CSA: week 3

Broccoli, curly-leaf kale, zucchini, romaine lettuce.

CSA: week 2

Golden beets, spring onions, spinach, collard greens.

CSA: week 1

Hooray, hooray, it's CSA time again!  In case you've been living under a rock, CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture.  You buy a "share" directly from the farmer at the beginning of the season (usually sometime Jan-April) and then you get weekly deliveries of fresh produce in return.  We buy a half-share (4 items) in a 24-week CSA that runs June-November.  The farmers get the money they need to start their crops (rather than taking out bank loans) and we get fresh produce straight from the farm.  No middle man means much lower prices!

Each week I will take a picture of our haul and post it here.  It's my favorite post since it's so easy to do!

this week: rainbow chard, garlic scapes, green leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce.

In the beginning, you definately have to handle a lot of greens!

Food & Faith Challenge: Money

I have gotten behind on all my blog posts, but this is the challenge I am most upset to be missing out on.  For the rest of the challenge I have promised myself that I will post the current week on time, along with 1-2 additional "back-logged" posts each week so that I've responded to each topic by the end of the challenge.

This week's topic is Money.

Questions for Reflection:
•Using our money to buy fresh, local food–which may or may not cost more than the supermarket equivalent–is an exciting way to put our values into practice. Even the smallest step in that direction makes a difference. Thinking about buying local food in this way, how might it be good stewardship to buy local, seasonal food even if it costs more than other options?
Especially when you are focusing on stewardship, in figuring the total cost of the food you are buying, you have to account for the TOTAL cost - not just the cash you pay up front for the product. Just as Michelle brings up in her post, a low-cost processed food today may bring you higher doctors bills down the line! The cost to the environment alone should bring the "real cost" of conventional foods higher than locally grown organic produce, so I feel it makes sense to buy SOLE food, bottom line.

Challenge to Action:
•Evaluate your food budget. Are there processed items or restaurant meals you can give up so more money is available for fresh, local products or fair trade items? Or would you consider increasing your food budget itself for this purpose?
I know that we can give up more processed foods to re-channel money into making better choices, specifically to buy more ethically and sustainably raised meat.  My main roadblock is my husband, who prefers to buy whatever meat is on sale at the supermarket.  He has yet to be convinced that better treatment of the animals, greater thought as to how the farming of those animals effects our environment, and even proper diet and lack of chemicals (promoting a healthier animal) is better for us, the eaters of said animals.  Or more rightly, he doesn't feel it's "better enough" to pay the higher prices.

To his credit - I have not been able to fully explain why I am so passionate about the subject.  That's partially why I chose to take part in this challenge; to try and flesh out why I feel we should be focusing our dining on real foods made by people we've met in places not so far away.  I struggle as well when it comes to the cost of certain foods.  It's also daunting trying to figure out where to find the "real thing".  Can you trust the labels, or do you have to know the farmer himself (or herself)?  If you know someone who knows the farmer, is that enough?  Do they have the same definition of humane that you do?

Sometimes I feel that there are more questions than answers.... but what it really comes down to is doing what you can do.  Taking those baby steps towards something better.  Taking the time to stop and think about what you are about to buy... what you are about to eat.

I. Am. So. Behind!

So much for catching up over the long weekend, eh?  Please don't worry - I haven't fallen off the face of the earth... just been living the real life too FAST.  Not making the time to slow down and contemplate and write about stuff... 

I have been taking pictures of the garden progress though, so sometime soon I will probably be updating the weekly garden posts in a back-dated manner since I can't stand things being out of order chronologically.

Things to look forward to hearing about:
-I biked 140 miles (in two days)!
-Rhubarb has come and gone.  How did that HAPPEN?  HOW IS IT JUNE?!?!?
-Strawberry picking season is upon us. (two strawberry desserts already made last weekend...)
-CSA starts up next week.  FOR REAL.  If I hadn't picked spinach while we were out picking strawberries this weekend, we would have no vegetables in the house (slept through the farmers market Sunday...), so I'm totally ready for the CSA to start.

Strawberry & Spinach picking

We picked strawberries... and then made stuff!

strawberry rhubarb crisp

strawberry rhubarb crisp

I washed all the spinach....

And then Dave made a strawberry cream pie:

4 years

Hooray for anniversaries!  Four years of marraige?  Even crazier: March 2010 marked 10 years (yes, TEN) together.  Dave planned a lovely evening out to Dinner at the Milton Inn.  Check out their site and see all the awards they've won... crazy stuff.  Although we're an old married couple... we felt like we wouldn't really fit in here for another 20 years.  Or maybe never.  It was very old-school hunting lodge meets fancy french restaurant?  Maybe?  I can't quite describe it.  Although the service and food was excellent.

Since I'm obsessed with food, of course I will share:

We split the Venison Pate for an appetizer: (example of old-school charm: when the waiter found out we were planning to split the dish he had it divided into two equally beautiful plates). 

I had the swordfish.  Dave ordered the rack of lamb.  We each had a glass of wine.  Everything was very tasty and fancy and I don't quite remember the details but it was lovely!

Then the dessert.  Isn't this cute?  Dave got the macadamia torte and I had the tiramisu.  This is the only point at which I felt I could whip out the camera, since hey - they wrote us greetings on our plates!  How can you not record that?