The Jordan River and the Dead Sea

Monday night I went to a talk at MIT (sponsored by MITSI) by Clive Lipchin of the Arava Institute, ( about the Jordan River system. )

Farm share, week 15

• a bunch of kale or collards (lacinato again for me)
  
• two leeks
  
• a head of cabbage (Savoy or green; green for me, with the start of some sauerkraut thoughts*)
  
• a pound and a quarter of carrots
  
• a pound and a half of onions (red only by the time I arrived)
  
• a third of a pound of mesclun
  
• a bunch of Hakurei turnips with greens
  
• a winter squash (smaller kinds, like delicata or acorn or carnival; I chose the latter)
  
• a bunch of herbs (some usual suspects, parsley, oregano (what I chose), cilantro, also some more unusual types, such as lemon balm, stevia**)

* I can order bulk, $30 for a bushel (50 pounds) of cabbage, but I certainly can't turn all of that into sauerkraut, at least not at my current kraut consumption rates.

** I tried a leaf of the stevia, knowing that the extract is used as a sweetener, and... it was an odd mixture of sweet (which is particularly strange from a leaf rather than a fruit or vegetable) and bitter undertones that were strong, and stayed longer. Somehow, the proportions of it were unpleasant, even though I suspect I could handle either flavor alone.