Buying Local: Week 13 & 5th CSA

It was a CSA week this past Saturday and we got a pretty amazing box. My bag was exploding with produce as I lugged it home. It had to be the heaviest one yet!

What We Bought:

• Boone Green Beans
• Cappuccino SweetCorn
• Yukon Gold Potatoes
• Pristine apples
• Cauliflower
• Red Beets
• Cherry tomatoes
• Eggplant
• Green Peppers
• Napa Cabbage
• Summer Squash
• White Onions
• Oberweis milk from family farms around IL and WI
• Turano bread from Berwyn, IL

What We Learned:

• K does not like Napa cabbage. We chopped some up for a slaw with our BBQ chicken tacos and after a taste, he promptly refused to ruin his taco with it.
• Shelling peas is intensive work and that is why they sat in the back of the fridge until they were finally composted.

Besides our CSA box, I picked up a vibrant sunflower at the farmer’s market. She’s so pretty.

 

Buying Local: Week 12

It was not a CSA week this week and I eat fruit pretty fast, so I had to run over to the farmers market to get some supplemental fruits (and a giant sweet potato).

What We Bought:

• Oberweis milk from family farms around IL and WI
• Greenridge Farm lunch meat from Elk Grove Village, IL
• Turano bread from Berwyn, IL
• S. Rosen French rolls from Chicago, IL
• Peaches from St. Joseph, MI
• Blueberries from Marengo, IL
• Sweet potato from Marengo, IL

What We Learned:

• I tried the beet smoothie K made last week, unfortunately, I think I used a little too much beet and not enough berries…
• We got almost got through the rest of our CSA box this week!

 

So beety.

 

Buying Local: Week 11

K picked up our CSA box this week and he took a page out of my book by bringing a bag to transfer the produce so we don’t have to bring the box home. He also purposefully did not bring any cash to the farmers market so he would not be tempted to make any impulse buys.

 

This is K’s attempt at taking a cool artsy picture for me.

 

What We Bought (From the CSA):

• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• New baby yukon potatoes
• Bok Choi
• Red Beets
• Parisian Market Carrots
• Raspberries
• Blueberries
• Summer Squash
• English Peas

What We Learned:

• Since we failed on using the beets from the last box, K instantly used some of the gigantic beets we got to make a beet and berry smoothie and absolutely loved it
• Blueberries and raspberries disappear just way too fast!
• This may be the first box we actually fully finish!

Buying Local: Week 10

I am back in the workplace now and no longer working from home, so it has been a bit of an adjustment. Unfortunately, I can’t just pop over to Green City Market on a Wednesday unless I go at 7 AM before work.

My biggest challenge right now is incorporating all our produce into my lunches.

What is left from last Saturday’s CSA box

What We Bought:

• Oberweis milk from family farms around IL and WI
• S. Rosen bread from Chicago, IL
• To be honest, I don’t even remember what else (It’s my second week at a new job, give me a break!)

What We Learned:

• Cherries are not the easiest snack to eat at work, but I do keep all the stems and pits in my glass container to bring home and compost. I’ve been eating them everyday.
• Did not eat those beets fast enough, into the compost they went

Buying Local: Week 9 & 3rd CSA

Instead of hauling our box home this week, I brought a large canvas bag to transfer my produce into. This way I did not have to take the box back to the farmers market on Wednesday, I just left it with them to reuse again.

That will have to be my new routine because I am no longer going to be working from home anymore (I got a new job!) and can’t just pop over to the Wednesday market whenever I feel like it.

Although that is a bummer, I am excited to pack my lunches again and see what I can do with our produce.

What We Bought  (From CSA box):

• Red Beets
• Fennel
• Baby Carrots
• Romaine Lettuce
• Head lettuce
• Spigareillo
• Sugar Snap Peas
• White onions
• Raspberries
• Tart cherries
• Oberweis milk from family farms around IL and WI
• Turano bread from Berwyn, IL

What We Learned:

• K and I both like cherries!
• We did not eat last weeks radishes fast enough, so into the compost bucket, they went…
• So far two of my friends (outside of my enviro group of friends) have started composting! I am so thrilled!

Buying Local: Week 8

Just as we started figuring out how to deal with all the leafy greens like spinach and kale (ex: smoothies), their growing season has started to wind down.

We are looking forward to our next CSA box which should include some summer crops of raspberries and carrots.

