Restaurant Widow

CSA & Farm Market Report for November 15th

What a miserable morning it was yesterday!  As much as I was tempted to stay in bed, it was my week to pick up my Elizabeth Telling CSA, and I figured that if Sandy the farmer was willing to get up in the freezing cold at the crack of dawn to drive all the way here and stand in the cold for 5 hours in the freezing rain, the best I could do was eat my veggies!  Especially since we are winding down for the season.

The market was light, as to be expected, and it was full of apples, greens, and potatoes!  My CSA included tiny little purple kale leaves, eggs, potatoes, a nice fat pumpkin, and cabbage!  I bought some lovely aromatic arugula from Toad Hill Organics, and I stopped by Wishwell Farms too pick up some broccoli and cauliflower, and then to Wayward Seed, where I picked up some wild arugula and these lovely watermelon radishes (aren't they beautiful?):

It's sad to see the ending of the growing season, but it will be nice to sleep in on the odd Saturday.  Don't fret, though, because there are still some chances to eat locally over the winter.  You can stock up now - if you have a dark, cool place, you can store potatoes, root veggies, and squash throughout the winter.  It's also a great time to think about your strategy for eating locally next year.  Maybe you can think about saving up for a CSA, getting a FoodSaver or another sort of preservation device, buying a freezer to store your local goods throughout next winter - there are lots of way you can begin to plan if you didn't get as local this year as you'd like to.

CSA & Market Report for November (?!) 1st

*sigh* so many lasts today.  The last Clintonville market, the last week of my Wayward Seed CSA, last week I'll be up before the sunrise (okay, I'm not too bitter about that one).  I always forget that around this time of year the sun doesn't rise until 8 or later.  It always fools me into thinking I have more time to sleep than I really do.

But the morning was warm and sunny, and I was up so early that when I drove past the Clintonville market this morning, they weren't open yet, so I went on to Target and took advantage of the after-Halloween candy sales (coworkers were bitter I didn't bring any candy to work on Halloween; until then, I wasn't aware that was part of my job description).

I stopped off at the Clintonville market to pick up my Wayward Seed Farm CSA, which included collard greens, lettuce, potatoes, beets, carrots (above), and acorn squash.  I stopped by the Little Farm to pick up a stalk of Brussels sprouts (yum!)

And then I was off to the North Market, where I bought what might be the last of my Toby Run shitakes of the season, and my Elizabeth Telling CSA, which included cabbage, turnips (top of the post), chard, carrots, and potatoes.

And then, I was off to Thurns.  More on that later.

So, what did you get today?

Call for CSA Info/Ratings/Reviews/Desires, etc.

Dear Readers, especially CSA owners and farmers:

You would not believe how many requests I get for CSA information.  This year, I totally slacked on getting together my yearly CSA list together, but now that I know I have lots of readers who own CSAs and use them from various farms, I have a big list from which to pull.

As a group, I would like to compile a list of all of the CSAs available in the Central Ohio area.  I would also like to include what you have received in your CSA - not every single thing, but an overview - how many you think it will feed, how you've used it, what you liked, etc.

If you are a farmer, please let me know if your farm has a CSA and the details as well as website/contact info that you don't mind if I put on my website.

This will be a sort of Zagat-style review format.  I will gather info and update it as we go along.

What is a CSA? You might be asking.  CSA stands for Community Supporte Agriculture.  You invest in a farm in the winter - plan to spend around $500 - and receive produce for the entire growing season.  You will pick up your produce somewhere - usually a farm market, but sometimes at a veg co-op.  Although the initial investment might seem big, it averages out to be pretty reasonable for knowing you will always have fresh produce.

You are also supporting your local food system and economy and giving the farmer a chance to earn money up front to invest in the year's crop. 

So, please email to let me know all about your CSA!

CSA & Farm Market Report for October 18th

Alas, another post with no pictures (yet), so please forgive me.  Here's the excuse: I have a really hard time sleeping when the weather changes.  I am fine for about 4 hours and then I just wake up and lie there, making up recipes, thinking about my upcoming dinner, entertaining a rotating variety of cats, and wishing I could fall back asleep.  All of that to say that I woke up at 9:45 and didn't get to the markets until after 10.  Oh well, you'll have that. 

Here's another pathetic excuse: Typepad spell check isn't working at the moment, so please, forgive any errors.

First up I stopped by the Clintonville market, where I picked up my Wayward Seed Farm CSA - which included eggplant, peppers, lots of cute little potatoes, acorn squash, and leeks.  I also forgot that last week I got lots of sweet potatoes!  YUM.  I stopped by My Little Farm for some tiny white pumpkins and some fresh horseradish - something I've only ever seen in my Elizabeth Telling CSA, so that was pretty exciting.  I also picked up a few more Honeycrisp apples and a few of a new (to me) variety - mutsu - which is a light green apple which apparently is even more delicious than the Honeycrisp.  I'll let you know.

