What's-in-the-box Wednesday 7/30/08

I'm back with my weekly update on what's in my CSA box. I skipped a couple weeks because a few weeks ago, my box went missing and last week, I totally spaced on taking pictures before the week got away from me. This week's harvest box is probably my favorite so far this season, as I love everything in it. It's probably not too ambitious to say that I think most of it will be gone by the weekend.

This week we found the following in our box:

• Chard
  
• Bell peppers


• Tomatoes


• Yukon Gold potatoes


• Cucumbers
  
• Red onions
  


• Sweet corn

Now, I know you're not supposed to play with your food, but I was fooling around with all the produce and this just made me laugh. It's my own personal produce man.

What's-in-the-Box Wednesday 7/9/08

What's in the box this week?

Absolutely nothing.

I'm totally disappointed. We went to get our weekly harvest box at our regular location, a local juice bar, and were told by the clearly uninterested teenage employee that somebody else already came to pick up our box. I explained that was impossible since my husband specifically called me earlier in the day to say he wouldn't make it in time and could I please pick it up for him instead. Again, I asked the young man to check the fridge one more time just to make sure it didn't get misplaced accidentally. He did and came up empty handed.

I emailed the farm, letting them know of the situation and asking how they handle boxes of produce that grow legs. They seem really flexible, so I am hoping they will just double up the quantity in our box next week. Haven't heard back yet, but will report back.

So, no farm-fresh produce for us this week.

What's-in-the-Box Wednesday 6/11/08

This week's CSA harvest box was teeming with goodies:

• Arugula
• Beets
• Carrots
• Lettuce
• Onions
• Parsley
• Radishes

We were delighted to discover we also got an extra bunch of greens (not sure which variety) and a bag of cherries. We had cherries in the house from our neighborhood grocery store, so did an impromptu taste test of the two kinds. There was no comparing. The ones from our farm were sweeter and tasted more like a cherry should. The store-bought ones tasted fine, but were a little tart and didn't have that lingering sweet cherry taste.

We just got the box yesterday, but the beets are arugula are already gone. Our farm includes a newsletter each week that talks about farm happenings, describes the week's harvest and provides a recipe to help you create meals with your harvest. The recipe this week was for a beet and arugula salad tossed with a simple dressing of olive oil, balsamic, garlic, salt and pepper. We topped it with feta crumbles and it made a perfect light dinner.

What's-in-the-Box Wednesday 6/4/08

Determined to get more vegetables in our diet, we purchased a CSA share for the 2008 harvest season. Short for community supported agriculture, a CSA is simply a group of community members who commit to support a local farm in exchange for a supply of fresh produce throughout the growing season.

CSA programs vary from farm to farm. Mine offers a few different box options: veggie (two sizes), fruit (two sizes), salad and tomatoes. Some also offer flowers, eggs and meat. Since this is our first year, we are keeping it simple and just went with the small veggie box. We are considering adding a fruit share, but are waiting to see how it works for us for a few more weeks before committing to more.

Our particular CSA runs May through October and we received our third box this week. The produce is just gorgeous and tastes so good. I've decided to show off my bounty each week in a regular post I'm calling What's-in-the-Box Wednesday. Sorry, I didn't take pictures of the first two weeks' boxes. This week, we received:

• Basil
• Carrots
• Cherry tomatoes
• Chinese cabbage
• Garlic
• Radishes
• Red chidori kale

All CSAs offer different varieties and options, so my pictures are only representative of what you can get. But, I really encourage buying from local farmers when possible

If a weekly box of locally grown veggies sound good to you, you may be able to find a CSA in your area. If you already belong to a CSA, I'd love to see what you receive each week or hear how it's going for you.