We are having a great time on vacation. Tonight, we remembered to take a few pictures while everyone was at the house at the same time. We followed this up with a great home made Jeopardy game. I’ll have more to say about that later.
Jun 272012
Hello Life Lyn Style readers! My name is Kelly and I am the lucky locavore girl who had the pleasure of picking up Lyn’s Geauga Family Farms CSA share today while she is on vacation. This is me-
Being a goof on my own recent vaca
I don’t currently have a blog of my own, but maybe someday soon you’ll see me sharing stories of parenting, running, and my adventures in local eating.
I know Lyn because she is a fellow Fresh Fork Market CSA customer/part-time employee. We’ve worked the Spring Fabulous Food show together, noshed on the best local breakfast in CLE at Lucky’s Cafe, and had an interesting time attempting the pain-in-the-butt delicate art of pierogi making.
I’ve heard wonderful things about the GFF CSA, but so far my only experience with it has been right here on Lyn’s little slice o’ internet. The pick up at Whole Foods was super easy and at first glance the produce looked terrific. Picking up my FF share always feels a bit like Christmas but this time I had no clue what was going to be in the bag! So fun:) Here is the surprise I received-
Doesn't it look amazing?!?!
Swiss Chard, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Green Onions, Pickling Cukes, 1 Slicing Cuke, Leaf Lettuce, 1 Yellow Squash, Sugar Snap Peas, Cherry Tomatoes, and 1 Slicing Tomato
Everything seems to be extremely fresh and it all looks so tasty. Lyn usually shares her well thought out plans for the produce in her bags, but I am a bit of a slacker, and honestly most of this stuff is going to be eaten raw in salads and as snacks. The main exception will be the Swiss Chard. I’m going to take a recipe from my fav book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle , along with local carrots and eggs from my Fresh Fork bag, and turn them into Eggs in a Nest.
Bag Highlights (In my humble opinion)-
These have no chance of becoming pickles! My little bean and I have already demolished the bag:)
More snack food. I love that the cherry tom container is #1 plastic so it can either be reused or recycled in our community.
Give peas a chance. Best. Snack. Ever.
Big thanks go out to Lyn and her family for sharing their bounty with me while they are enjoying some time off in Delaware. I hope that they have a lovely and relaxing vacation. Thanks also to the peeps in Geauga County who put together a fantastic bag of Ohio goodness that does not contain Kohlrabi:)
What?!?! Kohlrabi in next week’s FFM bag? Freecycle here I come………
Jun 252012
I’m having a great time on vacation. Being away has been very nice. After a week without Stephen we met up with him at the beach house in Delaware on Saturday. We had a great day at the ocean with the kids yesterday followed by a rain day today. We are looking forward to another great day at the beach tomorrow.
My sister has done a great job organizing meals and food and it’s been a very nice environment for everyone. The house is big enough that folks can spread out as desired. Although it’s only Monday, people were already talking about next time we get a beach house.
While I was in Baltimore over Memorial Day weekend, we decided to go to Patapsco Valley State Park. It was early on Monday morning. We thought it was be a nice place to let the kids play. Apparently, lots of other people had the same idea since there was a line of cars at the entrance. We were expecting to pay a per vehicle charge, but it turned out to be a per person charge for the holiday. The kids were still free, so it was ok.
It was getting hot quickly, but the kids still enjoyed some playground time. We watch car after car unload for day long picnics. We could tell that many of them were planning on grilling lunch and dinner.
Turns out the playground was really close to the river, so I took a short walk down to check it out.
We drove down the road a bit and ended up taking a short hike across this suspension bridge. It was pretty cool. There used to be a mill across the river and workers walked across this bridge to get to work.
I talked my niece and nephew into a photo before we headed back to the car.
We had a great morning and enjoyed our outside time. But, soon it was time to hang at the pool so we headed home.
Normally, I would have picked up our large CSA yesterday in Mayfield. But, I’m on vacation. After a few days in Baltimore and Dover, we are all checked in at our beach house. My friend Kelly was kind enough to send me a photo of the large share. It looks amazing and I’m sad to miss it. But, I’m super happy that Fresh Fork has an awesome vacation policy.
Here’s the artistic photo from Kelly:
Here’s the list of contents that Fresh Fork sent us earlier in the week. Squash was subbed for the napa cabbage.
