My older brother and his lovely wife suggested this last winter that we sign up for a share in a local community supported agriculture (CSA) at a farm called The Root Connection. I was a little leery of the idea at first. While I am all about supporting local farmers and purchasing organic food when I can a CSA seemed, well, a little too Birkenstocks and tye-dye for me. But I love my brother and trust his judgment and he was really excited about it. Besides, it was a great excuse to see him and my sister-in-law once a week. So David and I signed up and waited in anticipation for June to roll around when we would start to collect local organic veggies.

     The first pick up day of the season was June 3rd (which just so happened to be Kelly’s birthday) and the four of us piled into Kelly’s Subaru and headed to the farm. There we found  big purple Tupperwares brimming with lettuce, more lettuce, more lettuce and some kohlrabi. If you are as educated on non-traditional veggies as I am you probably stopped at that last one and said- and some kohl-what? Kohlrabi is related to cabbage and tastes a lot like the stem of a broccoli. It is super delicious and if you haven’t tried it you should. But it is not the only vegetable that we have received from the Root Connection that has been greeted with a “what in the world do I do with this?” from me. 

    Since that first trip we now vary which couple picks up the good but as I am often free on Wednesday afternoons I often get the privilege. This Wednesday we received quite a few summer squash. I was chatting with the lady behind the counter and laughing that I still had some of the summer squash from last week and wasn’t sure what to do with it. What ensued was amazing. Three or four voices around me (I pick up the veggies around 12:30 and the place is packed full of moms with their children) all started talking at once. “They are so great on the BBQ.” “We stir fry them with some onions and serve them on the side!” “puree them into some soup” “So good in a stew!” “Cut them thinly and use like you would noodles for a gluten free alternative.” The nice lady behind the counter then pulled out a book called The Victory Garden Cook Book (not even kidding- and it looked like it had had a lot of use) which had a whole section on summer squash. It was such a delightful moment that I had to share.