CSA Journey

Wow...it has been a long time since the last post!  Frankly, I just didn't feel like adding to this space for a while.  I have been working on tons of knitting, but I'm trying to use my ravelry account more to post those projects.  All of the house renovation pictures have been put on facebook so the blog was ignored.  We recently joined a CSA, though, and I have been feeling a desire to document our food journey; this seems like the best place!  Even if there are no longer any readers out there to follow it, at least all of the recipes will be amassed in one place as future reference. 
So here goes!   Since we moved to VT I've been wanting to get in on the CSA craze.  CSA stands for community supported agriculture in which individuals, such as myself and Dale, buy "shares" in a farm, helping the farm to sustain itself, and in return, receiving farm produce, meat, etc. depending on the type of share.  Well, last fall we were just getting settled and so we never made a commitment.  Then, over the summer it seemed silly to join one since we were growing our own produce.  Finally this fall I happened to see a notice that there were still winter shares available at the Full Moon Farm, so we went ahead and joined.  Here's how this farm works (they each have their own method): we pick up our produce here in Burlington every other week throughout November and December, then once per month from Jan - Mar.   Last week was the first pick up and, unknown to me, it was pack your own box.  Basically all of the food is laid out along with the amount you can take, and then you add it to your loot!  For example, 1 head garlic, 4 leeks, 2 lbs. potatoes, etc.  I did not go prepared with bags, so I had to use extra plastic bags they had on hand.  Next time I'll be prepared!  It was fun to meet the individuals who are growing my food - Farmer Dave and Farmer Rachel - and to know that it is being grown organically and locally. Does it get any healthier than that?!?  As I loaded up my produce I chatted about recipes for collard greens with Farmer Rachel and shared the scales with those next in line.  

Our farmers

Here's what was in our first box:  Brussels sprouts beets red and white potatoes red and white onions garlic napa cabbage leeks fennel delicata squash collard greens swiss chard sweet potatoes spinach spicy mix lettuce dill/parsley broccoli This was a lot of produce.  So much so that we had to clean out our fridge to fit it all in (which was probably a good thing!); the collard greens took up a whole shelf they were that big!  The best part is that my dreaded weekly grocery store trip has been cut in half since I don't have to pick up much in the way of produce now!  I am so excited for this new cooking challenge, as in, here's what you have to cook with, now make dinner!  I will post what I'm making with the ingredients above and review the outcome.  A few of the recipes on tap are stuffed squash, chicken sausage/sweet onion/fennel pizza, and sweet potato quinoa.   Please feel free to chime in with your comments.  Have you made an awesome recipe with any of the above items??? Join us on our CSA journey!!

Christmas is almost here...

...so I thought I should blog about Thanksgiving ASAP!  We woke up to snow, which is ironic considering I don't think we'll even have a flurry for Christmas.  The holiday weekend was spent with Mr. P's family in Springfield.  We rocked out (correction, I rocked out) to Christmas carols on the way down, then ate lots of good food and hung out with fun people.  Including our super cute 1 yr old niece!  (For which you'll just have to take my word considering I didn't take one picture of her the whole time we were there!  (Bad auntie!)

View down our driveway

Car ride fun

Christmas Trees on the move 

Fall Foliage

Have you been able to enjoy fall colors in your neck of the woods?  Here are some photos from last weekend when Mr. P and I visited Smuggler's Notch and Mt. Mansfield in Stowe last weekend.  We count our lucky stars that these types of places are so close we can visit them on a Sunday afternoon!

 

Thanks for indulging me in numerous photos!

What are your favorite fall colors?  Me...the tree across the street that was simultaneously green, red, orange. 

 

Wanna go on a little tour? Part I

Welcome to the tour of the camp!  Today is Part I: Outdoor Sights.  As you may remember from yesterday's post, Mr. P is currently residing at this camp while he waits for me and our stuff to move up to VT.  So come join me on the sights that I saw during my little visit last week:

This is the camp entrance.  To the right is where you walk in from the car.  To the left is a barrier and then a cliff!  However, there is a huge benefit to being on top of a cliff--a great view!  (And I'm not joking about the cliff part.  The name of the road is "Cliff Dwellers" and my little Mazda Protege can only get up the grass driveway with a running start!)

This is your view to the right.  You have to walk up and over this hill to get back and forth to the cars/camp.  

This is the deck and was the location from which I took the first picture.  This is where most meals are eaten since there's not a lot of room inside the camp and because, well, there are just awesome sunsets!   Past Mr. P's bike and to the right is where we have the bonfires.  And do you see that structure in the background?  Well, look at the next photo for details...

This is fondly called the "Love Shack", because you would only spend a night in this place if you were in love!  It is a neighboring camp which Mr. P's parents now also own.  When the camps were first built, they were super close together, so when this one went up for sale they jumped at the chance for a little more land.  As you can see, it is in quite the state.  However, they keep it standing so that they could put another structure there in the future if wanted.  If they were to take it down, you would not be able to rebuild.  Gotta love building codes!  

This picture gives you a better idea of how the camp is on the cliff.  There is a road separating them from the lake, but you can't even see it so there are unobstructed views.  

Now that's what you call a sunset.  Yay for summer! 

Stay tuned...Part II:  Indoor Sights is coming soon!





Big news from our little household

Some of you already know, but Mr. P and I are about to move to the great state of Vermont!  I know, are we crazy or what, moving NORTH!  However, the area to which we are moving is absolutely beautiful--on Lake Champlain, Adirondacks across the lake, Green Mountains behind you...  We are super excited (except for the fact that there is not ONE SINGLE TARGET IN THE ENTIRE STATE...but don't even get me started on that one.)  Our movers are coming on Monday, but we don't yet know when we'll get into our house, so we might be temporarily located until then. 

Mr. P has been working his new job in VT since April and has been coming home on weekends.  He's been staying at his parents' camp on a small lake about 45 minutes from his new job.  Last week I took the opportunity to go up and visit him since I was finally done teaching for the school year.  It was a fun few days. 

So, stay tuned because I have a few posts planned about my trip.  Get ready for a tour of the camp and the lake!