Small CSA Share
- 1 package boneless loin chops, 2 per pack
- 2 lbs spelt berries
- 1 bunch spinach
- 1 head white stem bok choy
- 1 dozen eggs
- 1 bunch swiss chard or 1 head baby bok choy (depending on route)
- 1 bunch beets with tops
- 1 lb snow peas
- 1 head chinese napa cabbage
Large CSA Share Small contents above plus:
- 1 bunch carrots
- 1 lb shelled peas
- 1 head leaf lettuce
- 1 extra bunch spinach
- 2 bunches red bulb green onions
I’m hoping that I’ll be able to get some pork chops when I return. It’s one of the best Fresh Fork items that we’ll get all summer. If I was in town, I’d be trying out the dry container on my new Vitamix. I like spelt berries, but I’m really anxious to try out making flour. For now, I’m going to try my best to eat some good local food while I’m on vacation. I visited a local market yesterday and have 2 Farmers’ markets on the schedule for the week.
Jun 222012
Last week, we were almost out of oatmeal. We had tried it from the End of the Commons General Store a few months back and decided to stock up. It’s not local (and I do have a lead on a bulk local quanity), but the timing was right for Sally and I to make a trip while Nick was in camp last week.
This is what a 50 pound bag of oats looks like. It was $26.00.
2 or 3 of us eat oatmeal for breakfast everyday. We also use it in some of our muffin recipes. I’m not exactly sure how long this will last, but I don’t suspect to need oats for a while.
We bought a couple of containers from Dean’s Supply and bagged the rest. I’m hoping it stores well in Nick’s closest where the humidity isn’t too bad.
Jun 212012
A couple of weeks ago, we were strawberry picking in Hiram. On the way home, we stopped at Sirna’s Farm Market. I had always wanted to stop in, but usually we finish picking before they are open. The kids like the windmill.
There was a nice market building with great decor inside.
They carried lots of canning supplies. This time if year, there wasn’t much produce. We were hoping for some sugar snap peas. The kids were hungry for a snack.
We asked the clerk about peas and she checked in the back. They didn’t have any, but offered to go pick some for us. That was awesome customer service. While we waited, I picked out a few frozen meat items to try out.
Most of the peas were consumed on the way home. We also picked up sausage patties, burgers and ground beef. All of these were local products. The ground beef was great, but the sausage had too much gristle for my taste. We haven’t tried the burgers yet.
I’d be interested in stopping in again sometime during the peak of the growing season to see what the produce selection is like. They are located on route 44, not too far from our favorite blueberry farm, so maybe we’ll be able to check it out again in July.
Along with buying the plants we needed for our new garden plots, we also let the kids each pick out something to plant at home.
The first photo is all of our plants just waiting to be planted. Nick and Sally really love playing in the dirt.
Sally planted Impatiens. She was super excited.
Nick planted Coleus.
I hope that survive the hot weather during our vacation. The kids would be so sad if they didn’t make it.
It’s been fun to watch Nick and Sally get so excited about planting and watching things grow. It’s really good for them to learn about it early in life.
Today was the third week for the Geauga Family Farms CSA. It was a crazy evening for me (husband Stephen) to pick up the CSA,but I made it to Whole Foods in time to buy a bit of dinner (sushi and tomato bisque soup – a truly international combination) before picking up the CSA. Then it was off to the day’s next event…
Here is what I found in this week’s share:
First up was some good-looking lettuce and some bunching onions.
Tomatoes and peas. Yum! I’m not sure if these are garden or sugar snap peas. I’ll have to try one or two to find out.
Garlic scapes and zucchini.
Last, but not least, some cherry tomatoes.
We also ordered a dozen eggs as an extra item.
Last week, Nick attended camp at Lake Farmpark. It was for 2 1/2 hours a day and he had a blast. Sally wasn’t quite sure what to think when we dropped him off.
She enjoyed playing by herself in the play room.
When we left to run errands, she was happy to check on him in his base camp. She was even happier when she was reunited with him. Most of the days, we just dropped Nick off and went to run errands.
On Friday, we met up with friends and enjoyed the park. It turned out to be the perfect day. Between dropping Nick at camp and our friends’ arrival, a new calf was born.
It was less than 30 minutes old when we saw him. They named it Waldo. He wasn’t even standing yet.
Soon, we were on our way to see the piglets. They were almost 3 weeks old, but still were fun to look at. The wagon ride is always a hit with the kids. Today, horses were pulling it and the driver gave us a great ride around the farm.
Soon enough it was time to find Nick at the ice cream social. After camp ended, we enjoyed a picnic before heading home.