Tuesday, February 2
Added 3 parsnips, 3 carrots, and 3 onions to an Indian soup mix of lentils, split peas, and barley, and seasoned with salt, pepper, and curry powder.

Wednesday, February 3
Down to the wire with just a couple of carrots, a few potatoes, and some very small onions. Next pick-up is Saturday!

[ Photo credit: lapoli via Flickr ]

As in past years, I joined the Bialas Farms winter CSA this year for access to seeming oxymoron of farm-fresh vegetables in January and February. The first load of veggies came and went, leaving us with just a few carrots at the end of the two week period between deliveries. Here’s what we received in the second batch, picked up last Saturday, and the start of a daily account of what we’re doing with it.

Beets, 2 pounds
Butternut squash, 2 pounds
Cabbage, 3 pounds
Carrots, 3 pounds
Celery root, 1 pound
Onions, 3 pounds
Parsnips, 1 pound
Potatoes (small), 4 pounds
Russian kale, 1 pound

Saturday, January 23 – Monday, January 25
3 carrots, 5 cabbage leaves, 3 potatoes added to a stir-fry

Tuesday, January 26
Big pan of roasted veggies – 3 beets, 3 carrots, 1/4 of the celery root, 6 onions, 2 parsnips, 6 potatoes – seasoned with olive oil, herbes de Provence, kosher salt and served with baked salmon topped with herbed goat cheese.

Wednesday, January 27
2 carrots, a chunk of celeriac, and 3 small onions, all diced and added to slow-cooker 3-bean soup.

A couple of years ago I traveled to Puerto Montt, Chile, to learn about salmon farming. I am a big fan of the concept of farmed fish as a way to satisfy the world’s growing appetite for fish. So I was bothered by recent news about a viral infestation in Chilean salmon farms and about the shortage of wild salmon in certain Northern California rivers. Clearly large scale fish farming needs to overcome challenges of infection, pollution of surrounding waters, and effects of fish farming on wild populations. Wild fish faces threats of overfishing and environmental influences. It is clear that eating fish is good for you. The question is how to balance supply, demand, and the environment.

[ Photo credit: rodc via Flickr ]

I recently spent time with a colleague from Florida who started a backyard garden because she realized that growing her own organic veggies was less expensive than buying them. I too am a big fan of backyard gardening. I affectionately call our 200-square-foot garden “Fort Knox” because my husband surrounded it with tall fencing and chicken wire to keep out the deer, chipmunks, hare, and other hungry friends. We use no pesticides and have been fortunate to be relatively bug-free. It’s still pretty cold here in New York but I already seeded one bed with mesclun lettuce and another with radishes. This weekend, I’ll be starting heirloom tomato seeds indoors so that they can be planted outside around Memorial Day. And my new favorite is the Chinese long bean, a very tall beanstalk with beautiful but fleeting purple flowers and very long beans. The plants take about three months to produce edible beans, so be patient.

[ Photo credit: Blu Phoenix via Flickr ]