Well, farmers market season is over here. No year-round goodness for us. There are two local produce stands I have access to, but sadly I tend to not make time for those. Fear not! For I have a CSA subscription! I receive a box of local organic produce every other week, and I love it. Here are this week’s contents.
Starting at the left, there’s green leaf letuce, a butternut squash, a cubic fuckton of leeks, an herb bundle (sage, rosemary, thyme), granny smith apples, green D’Anjou pears, Eureka lemons, red redishes, baby bok choy, and pomegranates. You can also see some persimmons in the back but those are from the previous farm box.
After a brief hiatus due to family issues, I hath returned to the Farmers Market!
This weekend I had the joy of attending the Farmers Market in Kelseyville, up on Clear Lake. It was nice to have one last crack at some great produce that has already gone out of the market here in Vacaville, plus some extra goodies that I covet every year.
For veggies, I bought some summer squash (zucchini) for grating and freezing in anticipation of breads and cookies around the holidays. I also scored some lemon cucumbers, a massive bulb of garlic, and eight sweet peppers, including two pimiento peppers which I adore. They’re extra sweet and juicy but with that little bite of pimiento flavor. So good!
For fruit, I snagged a bunch of pears, as that is what Lake County is known for. These bad boys are going to end up as quickbreads (OK, I might eat one with some bleu cheese butter on toast). I also grabbed a few bags of dried fruits, including apricots, apples, and sour cherries. The sour cherries will be saved for Christmas baking purposes.
My bread products this time are from the Main Street Bakery booth. This bakery is right on Main St in downtown Kelseyville and their goods are amazing. On top is a huge square of their focaccia, which is topped with tomato sauce, artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, green olives, garlic, asiago, and parmesan. It’s ridiculous how good it is. Underneath it is two loaves of their bread whose name I always forget but it’s divine. It’s a dense loaf filled with sun-dried tomatoes, eggplant, rosemary, garlic, and asiago cheese. It makes the best accompaniment for soup or for a really snazzy grilled cheese sandwich.
At the very bottom of the pic are four bars of my absolute favorite artisan goat milk soaps. These are literally the only goat milk product I can tolerate because they don’t stink of goat. This adorable little lady has her same little booth every year and she sells all kinds of produce and then this huge array of goat milk soaps and lotions. I picked up Sweet Apricot, Red Hot Cinnamon, Pear of Lakes, and Victorian Rose. The Raspberry Rascal and Comfrey & Lavender are also amazing, but I tried to be good and limit myself to just the four this time.
Support Your Local CSA!
I am fortunate in that I live in the middle of a fantastic agricultural region. Some farms are large production and sell their wares to large companies (sugar, wheat, corn, etc). Some farms are moderate production and deal with regional businesses. And then we have a whole gang of really fantastic small farms and CSA’s (community-supported agriculture farms). A lot of these farms sell at farmer’s markets all over Northern California, and many of them - primarily the CSA’s - offer farm subscriptions. This is where you pay into the farm itself and in return you receive farm shares…fresh boxes of seasonal produce from their farm. Sometimes they work trades with regional farms so they can offer their members a wider variety…but always local, and most often organic.
I have belonged to several different CSA’s over the years, and I have great things to say about every single one of them. My reasons for changing farms have more to do with personal preference and convenience than anything else. One farm had too large a variety of produce which meant I got very little of each item in every box and I preferred slightly less variety in greater quantities. Another farm had a pickup schedule that just ended up not working out well for me. The farm I’m with now does doorstop delivery which I absolutely love. It’s not as good for the environment, having a delivery truck that drives all the way from the farm to every single farm member’s house, but it works really well for my work schedule since sometimes I don’t get home until after pickup deadline that other CSA’s had. On the plus side, during the Farmer’s Market months, I tend to pause my CSA subscription to avoid produce overlap, so I’m saving a little carbon output.
