Farm

This is our sixth summer as share members at a local csa farm. Our farmer was one of the first in Maine to do this type of farming and has been at it for over 20 years. Here is where you can read all about our years as members.

Brienne loves the farm tire swing

CSAs are all the rage now-a-days (with good reason). Here's a few articles I've come across in just the past month Understanding CSA's and Their Benefits, Loving My CSA: Learning to eat a Variety of Seasonal Produce, CSA: Community Supported Agriculture and Your Local CSA: 3 Reasons to Join. Do you have a csa post to recommend? Please leave a link in comments.

Different farms operate pick ups with their own unique twists but one thing vegatable csa farms have in common is produce offered according to season. For example in Maine we don't get tomatoes, peppers or melons in early July but do get peas, lettuce, chard and lots of other goodies.

During the summer months our farm prepares boxes each week with a variety of just-harvested produce. Members don't get to pick and choose what they take home. 

this is exactly the color of the chard,
no photo editing, it's called "Bright Lights" for a reason!

Learning to cook according to the local, seasonal harvest is challenging. I'll say right now we don't only eat locally produced food. We would have a very limited diet if we did. This makes me feel less-than-granola/crunchy (we don't eat only organic either by the way) at times and definitely out of touch with the hip locovore movement. But we are committed to a mostly plant based diet and if we were to eat only local we'd be eating either a lot of meat or a lot of cabbage and as it is we eat cabbage, of one sort or another, several times a week!

Most of our vegetables this time of the year come from the farm and some from the farmers market but we still buy out of state fruits and veggies from a favorite produce stand. Having got that non-locovore confession out of the way I feel I can proceed with telling you how I menu plan for summer's seasonal veggies.

Menu Planning Basics

My basic meal planning strategy, regardless the time year is to plan our supper meals around main vegetables, beans or starches and fill in the spaces with other vegetables, beans and starches.

I am not a gourmet chef but I have been cooking whole food, vegan meals for several years now and can, with a certain amount of ease, whip up tasty meals from our bulk beans, grains, a few condiments and whatever veggies happen to be in the fridge.

Normal Menu Planning:

1. Read recipes, choose what to make and write out a menu. Check your fridge, freezer and pantry to use up things on hand.
2. Make a grocery list from your menu.
3. Buy groceries.
4. Cook the meals.

CSA Menu Planning:

1. Pick up veggies from farm. While you're there feed the chickens, pet the goats, chat with other members. Ohh & ahh at the gorgeous vegetables and be so thankful for your farmer who grew it for you.
2. Come home and figure out what the heck you're going to do with all this wierd stuff. Beet greens? Garlic scapes? Daikon? Parsnips?

For most months of the year I use a modified version of the straight forward menu-list-groceries-cook planning strategy. I buy lots in bulk from buying clubs so I can often skip step 3 and "shop" from our bulk supplies, however I do buy copious amounts of fresh produce each week. But for these next four months I shift into csa menu planning mode which in years past has left me feeling a little frazzled.

A Weekly Menu Plan

This year I finally decided to make the unknown (exactly what veggies will I be getting this week) a little bit easier by determining a set menu plan each week that I just "plug" the vegetables into.

Monday:  Pasta. This is my recovery day from our busy weekends. I used to do a lot of meal and house work this day but we recently made Monday a crash day which looks something like this. Pasta is the main thing for the supper meal with the addition of maybe beans and whatever veggies are on hand or from the freezer. One example is empty fridge pasta. Other ideas are pasta salad, pasta primavera, pasta with greens or thai peanut sauce noodles with shredded cabbage and carrots.

Tuesday:  Potatoes. This is similar to pasta night but with potatoes as the base. I have mixed most any veggie (except lettuce) with potatoes. On colder nights we might have mashed taters with cabbage or other such greens (kale, collards). Hot days we eat cold potato and vegetable salads with lemon tahini dressings and sliced olives. Another option is baked potatoes with bean, tomato & veggie toppings.

Wednesday: Soup, Casserole, Patties or Wraps. Tuesday and Wednesday I have some time to pull together something nicer for Wednesday supper. We eat a lot of easy, one pot meals but this is the night I make an effort to prepare a nice one pot meal. If I'm running short on time I can pull together a hearty veggie soup with my eyes closed, otherwise I might take extra time and make veggie patties which are like burger patties only filled with healthy grains, seeds, vegetables and/or beans. Another favorite is brown rice or whole grain corn tortillas with toppings.

Thursday:  Beans. We eat a lot of beans at our house. Our kids have been eating them for years and don't think anything of eating a bowl of beans, with some veggies of course, for supper. Thursday is our farm day. I cook a large pot of beans earlier in the day and then add fresh veggies from the farm pick up. Alternately, if it's cooler day we might have baked beans with sauteed garlic greens.

Friday: Stir fry & Rice. Each season provides interesting veggies for stir fry and during the summer season this is definitely true. This could be asian inspired or it might take on a mexican cumin/salsa flavor depending on the veggies. Making stir fries with fresh picked greens is especially delightful.

Saturday & Sunday: I don't plan too much in advance. After hiking we almost always eat out or maybe have easy pizza at home. The other night I'll ask the family for ideas or try to use up something in the fridge.

A Sample Menu

Last week's farm pick up we received chinese cabbage, carrots (thinnings), garlic scapes, lettuce, parsley, shell peas, snap peas, scallions, swiss chard and pyo herbs. This is a sample menu, roughly based on what my family ate this past week, showing how you could use these seasonal veggies. Our pick up day is Thursday so my menu plan starts that day.

