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.