Week 4 of the summer CSA brought a rainbow of produce: red-stemmed chard, yellow banana peppers, pale green pattypan squash and kohlrabi, darker green lettuce and cucumbers, a pint of blueberries, and purple Italian eggplant. Also present: potatoes and whole wheat bread. This was a non-egg week so we got pumpkin butter, which I tried on a piece of toast this morning. It’s fantastic, though it does taste disconcertingly of fall.
It was another beautiful day at the farm, and the llamas and sheep were crowded at the fence while some young CSA members fed them long pieces of grass. The picture looks serene, with the kid feeding a grass stalk to the llama while the sheep look on hopefully, but it was actually pretty noisy; the air was full of “baa” and “meh” sounds as the animals jockeyed for attention, and the sounds were punctuated occasionally by a crow from the barnyard rooster. Those long-eyelashed llamas are pretty adorable.
Nothing exciting to report with what we did with last week’s veggies, alas. The lettuces turned into salad, the zucchini got oven-roasted, I sauteed the beet greens, and we just ate the berries plain or on yogurt. The cucumber, mushrooms, and the actual beets are still sitting in the fridge. Fortunately beets can sit around for a while without too much harm, and although mushrooms look slightly shriveled when they’re older, the flavor is actually stronger.
I anticipate doing something cool with this week’s veggies, though. I’ve got enough cucumbers now for another go at my Mom’s cucumber salad, and I’m pondering a chard-and-potato gratin. Also, K makes a terrific beef and eggplant stirfry; if I pay attention, I’ll try to replicate the recipe here.