Farm share, week 12

[magid]

• one bunch of broccoli (green or purple florets; I chose the latter)
  
• two skinny leeks
  
• a head of lettuce (I got an interesting red-leafed variety)
  
• one and a half pounds of onions (white and/or Walla Walla, which were smaller)
  
• three pounds of tomatoes (a variety of heirlooms, including striped red and gold, yellow, orange, and more)
  
• one and a quarter pound of peppers (I snagged red ones instead of green)
  
• a quarter pound of basil
  
• one and a half pounds of green beans
  
• a pound of cucumbers (pickling variety)

It weird: this doesn't feel like enough for Shabbat and the rest of the week (I ran out of veggies yesterday from last week's share, and that was using the bits that had been hanging around too long as well). Not sure what I'll get to supplement this, though.

Oh, and I have a peach, because I ran into Breedingimperfection and the kids, and they offered me one from their fruit share :-).

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Purple broccoli!

The tomatoes sound pretty, too.

It's not so weird that your haul this week doesn't feel substantial; it doesn't include anything like eggplant or zucchini, and no carrots or potatoes either.

You aren't getting any fruit either through the farm or your organics delivery?

Did you know that "Laura Ingalls Wilder" is on Twitter? Check it out at http://twitter.com/HalfPintIngalls -- quite funny.

[magid.livejournal.com]

The tomatoes are gorgeous. But then, I'm a sucker for heirloom tomatoes!

I had been hoping for more corn, or beets, or eggplant, or potatoes. I keep telling myself that beans and onions and broccoli are substantial like that, but I'm not buying!

I didn't get a fruit share this year, and I've put Boston Organics on hiatus (in fact, until next week. Must remember to re-hiatus until the chagim.). The theory was that I'd get fruit at farmer's markets, but that's been iffy in practice.

I didn't know she was on Twitter! How accomplished of her :-)

[(Anonymous)]

I think it is nifty that one can make a rainbow tomato salad -- every color except blue! Rainbow pepper salad too, with the colors a bit more clear.

I understand. I think I'd want to pickle the green beans and use the broccoli as a side dish or as a moderate part of something larger. It is good that you received a nice amount of needed onions, but they typically do not star in a dish.

Hmm, perhaps make it a weekly appointment? It was nice of your friends to share a peach.

Some of those entries are dryly clever.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Rainbow tomato salad would be excellent, if I had a rainbow of tomatoes. (I almost never have a wide variety of peppers at once; I'm not sure why.)

I might pickle the green beans if I had more of them than I do, but as it is, they'll be made for Shabbat (probably dry fried, possibly roasted). (My other difficulty is that no matter how much I love the idea of pickling, I don't eat nearly enough pickled things in practice.) The broccoli is likely to be sauteed with seitan and onions for a meal today. I hear you about onions, though I do use a lot of them when I have them.

My friends have taken over the farm share of other people I know who had to move to Iowa mid-season. We don't plan to meet at the pickup (neither of us is precise enough on timing), but it's a bonus when we do happen to overlap. Actually, I have at least three other friends who pick up then/there, so it's not so unlikely these days to see someone I know :-).

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, I use onions with much of my cooking and go through them quickly. With respect to this week's share feeling like enough for meals, however, a sack of onions seems different from a sack of eggplant. Though, once when I didn't seem to have any food except onions, I did make and eat a pan of caramelized onions, using the method you taught me.

Oops, sorry I was unclear; the idea about a weekly appointment was a suggestion about getting yourself to a farmers' market for fruit. The sentence had been longer, and in trimming it I cut out the reference.

[scholargipsy.livejournal.com]

PPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCHHH!

I want a peach.

[magid.livejournal.com]

A little peach?
(Are they in season there?)

[scholargipsy.livejournal.com]

Hey, Momotaro! That was the first Japanese folktale I ever learned, and I used to teach it in my folklore class.

Yes, they are in season. But expensive, alas.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I had a book of Japanese fairy tales, but I don't remember that one being included. I learned about him from Rumer Godden's Miss Happiness and Miss Flower (which has a sequel, Little Peach, that I didn't find out about until I was grown up).

I get the impression that a lot of fruit there is pricey. Am I off base? If it's so, any idea why?

*sends blushingly ripe peaches, the kind you have to eat over the sink or in the backyard*

[scholargipsy.livejournal.com]

Why so expensive? As is usual in Japan, for stupid reasons. In this case, it has to do with protectionism, both global and prefectural, and corruption. (For more detail, check out Alex Kerr's book Dogs and Demons, which has an entire chapter on Japan's visionary plan to build airports to fly produce from the communities where it's grown to different prefectures, thus jacking up prices to an insane degree -- but hey! we can make money on the construction contracts! It will break your heart.)

[magid.livejournal.com]

That seems really foolish for necessities like food. (It would be equally foolish for other things, but people don't have the choice not to eat...)