no tomatoes in winter

Tomatoes are my favourite food in the world...but I have learned to go without fresh tomatoes for half the year. I will occasionally buy a couple to make a layered dip for a special occasion (there is a greenhouse in the next town that grows organic hydroponic tomatoes and they are available at the regular supermarkets), but throughout the winter and spring I mostly rely on jarred and dried tomato products, or whatever I froze or dehydrated in the summer and fall.

Two summers ago, local tomato crops in New England were ruined by late blight. It was then that I learned to go without them for such a long stretch that now 9 months doesn't seem like such a big deal to wait for a perfectly sun-ripened local tomato.

And so I can appreciate
what we DO get more as
well. This year the winter
farm shares at the CSA
are the longest yet,
stretching til the end of
March! That means there
will only be 2 month of the
year we are not receiving
locally grown vegetables.


Winter offers lots of root
vegetables, mostly stored
in the root cellar and
divided for each monthly
pickup through the season.
Carrots, parnsips, purple-
topped turnips, potatoes,
celeriac, onions, shallots &
beets. Roasting, mashing,
and making simple soups
takes care of the majority.

The rest of the winter
share consists of kale,
swiss chard, spinach,
baby salad greens, leeks,
cabbages, popping corn,
and a little extra garlic.

Amazingly most of this
is grown in the actual
ground, just covered by
a simple frame mobile
greenhouse.

This winter saw (and is
still seeing--it's snowing
as I type) some huge
snow accumulation. But
on a sunny day the
temperature in side the
greenhouse can reach
the 80sF.




Another lower greenhouse
was added this year to
increase kale and chard
production. While the kale
from the summer still
survives in the field, covered,
this kale is much more
robust, offering sharers a
large bagful at each pickup.

Spinach with Dried
Tomatoes & Garlic

8 oz. fresh spinach, washed
1 T. olive oil
1 T. margarine (I use Earth
Balance)
3 cloves garlic, minced
6 sun-dried or dehydrated
tomato slices, soaked
salt & pepper

Soak the dried tomatoes
in hot or boiling water
for 30 minutes. Save the
soaking water! Remove the softened tomatoes and slice thinly or chop.

In a large pot or skillet, heat the olive oil & margarine over medium heat. Add garlic & tomatoes and cook for 1 minute. Add spinach, a pinch of salt and a grind of pepper. Toss with a fork or tongs. Cook for another minute. Add a few tablespoons of the tomato soaking water, cover pot, and cook 1-2 minutes until tender.

St. Patty's Day

Ryan's lunch: oatmeal date scone; steamed broccoli; brown rice edamame salad; more edamame; shamrock sugar cookies.

I may not be very Irish, but
my husband's family sure is.
Add that to the fact that we
live near Boston, and you HAVE
to like St. Patrick's Day here.
Ryan wore his Celtics hat and
a green shirt to school.




I packed Ryan an extra
cookie for his afternoon
snack just in case his
class did something special.
He politely refused the
Lucky Charms marshmallow
bars that a teacher had
brought. But apparently all
of his friends sitting at his
table had also brought cookies of various sorts, so it was a good call. Usually their snacktime is very brief--enough time for a few crackers or a fruit roll--so it's not something I usually photograph.

AJ's snack: edamame;
steamed broccoli; a pickle;
oatmeal date scone; a
small shamrock cookie;
sesame pretzel sticks.



Dada was parent helper
in Nate's class today.
Part of the snack included
shamrock cookies of course!





Nate's lunch: steamed
broccoli; edamame;
shamrock pita sandwich
with Tofutti cream cheese
& cucumber; pickles; sesame
pretzel sticks.



Maia's first St. Patty's Day!

Feels Like Winter

The weekend was busy with haircuts, donor milk drop-off, and sushi.

Maia is getting used to
hats & mittens as the
weather cools off. Within
3 days the weather was
70 degrees and sunny,
40 and rainy, or 18 degrees
at night with frost on the
ground come morning.

Monday:

AJ's snack:
meatless
meatballs;
broccoli;
baguette
slices;
fruit
salad.










Ryan's lunch: mini pumpkin muffin; broccoli; meatless meatballs; fruit salad; baguette slices.

