Down on the Farm

Thursday was my first day for picking up at the CSA farm I joined this year. Like the good green girl that I am, I carpooled with my friend to the farm (I drive next week), and I brought reusable bags to carry my produce.

I was a bit disappointed how unbountiful this first week’s bounty was, but I understand that this is par for the course with CSAs in the first few weeks. The growing season–or rather the harvesting season–hasn’t gone full-steam ahead yet so there really are slim pickings. However, I was able to benefit from a farm membership in the way I’d envisioned–being able to bring home some produce that I normally wouldn’t have picked up at the market.

Part of the fun was the challenge of figuring out how to work these items into dinner. Thankfully, my CSA lists recipes and suggested ways of using various vegetables in your meal planning. I’m glad it does because at first I had no idea what to do with Asian turnips, but I soon discovered that they taste just like radishes and can be used just like radishes in a salad. So that’s what I did–added them to the endive and Romaine salad I made. (The endive and Romaine were from the farm as well.)

Part of this week’s pickings included pick-your-own herbs. I found a recipe for a balsamic vinaigrette on the CSA website that involved one of the herbs I picked–thyme–but since I didn’t have any balsamic vinegar, I decided to wing it and made my own dressing. Perhaps you might want to try it too:

1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 clove garlic
salt to taste
freshly chopped thyme
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

I started by chopping the clove of garlic in my Pampered Chef chopper, picked up years ago at a Pampered Chef party. Then I sprinkled on the salt and mashed it together. Next, I poured in the vinegar, the oil, the thyme and mustard. Then mixed them all together. It went wonderfully with the salad.

Besides the great food I was able to bring home, I think what was so amazing to me is that in going just eight miles from my home, it was like I was in an entirely different world. From suburbia to rural America in only eight miles. It was a fantastic way to spend the afternoon.