CSA Week 2

Garlic scapes are in, as are the kohlrabi. Farmer Paul says he tries not to introduce 2 strange crops in one box, but I guess it's unavoidable sometimes.  That's eating in season.  Neither of these crops is new or strange for me this year.  I had experience with both last year.

Garlic scapes are the green tops of garlic bulbs which grow underground.  If left to their own devices, they bloom into little flowers similar to those of onions, and the garlic bulbs don't grow as large as we would like.  Fortunately, these garlic tops are edible and tasty. 

If you chop garlic scapes into small pieces and saute them in some olive oil, you have a mild garlic substitute.  Garlic scapes were one of the crops that went into the compost heap last summer.  This summer, I'm doing better.  I have no garlic in the house, so my only option is to use them as a substitute for mature garlic.  That said, there are a lot of scapes in my crisper.  Fortunately, they keep for awhile.  Two days after this box arrived, my family went on a 10-day vacation to Yellowstone.  I sent many of the vegetables to my mom, but I kept the kohlrabi, most of the scapes and the Chinese cabbage.  All of those would survive in the fridge until our return.

Finally!

On June 9th we received our first boxed share for the season from Fort Hill Farm.  There had been some debate over the winter as to whether or not we should be continuing to buy a share.   To be more specific, Rich was discouraging it.  As the subtitle of this blog implies, my family is somewhat lukewarm about vegetables, especially my darling husband.  I put my foot down and insisted that we continue our CSA for the next summer.

This is not to say that I didn't have my own doubts about the use of our money.  The share itself is a big chunk of cash up front.  Last year I was not terribly effective at using all of the produce we received, either.  It isn't easy to get a gigantic box of vegetables, some unfamiliar, some unpopular, and come up with appetizing uses of all of them before they turn bad or before the next shipment arrives.  Many times, I found myself sneaking slimy arugula or moldy zucchinis out to the compost pile.  This year, I resolved to do better.

I learned some valuable lessons in 2009.  For starters, greens always look like an awful lot when they are raw.  Once you cook them, there's barely anything there.  This year, if I have a bunch of escarole, kale, chard, whatever, I will wash and cook all of it right off the bat.  That should help a lot.  Secondly, I need to make a commitment to prepare a veggie lunch for myself on a daily basis.  That lunch should revolve around the less popular veggies.  Arugula is a "less popular" veg in my family.  Finally, never underestimate the power of hiding vegetables in popular foods.  Last year, the chocolate zucchini cake was a hit.  Broccoli raab can be successfully hidden in sausage and peppers. 

Here is a peek at my first box:

As you can see it is heavy in lettuces and greens.  The strawberries were delicious (and gone in minutes), and the radishes were sharp.  My favorite, aside from the strawberries, of course, was the baby bok choy.  I could eat that every day. 

I used the entire contents in a week, even though I was still working.  So far, so good!