Author Archive | Erin Darling

Weeks 25 & 26 – Resolutions

By Erin Darling on December 29, 2010 in Darling Homemaking

The funny thing about resolutions is that we never keep them. It’s a game we play with ourselves…a sick game where we come up with some unobtainable idea of the perfect “self” that we wish defined us. Resolutions remind us of our shortcomings, our failures, and our faults. And, when we invariably fail at our resolutions, it just reminds us of how pathetic, weak and imperfect humanity can be. (Why am I talking about humanity???) Truly, it reminds us of the weaknesses in ourselves, but in a depressing, shameful way.

I have no interest in a path that leads to self-loathing. Screw resolutions.

Ah…but then there is the path that few complete: the ones that keep their resolutions. Do they truly become better people? Or do they just gain the self-obtained right to think their better than other people? I have no interest in a path that leads to self-righteousness, either. Even if resolutions are able to be kept by some, I still say: screw resolutions!

We have to come to accept certain things about our lives. We are imperfect. We cannot pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps and fix our lives. Sometimes things that are broken stay broken. Sometimes things that hurt never heal. Sometimes weight is never lost. Youth flies out the window like a summer breeze. Death happens every day.

Once you can accept that life isn’t always a walk in the park, you can move on and appreciate what live has to offer. I think that being REAL and LIVING and WARM BLOODED with people is—hands down—more important than appearing perfect. The truth in life is that we all have flaws and we all offend each other, but none of us can pull it alone. We are a community. I believe God is at the heart of that community, and he brings us together to find meaning and comfort in Him.

Now for the practical application: if you’re thinking of making a resolution to eat locally this year, don’t! Don’t do it! Eat locally when you feel like it. Enjoy local produce, meats and cheeses. Get to know your local farmer and create a relationship with him. Let yourself become convicted that supporting local farmers is a good thing to do. But, if you can’t find your own love for eating locally, then stop. You don’t need to support local agriculture in order to save your soul. Root vegetables are not the indulgences of the 21st century. Food feeds the body; the soul is fed elsewhere.

Local sustainable food is good, but self-righteous localvores are idiots. Don’t become one of them. Be empathetic to others; share your food, and your good cheer; promote community and the local economy; however, don’t think that doing any of this will make up for other hurts or flaws in your life, because it won’t. The best it can do is mask them. Don’t hide behind a resolution. Face your life for what it is, and feed each part of your being in the way that it needs to be fed.

By ekwetzel
2010-12-29

WEEK 25 (There is a 1 week winter break for the last week of the year, and no CSA food)
(Top Row)
Potatoes
Cabbage
Carrots
(Middle Row)
Delicata Squash
Shallot
Pears
Apples
Onion
(Bottom Row)
Rainbow Chard
Leeks

*Photo by Molly Morris

Week 24 – Cups Full of Cheer

By Erin Darling on December 18, 2010 in Darling Homemaking

I guess you could have a lot of convictions. I guess you could walk through life with a lot of specific expectations. “The man I marry will be tall, interested in physics, and he will floss.” “I will leave early for work and get there on time.” “I will invest in certain portfolios and receive a certain kind of return on them.”

The thing is, life is unpredictable.

What if the perfect man for you has rotten teeth? What if your car breaks down on the road, or you get an urgent call from your sister who needs help with something? What if the stock market crashes and you lose everything you have invested?

We like lists. We like certainty. We like predictability. Life likes to defy us.

For example, consider the farm. A farmer can prepare her fields well, tend to them properly, and harvest appropriately; however, if the summer is too wet, or there is a killer frost in the Spring, the nature of her harvest changes drastically. At Terry’s Berries, we never know what food we will get when we sign up for a seasonal share of the yield. But we sign up anyways. We commit and pre-pay. Each week when we go to pick up our goodies, it is a new surprise. And we eat whatever bounty finds us.

You can’t go through life making decisions about your future and setting them in stone. What you can do, is decide what kind of attitude you want to have about your life. This is not a conciliatory move. This does not mean you let life run you over, only to say, “’It’s all good; I’ve got my Prozak.” No. What I mean is this: you decide to live a life of joy, then as situations arise – you fall in love; your sister needs you; your life savings are wiped out – you respond to them in a way that defends the way you want to live. Live from the heart out. Live rooted in soul.

