It is Finally Fall
Thank goodness it is finally fall. We can, at last, get some decent fresh produce.
Perhaps that statement feels as strange to you, the reader, as it did to me to type, but I cannot believe the difference in the size of my community supported agriculture (CSA) share between early summer and the past few weeks.
I know that the spring was too cold and too wet for most of the spring vegetables to really thrive. My grandmother, who has kept a garden for decades, had the worst crop of asparagus she has ever had. As spring became summer, the selection of crops I look forward to buying fresh at the local farmer’s markets were also virtually nonexistent. Missouri peaches were late, small, and far inferior to those shipped in from Georgia. The melon crop was equally spartan. Even worse… much of the tomato crop in Kansas and Missouri just never grew.
In fact, for someone who spends much of his summer gorging himself on nature’s treasures bought from the farmer’s market, this summer was kind of depressing. I believe strongly in eating seasonally and locally. I am the guy who interviews every farmer before I buy their product. Because of this, I felt a sense of guilt as I sheepishly bought the Georgia peaches over the local ones because they were just better.
Times, however, they are a’ changing. Now that the weather is getting cooler, the produce that is used to growing in the cool dampness of September is starting to thrive. Today’s takings from the CSA included five stalks of three-feet-long lemongrass, two-and-a-half pounds of green tomatoes, onions, peppers, turnips, carrots, summer squash, Asian mustard mix and delicious leeks.
My inner gourmand is already devising plans for the produce. The turnips are going to get turned into Asian turnip cakes. My wife is planning to make fried green tomatoes. The leeks are going to get turned into potato leek soup, some of which is going into the freezer for the cold winter to come. The lemongrass? Well, that is going into everything.
All in all, I am very glad the growing season has finally hit Missouri and Kansas. Still, I am a little upset. I could get used to all the fresh vegetables, but I only have about four weeks. Winter is just a month away.