Tuesday:
Ryan's lunch: Ian's Alphatots (letter potatoes); blueberries; Tofurky sandwich; mini banana walnut muffin; green beans; ketchup for dipping potatoes.

Nate's lunch:
potatoes N-A-T-E;
green beans;
sandwich;
blueberries.




AJ's snack:
sandwich;
green beans;
Alphatots.






I brought a friend with a
new baby some food:
Chick Pea and Roast
Vegetable Salad from The
Essential Christmas Cookbook,
and a fall pack of mini
pumpkin muffins (I made
two batches this week
with our remaining farm
squash).

I caught Maia and AJ
gazing at each other
on the floor. I don't do
"tummy time"; when
she's ready she can
get there and do it on
her own.


Wednesday:
Ryan's lunch: carrots; cucumber; Tofurky deli slice "flower"; blueberries; roasted vegetable pizza slice; mini banana walnut muffin; peanut butter cookie w/dark chocolate topping.

I sent a Thanksgiving
gift swap off to a friend:
a mug filled with Lake
Champlain dark chocolates
on the bottom, peanut
butter cookies, mini pumpkin
muffins, and a pack of
homemade note cards.


Thursday:
Nate's lunch & AJ's snack.

Ryan's
lunch:
Annie's
saltine
crackers;
a tiny
forelle
pear;
broccoli;
mini
pumpkin
muffin;
a grape;
cucumber
slices;
1/3 Amy's
vegetable
pocket.

Friday:
Ryan's lunch: vegetable crackers w/Tofutti cream cheese; baguette slices; blueberries; cucumber slices; a mini gel cup; a Thermos of chili!

Today was our first
winter farm share
pickup! Despite a high
of 34 degrees, the
greenhouses were busy
with people collecting
their produce.

Outside the collards greens were withered from frost, but inside the new mobile greenhouse remay covered rows of thriving greens. Out in the fields root vegetables were hunkered down awaiting harvesting during the next couple of months. Not bad for New England!












First winter farm share: 13 pounds of root vegetables including white potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, carrots, rutabagas; 4 winter squash (Ryan picked out the 2 biggest & the 2 smallest he could find, urf!); swiss chard; green & purple bok choy; leeks; scallions; lettuce; cabbage; spinach; mixed baby asian greens.
Ryan ran around checking out the condition of the children's garden and tasting chives from the herb garden that were still viable. I grabbed a few sage leaves that were still in perfect condition.

Star Wars bento challenge

Sunday:
Tempeh is easy and healthy.
I just bake it straight out of
the package in the oven for
half an hour. Then I let it
cool and cut into strips and
make various tasty meals.
Here's a tempeh salad.

Monday was a lazy Memorial Day, and Tuesday Ryan brought a cupcake to school for a friend's birthday. Here's goofy Nate wearing 2 pairs of sunglasses...upside down:












With such gorgeous weather lately, everyone has been spending most of the days outside. AJ exhausted himself and took a nap on the couch one afternoon.

Wednesday:
Ryan had a field trip to go on a hike in the woods; the kids were each given a new box of crayons and had a sketchbook to draw what they saw on their walk. But I still packed him a cool snack in his backpack for the trip...
This week I decided to try the Star Wars bento challenge over at kawaiikiki's Bento Challenge.
My first attempt was Yoda on Dagoba: mashed potatoes, spinach, peas, green soy paper (for Yoda's head), nori and wheat bread (for Yoda's clothing). And the edible food coloring markers for Yoda's face.











I kept AJ's snack simple though: mashed potatoes, spinach, slices of wheat bread.
Ryan (wearing a Star Wars t-shirt of course) built a Star Wars Lego spaceship at home.

AJ's preschool "greenhouse" project
is ready to be planted. His teacher
was amazed last year that Ryan's
greenhouse worked so well and had
produced handfuls of string beans
by the end of the summer. AJ's
seems to be doing equally well, though
only 2 out of 3 beans germinated.

This week Ryan went to work at the
farm with Dada. He pruned an entire
row of new strawberry plants himself.

Friday:
Not as intricate as wednesday's, but still fun: rice with black sesame seeds, nori letters, cucumber and tomato "lightsabers", a cantaloupe ball, green beans, sesame tofu.

Again, AJ's snack remains
simple: cantaloupe balls,
crackers, green beans,
sesame tofu.