Hi there!
Wow, who knew there were so many Lie To Me fans out there…I can’t believe I didn’t know about this show! I’m excited to get caught up.
It just dawned on me that I forgot to post about our weekly CSA surprises this week, so I did an impromptu photoshoot of the goodies.
First a few words from the farmers from Plan B:
“Hello Everyone,
We hope you’re all taking the heat ok, it is verrrrry hot up here at the farm these days, but our super-tough farm crew is out there working in the heat to weed and harvest the veggies regardless!The crops don’t seem to mind the heat so much, the peas, green beans, and zucchini are just loving it, and taking the opportunity to grow grow grow! We have a great crop of SUGAR SNAP PEAS this year, these are super sweet and have edible pods, so don’t shell them, just eat them whole!
This Week’s Summer Shares Feature:
Asparagus – ON
New Potatoes – Aylmer, ON
Sugar Snap Peas – Plan B – EDIBLE PODS!! (don’t shell these peas.)
Zucchini – Aylmer, ON
Red Leaf Lettuce – Waterloo, ON
Spinach – Waterloo, ON
Flat Leaf Parsley – Plan B
Beets with Tops – Waterloo, ON (tops are edible too!)
Arugula or Tat Soi (bagged) or Purslane (bunched) – Plan B – (all good chopped into salads.) OR Green Onions
Firstly I need to say that I think farmer’s have one of the most underappreciated jobs in the world!
I can’t imagine how exhausted they were this week in the fields during this heat wave!
They deserve to be paid much, much more than they are. When you cringe at the price of organic fruit and vegetables just think how much work it took to get that to your plate. I think many of us forget that organic farming requires a lot more work without the use of pesticides. Farmers have to deal not only with weeds overtaking and killing their crop but they also have to deal with more insects and animals too. My Aunt has an organic garden and she said that she has to spend over 12 hours just to weed her 10ft by 12 ft organic garden and often animals eat a lot of the crop. Sometimes the weeds will grow so quickly they ‘strangle’ the crop and kill the plant. It is hard work to be any kind of farmer, but I think this is especially true for organic farmers. They are truly unsung heroes.
Eric and I are quite frugal with money but the one thing we are willing to spend money on is good quality food!
We have another situation here…
A lot of this is produce from LAST WEEK’s share..eek. Must. eat. more.
Green onions are the new garlic scape, did ya know?
Eric heard about my near fall with the VOO the other morning so he put a crate for me to step up on!
Embarrassing…. :tongue:
This looked like the perfect spot for a veggie glamour shoot…
For all organic vegetables, we definitely are getting out money’s worth each week.
This cost us just $22.50 CAD (it’s a half share)
Personally I think that is a steal for very fresh, organic produce. If we were to buy this at Whole Foods, it would probably be at double this amount if not more.
Fluffy lettuce!!
Ok, back to the situation we have here.
The green onions are seriously out of control! They must be drinking Green Monsters or something because they are growing like weeds!
I put the zucchini next to it so you could have some perspective on how big it is!
I can’t get enough of the green onions in salads lately.
Sugar Snap Peas!
Cutest veggie, hands down.
This was our first time having Sugar Snap Peas and Eric and I both are obsessed now. I love that you can eat the pods. They are so sweet and crunchy and excellent in hummus.
Red Taters. I think I might make my Quick and Easy Potato Soup this weekend.
What Green Monsters are made of…
I can’t wait to try the beet greens. I don’t think I have ever had them before. What to do with them….
Fresh parsley…mmmm.
They also left us with some tips:
- Beets – can be grated fresh onto any salad, adds amazing sweetness
- Parsley – can be chopped and added to any salad or pasta dish at the end, adds a very fresh taste
- Purslane – only in some shares, this is a succulent plant, lemony taste, very high in Omega 3s <—– yes!!!
- Sugar Snap Peas – if you must cook them, they are great just lightly sautéed in any stir fry
Couple questions for you this afternoon:
1) Do you think organic food is priced too high, too low, or just right? Do you think that we pay too much for food in general or not enough?
