kitchen adventures
We’ve had warmer weather this past week – great for summer crops, but not so good for those that prefer cool spring weather. CSA week 3 gives us peas in the shell today! I’m fairly certain this is the end of the short season; peas hate the heat. (Maybe I am
Well, well, well! It’s CSA week 2, and today’s box brings us greens – 3 kinds of lettuce and kale – but also radishes, broccoli, potatoes, onion, and, surprise, strawberries! Those berries are an unexpected treat. While the last part of May was sunny and warm, the temperatures have become
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 a basket of produce in early June. We participate in a CSA from Van Houtte Farms in Armada,
We’ve just passed week 13, so here’s the CSA late summer update. We’re 75% done. The veggies are beautiful! We still see summer tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, summer squash, and corn. The melons have come and gone (this makes me happy; I’m not much of a melon fan.) We’re also just
Beginning with the first week of June, we pick up a weekly box of vegetables (and sometimes fruits) at our local farmers market. We’ve joined the CSA program from VanHoutte Farms in Armada, MI – a family farm located only 30 miles from our house. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture:
We were driving across I-90 in Montana – a seemingly endless road – and spotted a billboard advertising a bakery and deli. “Brownies!” we thought, and pulled off the road for a snack. The brownies were great. We found a lot more to like, too. Wheat Montana in Three Forks is
I like to eat with the season. For me, strawberries in January are, well, weird – strawberries are for early summer (unless I froze some!) I prefer to eat local produce; especially for vegetables, I like food that hasn’t been shipped and warehoused. For several years, I’ve been a member of
It’s the end of the garden: our CSA’s last distribution. We’ve already had our first frost, and it’s time for the farmers to let their fields rest. I’ll still have fresh local crops – I’ll just have to get them from my local Farmers Market.
We had our first frost last Frida, so it’s only because our CSA has high tunnel greenhouses that we still have some tomatoes. This week our box contained sweet potatoes, red tomatoes, green tomatoes, baby ginger, beets, eggplants, and a greens mix for salads.
Tomatillos! This week’s basket has tomatillos, just in time to make a really interesting salsa with the last of the season’s tomatoes. We also have kale, baby collard greens, sweet potatoes, mint, celeriac, and nasturtium leaves and flowers for a bright peppery salad.
Our farmers tell us the tomato plants aren’t dead yet – isn’t that cheerful! I appreciate the tomatoes, though, so go, plants, go. Hang in there as long as you can. This week’s basket definitely shows the season: beets, broccoli greens, garlic, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, and mixed salad
Folks, we’re pitching right into autumn. The temperature is dropping, and while we are in no danger of frost this week, it’s clearly going to happen. Our farmers send us summer crops like beans or tomatoes as long as possible. Some of the tomatoes this week are green, since they
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.