I’ve looked forward to the day like a 4-year-old anticipates Christmas. It’s the first CSA pickup at Restoration Farm.The shimmering green lettuce entices me as I approach the distribution tent. There will be many salad days ahead. The board is precisely lettered with a list of the first yields of the season. There are tidy, beautifully-formed heads of lettuce, red kale, garlic scapes, arugula and mizuna greens and sweet crisp emerald-green snap peas. The produce is all clean and neatly ordered with care. The sense of excitement is evident among the other members who are picking up. Head grower Caroline Fanning is there, relaxed and chatting with members, although she is apparently days away from giving birth. It feels like a little community celebration. We are all connected through this first picking.
I stroll down the path to look over the activity in the fields ...
Volunteers are bent over tilling and weeding the fields. Yes, the weeds have arrived, but the first pickup has been welcomed with a glorious day.
The lettuce will be first on the menu for lunches and dinners. The kale is blanched and frozen for a future stir fry. I am determined this year to waste as little as possible and savor all that comes my way.
The season of greens is welcomed with a composed luncheon salad of lettuce, arugula, mizuna, chopped egg, tuna and kidney beans. The lettuce is only hours from the field, and it snaps with with all the history, community, care and good will nurtured at Restoration Farm.©2009 T.W. Barritt All Rights Reserved
11 comments:
I'm so impressed your freezing your kale.
And the lettuce looks great! It makes me wonder what I did wrong. My lettuces went to seed weeks ago, yet all the farms here are knee deep in big heads.
Can't wait to see all the gorgeous Long Island produce you show off this summer!
That lettuce looks gorgeous! And good for you for freezing kale!
I too can't wait to see what you conjure up with your goodie baskets. Do I smell Garlic scape pesto in the future?
Thanks for sharing T.W.
What a lovely place-- so serene and cheery. It's so much fun to get your first C.S.A. box. I blogged about mine a couple months ago (we Californians are spoiled rotten with growing seasons). Have fun!
I love that you can pick your own herbs -- honestly, I think herbs make all the difference. Since I started my herb garden, my cooking of everything has improved. I'm looking forward to more reports from the farm.
Such an idyllic place!
The salad sounds like the perfect lunch, I'd only add a glass of sauvignon blanc!
Of course you had to eat all those fresh lovely greens alfresco!
LL
This is the same kind of excitement I feel when I pick the first things from my garden every year. The appreciation for freshly picked food never lessens, year after year a wonderful reward for the work. Gorgeous lettuce! My house was too much of a construction zone this year to get any lettuce planted but I do have a good assortment of stuff growing now.
fresh greens are yes greens in my book - but since I dont have that book I have to get them from the store- I cant wait to be jealous of what you have next
All I can say is, "you lucky guy"~having all that available!!! How wonderful and green!
This salad looks so good. What a great idea to freeze kale.
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