I stopped by Snowville Creamery to chat with my friend Jen - she is working to do some food-related worskshops with Simply Living, stay tuned and I'll provide more updates - and I met Daniel from Petite Boulangerie, who shared with us some butter that he had whipped by hand (freak) from their heavy cream; it was very tasty, epsecially with one of his epi baguettes.  (Confidential to Petite Boulangerie - would you be interested in baking some extra bread for my RW Sunday Supper? I don't have your contact info - or if anyone has it, please send it to me.)

Then I was off to the North Market, where I will now publicly apologize for forgetting that I was supposed to volunteer for Chef Tetzloff's cooking class.  Market Market, please forgive me!!!  And let me know if there are any baked goods which will make it up to you!  please?  I am flakey, I'll admit it right here.  You know I would never knowingly blow you or Chef Tez off!!

I picked up my Elizabeth Telling CSA, which included eggs, a pumpkin, potatoes, braising greens, tomatoes, a pumpkin! and certainly something I'm forgetting.  I'm going to be visiting her farm on Monday!!!  Hooray!  I'll take lots of pictures, some for Sandy and some to share with you.

I bought my mushrooms for the week from Toby Run, and stopped by Toad Hill to see what was going on - he had Jerusalem artichokes!  If you haven't had Jerusalem artichokes, aka "sunchokes," you should really try them some time.  They are delicious.  They have a kind of savory potato flavor, but a crisp texture similar to water chestnuts.  They are kind of a pain to peel, but worth the effort, I think.  I'll try to come up with a recipe sometime this week.

I think that was about all for my Saturday, which started out COLD.  Even with a long-sleeved tee and a hoodie, I was freezing.  And I'm always hot.

So, readers, what did you get this week?  OH, by the way, a reader told me she tried some pumpkin quark at Blue Jacket Creamery!!  Yum!

CSA & Farm Market Report for October 11th

What a nice day today.  Perfect.  Is it just me, or are the trees changing really early this year?  Am I just getting old?  Resistant to the coming Autumn?

Whatever the case, it's still 80 degrees today, so no complaints from me.

I slept in today and only hit the Clintonville market, where I picked up my weekly supply of Gretna Grillin' cheese and cheddar curds from Blue Jacket Creamery.

Global Gallery has taken over the space where the flower shop used to be at High and Orchard, and it's really nice.  If you are looking for fair trade coffee and inexpensive sculptures, textiles, and baskets, it's a great place to stop by.  They were serving coffee outside of the shop today.

I also picked up my Wayward Seed CSA - and I'll post pictures soon.  Today's share included green tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, kale, and a nice big squash I haven't seen before.  I'll have to look into what sort it might be. 

I also bought some kabocha squash today, my favorite for eating and soup making.  Who knows what form it will take this week?

So, what did you get this week? 

CSA & Farm Market Report for September 20th

I really love this time of year.  I know I keep saying that, but what a lovely morning it was yesterday.  And today.

Since my fridge was forcibly emptied by my 4 days hiatus from electricity, I have plenty of room now for veggies and things. 

Sidenote - thank you to everyone who was concerned about my stores of food.  Amazingly, everying stayed frozen in my deep freeze. (Way to go Whirlpool!)  Nothing leaked, no mess, I was really surprised.  Pleasantly so.  The freezer in my fridge didn't fare so well but the truth is, it really, really needed to be cleaned out, so the big thaw was kind of welcome.

I wasn't planning to go to Worthington, but at the last minute I decided to stop by to try out Sassafras bakery; owner AJ had emailed me a week or so ago and I was interested in tasting some of her goodies.  I picked up a cinnamon roll, which was amazing, and an heirloom tomato tart, which was also very good.  I was nice enough to take it to work and share it with my coworkers.  Because we are restaurant workers, we ate it cold, straight from the box, but we all agreed that it would make an amazing light lunch reheated in the oven (as suggested by the baker) and drizzled with a little good extra virgin olive oil.  So, if you are planning a brunch anytime soon, I would highly recommend picking up on of her tarts at the market.  The sage cornbread also looked amazing; I'll have to try that sometime soon.  I'm really disappointed in myself that I didn't take any pictures; next time, I promise.

Since I was at Worthington, I also stopped by Garden Patch Produce to stock up on some more of their delicious garlic.  While I was there I was enticed by these "Brown Beauty" sweet little peppers:

Then I was off to Clintonville, where I bought some ground lamb at Cota farms (disappointed they don't have duck eggs at the market anymore.  I've been dreaming of some duck egg salad).  I also picked up my Wayward Seed CSA, which included potatoes, chard, hot peppers, tomatoes, sweet corn, a new variety of squash (top of post) whose name I have, of course, completely forgotten.  Also included were eggplants and tomatillos and probably something I'm missing.  Fruits for the week included lovely pears, apples, and more yummy plums.  Those plums - Stanley plums? why do I keep forgetting their name? - are so tasty.  Very sweet.  I should bake them into something soon.

