Yesterday was our last organic produce box delivery, which was good because we were getting a little tired of the weekly bounty, which lately had consisted of Rooty Things (beets and radishes and a kohlrabi, always a lone kohlrabi in the box), Squashy Things (and here I mean actual winter squash, although a lot of it has gone squishy a lot sooner than expected) and Dirty Greeny Leafy Things in Wet Bags. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve been able to wash and cook and make some really good meals from a lot of this stuff (except the kohlrabi, which started showing up in the box one-measly-kohlrab-at-a-time shortly after I’d blown all sense of culinary adventure on the fucking radicchio), but now we’re ready to get back to pretending that stuff doesn’t come out of the ground. I want my spinach harvested by unicorns, please!
We’re not sure if we’re going to do it again next year. Chris was saying the other night that that while it definitely wasn’t bad to get all this different stuff every week, it was sort of like when a relative or someone comes to town on really short notice and you have to take him out to Navy Pier or something, and even though you wind up having a pretty good time with Uncle Whatshisface, you still wish you could do the thing you were going to do in the first place. And then furthermore imagine that Uncle Whatshisface shows up covered with mud and sometimes gets moldy, or goes a little demented, or even just withers up and dies without warning, and, well, that’s kind of how it is about the produce box.
from wikipedia:
Kohlrabi (Brassica oleracea Gongylodes Group) is a low, stout cultivar of the cabbage that will grow almost anywhere. It has been selected for its swollen, nearly spherical, Sputnik-like shape.
sounds like it would be fun to eat a mini sputnik. how did you cook it?
Yeah, I hate it when my visitors wither and die. Such a mess.
I didn’t cook any at all–I never had enough of them at one time to be worth the effort of doing a whole recipe. I think they’re supposed to be okay roasted.
Also, my grandma really liked kohlrabi, and the fact that it didn’t catch on with the rest of the family sort of gave me pause.
My husband takes the kohlrabi, cuts the rind or whatever off, and cuts it into sticks, like carrot sticks. He stores them in water and eats them as a snack. It’s pretty tasty that way.
We did a CSA box this summer too and my sentiments are the same as yours, exactly. I doubt we’ll be doing it again next summer. I miss going to farmers’ markets and actually making, you know, choices about the veggies I eat.
Gotta say, life isn’t so interesting that I don’t actually ENJOY visits from Uncle W., even if he goes off the deep end. It’s more interesting than my pathetic blog-lurking!
Glad you linked us again to your comical RADICCHIO post. I had tried to send it to a friend earlier but couldn’t locate it at the time.
Plus how many times do people eat beets in a year (exception being Russians)? And then when you forget you’ve eaten beets, and then your poop is dark reddish color and you go to the doctor because you’re freaking out that there’s blood in your stool, then you have to pay $150 for a doctor’s visit and take a stool sample, and then you’re embarrassed because the results come back as “blood-like appearance in stool caused by beets.†Farm boxes are hard.
Kohlrabi appeared on the completely whacked list of ‘acceptable’ foods I had when I went on the blood-type diet (pseudo-scientific pish, FYI). I didn’t have a damn clue what it was, but dutifully brought one and watched it wither slowly in my fridge. I’d just moved into a new place, and my flatmates and I started ‘Kohlrabi watch’.
I’d suggest looking into a CSA with less frequent deliveries – we did a half-share with Homegrown Wisconsin this summer, which means we got a delivery every other week. Gave us ample time to get through each box, and also an excuse, a day or two before the next delivery, to go out for a burger or whatever, since we were all out of fresh produce by that time.
I always had Box Guilt. This occurs when the things in the box die before you can cook them.
Having my own personal Iron Chef competition was great fun for the first few weeks. It lost its charm. We skipped it after the first year.
I’ve found a CSA in Georgia that lets you pick and choose each week online what you want to receive from their selection. Maybe something like that exists in your area, too?
Yep…it’s called the produce market.
Except the produce market typically doesn’t provide you with locally grown vegetables and fruits.
This is the best description of produce box guilt that I have ever read. I would always use a couple of things right away, but inevitably every box had its own Uncle Whathisface. I felt like I was reclaiming food freedom when I cancelled the deliveries.
Like another commenter, we did the every-other-week box from Homegrown WI, and it worked out well for us (we are just two people). My husband does all the cooking, and he liked that the box cut down on the time he spent grocery shopping and that it provided a challenge. Plus, we eat a lot of soup and salad, which uses up lots of random vegetables–that’s also where most of our kohlrabi went, though probably some was just snacked upon; my father is the one who taught us that fresh young kohlrabi is delicious on its own. It has actually never occurred to me before that there might be kohlrabi recipes–to me it’s just A Thing You Eat, like turnips. Anyway. Like I said, we love soup, and I’m vegetarian, which means that lots of our meals involve jumbles of vegetables. Perhaps that makes us the ideal customer for a CSA.
Wendy – try http://www.freshpicks.com – they let you pick and choose what you want, they have baked goods, meat, dairy, eggs and some healthy frozen foods. I am a former Angelic subscriber but I eventually found the weekly boxes too daunting – it’s easier and less wasteful for me to only get what I want/need. Either that or try Harvestime on Lawrence – they have a nice produce selection, although you probably already know that.
Also…..Intensive Boot Camp is starting up next month! 5X/Week – you and Chris should sign up.
Thanks, Paula… I remember you told me about them but I forgot the name.
Oh man, I don’t think we’re ready for boot camp! But we are going to do Holiday Survivor again.
I can share my useless firsthand knowledge that Hamburg, MI bills itself as the Kohlrabi Capital of the World.