My Neighbor and I Just Traded Garden Food

My neighbor G and I just traded food. She stopped by to give me washed mustard greens from her garden and I snapped off a few twigs of rosemary from my rosemary bush for her. I wanted to tell her about the CSA, but most people are turned off by the expense of the CSA especially if they already grow their own garden. I decided to hold off on that conversation for now. A few minutes later I came inside and looked at the mustard greens then realized I forgot to ask her how to prep them. I haven't had much luck cooking or preparing leaves for eating other than the store bought romaine and such.

However I had had more luck with squash this time around. Just the last week I baked a whole chicken with olive oil and rosemary. On the side I made a butternut squash casserole (very much like the sweet potato casserole except with more of a butter taste to it). Opening and chopping and trying to peel a butternut squash was a new and learning experience. I saved most of the seeds to plant for next year.

Some squash is much like a potatoe and some squash is much like a cucumber or catelope. I printed the recipe for butternut squash casserole from daily green.

I printed another one for sweet potatoe fries and another one for winter squash. All the recipes are so easy to make, tasty, sweet and from the Daily Green.

I am really enjoying the vegetable and the service from this CSA. There really isn't anything for me to complain about. There is even a chance volunteering for free veggies next season. This will help me keep the cost down, something my household really needs. He wants us to grow more of our own and let go at least of one CSA which I'm fine with but we have yet to build raised beds and finish prepping the ground for January's seeds. Between his 60 hour or more job and my work and mom schedule it is still difficult to find time for the garden. About once a week I tend to the gardens for a few hours and the rest of the time I just watch and scan for bugs or problems walking past the garden when I dump the kitchen scraps in the back yard or when I wait for my daughter's bus in the front yard. The baby in my arms most of the time.

At the same time I really don't want to let go of my CSA. I enjoy supporting our local farmers, helping the environment and I love reading their newsletters. These farmers really care about their crop and they enjoy watching it grow. They put a lot of love into it. Then they enjoy sharing their grown love with people. They are very giving people.