CSA season has begun!

Today was our first CSA box of the season! Yay!

>>In our box this week @ cook.eat.think.

Local foods at their best.

It is that time of year. Gardens and farms are bursting with life, and we are picking, canning, freezing, baking and cooking. The boys love all aspects of this part of our summer. The weekly drive to the farm for our CSA share pickup, the morning rituals of visiting the garden to pick and water and gaze, the stops at our favorite farm stands to get just picked sweet corn or melons. The mountains of produce in our dining room and kitchen which need to be cleaned and cut and prepped. All reminding us where our food comes from, and that we are a part of this cycle.


The table in the very top photo is from yesterday. We picked up our CSA share and visited two farms on the way home - both with awesome farm stands. The first stop was for sweet corn and apples. This farmer came out to chat with the boys and let the them walk around and pet his groundhog, donkeys and goats. Our second stop was to a beautifully organized organic farm where we picked up some amazing mushrooms, beans, onions, and flowers.. The boys looked around and climbed some rocks as we chatted a bit with the farmer there before heading home.


The table also has what we picked yesterday - TONS of cucumbers, tomatoes and beans. We have been getting at least a basket full from the garden each day. The boys love walking through and picking, taking turns holding the basket, peeking for the hidden treasures. That is the best time to bird watch too, as our feathered friends are not so worried about our presence, and swoop, drink, eat and sing to us as we walk our tiny yard.

Each time we visit a farm the boys want to stay. They know each place we visit by identifying landmarks - this barn, that sign, this stream, those trees, and know what to expect at each place. I do think it is a lot of fun, but I also imagine it weaving invisible threads from the fields and farms and garden to their minds and hearts. And while they may not want to eat all of the goodies we buy or pick, they have a sense of what it requires, where it came from, and the people and places necessary to make it all happen. And those threads, I think, are what will keep us connected to all that which sustain us!

Strawberry Picking!

This year strawberry season came very late. With all of the late frosts, major storms and flooding, our CSA had only a portion of their strawberry fields make it through. Sunday was our CSA u-pick - and it was surprisingly a cool and windy day. That meant happy boys (and no mosquitoes)!

I am not sure why, but last year our u-pick was TOUGH - literally hundreds of stinging nettles, rashes up our arms, and the boys giving up to sit at the side and watch. Perhaps due to the straw mulch or cooler temps, there were really no weeds this year. It was pleasant and the boys could help - and we didn't need to wear our gloves! Very nice.


The boys spent part of the time helping, and part of the time at the end of our row snuggling under the blanket to warm up. It felt more like October than almost July!


We brought home just over 20 pounds of strawberries. We spent the rest of the day rinsing, cutting, prepping, storing. We made 10 pints of freezer jam, 5 quarts of chunky desert topping (great over pancakes or pound cake), and put 10 1-gallon bags of strawberries in our freezer for baking/smoothies. We also have a few pounds from our CSA box this week for fresh eating. Yum!


A lot of work, but well worth it!

CSA Season.

The boys enjoy being able to get out of the car to go in and pick up our CSA share each week. There is a giant walk in cooler, a big chalkboard, massive washing basins, lots of 'stuff', and of course water runoff (meaning: mud) and big farm equipment parked near the outbuilding. They had a special treat this week as they were chatting with the lady who helps everyone get what they need...and she even walked out with them and let them climb up into the cab of an old tractor. They were in heaven!

Each week we take a photo of our CSA box and post it to our food blog. We have some fun kid friendly recipes planned when we get our flats of strawberries too - yum!

Community Supported Agriculture.

It is that time of year. Planning the garden, drooling over seed catalogs, reading gardening books, and sketching out options.


Every January or February I also start to look forward to CSA time. The fresh produce, visiting the farm to pick up our weekly box, having organic food freshly picked from healthy soil, grown by farmers who use sustainable practices and who care for the land.

Having the boys participate in what we can grow in our own small (tiny?) yard is wonderful, and they can help with the process from seed to seed. I also love that they can see where food comes from in the bigger picture with our CSA...hoophouses, fields and human hands. Not to mention the breadth of variety we can expect from our share each week.


Here are some resources - both local and national (and even international CSA search link) - for those of you who want to find out more about CSA's!

Community Supported Agriculture - Info & Find a Farm:

Wisconsin:

Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture Coalition

Wisconson Farm Fresh Atlas

National/International:

Local Harvest

Locate a CSA Farm (+international listings)


Books:


Sharing the harvest : a citizen's guide to Community Supported Agriculture - by Elizabeth Henderson



Holy Cows and Hog Heaven : the Food Buyer's Guide to Farm Friendly Food - by Joel Salatin



About Community Supported Agriculture:

What is a CSA?

