Taste of Tremont

CSA No Responses »
Jul 152012
 

Today, I worked the Fresh Fork CSA booth at Taste of Tremont.  I was able to park near Tremont and College streets.  I was told to look for the smoke.  It was easy to spot.

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I met up with some of the other crew and got to work.  It’s always nice to see Allison and Kelly.  In the background the roasting of corn had begun.

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Fresh Fork displayed some products for sale.  Mostly, we sold corn on the cob and pig roast platters.

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There were a couple of downpours, but it was hot and sunny most of the day.

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I think Trevor enjoyed a couple minutes away from the grill during one of rains.  Bean was a big help, but after a few hours started to get bored.  Later in the day, it was time for the second pig.

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It was fun to be a part of the crew today.  Maybe in a future year, I’ll visit a few of the other vendors.  This was the tenth year for the event which draws 20,000 people each year.

Fresh Fork Winter CSA–week 13

CSA No Responses »
Apr 122012
 

It’s April already and we’re nearing the end of our winter CSA.  In just a few short weeks, we’ll be talking about week 1 for the summer CSA season.  It will be interesting to see how the early warm weather impacts the crops.  Last year, we heard so much about the wet spring and how it negatively impacted the start of the CSA season.  But, let’s enjoy the rest of the winter CSA first.  This was definitely the week of meat!

Here’s what we were expecting today:

  • 1 meat choice (see above)
    • option 1: whole chicken, approximately 5 lbs.
    • option 2: Meatloaf pack, 1 lb. each of ground veal, ground pork, and ground lamb
    • option 3: 2 packs bone-in beef short ribs and one grass-fed beef round steak
    • option 4: 1 pack (4 patties, 1 lb.) turkey burgers (new) and 1 pack (1.25 lbs.) chicken bratwurst
  • 1 lb. breakfast patties
  • 1 dozen eggs
  • 1 piece (8 oz.) Havarti cheese
  • 1 pint maple syrup
  • 1 quarter peck apples
  • 1/4 lb. ramps

(earlier in the week, there was a possibility of greens, but I’ll take apples over greens most days)

Here’s a group shot:

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We decided to go with the meatloaf pack. I haven’t made meatloaf in a while and there’s a recipe for meatloaf that uses the ramps in this week’s newsletter. It’s more of a guide to meatloaf than a recipe, but I’m not a big recipe follower anyway, so I am happy to use the ideas and make my own meatloaf. I’m going to make muffin shaped loaves. I like using muffing tins for individual meatloaves.

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We had the breakfast patties before. They are flavorful, but a little on the salty side. We’ll probably pair them with some homemade sauce and pasta for a meal. We don’t usually cook meat to go with breakfast.

We bought a gallon of maple syrup this year. Having another pint is always welcome. We made several recipes on a regular basis that use maple syrup instead of sugar. Lucky for me, whole grain pancake mix was on sale this week so I stocked up. My kids love to have pancakes with blueberries and real maple syrup. We don’t even use the fake stuff in our house anymore.

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We haven’t had apples in a while, so they will be a nice addition for our morning oatmeal. We are nearing the end of our canned peaches and frozen blueberries.  Everyone in our house loves cheese. I’m sure the Havarti will be popular. Stephen and I are signed up for the cheese class on Saturday, so I suspect we will be stocking up on local cheeses this weekend.

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Eggs are never hard to get used up. We just naturally use them often in baked oatmeal, pancakes, French toast, muffins and other recipes. This week a few will go into meatloaf for sure.

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Finally, I picked up 4 yogurts this week.  We seem to use at least 2 a week at our house.  It’s $20 well spent.

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I’m having a Fresh Fork CSA week for sure.  Yesterday was the monthly happy hour.  Today was our pick up.  Saturday is the cheese class.  I love local!