No time for words, but here are the last two weeks in picture form!
If you have questions about what anything is, please leave your questions in the comments.
In all my years and as a vegan, I never would have thought that for the last two or so years, I could be found in the kitchen every 45 to 90 days with 15 to 30 pounds of ground raw meat…stuffing it all into little canning & jelly jars to be placed in the freezer! Oh the things we do for the ones we love…even the four-legged ones that we love!
Every month & a half or so, I drag out the big plastic blue bowl and the blender. Into the blender goes 2 pounds of chicken hearts, water, some nori & nutritional yeast. Into the bowl goes another 2 pounds of un-blended chicken hearts, ground chicken (bones, skin & liver), ground pheasant, ground salmon (skin & bones), ground mutton, ground duck, a little rabbit, occasionally some ground goat and the contents of the blender once it is all blended — we switched from mainly rabbit to mainly chicken, because our convalescing cat has a hard time breaking down rabbit protein. All this then gets mixed together, portioned out and frozen. I love our two cats and want to give them what is best, not to mention closer to being species correct than dried grains & animal byproducts.
We got things from last week’s crate (15th CSA), but we got them late and it was Elijah’s birthday, so pictures and reporting just didn’t happen.
Today’s crate:
5 Tomatoes
1 Pink Tomato
11 Roma-esqu Tomatoes
5 Green Zebra Stripped Heirloom Tomatoes
2 heads Garlic
1 Jalapeno
3 Apples (not sure what kind yet)
1 sm. head Lettuce
1 sm. bunch Kale
1 sm. bunch Cilantro
1 Yellow Squash
1 Zucchini Squash
1 little baby Spaghetti Squash
1 sm. Sweet Dumpling Squash (I think!!)
8 ears of Corn
1 med. bg. Carrots
1 pt. Various ‘Little’ Tomatoes
Playing catch up here with our CSA posts!
This is the crate for September 11th:
9 ears of Corn
9 Tomatoes
5 Roma Tomatoes
2 Green Zebra Stripped Heirloom Tomatoes
1 pnt. Plum Tomatoes
1 Yellow Squash
1 Zucchini Squash
2 Red Italia Sweet Peppers (one got snatched for dinner before the picture was taken)
1 med. bunch Kale
1 med. bg. Green Beans
1 bunch Parsley
1 qt. Apple Cider (couldn’t wait to drink some until after the picture)
In our crate this past Thursday:
1 lrg. & 2 sm. heads of Red Leaf Lettuce (some of the darkest stuff I’ve ever seen!)
1 sm. bunch Basil
1 pd. Green Beans
1 sm. Watermelon
1 pnt. Cherry Tomatoes
6 Tomatoes
5 Roma Tomatoes
5 Pink Tomatoes
1 huge Zucchini Squash
1 gigantic Green Bell Pepper
1 lg. Red Italia Pepper
8 ears Sweet Corn
Corn so sweet, you can eat it without cooking it! I’m loving my little guy’s grubby paint stained hands holding this pristine ear of corn and just munching away!
In our crate this week:
11 Tomatoes
5 Green Heirloom Tomatoes
1 pt. Cherry Tomatoes
1 Hot Pepper (of some kind…Jalapeño)
2 Green Bell Peppers
1 Red Bell Pepper
Lg. bunch Basil
2 sm. heads Green Leaf Lettuce
Sm. bg. Beets (about 1 1/2 pints…haven’t actually counted them yet)
Sm. Spaghetti Squash
Sm. Watermelon
2 Onions
*bonus: I gathered about 3 pints of Roma Tomatoes from our front yard today and another pint or two back on Tuesday.
Once again, I haven’t forgotten how to count…last week was rushed and crazy, so no pictures or posts about the CSA share last week, but trust me when I say that it was pure goodness!
In this week’s crate:
Lg. head Green Leaf Lettuce
Lg. bag Various Young Chard Leaves
Med. bunch Basil
Sm. bunch Cilantro
Lg. bag Carrots
11 Red Tomatoes (the usual kind!)
2 Green/Yellow Striped (Heirloom) Tomatoes
6 Red Potatoes
1 Lg. Onion
1 Lg. Green Bell Pepper
1 Jalapeño
1 bulb Garlic
1 pnt. Blueberries
* I have lots of tomatoes to freeze/turn into yummy sauce to freeze.
No, I haven’t forgotten how to count…this is the ninth crate of green goodness from our CSA. I totally dropped the ball on taking pictures or posting what we got last week…sorry. Just take my word that it was plentiful and good!
This week’s share had to offer:
Lg. head Lettuce
Lg. bag Carrots
8 Pickling Cucumbers
2 Green Bell Peppers
2 Yellow Wax Peppers? (if you know what those yellow guys are, let me know)
1 Fatty Jalapeño
2 Zucchini Squash
8 Red Potatoes
Sm. bag Green Beans
11 Tomatoes
6 Green Onions
Sm bunch Cilantro
1 Pint of Blueberries**
Bonus:
*Sweet neighbors Sarah & Bill shared some Cherry Tomatoes with Elijah and I as we walked home and sent us home with a Pimento (the reddish looking bell pepper thing in the picture).
**We also ordered a flat (12 pints) of blueberries from our CSA.
***Tonight I picked ten black heirloom tomatoes, two large bunches of basil, one large bunch of sage and one roma tomato from our community garden.
I cut and froze three and a half quarts worth of green beans from this week and last week. I frozen six pints of blueberries and made two dozen blueberry muffins and one and a half dozen blueberry mini-muffins.
I’ve got tons of cukes to try and pickle…with a new recipe. I need to make and freeze tomato/pasta sauce and cut and freeze some squash to add to soup this Winter.
Did I mention that we are flush with yummy veggies right now!
Thursday’s Crate Contained:
2 med. heads Bibb/Butter Lettuce
Dill sprigs
1 pint Blueberries
1 Lg. bunch Flat Leaf Parsley
2 heads Garlic
1 bunch Green Onions
1 head Purple Cabbage
4 Potatoes
4 Cucumbers
3 Zucchini Squash
1 Yellow Crooked-Neck Summer Squash
1 med. bunch Kale
* 4 Beets w/ tops, that we left someone else…I like beets, but I can’t do them every week and I do not like them preserved in any way.
Bonus:
1 Huge-Ass Green Tomato from our Community Garden
4 Purple Bell Peppers from the Community Garden — gave one to neighbor & she gave us…
3 Peaches from the Farmer’s Market (one was eaten before I could take a picture!)
I made a ton of pickles last night with the cucumbers. It was fun. They were salty — have to tweak the recipe.
Sorry there isn’t a picture, but last Thursday was hectic for us.
Our crate contained:
2 heads Romaine Lettuce
1 head Red Leaf Lettuce
1 Lg. Fennel Bulb w/ Fronds
8 Carrots w/Green Tops
Sm. bunch Dill
Med. bunch Kale
10 New Potatoes
3 Cucumbers
7 Zucchini Squash
*Bonus
I picked 3 more Apples on the way home from picking up the CSA share!
In today’s crate:
6 Zucchini Squash
2 Yellow Crooked-Neck Summer Squash
1 bunch Parsley
Med. bunch Red Chard
1 Green Onion
1 med. Fennel Bulb w/ Fronds
10 New Potatoes
1 lg. Romaine Lettuce
1 lg. Red Leaf Lettuce
12 Squash Blossoms
*5 Beets w/ tops, but we gave them away, because I still have a couple from last week!
Bonus: 2 Green Apples
We picked four green apples from a neighbor’s yard, but gave two to our friends when we saw them picking up their CSA share
