CSA Week, Part 4

Notes from the Third Year – Eggplant: The Final Frontier

Late October, 2006

We were finally able to get over the eggplant hump this year! It started when my mother-in-law helped me to make eggplant Parmesan, with my homemade sauce and some excellent Romano cheese. Once we’d crossed the barrier, and realized that eggplant is good, a whole new world opened up – now, I’ve got eggplant stored in the freezer in little breaded rounds, for eggplant parm, and baked and mashed, to add to pizza topping or turn into a wonderful, tangy dip called caponata. Oh, eggplant, eggplant, where have you been all my life?

This is the year that our family hit its’ stride where the farm is concerned. While we liked the farm from that first season, now it’s just plain fun!

To start with, the boys are at great ages this year. Owen, content to eat a snack while Luke and I pick a few pints of beans, or cherry tomatoes, or whatever, then happily plays alongside his brother, getting tremendously dirty and dusty in the good farm earth. At each pickup, we seek out the farmer because both Luke and Owen adore him – he’s gentle and kind, very nice to the kids – and, as Owen will tell any passerby, “Farmer John has big boots!”

Luke enjoys the weekly excursion, watching the animals and birds, and checking out interesting old tractors and stuff, but I think Owen’s got the farm in his blood. At barely two, he’s walking all the trails with us, he’s eating vegetables like they’re going out of style, he just loves the whole farm atmosphere. It’s neat to see, and makes our share worth every penny – as if it wasn’t already.

This year, the shares include sunflowers and zinnias for cutting in addition to the veggies. This has turned out to be one of the best ideas yet. About a year ago, we moved from a house with a lot of flowers, many grown especially for their cuttings, to a house with almost nothing but grass, and a few straggling daylilies planted, unfortunately, in the shade. Until I could bring home flowers that I had selected and cut, I hadn’t realized how much I missed this little bit of nature inside our home.

Also this year, for the first time we had to supplement our farm takings with veggies bought in bulk from local farmers. This was not because our share yielded less, but rather because we’re eating more – I had very few tomatoes to turn into sauce, no carrots after early October, no leeks, pumpkin, or squash to last into winter. I remember feeling swamped with vegetables back when we started in 2004. Now, I find I must supplement the farm share with more produce! I hardly recognize myself anymore – imagine me, an eater of peppers, and eggplant, and many other healthy foods.

And so, it seems, we’ve come full circle – instead of pushing to have us join the farm and not have a garden of our own, my job this year will be to convince Ben that, in fact, we need both.

February 20, 2007

“…And, if we put in a garden, we’ll get a head start on some of our favorite greens, like Mizuna lettuce, and we’ll have lots of our own tomatoes to turn into sauce,” I finished breathlessly.

“We’ll put in our own garden, for the low, low price of…?” queried Ben, that little smile on his lips once more.

“I don’t think it will cost much, just the wood for the raised bed really, and the seeds,” I replied.

“Okay, Karen, on one condition -” What would it be? Did he want to try our own garden for a single year only?

“…I want to build the frame.”

Gosh, I love this man.

CSA Week, Part 3

Notes from Year Two – Loving the Farm

March, 2005

Here’s a moment to be proud of: at dinner tonight, I ate three slices of onion-and-pepper pizza! I know, lots of people eat onion-and-pepper pizza every day, but for me, this was a first. It was really good! I’m going to keep trying peppers, I’ve made it my goal to like them by the end of this growing season. Fingers crossed!

Mid-August, 2005

Halfway through our second summer at the farm, and we are loving it, if possible, more than last year. The greens weren’t as terrifying this spring, because I know how to store extra for the off-season. The tomato haul hasn’t been as good this year, because of the relatively cool weather, but we’re getting enough to eat and enjoy, and keep some for tomato sauce – also, I got Aly’s awesome tomato sauce recipe, so now I have two fresh-tomatoes-into-sauce recipes which end up tasting fantastic, but very different.

And why, I wonder, have I had such a low opinion of sweet peppers? Especially the “ethnic” peppers, they are just bursting with yumminess. I’ve been tentatively using peppers to cook with – Al’s sauce recipe calls for a few peppers – but it’s really Owen who convinced me that peppers are the way to go. That kid, at age one, eats a grown-up serving of them, and begs for more. Even Luke will nibble at them, if they are served with ranch dressing for dip. Ben, a lifelong sweet pepper lover, thinks I’m silly, but this has really been a revelation for me. I’d never even thought to give stuff like chopped up peppers to Luke when he was small – I wish I had, he’d probably be less picky if he’d been exposed to stuff like that as a baby.

