Reusable Shopping Bags from Renewable Resources

I run a CSA type program called a Farm Share Initiative (okay it IS a CSA but I have found when you do a search on Ohio CSA you tend to get a lot of hits for Confederate States of America before Community Supported Agriculture and around here that could mean a lot of PU trucks arriving with full gun racks and confederate flags proudly displayed. Not exactly the crowd I want to attract). I started out the season back in April loading the members shares into non reusable plastic shopping bags (okay, these were all reused several times and came to me used but...). So I got to thinking about the whole carbon foot print thing and the huge and growing plastic island out in the Pacific ocean and decided I needed something other than the reused nonreusable plastic bags to pack the shares into.

I considered buying some sort of plastic tote-styrofoam coolers or storage boxes for the members. But here again this is using virgin plastic (and types that are not easily recyclable). Plus this would be an added cost to the farm which, while profitable (we keep out of debt and get the bills paid as long as we live simply and cheaply), is not raking in the bucks. I also considered buying shopping bags for the members but realized we all have too many such bags in our lives and many are not used.

So I hit on the idea of asking my members to supply their own bags. They could bring to the farm their reusable bags that they are not using. This has been a hit, over 75% of the members have supplied me with bags (I figure the other 25% are not complying as they do not read the weekly newsletters or they bring them but leave them in their vehicle as they would when they go shopping at the grocery store or farmers market, an all too common problem).

But I have noticed something about the reusable shopping bags, unless they are over 5 years old, they are made out of plastic. I think the Whole Foods bags are the worst, but Kroger and Wal-mart ain't much better. Most of the cloth bags I have received are from non food/grocery sources-libraries, universities, churches, etc.. I am assuming that these plastic bags are using recycled plastic, though I do not know this for sure. And if they are using post consumer plastic what % of this kind of plastic in the bags?

But the real question is what has happened to reusable shopping bags being made from natural sources like cotton, kenaf, bamboo etc.?

I know they are out there as the Oxford Uptown Farmers Market uses cotton bags as a premium for their Friends of the Market Program. So why don't the big corps use some truly renewable/natural material for the bags they sell to the public?

Trying something new...

Hello to all after some winter hibernation. Our Winter CSA started up recently, and I am thrilled to be back in the green(s). Oh, and in the tubers. Root veggies, that is. A few weeks ago, my share included some delicious spinach, a lettuce mix, some coveted cilantro, and a green known as mache (a dark green lettuce with a kind of sweet, nutty flavor). We’ve had some awesome salads at my house.

And, 3 lb of Jerusalem artichokes, a.k.a. sunchokes. I’ve never eaten this knobby little tuber before. I half-considered passing it up and just grabbing my greens and heading home. But, my curiosity won out and I decided I’d give them a try. I had to pull out my vegetable bible, The Victory Garden Cookbook. I decided I’d try the Jerusalem Artichoke Soup, since the author Marion Morash claims it is her husband Russ’ favorite choke recipe.

A golden opportunity presented itself when all three of my children were elsewhere for a Saturday evening. They are fine eaters, mind you, but Jerusalem artichoke soup is pushing it even for them. I spent no small amount of time peeling those sunchokes, so I was really hoping I could trust Russ on this one and the soup would be a hit with my husband and me.

And, oh my. It was wonderful. Really tasty. The beauty of belonging to a CSA is that often those gardeners spring something new on you – I have to admit I probably wouldn’t have picked up those sunchokes on my own! Now I’m a fan. And if you’re wondering why they call them Jerusalem artichokes, well, according to Marian, they never came from Jerusalem and they aren’t related to the globe artichoke, though they do taste a bit like them.

Coincidentally, I was reading an article called “The Best Antiaging Foods You’re Not Eating Enough of” in the April issue of More Magazine. Guess what was #10? Yep, sunchokes. Apparently, they’re packed with vitamins A and B, potassium, iron, calcium, and magnesium. A win:win. If you’re looking for the next anti-aging big thing (okay, I’m pushing it), here’s the recipe for the soup. Enjoy!

