CSA Cutting Garden

After I picked up my veggies at the CSA barn, I got my clippers and walked around to the cutting garden now that it has blooms. I’ll come home with a small bouquet of flowers every week! The row of sunflowers was just beginning!

I had a jar of water for the cut stems and worked as fast as I could since I was still wearing my face mask and realizing that it was making me very aware of the heat. I was glad to get back to the car and get the air conditioner started. Once I got home, I took the veggies out of the bags and figured out how to get it all into the crispers. It was easier than the previous week because there were not as many veggies with huge tops (i.e. carrots were without tops and fennel was not in the share again).

Then I put the flowers I’d cut into a vase with some waning day lilies. They’ll easily last until CSA pickup day next week!

Unique Activities for Yesterday:

Yellow day lily opened this morning. A yellow day lily bud had opened overnight….what a wonderful greeting when I walked into my office first thing in the morning.

Watermelon lemonade. The watermelon I bought at the grocery store was not as flavorful as usual, so I am using it up making watermelon lemonade. I processed the watermelon chunks, a splash of lemon juice and ice cubes in the Ninja…and it’s a slushy summery drink that has a good flavor and is not overly sweet! It’s a wonderful pink/red color too.

Veggies into the Freezer

The day before the pickup of the CSA share and the crispers are still relatively full….it’s time to do some freezing.

The leafy greens (kale, lettuce, cabbage, arugula, spring greens) - I cut up coarsely and stuffed gallon Ziplocs. I can use them in smoothies or stir fries. They are easy to break into small pieces once they are frozen.

Fennel top was chopped and placed in a smaller bag. They might go in soup - or maybe a smoothy. They have a stronger flavor so I will use a little at a time.

Garlic scapes are cut into pieces and in a plastic container. They will be easy to use in stir fries.

The summer squash is in chunks. They’ll be great in smoothies and stir fries….or thawed and processed into custards.

On the plus side, I managed to use the beets (including the tops), the scallions, the snow peas, a small head of lettuce, the carrots (with tops), the broccoli, the cucumbers, and some of the summer squash. It’s not that I didn’t eat a lot of veggies….just that the CSA supplies an overwhelming amount of them this time of year! At least I don’t waste any of them….but my freezer is getting very full.

Unique for Yesterday:

Catching up on Fashion as Design course. I enjoyed the Fashion as Design Coursera Course back in April. I didn’t complete all the assignments, so I am still getting updates for the class; the instructors are adding to the course material. The latest offering included some zoom meetings about fashion related to news (specifically masks, the pandemic, Black Lives Matter) and a panel discussion on how designers have approached the pandemic crises and the nature of ‘emergency’ itself. And then some videos and a forum on makeup. I signed up for both meetings that will be held later in the week and watched the videos immediately.

A wedding with the bigger celebration being postponed to the 1st anniversary. There was a July wedding planned for a family member that lives in Texas which I had sent along a gift and regrets that I couldn’t attend. Now it’s been changed to be a dramatically reduced event with just bride, groom, and the 2 sets of parents….and then a big celebration planned for the 1st anniversary. A good plan! It’s something to look forward to in 2021.