And then I was off to the North Market where I picked up these kohlrabi from Rhoades:

and my Elizabeth Telling Farm CSA.  This week's share included eggs, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, chard, green beans, basil, and I'm sure something else:

I hope to do a little bit of cooking before I leave for Orlando.

So, friends, what did you get this week?

CSA & Farm Market Report for September 13th

Stop the presses.  It's 8:30pm on a Saturday and I am sitting on my sofa, in my pajamas.  I have already eaten dinner (Pita Pit, YUM - schwarma and falafel), have already had a Hitachino (Japanese beer) at Bob's Bar, I've driven to Plain City, visited my Grandma, gone to the Clintonville Farmer's Market and Weiland's to buy brisket (an uncharacteristically meat-filled day, but really, who can resist the brisket at Weiland's on a Saturday morning?).  I should take more Saturdays off.  Usually, the joy of visiting the farmer's markets on Saturday mornings is completely overshadowed by having to work on Saturdays.  Ask any waitress, and she will tell you.  The only thing worse than waiting tables on a Saturday night is doing it on a Sunday morning (listen up, folks, if you are out to eat on a Sunday, tip 40%; it really is the worst day to work).

At any rate, for those of you who aren't in Columbus, you might be wondering why am I at home on a Saturday?  Did I get fired? Make so much money be paid off by restaurants to give them good burger reviews?  Ill? No, no, don't worry, you will find me at work for the vast foreseeable future.  There is an Ohio State game tonight.  8pm games render the city completely vacant, except for sports bars.  Numerous restaurants are actually closed tonight.  And so Husband and I find ourselves with an entire Saturday evening to ourselves! 

Where am I?  Oh!  Market report!  So, a little history - my family has pretty much the definitive Amish apple butter recipe.  You can find it here and there, but always at the Shekinah Festival, in Plain City Ohio.  My dad is something of an apple butter fiend.  So I agreed to brave the wilds of the country to buy Dad's yearly stash of apple butter - 24 pints.  This is how nice people in the country are - a man in a piece of farm equipment (a Gator, which is kind of like a tough golf cart) drove me and m y 24 pints of apple butter through the mud, to my car, and wouldn't accept a tip.  It's a strange place, the country. 

At any rate, visiting Plain City and then my frail little 90 year grandmother (who nonetheless asked me what did I plan to buy at the Farmer's Markets this morning), I was a little late to the markets (too late for doughnuts!  sorry babe!)  This was fine because I am gearing up for next week's RW Sunday Supper, so I knew it would be a light cooking week.

I really only made it to the Clintonville market today.  I bought some various apples for my friend Kelly, who is making an apple pie for our friend, former RW Supper Chef, and future Bocuse d'Or USA comis Seth, whose birthday is Monday.  I bought some nectarines, and I bought a ton (okay, 25 pounds) of tomatoes for my next supper.  Tomorrow I plan to make some tomato soup.

My Wayward Seed CSA this week included: sweet corn, red cabbage, tomatoes, small fat little eggplants, peppers, and potatoes.  The fruit CSA included nectarines, pears - last week's pears were so amazing.  I managed to completely accidentally take them to work on their perfect day (are you aware that pears really only have one perfect day?).  Coworkers were as delighted as I was.  They were great.  Also included were some Honeycrisp apples!!!!  As you may or may not know, Honeycrisp are my favorite of all the apples. 

So.  That was about all for my day at the market.  Brief and easy.  And then it started to get hot, and I was powerless. I had to go home and take a nap.  It's like my dream day.

So, kitties!  What did you get today?

CSA & Market Report for September 6

What a perfect day.  Seriously.  I heard a few complaints about how cool it was, but for someone who is always sweltering like yours truly, I thought it was completely lovely.  Breezy, cool and sunny.  I was standing at the bus stop later on my way to work, and I couldn't help but think about what an amazing day it was, and how I had to go and ruin it with work.  Alas, Citibank doesn't accept sunshiny days in lieu of money for our lovely yellow house.  So it was off to work.

At any rate, I took my time getting to the markets, stopping to note that my sweet autumn clematis was in bloom, and feeding the various neighborhood cats, and I made it the North Market around 9:30.  I stopped to pick up my Elizabeth Telling CSA, which included lettuce, Swiss Chard, potatoes, basil, tomatoes, eggs, and radishes.  Then it was off for some Toby Run mushrooms (he'll be out the next few weeks, fyi).  I stopped by Toad Hill Organics, where I picked up some cippolini onions and these "Christmas" limas:

I also stopped by Rhoades Farms for a few more of those tiny little bell peppers (top of post - RW Sunday Supper attendees might remember them as the lamb chorizo-stuffed canapes).  Husband and I both love those.  I then went over to Just This Farm to pick up some Sungold Cherry tomatoes and a new heirloom variety of broccoli raab; alas, I can't remember the specific type, but it sounds lovely and Italian and might include "Toscana."

