a seasonal jackpot

summer squash, zucchini

I was hugely bummed to miss the first three weeks of the season for the CSA (Community  Supported Agriculture) baskets we purchase in summer.  As it turned out, the very first one was to be delivered on the day we drove out of town.  What timing!  My neighbor kindly offered to receive them and reimburse us for the produce - part of the arrangement of the CSA program is that the consumer commits to buying from the farmer for the growing season.  I hated the idea of paying for three weeks' worth of produce we'd never see, and I also hated the idea of asking for a refund for those three weeks.  This program is built to support the local farmer; that's one of the many reasons I love getting seasonal produce in this way.

kohlrabi

Well, we got home on Saturday and I discovered that my neighbor had sweetly put the perishable vegetables away in my kitchen.  When I poked around to see what there was, I was amazed at the quantity!  Three weeks in, and we are rolling in produce.  Let me take you on a little tour of my refrigerator's crisper, if I may...

beets

green onions
cauliflower
kohlrabi
beets
lettuce
cucumbers
red chard
green chard
English peas
snap peas
carrots
cabbage
zucchini
yellow summer squash

cucumbers

Did I score, or what?!

the thing about organic

There are times when I pass over an item in favor of one with the word "organic" on its label, and I feel a little self-conscious.

Organic seems a little precious.  Pompous, conceited.   If produce could possibly come across as stuck-up, organic stuff does.

Honestly, I don't buy exclusively organic.  Like many others, I can't really afford to buy organic all the time.  I'm not sure anyone can.  Still I try to be selective.  I take to heart lists like "The Dirty Dozen" and "The Clean Fifteen."   For example, I purchase only organic strawberries but buy conventional bananas.  Our kitchen contains organic butter and sour cream (an animal's fat cells are where the pesticides it consumes are stored!).  I focus on whole foods and buy organic as much as I can, especially where it's most needed.  Educated choices are important in any format, and the food we eat is no exception.

I would love to be able to buy only organic groceries, though.  It simply doesn't work for our household right now.

But here's the thing about organic food:

"Organic" doesn't mean fancy.  It doesn't mean grown in the crystal clean air of mountain passes which are perfumed by calming lavender, and meticulously spooned specialized fertilizer onto dainty roots just finished with a massage and a pedicure.

Organic, as it relates to food, means this:

produced with the use of feed or fertilizer of plant or animal origin without employment of chemically formulated fertilizers, growth stimulants, antibiotics, or pesticides.

It means no added junk, at least as far as the growing process goes.  It means the plants are not treated with man-made chemicals.  It means without the scary stuff.

I realize that last paragraph contains a lot of negatives.  These days that's pretty much how it has to be.  Yet let me turn it around; I'll word it more positively this time.

Organic means just food. Pure.  Unadulterated.  Simply the good stuff.

Think about that for a moment.  The words "organic food" are often seen as highfalutin, prissy, the choice of super selective buyers.  And I am aware of why...  But what organic actually means is this: the food as it was meant to be.


Red, juicy strawberries.  Sweet corn with no hint of GMOs.  Tender peaches with the purest fuzzy skin.  The true foods... originals.

roasted summer tomatoes

One of my favorite things to learn this summer is to make roasted tomatoes. So simple, yet so delicious.

I've been enjoying such a bounty of tomatoes, between the CSA and our friends' garden surplus. I've loved making extra batches to put into the freezer for some cold rainy day this winter. I'm convinced that the wonderful taste of tomatoes will be like a ray of sunshine.


Preheat the oven to 375* F.

Prepare:
-approximately 4 lbs (about 8 cups) tomatoes, cut into 1 or 1 1/2 inch wedges
-1 sweet onion, cut into 1 or 1 1/2 inch wedges
-15 or 20 garlic cloves, peeled

Place the vegetables into roasting pans. (I used metal pans before, but since the move my edged pans are MIA...so glass it is for me.) They can be crowded, but try to keep the vegetables in a single layer.