Mr. Wetzel and I respect local food, we appreciate fresh food, and we prefer organic and natural farming methods. It is because these values, as well as others, that we make the commitment to eat from our local farms, creameries and butcher shops whenever possible.

We choose to have joy about our food, our finances and our life in general. Joy doesn’t happen by accident. You can’t nuke up a microwavable dish of joy. It’s something you have to cultivate, like a garden. It’s something you have to be attentive to. And, if you defend the joy in your life, it will fill you up.

You are the cup. Be filled up with cheer.

By ekwetzel
2010-12-18

*Photo of girl holding mug, courtesy of Molly Morris.

WEEK 24
(Top row)
Delicata Squash
Turnips
Parsnips
Sunchokes
Carrots
Potatoes
(Middle row)
Beets
Pears
Apples
Brussels Sprouts
Purple Onion
Garlic head
(Bottom row)
Cabbage
2 Leeks
Purple Kale

Costco Cheeses That We Love

By Erin Darling on December 16, 2010 in Darling Homemaking

AUTHOR’S NOTE (4/11/2023): I wrote this blog post over a decade ago. Since then, I’ve started illustrating a story about a little mouse who is searching for her own cheese. You can read the first chapter for FREE right here.

Mr. Wetzel and I love cheese, and we also love a good bargain. This post gives a price comparison for the different cheeses available at our local Costco, and I also have some research to share with you on some of the cheddars available there.

The more I researched the cheeses available at Costco, the more I asked myself if an obsession with raw milk and natural, high quality cheeses is a designation needed solely for American creameries. It seems European creameries don’t care at all about marketing rBST free cheese. It is hard to find them boast of how much pasture their cows graze in. And forget about talk of organic or natural products.

American cheeses are a different story entirely. One look at a product page for Yancy’s Fancy cheeses, and you’re bombarded with stamps on each cheese package touting rBST free cheese. In America, we have to designate our cheeses as natural. Cheesemongers go to great lengths to let cheese lovers know they are local, small, artisan and care about the quality of their goods.

It leaves me wondering if the standard in America is over-industrialization, and if the standard in Europe is locally sourced, carefully crafted, artisan cheeses. In the USA, the bigger the brand, typically it is a sign of decreased cheese quality. Is this also the case in Europe? I will keep digging! For now, this is what I have uncovered:

We Love Beecher’s Cheddar Cheese!

Maybe it’s because Beecher’s is a Washington creamery, and we live 45 minutes away from their home base at Pike Place Market in Seattle. My favorite aspect of Beecher’s cheese is going to their cheese shop and eating fresh cheese curds. In their cheese case, there are dozens of cheeses from Washington and Oregon state creameries. Not only do they make great cheese, they respect it, seem it out, and share it with others.

The three types of Beecher’s available at Costco are:
– No woman cheese
– Marco Polo
– Flagship, 1 year aged

Facts from Beecher’s website:

All Beecher’s products have no rBST added – made exclusively from the milk from a single, local herd of untreated cows. (link)

No raw milk cheese. Beecher’s butter and cheese are made from pasteurized milk.

Beecher’s has a commitment to pure, fully-flavored food, and educating others about pure food (link). How could I expect any less from a Seattle cheesemonger than to be an educating activist? So fitting!

We Love Yancy’s Fancy Cheddar!

The first time Mr. Wetzel and I tasted Yancy’s cheese was at the cheese festival in Pike Place Market, held once a year. After tasting dozens of free cheese samples, Yancy’s was one of our favorites, and one of the only cheeses we took home with us at the end of the day.

I was thrilled to find this cheddar at Costco. Yancy’s is a small creamery in upstate New York. Their cheeses are rBST free. Their cows are grass-fed; according to the website, Yancy’s is dedicated to “utilizing local milk supply, which offers some of the highest quality milk in the United States” (link).
In addition, Yancy’s uses raw milk in their cheeses, where permitted by USA laws (in three of their sharp cheeses, link). That’s right: you can actually buy a delicious, artisan, raw milk cheese from your local Costco superstore. Amazing!

The three Yancy’s cheeses available at Costco are:
– XX-Sharp ‘Ol Timer Tackle Box “Chedda” – all natural raw milk cheese
– Jalapeno & Peppadew
– Smoked Gouda

Who doesn’t love Kerrygold?!