What is Community Supported Agriculture and How Does It Work?



And if you are in my area, you might find some of these wonderful resources interesting - classes about sustainability, organic farming, gardening, and preserving the harvest (N IL/S WI):

Inn Serendipity || Angelic Organics Learning Center || Michael Fields Agriculture Institute || Driftless Folk School || Artha Sustainable Living Center ||

Sprouted Bread.

Today we baked bread using the sprouted grains started Friday. YUM. I had to tweak the recipe because I didn't want a log, and it turned out just right. Nutty, light, easy to slice, not too crumby. Want the recipe? I blogged it here...

cook.eat.think.

With the approaching holidays and all of our plans for crafting, gift making, kid projects, field trips and travel, it seems that we will be busy filling up this blog - not to mention all of the cooking, baking, food gifts, fermenting, preserving, local foods finding, and fun in the kitchen.

So what does all of that mean? I started a side blog just for food.

cook.eat.think. Visit it here.

Final CSA of the Season.

Today is the day. Our final CSA box pickup of the season at the farm.

This week in our box:
Lettuce, arugula, mizuna, saute greens, hakuri turnips, red radishes, green cabbage, celeriac, rutabaga, onions.

CSA Box This Week. The end is near...

Well, it is almost over. We have only one more CSA pick up after today. My seasons move with the CSA box, the outdoor Farmer's Market, and the U-Picks. We are very lucky to live where we can continue to visit the Farmer's Market throughout the winter and find much, much more than just soap and pickles well into the dark cold winter months. But it isn't the same as the feeling of abundance that comes into this area all summer. I am not a hot weather person at all, and really love the autumn coolness and cold nights and always look forward to the snow. But I do feel a bit of nostalgia at the end of each growing season.

Sure - I will have hints of summer flavor from my freezer and basement all winter. I will still get our dairy and meat from someone I can chit-chat with. And I'll still visit the winter Farmer's Market every week or two for those items I cannot find at the local coop. But for now, I'll enjoy these last few weeks of autumn and every bite that goes with it.

This week in our box:
Lettuce, arugula, spinach, hakuri turnips, red radishes, brussel sprout stalk, red cabbage, celeriac, acorn squash, parsley root.

Green Halloween.

Halloween is one of those holidays that is fun for kids, but makes me uncomfortable about the junk candy and the garbage. I know my boys want to be able to trick or treat with the hundreds of kids roaming the neighborhood, but after sorting their haul, there is nothing left which is edible for a 4 & 2 year old (not to mention lead toys, and choking hazards), and oy the trash. I have seen a few websites that have some great ideas for alternate sweets, fair trade goodies, and lots more.

Check them out here:

• Green Lemonade>>Tricks for (Green) Treats

• Have a Happy, Green Halloween from ecochildplay

• Green Halloween

• Tricks and Treats for Halloween from The Sierra Club

Have a ghoulishly green Halloween!

CSA Box This Week.

My son picked the lovely background fabric for the photo today.

Today in our box we have: lettuce, arugula, leeks, carrots, brussel sprouts, green cabbage, red beets, beauty heart radish, red kuri squash, italian parsley!

Our CSA finishes for the season at the end of October. Another year passes...

Cider pressing.

Today we visited the farm where we get our organic wheat. They also have 120 trees of organically grown apples. Some varieties are great for eating/baking. And there are some special antique apple varieties which are particularly good for cider. Hard cider. We have really enjoyed chatting with this couple, and were excited to go today. And cider apples was our mission.

We first dropped off my husband so that they could get all the equipment set up and rolling. No, we didn't just drive over and pick up the finished cider. We met the farmer and pressed it together!


I went and visited a park with the boys for awhile, and then went back to join them after the first hour. A was very excited. The pressing machine is very loud (yes, they have the hand crank variety, but we were pressing over 80 pounds of apples!), so the guys all had on ear protection -- there was even a kid sized set for A. I didn't have any ear protection, hence many of my dark from a distance photos.


At a certain point in the process A was able to hold containers under the nozzle and collect. He was given a special cup to taste test the freshly pressed apple cider as it flowed out--mmmmm.


After all 80 pounds were done, we finished up, chatted a bit, and loaded the car with our cider, plus some frozen cider for a neighbor. A got to sit in some special John Deere machinery, which made his day, before we left. We picked up another 5 pounds of wheat for bread making too.



It was such a beautiful day to be outside - cold and cloudy, dry leaves underfoot, wind blowing through the trees. Standing outside in the chill chatting about fresh wheat bread recipes and kids. Very fall, very fun.

