Greetings readers!
I am finally back to activity after a couple of months being downed by back spasms, which was not fun I’ll have you know. I’ve always thought I could easily count on my body, but it turns out if you ignore it, it’ll start shouting. Message received, Body. Back to yoga and forward into Pilates (which I believe was instrumental in my relatively speedy recovery) and other modes of self-care.
One of the favored methods of self-care, of course, is delicious, local, and/or organic food. Being so much less than fully functional also kept me from my time at South Shore Organics, helping out with the packing of boxes of delivered local and organic produce. Finally, I’m back! I don’t have a flex schedule now that school’s back, so Wednesday nights I go down and help instead. All of two, anyway; Halloween’s night of packing was postponed so farmers had more time to harvest their crops after Hurricane or Superstorm Sandy hit us this week. We didn’t get much damage here in MA, thankfully, but watching my home state and childhood beaches suffer its aftermath has been…harrowing. I have been thinking about all my friends and loved ones in the tri-state area constantly, wishing them safety and recovery.
But I digress. Allow me to distract instead!
Food, glorious food; a rainbow in your bounty! Check out all these beauties:
That’s just one week’s box. Here are some of the next week’s box.
The butternut and the big orange one (name unknown to me) I had from the last box. With the second box we added a favorite, spaghetti squash – pale and oval there on top, and a celebration squash, I think it’s called, all festive and stripey on the left.
I am keeping them outside so they stay fresh. I am trying to figure out how to create cold storage for the winter without a garage or cold corner of my basement so I can keep food longer. I am pondering a large tupperware with a blanket, and maybe a second smaller tupperware inside it to create some insulation, and leaving it on the porch. Tips, anyone??
These are watermelon radishes, called so because they are colored with a whitish-green ring around the outside and a bright fuschia center, like a watermelon. They’ve even got a slightly sweet taste at first bite, tempering the bitterness that is prevalent in radishes and turnips. Pam at SSO said her favorite thing to do with them was slice them onto a sandwich. This was DE-licious. I will take a picture of the inside next time I cut one open, promise.
There’s something you need to know about the peppers that are in this photo: I got them a week and a half ago!
Look any worse for the wear? No? “What’s your secret, Kate?” you ask? I am happy to share!
First, you’ll see to the right a plastic bag; this is where the peppers have been. But it’s not just any regular plastic bag – it is a Debbie Meyer green bag. These work, I assure you! The first time I used them, I kept fresh parsley for three weeks without any wilting, discoloring or loss of taste. I was very impressed! So I recently got a new batch to store the season’s bounty. I also just noticed their website has many other fascinating products – I’ll have to shop more. I’ve already tried the bread bags and they work, too!
And I added a new product from another local entrepreneur called Fresh Paper. The company is called Fenugreen.
The product’s makers claim that this piece of paper, which looks like a quarter of a paper towel, keeps produce fresh 2-4 times longer, organically. The secret is a blend of organic spices, particularly fenugreek – a legume that has incredible antibacterial properties. I stuck it in with all the fruits and veggies and it seems to be working great. It also says it doesn’t have to be in a bag, so I put it in the basket with the squashes and the onions.
last of the season’s local corn!
Here was the most exciting new experience from this latest batch, the Hen of the Woods mushroom!
I think it grows out of the side of trees, or logs, as you can sort of visualize with this angle:
I didn’t know what it would be more like, woody shiitake or meaty portabella – it seemed to be a lovely combination of the two. I cut about a third of it up to add to Fabulous Beef Quickie, a dear family recipe, which I’ve likely mentioned before.
It’s called ‘Quickie’ because it takes ten minutes to throw together some stew beef, cream of mushroom, red wine, salt, garlic, spices and mushrooms. Put it over egg noodles and voila – a lovely cool weather dinner. Plus excellent leftovers. It does take three hours to slow cook, so the husband likes to call it Fabulous Beef Slowie. He does, however, savor the smell of one of his favorite wife dishes wafting through the house on a chilly afternoon. So the joke, and he, are allowed to live…
That’s all for now from our little homestead. Soon up, the seed saving I’ve been attempting from my moderately successful gardening season.
Until then, eat local, eat fresh, eat hearty!
green apothecary 