The Great Utah CSA Experiment 2009 - Weeks 6 & 7!

Okay, so I had all the amounts for week 6 and prices to boot, and the day I sat down to write the blog I couldn't find it. Anywhere. So I gave myself extra time and cleaned the house from top to bottom and apparently it ran away. So now I'm late and I still don't have solid numbers, I apologize but I'll estimate the best I can. Week 6 brought larger, mature carrots, more squash, and two new additions to the season - green beans and green onions! Prices again from the local Dick's Market.

CSA SHARE					Price	Value
~1 lb medium carrots (with tops)					0.79/lb	$0.79
~0.5 lb green onions (1 bunch)					4.72/lb	$2.36
~1 lb zucchini (2)					1.29/lb	$1.29
~1 lb summer squash (2)					1.29/lb	$1.29
0.75 lb pattypan squash (1)					*1.49/lb	$1.12
~1 lb green beans					1.29/lb	$1.29

I was super excited for our first glazed green beans and tomatoes dish of the season - seriously it's a big family favorite. Of course, the summer squash and zucchini were sauteed with green onions for flavor and served straight. I have been making regular smoothies with a little bit of carrot tops in them, it imparts a nice carroty flavor. The pattypan has stumped me, but I don't know why - I can treat it just like a summer squash. Something about its cute little magic box shape makes me want to do something special with it.

When pricing out the green onions, I thought my little bunch wouldn't be worth much. Then I realized those little bunches that the store sells for $0.50 weigh less than 2 oz! Or maybe, they cut the bunches in half when they put them on sale. Either way, I was happy with the CSA bunch =)

I wasn't going to be home to pick up week 7 share so I asked my sister to do it for me. Since we both live in the Bountiful area it was convenient, and she was happy to do it. She only took one bag of green beans from the share for her troubles so I had to estimate that portion (I can't complain, that's what I would have taken too). Week 7 brought more squash (including some very small baby zucchini and baby summer squash), larger beets, and red potatoes!

CSA SHARE					Price	Value
2.75 lb zucchini (5)					1.29/lb	$3.55
0.56 lb baby summer squash (2)					1.29/lb	$0.72
0.25 lb green onions					4.72/lb	$1.18
0.75 lb medium beets					1.29/lb	$0.97
1.31 lb red potatoes					3.99/lb	$5.23
~ 1 lb green beans					1.29/lb	$1.29

I've been practicing my steady demands for more local food at Dick's market. Every time I go in there, I ask what's local. Apparently they've had local green onions, but they were having a special ad price on them this week and thus 'had to get them from the warehouse'. Turns out all they had as local was zucchini and summer squash. (Still no apricots. Seriously.) I thought about it for a minute, and then went over and grabbed 1-2 of each squash.

It's not that I don't have some zucchini and summer squash that I can use, but I figured what's the point in asking if I'm not going to act? I'm glad I did, because on my way out I saw the produce guy spying on me. Certainly, my requests for more local food won't be taken seriously if I don't even buy the stuff they have. Still, some irrational part of me whines "How come you don't have any local blueberries? Why not apples?" The inner child may never learn.

It was a good thing I did pick up the extra produce though, because I was asked to prepare a vegetable dish for a large family gathering. How convenient, since I had extra squash! So that's what I made, and it was great.

Foraging Fun!

So I recently read Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma at the suggestion of several friends. It's a great book which continues the theme from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, though the perspective is a little different: Michael Pollan takes four different American meals and traces them to their initial roots, whether that be a factory farm or the tree stump next door.

After reading Animal, Vegetable, Mircale, I was inspired to investigate the local CSA offerings and try and incorporate more local choices in my shopping, not just for food but other things as well. The Omnivore's Dilemma ends with a story of a food found almost entirely by foraging, and that's what's been eating at me recently.

There are many ways to forage food from your surroundings, including expeditions as large as hunting for a weekend, down to small things like picking an apple from a local tree as you walk by it. The key is noticing what's going on in the world around you, and taking advantage of it.

Also, to be clear, what foragin isn't about freeloading or garden-snatching; but the truth is that at least in my neighborhood, lots of fresh fruit from trees spoils on the ground because the owners can't use it, or at least not enough of it. Others don't realize the bushes they have out front produce edible fruit, and some just don't have the time to bother. Most people didn't plant the mature trees they have in the yards they inherited with the houses they purchased.

The idea of foraging resonated with me because it wasn't just about saving fruit from rotting (and supplementing your diet with fresh locally grown produce), it was also about forming community, and being aware of your neighbors. After all, you do need to ask if you can harvest some of that neighbor's food; and in some areas dedicated foragers have established connections where contributors can trade some of their fruit for shares of others'.

So when I noted that a beautiful tree at a busy intersection was loaded with apricots, and that many were rotting on the ground, I made the jump from watching to interacting, and knocked on a perfect stranger's door to ask if I could pick some. The gentleman who came to the door was kind enough to overlook the fact that I had interrupted his morning and told me to pick as many as I desired.

I had brought a few grocery sacks in case the answer was yes, and I got to work fairly quickly, though the easily accessible fruit was already gone. I filled two grocery sacks full of 8 lbs each - this wasn't me being greedy, I had plans; my sister-in-law had expressed some desire for apricots, and I wanted to give some to my neighbors as a present.

