Monday, June 15, 2009

CSA Adventure: Week 5

I like the *idea* of no pesticides on my food. However, I do not like pests on my food.

Lesson of the week from our CSA: organic broccoli fresh from your farmer's garden has to be washed differently (much more carefully) than broccoli from the grocery store. Otherwise you may inadvertently eat a worm.

EW.

Did I mention, EW?!?!?

Last night we decided to have "rabbit food" (cut up vegetables--I should refer to it as "crudités"--that sounds so much more refined) with our chicken, corn and tomato salad pitas (new recipe--definitely a hit). Steve cut up the vegetables: red bell pepper, carrots, and some broccoli we got in this week's CSA share. The first "ew!" was the strange looking bug mysteriously crawling on our counter after Steve was finished. When I yelled and pointed it out, he said it was probably from the broccoli since that had come fresh from the garden.

We sat down to eat and as I went to pick up a piece of broccoli, I was horrified to notice a green worm nicely camouflaged against the green stalk. EW. Steve kindly picked it off for me, and I inspected it warily before putting it in my mouth--only to find another tiny green bug. EW.

A few moments later I picked up another piece of broccoli and was greeted by ANOTHER worm. WORMS. ON MY DINING ROOM TABLE. In food I am just milliseconds from putting IN MY MOUTH.

EW.

I dropped the broccoli on the table, horrified, and Steve took the bowl of vegetables back into the kitchen for a more careful de-worming. I think it's probably very, very good that I didn't see how many more worms he picked off the broccoli. *shudder* He actually had to pick them off--they don't just rinse off. And because he had eaten a couple of pieces of broccoli before my worm drama, it's entirely possible he ate a worm or two. I mean, do you realize how many nooks and crannies broccoli has in which worms can hide? EW.

Broccoli used to be one of my favorite vegetables. But either broccoli washing is going to be Steve's job the rest of the summer, or we are going to have to find a way to wash it or soak it in something that does not require physical removal of worms. I don't do worms.

I don't want pesticides on my food. That's one of the many reasons we joined an organic CSA. But at least the pesticides are invisible, and not squirming. EW.

This week's bounty:
  • lettuce
  • one head of garlic
  • three small zucchini
  • one head of worms broccoli
  • oregano
  • six farm fresh eggs
  • two pounds grass-fed ground beef

11 comments:

Sandra Leigh said...

Hi Amy,
I love your weekly bounty updates! The worms definitely sounded gross, but your post made me laugh out loud!
What about soaking your vegetables in a water & bleach bath before you rinse them? I think Mel D. had a post about using bleach on veggies a while back. Maybe that will kill off the worms.
Hope to see you again soon, Sandra

Stephen Gambill said...

EW!

One thing that can be said about various bugs on your vegetables...it is entertaining for us readers!

Amy said...

I definitely would not want to spray bleach on food I am going to eat--but Google tells me that soaking the broccoli in cold, salted water for 30+ minutes should kill off all the worms. We usually wash veggies with vinegar, so I'll splash some of that into the saltwater, too, for good measure. But I don't even want to SEE the worms float to the surface of that water...ew.

zoanna said...

Disgusting but hilarious. When you went back for a second try at the broccoli, I was thinkging, "oh, yeh, she's missionary material."

Amy said...

haha--yeah, right, Zo. if only you had seen what a drama queen I was being...

I even asked Steve yesterday to do the soaking so I don't have to see the worms. if God ever calls us to the mission field He will have to provide a lot of grace when it comes to creepy-crawlies!!!

Unknown said...

That was so funny to read!! LOL! I do remember having lots of green worms on my broccoli that I bought from a local farmer too. So I'll remember the salt water trick for when we get some in our CSA box. My first pick up is tomorrow, I am very excited!!!! I think I will blog about mine too, because I am going to need some creative ideas for cooking some of it.

I think it is very cool that you get grass fed beef with yours, what a treat!!!!!

Jamie said...

I can't comment. Every time I come back to try, I start laughing again...

Nope. Still can't do it...

Jules said...

Ah yes...soaking our veggies is a MUST! We do it in the sink and then just skim off the nasties. :)

It's too bad that it isn't easier to be all natural in your area. We can't afford to go all out organic, but we can take small steps in that direction and it actually ends up being CHEAPER. Like, we get a quarter cow at a time (grass-fed) and it is less than buying beef at the grocery store. Mike's uncle raises chickens (so we know exactly what they eat and that they aren't given growth hormones). We drink hormone free milk and Joel drinks soy milk. Then of course we have the garden and I freeze and can for the winter months.

Does this mean that we don’t have the occasional hot dog or I NEVER make food from a box? No. But small changes are better than nothing at all. It just seems a shame that it is so much more challenging in your area. Good for you for still making it a priority!

Jules said...

Oh, and we get fresh eggs from our friends with chickens, but mostly that's just because they taste so much better! The only problem is that fresh eggs are so hard to peel when they are hard boiled, and hard boiled egg is one of Joel's very favorite snacks!

Anonymous said...

I'm cracking up....but the salt water bath is the way to go. Let your friend Jules know that fresh eggs need to be at least a week or more old, in order to hard boil them and still have something left to eat when she's done peeling. That may help her. It was good seeing you the other day. I wish we could have visited more. -Addie

Mooreganics said...

Well I experienced yesterday a similar scenario. I know I ate more than a few as I didn't notice the worms (very, very small) until I had eaten most of my broccoli. I don't even want to think about how many my kids ate because they scarfed down the broccoli before I even started. Mental note, wash and pick, wash and pick.
LOL The price we pay for no pesticides.