Springtime in Michigan always has unpredictable weather. April was rainy and cool, while mid-May has seen the thermometer reach 90 degrees for a few days. A big thunderstorm comes through, and we’ll be back to 60s and low 70s. It’s CSA 2022 week 5. The farmers at Beaverland Farms are harvesting newly grown
It’s CSA 2022 week 4, and it’s clear that our farmers at Beaverland Farms are starting to harvest new-sown crops. This week’s box includes little Tokyo (hakurei) turnips, which are crunchy and mild: similar to radishes, but all white. We have more rhubarb and spinach, as well as a big bunch of
Rhubarb is one of the first local crops to appear at the Farmers Market or in my CSA box. I always get excited when I see it, and I love to make a good rhubarb crumble with the first of the season. What’s a crumble, you may ask? I suppose
It’s CSA 2022 week 3: let me show you the box from Beaverland Farms that came today. I get excited about a great box of produce, and this week we get rhubarb: the earliest crop of Michigan’s fickle spring. I adore rhubarb. People argue about whether rhubarb should be thought of as
CSA 2022 week 2 brings us another fine box from Beaverland Farms in Detroit, MI. While it was snowing just a few days ago, today the weather forecast is for sunshine and temperatures in the high 70s! Michigan’s springtime is full of extremes. I’m expecting the weather this coming week to be
Here in SE Michigan, we’ve just begun the season for local produce. Think that’s late? Where I live, the frost free date is May 29 – so I count myself lucky to get local produce any time in April. Let me show you my CSA 2022 week 1 produce box. This
This is the time of year when CSAs fill their customer lists – so if you have been meaning to look into a CSA, it’s time to act now. You’ve heard of CSAs, right? CSA is short for Community Supported Agriculture, and it’s a great way to buy local seasonal food directly
It’s Tomato Time! Like many others, I put up tomatoes in late September. I’m republishing an article originally from 2014 on how to host your own tomato crush. Why not share the work and turn a chore into a social occasion? This year, I’m working with a friend, and we’ll
CSA week 23 2020: it’s the end of our CSA season. Alas, summer doesn’t last forever, and neither does summer’s produce. We definitely have a fall distribution this week. Our farmers at Dancing Meadows Homestead are already planning ahead: they’re taking subscriptions for next season’s CSA – and I’ll certainly
CSA week 22 2020: it’s definitely autumn now. We’re getting the very last of the tomatoes, some cool-weather radishes and greens, and some lovely apples. Not to mention last week’s box, about which I mysteriously failed to post! Taken together, these boxes are a picture of autumn on the farm. This
CSA week 20 2020 brings more big green tomatoes to be ripened on the counter, plus at least a quart of cherry tomatoes. This year has not been good for tomatoes. We started with a long cold spring and are ending with early frosts. There are a lot of ways
CSA week 19 2020: big green tomatoes this week, due to be ripened on the counter. Our farmer tells us that this year, they’re just not ripening quickly: they’re starting to show cracks, so they’re being harvested now. The weather isn’t on our side, either; we’ve been flirting with freezes
I’m Maurita Plouff, and I write about cooking and preserving the local harvest in Southeast Michigan. Any recipe you find here is something I have cooked myself, and enjoyed, and think you might like too. I invite you to try the recipes, and leave comments.
