lakegran walks the beach again

[Kyan]

Hey Lake!

Just stopped by to say hello!

[lakegran72]

Good Morning Kyan
Brrrrr in the 20s here this morning
Chris, do you belong to a farm co-op? I wish we had that here.
I have a sweet little garden and I love picking veggies all summer in my own yard. I am missing it now. although I still have quite a few things in my freezer.

Monday menu
B egg and beans
S 3 oz yogurt w/ cinn and splenda
L 3/4 C Pea soup w/ 1/4 C whey and extra leftover veggies
D 3/4 C WW penne w/ 3... 1 oz meatballs, and broccoli in simple tomato sauce, small green salad
S mashed faux potato w/ mushrooms



no exercise
water ok

[Chris55]

Happy Turkey Day, Lakegran!

I'm resting between our main meal and munchies/desserts which we'll have later. Everyone is snoozing or watching a movie. I'm having tea to settle my tummy after eating too much. I made a very nice meal and enjoyed it way too much!

Yes, I belonged to a farm co-op for the past few seasons. This year was a bountiful one and they decided to do a special Thanksgiving share. It was a bit expensive, but I had enough veggies to feed 7 very good eaters for 3 major meals, plus we have some artisan cheese and sausage. We have a big organic farming community here, so I actually have a choice of farms to join. I used to grow my own veggies a bit when my kids were small, but I have back issues now and can't really dig much. I finally decided to leave it to the experts and support the local young kids who are trying to make a go of farming as a livelihood. They're a really sweet young couple who went to our local high school so it's a real feel-good experience besides the wonderful food we get.

This year we did a seafood share, too, which was outstanding. Freshest best fish I've had other than ones I've caught myself. We got fresh fish every week - enough to feed us twice since my son only eats a tiny piece. I still have packages in the freezer which I vacuum sealed so they'll taste like fresh.

[Kyan]

Ok, another word (like "moderation" on Thanksgiving) that I don't know. Fresh seafood? What's that?

Signed,
Ky in landlocked Colorado who NEVER eats FRESH fresh fish.

[Chris55]

So sad, Ky! Don't you know any fly fishermen? Seriously, you're better off with fish frozen at sea than stuff that's been sitting defrosting in the supermarket for a few days.

[lakegran72]

I'm back to the beach, but I strayed pretty far..... calorie wise not bad, but a LOT of non SB foods in the past 3 days

Had Turkey Day here yesterday so we could enjoy more people It was great. I didn't plan to be sb and I wasn't
I can only offer bad excuses for Wednesday and Thursday......

Ky I feel your pain... We have the great lakes and some great fresh fish...but no 'seafood' which is a whole different thing.

Chris would you feel comfortable telling me about what you pay for a vegetable ( share?) and an idea of what one might expect to receive, and how often you get it. My dil was wondering if it might be something they could try. Work is sketchy for carpenters here in Michigan.
They have a terrific organic garden for themselves ( and I benefit from it too) Expanding it to include 3 or 4 "customers" would hardly make a difference in the work involved. they give away their over abundance right now.

[lakegran72]

Welllll...............
Seems Thanksgiving was that slippery slope for me ( or maybe it was the wine .)
Saturday's menu

B egg and beans
L Turkey sand on ww w/ mayo
S yogurt w/1 tsp. apricot preserves fruit only
S ( both at work) veggies and hummus
so far pretty good huh?
D 8:30 pm 4 oz glass cabernet ( leftover) 4 -6 oz turkey, 1 C fauxtatos w/ mushrooms, small green salad w/ green goddess,
Started watching a movie The Queen ?
S Turkey sandwich w/ miracle whip ( the mayo just wasn't quite what I was looking for at lunch time ) Ice water w/ lemon .......no more wine
S 1 + oz cheddar cheese cubes w/ ww crackers

ARRRGH

And the movie wasn't that good!

[Chris55]

Doesn't look like you ate any worse than I did, Lakegran! You were fine except for the extra servings of bread and maybe a little too much fat. There are many worse things you could have eaten. Think how far you've come to be thinking you're cheating by having whole grain bread!

My farm share is $325, which I pay in installments in advance of the season. The season runs pretty much from mid-June through Columbus Day, maybe a week later. It's a fairly small share compared to most of the other farms, but they're convenient for me - I can either pick up at their farm on Thursday afternoon or at the Farmer's Market on Friday mornings. I get enough for 2-4 people every week, but still need to buy other things. Every week I get some kind of salad - either heads of lettuce or mixed baby greens - even in the fall since they have a greenhouse. So I usually get enough salad greens for 3-4 days for 3 of us, plus enough for a few lunches. Then there's a mix of whatever is in season - in early spring there are lots of leafy things like baby kale, pea tendrils, garlic scapes, etc. Then eventually green beans, sugar snap peas, broccoli, tomatoes, etc. Last year the harvest here was pretty bad for all the farms, so the share wasn't great, but this year it more than made up for it. So members are really investing in a share of the farm. Some years it does well and other years there's a tomato blight. You can also work off part of your share somehow - never looked into it, but there's a small army of people working with my two farmers, including apprentices. They also have options for eggs, pork, and a few other things.