Jerusalem Artichoke Soup (The Victory Garden Cookbook, Marian Morash)

1 lb. Jerusalem artichokes
Lemon juice
1 medium onion
2 stalks celery
1 leek
2 tbsp butter

1 ½ tbsp flour

3 cups chicken broth

1 cup cream

salt and pepper

½ cup sour cream

Wash, peel, and coarsely dice chokes, dropping them into water acidulated with 2 tbsp lemon juice as you prepare them (this keeps the chokes from turning brown). Chop onion, celery, and leek and cook in butter over low to medium heat for 10 minutes, or until softened. Sprinkle on flour and cook, stirring, for 3 – 5 minutes. Add chokes (remove from lemon water right before adding) and broth and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 15 – 20 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Puree mixture in a blender or processor, and return to saucepan. Add cream and reheat. Season with salt, pepper, and lemon juice to taste, and serve with a spoonful of sour cream on top.

Winter Squash Addiction: A Confession

Okay. I admit it. I can’t walk away from winter squash. I love ‘em. All types. All sizes. My sideboard is filled with pumpkins of varied lineage, also acorns, butternuts, spaghetti squash. And when I go weekly to pick up my winter CSA share, I feel compelled to buy one or two more squash over the few included in the share already. Perhaps it’s a way to stay connected to that bounty of fall, especially now that the stark winter weather is here and the trees are bare. Perhaps it’s because I love to eat any dish or baked good that has pumpkin or winter squash as part of its makeup. Soup, pasta, chili, muffins, pie, cake, pancake, pudding…..oh, stop me now!

Two days before Thanksgiving, my friend Kathleen and I pureed two types of winter squash to make pies. We sliced up a large musque de provence squash (otherwise known as fairytale), and roasted each slice until a fork slipped through the outer skin easily. Then into a food processor, into a custard, and, finally, into a homemade pie crust (courtesy of Kathleen!). We also halved a Long Island Cheese pumpkin (so named because of its resemblance to a wheel of cheese, pictured above) and roasted it. Looking at the two types of puree, it was apparent which would make the better pie. A taste test clinched it. The Long Island cheese puree had a creamy texture, golden color, and a sweeter taste. The fairytale was a more vibrant orange (oh, the beta-carotenes!), but a more watery texture and the taste, though good, wasn’t as sweet as the Long Island. We made pies from both, and while both tasted wonderful (oh, so much better than a pie from that fast-food restaurant I shall not name….), the Long Island Cheese pumpkin pie was heaven!

I am aware that not many people would choose to spend precious hours taste-testing pumpkin varieties right before Thanksgiving, but I skimp on the table decorations. (You guessed it: I put a few of the prettier squash in the center of the table and have done with it!) Anyway, I plan to use the gallons of winter squash puree in my freezer in just about every way I can think of. Kathleen suggested the pumpkin pancakes – I substituted the puree for mashed banana in one of our favorite pancake recipes, added cinnamon and a little ginger, and the kids couldn’t eat enough of them! We’ll make pumpkin bread to hand out to aunts, great aunts, grandparents, etc.. And I’m looking for a good pumpkin scone recipe…..

The one type of winter squash that I don’t puree and freeze is the spaghetti squash. These last a good while – though we’ve been eating ours weekly in a dish, Spaghetti Squash with Sausage Filling, that’s become a family favorite. Below is the spaghetti squash recipe. Enjoy!! I’m off to continue my winter squash odyssey......

Spaghetti Squash with Sausage Filling
1 spaghetti squash (3 ¾ - 4 lb), halved lengthwise and seeded
1 lb bulk Italian sausage
1 cup chopped bell pepper
1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 ½ cups marinara or tomato sauce
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Place squash halves, one at a time, with a little water in microwave safe container with cover slightly askew to allow steam to escape, cook on high for about 8 minutes, or until tender when pierced with a fork. Cool slightly. Meanwhile, sauté sausage, pepper, onion, and garlic in a skillet until sausage browns and vegetables are tender. Break up sausage with spoon. Mix in marinara sauce. Using a fork, pull out squash strands from shells. Mix strands with sausage mixture. Season mixture to taste with salt and pepper. Place in casserole dish and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese (alternately, you can leave skins intact and place filling into the shells for a fun presentation). Bake uncovered in a 400° oven for about 20 minutes, or until thoroughly heated and bubbly.

Transitions

Last week was the final pick-up for my CSA’s summer season. It’s always (I admit) something of a bittersweet time. It’s usually a bit of pressure, once school and all the fall activities start, to find the time to fully embrace the farm experience. And by that, I mean putting in the hours on the farm and putting all those vegetables to good use on the dinner table. (I love to cook from scratch, I love to eat what I cook from scratch, but, let’s face it, it’s a time killer!) I freeze whatever takes minimal processing at this time of year - tomatoes, soybeans, greens, pesto. I have yet to make the foray into canning – though next year is my year. I’m sure of it. Really.

