Today, we had the week 7 pick up for the Geauga Family Farms CSA.  Since it was the 4th Tuesday and there was a farm visit this evening, my husband picked up our share.  Even though we had the list of what could be in our share earlier today, it’s really a surprise when you actually see it.

Here’s what we received today:

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Let’s take a closer look.

Tomatoes, beets

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Lettuce, kohlrabi

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Swiss chard, onion

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Green beans, cherry tomatoes

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Radishes, cucumbers

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Yellow squash, patty pan squash (Most of the patty pan squash that I have seen before is more flat and scalloped, but I am pretty sure this is patty pan squash.)

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Zucchini, honey (add on order)

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New this year, we can place orders though the website for some additional items.  There are things available like honey, maple syrup, eggs, etc.  I ordered some honey for this week.  We didn’t really need honey at the moment, but I wanted to try out the ordering system.  Pay with paypal and pick up with the share.  It was easy!

I’m still thinking about the bounty that we received and haven’t made any specific plans for it, but we’ll be busy eating our veggies this week for sure!

 

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.

 

Today we had another pick up for the Geauga Family Farms CSA.  It’s week 6 already.  The amount of produce has really picked up the last couple of weeks.

Here’s what we received in our family share:

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Let’s take a closer look.

Black cherry tomatoes, cucumber

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Pickling cucumbers, potatoes

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Blueberries, green onions

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Onions, peppers (probably hot!)

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Cabbage, red raspberries

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Lettuce, Swiss chard

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Tomatoes, zucchini

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Yellow squash

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Personally, I’m not much of a tomato fan (unless they are in BBQ sauce, ketchup or pasta sauce), but the black cherry tomatoes were my husband’s favorite last year, so I was happy to see them today.  The pickles we made a couple of weeks back should be ready, so we’ll eat them this week and make some more with today’s share.  I bought some whole wheat lasagna noodles at the beginning of the season.  I think this is the week for veggie lasagna with squash as the highlight.

Some of our raspberries were moldy,  I sorted them and used the good ones in raspberry lemonade this evening.  It’s so refreshing on a hot day like today.  The blueberries probably won’t make it past breakfast in the morning.

I’m going to assume the peppers are hot.  Last year, almost all of the peppers that we received were hot.  I had a tough time using them since my kids and I don’t really like HOT.  For the most part, I ended up chopping and freezing them and then putting them in crockpot recipes like chili a bit at a time.

Have a great week!