I see it in blogs and I hear it from my friends: Kerrygold is a real winner. So, I want to include it in my list; however, I haven’t had it in a while. I keep buying other artisan brands. Kerrygold Dubliner cheddar is available at Costco.

Is the cheese made with raw milk? I don’t know. Is it rBST free? I can’t figure it out. Natural? Organic? No mention to be found. On their site, Kerrygold boasts, “We rely on a cooperative of small dairy farmers with centuries of cheese-making traditions to turn the rich, sweet milk that is produced into the finest cheese and butter in the world.” (link)

We Love Tillamook Cheddar!

Seriously. I know Tillamook is a big producer. They aren’t considered an artisan cheese company. But compared to other big companies, they do a lot right. And, If the budget is tight, a block of Tillamook can stretch a lot father than a wedge of another, higher quality brand.

Plus, it tastes good.

A lot of good details about Tillamook cow care can be found on their site. Here are the basics:
– The cows are not given artificial growth hormones.
– Tillamook does not require that their cows be pastured, but it is typical for cows to be let out to pasture during warm weather months (March through November)
– Antibiotics are only used when a cow gets sick and needs medical care, which sounds like an uncommon occurrence.

Here’s a chart of the cheeses currently available at our local Costco, along with their prices, followed by pictures of the cheeses. If you have questions or comments, or extra info on Costco cheeses, I invite you to please comment below!

By ekwetzel
2010-12-16

A Story For Cheese Lovers

Do you like cheese? Then you’ll LOVE my children’s story:
Calico Jill and the Search For Cheese!

Beecher’s No Woman Cheese

Beecher’s Marco Polo Cheese

Yancy’s Fancy Jalapeno & Peppadew; Smoked Gouda

Tillamook Pepper Jack

Tillamook Colby Jack

Tillamook Extra Sharp Cheddar

President’s Feta

President’s Chevre

Henri Hutin Brie Couronne

English Coastal Cheddar

English Stilton

Villacenteno Manchego Cheese

Old Amsterdam Aged Gouda

Wensleydale with Cranberries

Champignon Cambozola

Le Delice de Bourgogne

Emmi Le Gruyere

Week 23 – The Sparrows and the Lilies

By Erin Darling on December 11, 2010 in Darling Homemaking

To be honest, I don’t want to write a blog post this week. I’m not sorry I made the commitment to local food or to writing about it. The food is just not inspirational right now. We buy food from a farm. We’re convicted it’s healthy, good for local economy, good for the environment, cost effective, and a slew of other things. But this is not a week of revelations and insights about our wonderful CSA yummies. This is a week where we’re not poets, philosophers or activists. We’re simply eaters, and the food is just our food.

This post isn’t about perseverance. It isn’t about finding a bright side. It isn’t about BS-ing my way into writing meaningfulness. We like our food, but we haven’t been thinking about it much lately. It’s part of our habit, part of our routine. We don’t take it for granted, and we don’t expect it to be more than it is. In its silent, humble status of being, our potatoes are potatoes, our apples are apples, and our leeks are leeks. We don’t need them to impress us. We’re happy with them just the way they are.

Do you know what I have been thinking about this week? My own identity. We’re 23 weeks pregnant this week, and I’m starting to really show. Everything is in flux: my wardrobe, my appetite, my sleeping schedule…even my work schedule and income are changing. Being pregnant is disarming. You lose a lot of self-control and self-reliance, and it’s easy to freak out over how insecure and “not yourself” it can make you feel. I have found the truest way to remain true to myself, to my family and to Christ is to allow the people who love me to help me and care for me.

Which got me thinking about the lilies and the sparrows. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus addresses our tendency to worry (Matthew 6:25-34). He uses the birds and the flowers as examples, explaining that they don’t worry about caring for their needs; God cares for them day in and day out.

This is what I was thinking about: if a sparrow doesn’t care for its own needs, what’s the point of being a sparrow? Well…to be a songbird and sing. And, if a lily doesn’t care for its own needs, what’s the point of being a lily? To be a flower and look pretty. To BE a lily. Therefore, if the point of my existence is not to take care of myself, it leaves me asking: what’s the point of being me? If I can’t take care of myself, if I can’t find my identity in my independence and self-reliance, then how do I find identity? How do I find meaning? What’s my purpose?

