We picked up week 17 of our Geauga Family Farms CSA today.  Andrew was on vacation, so we were greeted by Sarah.  The set up was a little different, but the pick up was smooth.  We have a nice routine.  We go into the store, get a cart, stop by for a sample of pineapple, buy anything we need (usually yogurt, cheese, bananas or the like), use a reusable bag, get two wooden nickels, let the kids color, get our veggies, and then leave.  It works for us and both Nick and Sally look forward to our CSA pickup at “The Little Whole Foods”.

Today’s box was lighter than the last few.  We didn’t have any melon or squash.  Here’s a group shot:

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You might be wondering about the dark wooden background.  We didn’t get a new table.  But, our kitchen table where I usually take the photos looks like this.

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I picked up 2 bushels of pears from Eddy’s on Monday. They aren’t quite ripe enough to can. So, our table was out of commission. Nick and Sally had a picnic breakfast today. Nick wants to have one everyday. I don’t think that will happen. They ate raisins, graham crackers and pears. By lunch time, I had put away enough stuff from our vacations that they used the dining room table.  Since that space was clean, I used it to take the CSA photos today also.

Let’s take a closer look at the veggies.

Collards, leaf lettuce

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Romaine, bell peppers

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Tomatoes, garlic

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Poblano peppers, onions

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Apples, green beans

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Sweet potatoes

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I was in Hawaii two weeks ago and I was also out of town most of this past week.  I’m feeling a bit out of the loop on the CSA.  I am glad that this is an easier week.  I’m going to make some stuffed collard wraps with the collards.  The lettuce, bell peppers and probably tomatoes will go in salads.  If we don’t use the tomatoes up, I’ll freeze them.  I have some others frozen and will make sauce or chili with them soon.   I have Stayman (tart) apples from Delaware to use up and will mix these apples with them for sauce.  The green beans will be an easy side dish.  I’ll probably freeze the onions, other peppers and garlic.  For the sweet potatoes, I’ll probably slice them for sweet potato fries.  Everyone in my house likes them and with the cooler temperatures, the oven sounds more appealing these days.

It’s hard to believe that it’s October already!  I’m excited for the upcoming winter CSA season.