Week 2 Pickup

We started the morning off “surveying our lands” (J’s words – I think he had too much beer last night). Our asparagus are starting to do their thing. We’ve got one really tall, skinny spear, one shorter skinny spear with a tiny fat spear growing next to it, and a pair of twin fatties just starting to break above the soil line.

The peas and green beans are starting to grow up their cages and flower. All but two of the tomato plants have turned themselves upright and started to fill out. About half of them are starting to flower. Coolness!

Instead of flying through the barn doors at Garden of Eve ten minutes before closing, we headed out early to pick up our weekly shares. The drive was beautiful since the grayness of this past week has been burned off by the vibrant sun today. I’m looking at the beautiful newly-constructed houses, freshly-turned fields with rows of seedlings growing through black anti-weed barrier, and greenhouses tucked in behind the older houses and barns. I’m fantasizing about owning one of the older houses with a charming little barn and a small greenhouse and a tiny coop big enough for a pair or two of silky chickens. J is plotting out the fastest path from our house to the farm, wondering where this road or that path will take us (and how quickly), and announcing every time we pass an RV dealership. The boys are both snurfling out the back windows, breathing in the air sweetened by the scent of the grass being mowed by the guy with the awesome tractor we just passed.

Garden of Eve had a crowd in the barn when we arrived. We were greeted by a bleating black sheep when we got out of the car and my favorite goat (with the funky sideways-rectangle pupils in his amber eyes) was munching on some hay. We headed back to the cooler, wondering what this week’s goodies would be, since the farm blog hadn’t been updated with news of the shares.

The veggie share included two bunches of asparagus, one bunch of shallot scallions, 1 big spring garlic, half a bag of pea shoots, a bag of spinach, and a half dozen eggs. The fruit share was six pounds of apples (half red delicious, half pink lady). The egg share was our usual half dozen, bulked up to a full dozen thanks to the veggie share. We got a sunflower plant and a cosmo plant for our flower share this week.

My brain is spinning away with ideas for using up this delicious haul. On the one hand, I want to remake everything I made last week – the sandwich, the eggs and asparagus, the pasta, the sangria… On the other hand, I want to see what else I can do. J made it clear to me a few minutes ago that I will be making the pasta with the poached eggs again. I’ll be changing it up, though. No mozzarella this time, but I think some of the asparagus and spinach will be making a cameo in the dish and I’ll use some lemon zest and cannellini beans and substitute rigatoni for the fettuccine. Breakfast tomorrow will definitely be soft-boiled eggs and asparagus. If we can get our hands on a beautiful loaf of bread (I haven’t whipped up a batch of bread dough since before Passover – got to get back to that soon), I imagine dunking some toast soldiers into those vibrant yellow yolks too. Oh my, that sounds way too good.

*** (Brief pause in the action as my netbook’s battery dies and we continue to run errands) ***

We ran errands for a while this afternoon, including a run to pick up my car at the train station (J had beer yesterday, I had pear vodka - there was no driving for me last night) and checking out a farmers’ market not far from there. It’s got LI and Jersey produce. We picked up some Jersey escarole and I’m dreaming of some garlicky white beans and escarole with the crusty ciabatta we scooped up while out and about. I’ll cook the beans and greens with some tomatoes and some basil (fresh picked from the garden). Of course, I’ll season that generously with my favorite red pepper flakes and garnish it with a drizzle of my favorite Pugliese olive oil. Mmmmm…. I hope we’ve got a nice bottle of red wine in the house.

Although I had planned to get into the garden to finish up some last-minute planting and the two (now three) week fertilizing, I just didn’t have the energy after schlepping around all day. I’m getting ready to head into the kitchen, though, to make my weekly giant pot of tomato sauce and start cleaning the spinach and escarole (so sandy). Once the sauce is simmering and the greens are nice and clean, I’ll work on dinner. Hopefully, we’ll still have some sunlight by then and J and I can set up our comfy lawn chairs and our cute little glass bistro table and dine alfresco. Of course, we’ll tether up the pups and maybe Addison (kitty) too. What a lovely way to end the day. Now, where is that red wine?