And it struck me: I’m supposed to be me. To be real. To be honest. To exist fully and openly.

I think we can use self-reliance as a shield to keep us from opening our hearts to other people, and I think that’s a sad way to live. Think about the CSA where we get our food: CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. We are all part of a community, whether or not we realize it. We all need support from each other, whether or not we are willing to give it. Real food cannot exist without real people.

You don’t have to spend your life having mountaintop experiences in order to be real or feel real. Potatoes are just potatoes, sparrows are just sparrows, and I am just me. But to be true to myself, to be real with you, I believe I am called to fill myself up with the songs of my souls, and then open the beak of my heart and let my being pour out. That, to me, is worshipful living. That is the foundation for community. That is how to find true identity.

I don’t typically like to write deeply autobiographical posts, but this is what I have for you this week. If I were to write about anything else, I wouldn’t be true to myself or to you. Being real takes courage. Being real leaves you open to the wind. But, being real is the only way to truly find the songs of your heart.

By ekwetzel
2010-12-11

WEEK 23
(Top Row)
2 Squash: 1 Delicata and 1 Kubota
Turnips
Potatoes
2 Leeks
(Middle Row)
Beets
Frozen Raspberries
Apples
Pears
2 Onions
4 Carrots
Garlic
(Bottom Row)
Mizuna
Fennel
Celery

Week 22 – For the Love of Apples

By Erin Darling on December 3, 2010 in Darling Homemaking

I love apples. If I could only have one type of fruit for the rest of my life, I’d choose apples. I was raised in upstate New York, and I now live in Washington state; I am an apple region kinda gal. It’s a good thing, too, because we’ll get apples all winter long in the CSA share. I remember: last winter the only fresh fruit from Washington State that we received all winter was apples and pears. Even so, the apples were so fresh, crisp and delicious…it was easy to love them all winter long.

Other than eating apples raw, I also love to make apple pie, apple cobblers and apple sauce. I remember seeing a cartoon of Johnny Appleseed as a kid; he roamed across America with a silly pot on his head, planting apple trees as if he was proselytizing the ground with good fruit, cooking up apples here in there in dozens of fancy recipes. I would often save the seeds in my apples as a child and imagine that I could toss them wherever I went as a sign of good cheer to the world around me. Apples were magical.

This year, in preparation for apple season, I didn’t buy a single apple all summer. I love apples, but you can get sick of something, even if you love it. In an effort to thwart apple disdain, I thought it would be a good idea to make myself savor and crave them a little more, before reaching a season where they would be a mainstay week in and week out.

Another reason I love apples is that they are a balanced fruit if you have problems with insulin resistance. With the diet I am on, I need o pair most fruits with a protein in order to create balance in my bloodstream. Because of the fiber in apples, as well as the balanced sweetness, I can eat an apple all by itself. No proteins necessary. Although, who could say no to a snack of apples and cheese???

By ekwetzel
2010-12-03

WEEK 22

(From bottom left)
Fennel
Beet
Onion
Purple Potatoes
Head of Garlic
2 Rutabagas
Curly Parsley
2 Leeks
Carrots
(In the Center)
Bowl of Pears
Purple Cabbage
Acorn Squash
Sunchokes
Bowl of Apples

*Apple photo courtesy of Molly Morris.

Week 21 – Traditional Thanksgiving Meal

By Erin Darling on November 26, 2010 in Darling Homemaking

It occurred to me this week that the traditional Thanksgiving meal is – in fact – an iconic example of real, local, in-season food. In autumn, our seasonal foods are all highlighted at the event: potatoes, cranberries, brussels sprouts, yams, sweet potatoes, applesauce, pumpkins and squash.

Also, autumn and winter is the heralded time of pies, meats and warm thick family meals. Can you imagine eating this heavy meal in August? Likewise, can you imagine feeling fulfilled with fruit salad and potato salad in November? We all have a sense of how we want to eat seasonally. Part of it is likely innate, but we can build off of the cultural knowledge that is passed down through our seasonal meals.

