Summer = Fresh Food

So, mostly I’m ambivalent about summer.  I know, I know…it’s summer and I’m a teacher, so I should be super excited to have the summer off.  Except, and apparently only people who teach are aware of this, I don’t really have the summer off.  Granted, I signed up for everything I’ll be doing and I’m pretty excited about all of them, but let’s abolish the notion that teachers spend the summer with their feet up watching TV.  Plus there’s the heat, as I complained about on Saturday.  I just don’t like summer heat.  I don’t like being sweaty.  I like good nights of sleep.  I’d much, much rather wear pants than shorts.  If I had to choose, it would be fall (like, late September), all year round.

Nevertheless, there are 2 things (besides all my work-related jobs) that I’m really excited about this summer.

1) Our (temporary) CSA membership

Brian and I are really lucky.  A couple of our friends are traveling for the first part of the summer and letting us make use of their CSA share, which means we get a bag full of whatever’s being harvested every week.  We went to the farm a couple weeks ago for orientation and I didn’t want to leave.  It’s beautiful and there’s a ton of variety.  Today was the first distribution day.  Of course, I left my camera in the car (my brain has ceased functioning this week), but there will be pictures of distribution next week, perhaps.  This week’s take included:

Bok choy, rhubarb, radishes, mixed greens (I can’t remember all the names) and a big head of lettuce (not pictured).  I didn’t want to take more than I thought we might consume, though I also felt like we should take as much as possible and worry about what to do with it later.  The farm also has “you pick” herbs and berries, which we may head back for later in the week.  The rhubarb is definitely turning in to a pie this weekend.  I’m hoping as the season progresses that there are more non-leafy vegetables, because I’m not usually a lettuce fan, but at the same time I’m looking forward to loving lettuce more and finding things to do with it.  Yay for fresh, organic, local vegetables.

2) My (itty bitty) container garden

I have been talking about creating a container garden on our balcony/deck (what is the difference?) since the winter and I finally got around to doing something about it last weekend.  I went to the garden center, alone, and got completely overwhelmed.  Purchased a couple plants, then headed to Walmart.  Surprisingly, Walmart seemed to have a lot more individual plants (as opposed to packs of 6), plus easily accessible potting soil and pots.  In the end, I ended up with an herb garden (dill, basil, oregano and chives) and a pair of pepper plants, bell and jalapeno.  Sometime, maybe soon, I’ll start the tomato seeds I bought a month or so ago…

I’m really excited about my little garden (and pleased that I haven’t killed it yet), but I have absolutely no clue what I’m doing.  But you can’t win if you don’t play…if all goes well this year, who knows what I’ll have outside next summer.

What are you excited about this summer?