CSA and the Agriculture Support Collective: Remembering the Times

October 28th was our last Plan B CSA box delivery date. Actually, Oct 14th was the official end date for the summer share, but because it came on so suddenly and unexpectedly, I ordered one fall share to soften the blow.

The program went smashingly. Many people were interested in participating, but for 5 of us, our curiosity and appetite took us further, and we formed an Agricultural Support collective and signed up for CSA summer share program. It took a few weeks to figure out the delivery system, having some complications due to the fact that we live in an apartment building that does not have a live person on-site to receive shipments. But with some cooperation and coordination, we all made it work. In the end, we received a summertime's worth of fresh, local, organic fruits and vegetables; the ingredients for an endless number of great meals and memories.

My final CSA box contained tomatoes, red onions, broccoli, boston lettuce, arugula, shiitake mushrooms, apples, shanghai bok choy, leeks and butternut squash.

This transformed into:

Kimchi noodle soup with steamed bok choy
Arugula, tomato and shiitake mushrooms with pasta
Boston lettuce and avocado salad with lime dressing
Tomato and cheese sandwiches
Broccoli, leek and smoked cheddar cheese penne casserole
Vegan, gluten-free apple pancakes
Leek and butternut squash soup (photographed with freshly crocheted red baby booties, *ahemshamelessselfpromotion*)

Thank you, Plan B and Agricultural Support Collective, for making this happen!

Garden Update

The growing season is well underway in Toronto. So far things are looking great, thanks to unseasonably warm weather. Someone even commented that the plants look better now than they did at any point last year.













Agreed.

In fact, the arugula and most of the mustard greens started going to seed, so I harvested the entire plants and made a nice salad for dinner.

First Harvest

Today, I had my first official harvest: 2 arugula leaves. Okay, nothing really to celebrate. But arugula is definitely the head of the balcony class; their long, peppery leaves are the envy of all the other plants which I started from seed.

I also picked some red chard leaves from the seedlings I acquired and planted last weekend. One of the plants was already starting to bolt (going to seed). I read that when leafy edible plants bolt, their leaves turn bitter. So I figured better to chop that baby down and eat it.

These pretty little leaves will do well in a pasta with some oil, onions and mushrooms.