Market Analysis : Week 15

Week 15, September 23

Still more cooking and storing than blogging. But no throwing away of things that have gone bad, so these savings are real, at least, assuming I'd be buying this much food at the farmers' market, not letting my inner cheapskate talk me into buying some cheaper, less local option at the grocery store in-season, and so on.

While I've been fairly busy and tired for elaborate food projects (or for posting and photographing things for that matter), simple things are still a fine way to eat farmshare food. We steam many of the greens that arrive in the box and save them for later, when we'll be missing the freshest food in the winter. Last night we ate dinner consisting of leftovers plus freshly steamed broccoli. The most complicated leftover was a bread salad in which many farmshare vegetables, particularly tomatoes, were chopped up and tossed in a dressing of vinegar, olive oil, and tomato juice. I suppose the beet tzatziki (shredded boiled beets, yogurt, garlic, lemon juice, and dill) was about as complicated, but I've made it so many times that it doesn't feel that way. We also ate boiled farm potatoes that were cooked a few days ago.

1 bunch kale: $2.50
1 bunch parsley: $2
2 lb 13 oz tomatoes: $7
10 oz broccoli : $1.87
1 bunch bok choi (a variety with darker leaves): $3.50
14 oz fall turnip : $1.75
1.25 lb acorn squash: $1.25
1/2lb bell pepper : $1.50
2 hot peppers: $0.50
3.25lb potatoes : $9.75
1 lb red onion: $2

Total: $33.62

Market Analysis: Week 14

Week 14, September 16

4 lb Acorn Squash (2 squashes): $1/lb, $4
4 lb Tomatoes (about a dozen tomatoes, orange and red): $2.5/lb, $10
Hot Peppers: 4 hot peppers, 25c ea, $1
1.5lb Peppers (1 orange, 2 red, 1 green): $3/lb, $4.50
3 Leeks: $3
1 Head lettuce: $2.50
1 bunch chard : $2.50
1 bunch Hon Tsai Tai: (an Asian green with edible stems and flowers): $3
Dill: $2 / bunch

Total: $32.50

Market Analysis : Week 12 & 13

My farmshare ate my blogging the past few weeks - but I'm still here, cooking my way through the late summer bounty and then some. (Why no, it's not almost fall, and it wasn't 55F this morning, and I'm not in denial.) So we'll catch up on 2 weeks at once.

Week 12's share, September 1:

Sweet Corn: 6 ears plus bonus baby corn again. 50c/ear - $3
2.5 lbs Spaghetti Squash: $2.50
1 lb Carrots: $2
1 lb 9 oz Cucumbers: $3
Red Peppers: 50c
2 Leeks: $2
1 Kohlrabi: 50c
2lb 10oz Tomatoes: $6.50
2 Jalapeno Peppers: 25c ea, $0.50
1 head of red "Magenta" lettuce: $2.50
1 large bunch Bok Choy: $2.50
1 bunch Cilantro: $2
1 bunch Dill: $2

Total: $29.50

Week 13's share, September 9:
4 lbs 6 oz tomatoes : $11
2 Jalapeno peppers : 25c ea, $0.50
1 head of lettuce: $2.50
1 bunch basil: $2
1 lb 11oz cucumbers: $3.37
3 bell peppers (14 oz): $2.60
4 red onions (10 oz): $1.25
2 lb 4 oz potatoes: $6.75
6 ears corn: $3

Total: $32.97
Savings at the end of this week is up past $75!





In addition to all this (forgetting I'd probably get *plenty* of corn and tomatoes in the regular share) I ordered extra tomatoes at $1.50 a lb and corn at $3/a dozen and basil at $3/a lb. I made sauce with the tomatoes (and plenty of the ones from the share), pesto with the basil, and froze the corn - half as frozen cooked kernels and half in a creamy corn soup. It's all finally in the freezer, and I've still got roasted jalapenos to cook with the rest of the tomatoes into some salsa to freeze.

Would you like a salad with that?

Yesterday I steamed my arugula, since a 2nd bunch had arrived in the farmshare before we finished the first. I'm not sure what I'll do with it, but now it won't wilt and spoil before I get there. I'm thinking pureed into some kind of chilled soup, maybe with potato and a little fruit for sweetness.

That still left a rather full salad drawer. But today was my annual day of forgetting to wear sunblock while spending several hours in midday sun. It was probably even in the bag we brought to the pool, but somehow that didn't help my sun exposure much. So by dinner time I had that slightly sleepy feeling I get from sun exposure, and I did not require any convincing at all when the youngest family member voted for pizza.

But those greens in the drawer! Could I neglect them for yet another day? While waiting for the pizza I got a plentiful bunch of greens into the salad spinner and placed them in two of our bowl-shaped plates, chopped up a small orange tomato into half-wedges and sprinkled them on top of each plate, and sliced one of the plentiful cucumbers onto the salad plates as well. Last came slices of goat cheese from the farmers' market, and some vinaigrette dressing with basil. (Picky eater's version: some lettuce and some cucumber slices, undressed.) The salad, in a dinner-sized plate, wasn't really a side, but the meal felt more substantial accompanied by some pizza.

So remember to ask yourself, even if it's takeout - would you like a salad with that?

