Faux Farmer's Stand

For the past decade or so, up the street from us, in the parking lot of the Hy-Vee Drugstore, there’s been a farmer’s produce stand from a local farm about 30 miles east of here (I've spoken often with the farmer and members of his family). It usually shows up about mid-June, with melons, tomatoes and bell peppers appearing a couple of weeks later, and then around July 4^th, the sweet corn makes its glorious arrival, surviving into late August. This year the stand arrived early, about a month ago. From the beginning it seemed odd. There weren’t only early melons, but also tomatoes and peppers and (how so?) sweet corn. I asked the cashier in the drugstore what the deal was, and he just shrugged his shoulders, indicating his own bafflement (or instruction not to say anything). Then last week, as I was out on my walk, I saw the supposed farmer’s produce stand being stocked by someone from a Hy-Vee catering van. So the “farmer’s produce stand” is actually nothing more than an extension of the Hy-Vee produce aisle pretending to be a farmer’s produce stand. And incredibly, sadly, I see dupes customers buying from the stand, apparently thinking they’re buying from a local farmer, when they could drive a mile down the street and get the same produce, probably for less. And this is nothing more than an example of the growing problem with corporate grocery stores trying to cash in on the various recent local, healthful trends. People buy “organic” in the stores when organic is not necessarily organic, “free range” when it’s not really free range, “natural” when it’s not really natural (a lot of chemicals that you would not want to ingest are “natural”), and so on and on. And they pay premium for it. My hope is that the actual farmer’s stands begin to show up when the local produce actually begins to emerge. And that the Hy-Vee sham shrivels. At the very least, I’m comforted by the emerging zucchinis and cucumbers, and tomato and eggplant flowers that are showing up in our garden. Soon we won’t have to rely on either the mega grocery store or the farmer’s stand. Except for the sweet corn – from the side of the road, a bag of a dozen, honor system, put your dollar in the coffee can.

Fall Arrives

The leaves change to yellow, gold, and crimson, fall and swirl in the wind. Gloves and sweats are pulled out for the morning walk. The corn and beans are in mid-harvest. Winter squash and root vegetables show up in our CSA share, and the crowds at the Farmer’s Market thin. Piles of pumpkins and shocks of corn guard the grocery entrance. Windows and doors are closed, and the furnace comes on overnight. There’s a frost advisory for tomorrow morning. Whatever remains in the garden must be harvested or given up for the season. The fish in the pond cling to the depth, near as they can be to whatever warmth in the earth remains. We pull the quilt up from the end of the bed, firmly over our shoulders.

CSA Week 13

We picked up our Week 13 (just over halfway through) CSA share at the farmer’s market this morning, and we’ve moved from the early-season’s greens, asparagus, and wintered-over root vegetables to the iconic produce of the summer: This week’s box was packed with arugula, sweet corn, Caribe potatoes, broccoli, summer squash, peppers, garlic, sierra blanca onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, and sungold cherry tomatoes. Our weekly challenge continues to be coming up with menus that use as much of the produce as we can, all of it being the ultimate goal, though of course we always have holdover from the previous week or two to incorporate. There have already been a few dishes cooked and frozen to be resurrected later this fall or winter, and this last week I put up a couple of jars of pickles. On the other hand I have twice had to cut up and put half a bunch of greens that had gone bad into the compost (though that has been a small fraction of our overall share). (An additional advantage we’ve found is that next year’s compost should be quite rich with all the extra trimmings going in.) Tonight’s menu: kabobs of meatballs (with onion and pesto), squash, peppers, and onion; rice with assorted vegetables and greens; and a caprese salad: