Sagetribe- Adventures From Our Village

CSA Week 2

It's feeling like Christmas or harvastmas each Saturday...really...I love, love, love filling our bags with whatever our farmers have harvested. I love that everything is so green and fresh and has only traveled from the farm (right outside of Bloomington), to Bloomington, to our home, less than five miles away. 

We have great farmers in this area. Great farmers, many of whom work very hard to make sure the food is "clean", and by clean I do not mean dirt free, because dirt, it turns out, is what vegetables grow in (ahh...) and bugs, it also turns out, live in dirt, so yes, occasionally a green caterpillar is enjoying my collards and must be tossed outside before we saute them up; no, by clean I mean, they are not shiny or huge because something unclean, like a chemical, has been sprayed on them. 

Turns out though, sadly, that while it is strawberry season here, most of the strawberries are NOT clean. 

After making three trips around the farmer's market with the wee-est one in tow, who wanted to know why we couldn't just buy those strawberries or THOSE, I finally found

HOORAY! we both shouted, happily eating them as we walked back to the car. These guys are really porous; they do not have hard rinds to keep the chemicals out. So thankful to Life Farms for growing some clean ones!

This week we're still using up last week's share along with this week's. Thankfully, it has all kept nicely. 

Our menu:

Potluck with Brown Rice Lemon Vinaigrette Salad

Grilled Chicken and veggies with collards

Leftover Grilled Chicken turned into Stroganoff (so we can use all those mushrooms) and salad (Local folks, Bfoods has their sour cream on sale:)

Tacos and salad

Roasted Veggie Soup (roast, puree; it's soup)

Veggie Fritatta (our lovely weekly stand by) with bacon :) Gotta get in the MEAT before my Vegan cleanse in a week!

Happy harvesting and eating clean food to you!

 

 

 

 

CSA! Begins

The last two weeks have been somewhat killer for me- all good things, but I've been simply too busy, and each night after work another obligation or outing has been present. Our down time has been nonexistent, and sadly my time with the kids and BC, the same. With three weeks until school is out, I'm not counting on things to get too slow just yet, although this weekend they have been slow-er. 

Sunday hiking, walks on campus, and reading a wonderful new book were our re-charge weekend plans (blog posts to come), but perhaps one of the most exciting parts of the weekend was

We're trying a new farm this year- Getty's Creek- a friend from writing class, whose farm just started a CSA this year, and I couldn't be more thrilled with our first "half" share. Nothing "half" about it! In fact other than eggs and meat, we were set market wise. For you local readers, their share list is full, but last year our CSA was through Life Farms; they too were wonderful, and I know they still have shares left if you're in need. I can't tell you enough how much we love our weekly share, and how much better we eat because of it. 

On the menu this week: 

Grilled pork and baby red potatoes with a romain salad (also grilled)

Frittata with shiitakes and asparagus and a red cabbage coleslaw

Brown rice salad with lemon vinaigrette

Pizza- homemade with whatever toppings we have left over

And for that night- whichever it may be- when we are all so overdone, Beanie Weenies because we do love a little pork?? every now and then (organic/hormone free/nitrate free) of course :)

Our dinner ritual (blessing, good food, candle, all of us circled around, the question game- prompted by LC (What food would you be and WHY? What tree would you be and WHY), lots of condiments...) is one of my favorite parts of our day. Now our meals will again be filled with our weekly share. It's nice to know the people who picked our food, nice to know it's grown right around the corner, nice to know next week and the next, all the way through October, we'll have many seasonal foods to enjoy, even when the weeks are crazy, together!

Still Growing

Lots of good things still growing our way!

The pineapple (grown by us for YEARS) was delightful. "The best I've ever tasted" we all said mouths dripping with sweetness. A new one has already sprouted, so in a couple more years, we'll have another! :)

And as for our freezer, well, he or she is no longer growing, but Saturday when I went to the indoor farmers market to pick up our 20lbs of pork and saw all the farmers who come every week, hoping we shoppers buy so they can continue to farm, I thankfully carried our surplus home to be tucked away with ears of summer corn, home made bread, and lots of frozen peppers.  