What's in a box of peaches?

I was worried that I had bitten off more than I could chew this year, with a giant box of peach seconds from Nicewicz Farm, found at the Arlington Center farmer's market.

Last year, when I bought the same delicious giant box of peach seconds, they were mostly "split pits" that tasted great, but if you didn't stay on top of them would rot very fast from the inside out - one morning they'd look fine, that afternoon only half could be saved. Which was fine when one had a bunch of free time coming up - as opposed to planning to disappear for a weekend of camping.

You may recall that the first thing I did with the peaches (aside from just devouring a few, of course) was a lovely peach upside down cake. I also shared about 5 lbs with a friend who couldn't get to the market as fast as me.

And then, the day before the camping trip, I frantically decided I'd better at least do some canning. So another portion of the peaches got peeled, sliced, then put into a very light sugar syrup and dropped into pint jars, then processed in boiling water and stuck in the pantry. I've never done this before and hope I like the results come winter - for now, I'll just be eating the fresh ones for a few more weeks!



The morning of the camping trip, I cut up a quart container's worth of peaches that looked most likely to spoil soon - I think I'm getting better at recognizing split pits. Then they went into the cooler we planned to bring on the trip. Another dozen or so went into a container, whole, to keep an eye on, eat whole, or perhaps even grill. The sliced peaches became a peach cobbler, cooked over a charcoal grill at the campsite in a cast iron dutch oven. The whole ones landed in our breakfast oatmeal, as well as in the bellies of a number of little girls. We managed to bring a few home, even - and successfully returned home to find that the remaining peaches in the bottom of the box were still fine as well. It turns out that this year's batch was not so many split pits, and more peaches with little blemishes on the skin or bruises acquired during picking, so far fewer of them were little ticking time-bombs.

So next up: peach cardamom jam, with a bit of grated ginger, an equal amount of sugar by weight to the fruit, and a generous amount of cardamom, freshly crushed from the pods. I used about 3.5 lbs of peaches, after chopping and peeling. Even the ginger was local - harvested last year by Old Friends Farm and saved in my freezer. I haven't had a problem with stone fruit jams without pectin, and I do use plenty of sugar, and in cool weather I don't even get impatient letting it cook long enough to set.



That left a few more peaches for eating, and just enough to try making some delicious-sounding spiced peach muffins - a huge muffin recipe from King Arthur Flour, with tons of flour, that supposedly freezes well. And a great snack for when friends were coming over for the afternoon - they could finish baking and be ready just in time for afternoon snack. Well, a fine theory, except that I seem to have invented a strange batch of sugar-free muffins, after being sure to hit the supermarket to replenish our brown sugar and everything. The doorbell rang as I'd just put in all the dry ingredients *but* the sugar, and somehow when I got back into the kitchen I was convinced I'd already added all the dry ingredients. For completely sugar free muffins, they were pretty tasty with all the peachy sweetness - but next time, I'll be a little more careful!

This entry is part of a blogathon in support of Mass Farmers Markets. If you appreciate the markets that help make such fabulous local produce available to us every week during the growing season, please consider donating what you can. The blogathon has been organized by Tinky of In Our Grandmother's Kitchens.

Market Analysis: week 11

Today's farmshare came in a large box and was good and heavy. Here's a picture of the haul:




And the rundown of the contents and the farmer's market prices:

Sweet Corn: 6 ears, $3
Yellow-flesh Watermelon: 8 lbs? more? Call it $6.
Carrots: 14 oz : $1
Cucumbers: 3lbs 1 oz $4.50
Yellow Squash: 1 lb, $2
Onions: 1 medium onion, 0.50c
Tomatoes: mix of heirloom and regular, 1 lb 10oz : $4.87
red "Magenta" lettuce : 1 head, $2.50
arugula : 1 bunch, $2.50
Red Kale: 1 bunch, $2.50
Basil: 1 bunch, $2
Cilantro: 1 bunch, $2

Total: $33.37




And the savings vs buying this stuff individually at the farmer's market:



Not included on the list, several of our ears of corn had a fun bonus this week. (No, I don't meant the corn worms.) They'd grown with an extra "twin" ear of corn attached, which separated from the ear before peeling and was much tinier - and as I suspected, basically the same thing the baby corn you get in your takeout stirfied noodles. It would be quite a pain to harvest enough for an actual stirfry, but we cooked 3 in a bit of boiling water and then snacked on them.

Market Analysis: Week 10

This week's box (I know, it all looks like lettuce and chard, but there's actually plenty of other stuff in there...)


Sweet Corn: 7 ears, 50c/ear : $3.50
Canteloupe : 4 lb, 12 oz : $3.80
Carrots: 10oz, $1
Cucumbers: 1 lb, 15 oz : $3.87
Yellow Squash: 1 lb, 6 oz : $2
"Ailsa Craig" Onions (sweet): 2 tiny onions: $1
Tomatoes: 2 lb, $6
"Concept" Lettuce: 1 head, $2.50
Arugula: 1 bunch, $2.50
Swiss Chard: 1 bunch, $2.50
Basil: 1 bunch, $2

total: $30.67

Pretty graphs:

alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5507318568551090450" />