CSA Week 10

This Week:
-Melons! We picked this one called Honey Yellow Honeydew...I already have some and it was YUMMY!
-Blackberries & Blueberries
-Carrots
-Cabbage
-Potatoes (Surprise! We got more!!)
-Summer Squash
-Zucchini
-Cucumbers
-Eggplant - HELP! I have never cooked eggplant....any ideas?
-Tomatoes
-Basil

Watson Mill State Park

This past Sunday Eric and I decided to go to Watson Mill State Park out by Comer, GA. We spent the first hour walking on some of the trails and taking pictures. We didn't last long in the heat before we wanted (or needed) to get into the water. We had a great time playing in the shoals and staying cool in the river! I highly recommend this place to anyone who likes hiking, swimming, and covered bridges. :) Here are my pictures from the day...

CSA Week 9

We are half way through our CSA season and the shares are getting better! This week we got:



-Potatoes (the last batch we will get of potatoes)
-Cabbage (also the last time we will get cabbage)
-Carrots
-Pole Beans
-The first showing of Sweet Corn
-Summer Squash
-Zucchini
-Cucumbers
-A few tomatoes (I am sure we will have more next week!)
-Lemon Basil
-Blackberries & Blueberries!

This week we also got to pick some extras from the squash, zucchini, and cucumber bins. SO I got some more squash so we can make soup, more zucchini to make bread, and cucumbers to make pickles! When I will have time to do this....I have no idea! I am down to the last few weeks of class and I know I am going to be busy. But I only have 5 classes left! And then I am DONE!

Altamaha River Pictures

I finally picked up the pictures I took from our Altamaha River paddling trip. The quality is pretty crappy from the disposable camera I used but here you go...

Cat Update 2

Things do change quickly! Yesterday I had to take Heidegger into the vet. He had some goop in his left eye and the Vet said his eye may be scratched and to bring him in. We got to the Vet and they first started looking at his eye. The Vet used some sort of florescent dye and a black light to look in the cat's eye. He couldn't find anything but the eye was swollen. The Vet then checked the cat's temperature....He had a fever. With the fever and eye infection the Vet decided to look for any abrasions on the cat....He found TONS of bite marks from other cats! Some were more recent than others and Heidegger flinched when the Vet touched some of them. Because of all the bites, the infected eye, and the fever... the Vet decided to give Heidegger an IV bag and some eye drops to help with the infection.

All of this made me feel like a bad pet owner! My poor cat was attacked by other cats and I didn't even know! The Vet told me that if he could give cat owners one piece of advice he would tell them "Never let your cat outside." He said that cats get in fights all the time and that often timed the bites lead to infections. Which leads to visits to the Vet and money spent. Last nights visit was $105.

Needless to say, my cat is not going outside ever again. One, because I don't want him to get hurt and two because we cant afford $100+ Vet bills. Most of all I feel horrible for my poor cat that was in pain and didn't feel well. He was such a sad sight to see last night.

Cat Update

Our cat Heidegger has been spending 50% of his days & nights outside now for the past week and a half and it has been going well. Tonight however was his first night being caught in the rain. When he came back inside he was wet and wouldn't stop licking/cleaning himself from the rain. I think he is pretty cute...



So far Heidegger has two "bumps & bruises." Some how he has a patch of fur missing from his ear and he has a small (but already healing) hole between his shoulder blades. I think him and two of the neighborhood cats have been fighting over territory. I will have more to post about this later....but for now, it is bed time!

CSA Week 8

It has already been a week!?!? WOW.

In my last post, I mentioned that Eric and I would be helping out on the Farm this past Saturday. Well we got up early Saturday morning to head out to Roots Farm. When we left the house it was already 75 degrees. It was going to be a hot one! When we got to the farm we were given instructions on what needed to be done....weeding! We weeded a lot! Luckily for us, they had awesome weeding tools. I heart the stirrup hoe! I would say we did 2 1/2 hours worth of weeding. We also prepped a few rows to plant other veggies. For our last hour we processed carrots. All we did was cut off the carrot greens, washed the carrots and then separated them into Firsts (pretty & not damaged) and Seconds (ugly & damaged). After all of our hard work, we were treated to a yummy lunch from the farmers. We had a great time, worked hard, sweat a lot, and learned some about farming! I am ready to do it again next time!

While we were at the farm I was excited to see a few things growing that we have yet to get in our CSA....There was sweet and spicy peppers, tomatoes, cabbage, melons, blackberries, figs and corn! And...some of it came in the CSA today!

This week we got:

-Red Potatoes
-Cabbage
-Carrots
-Beets
-Pole Beans
-Summer Squash
-Zucchini
-Cucumbers
-Lemon Basil (it smells like lemons!)
-Blackberries & Blueberries!





I know it really isn't the right season, but this week I plan to use the cabbage, potatoes, and carrots in a Corned Beef & Cabbage recipe from my friend LeAnne. I also plan to bake something with our zucchini and come up with something creative with the yummy lemon basil. Any suggestions?

CSA Week 7

This week we go potatoes for the first time!! YUM, we got six (three for us) Yukon Gold Potatoes. I cannot wait to try them! I am thinking we will have some baked potatoes and hamburgers this weekend.

We also got:
-Red Russian Kale
-Arugula
-Lettuce
-Carrots
-Beets
-Garlic
-Thai basil
-Lots more Summer Squash & Zucchini
-Cucumbers (3 different kinds including lemon cucumber....it is a weird little spiky ball)



I have to admit, keeping up with all the veggies as been tough. Eric has been a real trouper in eating a majority of our veggies (the beets, chard, and failed recipes that I wont eat). I am always looking for different ways of cooking our veggies, so if you have any recipes for the ingredients above...please share!!

Even though it has been tough keeping up with the volume of food I am still enjoying it. It is fun waiting to see what we get every week. I also have been enjoying driving out to the farm to pick up our veggies and meeting the farmers. This weekend there is a workday on the farm for its CSA members. Eric and I are planning on going and I cant wait to learn some about farming in GA! And you know I love digging in the dirt! Realistically though, I think we will be pulling weeds :) I am ok with that! I will let you know how it goes.

For now....I have to get back to my homework (I only have 10 nights of class left, that's 6 weeks until I graduate!).

Compost to Pumpkins?

Looks like we are going to have pumpkins! We used some of our compost for the first time this year when we were planting in our shade garden....apparently it wasn't done composting. So, we have pumpkins! The plants started out small and now they are flowering. I am very excited!



I will keep you posted on the pumpkins!

The Cat is out of the Bag

We have decided to make our cats outdoor cats. As I have mentioned before, we have started letting the cats out onto our back deck. Yesterday we decided to let them just go where they wanted to go. Unfortunately Rainy, our female cat, is not up to date on her shots so...she didn't get to roam. The first one "out of the bag" is our other cat Heidegger. He seemed to be in his element. He wondered off for about an hour and then came right back. Since then he comes and goes often but hasn't been away for an extended period of time. I can tell that he is loving some freedom!




Rainy on the other hand, liked being on the deck all day. At one point we caught her "hiding" under our grill...I am not sure if she was scared or just liked being in a tight space. I think it was pretty cute though.

CSA Week 6

WOW did we get a ton of veggies this week or what!??! We have a ton of squash and zucchini...and they are BIG! We also got cucumbers for the first time. Along with these we have chard, kale, beets, parsley, garlic, carrots, lettuce, and this weird purple thing called Kohlrabi.

Tonight I have tried a squash casserole and I plan on making zucchini bread, cucumber salad, and a slaw salad with the carrots and kohlrabi...I will let you know how it turns out!