Ann's Intro

Hi,
I'm Ann M, this blog's very delinquent contributor. This is my first time blogging (ever) so bear with me, please. My job is to write about the CSA I belong to in the southtowns and suburban markets. I belong to the Thorpe's Family Farm CSA in East Aurora, 655.4486 (no site).

They offer both veggie and fruit shares. While convincing my husband it was a good idea to spend a lot of money up front for a weekly veggie share neither of us were sure we would eat, I invited our neighbors to split a large share with us. This not only cuts down on the cost but we also take turns with the weekly pick ups.

I'll be upfront and admit that we don't always eat what we get. Most weeks are better than others, but I feel just as bad throwing away uneaten food, no matter where I got it (am working on building a compost bin right now - that's a whole other blog!). However, what we do eat is....beautiful, delightful, satisfying...just looking at my bowl of veggies on the counter makes me happy. But it is work - or at least, I look at it that way and that could just be me being anal. The share gets picked up every Tuesday and I immediately start to process it: stuff gets sorted in appropriate places (fridge or counter); lettuce gets cut, washed and stored in a bin loosely covered by a dishcloth (this seems to work better than keeping it in my salad spinner container); then I figure out what to do with it.

This is where the fun stuff starts. The cookbooks and most importantly (and I wouldn't be able to live without these -seriously) are my cut out Cooking Light recipes. They have saved my veggie lovin' behind many a time. Interestingly, I was a vegetarian for about 10 years (still eat mainly veg) but am using my veg cookbooks more now than I did when I was meatless. The key to my CSA sanity is organization (if you couldn't tell) and I make my weekly dinner menus based on what I got in that week's share. The Thorpes are good people - they email you every Monday to tell you what to expect in that week's share and give you recipes, too!!

Tonight, I grilled orange, yellow, and green peppers and corn from the CSA, threw in a CSA tomato, some mushrooms, goat cheese, and salsa and grilled me up a mean quesadilla. While I follow recipes pretty religiously, the CSA gives good opportunity to be creative. I love to cook, I love to eat, and I love to support locally-owned family farms. Next week, I'll share more recipes and pics!