Food, Glorious Food

Most of it green. I am so fortunate to be a part of an organic CSA farm. Yesterday's box held:
strawberries
asparagus
cauliflower
broccoli
collards
kale
bok choi
mesclun mix
head lettuce
radishes
scallions
snow peas
shell peas

Last night we had one head of broccoli and salad fixings out of the box as accompaniments to our spaghetti Alfredo. Happily, N will eat broccoli (for the time being). He used to be big on green beans, but now they are typically chewed and then deposited back onto the plate. For dessert, D and I had strawberries on angel food cake with whipped cream.

This morning, I'm busy putting up the snow peas, collards, and kale. I've just now got the blanched pea pods spread out on cookie sheets in the freezer above the fridge, a quick freeze before I bag and label them for the chest freezer in the garage. For those who don't know, you need to blanch your fruits and veggies before you freeze them to stop their ripening process. Next I'm going to process the greens, which are soaking in a salt water solution to get out the last bits of grit and any bugs.

Tonight I'll be including the asparagus, bok choi, and snow peas in a stir fry--along with ginger, garlic, red pepper, and tofu--that I'll serve over brown rice. We'll have another thrilling salad, and will probably have some hummus I made Tuesday spread on some whole wheat pita.

Part of what makes this farm so special is the care they take harvesting and preparing the produce to come to us. They wash it! We visited their farm several years ago, and saw the giant metal spinner they use to wash and dry the vegetables. It is manually powered (they're Amish, remember), but not everything on the farm is. They use solar power to charge generators with which they light their farm at night and run their dairy concern. They milk their cows with electric pumps run from the generators. Some Amish drive automobiles, including the man they use to deliver their produce to the pick-up points.

I've spent long enough on this entry. N is at daycare today, so I have limited time to squeeze in the freezing. AC and I need to run errands, too. Hey - I haven't had breakfast yet, either, come to think of it. This morning's routine was dreadfully mucked up by a) my husband's dawdling and b) my ignorance of the alarm clock. I will post another time about routines. My life-long struggle.