It was hoppin'

As my normal Tuesday farm adventure was rained (and, apparently, hailed) out, I went to my weekly vegetable pick up today. The place was mobbed! It seemed that everyone skipped on Tuesday. There were little kids, "I eat all the good strawberries I find mom...", moms and dads, 20-somethings like me, and grandmas. And so the strawberry field was kind of funny. Butts in the air everyone! Picking stuff is always an adventure. I gave lots of pea-picking advice to my fellow harvesters, but they mostly got frustrated, "I don't see anything to pick." You have to look low on the vines and dig through the leaves...there's more there I swear!

The veggie haul is starting to pick up. Today I got:
- 1 bag of salad mix. I took mizuna for all of it.
- 2 heads of lettuce.
- 8 stalks of swiss chard.
- 6 Hakurei turnips.
- 1 handful of bok choy.
- 2 summer squash. I took one zucchini and one pat-a-pan squash, which is one of my favorite squashes ever with olive oil and garlic.
- 2 handfuls of garlic scapes, which are the curly-q tops to the garlic that you cut off to promote bulb growth. They taste like mild garlic, rather like chives.
- 2 kohlrabi. Kohlrabi is German for "cabbage turnip." If you've never seen one, this is the best way to describe it. Last year we failed to use the kohlrabi, but this year we have recipes.
- 1/2 pint of peas.
- 1 quart of strawberries, still going strong.
- A few sprigs of lavender.
- A few sprigs of winter savory.
- A handful of basil.

I also purchased some local honey and an herbed vinegar that the local youth from Boston make on Food Project sites. Apparently there will be 64 high school summer youth from Boston coming this week to help weed and work on the farm. It's the Food Project's Summer Interns and Summer Youth Program (SYP) that started 17 years ago. The newsletter says that it's the first job for many of them, and the first time most have been on a farm. They learn abuot food production, server food at soup kitchens, and work at the farmers market. This is yet another reason why I really like The Food Project.

The Food Project is selling tickets to a special Cirque du Soleil performance. Tickets are $100, so I fear I can't quite swing it this year after buying a condo. It sounds like good times, though. 100% of proceeds go to the Food Project programs.

Speaking of the new condo, when I got here I found that my stove just didn't quite work right. Circa approximately 1970, it was a lovely two-toned brown and had five button settings for each burner. But the settings did not all work. I bought a lovely new stove from Home Depot, in the hopes that it will encourage me to keep cooking. So far, so good. I'm going to try and tackle a savory bread pudding at some point. Maybe I'll make it with the kohlrabi!

Elena's response, "Why?"