csa box: week 2!

We went through our first box quickly - I'm excited to see beets in this box, and while I normally buy as many extra beets as are available each week so I can make my favorite pickled beets, this weekend we have visitors, so I'm trying to keep my workload on the food front down. I have a bunch of fresh herbs and I plan to dry about half of them as well as make a batch of pickled daikon. Yum.

In our box this week:: beets, new garlic, kohlrabi, dill, snap peas, snow peas, broccoli, kale, romaine, leaf lettuce, daikon


My extras this week are:: mix of mushrooms, marjoram, lavender, sage, parsley, bag of basil

We are drying another bunch of lavender to make more goodies -- this week we made lavender bath salts & lavender sugar, and plan to make more of the bath salts as well as lavender honey this week. I think scones are in my future!

dehydrating time.

This time of year I'm already busy in the kitchen. I blanch, bag, freeze. I dehydrate and dry. I can. We love to eat fresh veggies all summer but our plan includes preserving food to last all winter too!

While I love putting away canned and frozen foods I also love my dehydrator. I can dry fresh herbs, vegetables, fruit...and use them in just about anything. We love eating dehydrated cherry tomatoes like chips. Or adding dried raspberries into home made granola. But in February with feet of snow on the ground, it is also extremely satisfying to make a vegetable soup with carrots, squash, beans, peppers, tomatoes and herbs grown right in our own yard.


This week I started hanging my shallots, dill and cilantro/coriander to dry outside. That works great for the big plants. I bring other herbs to dry inside - savory, oregano, parsley, basil, chives, lovage, shisho...all quick and easy to dry in the dehydrator. One of the best things about freezing and drying is that it can be done as we go - no big prep, sterilizing or huge batches. I can just keep doing a bit a day if needed, all summer! And it adds up!


I like taking the herbs when they are dry and putting them in canning jars. Keeping them as whole as possible keeps the flavor better and you can just crush into your recipe when you need them!


I also dry a LOT of vegetables - peppers, tomatoes, summer & winter squash, beets, carrots  - easily bagged or stored in canning jars to be used in the winter! Right now I have a few trays of peppers going and the house smells amazing. I do love the dehydrator. It doesn't take much space or energy, is easy to clean, and I can dry a lot of food. All good!