Posted in CSA reports, Farmers Fresh CSA on February 25, 2011| 4 Comments »
Check out what arrived in the final delivery of pre-season.
Komatsuna greens
These greens were really wet, so I spread them on the table to dry before stuffing them back in their bag and into the crisper.
We ate these for Wednesday supper sautéed with raisins and walnuts. The stems were in good enough shape to reserve for stir-fries. That’s okay, I’ve got plenty of stuff in the freezer to get through. (more…)
Posted in CSA notes, Tips on February 17, 2011| 1 Comment »
Considering joining Farmers Fresh CSA or another Atlanta CSA program? Now’s the time. Spring is the best season to get used to preparing local produce for one reason:
Salad. (more…)
Posted in CSA notes, Farmers Fresh CSA, Farmers Markets, Tips on February 16, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Sometimes, you just can’t swing a CSA subscription.
If this is you, consider a different kind of commitment to a local farm and yourself – buying market credit. You can think of market credits as gift certificates you buy for yourself from a farmer. (more…)
Posted in CSA notes on February 16, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Here’s an explanation of the statements I recently suggested to help people assess their CSA-readiness.
Posted in CSA reports on February 16, 2011| 2 Comments »
Today, I shared a list of statements to help people assess their CSA-readiness, and I wanted to share my scores on this assessment if I had taken this test back in 2007. That was the year I joined my first CSA program, Farmers Fresh CSA.
Overall, I would have scored a fairly low 18. Clearly, I was not an ideal candidate, but I made it work. Keep this in mind as you consider joining a CSA program. (more…)
Posted in CSA notes, Farmers Fresh CSA, Tips on February 16, 2011| Leave a Comment »
CSA program turnover is a problem: people get excited about the idea but don’t really know what’s required. So let’s look at the ideal CSA subscriber and see how close you get.
Posted in CSA notes, CSA reports, Farmers Fresh CSA on February 13, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Heard about the tanning and vegetables study? Basically, if you eat a bunch of vegetables chock-full of carotenoids, you look less pale. And this tanning effect is more attractive than one produced by the sun or booth, according to study participants.
The vegetables named in the article are carrots, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, bell peppers, spinach, kale, and cantaloupe. A little more research shows that beet greens, turnip greens, collards, cabbage, winter squash, and pumpkin also have high levels of beta-carotene. And according to Mother Earth News, the eggs of free-range chickens contain 7 times the beta-carotene of regular eggs. Beta-carotene is what causes the yolks to be that happy neon-orange color.
I’ve definitely been eating my share of greens, carrots, sweet potatoes, winter squash, and eggs lately.
See?
And I think I know what they’re talking about. The effect may be short-lived – only a day or two, but in the mirrors at the gym last week after eating the lunch pictured above, I noticed my skin tone looked more even than normal – like it does with a little sun. (This was at the beginning of a workout. At the end, I looked like a strawberry.) I also remember getting into the bath a couple of weeks ago and thinking my legs looked oddly not pale for the end of January.
I’m one of the paler people on the planet, so the effect may be more obvious on me. But I’m also eating a lot of these vegetables, and the ones I’m eating are more likely to have high amounts of nutrients, having been grown in good soil nearby.
It definitely doesn’t top my reasons for eating more local food, but it doesn’t hurt either!
Posted in CSA reports, Farmers Fresh CSA, Recipes on February 13, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Last night we tried a new variation on the “Kale with raisins and pine nuts” recipe – Bordeaux spinach with dried figs and walnuts.
Posted in CSA reports, Farmers Fresh CSA, Peasanthood, Recipes on February 10, 2011| 2 Comments »
This week I increased my peasant dish repertoire with Korean vegetable pancakes (Pa jun) suggested by Kitchen Kung Fu. There were many different recipes on line, and they all said pretty much the same thing: pretend you’re making blueberry pancakes and swap the blueberries for sliced vegetables. Well, that’s not quite what they said. Close, though.
Posted in CSA reports, Farmers Fresh CSA on February 9, 2011| 2 Comments »
The overview
Here’s a photo of my third CSA delivery of 2011. (You can also take a look at the first and second.) Not pictured are the eggs and Jack cheese because I forgot recollect them from the fridge.
thoughtful consumption 