Food writers, such as Michael Pollan, bemoan the fact that we have lost a lot of the cultural food knowledge that used to be passed down in the kitchen from one generation to the next. It’s as if the current generations don’t know how to eat, most of the time, and that’s why it’s so easy to fall prey to the glistening lights and greasy palates of fast food joints. However, our food heritage isn’t completely gone. At times like Thanksgiving, we remember grandma’s secret recipe, we cherish the old foods and the long processes of cooking them.

But, we cram all our favorite foods into one event, then sit, stuffed as a turkey, snoozing on the couch.

What if – instead of saving the tradition for Thanksgiving Day – we carried it over into the entire season? If we made one or two of those special dishes every week, we’d be celebrating our heritage, spending time in community cooking and eating, and we’d be attuning our food senses to the natural dishes of the season.

There is so much to be thankful for, and there are so many local foods to be thankful for, that saving up for one day a year hardly seems possible. Express gratitude with your kitchen. Feed yourself with heritage.

By ekwetzel
2010-11-26

WEEK 21

(Top row)
Beet
6 Apples
2 Delicata Squash
4 Pears
Yellow Carrots
(Middle row)
Bok Choi
Brussels sprouts
Onion
Garlic
(Bottom row)
Fennel
Celery

=/ We also had a 5 lb bag of potatoes, but I for got them at the farm.

Trader Joe’s Raw Milk and Pastured Cheeses

By Erin Darling on November 19, 2010 in Darling Homemaking

Trader Joes Cheese Case

Trader Joe’s has a large selection of cheeses, and their cheese is very affordable, compared to other supermarkets and specialty food stores. My friend, Lydia, had a conversation with blogger Ann Marie (aka: Cheeseslave) on facebook discussing the cheese selection at Trader Joes. The conversation was so educational, I had to share it with you all. Today when I was at Trader Joe’s, I took pictures of the cheeses that they discussed. Below is an edited version of their back-and-forth:

LYDIA asks CHEESESLAVE: At Trader Joe’s I have the choice between raw milk cheese from cows not treated with rBST or cheese from grass-fed/pastured milk that has been pasteurized (Kerry Gold and New Zealand cheddar). Which is better?

Kerry Gold – Dubliner Cheddar

CHEESESLAVE : With no other information, I would go for the Kerrygold. You can ask TJ’s where there cheeses (and other products) come from — they always happily divulge the info to me when I ask. Ask them where the raw milk cheese comes from — which farm. I think it’s good to pester them about this stuff so they will be better about labeling.

Trader Joes Cheese Case New Zealand cheddar

New Zealand Cheddars

The New Zealand cheddar is good too. Grass-fed pasteurized cheese is better than raw milk cheese that is not necessarily from cows eating grass. They need the grass to produce the vitamin K2!

LYDIA: That’s good to know. They do carry a few great European cheeses that are raw (Morbier, Comte, an Abbaye cheese, a cave-aged Tomme, and the Italian grating cheeses) and I assume those are probably grass-fed because Europe hasn’t caught up with the industrial farming. But the raw-milk cheddar is from New York. I’ll ask them about it – but it’s definitely pretty white in color.

CHEESESLAVE : I don’t think it’s safe to assume that the cheeses from Europe are all grass-fed.

LYDIA: I was inspired to do some research! Here it goes:

Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padano Parmesean Cheeses

Parmigiano Reggiano (which TJ’s sells at a comparatively reasonable price) may only be made from grass and forage-fed milk.

Grana Padano cows may be fed silage though-bummer, I guess the cheap price reflects the quality.

Pecorino Romano

Pecorino Romano may only be made from milk of sheep who have grazed a particular combination of grasses and nothing else.

Comte

Comte “cows may only be fed fresh, natural feed, with no silage” according to Wikipedia. I’m not sure what that means exactly, but it could certainly include grain.

Raw milk cheese trader joes Abbaye St. Mere Morbier

Abbaye St. Mere and Morbier cheeses

Morbier is only made in Jura mountain villages, so I think it’s safe to assume that it’s at least partially grass-fed.

Abbaye St. Mere is made at Trappist monasteries-so I make a similar assumption. I have a hard time picturing monks shoveling silage into feed pens, but maybe I’m wrong!

