Eating my words, and good vegetables too.

In the middle of December I got an email from the farmer who runs the CSA we joined last year. I put "thinking about joining a CSA" on my list of things to get to eventually. Yesterday I let my dad pour over my Seed Savers Exchange catalog for a while. He pointed out that the huckleberries I want to plant are described as "tasteless" (unless you make them into mock blueberry pie or preserves) and he picked out a couple of varieties of peppers to plant (I don't like peppers) but other than that he seemed to approve my choices.

Nevertheless, I'm hungry for a little more than we can grow in four raised beds and a sprawling melon/squash patch. So I started thinking about CSAs again this morning. At first, I thought we'd rejoin the CSA from last summer. Sure, it's out of the way, but I could get a worker share and we could eat for free (and a little sweat and hard work). When I checked out the worker shares, though, I discovered that they won't work with my spring and fall schedule. Last summer, too many workers were high school students who could only work on the weekends during the school year, so this year all of the workers have to pick a time slot sometime between 8 and 5 Monday through Friday, and they need to stick with that slot all summer. That might be fine if I were in a different profession, but I can't ask my high school students to have English class in the evenings so I can work at a farm in May and September.

I thought about writing to the farmer to see if we could arrange a different schedule. This farmer is a great guy, he has access to amazing sweet corn, and if I could have found a few more interested buyers, he would have hooked me up with a freezer full of grass-fed beef. Oh yeah, and he sells eggs and maple syrup too. He's a good guy. So good, in fact, that last summer he recommended that my husband and I join a different CSA that is a little closer to home. Because the worker shares didn't seem to be working for me, I looked up the other farm, and sure enough, they have a pick-up on Tuesdays that is approximately five blocks from my house. Their half share is also cheaper than my old CSA's. And while I'm a little too shy (and inexperienced) to sign up for a worker share at a farm I've never been to, we can go to their farm events this summer, like we did at Forest Run Farm last summer, and get to know people. Then maybe I can get a worker share for next summer with the new CSA - Luna Circle Farm.

I have the application all filled out, but we're waiting to send a check until I find out that they do have a share available. (I think they do, or their website would say their shares are all sold out, but it seems silly to send $300 off into the void without making sure we're going to get something in return.) I know I said last summer that I didn't think we'd do a CSA again, but it turns out I just can't help myself.

Good food is all around. Yesterday my mom and I went to the indoor farmers' market and I brought home some frost-sweetened spinach (that my mom bought), some raw milk cheddar cheese, a bag of organic carrots, two bulbs of garlic, some gluten-free cookies for the teacher I share an office with, and a roast.

My dad also sent me home with part of a roast he'd been marinating for some buddies, and I have some ham thawing in the fridge for Worms, so we're going to be eating pretty well this week! (The roast I bought is in the freezer, waiting for a time when we have a little less ready-to-eat food in the house.)

Right now I need to go make a loaf of bread, and get back to school work.

Beef Soup for the Soul

Life has been a little hectic lately. Mostly in a good way, but still hectic. Which is why beef soup that I made in September has been coming in very handy. I also pulled some kale soup out of the freezer, which I made in July. I got the recipe from our CSA farmer's wife, and that soup is delicious! It has a neat blend of spices in it that are different from my usual Betty Crocker spinoffs.

I also have many containers of chicken, turkey, and beef stock stuck away in the freezers, so I can make more soup when I have time and fresh veggies from the indoor farmers' market - where I think I'll be headed this weekend!

Yum!

Go Packers