Satsumas and kale ~ Week of December 2nd

Sauteed radicchio with thyme fritatta

We missed out on a box last week – just spaced out and forgot to cancel it before we left for Duck’s dad’s house Tuesday night to start the big Thanksgiving prep. Luckily we remembered before we left and Duck ran down the street to ask our neighbor if he would pick it up off our porch the next morning. Duck said he was thrilled – he wanted to make a salad, but didn’t have any salad veggies in the house. We saw him when we got back from Thanksgiving weekend and he raved about the delicious apples and persimmons. Has community supported agriculture made itself another convert? I hope so!

Now that our box newsletter doesn’t come with a list of what’s in our box (grumble, grumble, this is the most useless CSA newsletter ever… but it does make sense now that FFTY offers about 20 different types of box each week) I need to get the list off the FFTY website if I’m not quick enough to write it all down before we put it away. This means I have the info for where each item comes from (which is of course an awesome aspect of getting a CSA) and I thought that might be interesting to record as well. (FFTY does have an option among their many boxes to get a “Valley Box” with only produce from the Capay Valley. I am leaning towards switching to this one after seeing how far some of this produce has traveled. No apples, and we do love our apples, but the Valley Box gets Meyer lemons!)

I need to stop reading the description of what’s in the regular-sized box. They are getting radicchio this week which is only my favorite thing in the entire world. Now I just feel deprived! Here’s what’s in our small box:

Satsuma Mandarin Oranges (Capay Farms – the FFTY farm, 90 miles)
Rome Beauty Apple (Washington, 900 miles)
Napa Cabbage (Capay, 90 miles)
Green Kale (Capay, 90 miles)
Baby mixed lettuce (Capay, 90 miles)
Yellow Onion (Fresno, 190 miles)
Nantes carrots (Capay, 90 miles)

Lettuce and Tomatoes ~ Week of October 7th

Kind of a boring box this week. We’ve been getting the small size, and this week the regular size box looks like it got all the fun stuff! It’s good to have the basics, though, and we’re always running out of onions. We’re taking a month off from our CSA box to try more intensive menu planning and see how that works for us, so this is our final box for a few weeks.

Here’s what we got this week in our “small” box:

Valenica oranges (1.5lb)
Gala apples (1.5 lb)
Arugula (1 bunch) (instead of the peppers we ask them not to include)
Slicing tomatoes (1.5lb)
Romaine lettuce (1 head)
Italian parsley (1 bunch)
Yellow onions (2 lb)
Russet potatoes (2 lb)

Black grapes and Galia melon ~ Week of September 23rd

A nice box all about transitioning from summer into fall. The last of the heirloom tomatoes and cucumbers, I imagine, giving way to luscious, dusky-skinned black grapes. This box was a size “regular.”

Black grapes (2 lb)
Galia melon
Rainbow chard (1 bunch)
Romaine lettuce (1 head)
Red lead lettuce (1 head)
Heirloom tomatoes (2 lb)
Cherry tomatoes (1 pint)
Cucumbers (0.5 lb)
Red onions (2 lb)
Red beets (1 bunch)
Slicer tomatoes (2 lb) (instead of peppers which we ask them to leave out)

Scarlett Royal grapes and Bosc pears ~ Week of September 16th

This was what I always think of as a “designer” box – one where much of the produce is designated by type or variety. They’re not just “red grapes,” they’re “Scarlett Royal grapes.” I don’t know why we get designations like this sometimes and not others, but it’s always fun when the food comes with a pedigree! This was a “regular” sized box:

Honeydew melon
Yellow nectarines (5) (These were actually terrible and mealy. A rare misstep for FFTY.)
Scarlett Royal grapes (1.5 lb)
Bosc pears (1.5 lb)
Rainbow chard (1 bunch)
Heirloom tomatoes (1.5 lb)
Leeks (1 lb)
Yukon potatoes (1.5 lb)
Sweet potatoes (1.5 lb)
Butter lettuce (1 bunch) (instead of peppers which we ask them to leave out)

Galia Melon and Heirloom Tomatoes ~ Week of August 5th

No photo this week, but a tasty box full of treats nonetheless. We are starting to miss what we think of as “real veggies,” though. Tomatoes are terrific, but they don’t satisfy the leafy green urge. At least there was a bit of broccoli this week!

In this week’s box from Farm Fresh to You:

Blueberries (6 oz.)
Flame grapes (1 lb)
Cherries (1 lb)
Galia melon (1 large)
Broccoli (1 crown)
Portobello mushroom (1 large)
Cherry tomatoes (1 pint)
Heirloom tomatoes (2 lbs)
Romaine hearts (3)
Purple basil (1 bunch)
Yellow onions (1 lb)

The quality of the produce is still really good, and stuff doesn’t rot immediately, which is a huge plus for summer CSA fruit and tomatoes. I wish the newsletter recipes were a little more inspired though… This week’s recipe was for grilled cheese sandwiches. They sound like amazing grilled cheese sandwiches, but that’s one I can pretty much figure out on my own!

What’s in the box?

Okay, I’ll admit it. I’ve been holding out on you.

The whole purpose of this blog is to catalog my adventures in community supported agriculture, and while this is something I’ve written about thoughtfully and voluminously in the past, there’s been pretty much radio silence on the topic for the last several months. I started off this blog writing about Eatwell Farm’s CSA, but in October of last year, after a little more than a year of weekly farm boxes, Eatwell and I parted ways. In February Duck and I gave Eating with the Seasons a try, and I gave you a detailed compare and contrast of the two services. But our Eating with the Seasons experience only lasted a few weeks. It’s really is more of a customized grocery delivery service than a traditional CSA, and for some reason it just didn’t appeal. We wondered if we were done with the CSA model, at least for the time being, but then a friend won a free subscription to Capay Farm’s Farm Fresh to You CSA and, reading his newsletter and ogling his box, our interest rekindled.