One of the greatest benefits I’ve found of belonging to a CSA farm is the ability to experience a wide variety of produce and discover things I hadn’t thought to try before. This leads to new tastes, new recipes, new ideas for meals, and inevitably healthier eating. Another excellent benefit is learning to eat in season. By eating fruits and vegetables that are in season, you’re reducing the amount of transporting that has to be done to bring in out-of-season veggies from other states or even other countries. (yes, I realize this raises a lot of ethical discussions about responsibility for economic support of other countries, but that’s another topic for another time) You’re also reducing the amount of energy expended to raise out-of-season produce (often times requiring massive corporate greenhouses) and the amount of resources such as fertilizer and water.
And of course the best benefit of all…you’re supporting a local farm, providing them the ability to keep raising excellent (and often organic) produce and remain an integral part of the community.
If you’d like to see the CSA’s or local produce opportunities in your area, visit http://www.localharvest.org . It’s not absolutely perfect but it’s an excellent starter resource.
I actually had to bribe myself to go to Farmer’s Market this morning. (oh the promises of a salted caramel Frappuccino) But I’m glad I went, because look at what I got!
In the net bag are 20 roma tomatoes. These, along with the oregano (top left), assorted sweet peppers, and basil (middle right), will be used to make more tomato sauce this weekend. Right now is the best time to nab these ingredients while they’re still cheap! Peppers are at the end of their season now and prices will start climbing like mad. Tomatoes are also nearing the end of their season but they stay reasonably priced throughout.
Also got more lemon cucumbers and regular cucumbers, as well as my old standbys, the green bell peppers. These are all for snacking and salads. They’re great with cousous. Zucchini were looking very nice and the price was right, so I scored a half dozen to start prepping for quickbreads/muffins (which freeze beautifully). Also got some organic whole-wheat oatmeal raisin cookies for the roommate. And this time instead of bread, I bought tortillas (locally made). One pack is garlic black bean and the other is rosemary olive. These will make GREAT lunch wraps for the next month fo sho.
Last week I didn’t post a pic because The Boyfriend was in town and Farmer’s Market was a very brief trip. But I got 20 romas then as well (which will be added to this week’s haul for the big batch of sauce), plus some cilantro, a yellow onion, two green bell peppers, and some pb choc chip oatmeal cookies. Almost all of that went towards our Labor Day party. Huzzah!
This week’s farmer’s market haul! I got a crapton more lemon cucumbers which will become more salad because I am weird and I love cucumber salads. Also some flat-leaf Italian parsley for couscous. A couple of white nectarines that are each as big as two of my fists put together. I couldn’t resist them! There’s an assortment of sweet peppers that were too pretty to pass up, so I’m thinking I’ll be making some interesting multi-hued salads all week. A few regular cucumbers made it into the mix as well because duh. Cucumbers.
Also three gorgeous and infamous California Hass avocados, waiting to finish ripening for next weekend’s barbecue. The four bell peppers are for me to just straight up snack on with some olive oil and cracked black pepper. A pile of sweet corn rounds out my produce take. Oh, and more basil. Duh.
Of course I bought myself more flowers because I rock. Oh, and those are gluten-free whole-wheat oatmeal raisin cookies there in the back. They are so damn good it’s hard not to buy them. (they do a version with choc and pb chips that makes me want to cry they’re so good, but they were out this week)
Today’s farmer’s market haul. A dozen roma tomatoes, a few brandywine tomatoes, some garlic, the most gorgeous jalapenos I’ve ever seen, some green peppers, red bell peppers, lemon cucumbers, sweet corn, tiny seedless grapes (I ate all my flames yesterday, so today it’s all about the green guys), and a cubic motherloving crapton of basil (about 6lbs). Also picked up a loaf of sourdough flax bread and an apple tart, and a few bunches of flowers. Total cost for this haul is around $45. Without the flowers and bakery items, it’s about $20.
What will I do with all this? Tomatoes, garlic, and some basil will become sauce. Cukes will be a salad. Corn will become soup. Bell and green peppers are destined for beef kabobs. Grapes are a snack. Remaining basil will be used liberally in damn near everything I eat for the next 1-2 weeks. Jalapenos are TBD. Bread is for toast and sandwich lunches. Apple tart is for dessert after kabobs. Flowers are for my soul.
