Local Food Connections

Hi everyone,
It is April and dealing with a winter and short growing season will never be familiar to me. With that said, Chuck and I are SO looking forward to our visit each week to our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) – Crazy Daisy Farm.

This is our 3rd year and we can’t imagine not having those baskets of wonderfulness each week from late June through October. I remember the first year we signed up for a CSA share that it took me some time to locate a CSA that offered half-shares and was still available and that was in April. We made it under the wire and now, in addition to the wonderful produce, we enjoy a friendship with a great family. Bonus!

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Hi everyone,

It is summer and that means zucchini. I enjoy zucchini and summer squash, but sometimes I want to try something new and different.

This week, I will post a few different ideas to use the bountiful crop that summer brings.

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Nothing like a summer trip to the Farmer’s Market or a basket from your CSA to get you cooking. I remembered a recipe in Prevention and personalized it a bit with all of the goodies in the fridge that I needed to use. Soup doesn’t need to be a cold weather dish. A lighter soup is refreshing because it isn’t heavy food to eat.

Fresh from the Market

Hi everyone,

Finally, we are pulling back the blanket of a chilly, snowy winter and looking forward to seeing the new apparel that Mother Nature will give her tree and flower children this year.

I think we all need spring badly this year. Our country is in economic chaos, our people are stressed and we need to find some joy and warmth in our lives. Spring just might be able to help warm us all up just a bit.

And this post couldn’t be more appropriate for Earth Day 2009.

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Hi everyone,

Some sense of the end of a gloomy winter came last week with the arrival of our Crazy Daisy CSA brochure for 2009.

Crazy Daisy's Daisy

They are some wonderful new adventures in veggies for us this year and I am so ready for that fresh bounty every week. We are also working on their first cookbook and I hope to have it ready for the 2009 members to have some great new ideas.
 

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Happy New Year!

We are almost halfway through January of the New Year and I am wondering how many of you are already losing that resolve to make major changes in your life?

This past summer I was involved in a writing intensive with an wonderful supportive and talented group of women and a great coach, Suzanne Lieurance (The Working Writer’s Coach). Last week, she had a reunion call with our group to discuss our writing goals for 2009. After the call, I reviewed my goals based on the discussion, but also thought about them in a different light. Now I am applying that philosophy to my life, not just my writing.
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Hi everyone,

What a difference a week makes – this week – warm, sunny, and breezy with a huge basket of food from our CSA, Crazy Daisy Farms.

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Hi everyone,

Well, it appears that fall is early in Minnesota. The temps outside at 4:00ish yesterday were mid 60′s, clouds off and on, and a hint of a cool wind. The crops are changing again as Mother Nature plays her tricks.

Our basket was still filled with wonderful foods we will enjoy this next week. The tomatoes are gorgeous. Last week I made a wonderful sauce with all of the tomatoes I had in the house, plus some shredded zucchini. It will make a delightful sauce for lasagna.
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Hi everyone,

The weather is playing tricks again. We’ve gone from warm and steamy to cool weather with some days the temps only in the high 60′s and nights down in the 50′s. It saddens me because summer is moving away far too fast. It has also confused the crops a bit. So along with the drought conditions, the weather is much cooler. 
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Hi everyone,

The weather has been strange and we are actually looking at rock hard ground again. The  lack of rain is visible in our area. Not only on the farm, but in our yards and particularly in the areas where water conservation rules are in effect. In our community, we can not water lawns, unless you have a well. 

So, on the farm, they have to work extra hard to keep the crops growing. It is interesting because it has not been exceptionally warm, just very dry. Even the 2 inches of rain they received last week was not enough to push the growth forward.

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