Real Life CSA: winter share 1

This week we received our first winter CSA share! This is our first year with Penn's Corner Farm Alliance. (Just for the record, we switched for winter due to pickup locations - not because we have complaints about our spring/summer/fall CSA.) Penn's Corner is a 30-member farm cooperative in southwestern PA - their members use sustainable farming practices and have a huge variety of food items available. (They even run an online farm stand with various pickup locations around the city!)

So here's what we got for the first share!

We get an email with details before each share, but Penn's Corner also posts even more information on their blog. It includes recipes and a list of where each item came from, since they aren't all from the same farm. 

I am psyched to see honey from Bedillion Honey Farm, which is an essential ingredient in the homemade granola I make for breakfasts. 

It's amazing that even after being a produce CSA subscriber for years, we still get things that we've never had before. (Oh the wonder of not limiting your vegetables to the ones in the grocery store!) The giant rock of a vegetable above is a black radish from Nu Way Farm, which happens to be very close to where I grew up, in Mercer County. (For those of you locals, Fredonia!) 

I absolutely adore brussels sprouts, so these ones from Clarion River Organics will be roasted with the shallots we got in this share from Crighton's Farm.

It comes in really handy for us that we also got a dozen eggs, since our chickens have been going through a decently long period of not laying, with the time change and lack of light, plus molting at the same time. Only within the last week did one of them (Ensign Ricky the champ, we think) start laying again, so our egg supply has dwindled significantly. These eggs are from Heritage Farm. 

All of the great greens will be eaten up in salad, including the hydroponic bib lettuce. The pears will make great snacks too! Definitely thrilled with the selection and quality of this first share - and can't wait until we get to discover the next one in two weeks!