And then I meandered down to Clintonville, right through campus and the game day madness.  I stopped by to say hi to my friend Jen at Snowville Creamery - they are at Whole Foods now, by the way.  I also got some Italian sausage at Oink Moo Cluck - strange thing overheard while walking past, one woman saying to another in a disdainful voice "Sausage is poor peoples' food."  I had two immediate thoughts: I didn't realized people still thought that way, and second, perhaps, but it's delicious, delicious poor people's food.  I'm not usually so blunt, but that was about the most ignorant statement I had heard in quite some time.  There was a time when money didn't really matter, but it was important to use the entire part of the animal because there was no method of cooling.  Thus, curing became very important.  Well, I probably don't have to lecture you, because I don't think any of my enlightened readers would ever think something ridiculous. 

My Wayward See CSA this week included beets, sweet corn, Swiss Chard, potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant and sweet corn.  The fruit CSA included apples, pears, and nectarines.  I love nectarines, and was reminded of yet another great thing about living in Central Ohio - while nectarines are winding down in some part of the state, they are just beginning in the Northern Ohio Wayward Seed farms.

I have lots of recipes to work on this week, and I'm looking forward to cooking and sharing everything with you.

And what did you get this week?

CSA & Market Report for August 30th

       a 2 day old lamb at Cota farms

*sigh* It was the last Saturday in August.  Looking at the Clintonville Farmer's Market website, they thought it might be the first week for Squash.  Nooooooooooooooo!

Oh well, it happens every year.  Time to settle in for the long cold and gray winter.

But not yet!!

I was passing out corn muffins and homemade maple butter at the Clintonville Farmer's market this week, so I pretty mush missed the markets.  I picked up my Wayward Seed Farm CSA, which this week included a melon, sweet corn, leeks, purple tomatillos, tomatoes and eggplant.  The fruit CSA contained lots of plums, gingergold apples, and gala (I think) apples!

Thanks to everyone who came out to say hi at the market!

CSA & Market Report for August 16th

Have we been having the best weather or what?  I tried to get out really early for the market, but as it turned out, I couldn't make it any earlier than 9:30.  I had planned only to visit Clintonville, to pick up my Wayward Seed CSA.  It was crowded, which I keep reminding myself is a good thing!  I looked for Blue Jacket Creamery, because I really needed some cheese this week for something I'm planning this week, but I didn't see them, so it was off to Worthington. Wow.  Worthington was really crowded.  So crowded, I almost gave up, but at the very last minute, I found a parking space.  I'm glad, because there were a few great things at the market.

First of all, my Wayward Seed CSA this week included sweet corn, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, eggplant, purple tomatillos (top of post) and this really pretty pointy cabbage.  Seriously, is anything more lovely to look at than cabbage?  It's one of my favorite things to photograph:

 
the fruit part of the CSA included a cantaloupe, peaches and yellow plums:

As much as I love peaches, I really, really love nectarines.  They are probably my favorite fruit.  I know, they are only one piece of genetic code off of a peach, but first, they aren't fuzzy, and two, the flesh seems firmer.  I love them.  I stood in line at Gilogly Orchard and bought 2 quarts of white nectarines.  I think I might have eaten 5 of them yesterday.  I stopped by Garden Patch Produce and finally bought some heirloom tomatoes, which I promptly turned into a snack for work - Cherokee Purples (my favorite) and Green Zebras with some of the peppers from last week's CSA along with basil, olive oil, and salt and pepper.  YUM!  It brought me immeasurable happiness at about 10pm last night at work.  Sadly, I didn't take a picture - it was really lovely.  But I'm sure it won't be the only one I have this year.

I stopped by another farm, which is next to Wayward Seed at the Worthington Market; they had lots of bowls of peppers, and this bowl of tiny little purple chiles caught my eye immediately.  I was warned they were hot, but I was skeptical.  How could something so cute be so hot:

When I got home and was making the salad, I cut into one of this little purple cuties.  I licked half of it.  WOW.  It might have been the hottest pepper I have ever eaten.  Two bowls of cereal later, there was still a burn.  But it was tasty.  I'm going to have to figure out something fun to do with them.  Seriously, look how tiny and adorable it is?  I put it next to this thimble as a source of perspective:

I also stopped by Blue Jacket to pick up some Grillin' cheese and some dill curds.  I was disappointed they didn't have mozzarella this week, because I had those great tomatoes; it sounded as thought they are going to be making some soon, though.

So!  What did you get this week?