Friday, January 12, 2007

Eating my Veggies Through Community Supported Agriculture

I've been trying to make an effort - basically since I hooked up with a gringo, who at the time we hooked up was a vegetarian, but after a few months with this Cubanita who's family gorges on pork on every special occasion, that was pretty much over - to eat more veggies. I did not grow up eating veggies. I mean, the veggies we Cubans eat - malanga, yuca, plantains, potatoes, boniato, etc. - turns out it's all starchy crap, and shouldn't be eaten in the amounts in which we eat them. The green, red, orange and yellow veggies - the ones that are good for you - those were around during my childhood, just not as the focus of our diets.

So basically, I've long been aware of my need to eat healthier, and if most veggies didn't taste like shit, I would've long been the kind of eater I want to be. As it is, I consider it a big deal that since I married Ben, I've developed a taste for and regularly eat tomatoes, corn, green beans and asparagus. Really, it was the accomplishment of the (last) century for me.

So when Rebecca from GreenerMIAMI contacted me about splitting a full share of locally grown veggies for the month of Janaury, courtesy of Redland Organics, I was all over that. It was the perfect thing: I would be in a position where I HAD TO eat my veggies (or be pissed at myself for wasting money), and I would get to support local agriculture.

What? You didn't know I was a total enviro-geek? Well, I'm not as much as I was as a teenager (when I spent my high school career as president of the environmental club), but I am in fact an environmentalist of sorts. I'm not where I'd like to be, but I definitely try to not be wasteful and use environmentally-friendly products and overall be conscious of my responsibility and obligation to be good to the Earth.

So this community supported agriculture thing is totally cool. We got our first set of veggies last Saturday, which included kale, chard and turnips. Which.... WTF. I couldn't have received a scarier bunch of veggies. Like, TOTAL TURN-OFF.

So the chard and kale are still in my fridge, but really just because it's been a crazy week and we only cooked once. The turnips I used to make a mash with carrots, potatoes and parsnips (which I'd never had before either, but the recipe called for them, so I should get extra points for going beyond my obligation). And you know, it was good. I pulled recipes for the other two and hope to use them between today and tomorrow, since the next shipment comes in tomorrow and I'm going to have a whole new set of veggies to deal with.

Overall, I'm excited about this. I don't know if I would commit to a full season of veggies ($580 for 20 weeks), but this one-month trial is a very cool thing.

More reports at the end of each week, as well as Rebecca's take, to come.

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Posted by Tere @ 1/12/2007   | |

1 Comments

  • Blogger NicFitKid posted at 1/17/2007 2:57 AM  
    For more information on a limited investment opportunity with NFK Enterprises, please pack any excess veggies in a clean bilge box for delivery to the NFK Penal Colony via underpaid courier. Not valid in DE, CA, all major peninsulas, and any non-sovereign territories or principalities. Void where prohibited, see prospectus for details.

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