The Box

By VI

Spring CSA - Week 6

My friend, David "the Hat" Hammond told me the other day, as we went to Vie, a restaurant specializing in local food, that he would eat local if he lived in Sonoma.  It's something I and others hear a lot.  We could eat local if...especially if we lived in California.

Now, I cannot speak to the rest of the USA, but I can say that in the Chicago area, there are more resources than imagined.  Paul Virant at Vie explained to us all the ways he got local produce from fall through spring.  And I got my way, the off-season CSAs offered by Farmer Vicki.

It is great that I found a way to get a jump on the season through this CSA, just like my fall CSA extended the season for two months last fall.  Still, it is not just about having a box each week.  As Liz expertly writes, we have to eat from the larder.  And as I (probably less expertly) note, we have to give up the tyranny of the fresh.  But screw all of that.  I love getting a box of fresh local produce each week.  Farmer Vicki is not lying when she says she grows great tasting vegetables.  It reminds me that one of the main reasons I eat local is because it tastes so much better.

In her e-mail this week, Farmer Vicki warned of smaller boxes.  This is a transition time for her, moving from the greenhouses to the ground.  She feared this would leave us less supplied.  I did not see it.  On the other hand, the box reminded me, but for two yellow summer squash (another freak of the greenhouse), of our earliest weeks.  Mostly greens, two beets that will yield far more from the tops than the bottoms; oak-leaf shaped kale, and a head lettuce.  Vicki told us that a few boxes would luckily get a bag of lambs quarters, edible weeds she had picked for herself but her helpers boxed by mistake.  I did not get the weeds, but I did get something extra, a wrangled piece of copper wire, a little farm souvenir packed also by accident.  Plus, two kinds of radishes.

I meant to ask Vicki if we would get more sorrel (we did not), but my wife and I have already come up with more ideas for our sorrel than we have sorrel (with great lakes fish, in soup as mentioned in the comments, in a sauce for salmon patties as written in the Silver Palate cookbook).  Older greens, turnips, beets, went into a great soup my wife invented last week (chicken broth, polenta, chick peas, onions).  I used one of my favorite non-local products, Davidson's pasteurized eggs to make a Cesar like dressing for a supper big salad with various box stuff.  Last week's zucchini went into a frittata.  See!

OK, obviously the infrastructure for eating local in Chicago, especially before the farmer's markets open is not the same as California.  Most of the farms used by Virand do not sell to consumers.  My relationship with Farmer Vicki comes from the lucky fact that the great folks at Seventh Generation Ahead happen to be in Oak Park.  They got Vicki to my daughter's school.  And it was through Sophia that I met Vicki, learned of the fall CSA and the spring CSA.   Now, through the magic of the Internets, we can all share and learn and see what resources may be lurking.  You do not have to be in California to eat local.

Vital Information has been where I've been tracking the Oak Park Illinois Farmer's Market for the last few years and describing my attempts to eat local.  You will also see writing about various places to eat in and around Chicago (with the occasional side trip).

Comments

[Jamie]

Great post!

I love sorrel. Love, love, love it. And my significant other is positively addicted to it. Our favorite way to eat it is to slice a couple of handfuls of raw sorrel into very thin shreds. Put this in a big bowl with a knob of butter and a splosh of olive oil. Meanwhile, boil some tiny new potatoes and drain them. Put the still-hot potatoes into the bowl, toss everything together, and cover with foil for a few minutes to let the potatoes wilt the sorrel. Season with salt and lots of pepper, then toss once more.

*drool*

[Sarah (Mrs. Irani)]

This sounds delightful! Tell me more about sorrel, I have never had it! ANd I thought I've tried everything!

[Liz]

I don't know about "expert". :) I think your points on the tyranny of the fresh are well taken... eating from the larder takes a whole other skill set that most people just don't have the time to develop anymore.

I like how us Northeners can prove that it *is* possible to eat locally outside of California.

[plentyofmoxie]

i had the happy discovery of learning that sorrel overwinters even in buckets! i was lazy about cleaning out my container garden containers last fall, and low and behold, it came back - munch munch - since its a small container, i just nibble on it - its so sweet and fresh and alive and spring tasting.

another eating local while not living in california thought from nh - dairy and meat are pretty non-seasonal. last year's august eat local challenge prompted me to find multiple sources, which i can still buy from year 'round. ok, my own challenge is not now in may, i'll up my ante in august. but year round i eat (mostly) local meat and dairy.

[Jamie]

Oooh, Sarah. You've got to try sorrel. It's a very tart green, sort of like assertive, lemony spinach. It's a natural with fish--you chop it fine and cook it slowly in a little butter until it almost melts into a pool of green, and then serve it as a sauce. You can also add it to potato soup. The youngest leaves are really nice in salads.

It is a true perennial--all you have to do is pinch off the flower stems whenever they appear. I learned about it from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage books. I gather it is more common in England than here.

[Birdsong]

I have sorrel in one of the gardens that my husband planted over 18 years ago... an amazing and underappreciated plant! Our CSA boxes in California have had their ups and downs too, reminding us all that agriculture is still at the mercy of Mother Nature - today we got two very small heads of cauliflower from a crop our farm planted and about gave up on through the heavy rains of March and April. At least I know where they came from.