Posted on

Hellgate CSA Week 4

csa week 4
Our fourth share of the season

This week was a lighter week, with only four things in our share. We got:

1 head green leaf lettuce
1 head mustard greens
1 bunch beets with beautiful greens
1 bag of snap peas

There was an herb share this week, but I don’t partake in that. Our fruit share is on hold for a couple of weeks because this week the harvest was iffy and next week is July 4 holiday week and we won’t have a delivery from anyone that day. I’m really looking forward to more fruit.

In my head, I’ve been formulating a recipe for the mustard greens. Stay tuned for that.

Our CSA canning workshop went great! The CSA strawberries used made amazing preserves. More on that soon…

Posted on

Hellgate CSA Week 3

CSA week 3 collage
Our third share of the season

This week’s superstar element in the CSA share was the two quarts of strawberries from Hepworth Farms – they are spectacular. Wonderful strawberry flavor and the texture is fantastic. Firm yet silky. We also got apples in our fruit share, which was a surprise, but shouldn’t have been – Hepworth Farms grows something like 40 different kinds of apples on their land in Milton, NY.

For the vegetable share, we also got:

1 HUGE head of green leaf lettuce (we are overwhelmed with greens)
1 bunch swiss chard
1 larger bag of snap peas
1 bunch of lavender (smells amazing)
1 pint of strawberries

All told, we received 10 cups of strawberries. Just… wow. I love this time of year!

More exciting news – next week I’ll be hosting at my apartment a canning workshop for my CSA, taught by my friend and fellow core group member AJ. He’ll be teaching us how to can strawberry lemon preserves, as well as teaching basic water bath canning best practices. It should be awesome.

Posted on

Hellgate CSA Week 2

hellgate csa week 2 share
Our second share of the season

This was Hellgate CSA‘s second week and we got another terrific share. Our vegetable share consisted of:

1 bunch of very aromatic savory (I love the smell!)
1 head of lettuce
1 bag of sugar snap peas
1 small bag of asparagus
1 quart of fantastic strawberries

I plan to eat a large salad on Thursday, combining the savory, the lettuce I got from the CSA, and my own lettuces growing out back. That and the arugula have just exploded in the past week:

overgrown lettuces and arugula
Lettuce and arugula have exploded

Asparagus will be delicious with eggs, and the strawberries will likely be gone in a day or two. Too bad, as I have some raw cream in my future that will be in my hands a few days after these berries are gone. Here’s hoping more strawberries come next weekend so that I can enjoy these two treasures together.

So far, so good. Everything has been gorgeous and delicious!

Posted on

Hellgate CSA’s First Distribution of 2011

csa 2011 first share collage
Our first share of the 2011 season of the Hellgate CSA

I am so happy that our CSA started up again!  Yesterday was our first distribution of the season.  We received:

1 head of green leaf lettuce
1 bunch of absolutely gorgeous scallions
a bag of sunchokes
a bunch of oregano
a quart of strawberries

Everything is organic and local – we get our vegetable shares from Green Thumb Farm out on the south fork of Long Island. Farmer Bill and the rest of the Halsey clan has been providing us with vegetables for many years now – we are starting our seventh season!

I washed and cleaned the strawberries – I expect they’ll be gone by tonight. I had them over my last ramekin of baked custard today and it was a perfect pairing. It satisfied my suspicion that this custard is an awesome base for seasonal fruit.

I am hoping to make a pesto out of the oregano, I have so much of it.  I could run the dehydrator, too, but it’s awfully hot here in NYC right now, and the dehydrator blows hot air out of it. But oregano pesto intrigues me – I expect it would go great with fish, and probably good in soup. The scallions are incredible – mild but not flavorless, and with no harsh edge to them. I will most likely make carmelized green onions if I don’t eat them all in a few days.

As for the sunchokes, I’ll likely make jerusalem artichoke fritters again. I remember liking them very much.

Distribution was a joy last night, too. So many happy people, excited members new and old, and lots of beautiful kids running around (and some in strollers). We had some snacks, and some amazing lemonade made by Fresh Start, our hosts.  My fellow Core members are lovely and I’m so glad to be working actively on this season again with them.

lots of people picking up
Lots of people picking up

Here’s to a great CSA season! The next six months are going to be awesome.

