Thursday 27 October 2011

Aside #13: Community Supported Agriculture

October 26, 2011

Two weeks gone in a flash.... where does the time go? 


Basket Number 3 from Bryson's Farms and Organic Home Delivery arrived Tuesday afternoon, as part of my commitment to Community Supported Agriculture (see previous posts on this.) 

Every two weeks a pile of fresh, organic vegetables arrives, neatly packed in re-usable, recyclable plastic bags and placed neatly in my picnic basket on the back deck. 

I did OK in terms of making it through the basket from two weeks ago.  I gave some of #2 away because it arrived just after the Thanksgiving feast and the frig was already full.  I was more careful in the lead up to basket #3 and the frig was not bad at all, space-wise.

Nonetheless, it is a daunting pile to receive.  I feel somewhat pressured by the freshness of it all .... picked the day before and packaged away.  Where to start? How long will it stay fresh, recognizing that the stuff in the supermarkets could have been there for a week or more before being bought..

PLUS I still don't recognize a few of greens etc.  Bryson's doesn't list exactly what they're putting in the baskets.  It would help me if they included a list in the picnic basket. 

My strategy with the baskets is to include some of the micro greens and greens (this time looks like wild arugula and mustard greens) in lunches and have at least two vegetables at dinner (e.g., a stir fry of turnip and radish or a 3-pepper chicken stir fry or bok choy or kale with garlic sauce).  Some are used as the staples in the Bentos for this week (recipes to follow in another posting.)

The heirloom radishes and Japanese turnips are the real discoveries for me in these baskets.  I just love them ...hehe almost wrote "relish" them but didn't want to convey the wrong impression of how I'm eating them. hehe

I committed (to myself) to trying 4 baskets (so two months) and will then assess if it's too much for one person.  I think it is unless I start splitting it or we start having more company on weekends.  Unfortunately, I find that difficult to do often, given the lack of a proper dining room.  Alas, the back deck dining room is yet one more memory of Summer 2011. 

Later
SmartCooks


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