Feature Writer Ann Chiappetta – The End of the Season is Near
A while back, I wrote something about being part of an organic garden delivery cooperative. I am happy to report that we have enjoyed it very much and have already signed up for next spring, even though we still have four weeks of the current season left.
At first, I was skeptical about all of this. I thought we’d never eat all those veggies, and they’d just go bad. Everyone knows organic stuff just doesn’t last as long. Well, while the latter is true, the former didn’t come true at all. On the contrary, we developed a routine around the Thursday delivery. It entailed separating the items, steaming the greens that same night, and cooking delicious dinners over the weekend. The rest of the week we enjoyed fresh tomatoes and other fixings like carrots, radishes, and beets alongside lettuce. I discovered that I felt better and didn’t crave certain things as much. You know what I mean–those late night cravings for sugary or salty treats. Ugh.
In fact, the box was like opening a gift each week. The farm would post the contents of each box the night before and we would read the list as if we were opening it on Christmas day. We even had to scramble and Google some of the items. For instance, husk cherries, an orange fruit, were foreign to us. They are round like a cherry tomato, but clothed in a paper husk. They taste like a cherry/pineapple cross and remind me of the currants used in Eastern food dishes. The fruit was delicious and we would like to find other items made with them.
Another item that I unfortunately found difficult to use was tomatillos. The tartness and the thick skin just didn’t help me like them very much. Those two items were the most eccentric, however, and we loved all the other fresh produce.
My favorite, though–those tomatoes, followed by eggplants, cucumbers, zucchini, assorted squash, beans, kale/chard/greens, and peppers.
The only bad thing in all of this is the cost. In this economy, eating healthier is more expensive and I wish that there was a better way to make organic produce available to people who want it but can’t afford it.
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