2) Do you have any fun recipes planned for this weekend or any new foods that you hope to try? Do tell. :biggrin:
Lots of market prep left, see you earrrrrly tomorrow AM for the goodies!
I think organic is expensive, but worth it. It is going to be expensive when the majority of people want cheap food and don’t care where it comes from. It is crazy to me that people don’t think about those kinds of things! If everyone got on board, maybe organic would be the new norm.
BTW, that is a lot of veggies for 2 people for one week. But! I have been known to put back a LOT of veggies.. I could get it done for sure.
Organic produce is expensive when you compare it to non-organic but it is so worth it. Food is too cheap these days. As a student on a budget, I can’t afford to buy organic produce all the time, but I try my best. I also try and get to the farmer’s market becuase I think buying local produce is just as important if not more so than buying organic.
My family has a fairly large garden in our backyard that I suppose is organic (never thought of that before) since we don’t use anything but water and love to maintain it. I have salads every day with veggies straight from my backyard. This is the way to go budget wise as well. We spent about 50 bucks to get it started every year (not including tomato and pepper plants from my grandfather’s greenhouse). 50 bucks for a whole summer of fresh produce!
Thank for sharing the info on the cost of a CSA. I always thought it was out of my price range but 22.50 is affordable to share with roomates! I look forward to see what you do with some of those veggies this week!
I think some foods are definitely overpriced!! I mean, $10 for 150g of rasperries?? hmm… But this might just be because of where I live so I guess it really depends. On the other hand, I recently found organic pumpkin which was actually cheaper than non-organic!! Considering I eat it almost every day (lol yes, I’m addicted) this was a great find. :)
I agree with Chelsea that people should pay more attention to where their food comes from! And also, why isn’t all food organic?
Hi,
Didn’t have the time to read all comments above so don’t know if someone else got to this first:
you can use the beet greens in green monsters. Yes! They work well in the green monsters.
Mmmmmm, beet greens, one of my faves. They’re pretty good prepared any way – I’ve even eaten them raw as a salad. And sugar snap peas are my current favorite raw snacking veggie.
I think the price for organic produce depends on where you’re buying it. At the farmers market and some grocery stores, I think it’s price just right. I also think it’s important to buy only what’s in season, that’s where you can really save!
I’m currently working on vegan “chicken” and dumplings to take to a potluck tomorrow, I hope it turns out well. Have a great day at the market!
Wonderful veg photos – you made the imperfections ‘perfect’. I loveee fresh PEAS!
Those are the cutest peas I have ever seen!
I think organic veg is still priced too high- even though I live in southern Ontario and I imagine it’s cheaper here than in areas where farming is not as common, I have to confess that I’ll still go for cheaper non-organic produce. Hopefully it will become ‘normal’ to be organic soon, and the price will come down!
I have a couple of new things coming up this week, including some sort of recipe with teff which I haven’t found yet but I’m determined to try on Tuesday!
I’m reading Eating Animals right now and am understanding why some foods are so cheap (animal cruelty) so I’m feeling less offended by the cost of food grown with care. But we are a family of two — I feel for larger families.
I’m going try out a new veggie burger and soba salas this weekend and will let my weekly farmers market haul inspire me.
I never thought I’d call a vegetable cute, but those sugar snap peas seriously made me go “Awww” out loud! You’re so lucky to get a CSA share every week. Such amazing produce! I wish we had such availability to organic products in China. :(
Wei-Wei
We have a great Farmers market near my house and I’m ashamed to say I have YET to make it there this summer. Tomorrow is the day, I swear. Peaches and tomatoes, here I come!!
I think organic food, particularly LOCAL organic food, is worth the price.
We’re on our 10th year of our CSA. A few years ago, for fun (being frugal), I priced it out. We did not have a Whole Foods at the time, so for a couple of weeks, I went to the regular grocery store and priced out regular produce.
The price came out to be about the same – back then about $16/week. So, we were paying the same amount for organic local produce as we would at the grocery store for conventional.
The biggest issue for us is that the quality of the CSA produce cannot be beat. Picked fresh, lasts a LOT longer. I just ate last week’s (so, one week old) collard greens, still crisp!