Now, if I could just get over our eggplant aversion; the farm is exploding with eggplant. I haven’t felt pressure to take any - whatever we leave on the table at the farm goes to local food pantries and homeless shelters – but so far, all I’ve managed is to bring home an eggplant, chop it in half, brush it with oil and balsamic vinegar, and roast it. This was suggested by a fellow shareholder at the farm, and sounded good - in theory. But when it came out of the oven, I couldn’t bring myself to taste it; maybe it’s a texture thing, I don’t know, I just don’t like the look of eggplant. Yet – if I can master peppers this year, who knows what will happen in future seasons!

Because, it looks like we’re committed to the farm for the forseeable future. Ben agrees with me that it’s worth the money, and we are all eating - and feeling - well. Luke and I are both approaching healthy weights, and are rarely sick, even with colds – I think it’s because we’re eating good stuff for our bodies. And it tastes great too!

I love coming to the farm now, although it can be tough going to the field with the two boys to pick, say, a pint of cherry tomatoes. Owen will squirm to get out of the sling, and Luke just wants to stay in the car, he’s so tired after a busy summer day he often falls asleep on the way to the farm, and can be extremely bearish. I get to come on my own sometimes, and then, the farm is so peaceful and relaxing! I’m looking forward to next year when my boys are a bit older, and hopefully a bit more independent, so that we can enjoy our farm visits to the fullest.

CSA Week, Part 2

Late September, 2004

There is a definite sense that the summer is winding down now. Although the tomatoes are still in profusion, we’re seeing more root vegetables, like onions, something called celeriac that kind of looks like a giant turnip but tastes exactly like celery. Weird but good! The greens have returned with a vengeance, too, but I’m armed now: I’m cooking them till they wilt, and then freezing them so that we can enjoy them in soups, stir-frys, and stuffed calzones during the lean winter months, when I’ll have to buy produce from the grocery store again – an idea that seems positively criminal!

Late October, 2004

The season is over, and I’m so bummed! We’ve collected our last pick-up, small compared to the 20-pound tomato takes of high summer, but still a nice farewell: 3 sugar pumpkins, 2 stalks of Brussels sprouts, some hardy greens like kale and mustard, and a big bunch of Swiss chard.

My mind is already turning to how I’ll convince Ben that we must do this again next year. My arguments are as follows:

1) This was such a learning year! Next year, we’ll already know the routine, and we’ll have some idea of how to process the veggies, so we’ll be quicker and more efficient at it.

2) We won’t have a new baby next summer – a huge advantage, as we can look forward to far more sleep than we’ve gotten since July. Also, we can expose Owen to the great farm veggies from his very first tastes of solid food, which has to be good, right?

3) We’ve been eating so well, trying new veggies and recipes. Overall, Ben and I have eaten probably five times the veggies we’d ordinarily eat, and Luke has gone from zero servings to… well, some servings a week, maybe 2-5.

4) Luke’s improved eating will be a cornerstone of my argument to sign up for the farm next year. In just this, his fourth, summer, his diet has dramatically improved, he’s spending time at the farm and learning where vegetables come from, how they’re grown; imagine the gains he could make if we do this again!

How could Ben say no?

Interlude – December, 2004

“To get the early discount, we have to sign up by December 31st, and I know that you didn’t want to do this again this year, but…” I ended somewhat lamely.

I’d just presented my arguments to Ben, who’d kept his face impassive except for the little smile playing at the corners of his mouth. This smile, reserved for moments such as these, when I’m trying to convince him to change his mind in my plow-ahead, talk-really-fast-and-then-he-can’t-interrupt way, got bigger and bigger as I gained steam.

When I finally ran out of breath, Ben paused for dramatic effect and then said, “okay, we can do it again.”

“Really? No objections? Just… okay?”

“Sure, I think it was a really good thing for us to do. It wasn’t always easy, but it was really worth it. Didn’t you feel better because of our diet? I know I did…”

“Well, good! So, okay, I thought I was going to have to fight you on this, I’m so glad we’re agreeing on spending the big bucks again this year.”

“Well,” Ben replied, “you get what you pay for.”