Six Days to CSA sign up day

Roxbury is getting ready for sign up day too. I noticed yesterday that they posted share information for 2011. A helpful outline on how their CSA works…
http://www.roxburyfarm.com/content/6144
This page has details about vegetable shares, fruit shares, member responsibilities, and costbreak down.
They also explain their new meat shares in detail.
http://www.roxburyfarm.com/content/9501

Today I thought I would share the books that in my mind go hand in hand with my CSA.

First and Foremost…“Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” by Barbara Kingsolver. This book is why I sought out a CSA. The book is about how Barbara and her family committed to one year of local food. The book is full of information (provided by her husband, like how food stamps and WIC can be used at farmer’s markets), stories, and personal reflections. The message that stays with me years later is that eating locally is not about boycotting (not doing), but about being active (doing ). They suggest getting yourself locally grown vegetables, cutting them up, cooking and eating them and in the process doing good stuff for the world.
http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/

The book I can’t wait to read is “The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love” by Kristen Kimball. I’m on the waiting list at the library. This is a book about her first year on a farm in upstate New York. The Roxbury farmer in the middle of busy time summer said he couldn’t put this book down. I’ll let you know how it goes.

The other three books I want to share are also part of an idea I have to add a new dimension to the blog for my second season of blogging. Late spring I’m going to have a poll. I’d like to pick one of the following books to feature weekly. Here are the books and how I think they could be incorporated into the blog each week.

“The Flavor Bible” by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg
I’ve mentioned this favorite of mine before. This is an index of ingredients and what pairs well with them. I was thinking of taking a vegetable each week and sharing the highlighted ingredients that pair well with it.
This book is invaluable to me. We don’t like nutmeg at our house, whenever a recipe calls for it, I consult this book and find out other spices that also go well with the main ingredients. Or, if I want to make my generic muffin recipe and I’m not sure a flavor combination will work, I check this book. This book is the best!

“From Asparagus to Zucchini” presented by the Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture Coalition
This is a cook book for CSA members. I thought it would be fun to highlight this book weekly on the blog by sharing one of the recipes for a vegetable we got that week. Likely something hard, kooky, or a technique I’ve not tried. I’d let you know the reviews, good or bad.

“Produce” by Brad Matthews and Paul Wigsten
This is the textbook on produce for the Culinary Institute of America. I thought it would be fun to learn about one vegetable each week in depth. This book has descriptions of each vegetable, how it can be used in cooking, storage information, and nutritional information.