First Taste of Summer

When we got home from picking up our veggies, I was laying them out on the counter to take stock of what we had before putting it away in the fridge.

scapes, cilantro, lettuce, green onions, eater egg radishes,
hakurei salad turnips, strawberries, and chinese cabbage

I turned around to find Susannah reaching up and into the basket, snatching some strawberries! I quickly put a bib on her before allowing her to continue... and snapping some pictures!

checking out the basket

enjoying the berries

love that guilty look

 So, after Susannah and I enjoyed some (ok, a lot) of the strawberries, I packed the veggies away in the fridge.

doesn't look like that much all packed away

Now, you are probably wondering what fantastic meal I cooked up with our wonderful new veggies. Sadly, we just had turkey burgers! (I had a bunch of ground turkey from Costco that I was making into burgers and meatballs to freeze) Tomorrow night though, we'll be having a spinach and cheese casserole I've made before, featuring some of the garlic scapes! It's a favourite in this household, especially when there's scapes to add!

I also want to try the turnip two ways pasta recipe linked on the farm blog. And some pad thai, I think, with the cilantro, green onions, and chinese cabbage. And maybe a simple radish sandwich on brown bread with butter and salt- a favourite from my childhood! I want to try some pickled radishes sometime too, but I am sure we will get more radishes in the future.

I like having plans for meals, so I know in advance what I'm making. But I seem to be very bad at planning ahead, so often it's 20 minutes before dinner time and I'm trying to figure out what to make! But with these great ideas, I have plans for most of the week. I'm looking forward to it.

CSA Week #1!

Today is our very first weekly pick-up of our CSA share, and I am excited! Right now I am waiting for Susannah to wake from her nap so we can go collect our share of the crop. This is our first year participating with Rainbow Heritage Garden, who happen to be our neighbours. Ever since we signed up and paid in the spring, I have been eagerly awaiting the first greens of spring. Unfortunately, due to heavy rain this spring, our first basket was delayed by a week (but that's the whole point of CSA!) Plus, we were on vacation, so actually getting the basket would have been problematic. It has worked out perfectly!

So, today is finally the day that we get our first, long-awaited basket of the season! On Monday, our CSA farmers posted a list of our basket contents on their blog which made my mouth water. Some of the veggies I am quite familiar with (head lettuce, green onions, cilantro), while others are newer to me (garlic scapes, chinese cabbage), and some I am excited to try for the first time (hakurei salad turnips, easter egg radishes). Even better, they posted some recipes for the lesser known veggies. Plus... we get STRAWBERRIES!

Now, with CSA I always feel some uncertainty. Will it be enough? (quite likely) Too much? (maybe later in the season) Will we like the new veggies? (probably) Will Susannah? (maybe) What if I don't know what something is? (ask) What if I don't know what to do with something? (find a recipe!) I am certain that after a week or two, these worries will fade, and we will embrace our summer lifestyle of CSA baskets.

I am ready for our adventure to begin!