Geauga Family Farms CSA–summer week 16

CSA No Responses »
Sep 182012
 

We did a little shopping at Whole Foods before picking up our share today.  I’m so glad that the store remodel is complete.  Everything seems like it’s in its place.  Now, we just need to learn where those places are.

Here’s what we received today:

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Bok choy, lettuce

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Apples, slicing tomatoes

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Hot peppers, red onions

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Bell peppers, red Russian kale

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I’m going out of town on Thursday and won’t return until Sunday night.  So, I’ll be prepping items for the freezer or cooking them for the family to eat while I am gone.

I now have two heads of bok choy.  I’m going to sauté them with garlic, onion and sesame oil for Stephen.  The lettuce will get eaten in salad.  The apples have been popular in oatmeal and for snacking.  The tomatoes are going straight to the freezer with the romas that I picked from our garden today.  I’ll be making a batch of sauce for canning before our lamb comes in from the butcher at the beginning of October.

I have no desire to deal with the hot peppers, so I am sending them to work with Stephen in hopes that someone there will put them to good use.  I wish we had a swap table at Whole Foods where you could take and item and leave and item.  One of our other CSAs used to do that and it was great.

I’ll chop and freeze any pepper and onion left before I leave on my trip.  I’m just going to blanch the kale for later use in soup.  We have plenty of greens out in the fridge already.

Lately, I feel like I’m preserving more than we’re eating, but some weeks are just like that.

U-Pick Tour–Greenfield Berry Farm, Peninsula Ohio

U-Pick, Uncategorized No Responses »
Jul 032011
 

Yesterday, we picked our first blueberries and currants of the season.  We traveled to Greenfield Berry Farm in Peninsula.  We had wanted to try this farm out during strawberry season, but there were too many farms and not enough time.  The family was already going to Peninsula today to visit a Farmer’s Market and go to Century Cycles, so we stopped by for a bit.  I ran into Michelle from the farm at the market and was able to verify that they were open for picking from 10-2 PM.  I also bought some local honey from her stand.  The downside of this farm is that they open at 10 AM.  This is a late schedule for my kids.  Most of the time, we try to be done picking by 10 AM so we can travel home, eat lunch and have nap time.

The farm is on Major Road, near the intersection of Oak Hill.  It was very easy to find and would be about 40 minutes from our house in Mayfield Heights if we were driving straight there.  It’s actually pretty close to 303/271 interchange.

Blueberries are one of my favorite fruits for U-Pick.  I love the ease of freezing and how versatile they are in pancakes, muffins, oatmeal, etc.  Blueberry season is fairly long and should be around for the entire month of July and maybe into August.

I loved the sign at the road for the farm.  The other one is near where you park.  It’s simple and effective.

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After we talked to the farmer, we took our containers and walked a short distance to the field.  We past some nice flowers on our way.

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Nick has really been enjoying all of the different farms.  Since this was the holiday weekend, Stephen joined us for some picking.  It was the first time all 4 of us went together.  He’s picking red currants here.  We didn’t pick many, but I hope to make a bit of strawberry currant spread or sauce.

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Sally is starting to learn how to pick.  Too bad she doesn’t understand the colors yet.  Here’s a photo of Farmer Daniel.  He’s in charge.

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We didn’t stay too long since we had errands to run, but we managed to pick $10 worth of fruit.  It’s maybe a quart and a half of blueberries and a cup of currants.  The prices are a little higher at this farm, but they are naturally grown, so no sprays.  It’s similar to organic but without all of the paperwork.  The farm is also part of the Countryside Initiative to rehabilitate farms in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park area.  I really appreciate this aspect of this particular farm.

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