• large bunch red beets (chioggia), with greens
• 1 cucumber
• bag snow peas (half pound?)
• bunch garlic scapes
• head romaine lettuce
• big bunch kale
• big bunch Swiss chard
• 2 green zucchini and 1 yellow squash (2 pounds)
• small head broccoli

(Small share omitted the snow peas and chard, and got butterhead lettuce instead of romaine. They did not get less zucchini. :-) )

Last time I used some zucchini in the same red curry that I use kale in and that worked reasonably. Dani might not have been buying it, though. (Dani's a hard sell when it comes to zucchini.) I might stew it in a tomato sauce this time.

Beet greens saute nicely with onion and garlic. So does chard, but I might make a variant on beans and greens instead, using either chickpeas or great northern beans and (of course) omitting the pork that I understand to be typical. I might experiment with kale chips (who knew?). Snow peas are easy; those go into stir-fry, maybe with broccoli and tofu or chicken. The romaine will become the base for a hearty salad for Shabbat lunch (because it is going to be way too hot for hot food), maybe with salmon.

We signed up for a biweekly standard share for the summer. This is the first week. (We were initially assigned to even-numbered weeks, but I asked to switch to dodge Origins and the main week of Pennsic. They only allow you to switch three boxes a year, and there's a delivery on Yom Kippur so that would have left zero wiggle room.)

• bunch scallions (big ones!)
• head butterhead? lettuce
• bunch swiss chard (manifest said "rainbow")
• bunch lacinato ("dinosaur") kale
• bunch turnips (yay!) (about a pound?)
• bag radishes (about a pound?)
• 2 zucchini
• bag salanova greens

(Small share omitted radishes, turnips, and salanova, and got strawberries.)

In the winter share we got baby turnips once and we both liked them a lot. (Before that I'd only ever had big grand-daddy turnips.) We've been looking for more ever since. These aren't baby turnips, but they're not large either. Dani dubbed them "youthful turnips".

We had some salanova greens (the last of last week's, actually) in an omelette tonight, along with some cheddar cheese. It wanted something more -- maybe scallions?

• bunch red radishes
• 2 large pieces green garlic
• bunch scallions
• bag salanova mix (1/3 pound)
• head red lettuce
• bag butter chard (1/3 pound)
• bunch collard greens
• small bunch spinach (1/4 pound)
• 2lb spelt flour

(Small share omitted the butter chard, collard greens, spinach, and green garlic, and got kale.)

I used the salanova and some radish in a salad tonight with carrots, cucumber, and tofu (marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, garlic and then pan-fried) -- this was from a recipe in the print (!) Jewish Chronicle last week, but I can't find that article online. (Basically, you mix the salad veggies, cook the tofu and marinade, and dump the latter into the former, then combine.)

One of last week's kale suggestions was braising, "like collards", so now that I have collards (new to me) I'll do that. I know what to do with most of the rest of this.

For the spelt flour they suggest brownies and chocolate chip cookies. I wondered about bread and found this recipe, which I'll try.

I sauteed last week's radish greens with onion and garlic, but it wasn't as satisfying as that treatment usually is. I can't quite characterize the problem; I don't think bitter is the right word for the greens, but I don't have a better one. As you can see, I have more radish greens this week -- any suggestions?

The theme for the week is: green!

• 2 large green garlic
• large bunch of red radishes, with lots of greens (at least a pound, probably more) (manifest said radishes or green onions)
• 6 spears asparagus
• 7 white potatoes (2 pounds), though some of the skins look more reddish?
• bag of mixed arugula and mizuna
• head of butterhead lettuce
• head (bunch?) of romaine lettuce
• bunch of kale (half pound)

Small share omitted half the potatoes, radishes, asparagus?, and arugula/mizuna, and got bok choy.

The asparagus was a substitution; they weren't sure if it would be ready in time, so they listed salsa instead but gave a heads-up that we might get "a very special spring vegetable" instead. The small box didn't list salsa so I assume they didn't get asparagus, but I don't know.

Anyway... I'm delighted to have more radishes and the first asparagus of the season, and the two types of lettuce are staples. (Which is funny: I rarely bought lettuce before the farm share and used spinach as a base for salads. But this lettuce is good! Unlike a lot of the stuff in the store.)

Stir-fry works for the arugula/mizuna, but do those greens work well in a soup, I wonder? I'm thinking vegetable broth with ginger, parsnips or sweet potatoes, and the greens. I've done that with spinach and chard but never these greens. Opinions?

There are lots of greens on those radishes. I assume I can do something with them. Google is pointing to sauteing.

We're not big fans of raw kale (like in salads), but maybe cooking with it will work out better. Suggestions welcome!

• 2 pounds cornmeal
• 2 large blue potatoes
• 5 medium (on average) white potatoes
• 3 green meat radishes
• head lettuce
• bag tatsoi according to the manifest, but it looks different from the last tatsoi we got
• bag salanova (mixed greens)
• 8oz black locust honey

(The small share omitted honey and radishes, and got kale instead of salanova.)

The manifest said "cornmeal or polenta" and I was hoping for the latter to see what the difference is, but cornmeal is good too. (I know what Google says the difference is, but I've never done a direct comparison.) The cornmeal we got in the winter share made nice cornbread and this will too.

The honey is described as "delicate, sweet, fruity, with a hint of vanilla". Sounds yummy.

Blue potatoes, I have determined, are fantastic when cut thin, tossed with olive oil, fresh rosemary, and sea salt, and then roasted. The other day I worked from home and made those for (part of) lunch, intending to have half that day and save half for the next day. That...didn't work out as planned. :-)

Last night I roasted a large radish, a small sweet potato, and a couple parsnips, all cut small, and then tossed the cooked veggies with some lettuce (the kind that's shown in a head here, not the more delicate mixed greens) and a little balsamic vinaigrette, making a roast-veggie salad to go with dinner. That was very nice, and used lettuce in a different way for variety.

