CSA- week two

I just realized that in my haste to dive into my share last week that I forgot to mention that the CSA that I am a member of is the Sunnyside CSA, located in Sunnyside, Queens. It is in its second year, and that fact that we have doubled our membership is really exciting and speaks to the growing awareness of food related issues and the demand for local and sustainably raised foods in our (very diverse) community. Our food is supplied by the Golden Earthworm Organic Farm
located on the north-fork of Long Island, and they supply several CSAs in the area. I will hopefully remember to discuss more about both the CSA and the farm in the coming weeks.

Well, the second week's share does not disappoint with another large bounty so early in the season - it really is so exciting! I was hoping for some rhubarb this week, but Matt (the farmer, who was at the delivery this week) mentioned that there just wasn't enough, but we will be getting it next week (we better...).

This week we received: a head of romain, a small bunch of broccoli, a head of boston lettuce, toscano kale, a bunch of (very beautiful) rainbow chard, and a basket of (scrumptious) strawberries. I still haven't quite made it through last week's share, but will be making some pesto with my lingering arugula. In order to alleviate a little anxiety about using all of these greens I have decided to start thinking about putting some food by for the winter. This was a real treat last winter with the roasted tomatoes, and a great way to make sure you don't waste any of the yummy food in your share.

Today I decided to save the kale for the winter. This is great when I am getting to that point (which is hard to imagine this time of year) when I am really craving greens and kind of sick of root veggies. Fortunately kale freezes really well and it actually makes it even more tender when you are ready to prepare it. To prepare the kale I carefully clean each leaf with a little water (I did find a critter I was happy to be rid of) and shake off the excess, but I don't dry it. I give the kale a rough chop and put it in a zip top freezer bag trying to squeeze out as much air as possible. Then its ready for the freezer and hardly takes up any room at all. ...I'll be glad in February :)