Fresh Fork Market 2012 Summer CSA–week 13

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Aug 292012
 

Due to some last minute travel plans for the weekend, we picked up our CSA share today.  It was our first time picking up on a Wednesday in Solon.  The pick up spot at a church was very nice.  The lot was shady and newly resurfaced.  With a busy evening that included preschool parent orientation, it was very dark when I attempted photos.  So, I’m just using one tonight.  Yes, I have nice lights, but I don’t have the energy for that tonight.

Dark overview photo:

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I think the only thing the photo really shows is how big a large share is.  I’m continually impressed with a what we receive for our value each week.

Here’s what we received:

  • 1 bunch Cylindra beets
  • 1 quart whole milk yogurt
  • 1 acorn squash
  • 1 pint blackberries
  • 1 bag mixed peppers
  • 1 lb. red fortune plums
  • 2 lbs. Roma tomatoes
  • 1 kohlrabi
  • 1 bunch collards
  • 6 ears sweet corn
  • 1 ball fresh mozzarella cheese
  • 2 frozen pizza dough balls
  • 1 pint heirloom tomato sauce
  • A handful hot Hungarian peppers
  • Approx. 1.5 lbs. heirloom tomatoes
  • concord grapes

Originally, we were going to get a spaghetti squash and not have grapes.  You can’t argue with mother nature.  We’ll see squash soon.

This is a crazy week for us as we are leaving town for a few days tomorrow.  So, all of our food needs to be cooked, eaten, froze, or packed so that we don’t lose any of our items.

I have some beets already in the fridge.  I’m going to make Harvard beets and freeze them.  I’ve never frozen that recipe before, but a quick Google search tells me that it’s possible.

We love the yogurt and are fully stocked.  I’m glad it has good dates.  I’ll be taking one container with us in our cooler.

I love winter squash season as much as melon season.  I’ll roast this acorn squash, make puree and freeze it.  It would probably last if I just waited until we got home from our trip, but I’d rather just take care of it now.

The plums and blackberries will come with us on our trip if they last that long.  I’m going to freeze the peppers, tomatoes, collards and corn.  I’ll blanch and chop as needed.  I’m hoping to make the grapes into a usable concentrate for sorbet.  Then, I’ll freeze it.

I’ll use the pizza dough, sauce and cheese to make some pizza for lunch tomorrow and maybe dinner on the road.  The dough was already thawing before I got to it, so I need to use it up.

Whew!  I need to get busy.  We’re leaving at 12:30pm tomorrow and I still need to pack too.

Fresh Fork CSA–week 16

CSA, Uncategorized No Responses »
Sep 152011
 

Today, we once again headed to Beachwood High School to pick up our Fresh Fork CSA share.

Here’s what we were expecting to receive this week:

Small CSA:

  • 1 pint mixed color cherry tomatoes
  • 1 package chicken sausage (4 links, 1.25 lbs.)
  • 1 dz. pastured chicken eggs
  • 1 bunch carrots with tops
  • 1 bunch turnip greens
  • 2 ct. green bell peppers
  • 2 ct. poblano chili peppers
  • 1.5 lbs. Stanley plums
  • Either 1 hd. broccoli or 1 stalk of celery

Here’s a group shot of share:

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We were down to 1 egg in our fridge, so we were glad to see these.  We went plum picking this week and the plum-apple sauce turned out great, so I am making another batch.

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We were gifted a bunch of peppers this week, so I am chopping and freezing away.

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The chicken sausage went straight to the freezer.  Trevor included several ideas for the turnip greens in the newsletter.  Basically, I’ll make them like my Swiss chard and they should be tasty.  I’ll probably have them for lunch tomorrow since they are taking up room in the fridge.

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The broccoli looks delicious.  Nick and Sally and I will enjoy it with dinner tomorrow.  We got Heirloom tomatoes instead of cherry tomatoes.  I got a couple of extra since mine were bad last week.  I’m going to clean/chop and freeze them with some other tomatoes for a later sauce.

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My kids couldn’t get enough carrots last week, so they eat these at lunch for a couple of days.  I’m not sure they will even last through 2 meals.

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Since I am on vacation next week and the week after, I spent a few of my credit dollars today.  I put them on my account and it will be a wash over time.  I picked up yogurt ($5), corn chips (2 @ $3.50) and a Camembert cheese ($8).  So, I “spent” $20.

I bought yogurt at the grocery store earlier this week since we were out.  I screwed up and bought vanilla.  Yuck, it’s full of sugar and I can’t use it for cooking.  I really like my newly found whole wheat dough recipe and it calls for yogurt.  I like to keep the ingredients on hand.  I was super excited to see the corn chips back.  The truck hasn’t had them for sale lately.  They are the best corn chips I’ve ever had.  One bag was opened in the car.  I bought 2 bags so there would still be some with Stephen gets back from his trip.

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Today and tomorrow I am preserving food and packing for my trip.  I’m trying to avoid too much last minute craziness on Sunday.

U-Pick Tour–Eddy Fruit Farm, Chesterland Ohio–Plums, Apples and Grapes

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Sep 122011
 

Today, we made a spur of the moment trip to Eddy Fruit Farm.  I happened to read on Facebook that they were having pick your own plums and they wouldn’t last long.  I called some friends and we met them at the farm at 4PM.  We never go picking in the afternoon, but today it worked.  The weather was great and Eddy’s is only 15 minutes from our house in Mayfield Heights.  They are the closest farm to our house with pick your own.

They are just south of Wilson Mills Road on Caves Road.  The photo on the left is the corner where you turn and the photo on the right is the entrance to the farm.

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Nick and Sally both sampled a plum.  I never saw plums growing before so I enjoyed this picking experience.

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While we were there, we picked a few apples.  Akane is the variety that happened to be close by.  They are a somewhat tart variety.

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We didn’t pick too many since I still had apples at home to process into applesauce.  After the apples, we checked out the grapes.  The netting is to keep the birds away.  These are sweet reliance grapes.  They are seedless and I think were also past their prime.

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The kids were fascinated with the netting and the grapes.

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We returned to the market to pay for our bounty.  We also bought a few pears.  We ended up with about 5.5 pounds of plums, 5.5 pounds of apples and 2 pounds of grapes.  At 90 cents a pound, we paid $11.75.  In addition our pears were $6.  It’s hard to turn down your kids when they are begging you for fruit.

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I’m thinking I’ll try a batch of jam with the plums.  I’m sure everyone will enjoy eating a few along with the grapes.  I’m mixing these apples in with my applesauce now.  I hope they aren’t too tart since I don’t put sweetener in my sauce.

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I suspect we’ll have more apple picking when I return from vacation.  We’ll probably miss concord grapes since they are just coming into season now.  Next time we pick grapes, I need to bring a snippers or scissors, it will be much easier.

I’m off to check on the applesauce!