June 11, 2008

A Half Share of Produce, A Full Share of Life

This year, I signed up for one of the local Community Supported Agriculture projects, Holcomb Farm. This was the first week. My half share included a bunch of white salad turnips, two green garlics, a lovely lettuce, and two heads of pak choi. Tonight I made supper from this wonderful harvest. I sliced the turnips in halves and quarters, tossed them with olive oil and sea salt, and roasted them (450 for 10 minutes, turn, another 5 minutes or so). I sautéed the turnip greens with olive oil and added the green garlic with lots of the green scapes, also sautéed. I had a bit of good bread leftover from dinner last night, contributed by a friend, and a slice of cherry upside down cake made with fresh cherries, from another friend. It was so good, this food from the earth, from my friends. It was like eating summertime. Tomorrow, I will have a salad with the tender green lettuce. Or I will steam the pak choi and sprinkle it with soy Parmesan cheese. And next week, there will be more vegetables and maybe even some strawberries.

Taking part in a CSA is like real life somehow – often good, a bit unpredictable, not something that can be easily planned, but challenging and surprising, pushing you to try things you never even imagined or knew existed. So I will not plan my menus this summer but will instead take what comes and do the best I can with it. I imagine there will be things that I like a lot (pak choi) and others that I don’t much care for (fennel), but it will all be nourishing and I will give thanks for it.

I will do this with my half share of produce – and with my full share of life.

11 comments:

Muthah+ said...

Martha, what is pak choi? I know bok choi. I am guessing a kind of greens, but I have never seen it in Upstate NY where I live.

christruckus said...

Yay for CSAs! I worked on a CSA farm when I was in college and absolutely loved it! So glad you're supporting one and enjoying the taste of summer. --Sean

Sally said...

how wonderful!- keep on enjoying the veg, and welcome to revgals :-)

Auntie Knickers said...

Welcome to RevGalBlogPals! I've always thought (well, for the last few years since I heard about them) that belonging to a CSA and committing to using the produce was a bit like preaching from the lectionary. Maybe what you get this week wasn't what you might have chosen, but the exercise of figuring out what to do with it can lead to something better than you might have imagined.

Unknown said...

Sounds wonderful!
I want to welcome you to RevGalBlogPals!!

Julie said...

That sounds like fun...the challenge in the kitchen with foods that might be unfamiliar or not exactly favorites. Welcome to RevGals!

TriHeart said...

I do not belong to a CSA (yet), but I do shop every Saturday at a local organic market. It is so amazing to stand among the fresh bounty from the earth and feel so connected to my source of nourishment. I always delight to see what seasonal produce each week will bring. And I relish the opportunity to stand in a long line, waiting for the first tomato of the season!

LutheranChik said...

Greetings from another RevGalBlogPal.

Oh! Oh! Oh! Another fan of locally grown food here. Our parish is rural, and last week I started this thing (it's not really a church program per se) on our bulletin board where eaters could list homegrown products they were looking for -- to buy, barter for, whatever -- and growers could list what they had to sell/barter/give away. I frankly thought that people wouldn't get the concept...but it's turning out to be a huge hit. One woman -- like me, she likes to save the straggly orphan veggie plants left at the local big-box stores after the big spring rush, and this year she wound up with 40 tomato plants -- is so fired up that she wants to organize a canning/freezing bee later in the summer. In the meantime, I've been trying to track down other organic growers in my county -- not known for progressive thought of any kind -- and darned if I didn't find four farmers who are trying to work together to create a CSA next year. I am really excited about all of this. I love hearing about other people's CSA experiences too.

Shalom said...

Welcome to Rev Gals! Thanks for this post.

Processing Counselor said...

Sounds delicious. Welcome to the revgals!

PastorMartha said...

Pak choi is like baby bok choi -- very tender and almost sweet. It is lovely just lightly steamed or sauteed.