June 17 - First Harvest of the Season

Along with the other CSA shareholders, I gathered several tote bags and drove out to Chatfield yesterday afternoon. Strangers all, we smiled and nodded at each other in passing like we were old friends — I guess we’re new “veggie pals.” I had decided against bringing my father, which was a good decision because he couldn’t have tolerated walking and standing in the hot sun.
For me, though, it was a delightful couple of hours at Chatfield. The staff had begun harvesting at 5:30 that morning, but nevertheless they were perky and eager to help us select our produce. Leigh Rovegno, who heads the Chatfield CSA, gave an informative tour of the gardens — I learned about “fish and kelp emulsion” and “smart farming” (who knew?) — followed by Susan Evans’ fun cooking demonstration.

All in the Planning
I stopped on the way home to buy a box of GreenBags, which Susan highly recommends. Once home, I washed and bagged all 11 items: salad mix, arugula, sugar snap peas, kale, spinach, a head of lettuce and 5 herbs: cilantro, parsley, dill, oregano and sage.

All subsequent pickups will be a whole week apart, but for those of us picking up at the Denver Botanic Gardens’ York Street location, these first two pickups are only 5 days apart. Moreover, I had previously arranged to dine out with friends both that evening and Saturday night. That left just 3 dinners before the next distribution on Tuesday. Thus I set about formulating a plan for eating everything up.

Meatless Monday?
I’m still not sure what to do with the oregano (suggestions welcome!), but here’s the plan for everything else:
Friday: Butternut squash ravioli with sage butter and parsley garnish, along with a salad using the salad mix, arugula and peas. Not sure if hubby Ray will welcome the ravioli, as we try to limit carbs for weight control. Oh well, I’m sure he’ll love it.
Sunday: Grilled salmon with dill on a bed of spinach, along with a salad using the butter lettuce and peas.
Monday: Susan gave us a recipe for braised kale and butter beans, which I thought would go well with pork chops. On the other hand, the dish sounds fairly hearty because of the beans, so I might just serve it by itself and jump on Paul McCartney’s “meatless Mondays” bandwagon.

The cilantro I’ll use in pico de gallo which, along with homemade tortilla chips, will do for a pre-dinner nibble or afternoon snack. And I’ll be lunching every day on salad to use up the rest of that tender butter lettuce — which is just fine by me! I was actually surprised that the quantity received in this first distribution seems quite manageable. But Susan said we’ll be getting more and more as the season progresses. Stay tuned.