For more photos from our first distribution for the year, you can find them in my CSA 2011 – Week 1 photoset.

Posted on

Garden Update – Sprouts and Starts

This past week I started planting my greens in containers on the back deck.  They are easy to grow and they progress pretty quickly. The idea of having fresh greens right outside my back door is really appealing, too.

I’m happy to report that all my greens have sprouted! The thyme has also sprouted, and this year I’m determined to not let it fry in the sun. I am impressed and happy that leftover seeds from 2010 sprouted, too.  That would be the lettuces and braising mix that I got from the Hudson Valley Seed Library.

lettuce sprouts
Lettuce sprouts
braising mix sprouts
Braising mix sprouts
sylvetta arugula sprouts
Sylvetta arugula sprouts

Thyme sprouts are so cute!

thyme sprouts
Thyme sprouts

I’ve also got tomato starts and peppers that can go in the ground soon.  I am excited about eventually trying all these different peppers and tomatoes. Here’s hoping I have a bumper crop.

tomatoes and peppers
Silver fir and stupice tomato, and peppers

My garden plot downstairs is also doing well – I’ve got two tomato plants in there, and have direct sowed some basil seeds.  I also planted some “bees friend”, calendula, and borage.  I’m hopeful that this will bring me more bees to help pollinate!

Posted on

CSA Bounty – Week Six

CSA Bounty Week Six

This week we got a wonderful variety of vegetables in our veggie share, and some delicious stone fruit in the fruit share.  I decided to display them in a grid this time.  From top to bottom row, left to right:

lettuce, green beans, spring onions, carrots, cucumbers, plums, nectarines, peaches, mint.

I forgot to take a picture of the zucchini!  This week I got a large one, which I’ll use to put in zucchini muffins most likely.  The zucchini from last week went into zucchini fritters.  I’ll post about them at some point, after I tweak a few things.

distribution on a humid cool day

The weather was better than last week – not great, but better.  It was much cooler, thanks to thunderstorms that passed through this afternoon.  It’s still humid, though, and a heat wave is expected this weekend.  I have hopes that it won’t be as intense as last time.

I have plans to make a sorbet out of some of the stone fruit.  Perfect for hot weather!

Additionally, I got a chunk of chevre and some ground pastured beef.  Looking forward to having hamburgers tomorrow!

And finally, our dry bean and grain share was this week and the most striking thing was the oats.  I don’t think I’ve actually seen whole oats before.  They look perfect to sprout – I’ll have to look into a grain mill attachment for my Kitchen Aid.  Or, perhaps I will eat them as hot cereal.  I also came across a recipe for a sprouted oat milk, which is intriguing.

Posted on

CSA Bounty – Week Five

hot distribution

Well, this week brought searing heat, wilted CSA members, and serious summer vegetables and fruit!  Peaches, apricots, and plums scream “summer” to me.

peaches

plums and apricots

All the fruit has been fantastic eaten out of hand.  It would make good sorbet, too.

The vegetable I was most excited about was the fava beans.  I look forward to them every year.

fava beans

I think they are gorgeous pods, but the beans inside are even more fantastic. I shell them and then remove each bean’s outer covering, throw them into a pan containing a little hot olive oil, and cook them till they start to brown a bit.  Sometimes I cook them with onions.   Then I eat them with fleur de sel on top.  Perfection!

We got more greens – butter lettuce and curly cress.  Not much to do with them except make a salad, which I did.

butter lettuce

cress

We also got fennel – I’ll probably braise it.

fennel

Oh, and spring onions!

spring onions

And peas! Shelling peas – I made a tasty salad with them that involved mint and dates (recipe to come).

shelling peas

Lastly, we got zucchini, which was a surprise! I chose 5 perfect medium sized squash, which I will make zucchini fritters out of this weekend. I’ll probably grate whatever is left and freeze it for zucchini bread.

zucchini

So much great produce!  I just love my CSA.