Fresh Fork Market 2012 Summer CSA–week 17

CSA No Responses »
Sep 282012
 

We picked up our bag in Mayfield today.  Tonight’s the Homecoming Football Game, so the hours are shortened and they are expecting full parking lots for the game.  We got there early and quickly picked up our bag.

What a pretty bag!

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Here’s what we were expecting this week:

  • 1 piece Mayfield Road Creamery “Bloomfield,” a brie style cheese
  • 1 lb. raw honey
  • 1 bunch Swiss chard
  • 1 bunch carrots with tops
  • 1 bunch radishes
  • 1 bag mixed greens, can be used for braising or salad greens
  • 1 head speckled romaine lettuce (it will have brown spots…that is how it should be)
  • 1/2 dz. ears sweet corn
  • 1 quarter peck gala apples
  • 1 butternut squash (2 if they are small…but that’s doubtful based on what I’ve seen)
  • 1 pint mixed color cherry tomatoes
  • 2.5 lbs. Roma tomatoes
  • 2 zucchini/squash
  • Approx. 1 lb. onions
  • 1 head broccoli
  • A handful Croatian sweet peppers

We received everything exactly as listed.  I’ll probably just use the Swiss chard in a quiche.  We haven’t had it in a while and I plan to be home on Sunday, so it’s a good day to make it.  I’ll probably use some other veggies in it as well.  The kids are excited to see the carrots, so they’ll make an easy side dish for lunch one day this week.  I usually just cook them and sprinkle a bit of cinnamon on them.

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I have plenty of eggs and think some zucchini muffins are in order.  The corn is going to need cooked today, so I’ll be adding it to tonight’s dinner.

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I haven’t decided on a specific use for the Brie, but I’m sure it will disappear.  We use honey as our regular sweetener.  This will mostly go into tea and muffins.

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I’m going to make some sauce this week and use the onion, peppers and tomatoes.  We also picked tomatoes from our garden, so we have plenty.

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We’ve been eating the apples as they come.  I’m going to try to source some additional ones for sauce this week.  Winter squash is my favorite.  I’ll probably make soup with this butternut squash.

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The speckled lettuce and radishes will go into salads.  The broccoli is part of tonight’s dinner.

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I’m determined to tackle braising greens this winter.  We’ll see these often and I never can get away from the bitterness.  I am going to conquer them.  I’m open to ideas.

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Hopefully, our schedule will start to calm down this week and I’ll be able to cook a bit more in the kitchen soon.  Lately, our meals have been thrown together based on what’s handy.  It works, but I miss some of the more complex dishes.

Howe Meadow Farmers’ Market (take 2)

Farmer's Market No Responses »
Aug 072011
 

Today, we once again visited the Countryside Farmers’ Market , which is held in Howe Meadow (Cuyahoga Valley National Park) on summer Saturdays. We had Stephen’s brother and parents in town and we were on our way to Hale Farm.  It seemed like a great place to stop.  It’s hard for me to turn down a market full of fresh and local items.

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It’s so nice to look at the pristine produce displays.

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There was music and dancing!

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We bought local cheese – aged cheddar ($5), Munster ($5) and aged gouda ($6).

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I stocked up on honey ($22).  So far, the honey from the Schmidt Family Farm in Medina is my favorite.  The first time we were at this market, they didn’t have any crystallized honey, but we were able to buy some this time.  She sold us the wholesale size in a mason jar ($10) with the stipulation that we bring her a jar!  We also picked up some honey on the comb ($10).  I asked Susan if we could come see the farm sometime.  She was definitely open to that.  I’ll be calling to schedule a visit.  I’m very interested in the honey process and I am sure that Nick would enjoy seeing it as well.  We had plans to grill local chicken brats for dinner and picked up some sweet corn to go along with it.  I was glad that it was $5 for a baker’s dozen.

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The item below is called a Kabocha (Japanese pumpkin).  I’m always game to pick up something new at the market.  It’s a squash.  It was $5 and it’s about the size of a pie pumpkin.

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Our guests bought a couple of items to take back to Delaware for friends and everyone had a great time.

Countryside Farmers’ Market–Howe Meadow

Farmer's Market 1 Response »
Jul 022011
 

Today, we ventured to Peninsula, Ohio to visit the Countryside Farmers’ Market.  This market is located on Riverview Road at Howe Meadow, which is part of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. It’s about a 40 minute drive from our house in Mayfield Heights.
It’s a beautiful location for the market.  They had plenty of parking, attendants and traffic control.   We arrived just before the 9 AM opening bell.

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We didn’t really need anything, but we thought it would be fun to go since we used to go to a farmers’ market in the valley after marathon training runs and we had an errand to run in the area.  Nick and Sally were excited to see all of the tents.

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Nick was fascinated by knife and tool sharpening.  The produce was breathtakingly beautiful.

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Of course, we made a few purchases as well.

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We bought Melrose apples ($3).  There was one more, but it became a snack on our way home.  We also bought whole wheat pastry flour ($6 for 4 pounds), 5 pounds of honey ($22), 8 oz. of honey ($5), gouda and chive/onion grass fed cheese ($10), bison hot dogs and bison country sausage ($19.68) and curly kale ($3).  So, we spent quite a bit today.  It was so much fun and something that we wouldn’t do very often.  We haven’t been eating out much since I quit eating white flour and most sweeteners, but we sure eat well.

We also considered buying a mushroom kit, but decided we wanted to research it a bit more first.  I see a kit in our future.