CSA and Other Things

Image: glass jar with flecked mint sugar and some pottery and a startled frog salt shaker.

Yesterday our first CSA box was ready for pick-up.  I wasn't sure how big a full share was going to be, so I enlisted Mason's help in case it was going to involve a lot of repacking. They wanted us to leave the cardboard box behind, collapsed, and so I grabbed a bunch of bags to transfer the food into. Turns out I probably didn't need to drag Mason along. It was all fairly manageable, though since we also bought a flower share, it was nice to have him there to help hunt through the bouquet buckets for the one with our name on it.

They shifted our pick-up location to a business called Green Acre in Falcon Heights (a inner ring suburb of St. Paul which is, unfortunately, mostly known for the site of the murder of Philando Castile.  In fact, our CSA pick-up site is two door down from his memorial.)  The reason we were asked to move is that they were trying to find more places that had easy outdoor pick-up so as to avoid too many people in an indoor space. We brought our masks, but we never saw anyone else picking-up, which was kind of nice. They had all the boxes hidden behind a half wall, but still outside. So, it was a quick in and out, with no "in." It was also an eight minute drive, tops.

The flower share was lovely, mostly peonies.

Inside our box was:  asparagus, two bunches of green onions, chives, garlic scapes, a huge bag of mixed salad greens, spinach, rhubarb, and mint.

I like mint a lot, but I was really not sure what to do with the amount we got. So, I went off to the Googles, as grandma would say, and found a couple of fun things, like the first picture, mint sugar. 

Mint sugar is really easy. It was 2/3rds cup of white sugar and 8 leaves of mint (I ended up just using all the leaves of one sprig.) You grind that up in a food processor on high, and then you let it dry overnight (or, like I did, for about ten minutes in a warm oven.)  Viola!  

Then I started steeping mint tea:


Image: tea leaves in a mason jar.

And boiling up some mint syrup:


Image: pot on stove with mint syrup simmering in it.

I have no idea how any of this is going to taste (though I tried the sugar and it's subtle, but noticeably minty.)  

The other stuff is already going fast. We plowed through a huge portion of the mixed greens and spinach last night because the instant Shawn saw them she said "Oh, will you make that one salad for dinner?" That one salad is basically just a fully loaded salad topped with chopped up hard-boiled eggs and spicy, pan-seared chicken strips. Even Mason who normally leaves his salad somewhat untouched devoured this.

We have plans for the rhubarb, of course--Shawn found an upside down cake she wants to try.

The rest are just the sort of things that go into everything we make, that I don't expect a lot of waste. Though I am thinking about chopping and drying the chives, so they don't go bad before we have a chance to use them up.  

I'm already looking forward to next week! Huzzah!

The only other thing I wanted to put out there for folks (hey, from anywhere, because it's Zoom), is that the Twin Cities chapter of the Northcountry Gaylaxicans are planning a book club gathering to discuss my latest book, Unjust Cause, with me on July 14 at 7 pm CDT/GMT-6 (details of how to join the event are on their FB page: https://www.facebook.com/events/653999645190057/).  You are all welcome!  Read the book! Come joint us!

Okay, that's all I've got for now. How's by everyone else?