vegetables and other stuff

Went to the weekly distribution from my CSA today to pick up my share of veggies. The distribution is held at a local organic food co-op that's always fun to shop at. I signed up for the CSA back in May and was put on a waiting list. They just called me two weeks ago and said that a share had become available -- basically you contract to pay 20 bucks a week for the season (or in my case for the 12 weeks that are left) and you get a share of veggies that are grown at a local organic farm. The farmers are guaranteed to get a certain amount of money no matter what happens with the growing season, and you get to make a local organic food producer a little more economically stable and viable. I also have to sign up for a couple of 4-hour shifts working at the farm. I'll probably try to get in a shift during my vacation next week.

So this spring while I was still on the waiting list for the CSA, I planted my own little garden. We live in a brick townhouse with a southern exposure that soaks up the sun and heats the ground up fairly early in the season for these parts. My garden is along our back wall, L-shaped and about 3 feet wide. One leg of the L is about 20 ft long, the other about 12. On the long side I have a jungle of cherry tomatoes, some brandywine tomatoes, yellow summer squash & zucchini, strawberries, mint, sage, parsley, basil, and glads. I've put mostly perennials on the short side -- hollyhocks, daisies, lavender, peony, delphinium (that I grew from seed last year!) roses, hydrangea, and new this year, a hops vine. Everything seems to like our clay soil fairly well; the roots get through it better than my shovel, I guess.

So I was a little disappointed when my first distribution from the CSA was all tomatoes and summer squash -- tho we did get chard, kale, and a nice bunch of dill as well. Today I got cucumbers, carrots, potatoes, beets, summer savory, garlic, and more zucchini and tomatoes. I think the zucchini will wind up in chocolate cake at this point...

Had a lovely, lovely weekend not doing much of anything useful. Practically no housework. I worked on crocheting a market bag to bring all these veggies home in, made 2 pans of kuchen (neither of which made it to the bake sale, as they came out of the oven too late this morning -- guess I'll toss 'em a tenner instead), and watched three Sox games, thus wasting the beautiful sunny late summer weather we had all weekend. Wouldn't change a thing.