the summer of the CSA share

In an effort to force myself to eat more vegetables and try out the whole local organic thing, this spring I signed up for a CSA share with Bellair Farm. (In case you're unfamiliar with CSAs, it stands for "community supported agriculture" and means you pay up front and then get a share of everything the farm grows throughout the season, which in this case is 22 weeks.) I've gone to farmers' markets before and become too nervous and overwhelmed to actually buy anything, but I knew the CSA format would help me get over that. So every week I pick up a bag full of vegetables and then attempt to eat them all. It's pretty exciting.

My haul one week in late June

 Leafy greens have ended (though apparently there will be another round later on), but I loved all the bok choy and kale, and I had several weeks of Swiss chard in my morning smoothies. I've discovered and experimented with kohlrabi, sauteed a lot of cabbage, roasted a lot of little potatoes, and am currently overdosing on okra (which, in it's fried form, is among my top 5 favorite foods).

Bok choy and some friends' quail eggs in homemade ramen soup.

I finally tried kale chips! They were delicious (but didn't keep overnight very well.)

Fried okra!!!

Usually I go to one of the farm's weekday pickup sites in town, but a few times I've gone on Saturday morning to the farm itself, where you can also pick herbs and flowers. (I'm already looking forward to the pesto I made and froze for this winter.)

The only downside of all this local veggie goodness? Cooking takes a lot of time. I'm having fun and happy I did it, and I want to do it again in the future, but it's not really helping my dissertation situation. So when the season ends in October I'll have one less excuse...