Community Supported Agriculture - CSA Box Week 1

To keep is in yummy fruits and veggies this summer, I'm doing a CSA workshare weekly. In exchange for manning their Friday evening pickup, I get a full CSA share full of beautiful organic yumminess. This CSA in particular is awesome because they have a "Market Style" option which means I can pick and choose what I want to go into my box. If I'm gone for a week or don't need as much that week I won't lose my food. It also goes until December! So exciting. The farm is located in a national park and is a nonprofit and operated by awesome people that I'm happy to spend time with. They offer internships to educate new farmers and an market and farm tours on Saturdays. It's a great place that I'm happy to be affiliated with. An added bonus for me (as a SAHM) is this is 4 hours a week where I don't have a baby attached to me - although I miss my girls like crazy and can't wait to get home!

What is a CSA? Community Supported Agriculture means that you are buying into the farm. You pay a set amount for the season or year to help the farm with their costs and in exchange you get a box of their bounty every week. Depending on the season, weather and conditions you may get more or less. You may get a whole lot of one thing and not a lot of something else. What you definitely get is the feeling of giving back to your community and supporting small farms. 

So what did I get my first week??

 

Zucchini, squash (crookneck and pattypan) turnips, kale, rainbow chard, beets, eggplant, heirloom tomatoes.

Not pictured are the little grape tomatoes that I ate before I even left the farm. They were SO good. Sweet and still warm from the field.  

What did I do with my bounty? The squash and zucchini were eaten with garlic scapes, shrimp and a butter sauce in orzo pasta. Amazing and possibly my new favorite dish.

Beets and Turnips were roasted and eaten as a side dish. My first time eating them and were so good. I will definitely make again!

Rainbow chard will be added to a chickpea stew this evening and will also be tossed in some scrambled eggs in a few minutes.

Kale was made into chips. Unfortunately I still haven't quite gotten that down yet :(

Eggplant was coated and fried and eaten as an improvised eggplant parmesean. I didn't have any parm so Big and I had eggplant mozzarella. It was delicious.

The bigger zucchini and crookneck squash are going to be shredded and made into pancakes that are going to be eaten with some shredded chicken on Saturday.

Next pickup is tonight, I'm so excited to see what we get!

Do you have a CSA? Any good ideas for recipes? I'm new to having this much yummy veggies to use in a week!

For more information, check out The Ecosystem Farm.

Peanutty Chicken

This isn't anything authentic. It's not Thai Chicken, it's not African Peanut Stew, it's somewhere in between and full of delicious. This is how I cook. A little bit of this, a little bit of that, look up a bunch of recipes online and figure it out based on what tastes good to us. This peanut chicken is a great example of that. Chicken is shredded into a spicy peanut and allspice sauce and served over rice. It is SO good.

Ingredients:
4 chicken thighs
1 good size yellow onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic
1/4 peanut butter
3T soy sauce or tamari (gmo free!)
chicken stock or bone broth (I really don't know how much. Enough to thin out the sauce enough to your liking and taste)
2T all spice powder, divided
2 t. red pepper flakes
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 c. flour
salt and pepper
butter, coconut oil or some other fat to cook it in
2 cups cooked rice.

1. Dredge the chicken thighs in flour, 1T of allspice, salt and pepper. Brown in fat (don't cook through). Set aside.
2. Add more fat as necessary, add onion, cook until beginning to brown.
Meanwhile, combine peanut butter, soy sauce, 1T allspice, red pepper flakes, cinnamon. If it seems too think, add bone broth until it's thin enough for you, tasting as you go. If you're using conventional chicken stock it may get a little salty.
As onions begin to brown, add garlic, stirring until you can smell it (don't let the garlic burn!), then add sauce.
3. Add chicken back in and put the top on. Let simmer until chicken is cooked through. Check in the sauce periodically. Depending on the size of your thighs you may need more sauce. Sometimes I have to double the recipe, sometimes it's enough. It really depends on the size of your thighs. Did your chicken have a donkey or was she more svelte?
4. Once thighs are done, remove and shred. Add back into sauce.

Serve over rice, with something green on the side. We had it with some broccoli tossed in butter and salt with naan on the side. It was delish!
Hope you like it!

2013 Summer Bucket List

Big and I a thousand years ago

Summa Summa Summa tiiiiime.
Summer seems to simultaniously drag on and fly by, doesn't it?
Days seem hotter and slower and then you look up and it's October! I can't believe it's Independence Day already. This year, Big and I made a bucket list. A bunch of awesome fun stuff that we want to do as much as possible this summer, my first as a SAHM. She has some summer camps and fun trips planned but I also want free time to go where the day leads and find fun stuff for she and I to do together. She'll only have one summer as a ten year old and Little is still small enough that she can't get into TOO much trouble if we're out and about. So, without further ado, here is our bucket list.

~Cosca Park- A great large park and playground with shaded areas for picnicking, a big pond with paddle boats, a skate park and a nature center. We've already gone once.
~Great Waves - As it sounds, a water park. It's close and fairly reasonably priced.
~Cove Point -Another water park. Further away but cheaper.
~Library - Ideally we'd like to go once or twice a week. We recently went a little crazy in a used book store so haven't had a reason to!
~Colonial Farm - I've been meaning to check this place out for years, this summer it will get done! It's close, it's free and it's educational. Win Win Win
~Go to the Pool - What would summer vacation be like without frequent trips to the pool? This one apparently. It's been raining so much we haven't gone!
~Visit the monuments and museums - We live about 20 minutes from DC. We need to take advantage of it more!
~Visit Polyface Farm - If nothing else gets done, this will get done. Polyface is Joel Salatin's farm and it's about 2 hours from here. They have an open door policy - you can go down and look at everything, anytime.
~Visit friends - Luckily, we live in a neighborhood with lots of awesome kids for Big to play with.

