The challenge starts today and is on until Saturday, March 31st, 2012.

My local food zone is about 100 miles. For a few ingredients, I may reach beyond the local and tap the regional food shed (the rest of New England and upstate NY). My general rule all the time is if it grows in my food shed, I’ll get it in my food shed. If it doesn’t grow here, I’ll get it from the nearest, most responsible source. My specific exceptions are oils, coffee, chocolate, spices, baking ingredients like baking powder, baking soda, and yeast, and tropical and citrus fruits.

I am really looking forward to this year. After all these years of eating locally all the time, finding the food is not the most challenging aspect. There are far more winter farmers markets and open farm stands than there used to be. (I like to think it’s thanks to us!) My biggest challenge is time. My favorite winter meals require hours of slow and low cooking. When that can’t happen, I default to frittatas. In the end, local is local!

After all these years, it is still fun and interesting. I like learning from other folks and their ideas help me avoid repetitive food syndrome. I’m excited about the new people. As people give this a try, they realize that putting together one local meal a week is supremely achievable.

Good luck to all the participants!

If you’re still thinking about it, you have until December 4 to join!

• 2 acorn squash
• 1 butternut squash
• 1-2 spaghetti squash
• 1 orange cauliflower
• 1 bag of salad mix
• 1 bag of sweet potatoes
• 1 bag of bok choy
• 4 peppers, one of each color

This was a fabulous CSA season. We survived hurricane Irene as well as a a number of weeks with many successive rainy days having overcast windless days in between. The effect on the crops was devastating. Despite the elements, Patti and Al managed to deliver a respectable bounty each week. This was definitely a challenging year to be a farmer!

Although the CSA is over, the farm stand at Sport Hill Farm remains open throughout the Fall.

• 1 bag of green beans
• 1 bag of potatoes
• 1 watermelon
• 1 eggplant
• 2 leeks
• 2 tomatoes
• 3 peppers
• 1 zucchini
• 1 bunch of kale

Looking forward to some more camponata, giambotta, or ratatouille.

• 1 dozen ears of corn
• 1 bag of cherry tomatoes
• 1 head of cabbage
• 1 bunch of kale
• 4 red tomatoes
• 2 yellow tomatoes
• 1 cucumber
• 1 bag of onions and garlic
• 4 squash

From the outset, I put by 10 ears of corn for the winter in my very own Sport Hill/Late Bloomers niblets. There is nothing on Earth like having sweet corn in the  middle of January (with a few feet of snow outside) to improve your mood. If everyone put up some sweet corn, we could wipe out Seasonal Affective Disorder in our lifetime.

Astute observers will notice two heads of cabbage in the picture when the CSA share of the week listed one head. That’s because the eater and the farmer are truly partners. My first attempt at fermenting cabbage into sauerkraut didn’t work out. With me having a few new ideas to try out, my farmer stepped in as my full partner in this experiment and invested a head of cabbage into the second trial. Like the CSA, if it works out, she gets half of the sauerkraut. If it fails, we both get nothing (except experiential education).

The Maple Bank Farm folks are definitely the ringleaders of the jocularity.

Notice Jenny's bling: a real garlic scape.

Daffodil Hill Growers grew the first hot peppers I’ve seen at the markets this season (thanks to a mislabeled seed packet).

These have a nice heat zing, even without the seeds.

Don Taylor Farms of Danbury brought the first sweet corn of the season, grown in Windsor, CT.

You had to go to the Maple Bank Farm stand to get these beauties.

For those not acquainted with the seasonal treat known as squash blossoms, just dip the flowers in a little batter and pan-fry in some olive oil until golden brown.

And after a hard day of grocery shopping/foraging, time to kick back and enjoy.

Not local, not real, but definitely real local fun.

The Woodbury SummerFest concert, with the Cast of Beatlemania and the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra, was held outdoors at Hollow Park in Woodbury, CT.

For the picnic dinner, I brought egg salad made from Woodbury Laid Eggs, a baguette from Ovens of France, an assortment of Cato Corner Farm cheeses, North Fork potato chips (fromArtisan Made, Northeast), and Sharpe Hill‘s Cabernet Franc wine.

