Our first Farmer's Market Saturday!

We've been a little late getting to the St. Paul Farmer's Market this season because of the abundance of veggies we get through our CSA each week. However, we were getting low on chicken, wanted to start buying milk from a dairy farmer, and the kids ate all the radishes before I got any. So, to market we went. We got there around 10:00 and it was really packed. Parking was tough, but there's a free lot just to the east of the market on E. 5th and Broadway that usually has some spots if you have some patience.

If you are looking for plants to add to your own veggie garden, please consider the market. I saw every herb imaginable, tomato plants (from seedlings to huge potted monsters complete with cages) rhubarb plants, blueberry bushes, squash, well, just about everything including flowers and vines.
Our first stop was the Lovetree Farmstead Cheese stand. They have goat's milk cheese that you MUST try and they always have samples of their cheeses available for you to try. We always make a few laps around to see what grabs our attention and there were certainly some gorgeous veggies this morning. We immediately bought some snow pea pods then spent the rest of the morning snacking on them as we found our chicken and eggs, milk, radishes, onions, bean sprouts, and tomatoes (hot house grown from someone in Wisconsin. We were weak. We couldn't resist.) Then, we bought the kids some kettle corn, dropped the food off at home, and spent the rest of the morning at the park. DH has a pork loin smoking in the grill that we're having with grilled asparagus, grilled onions, and Trader Joe's Harvest Grain Blend made with the saute greens blend from our CSA. Can't wait.

Why I love being a part of a CSA

So, I know. It's only the fourth week of being in our CSA through Harmony Valley Farms, but I am already in love with it. Given the opportunity, I would not willingly purchase sorrel, burdock, ramps, sunchokes, or black radish. It's not that I don't love veggies having briefly flirted with vegetarianism before falling in love with a hard core meat-eater. I just probably wouldn't spend the money on so many untried items on a whim. Enter the CSA. Each week I get the produce that they've grown. I've already bought the share so I feel very obligated to try and find ways to use things I've never cooked with before. I learned a few weeks ago that sunchokes are excellent when tossed with parsnips, potatoes, olive oil, and seasonings and roasted. They're even better eaten raw with ranch dressing. My kids ate them tonight and loved them. I also learned that I don't like sorrel. At all. Like, I won't even swallow it. Fortunately, however, a neighbor loved it in the chicken and Minnesota wild rice soup I made. Burdock is excellent when shaved with a vegetable peeler and deep fried like chips, but not as good thicker like fries. Ramps are so freaking good I can hardly stand it. They taste like a cross between onions and garlic. You can chop up the leaves and throw them into your salad, you can saute the white part too. Mac made a dish with spaghetti and ramps from a Mario Batali recipe that made the house smell incredible long after the dishes had been licked clean. And, truly, happiness is hearing your 3-year old say as he bites into the first asparagus of the season, "Mommy, I like this tree!" In times when french fries are the most recognized vegetable to preschoolers, we owe it to our families and to our farms to teach children (and adults) to eat their veggies. The added benefit of belonging to a CSA is that you get the chance to visit the farm and see how they grow your food. How refreshing for food to go from the ground, into a box, then onto the grill. That's fine dining, in my opinion.

Here we go folks...

Well ladies and gents, here it is. M&M's random musings on all that is occurring in our lives. Just the information that you all needed to survive another day. In order to differentiate who will be posting, I am thinking that there will be a color and/or font change indicating who is posting. I am posting first, so I get dibs on Trebuchet.

We originally wanted to start this to keep track of our CSA shares, but it has taken 4 weeks to get this going. Here are the pictures of the ones that we have received so far...

Week One
Overwintered Parsnips
Red Sunchokes
Ramps
Sorrel
Overwintered Spinach
Rhubarb
Burdock
Chives
Black Radish
Decorative Dogwood Bunches

Week Two...This included our Week 1 of our 4 week Cheese CSA which Included a Cheddar, Blue and Mozzarella
Asparagus
Chives
Ramps
Parsnip
Sunchoke
Arugula
Spinach
Black radish
Salad mix and
Sorrel

Week Three
Asparagus
Green garlic
Egyptian Walking onion
Parsnip
Sunchoke
Spinach
Spring radish
Salad mix
Rhubarb
Sauté Mix
Ramps
Garden Herb Pack-Replantable Herbs that contained Rosemary, Thyme, Savory, Oregano, Sage, Giant of Italy Parsley, Basil (x2) and Krausa Parsley.


Week Four- Including our second week of the Cheese CSA (Mozzarella, Roasted Carrot-Spanish Onion and Dill Cheddar and a Fresh Brebis with Garlic)...
Green garlic
Green onion
Parsnips
Sunchokes
Spinach
Salad mix
Spring radish
Pea vine
Rhubarb
Asparagus
Hon tsai tai


That's it for now folks. I cannot promise that this will be a regular thing for us, it will probably be infrequent@best.