While we’re on the subject of neat things to do with strawberries:

I didn’t use any measurements. I just made to taste with the following ingredients:

• one part balsamic vinegar
• two parts olive oil
• strawberries, destemmed
• salt and pepper

To make, blend the above using some kind of blender or a food processor.

We poured this over a salad of CSA-supplied lettuce and radishes, and added some grated parmesan as well, and then served with the skillet-baked eggs and spinach.

Two weeks into our CSA and we are inundated with greens. Which is great, because it forces us to eat them. It also forces us to find things to do with them!

When our first week’s kale started to get a little yellow, I needed to find a way to cook it all quickly. Hence, my first foray into kale chip making. I used this recipe, with a couple of alterations. 

Ingredients:

• kale, washed, dried, and cut or torn into small pieces
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• crushed red pepper flakes, to taste

The process is quite simple. First, you preheat the oven to 350F. Then, once the kale is prepared, you toss it with the olive oil, salt, and the crushed red pepper flakes, and lay them down on a cookie sheet. (The Allrecipes recipe I used recommended lining the cookie sheet with parchment paper. This seems like a very good idea, except we don’t have any. I think I may buy some the next time I remember while at the store). Finally, you bake them for about 10 minutes, taking care not to let the chips burn.

This is how I laid the kale out. If you know how to make kale chips, you’ll see I made a classic rookie error here: letting the kale pieces touch each other. As I learned, this was a bad call, as the kale ended up cooking unevenly: the kale touching other kale stayed green and moist, while the kale laid out separately started to burn. 

At any rate, a cook who insists on perfection the first time she prepares a dish is probably a cook who never learns anything new. Though the texture was hit-or-miss, the resulting chips tasted great, tasting somewhat like a potato chip, though with an earthier, more bitter flavor.

I served them with homemade bean burgers. All in all, an excellent kale dish to add to the repertoire.

So, we’ve been trying to join a neighborhood CSA ever since moving in together; we didn’t succeed until now because we never managed to get off the waiting list to buy a share. Brooklyn takes its community-supported agriculture seriously, and shares get snapped up almost immediately.

The solution presented itself when Anthony joined up with some other people in the neighborhood to start a new CSA, which they’ve named the Prospect Park CSA. Prospect Park CSA members will receive a share of produce grown at Windflower Farms in upstate New York.

Last weekend, CSA core members Anthony, Elena, and Becca went upstate for a weekend visit to Windflower Farms, and I was lucky enough to be able to tag along as well.

Windflower Farms is a small (38 acres) family farm near Saratoga Springs, NY and the Vermont border. Owned by Ted and Jan Blomgren, the farm produces a range of organic vegetables, fruits, and flowers. It’s a four hour drive from the city, though we managed to add another hour or so by getting hopelessly lost on the winding rural roads, arriving at the farm very late on Friday night.

The next morning, after meeting the Blomgren family (Ted, Jan, and their two teenaged sons Nate and Jake), Ted took us for a tour of the family farm.

The beginning of April is still too early in upstate New York for much to be growing (the last of winter’s snow cover had only recently melted). However, we did see a few shoots of garlic popping out of the ground:

Ted and Jan then put us to work in the greenhouse transplanting flower and pepper seedlings into larger beds.

Ted helped too. A Cornell agronomy researcher with deep roots in the sustainable agriculture and rural community development movements, I took advantage of working next to Ted to pepper him with questions about agricultural policy, sustainable farming, and the economics of conventional vs. organic farming. 

After lunch, Ted and Jan took us on a hike up a nearby hill, where we took in views of the farm and the surrounding Taconic Hills farm country. 

In the evening, the Blomgrens invited some of their farm workers over for a potluck. We ate, drank homebrewed beer, played cards, and generally made merry. 

The Blomgrens are an amazing family, and their warm hospitality made me genuinely sad to leave for Brooklyn early Sunday morning.

After visiting Windflower, I am even more excited to purchase our farm share and eat their produce for the rest of the year.

I should mention another awesome aspect of the Prospect Park CSA: the graduated pricing scheme. Members pay according to household income, which means that the CSA can subsidize below-cost shares for low-income community members, and the CSA is set up to accept food stamps.   

If you live in the Prospect Park/Crown Heights area and are interested in joining, sign up on the website. From past experience, I can say that these shares will probably go very quickly.