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Thursday, May 14, 2009

To Veggie Box or not to Veggie Box?


Living in the splendidly fertile agricultural state that is California, I am fortunate to not have to go far to acquire freshly grown, healthy organic produce whenever it suits me.
I don't have to pay very much either, which is also a bonus because I am not only poor, but I am also cheap.
For the past 8 months, I have been receiving monthly organic produce deliveries from Farm Fresh To You .
Their farms are located in the Capay Valley near Chico, California and everything is grown organically, so you don't end up with bizarre things like monster-sized apples or bell peppers who are so perfectly formed and colored you would swear that they were wax replicas.
In fact, the best apples I've ever had in my life have come from this place.
I've had a great time these past few months trying to figure out what the hell to do with vegetables I never normally would cook myself. I've learned that Chard is wonderful in casseroles, and that Japanese Pumpkin is so sweet that it's better in cookies than it is in curries.
It's been amazing, but in the end-- I've decided that June will be my last delivery box month.
The truth is that even one medium box a month is too much veg for me. It's even too much for me AND my boyfriend, on the rare occasions when I actually remember to cook for him as well. It makes me sad to see that wilty lettuce in my fridge that I so casually ignored in favor of one too many sushi take-out nights or the flashier, "sexier" vegetables such as eggplant and Oyster mushrooms.
I tried to take my friend M's advice and freeze it for making soup stock later on, but I know in my darkest of hearts that I'll never get around to it. Most of the frozen lettuce in my freezer these past few months has gone to feeding my tadpoles who have since sprouted legs and gone on to being carnivores.
I do encourage everyone to invest in your local organic farms and seek out similar delivery programs in your area if possible.
Those of you in Northern California, I highly recommend Farm Fresh To You as an alternative to the much more expensive Planet Organic.
Besides, if you tell them I sent you, there's a free box of tasty, tasty fruits and veggies in it for me.

1 comments:

Catyanna said...

I hate watching lettuce go bad too.

I don't have a lot of time to prepare salads, so I usually buy the salad mix, but at least 1/3 of it starts wilting.

I've been buying these frozen veggies that come in a steam bag that you can steam in the microwave. I know it's probably not that healthy, but it's a start. There are a lot of vegetables that I can't stand like, broccoli, squash and mushrooms.

Kudos to you for starting this blog, btw. Oh and I miss you.