We recently renewed our subscription to Suzie’s Farm’s CSA program. CSA stands for community supported agriculture. Isn’t it crazy how you can get annoyed at people flinging around acronyms and abbreviations as if they are the most obvious, yet you have no idea what they mean, and then before you know it, you are doing it yourself. But I digress.

The CSA box is great. We pick it up, full of vegetables, once every two weeks (I saw we, but for the moment this task falls to Paulus. He doesn’t seem to mind yet, despite his lukewarm relationship with vegetables, which is probably because the pick-up point is at a local brewery…). And then it’s a matter of getting creative with using all the lovely produce while it is fresh. That is no small task, I’ve found, because there are generally enough vegetables in there to last a while. But because I’m making an effort to reduce our food waste, I will need to think ahead and stay on top of the produce situation. Which I’m so excited about!

This box contained kale, collard greens, beets, wax beans, summer squash, and herbs (all pictured above), as well as tomatoes and two types of lettuce. I’m getting hungry just listing these. But really, it’s such a pleasure to receive this box of goodies. Just unpacking the box lets you smell the fragrant herbs, feel the weight of the squash in you hand, and brush the frilly lettuce leaves with your fingers. Quite the sensory experience.

And so, over the next week or two, I’ll be thinking and blogging about ways to utilize and feature these flavorful and colorful ingredients in our meals. Very exciting!