On the table for CSA week 7 (which was last week, I’m trying to get it down before this week’s CSA comes along): Beets with lovely bright greens, spinach, mixed salad greens, green beans, zucchini, grapefruit, mushrooms, eggs, red potatoes, and bread (Great Harvest sourdough).

The spring mix and the zucchinis got eaten right away. The spring mix from last week had gone kind of slimy and brown around the edges before we got around to eating it, and I had to throw away about a third of it. We’ve learned our lesson: if we get salad greens, we’re eating dinner salads on CSA day! As for the zucchinis, one got sliced and baked in the toaster oven for a quick side, and the others became part of a pasta dish with some Italian sausage. The spinach and mushrooms went into an omelet. The green beans got blanched and served as a side dish. Still haven’t used the beets or their greens, but I just checked on them and they still look good. So that’s all the quick perishables taken care of.

Also, it should be noted that Great Harvest sourdough makes absolutely stellar grilled cheese sandwiches. (We make ours on the stovetop, with generous amounts of butter.)

When I showed up at the farm for the pickup last week, the chickens were out and pecking around. Per posted instructions, I did not enter the barn, but they looked so content that I had to snap a picture.

Now that’s what “free range” is supposed to look like. It does make me a little nervous when I see them meandering close to the cars, but in the almost five (!) years that I’ve been going to this CSA, I haven’t heard of one being run over yet, so they must have more in the way of self-preservation instincts than I give them credit for.