Our neighbor plans to use his cider to make hard cider the modern way - using yeast and sugars. We plan to try our first batch of naturally fermented hard cider - which should be ready in about 6 months. We'll see how it goes!


Oh, and where was G? He fell asleep after playing in the park and slept through the entire event, in the car, 20 feet from the loud cider press. Amazing.

CSA Box This Week.

This week in our CSA box: Arugula, french breakfast radishes, broccoli, cauliflower, leeks, carrots, delicata squash, italian parsley, garlic, "mystery" squash, and some roma tomatoes!

It's here!

Yes, this is it! Locally grown WHEAT! Grown in McFarland, WI, just 10 miles from us. We picked it up from the farmer today--I cannot wait to bake with it!

CSA Box This Week.

After a nice morning nature walk with several other families at our local arboretum, we headed over to pick up our CSA box at the farm. The boys found the biggest mud puddle EVER in the 1 minute it took me to transfer everything out of box and into bag - which figures, since they both had on shoes which are only a few days old...and white. :)


In our box this week: Red slicing tomatoes, yellow onion, beets, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli tips, brussel sprouts, green acorn squash, (pungent!) basil.

Sweet anniversary gift.

The boys and I are excited...a GRAIN MILL! Hand crank, for more fun.

We also found a local source for wheat (yay)...although my first bags come from the local coop.

Tomorrow we make...bread!

Smoothies.

Smoothies are a favorite in this house. It is nice both boys like them, as they are at the ages where texture and smell issues seem to plague their veggie and fruit consumption. It is FUN because they get to make their own - and we use big loud appliances, after all. They both really enjoy picking and choosing their ingredients -- juiced veggies, fresh yogurt, frozen fruits...the result is always delicious (and packed with stuff they won't eat in its' original form).

Today, A juiced carrots for the liquid base. He then added home made vanilla yogurt, frozen strawberries & blueberries, and a few frozen peaches. We added a little liquid supplement (CLO) too, to make it extra good, and whizzzzzzzzzzzzzzed it right up.

Today A was pretty nervous about tasting the smoothie - he juiced both orange AND white (gasp) carrots. But of course he eventually did a "taste test", loved it, and yes, this photo below is of him, all smoothie goofy & dribbled. He was yelling "white carrots are NOT disgusting" while I snapped a shot.


Making smoothies is definitely one of the favorite kitchen activities - and we try to make it a ritual/activity which we do at least once or twice a week. YUM!

CSA Box This Week.

Today my husband ran in to get our CSA box while I sat in the car with the boys - mosquitoes were swarming! I love the look and color and shape of vintage tractors, so I took a pic.


Ok, I quickly hung out the window, snapped several shots, and then closed it quickly as the boys shrieked MOSQUITOES COMING IN!!!!!! I love the tractor shots.


We have so many tomatoes, and with a big project this week I am behind on getting them stored! Tomorrow is food prep day - we are going to slice, cook, freeze, dehydrate, and blanch lots of stuff. Should be a perfect day for it. And then this weekend we have a tomato u-pick (yum) and hopefully go pick...APPLES!

This week in our box: Eggplant, tomato mix bag, tomatillos, radishes, cauliflower, red & yellow onion, potato medley, garlic, cilantro. There were also some yummy extras to choose from - peppers!

I love tomatillos, jalapenos, cilantro...MMMMM. None of THAT is going towards fall storage!

CSA Box This Week.

It is getting dark so early now! We went to pick up our CSA, and in the rainy (yep) cloudy afternoon it was even more pronounced, and very dark by the time we got home.

We read in our newsletter that our CSA farm had more rain damage than originally thought. Not being underwater needing a boat to get around is not the only way crops go down, I guess, and long term heavy saturation and repeated storms just wreaked havoc on many things...

We keep hearing more and more stories of the same. The farmer we get our meat from also lost all of their onions/potatoes/garlic in standing water. Like most farmers, they also supplement their main market products with whatever else they can grow...Sad news.

This week in our CSA box:
Eggplant, Mixed Tomatoes, Onions, Celeriac, Brusselini (well, we swapped ours out for an extra celeriac), Basil, Potato Medley, and Garlic. We skipped on the Melons this time.

CSA Box This Week...

This week ... red & green lettuce, green beans, fennel, celery, red pepper medley, carrots, red potatoes, leeks, green tomatoes, Italian parsley. And I forgot to include 2 watermelon in the photo. In trying to avoid "gravity experiments" this week, I put them in my cooler pack and forgot! I will remember now though, because we want to make watermelon sorbet. MMMMMMmmmmm.