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JerseySmarts.com

Not Such Great “Takes” From the CSA Farm Lately

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It’s the summertime and that means that every Saturday morning I’m heading to the local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm to get some fresh produce. Well, sorta… It turns out that my local CSA farm hasn’t really produced very many good weekly “takes” in the last few weeks. In fact, take a look at my latest take from the local CSA farm:

Eh. Scant at best.

Pretty scant, huh? All that I was able to pick up in addition to what’s in the picture is some berries. I am, of course, heading back to the farm this Saturday morning so I’m hoping that there is a better take this week. In any event, I’ll post the results here.

It’s a Bit Late, But Here’s Our Second Take from the CSA Farm

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Alright – I know that this is a bit late in being posted to the blog, but I’ve been busy! Below you can see a picture of our second take from the local CSA farm (which we actually picked up about two weeks ago). Granted, none of this food actually exists any more since we’ve either eaten it or given it away, but I wanted to share our second take with you folks anyway!

Take #2 for the 2010 Season

Just like the first week, you’ll see some kale and garlic scapes in there. Also, there was some red leaf lettuce as well as some collard greens and red kale (I think).

I should have taken a picture of what we picked up this past weekend – huge bulbs of organic garlic dominated the take and I’m not sure when we’ll ever actually use all of them. However, it’s better to have this stuff than not, right? Stay tuned – I’m trying to get some CSA take pictures up each week or at least every other week.

It’s That Time of Year Again… The CSA Farm is in Session

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Yes, it’s that time of the year again when our local community supported agriculture (CSA) farm opens for business. This past Saturday, my roommate and one of our buddies went to the farm to get our share of this week’s crops. This week we picked up red kale, red lettuce, garlic scapes, bok choy, and collard greens. See the picture of our take below.

Our first take for the 2010 season

Thus far I’ve only tasted some of the garlic scapes after they were made into a very strong pesto by my roommate. I also mixed some of the pesto into some vodka sauce that I had with my garden rotini last night – it was pretty good! As the weeks go on we’ll be getting more and varied types of produce so stay tuned to see what the farm brings us this year!

Oh, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that my roommate and I completely gutted our refrigerator and freezer on Saturday afternoon. After the top-to-bottom cleaning that we gave that thing, there was enough room for us to place the entire bucket of produce that we got from the farm (the red bucket in the picture above) on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. It was a perfect fit!

A Beautiful Day at the Jersey Shore

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Come on down! If you’re reading this from somewhere in North Jersey or Central Jersey (not near the Jersey Shore), you should come on over to the Long Branch, Asbury Park, or Ocean Grove beaches. It’s a beautiful day on the Jersey Shore – one of the best that we’ve had all summer!

This morning, I went to the Merrick Farm and picked up my half share of the week’s bounty. I picked up a bunch of interesting looking produce – some of which I know what to do with, some of which I have no idea. I’m going to take some time this morning and make a gigantic salad out of our existing produce from the farm. The new stuff I’m just going to “bank” at the bottom of the fridge in the crisper. Then I’ll be spending a portion of today down in Belmar at a friend’s barbecue.

My goal is to spend this evening relaxing. I’ve had pretty active, hectic weekends for the last few weeks and next weekend I’ll be in Nashville so relaxing will be a nice change of pace!

In the mean time, come on down to the shore!

Pictures of The First Harvest From The CSA Farm

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Three months ago or so I uploaded an entry talking about how I was joining a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm for the summer season. One of my roommates and I joined the Merrick Farm in Farmingdale, Monmouth County, New Jersey (which, by the way, I can’t say enough good things about). A few weeks ago one of my roommates and I picked up our unofficial first gathering from the CSA in the form of strawberries and asparagus – both of which tasted great!

Below, though, are pictures of our first “real” take from the farm. As you’ll see, it’s enough greens to last two or three people a good week…which is great because that’s when we’re going back again! Click on the thumbnails below for bigger versions of the pictures.

     

     

If you have a CSA farm in your area, I recommend calling them to see if you can still get a share this season or if you can sign up early for next season!