Dog levels Chinese greens

It is so difficult to NOT call Rocket an asshole. You may remember my greens-seeking Italian Greyhound from a former posting, "The Shared Garden." After chasing him out of my garden twice yesterday, he finally did his damage without me seeing him this morning, taking out two more pak choi, leaving me with only one. Oddly, he did not touch the two remaining broccoli or the three cauliflower (who are just barely hanging on even without Rocket's loving care). He is just a dog, acting on basic dog needs, which apparently include Chinese vegetables. He is not purposely trying to upset me. Is he? In fact, that question is beside the point. I'm using the gradual loss of my little green babies as practice in non-attachment. Trying to feel the pain and regret of their deaths. And trying to feel my anger at the dog. This instead of, as I am used to, trying to shove what I've always thought useless and harmful feelings out of the way and move on.

Of course, these aren't the only vegetables I have for us to eat. We do use the grocery store. But, even better, we have a subscription to a CSA farm. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, a national movement designed to bring consumers and farmers together, and to keep seasonal produce on local plates. Here's the USDA's page of links about CSA. We paid $265 to our supplier, Calvert Farms (over the DE border in NE MD), for a weekly box of their organic produce from late May through early October. I pick up our box at a nearby drop-off point (another local, smaller family farm called Highland Orchard) where I buy more goodies to supplement what our box contains. To give you an example of what they supply, Wednesday's box contained: five beets, two zucchini, a head of green leaf lettuce, six medium red potatoes, pole beans, and snow peas. In past boxes we have had spinach, asparagus, strawberries, red onions, green onions, garlic, and mesclun. Now if I could only get the baby interested in any food that is not pureed beyond recognition...