CSA abundance

This week two of the three people we share our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share with are out of town, so we have an extra abundance of veggies in our fridge- spilling out into the counter in fact because I couldn't resist still going to the farmers market for eggs, cherries, blueberries, peppers (which we haven't started getting from our share yet), and strawberry tomatoes (sort of like cherry ones, but they are actually strawberry shaped!). Here's a peek at our middle of July share: beets, turnips, purple carrots(!), kale and rainbow chard, greenonions, thyme, basil, a huge head of chinese cabbage, lettuce, arugula, purslane, our first cucumber, and we get to go pick a 1/2 lb. of peas at the farm. Plus my garden is ready to give up its first zucchini!!

All this food has me excited (excited enough to finally start this blog!). Last night I used the beets turnips and thyme, roasting them in the oven with 1 baking potato and 1 sweet potato and a little olive oil. We ate them with some pork chops from Creswick Farms, a local grassfed farm whose meat I buy through westmichigancoop.com. (So far Brandon and I have agreed grass fed pork and chicken are amazing!) Today I made pesto and I am in the midst of some foccacia bread and I'm thinking zucchini, tomato, and pesto pizza with a salad for dinner tonight.

Perhaps this is enough babbling about my beautiful food for this post, but just a warning: I expect this blog to contain lots of reports on dinner making and bread baking so if you don't care what we're eating, sorry. This is really a place for me to collect my thoughts, ideas, recipies, and work out some of my theology of food.

I believe my passion about food is not just about eating what tastes good (though it is that), but I believe there is a deep connection between us and the dirt from which our food grows - a connection that is lost when we grow up thinking food comes from the grocery store. My adventures in buying local, gardening and cooking have begun to point me back to the fact that it is God who provides for us all we need and as I enjoy gathering, preparing, and sharing food with friends I rejoice in the one who created both me and these strawberry tomatoes from the dust of the earth.