CSA Week 6 Share and What is a CSA

CSA for those of you who don't know stands for Community Shared Agriculture. I just heard of this wonderful farming concept in the past year.

I couldn't wait to try it out since our garden failed miserably last year. Bonus is organic produce.

Here's how my CSA works.  Our CSA is a nonprofit educational farm. It is run by a head farmer and 3 intern farmers. The farm offers educational programs to preschools and elementary schools along with summer camp.  My daughter LOVED Cooking camp.  A few times during the summer there are movie nights at the farm (free) where you can purchase homemade pizza made in their outdoor (built by hand) oven with fresh farm products. They also hold free classes on canning and other informational things. This year they even started offering an outdoor  yoga class.  How cool is that...communing with nature while you exercise?! Love it!

Our CSA offers whole shares and half shares. You purchase the size that best fits your needs.  I chose a half share that my family splits with my parents. This is our first year so I wanted to start small. This is also my second year growing my own garden. I wanted "veggie backup" in case it tanks again.

The first month (June) we received a variety of greens...salad mix, left lettuce, kale and Swiss chard to name a few. We're now getting zucchini, cucumbers and beans. Yum!  Soon we'll be getting peppers and tomatoes too. Double yum! Growing season here runs June through  November so we have plenty months left of fresh veggies.

This weeks CSA (only partially pictured as I gave my parents their portion already):

Kohlrabi (A first for us)
Parsley
Chard
Red Torpedo Onions
Red Leaf Lettuce
Beans
Beets (Little Bee loves these raw!)
Cucumbers

If you're looking to buy local a CSA is a great addition to your food shopping. I love the variety it offers. My kids are trying new things as are my husband and I. It's a wonderful winning situation.

First Garden

We our purchased our first home almost three years ago. One of the things on our list of must haves was a fenced in backyard and we got it. Unfortunately, it's a two family house in the middle of town without much land. We have a patch 4x8 in the front on either side of the small front cement porch. I'm guessing since I'm not good at figuring out square footage. The back has a paved drive, a small shed, 2 trees (well one's only a stump now) and a wood deck coming out from the basement. Because it's like a city type lot we don't have much lawn left after the deck, driveway and shed. Because of the trees there's not much full sun. It's perfect on hot sunny days but not so much when you want to plant a vegetable garden.
It took a lot of work and manuvering some things around but I think we created the best spot. Because I'm unsure of how well it's going to do I only got a few plants this time around. I'll expand next year if it works out and if we're still living here.
My kids had a great time helping me. They helped me dig up the soil, weed and put down the mix of Miracle Grow soil and potting soil. My daughter handed me the plants after I dug the holes for each of them. I chose to plant vegetables I knew were versatile, especially ones I could serve hot or cold.
We planted:
*Cherry tomatoes
*Regular tomatoes (don't remember exact kind...oops.)
*Yellow zucchini/squash
*Orange peppers
*Yellow peppers
*Orange snacker size peppers
*Burpless cucumbers
*String beans

I still have to get the wire for the tomato plants. And possibly something for the beans to climb up.
Tomorrow I'm getting more soil. I'm going to plant flowers at the end of the driveway and in the front. I got a few seed packets for shade loving flowers that my kids can go crazy with by one side of our fence. There's dm almost empty bed there from when we bought the house. I was never sure what to put there. I also have a few large containers so I'm planting basil in one and cilantro in the other and putting them in the sunniest part of our upper deck. I can't wait. I'm so excited!

 

Great day out and about...

The air was still a bit brisk and the sky overcast, but all and all the kids and I spent a wonderful day out yesterday.  First off, the kids were awake before I was coherent and ready to move from my bed.  Rather than wake me up fully they tipped downstairs.  My son first and then my daughter.  They spoke quietly, watched tv and ate breakfast together.  All the while making an effort to get along and play nice.  It warmed my heart to listen to them.  I don't think they even knew I was awake, snuggled in my warm bed, listening with a smile on my face.  I knew part of the reason for the truce fire was the deal we had made the day before.  The agreement was that they treated each other and me with respect for that day and the next so they would earn a fun day out.  They held up their part of the deal (well, as much as a 5 and 7 year old can).  I am very proud of them.  They proved to me and themselves that they can do it if they try hard and put their mind to it.
We went to the Chinese buffet by the movie theater.  My daughter ate real well.  I was so proud of the new things she tried.  My son, didn't fare as well, but that's ok.
We saw the movie, "How to Train Your Dragon".  I have to say we all loved it!  I think the story line was thought provoking, well written and child friendly.  The animation was wonderful too...pulled you right in.  We saw it in 3-D.  A definite treat.  Once we got past the whole glasses thing not fitting comfortably, that is.  But, it was worth the discomfort.
The story line was typical in many was as the main character, Hiccup, didn't seem to fit in with those around him.  I like this story line however as I think it's important for kids to identify that it's ok to be different and to accept those that are not the same as themselves.  The themes in it were great.  Defeinitely a must see. 
After the movie, we took a trip to the grocery store.  That was an interesting trip.  My veggie hating son and I made a pact....we go shopping together and he picks out one new veggie he will help cook and then try.  Since they were being so good, I also agreed to let them use the scan gun the store has to scan and bag your groceries as you go.  They loved that!  Plus, the store finally enables you to weigh and label your fruits and veggies.  This made the task of picking out a veggie fun for my son.  He ended up picking Artichokes and Asparagus to my surprise.  He reason when I asked was that his favorite color was green!  lol 
I've never cooked artichokes and attempted asparagus once.  We made artichoke last night.  We steamed it with butter and slivers of garlic.  It was ok.  Not something we would probably have too often.  But he did try it and actually ate it.  I'm so very proud!  Tonight we made the asparagus.  I think they went over better.  I'm going to try them again next month.  Yeah!  I'm so thrillled!!
The rest of the day seemed to fly by for the most part.  I'm amazed that Easter is in three days and that school starts back the following day.  I'm happy and sad at the same time.  My dad took them for a walk in the late morning.  They spent the rest of the day drawing dragons and playing in the backyard.
Tomorrow, I will boil the eggs so we can decorate them tomorrow afternoon.  They are always so excited for that.  Can't wait!