Good Eats: I Love the Rain, I Hate the Rain

Follow my adventures in finding out about my local CSA produce and growing my own produce in the Good Eats series.

Garden Update

We received close to 10 inches of rain in three days last week. Unfortunately, it wasn’t that light, happy rain that makes all plants perk up. It was a DOWNPOUR rain that creates flash floods in our backyard (we back up to a creek) and water in our basement. (Whole other story, for a whole different time.)

After the monsoon had made its way through our neighborhood, we went down to the garden patch near the creek to survey the damage. We had a couple of acorn squash and pea plants growing there and since they were under water, in a flash flood for a length of time I wasn’t sure they were going to make it.

Let me tell you, I now understand what it feels like to be a farmer. I was scared. I loved those little plants and I was going to be *not happy* if they didn’t make it.

We had some casualties. One of the squash plants didn’t make it through the Snyder Flood of 2010 – and I wasn’t sure about this guy either. But after a few days of sunshine, he has perked back up and look surprising healthy. Now I just need to find a way to keep the bugs off him.

Other items of note: Our radish crop was a complete disaster (I’m blaming Hubs frugalness and buying bad seeds). There are jalapeno and bell pepper buds forming and our tomato plants are full of blooms. Most exciting – some of the cherry tomatoes are starting to turn red.

CSA

This week I received a dozen Large Free-Range Eggs, a gallon of 2% milk, and All-Beef Hot Dogs from Good Natured Family Farms; Turnips, Zucchini Squash, Napa Cabbage (I made this salad the same day – it is my absolute favorite), Yellow and Red Potatoes from Twin County Family Farms; and Boysenberry Jam from Blackberry Farms.

This week was one of those “weeks” at the CSA. I loved everything I received and my fridge is REALLY full of good vegetables. (I should have received Heirloom Tomatoes too, but I was so excited to see the yukon gold potatoes that I traded them for more taters.) We have used all the zucchini in a vegetable paella and another pasta dish. The yukon gold potatoes were as amazing as I had hoped they would be – I boiled them with skins and added a little butter and sour cream for a delicious “smashed” potato. It accompanied a roast we had this week to rave reviews – even from the kiddos. I’m still trying to decide what to do with the turnips, so if you have suggestions, I would love to hear them.

So, for those in a CSA, how is it going? Are you enjoying trying new vegetables? What has been some of your favorite things? Let me know. I love hearing about adventures in the kitchen.