From there, I loaded up my backpack and started hiking back home (it's ~ 1.5 mi). But I didn't get past two blocks before I decided I might take a detour to my brother's house, as it was getting hot and I wanted to share a portion of the pickings with his family. When I got there I discovered my mistake: picking perfectly ripe apricots is all well and good, but putting them in bags and then moving them around while walking is a recipe for apricot smash. =[

My nephew and I ate a lot of smashed ones so the remaining apricots in the bag might look better for use. When I finally got home myself, I was quick to slice and freeze the bruised ones (they weren't bruised when I picked them, promise!) and sort the ones which were too mashed.

I saved a few in good condition (pictured, at right) to deliver my neighbors - though at least half were not quite ripe; which is why there weren't mashed in the first place. I put them in a paper bag to help the ripening process, and delivered them a day or two later, only to find that they have an apricot tree too! It wasn't ripe, yet, so at least I wasn't overloading them, and even better; they offered to let me pick as many there as I wanted as well. That will give me enough to make and bottle nectar and juice, which is more efficient overall than freezing them.

So that's my first foraging experience - a little bit of courage, a little bit of work, and a lesson learned: pick ripe fruit into shallow boxes so they don't get smashed!

I already have my eye on a few other foraging opportunities, including apples, pears, plums, and chokecherries, and I'll keep you posted as we go along. But already I'm excited to get to know my new neighbors, and I hope they won't think too ill of me when I inquire about their fruiting bushes and trees.

P.S. as of this picking Dick's Market only had Chilean apricots on sale - at $4.99/lb. I'm sure there are local apricots available - I just picked 16 lbs at perfectly ripe! I have continued to ask which of the produce there is local, but I might just step up my interaction a little bit.

The Great Utah CSA Experiment 2009 - Week 5!

Is it already week 5? While last year I felt I was drowning in greens and afraid of the next pickup, this year I feel like there isn't sufficient and I'm afraid the next one won't come fast enough. That's not to say I'm eating everything, I'm storing a lot of it. But I don't know if it will be enough to sustain me when greens season is over. Case in point: we received no salad greens this week, and only one bunch of chard.

Prices listed this week are again from the local Dick's Market, and non-organic. I received:

CSA SHARE					Price	Value
0.75 lb rainbow chard					2.62/lb	$1.96
0.75 lb peas					3.49/lb	$2.62
1.63 lb zucchini					1.29/lb	$2.10
1.25 lb summer squash					1.29/lb	$1.61
0.56 lb baby purple carrots (tops attached)					*0.79/lb	$0.44
2.38 lb bing cherries					1.99/lb	$4.73

*Price based on loose normal carrots, the closest equivalent.

Cherries!! This is the first share (including all of last year) that I have received fruit from East Farms. They were really good. I ate them by handfuls, I shared with my family at get-togethers (where they received rave reviews), and my nephew happily polished off the last bit of them at a picnic. Yay for fruit!

And purple carrots (see photo at right). They taste like normal carrots to me, except that the outer 3 mm diameter is a deep purple color. Very pretty. My nephew (the same one who polished off the cherries) happily tried one, proudly showed it off to his family, and took a bag home with him afterward. This is the same family who thinks vegetable hash (sauteed zucchini and summer squash in butter and spices) qualifies as a dessert. That's okay, I have plenty to share!

Speaking of carrots, they have been piling up in my refrigerator (this is the 3rd week in a row for carrots). I like the flavor, and use them steamed and in smoothies, but I have a hard time eating them raw (my poor jaw!) And they keep coming with stems attached. A quick google search told me the stems were indeed edible and very nutritious, but it's hard to get past the flavor and texture. They make a good substitute for parsley, but I don't have a lot of recipes which use parsley by the cupful.

I experimented around a bit and found I could put up to 1/2 to 1 cup of rinsed carrot greens into my blender with the other smoothie staples (fruit, ice, juice concentrate, occasional yogurt) and have a nice drink without having the greens be too overwhelming. (Note: don't do 3 cups. Just take it from me.)

The Great Utah CSA Experiment 2009 - Week 4!

Gosh are we already on week 4? This season seems to be slipping by much faster than last. And we're still ahead of last year's schedule, with summer squash and zucchini coming in looking very nice. Here are the goods, with non-organic prices from Dick's supermarket:

CSA SHARE					Price	Value
1.09 lb red & green leaf lettuce					1.38/lb	$1.50
0.63 lb spinach					3.18/lb	$2.01
1.19 lb beets					1.29/lb	$1.54
0.75 lb baby carrots (with tops)					0.79/lb	$0.59
1.56 lb summer squash (2)					1.29/lb	$2.01
0.63 lb zucchini (2)					1.29/lb	$0.81

That's it! We're looking forward to more vegetable hash, a salad or two, and some oven roasted vegetables. Unfortunately, with the added heat coming on this time of year, we're also looking for more recipes that don't require a stove. Though I've steamed carrots in the microwave before, I'm not sure about beets. We might have to experiment - I can't keep using my oven at this rate. Suggestions, anyone?