Hello from the farm,
It’s been a crazy couple weeks of tree-climbing, tomato-preserving, lunch-packing and broccoli-identifying. It’s always an adventure here. I’m thankful for the rain we had and that summer’s looking like it will see us through until the end of September.
I finally have a kid in school and now I’m in the boat of you other school parents, trying to send your kids stuff that’s nutritious and they will actually eat! I’d love to know your tricks. Of course the apples and watermelon are an easy sell, but what about veggies? How do you veggify your kid’s lunches? I try to add tomato and lettuce to his little sandwiches, and when I ran out of lettuce, slipped a little bok choy on his sandwich instead. Happily, his lunch box came home empty! (and the class does not even have a pet rabbit…lol). I find dinners the easiest to mix in the veg. I’d love your tips.
I hope you can appreciate all the sweat and energy that goes into the (real) food you eat. As mentioned we climbed and used a ladder to reach up to the top of those giant macintosh trees. We stoop down to pick up melon after melon, joining them into heavy boxes of sweetness. We bunch, we wash, we pack and lift, lift, lift to get all the goodness to you. It’s wonderful and exhausting all at once, like a lot of good things in life (any parents of small children here? ;).
I also discovered that broccoli happens to have a lot of cousins. Gai lan, a chinese white-flowered broccoli with looser heads and multiple heads per plant (whose popularity with bees gave me hope that there are still a few bees left), brocoletti which gives multiple smaller heads on broccoli on skinnier stems. We unfortunately had very little after the drought, but I figured I’d share my education with you all.
Here’s your list. Hope you love the vibrant colour diversity and versatility of these late summer jewels.
Half
-honeydew/cantaloupe and yellow doll watermelon
-honeycrisp and macintosh apples
-zucchini
-baby bokchoy
-celery
-garlic chives
-green and red peppers
-red beets
-beefsteak and heirloom tomatoes (running out of ideas? Try bruschetta…just add garlic, oregano, basil, butter and cheese and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar if desired)
-red leaf lettuce
Whole
-gai lan/brocoletti/radish
-saladette or grape tomatoes
-tomatillos
-parsley
-sugar snap or snow peas
-carrots
-rainbow swiss chard
This weeks recipe is something I wondered if they actually could go together, and low and behold a simple search pulled up a ton of different recipes. Let me know if you enjoy the combo of
swiss chard with apples and bacon. I’m sure you could omit the bacon if you are vegetarian or sub turkey bacon if you don’t eat pork. I can’t wait to try it myself!