I would suggest though that Europe does not have access to all the cheap corn, which our industrial farmers use with abundance as cattle feed, and there is a much greater sense of the importance tradition there. Certain cheeses and meats have to be made the way they always have been – right down the animals’ diets. *end conversation*

Thank you Lydia and Cheeseslave for your insights into this microcosm of the wild and wonderful work of cheese. I created a chart to summarize the cheese choices discussed in this blog post. I hope to find more resources to guide buying decisions. Do you have a resource that explains or delves into the quality of cheeses? Do you know of a local creamery that does things well? Please, share your experiences!

By ekwetzel
2010-11-19

A Story For Cheese Lovers

Do you like cheese? Then you’ll LOVE my children’s story:
Calico Jill and the Search For Cheese!

Week 20 – Gratitude

By Erin Darling on November 19, 2010 in Darling Homemaking

You can go through life greedy, discontent, and always looking for the next thing that holds promise to satisfy your wants and needs. You can grumble and complain about how terrible you have it, and how unfair your lot is. Or, you can appreciate the blessings in your life.

Gratitude is a spiritual discipline. It’s in anyone’s nature to want, crave and covet. But, learning gratitude opens up your heart and your soul to appreciate whatever you have, no matter how little it may be, and to let your life be filled with thanksgiving instead of wishful thinking. Gratitude is an attitude; it starts in the heart, and permeates the rest of your life. It doesn’t matter how much you have or what it is that you have. There is always something to be grateful for.

Thanksgiving is a holiday about appreciating our blessings: food, family and fellowship. Food is always a key feature in holiday meals, but for Thanksgiving it takes on a unique role: the Pilgrims were thankful because they were not going to starve. It was the food that the Native Americans brought to them that created the bond of community between them.

We rarely worry about starvation these days in America, and as we allow our food systems to get more and more industrialized, we lose touch with the people that grow and pick the sustenance of our lives. When you combine agriculture with community, you create a relationship and an environment of gratitude; when you take the community out of the equation, the eater is merely a consumer, detached from the land and often critical of the fruits before him.

No matter where you get your food, I encourage you to pursue a spirit of gratitude and a community around your food.

I’m thankful for dinners at the table after a long day of work and chores, and the conversations my husband and I have there.
I’m thankful that the food I eat from the farm is going to grow a healthy little baby in my womb.
I’m thankful for the long apple season in Washington, and the delicious apples that we eat throughout the winter when summer fruit seems but a dream.
I’m thankful for websites like allrecipes.com that help me figure out how to cook the weird and wonderful foods I get from the farm.
I’m thankful for how easy, versatile and delicious potatoes can be.
I’m thankful for whoever invented pies, because they are delicious and one of the best parts of Thanksgiving dinner.
Finally, I’m thankful that farms exist, even in this super-industrialized world, and that people can remain real and grounded, even in an urban area.

My wish for all of you is that you find community around your food, and that you find your own gratitude.

* Thanksgiving photo courtesy of Stephen Proctor.

By ekwetzel
2010-11-19

WEEK 20

(Starting from the bottom left and going clockwise)
Celery
2 Leeks
2 Kohlrabi
I forgot the name of this root vegetable! Oops!
Onion
Head of Garlic
2 Delicata Squash
2 Carrots
Purple potatoes
2 Beets
Greens, I believe this is a type of bok choi
Fennel
Bowl of Broccoli
(In the middle)
2 Pears
Sweet Pie Pumpkin
5 Apples

Week 19 – Slow Food. Slow Cooker.

By Erin Darling on November 12, 2010 in Darling Homemaking

The trees are crayon box hues and the mornings are getting brisk. As the seasons change outside, the way we eat our foods change as well. In the summertime, I like fresh foods that I toss or eat raw. The oven is never on; food preparation is rarely complex. In autumn, however, there is a call in the kitchen to warm things, season them, or turn them to stew. What better way to make a meal from the autumn produce than by chopping it up and slow cooking it all afternoon.

Slow cooking meat makes it tender and fall apart in your mouth. Using your crock pot to cook veggies keeps you from hovering over a stove, worrying if the water is steaming properly or boiling the right way. What is the best part of slow cooking? Is it the way it makes your whole house smell like dinner? Or, is it leaving the meal to stew, and coming home in time to simply dish it onto the dinner plates? You take your pick.

