I was desperate for this week’s share because we ran out of lettuce sometime on Friday. Alas, only one head this week. But it’s pretty big. We also had 1 1/4 lbs. of greens coming our way so I divided it up between arugula and mixed Asian greens. The rest: three squash (I have no idea what those little guys are in the corner left, but they’re so cute I just had to try them along with the summer squash), two cukes, two tiny eggplant, one pepper, radishes, onions, fennel, basil, cilantro, garlic, and a teensy little watermelon. I passed on the green beans because they looked tough and seedy to me — blech. Also, I skipped over the PYO flowers, parsley, and scallions because I was in a rush to get home. The flowers were looking tired last time anyway. Look at how small the watermelon is:

I’ll cut it into fourths for tomorrow’s dessert. Tonight for dessert I made apple sandwiches. I cored an apple and the sliced it so the hole is in the middle of the slice. Slathered on some peanut butter, added a few chocolate chips, and topped it with another apple slice. It was a big hit. Jake told me that it didn’t belong on the “cool dessert list,” but it belonged on the “AWESOME dessert list.” So there you are.

This is one of those weeks where I am really glad (again) that we chose the bi-weekly option. Wow, look at all of that! (And by the way, I never did post the photo of our 7th share — we were busy getting our stuff together for NC. It was similar to the 6th.)

Anyway, I was very excited about all of it: two heads of lettuce (I was bad and picked the two biggest ones I could find because we’ve been eating lots of salads); three leeks;  red potatoes (I picked the smallest ones for salads); gorgeous tomatoes; green beans; four cucumbers; an eggplant (roasted and ready to be made into bharta for part of tomorrow’s dinner); one summer squash, one zucchini; two peppers; onions; scallions; basil, cilantro, and parsley; a watermelon; one head of garlic; and PYO flowers. Delicious. We all know that veggies are nature’s best fat burners.

This share is bittersweet. I love it because it’s just so full, but at the same time that means that everything is being harvested and summer’s ending. In this week’s newsletter they wrote about planting fall crops (same as the spring) and things coming full circle. Another season ends and one begins.

Lately we’ve been rethinking our participation in the CSA. We love it, we really do. But it’s an expense that we are considering cutting. When I think of the tat soi, bok choi, and other vegetables that (try as we may) we just don’t like, well… It seems like a waste just to feed the compost and our woodland friends. We’re thinking of taking a year off and I’ll keep track of how much I spend on produce to see if it’s worth it. This year I didn’t have the time to enjoy the challenge of trying many new recipes and some weeks were frustrating. I also felt incredibly bound by what we have. For example, even if we really wanted spinach salad we didn’t have it if there was no spinach in the farm share. So we’ll see. I’m going to try to purchase from local farmer’s markets in order to get the same high-quality of produce. The one in Rhinebeck is pretty spendy, but I’ve heard positive things about the one in Hyde Park. I’ll check that out soon.

At any rate, yeah. September. Just… wow.

Finally, a Tuesday when it didn’t rain! Farm share day has become my little escape. I go by myself and become immersed in the colors, the sights, and the scents of the farm. When I drove over to the field to gather the PYO goodies, I was the only person there (I went especially early this week), and it was so beautiful, so relaxing. I wish I could bottle the sweet smells of flowers and growing vegetables. Alas, my peace only lasted for a few minutes before other CSA members started making their way in and asking me if I knew where the parsley was. Sigh…

Anyway. Look at all these yummy veggies! I’m so excited. Here’s the rundown: three heads of lettuce, two fennel bulbs (yay!), three leeks (more yay!), two eggplants, a bunch of beets, carrots, green beans, zucchini, a cucumber, garlic, onions, dill, basil, PYO scallions, PYO parsley, PYO flowers. Did I get everything? I haven’t really thought too much about what to do with all of this. I’m thinking about some bharta, some beet cake, some green bean salad… Today I need to sort through all of my recipes and figure it out.

Yesterday was a rainy, rainy day so unfortunately my photo of the beautiful farm share we received this week doesn’t do it justice. We got more escarole (I don’t think they planted this last year), two heads of lettuce, swiss chard, summer squash, carrots, onions, dill, basil, green beans, and garlic. I plan to use some of the chard and onions in my quiche tomorrow night. I think I just might have to make some dilly beans this weekend with those snappy grean beans. The escarole soup was a huge success last time, but I think I might try just sauteeing it this week. Years ago Drew and I celebrated my birthday at a restaurant in Ossining, NY called Guida’s (I think it’s gone now), and I had the best escarole (pronounced ” ’shcarole” if you want to do it with an Italian flair). I think I’m going to try this recipe for “Venice in Your Mouth Escarole”. The same blog has a recipe for chard and walnuts which is very simple and sounds yummy. I’m also thinking of making some onion soup, maybe and having a French bistro night a la Tyler Florence. Otherwise, it’s just kitchen basics. We’ve been eating lots of salads lately so I’m sure the lettuce will be gone in no time. And I’m thrilled to get good garlic again. I’ve been spoiled by the farm; the stuff from the supermarket just doesn’t compare. Maybe I’ll plant a couple cloves at the end of the season. I gave my dad a couple to plant and his garlic seems to be coming up well! At any rate, lots of good eats in the next week or so

Such a bounty this week! Two heads of lettuce, escarole, kale, a bunch of carrots, basil, an onion, scallions, broccoli, yellow summer squash and garlic scapes. Also PYO flowers. Dishes I see in our future include beans & greens and Indian-spiced kale & chick peas. Of course, we’ll also have some great salads this week (I’m so looking forward to a Caprese salad with that basil.) I want to look up some scape recipes. Last year I liked to use them raw in salads, or mixed into cream cheese and those are delicious ways to eat them, but maybe I can do something else.

I found it pretty amazing how everything looks so beautiful, even with the near record-breaking amount of rain we’ve had. A lot of farmers are worried about their crops. Maybe they’ve got magic soil over there, I don’t know… but everything is picture-perfect to me!