Week 1 Pickup

My sister and I decided to split a CSA share this summer. Growing up in Vermont, summer was all about fresh food for our whole family, whether it was bought from one of many nearby farm stands or picked by hand at our grandparents' farm. We're both in the DC suburbs now, and while there are some closeby Farmers' Markets, I find it hard to motivate myself to get moving early enough on the weekends to hit them up in time to get the best produce. Last summer, I ate a depressingly small amount of fresh veggies-- tomatoes here and there, some broccoli, a dozen ears of corn I trekked to a farm stand specifically to get.

So this summer, in an attempt not only to eat more healthily and experiment with food I don't usually buy, but also to support local agriculture, I signed up for the Sandy Spring CSA. It's a CSA that works with Calvert Farm, further upstate in Maryland. I figured I can't eat a whole share myself, but Paige was game for splitting it. Since we signed up a month ago, I've been eagerly awaiting our first pickup. Today the day finally came. Our pickup spot is only about a block out of my way on my route home from work, so by 5:15 I was loading a box into my car.

This is what we got: asparagus, rhubarb, radishes, lettuce, mixed greens, spinach, spring onions, mint. Photo of my half-share below.



It's a lot of greens, but I'm determined to do more than eat salad for the next week. Paige's boyfriend apparently is a big radish fan, so I gave them my radishes along with their half-share. I'm excited to cook the rhubarb-- my grandmother used to make us a great strawberry rhubarb upside-down cake but I've never done anything with rhubarb myself. The greens look they'll last a shorter time than the rhubarb and asparagus, so I'll use those soon.