The Great Utah CSA Experiment 2009 - Weeks 1 & 2!

It's that time of year again! Weekly produce and weekly posts about my adventures with East Farms CSA. I've been anticipating this ever since they ended last October, but I've really felt it the last few months. Every time I buy produce at the grocery store I regret it: it really tastes awful. Even the stuff from Whole Foods was just okay. (I mean, it was better than the alternative, but I had no appetite for it).

After being fooled by the system 5 times over the past winter - I decided not to bother at all. (Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me five times. . .) A whole winter subsisting on bread, milk, occasional protein has convinced me to store as much of the great produce I get during the season as possible. I don't think I could make it through another winter like that again! I'll probably need buy an upright freezer sometime this summer to help me store food, but it'll be well worth it.

Unfortunately, after all the anticipation for the CSA pickup, I'm a week late getting started! I missed the first week because I didn't get my pickup letter in time. (It was sent in time, but it took an extra week to navigate the change-of-address process via post). Luckily the good people at East Farms decided I could pick up a full share this week to offset the loss. Here's the goods for a full share (two half shares) delivered Tuesday the 16th. Prices are based on organic fare from Sunflower Farmer's Market:

CSA SHARE-A	CSA SHARE-B					Price (organic)	Value
0.94 lb romaine	1.0 lb romaine					1.90/lb	$3.69
1.25 lb red & green leaf lettuce	0.94 lb red & green leaf lettuce					3.00/lb	$6.57
0.81 lb spinach	0.81 lb spinach					5.99/lb	$9.73
1.06 lb beets	1.25 lb beets					1.59/lb	$3.68
1.31 lb rainbow chard	0.19 lb rainbow chard					2.89/lb	$3.90
0.69 lb english peas	0.81 lb english peas					*2.99/lb	$4.49

*Price based on non-organic sugar snap & snow peas, the closest equivalent.

Compared to week 2 from last year, there is a little more variety. I was really surprised to find beets so early! The peas, chard, spinach, and beets (pictured at right) are great: I can eat them now or freeze for later use; but the lettuce is again a problem for me to put away quickly enough (it doesn't help that my father has been supplying me with as much lettuce as I can consume for the last few weeks from his garden.)

With a glut of fresh locally grown vegetables I'm eating as much as possible to make up for my winter starvation. The first thing I did was eat an entire bowl of peas. I can't begrudge the shucking, they were really great. Next night I prepared a simple salad and roasted root vegetables with the beets (pictured at left). Thankfully, my brother joined us for dinner - the one that can down a large horse. He personally cleared 5 plates of leafy greens! (THANK YOU!) Even with that, I'm going to have to eat as fast as possible so I have room in my refrigerator again!

This year I'm not going to be as picky about including recipe posts - that will allow me to put up the 'what I got' pretty quickly, and the recipe tweaking won't delay the posting: I can post them individually later. Besides, it helps me solicit help from readers in deciding what to do with all my produce!

Having said that, here's my recipe for yesterday's Simple Salad:

3 c. salad greens, torn
3/4 c. chicken tenders or popcorn chicken (optional)
honey dijon salad dressing

I first had a salad like this at my cousin's house - just lettuce and ranch. I was floored by the audacity of the dish. What, no tomatoes? No cucumbers or cheese or olives or peppers? No onions or spices? No nothing? It sounds pretty plain but it was great, and now I don't feel bad serving simple salad. (Besides, let's admit it: the rest of that stuff isn't seasonal at the same time leafy greens are. And what busy cook can resist simplicity in mealmaking?) I should clarify: Craig likes it with the chicken, but my brother liked it just as well without. Nothing is really required beyond the greens and some dressing you love.

The Great Utah CSA Experiment – Week 2!

With a refrigerator still well stocked with arugula, mizuna, and tat soy salad greens, as well as a small helping of radishes (all from week 1), it was with some trepidation I approached week 2. After all, the growing season for most plants isn’t over in under a week, and I suspected I might get hit again with a slew of greens before I was able to finish the last of the old ones.

Well, East Farms delivered just as I had expected, but even more generously, if it was to be believed. This time, with 5 types of greens: for a total of 4 lbs 10 oz. No newsletter in the box, though, so I had to deduce as best possible what was there. Among the bunch I received a mix of green leaf and red leaf lettuce, arugula, mizuna, spinach, and chard. Plus another 13 oz. of radishes.

The exact numbers follow, as well as a best estimate of the value from my closest local grocery store which carries a selection of regular and organic produce. CSA weight measures were taken on an American Family food scale.

CSA SHARE	Price(Organic)	Price ('Normal')	Value
0.75 lb Red and Green Lettuce	3.35/lb		$2.51
0.5 lb Spinach	12.75/lb	7.78/lb	$6.34
1.25 lb Mizuna	(12.75/lb arugula)		$15.94
1.13 lb Arugula	12.75/lb		$14.41
1 lb Chard		2.89/lb	$2.89
0.81 lb Radishes		0.69/lb	$0.56

Again, the numbers are difficult to pin down, but this time I know I can use spinach or even chard as a good guideline for the mizuna and arugula if it was to be purchased non-organic. Even if I were able to purchase all 4 lb 10 oz of greens at $2.89/lb, which would still add up to $13.36 and that doesn’t include the radishes. So, I’m still feeling good about the overall value. A newsletter came via email a day after the CSA delivery, but it only had a recipe for a spinach salad and recommendation for storing and eating peas (apparently they begin the sugar to starch conversion immediately after being picked, so they should be eaten as quickly as possible. Too bad I didn’t get any peas in my share.)

