Oyster Mushrooms

Oyster mushrooms inside the box. They are beautiful and in great shape. I think simple preparation will serve this ingredient the best. I just sliced it up and heated it through in some vegetable broth and poured it over toast. Some recipes said they taste like oysters...not.
But they do taste like really good mushrooms.

Week 13

Lucky Week 13

The box looks wonderful --basil, broccoli, top bunch collard, deer tongue and red butter lettuce, lemon cucumbers, torpedo onions, summer squash, tomatoes, OYSTER MUSHROOMS (they are so beautiful), garlic, eggplant and peaches.

What's still inside the box?

Due to lots of eating outside the box...there are a lot of collards left. Not too worry when Allen stops by with this week's share, we are going to snack on crispy collards.

I thought was going to add photos taken during the recent computer unpleasentness but somehow I managed to erase them instead of upload them.

This is corn flan with a topping of crispy collard (and a little bacon too)

collard patties

well it's not a crab cake but it's not too bad. Once again, I blanched chopped collard greens and then using egg whites bound them into a patty, coated them with seasoned breadcrumbs and sauteed them --a few minutes on each side and viola! Not too bad cold either. I'm going to try another version adding some onion, peppers into the mix ..I'll keep you posted!

Week Twelve

Basil, top bunch collards, heirlom collards, three heads of lettuce, broccoli, peppers, parsely, dino kale, garlic and plums. This box averages out to about $28.00.

But the good news is it looks like there is going to be more in the fall. The location of Sol Food Farm means they sometimes miss out on the hot weather and that slows the tomatoes, peppers and eggplants...but fall crops should be great.

And of course everything is organic and sustainably grown. Important to remember cheaper is not always better.

Value ...risks and rewards of supporting CSAs

When we looked at week eleven both of us..thought hmmmm looks a little light. I priced the same items at the local organic grocery and to buy the same things it would have been about $26 ..our weekly fee is $35.

Both of us agree this is the risk of throwing your lot in with supporting local farms. This season has had unusual weather and we both suspect water is an issue too.

To be fair since I haven't priced out every box, this is just one week out of 24.