Friday 6/8/12 - This was our first day picking up our CSA share each week for the Summer season (runs June through October.) Last year I joined in September for a small share, after her co-op preschool went for a fun tour of the farm, so I got to try it out for a short commitment, which was nice. I loved it, but when the Summer share ended, the Winter share didn't have a "small" and "large" option. Just "greens" and "large" options. The large included stuff in addition to greens, but we're not big lettuce eaters around here, and I can't tell you how many bunches of greens and heads of lettuce rotted last year before I started giving them to a friend. I can't even finish off one head of lettuce every other week! I like my spinach and kale chips. The rest of the leafies? Not so much.
So instead of paying money and driving 30-45 minutes each way once a week just so I could throw organic greens into my compost bin after they'd rotted, I opted out until the Summer share opened again. I did find a delivery version, which was nice. And I could swap items out that I didn't like. And put a hold on a delivery, to just get a box every other week. But I paid more money for less food.
This year I'm really working hard to eat it all. Hungry? Instead of grabbing a snack, I grab one of the 5 apples I got this week. Lunch time? Instead of going to McD's drive-thru while Z's at gym camp, I go home and make a spinach salad.
It's harder to eat it all fast enough now, since it's mostly just Z and myself eating at home. Hubby's new job caters lunch for their employees, so he's no longer packing leftovers. And since he's expected to stay until 7pm every night, he usually snacks or has some of the lunch leftovers he squirreled away and isn't hungry for dinner when he gets home. So if I make one big batch of something in the crock-pot, it serves as my dinner all week. Last year I was trying a few new recipes each week, to cook up our strange new ingredients. This year I pick one to crock-pot, and then figure out how Z and I can eat the rest.
We had some other errands to run that day as well, so I packed a snack in one of our EasyLunchboxes to sustain her through the afternoon. Trader Joe's Organic Olive Oil popcorn, home-made kale chips, and grapes.
On this particular day, she had birthday money sent by Gramma and Grandpa that had arrived the day before. $20! When she went to Toys R Us/Babies R Us a week earlier with Daddy to get something or other for the baby, there had been a purple UglyDoll she'd really wanted. For $20. So she was beyond thrilled when she opened her birthday card and money fell out, and we told her how much it was and that it was hers to spend on whatever she wanted. So we swung by TRU while we were out and about. While clutching the $20 large purple UglyDoll, she saw a smaller pink bunny-looking one for $11. I explained that she couldn't have both. However... there was also a smaller version of the purple one for $11. And with the $3 off coupon that Toys R Us had sent her for her birthday (I had signed her up for their birthday club years ago) she could buy both. SOLD!
At the farm, if she's interested, I let her help choose the food for our share. Some are by weight, so she adds more to the scale and we watch the numbers until it matches the number I've told her to go to.
There have been several instances where we have a choice, like with the lettuces or greens, and can pick one bunch or head from a variety of options. And she always picks the one I really don't want. She's also not as discerning as I'd like when choosing foods, such as apples. She just grabs our allotted number and dumps them in the bag, without checking for soft spots or discolorations or anything. I want her to stay involved in the process, so I allow her decisions to stand, even if I'm not looking forward to eating them.
For our CSA share, I pay $19 per week, and everything is certified organic. I also get 10% off any additional stuff at their farm stand.
June CSA Haul, Week 1:
So instead of paying money and driving 30-45 minutes each way once a week just so I could throw organic greens into my compost bin after they'd rotted, I opted out until the Summer share opened again. I did find a delivery version, which was nice. And I could swap items out that I didn't like. And put a hold on a delivery, to just get a box every other week. But I paid more money for less food.
This year I'm really working hard to eat it all. Hungry? Instead of grabbing a snack, I grab one of the 5 apples I got this week. Lunch time? Instead of going to McD's drive-thru while Z's at gym camp, I go home and make a spinach salad.
It's harder to eat it all fast enough now, since it's mostly just Z and myself eating at home. Hubby's new job caters lunch for their employees, so he's no longer packing leftovers. And since he's expected to stay until 7pm every night, he usually snacks or has some of the lunch leftovers he squirreled away and isn't hungry for dinner when he gets home. So if I make one big batch of something in the crock-pot, it serves as my dinner all week. Last year I was trying a few new recipes each week, to cook up our strange new ingredients. This year I pick one to crock-pot, and then figure out how Z and I can eat the rest.
We had some other errands to run that day as well, so I packed a snack in one of our EasyLunchboxes to sustain her through the afternoon. Trader Joe's Organic Olive Oil popcorn, home-made kale chips, and grapes.
