Day 1: Butternut squash soup
Day 2: Vegetable curry with chickpeas and tatsoi
Day 3: Homemade pizza, Tossed salad
Day 4: Beef pot roast, Roasted brussels sprouts and carrots
Day 5: Tofu tacos with tatsoi leaves
Day 6: Baked potatoes with sour cream, cheddar, parsley and steamed broccoli
Day 7: Sesame noodles with bok choi, Fruit smoothie
Notes: A tale of two hikes…
Two weekends ago my family took a hike at Blue Mounds State Park to enjoy the absolutely perfect weather and the beautiful Wisconsin fall colors at their peak. It was so wonderful that I was even able to tune out the grumbling from the kids! In the days that followed that hike, there was rain, major winds, and a hard frost. Fast forward to this past weekend when I went for a solitary hike on the Ice Age Trail to clear my head. I began to notice that the elements of the past week have entirely changed the landscape. The rolling hills of the Driftless Region and the oak savannahs are still breathtaking, but the fall colors are now muted, the purple asters are browning, and most of the trees have completely lost their leaves. It was this second hike that got me reflecting on the changing of the seasons and what it means to me. And, of course, it has a lot to do with food!
A hard frost effectively ends the growing season here in Wisconsin. I am so grateful for Crossroads Community Farm for feeding our family these past 20 weeks and Appleberry Farm that I visited on several occasions to stock up on asparagus, berries, and apples. I’m also grateful for my small garden for allowing me to sack away some extra pasta sauce and the kale and brussels sprouts that I will get for a few more weeks.
I continue on my mission to eat mostly locally grown food and this doesn’t end just because the winter is near. There are actually a plethora of foods that can be stored to eat all the way until the spring. I recently created a Seasonal Food Guide to help remind myself and others what produce is available in the United States during each season. Hopefully you will find this helpful too, especially this time of year when it isn’t as obvious.
This year has been so strange. I am hoping that it is a turning point for many people who are realizing that our current food system isn’t sustainable. More people than ever have been flocking to orchards, berry patches, and signing up for CSA’s. I couldn’t be happier! However, in this rush to eat locally, I suddenly found myself without a fall farm share. I didn’t jump at the announcement from Crossroads to sign up, and a couple weeks later when I went back to get on the fall list, they were sold out! Lesson learned. Luckily I was able to locate another farm, Small Family Farm, that has a drop site nearby and I signed up as quick as I could for fall/winter produce boxes.
Since my summer farm share comes to a close this week, after today I will no longer be posting a breakdown of how I am using my vegetables. Instead, I plan to stretch my fall/winter farm share across the coming months. You can still expect a free weekly meal plan packed with recipes that will include storage produce and whatever local food I can get my hands on. If you are interested in learning more about eating locally and seasonally, you can read my recent articles (linked below) on this topic. In the meantime, I will be continuing to hike the beautiful landscape as often as I can!
- How to Eat the Seasons: A Complete Guide
- 6 Reasons to Eat Seasonally
- Seasonal Food Guide: What Fruits and Vegetables are in Season?
CSA Breakdown: For those of you also using Crossroads Community Farm, here is a breakdown of how I will use each piece of produce this week. See the first CSA post from this season for details on how I structure the plans. This is the LAST WEEK for Crossroads summer share and I will no longer be posting a breakdown of the box. I hope you enjoyed eating along with me. I’ll be back next year with the same farm (hopefully) and will continue to provide my plans. Eat local and have a GREAT winter!
- Butternut Squash (1.0 count) – Butternut squash soup
- Carrots (1.0 bag) – fried rice, tossed salad, roasted with brussels sprouts to serve with pot roast
- Potato – Russets (1.0 bag – 3 lb) – baked potatoes
- Brussels Sprouts (1.0 bag) – tossed in olive oil and sea salt and roasted at 400 degrees for 20 minutes until tender and served with pot roast
- Parsley, Flat Italian (1.0 bunch) – Chopped and sprinkled over pizza, mixed in with tossed salad, and over baked potatoes
- Bok Choi (1.0 head) – sesame noodles
- Onion, Yellow (1.0 count) – one for butternut squash soup, one for curry
- Tatsoi (1.0 head) – chop off and reserve about 1 cup of the leaves for tacos, the rest roughly chopped for fried rice
- Broccoli (1.0 head) – steamed and served over baked potatoes
- Pepper, Carmen Sweet Italian (mix ripe/green) (1.0 count) – 1 for curry, 1 for tossed salad
- Lettuce Head (various) (1.0 head) – tossed salad
- Garlic (1.0 count) – curry, tacos, sesame noodles