Here is where we get most of our meat. They have beef, eggs, and chickens too. 

Happy stocking up for winter!

CSA Week 10

This week we turned our plentiful supply of cucumbers into

which in my opinion is a much better way to eat these green friends!

It was easy and inexpensive, and it gave me this serene Little House on the Prairie and I am Woman Hear Me Roar type of feeling.

Yes, I know there are an uncountable amount of people out there who do this all the time. Perhaps it's ironic how much our summer of getting back to basics has made me feel empowered when really I'm simply doing the mundane tasks many have always had to do. My three little quarts of pickles to many would be nothing special- just the start of what one must do to get ready for winter.

But for me, each new thing I bake or can, it's like I'm back in art class paint brush in hand or in composition class getting feedback on my latest short story. It's exhilarating!

My sink is never without piles of dishes, but I'm using the bowls that sat dusty since our wedding shower and the tools I had to have only to never know what to do with them.

I'm finding recipes that once scared me less daunting, and I'm finding this mundane work, quite meditative. I read once that the Dalai Lama said the best way to find inner peace was to wash dishes. While I'm not sure I'll ever love dish washing as much as he proclaims to, I can see a connection. There is a stillness- a calmness in kneading bread or measuring flour. Once a recipe has landed on my table a couple times, there is no need to re-read it, I just go with it. Lost in thoughts here or there, but keeping myself in the moment so I am able to remember the basic steps. 

I'm finding a new patience in cooking. The bread requires me to stay home and return to it time and time again. The pickles needed soaking and simmering. The jars washing and sanitizing. Normally, I would find all of these things a nuisance, sucking time I did not have. I'm finding the time now, because I have it. Soon I will be making the time because it's what I need.

This week the kids and I are making

:: vegetable frittata with asparagus, ham, string beans, roasted potatoes, and mozzarella

:: zucchini bread

:: corn cakes

:: pickles

:: chicken/veggie pasta with cream sauce

Here's to meditative moments in the kitchen and enjoying the mundane a little more!

A Hearty Seasonal Soup

Thankfully it hasn't been TOO hot this summer, so soup in this house is not out of the question. With the big guy out researching, I have a lot of veggies to eat, so this soup was the perfect way to mix them all together and get quick lunches pre-made.

I started out sauteing fresh garlic, carrots, and zucchini in olive oil.

Once soft, I added them

to a pot of simmering tomatoes, red potatoes, and lentils.

I shelled and added fresh peas (which as a child I would have held my nose and gagged, but these are sweet and can be eaten raw and by the handful- which if you shell like me, might take you and hour to get.)

Fresh thyme from my wonderful Aunt Judy went in,

and a whole lot of chard.

The end result was a hearty, delicious soup I enjoyed all week.

I'm not going to lie...

This was the face across the table from me.

Not because of the peas or chard. No it was those evil red tomatoes he loves in pizza sauce and ketchup. This same boy who used to clear our vines, popping cherry tomatoes in his mouth faster than I could run after him making sure he wasn't going to choke, will not eat a tomato with a smile.

So, he politely asked me to make it more like the lentil soup he did like- "You know the kind that's all blended up."

And so this Mama, blended and blended

and maybe those tomatoes, all disguised in the goo, weren't so bad.

Here's to soup in the summer!

CSA Week 7, 8, and 9

It feels like Christmas each Friday when we peek into our white CSA box and discover what we'll be eating during the week.

Each week there is something new. Something we haven't cooked with in a long while, if ever.

Peas and cucumbers are not necessarily new to our pallets, but they are new to our pallets this year- making them that much sweeter and that much easier to devour.

This week, with the big guy away, I'm trying to keep to my cooking rhythm and routine. We're eating smaller meals, but fresh, good ones all the same.

We've made pizza and pesto- not combined- this week anyways.

We've made oatmeal cookies

and tasted each ingredient along the way.

And maybe we're also eating more pizza from birthday parties and take out from our favorite local hot dog joint.
 
Regardless, we're eating together. At parks, the pool, friend's homes, and around our kitchen table, we're munching and chatting.