On this particular day, she had birthday money sent by Gramma and Grandpa that had arrived the day before. $20! When she went to Toys R Us/Babies R Us a week earlier with Daddy to get something or other for the baby, there had been a purple UglyDoll she'd really wanted. For $20. So she was beyond thrilled when she opened her birthday card and money fell out, and we told her how much it was and that it was hers to spend on whatever she wanted. So we swung by TRU while we were out and about. While clutching the $20 large purple UglyDoll, she saw a smaller pink bunny-looking one for $11. I explained that she couldn't have both. However... there was also a smaller version of the purple one for $11. And with the $3 off coupon that Toys R Us had sent her for her birthday (I had signed her up for their birthday club years ago) she could buy both. SOLD!
At the farm, if she's interested, I let her help choose the food for our share. Some are by weight, so she adds more to the scale and we watch the numbers until it matches the number I've told her to go to.
There have been several instances where we have a choice, like with the lettuces or greens, and can pick one bunch or head from a variety of options. And she always picks the one I really don't want. She's also not as discerning as I'd like when choosing foods, such as apples. She just grabs our allotted number and dumps them in the bag, without checking for soft spots or discolorations or anything. I want her to stay involved in the process, so I allow her decisions to stand, even if I'm not looking forward to eating them.
For our CSA share, I pay $19 per week, and everything is certified organic. I also get 10% off any additional stuff at their farm stand.
June CSA Haul, Week 1:
0.5 lb asparagus [finally cooked it up after Week 4 pick-up]
1 small green garlic [subbed for garlic in my Cilantro Chicken crock-pot dinner]
0.3 lb spinach [finally ate it all by Week 4!]
1 bunch lettuce (I chose the smallest-looking head of mystery lettuce) [ate most of it before it went bad]
1 bunch greens (we chose Italian kale) [Made kale chips with maybe half of it. The rest went bad]
1/2 pint strawberries [inhaled by Z on the drive home]
5 apples [eaten by week 4]
Bought: carrot, yellow sweet potato and orange sweet potato (per Z's request,) large jar of local raw honey, bunch of cilantro
Made: Cilantro Chicken, Cinnamon-sugar Sweet Potato Chips, Kale Chips (although the Italian Kale was a disappointment. Most of them burned, and the ones that didn't had a different texture. I wasn't a fan, but Princess loved them. Put enough salt on a slug and she'd eat it!)
June CSA Haul, Week 2:
0.4 lb sugar snap peas [finished off in a little over a week]
3 green garlic [subbed 1 for garlic and onions in a crock-pot dinner. Still have 2]
1 bunch radish (she chose white) [roasted with potatoes after Week 2 pick-up]
0.6 lb spinach [finished off by Week 4]
1 head lettuce (I chose red lettuce) [rotted before it occurred to me to just give it away]
1 bunch greens (she chose mustard greens) [used in a crock pot dinner]
1/2 pint strawberries [polished off by Z on the drive home]
3 apples [bedtime snacks for Z]
Bought: nothing extra
June CSA Haul, Week 3:
0.6 lb snow or sugar snap peas (she chose half of each) [she ate most of the snow peas. Still working on the rest]
1 bunch radish (I chose red) [roasted with white but used in a dip]
0.4 lb Rainier cherries [eaten in various lunches and snacks]
0.4 lb spinach [finished it off after week 4 pick-up]
1 head mini lettuce [still working on it]
1 bunch Greens (we chose kale) [made Kale Chips after week 4 pick-up]
1 pint strawberries [slowly dished out throughout the week in lunches and snacks]
5 apples [bedtime snacks]
Bought: tiny artichoke to try, loaf of rosemary artisan bread; got a few leaves of basil for free
Made: Roasted seasoned radishes and potatoes, Pink Dip (radish-cream cheese spread)
June CSA Haul, Week 4:
1 lb snow or sugar snap peas (I went with an 80/20 mix)
1 kohlrabi
1 head bok choy [gave to Nana]
0.6 lb rainier cherries
0.5 lb carrots [super cute little stubby ones!]
1 bunch spinach
1 head mini lettuce [gave to Nana]
1 bunch scallions
1 bunch greens (chose mustard greens) [gave to Nana]
2 apples
Bought: some special priced large carrots with splits in them, a loaf of rosemary artisan bread, and a pint of white raspberries. The raspberries were for a red-white-blue lunch, but she gobbled them all down in one sitting about 2.5 seconds after arriving home from "Bring Your Child(ren) to Work Day" at Daddy's work. I don't even know how she saw them up on the stove where I was guarding them.
Made: Roasted asparagus, Kale Chips. Will probably try my Veggie-Ham Casserole again with the kohlrabi plus some chopped Canadian bacon I have in the freezer left over from teacher appreciation lunches.
It's awesome that you get her so involved in picking :) Kidlet is still learning the dontpicknastyapples lesson lol. Wonder when that one will finally stick!
ReplyDeleteI don't know your kid. But you could think of changing her choices in another way: Teaching her how to make better choices.
ReplyDeleteShow her what to look for on fruits. Make suggestions for vegetables that you'll be more likely to eat. Etc.