Friday's Haul

We switched to Friday's so we could use more of the veggies on the weekend, rather than during hectic weekdays. The farm was happy to have more Friday shareholders, and Purple Pregger Monkey and I agreed that we weren't gone too many weekends over the summer to make it a hassle.

No photos cuz I was a grumpy girl last night and just wanted to get everything washed and put away.

In the Bins:
cabbage (us)
summer squash (split)
radishes or turnips (turnips, to PPM)
red beets (us)
celery (split)
kale (split)
spring greens (us, cuz I cannot get enough salad these days!)
lettuce heads (to PPM)
scallions (to PPM)
cucumber (to PPM)
garlic scapes (us)

Pick your own:
all the herbs from previous weeks (I took more chamomile, but that is all)
lavender
flowers (which I picked for PPM, who was having a bad day)


Taking advice from a wizened CSA pal of mine, I take care with my greens. I bought this AMAZING salad spinner, by Starfrit, to make the whole process easier.

1. Trim and cut the tough greens, like the kale this week, into whatever size you need/want them to be.
2. Dunk them in a large bowl of ice-cold water and leave for 5-10 minutes (or 2, if you're impatient like me, but longer if you really want them to last without getting wilty). Give them a whirl to wash them too.
3. Dump the bowl of water and greens into the salad spinner. Pick up the inner strainer (watch, it'll be very very drippy!), and use your third and fourth hands (or a friend) to dump the outer bowl's water contents back into your original soaking/washing bowl (re-use it!!!)
4. Spin for 5-10 seconds, dump any water, then spin again.
5. Place the greens in a paper towel-lined tupperware and refrigerate. If I can get my hands on some cheap light linen, I think I'll try to do that instead of paper towels. I also believe that the tupperware ought to be somewhat breathable, rather than air-tight.

I also put my celery in a glass of water to keep them hydrated for now. No food coloring :)
The cabbage went in a lettuce tupperware, lined with a damp paper towel.
The chamomile and garlic scapes went in the container with the leftover thyme from last week.
The salad greens got spun dry (they were pretty soaking wet, but even still one pound of them was a full grocery bag!) and put into lined containers.

Any tips on keeping produce fresh? Summer squash? Anything I've gone over and done wrong?

Much Love,
Able-Bodied Girl