the hand that rocks the cradle: CSA 2014 Weeks 9 and 10

Just what you've come to expect from me. More food pix. Only I was sick last week so I only had this snap shot:

Which isn't even half of what I picked up. I had another trug totally full of zucchini, cukes and eggplant. In the picture above I believe there were cabbage, eggplant, tomatoes, cukes, plums, nectarines, parsley, red onions, tomatillos, and sugar beets. Undepicted are all of the u-pick (above mentioned) further cukes, eggplant, zukes, all the herbs and the cherry tomatoes. I felt bad for sleeping and not taking photographs of the fresh produce, but I did have some still left over from last week in the fridge today. I took a picture of the left overs.

They're beautiful because of the composition and the contrasting colors.

Then I thought I could show you where most of the rest of it is, the stuff we didn't consume yet.

The back row is populated by some ugly looking concentrated soup broth, which I've made out of veggie peelings. It works like this- scrub veggies, then peel them for everyday eating and cooking and throw the peels in a reused icecream bin in the freezer. Include wimpy veggies before they go bad too. Also carrot tops and general edible but not so appetizing trimmings. When the bucket is full, boil it on the stove until everything is mush and blend it together. At this point you can make it into icecubes and use it for soup stock! Which is what I've been doing for a while. But the Ziplocks of veg broth were taking up my freezer, so I used the new pressure canner Chris bought me to preserve them (spell check wants me to say I used my new pressure canary. I am very amused.)

The next row is various things in the fridge like zuke and onions and cabbage, all pickled and water bath canned. The cute jars are cuke and zuke pickles too.

Above more stuff but these are from the fridge, not the shelf. Watermelon rind pickles, which, um, yum! Who knew? Quit throwing those out! Next is grilled eggplant in olive oil and basil, garlic scapes, and (an almost eaten) fridge pickled tomatilloes.

The CSA garden at my farm. The herbs are really full and seemingly endless! I am running three food dehydrators a lot of the week. It really is a wonderful olfactory experience.

A full trug of herbs. I think that was thai basil and savory on top there.

I bought the corn and the dill weed. $13.00.

Kale, celery greens, carrots, onions, zuke, cukes, and jalapenos.

2 Qts Nectarines, Pt plums, Qt doughnut peaches, 1/2 pt yellow pear toms, tomatilloes, husk cherries, Egg plant, sweet peppers, and- off to the left- cayenne. Gwen helped to arrange the eggplant. and peppers. But wait! There's more!

Herbs! rosemary, lavender, parsley, lemongrass, and sage. Also, I picked a bunch of purselane weed. Maybe I can try a purselane soup.

I met a man sharing his new refreshing carbonated tea. I wish I'd taken his picture, but I thought that might be weird, but now I realize that he would have probably enjoyed my blog exposure. All 20 views! Is that awkward silence I hear? Okay, maybe not. But here is the drink I bought from him.

And yes, my globe is wearing a hat. Don't judge.

I bought Chris one of his favorite veggies. Fudge of the peanut butter variety.

Also, remember those sad looking flowers I swore perked up? Well, they're compost now, but their memory lives on here with the picture I promised to share.