So since the end of April (has it really been that long now?) we’ve been getting a weekly box from Farm Fresh to You, and we’ve been loving it. FFTY lets you create a “no” list, so your box is semi-customized. That puts it between Eatwell (everyone gets the exact same thing) and Eating with the Seasons (you make up your box from a list of 35 or so offerings). I think this is perfect for us – we love the surprise element of a CSA box, but get frustrated when a third or more of our box is stuff we don’t like, week after week. (That would be during pepper season!) FFTY also drops the box off on our porch, rather than at a central location. It’s pretty sweet to head outside and find this treasure chest of gorgeous produce waiting on the steps. 

And yes, the produce is gorgeous. Our tomato experience this summer with FFTY has been head and shoulders above the mealy, rot-the-day-they-arrive Eatwell tomatoes of last summer. With the exception of some tasteless fruit – melons, stone fruits, and grapes – everything has been at its peak both in terms of flavor and hardiness (i.e. not going bad within a few days).

So why have I been keeping all this fabulous CSA data to myself? The answer is simply that I’ve been tired, tired with a capital “T”. (And a capital “I,” “R,” “E,” and “D,” most days.) I manage to get up a little spark now and then to put up a menu plan or write a little post about something fun I’ve cooked, but I’ve barely had the energy to unpack the CSA box (good thing I have Duck and Farm Princess), much less photograph it and blog it. 

But really I think the thing I was too tired to do was write this intro post, letting you know about the new CSA and giving you the skinny on how it was the same and different from other CSAs, how the quality is, and so on. But now it’s done, and we can move forward!  So, without further ado, I give you the contents of this week’s box! (I’ll also be going backwards in time and inserting some box contents info on the appropriate dates in the blog, just so folks have a record they can consult if they are researching CSAs.) 

Week of July 29th:

Green grapes
Cherries
Krimson pears
Globe eggplant
Summer squash
Heirloom tomatoes
Cherry tomatoes
Cucumber
Lemon cucumbers
Basil
Yellow onions
Nantes carrots
Gypsy peppers (we thought we asked them to exclude all peppers, but it turns out we only checked off “bell”)

These are the contents of the FFTY “regular box.” They offer about a billion sizes, different proportions of fruit and veggies, and you can even choose to get the regular, mostly-local selection or opt to only receive produce grown in the Capay Valley.

Spearmint and yellow nectarines ~ Week of July 22nd

This week’s box was a fruit salad-lover’s dream, with three kinds of fruit and a delicious bunch of mint. Too bad no one here but me likes fruit salad… We used the mint in a lentil salad instead.

Cherries (1 lb)
Cameo apples (2 lb) (these look gorgeous but their taste & texture is not so great)
Yellow nectarines (4)
Globe eggplant (1 big one)
Yellow squash (1 lb) (the kind that is shaped like zucchini – possibly is zucchini?)
Gypsy peppers (.5 lb) (because we keep thinking they got our request for no peppers, but apparently it hasn’t gone through)
Broccoli (1 crown)
Heirloom tomatoes (2 lbs)
Cucumbers (1 big one)
Spearmint (1 bunch)
Nantes carrots (1 bunch)
Yellow onions (1 lb)

One thing I really, really like about FFTY is that they keep those yellow onions coming. They are such a staple, and if memory serves, Eatwell didn’t cure onions and only sent them fresh and in season. That was a nice thought, but we were always having to run to the store for more onions!

Squash and more squash ~ Week of July 1st

There just isn’t that much to do with pattypan squash. (That’s the yellow squash that looks like flying saucers.) And we’ve been getting 1.5 to 2 lbs every week! Farm Princess roasted it, thinly sliced and spread out in a pan, with red onions. She put it in with pesto and pasta, and that was phenomenal. But it’s getting harder and harder to get creative with the stupid squash, and it just keeps coming!

Other than the squash attack and some gross grapes, this week was a pretty nice box. Sorry about no picture, but I’ve given amounts.

Green grapes (1.5 lbs)(too sour to eat, also mushy. yuck)
Plums (1.5 lbs) (we put these in a clafouti…)
Valencia oranges (2 lbs)
Blueberries (6 oz)
Pattypan squash (2 lbs)
Red leaf lettuce (1 big head)
Basil (1 bunch)
Nantes carrots (2 bunches)
Red onions (1 lb)
Fingerling potatoes (1 lb)
The newsletter (which I am using to reconstruct what came in this box) says “Mixed Peppers 1 lb” but I know they subbed something for us. Maybe broccoli?

White corn and red onions ~ Week of June 24th

Sorry I don’t have a picture for you. I know it’s so much nicer with pictures! I’ll give amounts, though, so you still have some idea of how much was in the box.

Here’s what came in our box this week:

Blueberries (6 oz.)
Apricots (1 lb.) (these were pretty bad)
Yellow peaches (6)
Broccoli (1 lb)
White corn (3 ears)
Pattypan squash (1.5 lb)
Red lead lettuce (1 large head)
Basil (1 bunch)
Carrots (1 small bunch)
Red onions (1 lb)
Fingerling potatoes (1 lb)

Blueberries and Bok Choy ~ Week of June 10th

I’m sorry I don’t have weekly records for the first few months of our Farm Fresh to You Box. I will try to be more diligent in the future!

This is a “regular” sized box. You can see it has considerably more treats than the “small” size.

Broccoli
Basil
Melon
Tomatoes
Bok choy
Blueberries
Red onions
White onion
Red potatoes