I’m still the frugal queen, but for me, quality of produce is a must. And if you buy in season, you can still feed your family for a reasonable price.
Last night I made vegan pad thai tofu (over rice though). This weekend – big batch of basil pesto, probably some cilantro cashew pasta (also vegan – got a HUGE bunch of cilantro), and a pot of soup. Luckily, June gloom is still here in July, so I can still cook soup.
I’m answering your question from the US perspective, although I’d bet a lot of this is true for Canada also…
Our government spends too much money subsidizing corn and soy to actually make us aware of the price that it should cost, and unfortunately they’re not doing crap to help out the organic farmers that are providing us food at a more real cost. Soda would cost like $10 for a 2 liter bottle if it were priced as it should be, but instead everything fresh & good for you costs that much and people are stuck making decisions about food over money. We’re definitely not familiar enough with the real costs involved with food, and we’re all so used to buying anything we want year round, such as bananas which basically don’t ever come from this continent, let alone your local area. Obviously I still buy bananas, but the fact that they’re often less than $1/lb here seems suspicious if for no other reason than the fact that the labor in Chile and other banana producing countries is crazy cheap compared to US labor.
Your ksin is always glowing, i am SO jealous!! x
Steamed (and then cooled) beet greens are nice in Green Monsters.
OMG- if you haven’t tried this yet, lime and parsely smoothies or juice. SOO thirst quenching! It makes for a very interesting spin on limeade.
I LOVE sugar snap peas. They never make it far from the vine at my house. I’ve never actually used them for anything since I eat them so fast. They’re like candy. hehe
Hi Angela,
I love your site and read daily, but have never commented…
I just had to leave my two cents on the cost of organic produce and food in general. I live in the U.S. so I am speaking from that perspective:
In the U.S. we spend the lowest percentage of our disposable income on food – 9.47 % in 2009 – versus anywhere else in the world! Italians pay 14.4% – South Africa 20.1%
Thanks to the government and food subsidies it is possible to buy really cheap food. (Don’t even get me started on that topic) So no, I don’t believe that we spend too much on food. I think that it is sad that we have the option to pay too little for chemically altered food-like substances. It is my belief that organic food is well worth the price. Whatever price that may be. You are going to pay for it somewhere – with your wallet or with your health. For me it all comes down to my personal beliefs and what industries I want to support with my dollar.
I will paste the link to the Food CPI Table for the U.S. below.
http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/CPIFoodAndExpenditures/Data/Expenditures_tables/table7.htm
Hi Angela! I tried your Banana Soft Serve Vegan Overnight Oats and when I checked them this morning they were very runny, like soup. I followed the recipe exactly, any idea what I might have done wrong? Thanks!
Jennifer
I have a really great and simple salad recipe that I use with fresh beets all the time when they are in season. I just call it my grated red salad, and apart from a couple of key ingredients you can add pretty much anything to it. The proportions are also very flexible and can be adjusted to taste.
About the same quantities of fresh beets, apples and carrots. Scale to your own requirements.
Lemon or lime juice.
Nuts and seeds – I really like pumpkin and sunflower seeds in this, but anything will work.
Dried fruit – sultanas, currants, raisins, or dried cranberries are great, but whatever you have on hand or like.
Other possible vegetables – fresh radishes, Japanese turnips, anything crisp that will hold its shape when grated and can be eaten raw.
Great all of your fresh vegetables and mix them together. The beet will colour everything the most beautiful deep red.
Add any nuts and seeds and give the whole thing a mix.
Taste test. With carrots, apples and beets it will probably be sweet, although depends on the varieties and ages of the vegetables and fruit you have used. Add a little lemon or lime juice to balance it out to your taste.
Serve. I like to put it out surrounded by a border of greens like baby spinach (the beet leaves are also perfect for this).
Enjoy!
Looking at this recipe, it looks very similar to one of your morning juices :-)
I love beets! A really yummy recipe is if you just cook the beets in a big pot of water on the stove and then cut them horizonally into thin slices and stack them with spinach and usually goat cheese but I bet they would still be good minus the goat cheese!