Knowing how many greens I still had in my refrigerator, and anticipating the first delivery of my 2nd CSA coming in this week as well, I quickly offloaded what I could to friends and family. The chard was split with my father, and a portion of the lettuce, spinach, mizuna, and arugula went with a friend. Even so, this week was one to get creative with salad greens.

I took advantage of the influx of red and green lettuce to make big salads with ham and shredded cheese that used up a portion of mizuna and arugula. Unfortunately, as I had split it, the lettuce was gone with one set of salads. The next day I cooked the remaining chard and spinach for lunch, happy to have 3 sets of greens down! That left the bitter greens as well as the remaining tat soy from the week before – what, exactly, to do with those?

What came next was disastrous. Lacking any normal salad greens I decided to experiment with a salad made entirely of the arugula and mizuna with a little shredded mild cheese, topped with balsamic vinaigrette. I’ve read since that it’s a possibility when paired with sweet and fruity offerings (like the grapes and apples, and perhaps raspberry vinaigrette dressing) but unfortunately we didn’t have those on hand and I wasn’t aware of the requirement. Anyhow. Just take it from me: if you’re not used to it, you might not want to try it. I was able to choke down about ¾ of mine but I don’t think Craig made significant headway into his. The salad was incredibly bitter.

A sample of the tat soy told me that while it was ‘advertised’ as being good for stir-fry (and I wouldn’t mind trying it, really), it was decent enough by itself to eat fresh. That gave us several more salads (in the which I could offload some mizuna and arugula), this time with baked chicken and Caesar dressing. It tasted great! Craig asked for seconds for the first time since I’ve been serving him near-daily salads.

But more salads isn’t a lot more creative, and it wasn’t helping me use significantly more of the arugula and mizuna. So I tried cooking them with other things: a portion of the arugula was chopped and blanched, then combined with ham and cheese to make a filling for lunch pockets. That was a great idea, and very delicious – better than the version I’d made before with only ham and cheese.

The radishes again became midday snacks, and I was surprised to find them a little more woody, and a LOT more peppery, than the store variety. Not that I mind, I love radishes, but it was a little overwhelming in the spice department. It's just as well there weren’t a lot of them.

Four days after the second delivery of my 1st CSA share came the first delivery of my 2nd CSA share - from Borski Farms. I was a little nervous to find what might be waiting for me - I’m eating salads as fast as I can and there just isn’t a lot more room for greens in the refrigerator! but I needn’t have worried. This week the two CSA shares complemented each other nicely. Since the year has been a little cooler, meaning the growing season has gotten off to a slower start, this week's fresh share contained just spinach, peas, and cherries. To compensate for the lack of fresh food, some dried beans left over from last year’s crop were included. That's great – give me dried goods any time, those I can be sure won’t spoil!

The exact numbers follow, as per usual. CSA weight measures were taken on a fancy new digital scale! (Pictured above, at right.)

CSA SHARE	Price(Organic)	Price ('Normal')	Value
0.98 lb English Peas		(2.99/lb snow/snap)	$2.93
0.5 lb Spinach	12.75/lb	7.78/lb	$8.54
1.06 lb Bing Cherries		5.99/lb	$6.35
0.98 lb Anasazi Beans		(1.50/lb dry beans)	$1.47

I picked it up on the way to the grocery store, where I nabbed a few more bottles of salad dressing (surprise - we were running out!) and several pounds of flavored cashew nuts on sale. They made good salad additives – that night we had spinach salad (and mizuna and arugula greens!) with shelled english peas and honey sesame cashews. Later we had taco salad with chopped greens and guacamole flavored cashews. The cherries also made great midday snacks and the beans (pictured at left) went into my food storage, to be used another day.

Finally, I noticed about this time the greens from last week’s share were starting to spoil – apparently 10 days is the outer limit on them. So in part because I didn’t want anything to go to waste, and in part because we were really struggling to keep up with the greens offered, I went ahead and chopped, blanched, and froze all the remaining arugula, mizuna, and tat soy (0.25 lb each).

It’s taken some time, but I’m happy to report that not one of the vegetables delivered has stumped me for longer than 7 days. I’m also happy to find that normal grocery shopping is quite easily adapted to what I have in fresh produce – knowing I’ll make salads and finding gems on sale (like the cashews) that will help me expand on the variety I’m able to serve. Additionally, I feel confident in my ability to store the produce I can’t use quickly. Going into week 3 I have managed to eat, share, or store all the extra greens I was worried about and I have only one small bag of peas left in my fridge. =)

Recipes for Week 2:

----- Lunch Pockets-----

11.25 oz package refrigerated crescent roll dough (makes 6 rolls)*
½ c. chopped ham
¼ c. shredded pepperjack
½ c. cooked arugula (chopped, blanched, and strained)

Roll out the crescent roll dough, and arrange 4 triangles into 2 rectangles. Pinch along the seam to secure it. Layer the ham, cheese, and arugula on one side of the rectangle, then fold the dough over and seal on the edges. Bake according to directions on the roll package. (Serves 2).

