This is a shout-out to all the farmers, staff, and administration at the Poughkeepsie Farm Project (PFP). Thank you for all the great produce this year and for making the weekly pick-up of veggies the highlight of the hunkered week!. COVID-19 be damned.

Veggies A to Z:  A Shadorma Chain  for the PFP

Acorn squash
and baby bok choy,
cilantro
and carrots.
Dill and dandelion greens
eggplant, escarole.

Thank you to
all at Poughkeepsie
Farm Project
for the greens
the veggies, flowers and herbs.
Seasonal delights!

Futsu and
fennel, garlic scapes.
Hakurei
and red hot
jalapeno. Kale (two sorts)
kohlrabi and leeks.

Lettuces,
melon and napa
cabbage, red
and yellow
onions, pea shoots and parsnips.
Potatoes, all kinds.

Radishes,
and new kinds of squash
as well as
butternut
and acorn. Spinach so fresh
and so sweet, Swiss chard.

Scallions,
heirloom tomatoes –
and roma
for sauce and
green to ripen late season.
Violet turnips.

Juicy ripe
watermelon and,
new to me,
yokatta na.
And finally, zucchini
Surprisingly good.

Many thanks
to all of the farmers
admin and
staff. Your work
made our hunkering healthy
and kept us well fed.

We picked up our last haul of the regular season yesterday – a bonus pick-up for the early bird sign up for next season.

As always a great basic bag plus extras. (I went for butternut and leeks but the choices were many. The butternuts from the farm have been the best I have ever tasted.)

What a treat it has been all through the late spring, summer, and fall – every week a new pick up of freshly dug, cut, grown, pulled veggies.

A true pandemic-induced lifestyle upgrade. 

Before the season kicked into full gear we took the CSA two-week May share and loaded up with early season greens and veggies. Delicious.

This is what is wonderful about it:

Freshness Taste and Quality

The produce always looked great, was fresh, clean and ready for the kitchen. It looked good and by golly it tasted great. Last week’s spinach, for example, was just so sweet and tender.

Variety

Everything from A to Z literally – over the season there was something for every letter of the alphabet (exception Q, U and X) and often several.  

And thanks for all the great recipe ideas.

Serendipity

Apart from all the other best parts – this was the best part. Until you got the email just before pick-up started you never quite knew what you were going to get. OK – so it’s late August and you can expect tomatoes, but what sort and what else? The basic haul was usually a good balance of root and leaf. Always something green.

But then on top of the 5 or 6 veggies that were pre-selected, there was the choice – usually two from a list of 6 or 7 others. And that was just the half-share. Lots of fun deciding what to pick, what to try and what to load up on. It’s made for fun menu planning and cooking all season.

Beyond the actual produce – thank you for making the outdoor pickup process pleasant and painless! And thank you for always being responsible and responsive.

Of course, the PFP is more than a personal convenience provided just for me and about 500 other lucky families. As well as CSA (community supported agriculture) shares, they offer educational programming in farming, gardening and cooking. They also donate thousands of pounds of food to shelters and emergency food providers and serve to reduce food insecurity in the area. Take a look at their website to find out more.  The PFP is a neighborhood treasure.

All the photos are from the PFP and their emails.