That's our list. Big wrote it up on pretty paper and it's on the refrigerator for quick reference. What do you have planned for the summer? Have you made a bucket list?

5 things I've learned about chickens

My ladies have been home for a little over a month now and it has been fun! I've learned a lot from them- about chickens themselves and about MY chickens. I've never been much of a pet person. I mean, I have three cats that are my little furry babies but let's face it, cats aren't too needy and they're more roommates than pets. So here it is. My top 5 things I've learned as a new chicken mama.

1. Chickens are FUNNY! Seriously. I've heard people talk about "Chicken TV" and it's true. The way they interact with one another, the way they do their little T-Rex run over when they think you have treats, the way they fuss at you if you get too close...they're hilarious. Some days I want to sit out there and watch them all day. Other days, not so much. On that note...

2.Chickens are pretty independent. Yes, for most flocks, you need to feed and water them daily. My chickens have a pretty nice sized run with lots of yummy bugs and some greens growing. If I want to leave them alone in there I can and they'll be fine if I don't refill their food immediately or change their water every.single.day. I'd never let it go much further than that but they don't require too much babysitting. By the way they run over when I come near one might think differently but really, they're just nosy.

3. Chickens form attachments and relationships. Word has it that chickens are dumb. I've heard that (and said it) and I'm sure you have too. I'm finding the opposite is true. They know me and the kids. They know who brings treats. They know when I come down and they're free ranging in the back that it's time to mosey into the run. They make friends with one another too. I have two inseparable Buff Orpingtons and two inseparable Easter Eggers. They're besties. If one looks up and the other is too far, they'll yell, "Hey, wait up!" and T-Rex run over there. When I first got them, all four were noisy as hell. After talking to the woman I got them from I found that their rooster was too. They were calling for each other. They missed their man and were trying to tell him where they were! I felt so bad for them but they got over it. Now they're only loud when they want to be let out.

4. Chickens get up EARLY. Yeah, I know. "Up with the chickens". I didn't realize this meant 6 am, every morning. Sometimes 6:20 but always the number 6 first. They want OUT. I lock them in the coop at night to keep them safe but the moment they see the sun they want to get to hunting and pecking. Now that I'm missing a bedroom window this is especially difficult to ignore, so up I get to let them out and then immediately back to bed. Nothing worthwhile happens at 6am.

6. Chickens look like dinosaurs.  Maybe this is a me thing, but they look like dinosaurs. It simultaneously freaks me out and fascinates me. I could so imagine these things as ginormous flesh eating beasts, stomping across the wilderness and fighting and stuff. Especially when they are tearing up some poor defenseless (yummy) worm or fighting over a chunk of pancake. Chickens love pancakes. The way they run reminds me of a T-Rex chasing down a torch wielding Jeff Goldblum. What's up evolution??

There are a few other things I've learned, like that having them eat out of your hand isn't the best idea (owch!) and that putting the compost in the run doesn't work the way you think it would (they throw it everywhere!) but those are my Top 5.
Do you keep chickens? Any advice for a novice such as myself? What has surprised you about your ladies?

Menu Plan Week of July 1

Summertime, and the livin is easy!

I love this time of year. Life is slower, days are longer, food is better.

There always seems to be something fun going on and it all seems to come together this week.

There is so much going on this week around Independence Day. It is possibly my second favorite holiday. 

Cookouts, BBQ, fireworks. What's not to love?

One of my favorite things to do is The Capitol Fourth dress rehearsal. As anyone that lives close to DC knows, you don't go downtown on the Fourth. It's crazy town. There's people everywhere, it's expensive, it's hot. You just don't want to be there. What you might not know is that they do a dress rehearsal the day before that's open to the public. The whole show. It's awesome. We've seen Stevie Wonder up close and personal, for free. Last year it was Earth, Wind and Fire and Josh Turner. This year it's Barry Manilow and Neil Diamond. Not exactly my cuppa but a good time none the less. We take a picnic dinner, sit on the mall and enjoy ourselves. 

Friday marks the first CSA Day. I am doing a workshare at a local CSA. I'll man their Friday pickup and in exchange I'll get a share! More on that later. 

Saturday we're hosting a Bring Your Own Chainsaw party to clean up the mess in the backyard. We're providing beer and pizza in exchange for cheap, friendly labor.

As always, this weeks plan is messed up. It got messed up before it was even posted! Today was supposed to be meatloaf but I had to take Mr. Brown to get some medical attention for some wicked poison ivy (he has a Popeye arm!) so it didn't get made. Now I have thawed hamburger and thawed chicken - which gets made??

Monday - Supposed to be Meatloaf, corn on the cob, buttered noodles

Tuesday - Peanut Chicken, broccoli, rice

Wednesday - Picnic Dinner - tuna salad, egg salad, sourdough bread, cucumber salad

Thursday - Fourth of July! We'll be cookout hopping all day, I shouldn't have to cook

Friday - Pinto Beans in the Crockpot

Saturday - BYOC

Sunday - Leftovers from Fri and Sat. 

So why? Why do I still menu plan when we have this much going on? Because we have this much going on! It helps a lot to know where we have to be when and how it affects what we're eating. The best part is, we usually have most of this stuff on hand. Which means that on crazy weeks like this one I can plan easy peasy menus from stuff on hand so I don't have to squeeze in a big shopping trip. 

What do you have planned for the Fourth? Have a great week!