Do you need a recipe with a crock pot? Not really. Chop an onion. Braise some meat. Add potatoes and/or root veggies. Add some broth or water to the pot. Perhaps add garlic. Do you have fennel? Give it a try! Do you have a myriad of weird and wonderful spices? Experiment with them, as well! How do you add cheese or milk to a particular combo of veggies? Look it up on a recipe site like allrecipes.com. Overall, let your nose be your guide: if the foods smell good together, they’ll likely soup up nicely as well.

A few tips:
–   If you include beans and tomatoes, make sure the beans are cooked first before adding them to the crock pot; otherwise the acid in the tomatoes will make the beans tough.
–   If you are using meat, it is often a good idea to brown it or braise it first.
–   If you are adding a liquid, broth is always tastier than water.
–   No time to prep in the morning? Do your prep at night and store the mix in a bowl in the fridge.

Slow cooking takes time, but it helps to slow me down. The summer is so hectic. Autumn is so beautiful and rare, like the blush of all nature’s beauty before a cold, deep frost. No need to eat on the run anymore. The days are getting shorter; the nights are giving more time for rest. When we are awake, when we eat and are in community, let us take time to breathe, to see, to appreciate the moment we are in. When the leaves turn brilliant colors, they are gone in a flash, and if you don’t stop and appreciate them, they are gone before you know it.

Enjoy the last fresh foods that come before your plate this autumn. Enjoy the unwinding of the days. Enjoy these last warm breaths before the harshness of winter. Put all your memories and thoughts in a pot; mull over them, slowly, and let them enrich your dreams.

By ekwetzel
2010-11-12

WEEK 19

(Starting from the bottom left and going clockwise)
Fennell
2 Leeks
Beets
2 Parsnips
2 Pears
Head of Garlic
Red potatoes
Carrots
Loose turnips (upper right-hand corner)
3 Turnips with Greens still attached
Purple Kale
Kabocha squash
Onion

Plus a bowl of apples in the center.

Week 18 – Ugly Fruit Tastes Better

By Erin Darling on November 5, 2010 in Darling Homemaking

When I see a red delicious, the iconic apple of school lunches and cafeterias, I cringe a little thinking of how bland and mealy they taste. Sure, they are a deep, rich red. Sure, they have been buffed and waxed to shine in the fluorescent lights. But looks ain’t everything.

It seems that, as I explore the realms of real food, local food, and heirloom varieties, I discover more and more that the ugly foods taste the best. My favorite tomatoes look like Frankenstein stitched them together. Greens can taste terrific when they appear to be wilted. Melons and other fruits often taste te best when they are at their ripest and easily bruised.

This week on the farm we chose apples from a crate of Jonagolds covered in ugly black spots. Terry explained in her email about the share food this week that there were “lots of scab this year because of the rainy spring. That is the main reason there are few apple orchards on this side of the mountain!”

But you know what? I rinsed off my apples. Took a crisp bite. And – mmmm – they are good. Chopped some up and cooked them on the stove, and they made the prettiest applesauce I’ve had in a while.

Sure, sometimes food that looks bad is bad. You can typically use your nose to tell the difference: if the food smells rancid, toss it. If it smells sweet or appetizing, it’s probably right where you want it. Well, technically you’d want it in your mouth, but you get the picture.

Applesauce is easy to make, by the way. Just slice your apples and remove the core. I prefer to keep the skins on, but it’s more common to remove them. Thin slices will help it cook down faster. Put in a small pot with a tiny amount of water, and turn on high temperature. Make sure to keep the lid on the pot sealed. If the moisture goes down, add a little water (you don’t want to ruin the bottom of your pot). Monitor the apples and let them cook down for about 30 minutes, adjusting the heat as needed. The apples are ready when you can mash them up with a spoon into sauce.

By ekwetzel
2010-11-05

WEEK 18 – First week of the Fall Share

We decided to not sign up for the egg share this fall, hence no eggs in the picture.

(Starting from the top and going clockwise)
Celery
3 Onions
Fennell
Head of Garlic
Head of Cabbage
Butternut Squash
4 Parsnips
Bok Choi
Lots of Purple Potatoes (I think it was 2 lbs worth)
(In the Middle)
Broccoli
8 Jonagold Apples
4 Pears

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