Well, here’s a photo parade of what we have been up to.
Roasted Beets with anise and cumin for Thursday's Post CSA dinner.
Lentils and Garlic Scapes in water and wine for Thursday dinner.
I have been trying to cook dinner for Thursday before hand so when we get home around 8 or so after the CSA, we have something hearty to sit down to, instead of having to rush to cook something.
Spinach, Rye Berries, Sundried Tomatoes and Dill for Thursday dinner: Greek Rye Berries, and Lentils with Roasted Beets and Goat Cheese.
Shera tucked in the strawberry box we took from the distribution last week. She really liked the box...
Fresh Strawberries in Rose Wine. A nice refreshing drink for strawberry season.
Anise Hyssop- cool herb picked up from Copley's Farmer's Market on Friday. Still haven't decided what I will do with it.
The first Fava Beans of the season from Siena Farms! I couldn't help but pick some of these up.
The rest of the Napa Cabbage going into our Friday Dinner Stir-Fry.
Radish Greens going into our Friday Dinner Stir-Fry. Yes, the radish greens are edible, and quite tasty.
Marion helped us with our Friday Dinner of Stir-Fried Napa Cabbage, Radish Greens, and Garlic Scapes with a Fried Egg, Toast, and Yogurt with Chopped Cilantro. This emulates what I have been eating for breakfast for a while. Theresa wanted in on the phenomena for dinner. I will say, I think it is an addictive combination of things.
Saturday, we went out to Western MA to go to the Amherst Farmer’s Market, and to go to Red Fire Farm to pick strawberries and hang out with our friend , Martin, one of the chicken farmers.
We also stopped for breakfast at Wheatberry Bakery. They have been rearranging things in the cafe. Looks great! More space now.
We picked up some bagels. Nom.
Theresa got a 'sprout' sandwich. Bagel, cream cheese, veggies, olives.
I got a scapegoat sandwich, with tea. French Baguette, Veggies, Goat Cheese, Walnuts, Garlic Scapes. Nom.
Since we still had a lot of produce at home from the CSA, we mostly picked up yogurt and cheese from Sidehill and Chase Hill Farms. Then we headed out to Red Fire Farm. We met up with Martin and did our strawberry picking with him. We got our 8 quarts of strawberries, but the strawberry patches were pretty well picked, and I’d say our strawberries were more strawberry seconds. This worked out well for us, because these berries are destined for delicious sauces and preserves. It also worked for Martin, since he needed to pick 16 quarts of strawberries for jamming with Sarah. We picked until we got our 8 quarts, and then Martin needed to water the chickens since the morning dreariness gave way to sunniness. We happily tagged along.
We got to check out a lot of the improvements and updates to the egg and chicken business that Martin and Patrick have made. I have so many pictures of chickens, I think I will leave a detailed description of the flocks and their care to another post. I will just share gratuitous pictures of us holding chickens for now.
Martin with some of his chicks.
Theresa with Chicken.
Me with chicken.
We also got to visit with some goats. This is one of the Red Fire Farm worker's goats. We got to visit with Martin's personal goats later on.
We got to help (a little) with feeding and watering the chickens, and visited with Martin, his personal goats, and a herd for a goat meat business. It was a wonderful time. I’ll post more about it later, since this post is already a bit long. We went back to the PYO fields and picked ourselves some snap and shelling peas, picked up a few specialty items from the Farm Stand and then headed home.
Our snap and shelling peas. We didn't think about how hard it would be to separate them after picking. Oh well, more fun "checking" to see what type of pea it is. Either way, they are absolutely delicious.
Sunday Breakfast: Toast with Peanut Butter and Honey and Fresh Strawberries.
Sunday Lunch: Big Salad of Veggies with A Creme Garlic Scape and Tarragon Dressing, Blue Goat Cheese and a Side of Hard Boiled Eggs and Rye Toast.
Sunday afternoon we endeavored to process all the strawberries we picked at Red Fire Farm. Since they were already a little damaged, we decided we needed to process them ASAP. So, we decided to freeze them all (saving some for our enjoyment over the next few days). We didn’t jam at all, because we didn’t have the time, and we are sort of excited about the idea of leisurely preserving summer berries in small batches, or in really lovely combinations (like strawberry wine jam, and strawberry balsamic jam, and… well I could go on, but I think I’ll just post what we do when we get there). And imagine making jam in December, when hovering over a bit hot pot seems appealing!
Strawberry sorting and trimming.
Washing strawberries.
Setting strawberries out on cookie sheets for freezing.
We freeze the berries separately on cookie sheets. When they are frozen enough to not be juicy, we put them in bags, so that they don't freeze together in one big gooey mass.
I think in the end we got four big bags of strawberries. A nice amount for our nefarious preserving deeds.
Fava Beans Shelling in preparation for sunday dinner.
Look at those lovely things! Favas are a very special treat for us. These are very young fava beans and don't need to have their inner skins removed, they just needed to be shelled.
"what? I was taking a nap."
Theresa directed Sunday Dinner. Fava beans, fennel, dill, chard, bacon. Nom.
Stillman's Bacon. Nom.
Fennel, Scallion, Fava, and Dill all sautéed to perfection.
Sunday Dinner: Fava Beans with Fennel, Dill, Chard and Bacon.
We served it with Whole Wheat Oatmeal Toast Soldiers and Sliced Camembert Cheese from Chase Hill Farm. Simply divine.
I made a nice after dinner tea of our own dried lemon balm and spearmint. A lovely combination.
Dessert utilized a new to us local product. Cold Fusion Gelato from Newport, RI.
Sunday Dessert: Sweet Cream Gelato with Fresh Strawberries. The sweet creme gelato made it taste like a strawberry shortcake, all on its own. Nom. A lovely finish to the day.
Monday Breakfast: Pancakes with Strawberries, Butter and Maple Syrup. What a way to start the week!
And that was our weekend! Lots of food and fun. I hope everyone else had a lovely time and is enjoying the warm weather. Happy Monday!