• Thursday - Garbanzo Bean Pesto Salad. Veggies used: shell peas, garlic scapes, parsley, scallions and pyo basil.
• Friday - Chinese Cabbage Stir Fry. Veggies used: chinese cabbage, garlic scapes, snap peas and scallions
• Saturday - Wraps with fresh veggies, marinated tofu, beans and salsa. Veggies used: lettuce, scallions
• Sunday - Supper out
• Monday - Sesame Noodles w/ Garbanzo Bean. Veggies used: chinese cabbage, peas, garlic scapes, scallions
• Tuesday - Swiss Chard Potato Salad. Veggies used: carrots, parsley, swiss chard
• Wednesday - Vegetable & Tofu Lasagna, loosely based on this recipe. Veggies used: none from the farm but kale from our garden.

To each of these meals I often added other out of season vegetables, ie: tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, avocado etc.. The lettuce was eaten for lunches in our salads as were any veggies that didn't get cooked for supper. Peas were also eaten as snacks. 

How do you menu plan around seasonal veggies?

About a month ago I was contacted by Trish Collins of TLC Book Tours with the request to do a book review of Coop by Michael Perry. My review would then be a part of a TLC's virtual book tour.

Just so you know I was not paid for this review (wouldn't that be cool though if I were) but I did receive the paperback for free.

After agreeing to do the review I worried a bit that I might not like the book and then what would I say? I hate to say discouraging things about something and don't have time to spend looking for all the positives in a book that's mostly trash. If I don't like a book I simply stop reading it.

I was so relieved this wasn't the case with Coop. I couldn't put it down. What really floored me was how Trish pegged me so well in sending this kind of book my way. How do marketers do that? How do they know you so well? It's kind of scary.

What's not to like about this book? In short, it's the real life story of the author and his wife starting a part-time homestead in rural Wisconsin. I say part-time because as the author admits, writing is his bread and butter and the homesteading gig does not provide for all their family's needs.

But it did provide some pigs, a big garden, a place to raise children and chickens and a lot of cool stories.

Stories of homebirth, homeschooling, sleepless nights with infants and the intensity of raising children - these are things I identify with. And although I can't relate at all to building chicken coops and pig pens I understand the desire to do so. To feed your family from the labor of your own hands.

But Perry's story is about so much more than building a homestead. At its core this book is about family. And I'm an absolute sucker for family life. As Perry writes stories about his own adult life he shares with us his unique and wonderful (by my measure and his) upbringing.

What was really refreshing about this aspect of the book was Perry's absolute respect, love and admiration for his parents and fond memories of his own childhood, which was quite unconventional.

Perry was raised by loving, devout and honest fundamentalist Christians. And in spite of not practicing religion in the manner of his upbringing he doesn't disparage his parents for being who they are. It seems the main reason for this is that Perry truly values his upbringing. His parents took to heart the bible's command to care for the orphans and at last count have helped lovingly raise fifty or sixty children, many of them disabled, on a farmer's income. How can you not respect that?

Maybe it was his upbringing or the fact that his parents would probably read the book (they are bibliophiles) but for whatever reason this is one of the "cleanest" books I've read in a long time. To be sure there is a lot of good story in here, great character revelations and some very heartbreaking parts.  Somehow though Perry manages to tell a really good story, his story, without all the filth that usually accompanies many modern memoirs.

Michael Perry seems like the kind of guy you'd want living next door. Or the next farm over. Good guy. Loves his wife, loves his kids, loves his family, the farm and his community. I don't get the sense in reading the book he was trying to convey that message about himself (he's quite humble really and readily admits his shortcomings) but that overall impression was just the icing on the cake for me.

I almost forgot to add (the book is already passed on to my mother so I'm going from memory here) there was one section I didn't particular like. Perry likes machinery and farm equipment. An endearing quality, reminds me of my uncles and grandfather. But halfway through the book, when he goes into a rather in-depth story about haying and all the mechanics involved, my eyes glossed over. I skipped a few pages at that point. I'm sure the poetry of machinery speaks to some, I am not one of those persons. Other than that brief episode the book was hard for me to put down.

Good stories. Great author. Wonderful book.

And no, I honestly wasn't paid to say that.

PS. I haven't read any other reviews on this book. I wanted to give my perspective without being influenced by other's opinions. If you are interested in how other people experienced this book you can read more reviews at TLC Book Tours.

PPS. Michael Perry also has a blog, sneezingcow.com, that's very personal and down homey. Perry is a musician, as well as writer, and if his music is an earnest as his writing it's probably worth a listen.

Photos in this post were all taken at "our" farm (where we have our csa share) through the various seasons over the past couple years.

You might have seen this coming, the somewhat regular farm report.  

It's been a while since I've written about the farm, a place very dear to our hearts.   Last month's farm day was overshadowed by the busy-ness that was February.

We didn't even actually "visit" the farm last month. Instead we drove by and picked up our veggies (in the dark) on our way home from a shopping trip. Unfortunately, farm pick-up day coincided with our quarterly trip to the Patagonia outlet, where we make a four times a year journey (1/2 hour drive) to buy most of our clothing for wicked good prices.  

But March is a new month with a much more relaxed schedule. Phew. Yesterday's farm visit was just as it should be.  A laid back, mud splattered and rooster crowing affair. With a healthy dose of "oohing and ahhing" at the new lambs.

Visiting the animals, walking in mud (mud season has arrived early here in Maine) and talking with our farmer was just what the kids and I needed.  I'm so thankful for the farm.