We gobbled up the broccoli, spring onions, spinach, and kale from last week’s box

What We Bought:

• Oberweis milk from family farms around IL and WI
• Turano bread from Berwyn, IL
• Greenridge Farm lunchmeat from Elk Grove Village, IL
• Greenridge Farm chicken sausage from Elk Grove Village, IL
• Did do some random shopping at Trader Joes
• Non-local flour and sugar

What We Learned:

• The quality of your blender makes a huge difference when making smoothies.
• Spinach season does not last forever. Thank goodness!
• We still don’t know what to do with radishes…

Buying Local: Week 7 & 2nd CSA Share

I can’t believe it has been seven weeks since we have started this local journey.

Our refrigerator is full of so much green and our cabinets are looking more full of less processed products.

 

This week’s CSA box (photo by K since I was in Denver)

 

On Wednesday I brought my CSA box back to the farmers market and picked up some raspberries. Instead of taking the carton the raspberries came in, I brought my own produce bag and plopped them in my berries colander when I got home.

What We Bought (Almost All from CSA box):

• Head lettuce
• Avon Spinach
• Red frill mustard
• Arugula
• Radishes
• Strawberries
• English Peas
• Greenhouse Cherry tomatoes
• Yellow Spring onions
• Raspberries from Mick Klug Farm in St. Joseph, MI

What We Learned:

• We still need to up our arsenal of recipes for veggie meals, often we are just cutting up a bunch of greens and tossing it in a pasta or salad
• Smoothies aren’t so bad after all
• K really did not like having to shell those English Peas
• Still not sure what to do with radishes

Buying Local: Week 6

We still have so much produce from our CSA share last week. Thank goodness we did not get the full share where we would pick up every week.

Since we still had so much to work through, we did not visit the farmers market this past weekend. We needed to concentrate on what we had left!

 

We ate everything with an “X” through it. The others we are still working on! 

 

A variety of recipes were tried this week. We had some pasta with sauteed spinach and spring onions one day.  One night was veggie pizza night and I am usually against having vegetables on my pizza, but it was delicious! We used the broccoli raab and asparagus for that. Kale and quinoa were also on the menu one night.

In order to work through some of the spinach, I forced myself to start making some smoothies as well.

What We Bought:

• Oberweis milk from family farms around IL and WI
• Turano bread from Berwyn, IL
• Greenridge Farm lunchmeat from Elk Grove Village, IL
• A couple other things that don’t make it under the local label

What We Learned:

• Shaved asparagus pizza is amazing! Check out the recipe.
• Our blender is really bad (we have no idea where or who it came from)

Buying Local: Week 5 & 1st CSA Share

We had been waiting in anticipation for our first CSA share and oh boy it was a lot of greens! Our box was jam packed with goodies and I am excited to eat the produce that I know and the new ones as well.

What We Bought (all from CSA box):

• Baby leaf Salonova Lettuce
• Avon Spinach
• Red rover radishes
• Red spring onions
• Russet potatoes
• Rapini (Broccoli Raab)
• Asparagus
• Red Russian Kale
• Earliglow Strawberries (plus an extra box because I love strawberries)

What We Learned:

• I have gotten a little caught up in trying to get everything local that I really forget how I originally laid this challenge out. We were going to focus on produce, meat, dairy, and eggs, and I basically forgot that. Back to focusing on those main pieces from now on.
• Is local olive oil even possible?
• CSA shares are awesome
• We are so glad we got the half CSA share, where we get a box every other week, instead of every week. We would need a bigger refrigerator!
• We can bring back our CSA box to the farmers market for them to reuse #score
• We are going to have to start making smoothies
• Rapini tastes like leafy broccoli and we are in love!

Buying Local: Week 4

Once again we were out of town and missed Saturday’s market, but this should be the last time we miss it for a bit, plus our CSA share starts on Saturday!

We got back from our Memorial Day weekend trip on Monday night, so I didn’t get to go shopping until Tuesday. I stopped at Local Foods and then picked up some strawberries from the farmers market on Wednesday. Those aren’t pictured because I immediately cut them up for breakfast.

What We Bought:

• Pork Chops from Butcher & Larder in Local Foods
• Carrots from Local Foods
• Asparagus from Local Foods
• Black Raspberry Jam from Bushel & Peck’s in Beloit, WI
• Popcorn from G.H. Cretors in Waukegen, IL
• Honey from Ames Farms in Delano, MN
• Strawberries from Nichol’s Farm in Marengo, IL

What We Learned:

• Buying less processed milk lasts longer. I bought milk last Monday and its sell by date is not until June 6th.
• Real strawberries are much tinier than your typical strawberries on steroids that you get at a standard grocery store, but they taste SO MUCH BETTER!
• I have to do a lot of separate trips for our food instead of doing just one run every week. Sometimes Local Foods does not have what I need and Mariano’s does, or I would rather get produce at the farmers market.