Distribution - March 28, 2010

A nice surprise for a couple of you who thought this was our last share of the season: we have one more month to go! I'm in the NE of Brazil, busy sunning, but I'm sure you're as hungry as you always are. Thanks to our fabulous volunteers for managing the table this week! If you're feeling friendly, you'll come to market earlier in the day rather than later, so they don't have stay until the bitter end, hint, hint, HINT.

Here's what'll be there waiting for you:
- More potatoes from Huguenot Street Farm (cuz you can't get enough!)
- More onions from Morgiewicz Farm
- Dried popcorn on the cob from Madura Farm
- Frozen carrot juice from Huguenot Street Farm
- Frozen tomato sauce from Huguenot Street Farm
- and, a jar of spicy beer mustard.

We weren't joking about the heat ^%#!ing up the root cellar. Potatoes this time, potatoes next time..... It would be too much of a shame to let any of this clean, local produce go, so grin and bear it. Did you already make colcannon? What about a nice italian potato salad? Shepherd's pie? Hash browns? A nice soup to combat rainy day chill?

The unexpected heat is also why you're planning meals around sprouting onions, and drinking gobs of carrot juice.

There are different jars of tomato, again, some chunky and some perfectly smooth. Grab whichever you prefer. The chunkies retained skin and seeds, and have eggplant and bell peppers added. Neither have spices, so you can use them as part of a recipe, or just spice them up as sauce. Local tomatoes in March are not a terrible thing.

The mustard seeds weren't grown locally, or anywhere near here, and I have to admit, the beer wasn't brewed here, and neither was the vinegar (much to my chagrin). But, as the season ends and we end our reliance on the root cellar, we'll have some items from local and small businesses who are doing good work. We start [really] close to home, with spicy mustard made by wintergreens. Stay tuned for next time with video and gorgeous pictures and tales of danger. None of this has anything to do with mustard, but with a food I'm proud to include in your next share. Exciting!

An exciting experiment in the meantime (invite the kids!) is to try out this popcorn. I hear rumors you can stick the cobs in a paper bag and pop them whole in the microwave. For those of us who pop corn the old fashioned way, rub the cobs together to release the kernels, and put them in a lidded pot with oil. Then put on all manner of salts and yeasts and peppers and other spices. I think that a decade ago my popcorn loving self would not imagine that I'd be rubbing local corn kernels off a cob before popping. It looks a little like inventing fire.

Enjoy the great spring weather, and I'll see you in April!