Final Harvest

Alas. Summer's really over now.

Yesterday I picked up our final share of fruits and veggies from the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture program) that we joined this season for the first time. This week's harvest included Bright Lights Swiss Chard, green leaf lettuce, peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, garlic, apples, and celeriac.

"What is celeriac?" you ask. We were asking the very same question last week when it showed up in our kitchen for the first time. Celery root. Good for soups and stocks. Apparently also good to munch on raw (as was the fennel bulb we picked up last week - thinly sliced with just a touch of sea salt.) One of this weekend's projects is figuring out what to do with 4 of 'em. I might try a recipe for wild rice and celeriac soup. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.

In the meantime, I just finished cleaning and putting away the swiss chard. It's a beautiful leafy green, I must say. I separated the stalks - red, yellow, pink, orange - from the leaves, washed both, bagged them separately. It's a bitter green, which I don't mind. I'll saute it up with a little garlic and oil and add a splash of vinegar or lemon juice at the end. Still, I must say that when the multi-colored stalks are sitting together in a bowl of cold water, being washed of their sand, they look a little reminiscent of a bowl of high fructose corn syrupy froot loops - one of my favorite Kellogg's cereals from days gone by.

It's been a good growing season, from my perspective. I really enjoyed picking up our harvest each week and taking the time to sort and clean the goods. I enjoyed having to be a little creative in using things with which I don't usually cook. I tried some new things. Baked turnips, for example, that I really enjoyed. My wife tried some new things, too, like bok choy, which she really seemed to enjoy. Less so the swiss chard, I'm afraid. Oh well, more for me.

I've especially revelled in the knowledge that most of our produce has come from a suburban farm not more than 5 miles from my suburban home and that it's been grown organically. I've loved looking at my dinner plate and knowing the source of everything on it. And I've been glad to know that what hasn't been picked up each week has gone to local soup kitchens. That, too, has been part of this CSA's mission.

It's going to be tough heading back to the grocery store for out-of-season veggies over the winter. I wish we'd been able to can or preserve some of the summer's harvest. But we'll still get to enjoy our farm-grown winter squashes for some weeks, even months to come. I'll miss the dark, leafy greens the most. And the beans. I really enjoyed picking the green beans...and the purple beans. Through the dark months of winter, I'll be dreaming of beanies...