Mealtime is one of my favorite parts of the day. Perhaps because it's one of the only times I sit, ahem... or perhaps because other than food and each other, there are no distractions. I'll aways be thankful to the grandparents for instilling in us the importance of a family meal, because it doesn't really matter what is in our box each week, it's just nice to be together!

 

We've Been Munching On

Really fresh garlic from the farmer's market,

rainbow chard and sauteed onions

over rainbow pasta with fresh Parmesan cheese.

Collard greens cooked with local bacon (and a side of broccoli for the wee who is still learning how to chew and the other wee one who doesn't think it's fair that the sister doesn't have to eat all these weird things Mom cooks..BUT who would like you to know...
he ate the weirdness all the same).

Fresh peas little hands shelled.

And before we know it, we'll be munching on corn, squash, eggplant, cantaloupes, and yummy things growing just around the bend!

Happy bellies are at Sagetribe!

CSA Week 4,5,6 and New Adventures at Sagetribe

We've rolled rice and beans in collards, chopped mushrooms and onions for frittatas, and sauteed a lot of chard and greens.

We've eaten strawberries by the handful, found little radishes hidden in our mixed greens, and found a new love of food.

We're reading this

We've come to new resolutions and made new commitments.

And we're feeling a new rhythm as spring moves quickly into summer.

If you're reading us for the first time or you're a regular, we ask you join us. Follow us or subscribe to our blog. We'd love to share our new journey with YOU as we step away from what comes easy, but we know is right. 

There will be lots of recipes, gardening tips, local eating ideas, and frugal ways to make bills more simple.

We hope you join us!

Thanks for reading!

Kelly

Our Whirlwind Month of May and Other Joys

Oh, May- You have blessed us with boxes of food that graced our plates with color, added new flavors to our palates, and vitamins (the real kind) to our inner and outer workings.

Just look at those bitty radishes- I think they scream, I'm cute, eat me!

May, you have turned a yard I once scrunched my nose at

to one, that on a most lovely Mother's Day, with all of us outside, playing in the mud, we made a lot better!

Poor Hub! Being tall and having a wife who hangs things by hooks that aren't really in, has it's downfalls...

You also brought

beautiful warm days and nights, little ones who are learning the art of scootering and driving (or crashing), sprinklers, and a family of toads who have laid about a zillion eggs and sing to each other all night.

May, you have been a too busy and exhausted for more words than this, type of month, but you have also been quite joyous. Maybe not as joyous as our wee one's love of shoes, which truly is a love this family of bare feet goers does not understand.

But all the same, May, thank you for our joys!

Written to support Leigh over at Leigh vs. Laundry who's goal is to take over the blogsphere with 52 weeks of happiness.

What made you happy this month?

 

CSA Week 3

This is what's left this week- badly in need of a bath and a home- beets,

Because Sunday we dinned on kale in our lentil soup,

which one of the two LOVED. This is acutally a MORE face.

OK, it's her, I'm pissed and I'm going to bite something face too.

Sadly, this mama did not get her other greens into the fridge fast enough and they turned to slime...lesson learned.

As for the beets, I need to figure out if we can/should eat the leaves. The root part we'll roast again.

Not too creative...I'm in need of time to peruse my cookbooks...two more weeks.

We also got our first issue of CHOPCHOP- a  cooking healthy with kids magazine. It is pretty awesome, much like the lady who introduced me to it. OK, her blog introduced me to it, but it's hard not to feel like you know Catherine Newman. I feel like every mom should be given Waiting For Birdy before they have their second. Really- if you haven't read her, you just must!

Getting back to our FOOD.

We made carrot cupcakes, and it was a WE effort. The little one was NOT to be left out. She scooted the kitchen chair proudly over to the counter

and helped.

He helped (or ate) too.

There was a great amount of tasting.

and some wearing.

We have a magazine full of healthy, if they're anything like the cupcakes- yummy, food to make and most importantly, EAT.

This week we've also dinned on too good to stop eating homemade mac and cheese with broccoli and ham. We're making lemon chicken, egg salad sandwiches, and quesidillas. Pretty easy, comforting stuff to wrap up the last weeks of school.

Happy heathy eating to YOU!