Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Just Trying To Keep Up...

With the vegetables. They just keep coming. We hadn't quite finished last week's box before we got another box yesterday. So now I have zucchini, potatoes, corn on the cob, beets, basil, turnips, cucumbers, purple string beans, pea shoots, carrots and lettuce. You never want to get behind.

I just made zucchini bread. That took care of three zucchini. Tonight I'm making more pesto to freeze. For dinner we are having the pea shoots stir fried with the purple string beans. Meat loaf is the main dish.

I also bought mason jars so I can turn the cucumbers into bread and butter pickles. That's on my to-do list for tomorrow. Friday night we are having friends for dinner so we are having the corn on the cob and potato latkes made with potatoes and turnips. Barbecued sausage will be the meat course.

I would really like some more turnip recipes. So let me know if you have some...or a dozen.

I'm not really complaining because the veggies are so delicious, and I'm enjoying the experience of trying so many new foods and recipes, but yikes I feel like there are vegetables chasing me around the house.

Kerry and I are "locavores." That's a term I've been hearing a lot lately. It means you try to buy your food locally; it's good for the environment and the local economy. Locally grown organic food is still more expensive than the grocery store non-organic variety, but with rising fuel prices that may shift. Flying a plane load of cantaloupes here in January from Mexico and then trucking them around to the stores may become something of the past. The fuel will simply be too expensive. And that's better for the air.

I just ordered a book on CD from the library. The author is Barbara Kingsolver who writes great fiction (Poisonwood Bible). The book is "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle." It's about the year she and her family spent eating locally and what it was like.

3 comments:

dykewife said...

living where we do, we can only consistently get local produce in summer and fall. the rest of the year anything local comes from greenhouses and cost one's first born son to buy. since i've grown accustomed to boy's face, imported veg wins out. i won't even begin about the fruit because the only stuff local are berries and they cost more then boy!

you're lucky that you can participate in such a thing there. we have a program here, chep (child hunger and education program) a nonprofit organization that puts together vegetable and fruit boxes for a reasonable price, but sometimes they're pretty sparce because of the cost of vegetables.

it's too bad that i love living here so much.

Anonymous said...

I loved The Poisonwood Bible.
I'll have to check the book out.
Maybe we could do a "book club" from a distance?

Mark and I went to the Farmers Market this a.m.
I'm thinking of desinging a "recyclable" cloth bag to sell there.
???
Better than getting a bunch of veggies and stuff in plastic bags.
:)

blogauthor said...

Barbara Kingslover also wrote 'Nickel and Dimed: Getting by on Minimum Wage in America' or something along those lines. HIGHLY recommended. It makes you think twice before shopping at WalMart and adds to my urge to tip generously at low brow restaurants.