Anyway. Many of the vegetables in my share at this time of year keep for a good while. As I sit here, I’m looking at two Amish pie pumpkins, one very nice-sized musquee de Provence squash (that's the pretty squash pictured above!), a pink banana squash, and three spaghetti squash of a variety known as Hasta la Pasta (just love saying that). I can enjoy those in the weeks, and months, to come. Turnips and sweet potatoes will stick around. So, there’s more to look forward to.

And yet, at last week’s distribution, I found myself lingering. Buying extra. Chatting. One of my fellow sharers remarked how much will have changed when next season starts up in May, 2009. So true. I am a simple person. I can tell when I need to turn off the radio and put down the newspaper. Stop trying to make sense of it all. And head to my kitchen – where things do make sense to me. Not to get too esoteric, but it feeds my soul to create something in the kitchen that looks good, tastes good, and IS good for me. For me, it’s an antidote to the craziness of our 21st century lives. Like I said, I’m simple.

So this year seems like a good year to join the Winter CSA at Turner Farm (it’s a smaller, informal, relaxed version of the summer CSA with mostly greens and root veggies). I have a feeling I’m going to need that regular connection to the good kind of dirt and what grows out of it.

One CSA Sharer's Story

Hi! My name is Jayne. I’ve been a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) sharer for some time now, and I’m going to appear on Val’s Cincinnati Locavore blog from time to time to give you a sense of what it’s like to be a CSA sharer. Below is a little piece I wrote in Sept, 2003 for the Turner Farm CSA newsletter. Tells you where I’ve been on this journey:

One Sharer’s Story……
I became a Turner Farm sharer in 1996 –really through no effort of my own. A friend had seen an article in City Beat about the farm and approached my husband and I about joining together. Seeing it more as an opportunity to get together regularly with some close friends, my husband and I signed on with no predetermined expectations about what it would be like to be a CSA sharer. Seven years and two (and a half) children later, I have found that being a part of Turner Farm continues to enrich my life in a variety of ways, even though those friends have since moved away and my husband has relinquished all sharer responsibilities to me.

Growing up in suburbia, I had little appreciation of the work it takes to grow your own vegetables, let alone run an entire farm. I was more than a little impressed at seeing ripe asparagus and prickly okra on the plant. And I remember a particularly beautiful day in October in one of my first seasons when I was harvesting purple wax beans from the vine. I believe I came close to achieving a state of Zen that day – with the sun on my skin, moving slowly down the row on my little wheeled cart, my mind at peace. Participating in this type of soul-satisfying work was such a welcome change from my usual fast-paced life.

And then there were the vegetables. My novice kitchen had never seen the likes of Swiss chard, okra, turnips, and edible soybeans. Now chard (or “shard” as my daughter calls it) is my family’s favorite vegetable. As I gazed at each week’s variety of veggies, I was forced to seek out new ways to cook them and as a result, I discovered that I love to cook. Who knew? As my family grows, and life seems to consist of more things, more activities, more responsibilities, I’ve found that my connection with Turner Farm has been a wonderful antidote to it all.

Five years later, I’m still here. So while you’re still digesting the little romantic overview above, here’s a few logistics about my CSA: Turner Farm is one of those CSA’s that require all sharers to work a certain number of hours each season (fostering that community part of a CSA). Our summer season runs from May 15 – Oct 15 each year, and we need to work a total of 44 hours, that’s 2 per week. For the past 8 years, I’ve created the shareholder newsletter to fulfill the majority of my work hours. This has worked out well during a period in my life that included three pregnancy-through-toddler stages, when my productivity in the fields was somewhat limited. Now that my kids are old enough to be of some actual help (well, sort of), I’m happy to be back in the dirt on occasion. I pick up my weekly share each Thursday, and that pretty much determines what’s on my dinner table for that week. Turner is a vegetable CSA – we’ve had a couple forays into fruits (raspberries one year, yummy melons another), but the fruit hasn’t been a rousing success so far. That’s fine – the veggies keep me busy enough.

Well, now that I’ve introduced myself – I’ll be back to share more of my adventures as a CSA sharer.