Week 1, Box 1, 4 Basket Ingredients....

Welcome to the spectacle everyone! Step right up and watch the disaster in progress. For Monday I received my very Farm Box of the season! A little late due to a cold and late spring but super bountiful. Of course the vast majority of this first box is salad greens, and therefore slightly un-creative, but we've got some goodies too so let's dive in!

This week's box contained the following:

1. Red Lettuce (which went to my Granddad who was thrilled to see it)
2. Green Lettuce (Ginormous) 
3. Half a Bok Choi (the other half taken by the MIL)
4. Micro Greens
5. Rhubarb
6. Two Tomatoes
7. Garlic Curls  (those curly tops of the garlic that gave me such a heart attach last year)
8. And Garlic Chives (which are neither garlic nor chives, but still yummy)

I was already making plans in my head, the Rhubarb is OBVIOUSLY being turned into Jam again because it came out so yummy last year and I know I only get it once, twice if I am lucky. Salad greens to be washed up and made into salads (Duh) and I was getting really excited about the Bok Choi when a sadistic smile on The Husband's face reminded me that in my joy in finally having my farm fresh produce back, I had forgotten something...My basket ingredients.

is that, Kiwi? Yes yes it was, and wasabi peas, AND apple chips... not to mention A WHOLE FRIGGEN CHICKEN. 

Adventures in Jam

The second item in this week's box to cause me a mild heart attack was the Rhubarb. The only things I knew about Rhubarb was that it was red, it looked like celery, was technically a veggie, but tasted like a fruit. I also knew that Strawberries were its natural mate. The Husband and I stared at the bunch for a bit when the box first came in and tossed around ideas:

• The Husband: Pie?
• Me: I don't want to make a pie this week. That takes too long.
• The Husband: What did Becky say?
• Me: She said she doesn't really like rhubarb.
• The Husband: That's not very helpful, is it?
• Me: Nope. To The Google Machine?
• The Husband: To The Google Machine.

So I did a Search:

Having never in my entire life made JAM before I decided that this was CLEARLY the best idea. The Husband and I were going to make the jam, jar the Jam and can the Jam. How hard could it be (famous last words, I know)?

After a little more research we found a recipe we felt we could handle, and that didn't require that weird food science product called "pectin." The Husband brought home 6 beautiful Jamming Jars the next day and we set to work.  (Recipe credit goes to Marisa McClellan from Food in Jars  and can be found HERE on Food52.com)

Introduction

The Husband and I, being happy go lucky newlyweds who love to cook, decided that we were going to invest in a CSA Farm Box. OK, maybe it was more like I decided I wanted a Farm Box.  I had had the privilege of consuming some of the amazing foods my BFF Becky created from her box the year before, and it looked like fun and simple enough. So when I heard that my MIL's temple had a Farm Share with Catalapa Ridge Farm I made a deal to split a weekly box with my MIL and convinced The Husband that this was a great idea.  In fairness to Former-Me, it seemed like a really good idea at the time.

Anyway, we received our first box last night and as The Husband laid out the contents before me:

• 1 Cucumber recognizable in shape and form, thank heaven
• 1 heirloom tomato, big and fat and glorious
• 1 bunch of red lettuce
• Onions with the greens still attached
• Rosemary
• Rhubarb
• Green Garlic
• Elephant Garlic Scapes

 I had a minor freak out. 

Now, in fairness to this first box, it wasn't much and the first five items I recognized easily enough but the last three items were totally new to me. What the HECK was I going to do???  The Husband MAY have laughed at me as I frantically began searching the net to figure out proper storage of the above items, and chomping into a random items to try and determine what manner of green they were. After exhausting The Google Machine and experiencing the worst garlic breath I've ever had,  I resorted to picking up the phone and calling the one person whose fault this really was: Becky's. 

That conversation went like this:

• Becky: Hello lovely
• Me: This is all your fault
• Becky: What?
• Me: I did something because I was inspired by you and now I have no idea what to do.
• Becky: What?
• Me: I bought a Farm Box and now I have Rhubarb sitting on my kitchen table and some other veg I don't recognize and YOU ... YOU MADE IT LOOK SO EASY.
• Becky: ::Laughter::

It took a bit to calm me down but with promises to provide me with recipes and resources Becky got my panic under control and, to her relief, got me off the phone.

I created this blog to document my adventures with the Farm Box. I'm sure this will be filled with lots of recipes that will most certainly go wrong and some that will go right. Inevitably some items will be deemed inedible by The Husband and others spoil in the fridge forgotten. But hopefully by the end of this year I will no longer panic when the box walks in the door. That is my goal and I'm sticking to it.

Now please excuse me, I have to go do more research on Rhubarb and Garlic Scapes.