Top with:
-1 c. fresh basil, torn (if on hand, I've recently been using dried basil instead)
-generous drizzle of olive oil
-salt and pepper sprinkled over


Roast about 1 hour, but check frequently. You want the skins to be wrinkled, but you don't want them to be burnt.


After the pans come out, let the vegetables cool. My preference at this point is to transfer them to my food processor, and process into a chunky sauce. We love it on pizza, as well as served over noodles. Delicioso!

CSA report

It recently occurred to me that I haven't shared about our CSA experience since our first basket of produce. And although I have been posting weekly "CSA reports" on my Facebook page, I want to share here as well.

In case you don't know, CSA stands for "Community Supported Agriculture." It's an opportunity to purchase local, seasonal food directly from a nearby farmer. In my case, I get my produce from an organic farm in Sandy, Oregon. If you're interested in finding a CSA program near you, go to Local Harvest. That site also has a more thorough explanation of the risks and benefits of doing something like this.

This has been our first time participating in a CSA program, and it's been wonderful. It has been really fun, as the weeks go on, to see the different items that are coming home in the basket. This week's haul yielded this glorious slew of tomatoes:


...and a lovely collection of pears: Barlett (I think) and Asian varieties. They go like hotcakes around here!


We have also enjoyed several varieties of lettuce (so plentiful that I have sometimes ended up giving a head or two away), wheatgrass, kale, chard, zucchini, cherries, blueberries, raspberries, plums, apples, red and gold potatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, peas, wax beans, burgundy beans, green beans, sweet peppers, hot peppers, basil, cinnamon basil, rosemary, mint, squash, and pumpkin.

Yes, I do realize that pumpkin is a kind of squash. Still, I feel that it's in a class of its own.

It seems that perhaps lettuce season is over, but the past few weeks we've been enjoying a plentiful supply of tomatoes. I am really digging the tomatoes!

I had hoped that this experience would stretch me in the vegetable department, and it has. I'm learning how to cool different foods than I've ever ventured into before. The boys are coming along for the ride, too...but slowly. My oldest is still the most adventurous eater of the crew. He makes me smile when he (often) tries to talk his 3-year-old brother into trying something new. "You'll never know if you like it, unless you try it!"

How very true!


***This post is a part of Real Food Wednesday, hosted this week by Cheeseslave. Feel free to hop over there and see what others are sharing about real food this week!

the health kick (in the pants)

So, I've always had this longing to be a little bit crunchy.

At least, I have had such a longing for the past five years or so. By "crunchy" I mean... into things which are natural, organic, pure, instinctive, and so on. For some people, "crunchy" translates into Attachment Parenting (co-sleeping, extended breastfeeding, babywearing, cloth diapering, and so on). And while I do breastfeed, use a sling, diaper my baby with cloth, and chose to birth my last two children in water at home, I don't consider that we "do" Attachment Parenting at my house. So I've never exactly been sure how I would fit into the crunchy demographic, although I've always been really attracted to the idea.

But now? It seems that I am finding my niche. Our food odyssey has led me to crunchy eating. And no, I'm not talking about potato chips. We are trying to eat foods that have been largely unprocessed, in a form that is natural for the body to digest. Also a goal: staying away from additives and other artificial ingredients. It's been an interesting journey, and it isn't over yet.

So here I am, shopping for organic food. I'm reading labels, seeking out grass-fed, hormone-free beef, free-range chickens and eggs... cutting down (or out) white flour and sugar, shuddering at the thought of all the crud I've been feeding my children for the past few years. I am not saying that to sit in judgment for the way other people eat, but I just feel that with all I've learned these past few months, I can't go back to the way things were before. So we're trying to find a better way here, which is proving to be a challenge where the children are concerned.

I'll spare you the details of that, though, aside from one thing: Kyle definitely has a fondness for processed food. In addition, he "[doesn't] wike" chicken, burgers, steak, fish, potatoes, eggs, vegetables, and a fair number of fruits. So you can see how this could be a problem.

Still, I think my boys will survive somehow. After a while, this will be a new normal for them. And I have to say, I'm already so happy with the changes we've seen.