This week's email described last week's share as a "teaser". Yeah, I see what they meant:

• 10 parsnips (nominal 2 pounds)
• 7 Fuji apples (nominal 2 pounds)
• 2 large blue potatoes
• 4 medium-large white potatoes
• 2 watermelon radishes (one large, one small)
• bunch arugula
• head of unspecified lettuce (does not match picture in the manifest, which was of the type we got last week; I don't know what this is but it's pretty)
• bunch of "gourmet lettuce mix"

We're getting the standard box. The small box omits the head of lettuce, the white potatoes, and half the parsnips. It occurs to me that tracking these differences will help us decide what size to get next year.

Going into Pesach, I'm happy to have plenty of root veggies to roast, stuff for salads, greens to saute, and applesauce. (Do carrots grow in the spring? I think of them as parsnip-siblings and they go so well together.)

The farm stand (optional side orders) had fresh rosemary this week, and for less than it costs at the grocery store. Rosemary is very nice with blue potatoes and a little sea salt.

(Sea salt? When did I start getting particular about salt? But yes, sea salt does something there that ordinary table salt doesn't. I guess it's the coarser grind, because really, doesn't all salt come from the sea? Or, if some is manufactured in a lab, how would you be able to tell?)

Final share:

• 2 heads lettuce
• 1 bunch tatsoi
• 9 medium carrots
• 1 large yellow onion
• 1 large sweet potato
• 1 pound buckwheat flour
• cheddar cheese
• rhubarb preserves
• lemongrass soap (one of these things is not like the others)

This was the only share of the season to not include apples. (I still have apples; that's fine. I just assumed it was one of their things -- there'd always be apples -- based on the previous eight boxes.)

This was my first CSA experience, so I don't have anything to compare it to other than what people I read have written about theirs. I liked it; I appreciate getting stuff that's in season and local, and that somebody else has figured out what that is and gathered it for me. I mean, when I go to the store the produce section has stuff from all over and I'm not especially dialed into the agricultural cycle, so I'm likely as not to be buying stuff that was shipped in from across the country (or farther). The CSA also introduced me to things I'd never bought or cooked with before.

Of course, the flip side of all that is that you'll like some things more than others, or be able to use larger quantities of some things than others. I could do with a little less celeriac next time. Overall I ended up with quite a bit of grain (flours, corn meal, spelt berries, etc); it'll take a while to go through that. It's good, but we just don't use a lot of it -- if each of those two-pound bags had been one-pound bags, with more of something else to compensate, that would have been fine.

This particular CSA adds processed foods (like jams and relishes) more than I expected, and I put in my feedback that I'd like to see more raw ingredients instead except for when it's stuff I can't make at home myself. I don't have an apple press so I appreciate the cider, but I can make my own salsa.

We've signed up for the weekly spring share, which starts in three weeks.

I don't have good luck with stir-frying beef, but the quasi-marinade of this recipe made a big difference -- soy sauce, lime juice, a little sugar, and some Thai chili paste (because I didn't have a chile pepper).

I used different vegetables. That's shaved carrots, shaved green-meat radishes, tat soi (that's the greens), shallots, and garlic. Yum!

This is loosely adapted from this recipe suggested by the CSA. I omitted the bacon (of course), decided that they couldn't possibly have meant 3 quarts of broth (along with other liquids, to say nothing of the solids) for "8-10 servings", and used margarine instead of butter so it would be pareve. I also used the veggies I had on hand rather than their specific list.

So, in other words:

• half stick margarine
• 2 medium shallots and one medium red onion, chopped small
• 1 large clove garlic, chopped small
• several shakes dried basil, a few shakes dried red pepper, black pepper

Cook the above over medium heat until the vegetables are soft (~8 minutes), stirring often.

• 3 small carrots
• 1 small parsnip
• 1 rutabaga
• 1 small sweet potato
• 2 medium golden potatoes

Chop all that into reasonable sizes for eating out of a soup bowl, add to pot, cook another 5 minutes, stirring often.

• 15oz can vegetable broth (I was going to use a quart but didn't know if it'd fit in my pot; future me: it would have just fit in the nice new 3.5-quart pot I used)

Stir, cook on high until simmering.

• 25oz jar tomato sauce (this was from the farm; it's just tomatoes, apparently pureed; no other ingredients)
• 0.25 cup apple cider vinegar
• jar (12oz?) roasted red pepper slices

Add, reduce heat to low, cover (with a vent), cook 30 minutes.

We had it with hearty rye bread fresh and warm from the bread machine.

• 12 small carrots (4-5" long)
• one celeriac
• six yellow Delicious apples (better for cooking, they say)
• three medium golden potatoes
• five small-medium red onions
• two rutabagas (these are new to me)
• one bunch arugula
• one bunch hydroponic lettuce
• one bag tatsoi (this is new to me)
• two pounds cornmeal
• one jar salsa
• one piece "Kiss of Kerry" cheese, est. 8oz

None of the greens really look like arugula to me, but that's what the manifest says. I think the stuff in the zipper bag (the left-most batch) is the tatsoi, based on image searches.

The lettuce will become a salad (I still have some radishes for this, too), and the other greens will go into stir-fry, an omelette, or soup. Lots of this is good for roasting, and one of the celeriac recipes from last time was very good so I'll check my notes and do that again. There is cornbread in our future. Dani doesn't like applesauce (I learned tonight) but does like baked apples, which is what I've been doing with some of the other apples (also stuffing into squash). There's apple crisp or apple cobbler in our future too, and I might just make some applesauce for myself even if he doesn't want to share it. (I like applesauce!)