(The remaining 2 crescent rolls can be used to make dessert crescents with a little butter and cinnamon sugar rolled up inside!)

*Your favorite biscuit dough recipe will substitute nicely for a slightly different (but still delicious) result.

-----Spring salad with Cashews-----

3 c. spinach, torn
1 c. arugula, chopped
½ c. shelled fresh peas
½ c. honey sesame cashews
balsamic vinaigrette

Divide the greens between two large dinner plates. Top with peas and cashews. Drizzle balsamic vinaigrette over the salads. Serve immediately. (Serves 2).

-----Easy Taco Salad-----

1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 c. chopped fresh spring mix
¾ c. medium salsa
½ c. mild cheese
½ c. guacamole flavored cashews
sour cream
tortilla chips

Combine the beans, greens, salsa, cheese, and cashews in a bowl. Cover the bottom of 4 dinner plates with tortilla chips, then spoon the bean mix on top. Spoon on a dollop of sour cream and serve. (Serves 4).

The Great Utah CSA Experiment: Week 1!

I’ve been waiting for this week for months now, and I must say I am excited to report to you the first CSA share from East Farms has arrived: a happy and healthy looking group of salad greens! And no, the baby analogy isn’t a stretch: I’m talking 4 lbs 2 oz of salad greens. Also included in the share was an introductory newsletter going over administrative details, including contact information, a list of what was included in the share, and a tip on how to manage the greens if they become limp or wilted (soak in cold water and put in the fridge, apparently). Among the bunch I received salad lettuce, stir fry greens, bitter salad greens, and radishes.

The exact numbers follow, as well as a best estimate of the value from my closest local grocery store which carries a selection of regular and organic produce. Produce weight measures were taken on an American Family food scale.

CSA SHARE	Price(Organic)	Price ('Normal')	Value
0.75 lb Red and Green Lettuce	2.65/lb		$1.98
1.3 lb Tat Soy		($1.49/lb bok choy)	$1.94
0.88 lb Mizuna	12.75/lb (arugula)		$11.22
1.2 lb Arugula	12.75/lb		$15.30
0.75 lb Radishes		0.69/lb	$0.52

You can see the difficulty in pinning down actual numbers, as for instance, the store doesn’t offer organic radishes, and only one kind of arugula (which was only sold in exclusive prepackaged organic containers at $3.99/5 oz) is present. The tat soy (the stir fry green; pictured at left) could only be best approximated by bok choy and the mizuna (a jagged-edge bitter asian green) can only be approximated by the arugula. But even if you halved the value for mizuna and arugula I would still come out ahead in this game, and that doesn’t count real numbers for organic tat soy. Add to that the knowledge that this produce is all organic, and I’m contributing to the local economy to boot, I feel pretty good about the overall value of this. This: for two people. Which brings us to the next issue: What to do with it?

Well, I first started out by feeling really dumb for purchasing 2 lbs of spinach a few days previously, as well as stocking up on other fruits for our cooler for a long day at Lagoon – expecting to feed 6 people and in the end only serving 2. The spinach didn’t help my plight, but the fruit was useful as a salad tool.

So. We had salads with grapes, chopped apples, and shredded cheddar, and I chopped up a little arugula and mizuna to go with it (a little of these two greens goes a long way). I cooked up the spinach (the large plastic containers they came in have done nicely in storing the other greens received from the CSA – so they were a boon after all!) and ate that with a dinner as well. The radishes I split with my mother. The ones I kept I cleaned up and whittled down before storing them in a plastic Tupperware container in the fridge: here’s a fringe benefit of the CSA I hadn’t anticipated – Craig (my husband) hates radishes, so I never buy them, but I love them myself!

However, after a week of salads (and the spinach that didn’t come with the CSA share) I still have all the tat soy and most of the arugula and mizuna, as well as the radishes. Luckily, they are all still in great condition, even stuffed about in my fridge in the original plastic grocery sacks they came in – probably because they were picked fresh within 24 hours before delivery. With luck, I’ll be able to use them next week. Does anybody else have recipe ideas?

Recipe for Week 1:

----- Fruity Salad-----

3 c. salad greens (lettuce or spinach), torn
1 c. bitter Mediterranean greens, chopped
1 c. green grapes
1 apple, chopped
½ c. chopped ham (optional)
¼ c. shredded cheddar
Raspberry Vinaigrette

Divide the greens between two large dinner plates. Top with grapes, ham, and chopped apple pieces. Drizzle Raspberry Vinaigrette over the salads, and top with the shredded cheddar. Serve immediately. (Serves 2).