June 13 - Vicki's Vegetable Venture
Welcome to the Chatfield CSA blog, and welcome to CSA shareholder and blog author Vicki Witt Phillips. A former writer and editor originally from Lexington, KY, Vicki has worked for publications in Cincinnati, Atlanta and finally Denver, where she has lived since 2003. Her food blog entries, Vicki’s Vegetable Venture, will chronicle her experiences receiving a weekly box of produce from the CSA during the 2011 growing season.
Why I’m Joining the Chatfield CSA
My father had the most amazing vegetable garden. We lived in the country on the outskirts of Lexington, KY, where the limestone soil of the the Bluegrass State yielded the best-tasting tomatoes ever. The output of his garden was so ample we had plenty to share with neighbors, friends and family, plus lots to preserve for the winter.
When my dad was 83, the Lexington Herald-Leader ran a photo of him beside his vine of tobacco worm beans, which had grown to such heights he was on a ladder to pick the top-most beans. He never used chemical fertilizers or pesticides, even though the term “organic” was not how he described his garden. He just tended his plants the only way he knew how – weeding, watering, harvesting, nurturing.
I Can’t Even Grow Mint
Growing up with abundant fresh produce all summer long, I never appreciated what a treasure trove we had right in our backyard. Even as an adult, long after I’d left Lexington, visits back home would mean a return to the bounty of that garden. My mother, who was Italian, used to make an exquisite dish of Italian sausage and garden-picked peppers and onions. Or she’d simply drizzle olive oil and sprinkle oregano over a plateful of juicy ripe tomatoes.
Old-timey stringbeans, fuzzy crookneck squash, odd-shaped heirloom tomatoes – all would vie for space on the kitchen counter. Bits of dirt, miniscule crawly critters, strands of corn silk, pieces of grass – these were regular kitchen visitors, too.
Here in Denver, I have no yard to grow anything, although many of my Wash Park neighbors do grow lovely summer crops. But it wouldn’t matter if I did have a yard, because I never learned from my dad how to garden. In fact, a few years ago I killed the mint I had growing in a container out front. My husband, Ray, who takes great care of our house plants, reckons I just didn’t water it enough for Denver’s dry air. Even so, he asks, how can you kill mint?
At Last … Tender Lettuce
In recent years, as the concept of community supported agriculture (CSA) has gained in popularity, I keep recalling those vegetables from my childhood home. Many times I’ve flirted with the idea of becoming a shareholder in a CSA, talking to lots of folks who’ve done it. Frankly, though, I’ve been scared off by the accounts of others who claimed they just got too much produce. “Vegetable anxiety” was a phrase I kept hearing.
This year I finally decided to take the plunge. I think it was getting tasteless, tough, old lettuce one too many times at the grocery store that pushed me over the edge. I researched various CSAs in our area and went with Chatfield’s because the produce doesn’t travel long distances to reach me, they donate to homeless shelters and the price was right.
What to Do with a Boatload of Radishes?
The first distribution is on June 16. On that day all the shareholders go out to Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield to pick up their first harvest of the year. I plan to bring along my dad, who now lives in a nursing home here in Denver. Now 89, he has dementia but still mentions his garden from time to time. I think he’ll be in his element when he sees the garden at Chatfield.
I’m both excited and nervous as June 16 approaches. Can’t wait to have a fresh salad, savor sweet peas that aren’t frozen or canned, bite into a tomato that tastes like a tomato, and cook with fresh herbs without spending $4 a pop. But what if I come home with a boatload of radishes? What if my weekly box has some foreign vegetable in it that I’ve never even heard of? What if there’s too much for Ray and me to eat?
Read Our Blog!
In this ongoing blog throughout the CSA season, I’ll keep you posted on how I’m doing. Here you’ll read what veggies I receive in each distribution, what I cook with them, whether I had to give or throw anything away, how the produce tastes, what new recipes I’m using in order to use everything up, and what planning is involved in the process.
I aim to give an accurate picture of this experience to help others decide whether to join a CSA. And we’ll see whether I achieve my three goals for this CSA experience:
- Avoid throwing anything away.
- Eat more healthfully – i.e., more veggies, less meat.
- Enjoy a summer full of fresh produce!
