Fresh Fork Market 2012 Summer CSA – week 3

CSA 1 Response »
Jun 232012
 

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.

 

 

 

Fresh Fork Winter CSA–week 11

CSA No Responses »
Mar 152012
 

It’s hard to believe that it’s week 11 already.  It’s also the middle of March.  It won’t be long until we are picking strawberries!  We arrived at Beachwood High School to find Trevor manning the truck this week.  Also, due to baseball practice, the truck was in a different part of the parking lot.  I had that strange feeling that I was there on the wrong day for just a second.  Once we circled around the lot, Nick noticed the green bags and all was well.

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

  • 1 pack pork loin chops
  • 1 bag corn crackers
  • 2 lb. black turtle beans
  • 1 pint salsa
  • 1 bag mixed salad greens
  • 1 pint sorghum syrup
  • 1 dozen eggs
  • 1 lb. assorted sausage
  • 1 lb. sweet corn
  • 1 lb. kale, bunched

Here’s a group shot:

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We’ll use the beans in a combination of a Mexican casserole and also black bean burgers.  The ground pork will also go in our casserole.

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The pork chops are the best.  We’ll probably just season them and bake them in the oven.  The corn was frozen last summer and it’s been delicious.  We’ll add it to our Mexican dish or use it as a side.

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The sorghum syrup was a head scratcher last year.  We ended up using it in a bbq glaze type of sauce that we put over ham loaf.  It was delicious.  I have no idea how we made the sauce, so we’ll be experimenting once again.  I’m thinking of using it as the main sweetener in some homemade sauce.  So far, tomato sauce, vinegar, spices, onion, peppers and syrup come to mind.  I’m not a huge fan of this type of greens, but we do our best to eat it in salads.

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I’ll be putting the kale and salsa in our casserole as well.

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Everyone in our house loves these chips.  If they don’t get eaten first, they’d be a nice addition to our Mexican meal.  Eggs are so easy for us to use.  I just saw a recipe for some muffin casserole bites that are egg based.  I think I’ll try it this week.

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We picked up a few extras as well.  Krispie treat granola ($5) and 2 yogurts ($5 each).

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I’m excited for this week because I can do just a little cooking and have several meals.  Sometimes I like being a lazy cook.

Fresh Fork CSA–week 22–The Final 2011 Summer Week

CSA No Responses »
Oct 282011
 

Yesterday, we picked up week 22 of the summer Fresh Fork CSA.  It was the last pick up.  I’m glad that the winter CSA starts next week.  We received a few higher dollar items, so we didn’t have as many different things.  That was fine with me.

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

Small CSA:

  • 1 pack of Berkshire pork chops, center cut and boneless. Approx. 1 to 1.25 lbs.
  • 1 quart farmstead yogurt
  • 8 oz. aged cheddar cheese, pepper Havarti ,or Havarti cheese
  • 1 head Napa cabbage
  • 1 quarter peck Jonagold apples
  • 1 bag of mixed salad/braising greens
  • 2 count butternut squash

Here’s a group shot:

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The Berkshire pork chops are one of our favorite items from Fresh Fork.  We’ll bake them in the oven with spices and apples for a yummy dinner.

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I’ve only had Napa cabbage one other time.  I’m not sure what fate it will have.  Spaghetti squash was substituted for the butternut squash.  I was hoping for butternut.  We like spaghetti squash ok, but it’s not our favorite and it’s less versatile.

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The mixed green will probably go into salad.  If not, we can sauté them.  We were out of yogurt and there wasn’t any on the truck last week, so we were happy to see it expected this week.

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Cheese is always a bit hit in our house.  This is aged cheddar and we can’t wait to try it.

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We picked up an extra yogurt ($5) and a bag of honey puffed spelt ($3) while we were there.

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I’m excited to have a slower week in terms of items that have to be used right away.  I’m recovering from a badly bruised knee and a little less kitchen time will be a good thing for a few days.

Fresh Fork CSA–week 8

CSA 2 Responses »
Jul 212011
 

Today was the 8th pick up for the Fresh Fork CSA.  There was a line at the truck today.  Usually, it just takes a couple of minutes to pick up our goods.  It was so hot, but the kids were troopers.  We missed Robert at the truck today.  Usually, we check in with him.  Apparently, he got hurt as they were getting ready to come to the stop.  We sure hope he’s ok and hopefully, we’ll see him next week.  It’s always much smoother with the regular crew in their spots.

Usually, we get a list of what to expect at our pick up on Tuesday.  This week it came on Wednesday.  This was due to changes that had to occur due to the storms.  I live in Mayfield Heights and we didn’t really have much in the way of rain Monday, but south of here was hit really hard.  It is devastating to farmers to have too much or too little rain.

Here’s what we were expecting today.

Small CSA:

  • 1 bunch multi-color Swiss chard
  • 1 pint maple syrup
  • 1 package boneless pork chops, approximately 1 lb. each package
  • 1 quarter peck Lodi apples (5-6 apples)
  • Approx. 1.5 lbs. cling peaches
  • 1 candy onion
  • 1 bunch mustard greens
  • 1 pound beans, either green, purple, dragon tongue, or yellow
  • 2 slicing cucumbers

Here’s what we received:

The Lodi apples look great.  They are the first apples of the season in our area.  The maple syrup leaked and created a sticky mess.

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These are the mustard greens.  I don’t think I ever had them before.

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Dragon beans – another new item for us!

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So, our list was dead on this week and our only surprise was that we didn’t get to see Mr. Robert (that’s what Nick calls the guy at the truck).  We also didn’t pay for the cream cheese yet, but I’ll get a price this week.  This is our first week without squash or tomatoes.  It’s fine by us as we enjoy the variety.

Most of these items will be easy for us to use.  I’ll probably start with the Swiss chard since we got it in both of our CSAs this week, so it’s taking up room in our fridge!  Friday and Saturday are about using up the perishables and bulk so we can be more organized the rest of the week.