Fall CSA Week 6
Eat Local Challenge Challenge (Part I)

As I have been fond of saying, don't ask me now about the Eat Local Challenge, ask me later. The question becomes, when is later now?

Unlike the last few years, winter hit hard early this year. Our eat local sources, City Market and Farmer Vicki expected to dig up things for several more weeks than Mother Nature allowed. Farmer Vicki has been planning for hard frost by building greenhouses. Early winter disrupted the plan, and her greenhouse is no fully operational while she cannot harvest from her fields. The market for local produce dwindles.

This week's box: a (lot) of red potatoes, a good amount of beets, a bag of tiny greenhouse lettuces, three onions, one medium sized squash and one tiny squash. Of course, one cannot be expected to eat for the week on this haul. Now, our family's simple solution, one that has nothing to do with the Eat Local Challenge per se, is to eat out a lot. Yea, our box goes a long way when we eat about 40% of our meals at various restaurants.

Still, our stocks contain lotsa potatoes, we have about ten or so squash in the basement, our extra fridge contains plenty of beets, turnips, even red bell peppers that are holding up very well; last week's bok choy is fine, but I cannot convince the Condiment Queen that she does not have to cook it Asian style (can someone give me an Italian name for bok choy, she'll cook it faster?). Have I mentioned that we have barely dipped into our freezer? We are not gonna starve in the next few weeks. Ask me later.