I also know that a few people have done very small-scale farm shares, with only 4 or 5 families. Here's a link to the organic farmer's association in Maine with links to the farms that do shares.
http://www.mofga.net/Directories/Commun ... fault.aspx

Heres' a link to the newsletters from my farm, Morning Dew. The weekly newsletters tell what's in each week's share.
http://www.morningdeworganic.com/Site/N ... etter.html

But, a word of warning, it is hard work for this couple. They've been at it maybe 5 years and this is the first year they've dared to take a weekend off and go to a family wedding out of state. They both have other jobs through the winter - he does carpentry and she works in a local bakery and does a little child care. And need I mention - probably no health insurance. The one person I met who does a small scale one is a woman who home schools and has a large garden (and a few teens who help her!).

[lakegran72]

Wow Chris thank you for the excellent info Just what my DIL is looking for ( I think) She is always thinking ( scheming ) about ways for all of us to take on new projects ... I am sure she is adhd .... in a good way.... I wish I had 1/10th her energy.
As I said they do all this work any way and if anyone can pull it off she will be the one to do it.
Hopefully for DS's sake she will have moved on..He uses his garden to relax

And by the way ...don't encourage me TELL me I am bad bad bad..........

[smay]

I'm on a waiting list for our local CSA. A full share here is $500 and a half-share is $265. We don't have any installment options for payment either, so if I get a share for 2011, I'll have to pay it all up-front within like 5 days!

A full share here is distributed weekly, and the half-share is every other week.

We basically grow a tomato garden for canning salsa and spaghetti sauce, and I don't have the time or energy (2 young kids...) to maintain a larger garden.

I'm really hoping to be off the waiting list for 2011!!

[lakegran72]

I'm filling my journal w/ twitter-like noise today to keep me put of the kitchen.
There is ice on the lake today.... for the first time this fall.
I now have an avatar...... thank you redrox!
I have yogurt straining in the fridge making yocheese. I plan to make the ricotta dessert with cocoa splenda and npb ( just a little bit)
I spent an hour playing at designing business cards for wishful thinking businesses...".Gramma Jo's comfort food to go" etc. That was fun.
My next cooking project, beginning the first of the year is to try one of the recipes from my "save for future use " folder every day until they are all gone. I have close to 100 ( sort of a Julie & Julia experiment.)
blah blah blah...........

Smay How long is your season? what kinds of veggies are in your 'share' delivery?
more and more people seem to be looking to buy local and organic.....
My dil and ds and I spent some time today thinking about variety for each season ( our growing is pretty short and spring would be a little tricky ) but even from my tiny garden I get baby spinach and snow peas some herbs and overwintered parsnips before June......
It would certainly take some research to come up with a little more early stuff

[smay]

This may help you. http://www.clintonfallsfarm.com/index.p ... mid=100004

This is the CSA I'm trying to get into. I'm in southern MN, so I don't know how our growing seasons compare. I think we are a zone 4? There's a "What's in a CSA" blurb on their site.

Here's a link to Aerogarden's website. http://www.aerogarden.com/ I have an Aerogarden 3 and it started with an herb kit with basil, thyme, chives. I planted in April and the herbs are just finally dying on me, though I have been out of nutrients for them for quite a bit. It is a hydroponic growing system, so just water and nutrients, no dirt. I do love mine, but am hoping Santa brings me the cherry tomato plant I want, so I will hold off a bit on buying a new kit for it.

[dene]

LOVE your avatar!!!

[Beaching It]

Hi Lakegran, just dropping in to say HI and hoping all is well after your TG weekend. Ours in Canada was in October so my only challenge this past weekend was DD's 6th b-day celebrations which included ice cream cake that I couldn't refuse. Back on track today though walking the beach and exercising. Hoping the same for you on this wonderful Monday.

Lisa

[lakegran72]

Thanks for stopping in Lisa .......
You are looking so beautiful.........Some things are worth cheating for ...like sharing a daughters birthday cake.
We had a great day here yesterday too . it is raining this morning........... but I Just need to think ... 3 months ago I would have been overjoyed to hear that pitter patter on my little garden ...........

Monday menu

B egg and beans
S lemon yogurt
L small salad w/ fake crab bites and GG
S yocheese on 1/2 small ww bagel yum
D Pan fried wall eye, small baked sweet potato, cauliflower and mushrooms