farm surprise!

yesterday we picked up our first box from our local CSA farm, Calvert Farms.  last year we had volunteered there on Saturday mornings, exchanging a few hours of labor for a beautiful box filled with delicious organic fruits and vegetables (and sometimes even flowers!)

this fall our schedules are too packed to be able to make the drive into maryland to get our farm on.  but luckily we were able to join the cooperative another way.  by making a donation to the farm, we get to take home one giant box of farm-fresh goodies every thursday from now until thanksgiving!

yesterday's box was stuffed with fresh, crisp apples; a HUGE butternut squash; 2 eggplant; a bundle of swiss chard; baby red and yellow peppers; fresh salad greens; and string beans.  it was hard to decide what we should make with this bounty of autumnal treasures.

we sauteed a ton of garlic in some olive oil, threw in the swiss chard and cooked it down in the cast-iron skillet.  then i added some garbanzo beans, a little white wine, and cooked quinoa.  at the end i sliced some beets and mixed everything together.  DE.LICIOUS.

jordan, the bread-meister, had made a beautiful loaf of french bread a couple of days ago.  re-heated in the oven, it was perfectly crispy, and a great complement to the roasted garlic and green beans and salad he made to go with our quinoa.

the most memorable part of this first farm meal was when we had an unexpected dinner guest drop in!
as we were savoring the remaining morsels of our meal, jordan picked up his fork, ready to enjoy the last few leaves of fresh lettuce.  all of a sudden, he emitted a loud (yet manly) yelp and jumped back quite dramatically from the table.  it appears he wasn't the only one enjoying the delicious salad.  this little guy was noshing away at the lettuce, not even seeming to mind the lemon juice and olive oil he was almost drowning in at the bottom of the dish.

meet lonny, the inchworm.

we scooted lonny (as we dubbed the worm) onto the leaf, picked it out of the dish, and took him outside to relish his natural habitat.  obviously, we didn't continue to eat the salad, but i would much rather find a  bug in my food once in a while than eat something that i know has been drowned in pesticides!  we'll just have to be a little more vigilant in our vegetable inspection and washing.  i'm glad i didn't eat lonny, or else i would have felt i had betrayed my vegetarian sensibilities.



can't wait to pick up next week's box!!