front for that season’s share of their crops. Every week, they give you a portion of that week’s harvest.
Now, if you’ve been reading my blog for a very long time (and I do mean very long time – I probably had like 100 readers back in those days), you may remember that I participated in a CSA with Siena Farms three years ago.
Since then, I’ve tried many other things. First, I tried another CSA that focused on more “everyday” vegetables. Though it was fine, I got bored quite quickly and decided I preferred to have a say in which vegetables I bought and cooked. The following summer I decided I would shop for my own groceries at farmers’ markets every weekend.
Ha! That didn’t work out so well. It actually takes a lot of effort to go to the market everyday! Or even on a regular basis. I think we ate out a lot that summer.
And finally this year, I decided I wanted to try the CSA thing again. I remember really enjoying my first CSA with Siena Farms because they introduced me to bunch of interesting and more “heirloom” varieties of vegetables that I’d never tried before.
You see cool vegetables like purple kohlrabi (it’s sitting next to a green one, by the way, which you see much more often at markets);
baby French breakfast radishes (milder and sweeter than traditional radishes!);
and green garlic (very young garlic that’s harvested before the cloves have matured). I wonder whether green garlic tastes like ramps?
They also provide plenty of nicely packaged mesclun greens, arugula, and braising greens, which are all washed and prepped, ready to cook or eat.
So nice!
This crazy green oak leaf lettuce is bigger than my head. There’s going to be lots of salad this week.
And finally, a huge bag of pre-washed savoy spinach, which I cooked in the simplest way possible – just a quick stir-fry with some garlic, salt, and pepper. Oh, and a tiny splash of sesame oil for fun.
I’ll be partnering with Siena Farms all throughout the summer and fall documenting everything I receive from the “Peak Season Farm Share” (as well as the fun dishes I cook with the bounty!). Stay tuned!
The entire share this week.
Disclaimer
I received a discount on the price of the CSA. All opinions are completely my own.
All Rights Reserved
So colorful!! 🙂 I’m interested in that garlic too!
yay for vegetables!! 🙂
We had a CSA last summer and loved it! I’m excited to see what you cook up with your loot. 🙂
Beautiful CSA box of goodies! I love spring garlic but haven’t come across any at our local farmer’s markets.
What a good idea on their part! They have the loveliest vegetables in all the city. I’m doing the go-to-market edition this year (fingers crossed I’ll get there!) but I’ll miss those lovely bagged-up greens just ready to go.
I was surprised by how much I liked our CSA last summer – it was a fun challenge to try and cook meals with what we got each week. I liked having the decision-making taken out of the equation, weirdly enough – instead of trying to decide what to buy at the farmer’s market, it was oddly stress-relieving to go “ok, we have mustard greens, now what do we do with this?”. Do you know about the book “The Farmer’s Kitchen: The Ultimate Guide to Enjoying Your CSA and Farmers’ Market Foods”? It’s written by a local chef (friend of mine) and it’s been a big help.
I get Siena Farms’ CSA too – made arugula pesto and then used it to make a pasta salad with shredded kohlrabi. The arugula pesto is spicy, but the shredded kohlrabi is so sweet – it’s a really nice combo! the greens in this week’s box are incredible.
Yum! Thanks for the suggestion. I seriously may do the same with the arugula. I did taste a bit last night and agree – it’s VERY spicy! Maybe I’ll temper it with the spinach since my mom already went ahead and made something else with the kohlrabi, ha ha.
I don’t know the book – thanks for the suggestion. I agree – it’s nice to have *something* to anchor your dinner decisions. All the better if it’s something healthy. 🙂
It is fun to go to the market if you can. I may still go anyway, ha ha, though I’ll have to exercise restraint since I know a box of veggies is just around the corner!
I think spring garlic is hard to find! Siena Farms claims they are one of the few farms that has it around here.
I’m excited too! Ha ha, right now since my parents are visiting it’s been mostly my mom getting a hold of those veggies!
Yay!
Yah! My mom already gave me two suggestions for using green garlic (apparently it’s common in Taiwan). I’ll see if there’s anything I can post about it soon!
I love green garlic! I’m currently in China and green garlic and scapes are everywhere here. My favorite dish involving it is probably double-cooked pork!