• 1 bag of beets
• 1 bunch of Swiss chard
• 1 head of escarole
• 1 head of lettuce
• 1 bag of broccoli
• 1 [big] zucchini
• 1 summer squash
• 1 head of bok choy
• 1 qt strawberries (a bonus freebie, from a NY farm)

It’s an interesting collection and I hope to make equally interesting meals.

I’m thrilled the escarole is still growing. And we’re just getting started with the squash, The summer squash from last week was excellent sliced and lightly sautéed with some garlic scapes and olive oil and a little salt and pepper. It was sweet tasting and delicious!

Still, I am an eater and a darn good one at that. So far, I’ve tried a pie crust and made little tarts and a quiche and was really happy with how those came out.

While researching Red Fife, I came upon these biscuits. They look delicious and even better, the recipe is incredibly simple.So, I made them:

They were really good! Next time, I’ll use a little more salt, a little more butter and less milk. I used half Red Fife and half Soft White Winter Wheat from Wild Hive.

Okay, so all of that’s fine and well, but the real test for wheat is macaroni (or if you prefer, pasta). So, I made some of that too. This time, I used 100% Red Fife. The dough handled well (for not being durum semolina).

I tossed the fettuccine noodles with broccoli sautéed in olive oil with garlic scapes. The taste and texture were spot on—hearty but without that cardboard whole wheat taste. It tasted like macaroni!

Sources

• Red Fife wheat from Curtis Eck near Kent, CT
• eggs, broccoli, and garlic scapes from Sport Hill Farm
• olive oil from Italy (from my grove—I know, I still owe you that post)

Definitely something to do again.

Okay Lisa, the local Red Fife wheat passed all of my tests. Where can I get more?

Broccoli lettuce soup!

The pie crust had a great flavor—my new flour mix is a winning combo. The soup was interesting and tasted mostly like coconut.

Sources

pie shell

• Red Fife flour from Curtis Eck (HT Lisa) and Soft White Winter Wheat flour from Wild Hive
• butter from Ronnybrook
  

quiche

• 1-1/2 Tbsp butter from Ronnybrook
• 2 small chopped spring onions from Stone Gardens Farm
• 1-1/2 chopped garlic scapes from Sport Hill Farm
• 2 cups chopped broccoli from Sport Hill Farm
• 1-1/2 cups Pleasant Son cheese from Sankow’s Beaver Brook
• 5 eggs from the Organic Diva in Bethlehem, CT
• 1-1/ cups (raw) milk from Stone Wall Dairy, Cornwall Bridge, CT

soup

• coconut oil from far, far away
• spring onion from Stone Gardens Farm
• broccoli and Red Butterhead lettuce from Sport Hill Farm
• dollop of yogurt from Arethusa Farm Dairy
• croutons made from Bantam Bread Local Loaf

CSA Week 3 Wrap Up

Or, where did all of that food go?

The broccoli rabe (or rapini, if you prefer) was the first to go! Here it is, going down for the wilt with the garlic scapes, sauteed in olive oil.

Patti gave me a great idea for lettuce: chicken salad wraps. Here’s my chicken salad (chicken from Stone Gardens Farm) wrapped in Patti’s Red Butterhead lettuce.

And of course, there was the escarole and bean soup (along with the soup on a crostini).

Fantastic! I love escarole. Thanks for growing it, Patti.  (Escarole and Bean soup recipe here.)

If the first day of summer means means no more soup for a season, you can make these little appetizers.

Cook the beans and the escarole as usual and purée each separately. Spread in layers on toasted baguette slices. Tastes like the soup, with the crusty bread included!

Speaking of local wheat, Lisa of Goatboy Soaps (knowing my affection for the same) shared some Connecticut grown wheat with me to try out. It’s an heirloom White Red Fife wheat grown by Curtis Eck near Kent, CT. Red Fife was popular in North America during the 19th century but nearly went extinct after World War II. Canadian farmers are largely responsible for the Red Fife movement and its resurgence.

As flours go, the Red Fife is “heavy” and Ecks suggests cutting it 1 part Red Fife to 3 parts all-purpose flour.

My first “trial” was with these little tart-like treats.

The shell is a standard butter pie crust recipe using half Red Fife from Curtis Eck and half Soft White Winter Wheat from Wild Hive. The filling is Apple Pie Jam and Peach Jam from Sara at Daffodil Growers.

The crust really worked out. The taste and the texture were just fine.

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