Turf's First Cooking Demo

On Saturday, July 11th, Turf CSA members and friends were treated to a wonderful cooking demonstration by Iris (Turf’s Chef), Lydia (Turf’s youth volunteer) and Erika (Turf’s high school intern). The cooking team prepared two fresh salads and two salad dressings using ingredients commonly included in our weekly farm share and ingredients found in one's pantry.

With culinary skill and a sense of humor, Iris filled large salad bowls with wonderful fresh ingredients such as romaine lettuce, carrots, onions, from our share, in addition to sweet oranges. A balsamic vinaigrette and a citrus dressing, perfect for salads on warm days, were also prepared by the cooking team.

Everyone truly enjoyed this cooking demonstration and the time and effort the cooking team put into making everything just right, along with answering questions from members and friends. This was Turf’s first cooking demonstration and it was a big hit and a moment for members to come together and enjoy good healthy food together. by Michael (Turf CSA member)

Turf CSA--Week Three

Turf CSA has been providing residents of Parkchester farm produce for three weeks. Every Saturday, Turf’s dedicated volunteers and youth interns arrive at St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church at 8am to greet our csa farmer (the Rogowski family) and arrange the produce on tables before our csa members arrive. CSA members receive a weekly portion of their share, 7—10 vegetables and one dozen eggs. This time of the year, kale, Swiss chard, romaine lettuce, carrots, beets, turnips, Chinese cabbage, bok choi, green garlic, peas, garlic scapes, cilantro and chives are in season and belonging to a csa offers members opportunities to cook and eat these local vegetables when they taste their best.

This Saturday Turf will be hosting our first cooking demo. CSA members will learn how to prepare summer salads and salad dressings. The demo will also offer nutritional information, cooking tips, recipes, and suggestions on how to save money and time when preparing summer salads.

Turf CSA's First Distribution Day

The first day of distribution was a lot less chaotic than I thought it would be. When I got there, Sharon, Iris, Michael and Lydia, were already there setting up the tables. Getting the tables ready was the easy part. When our farmer arrived, we all scrambled to take the vegetables inside as soon as possible. From there, the real work started. First we had to take all the vegetables out and count them. Then Michael weighed them and we all started to set up the tables. This week we got baby carrots, Swiss chard, baby romaine lettuce, red romaine lettuce, Chinese cabbage, baby bok choi, green garlic, cilantro (which smelled so good) and eggs. One of the eggs was so big it didn’t fit into the carton! We finished setting up the place long before the distribution time, which was good.

At first, there was a slow pace; two csa members came in to pick up their shares. However, around 11am, more and more members started to come and picked up their shares. First, they were greeted by Ms. Joseph to sign in and then they picked up their heaviest vegetables first (carrots, Swiss chard). Then they proceeded all the way until they got to the cilantro. Michael and Iris stood by the vegetables to help assist members and to tell them what could be done to the vegetables and how to store them. From there, they came to the egg table, where I was at. If they had a weekly egg share, I would give them the eggs and ask them to bring back the carton so we could recycle it. If they didn’t like any of the vegetables, they could swap it for anything in the “swap box”. Then, they went to the information table where Lydia was.

It was such a nice setting to be in. Sharon brought in a few CDs and played relaxing music while the people picked up their shares. There was also a coffee table where members could serve themselves coffee and sit down to read information on vegetables at a nearby table. Everyone was so nice to each other and everyone was working hard to make the experience pleasant. I even got my own share at the end of the day!

I am so excited to be a Turf Intern. I learned a lot just being there the first day. Before Saturday, I didn’t even know what “bok choi” was. Also, as unbelievable as it sounds, I had never seen carrots in their natural form freshly picked. Their color was so vibrant. When I went home with the vegetables, my mom was so excited! She loves eating greens and this was a perfect opportunity to experiment with new vegetables. I definitely think that more teens will learn a lot about vegetables if they joined a csa. Eating healthy and knowing what to eat is hard, especially when you’re a teenager. Joining this program can help everyone learn how to eat vegetables and give them more options. Overall, the first day was a success and I’m so happy to be a part of Turf CSA.

by Erika (Turf's High School Intern)