Week 7: Pick-Up Day

By the time we left the Korean Church parking lot with our Week 7 veggies, the kids and I were experiencing a fever pitch level of excitement. We couldn't wait to see what was in store because we were about to take our veggies on a little road trip. Yep, our local Texas veggies were going to make their all-star debut to friends and family across the deeply southern states of Louisiana and Mississippi. And let me tell you, if anyone in America knows the value of a good vegetable, it's the southerners. Many families eat produce grown in their own gardens, but those who don't usually have friends or family who are happy to share their crops. With this in mind, I was meal planning for our trip in a major way.

Since the hubby was staying behind for the first leg of the trip, I made him an offer I thought he couldn't refuse: he could keep any veggies he wanted to cook during the week and the kids and I would take the rest. Though I know he's a red-blooded male and all, I was shocked when he literally laughed out loud at my kind gesture. He couldn't wait to be off of vegetable duty for a week and had grand plans of scarfing down burgers for every meal. Fair enough, really, since he doesn't eat nearly his preferred quota of animal matter at home. But it meant that I had to haul the veggies across three states to avoid them going bad, which brings me to a slight issue with community supported agriculture. You should know up front that your weekly lot of veggies depend on you for everything––like children, you have to be there on time to pick them up; they need to be preened, washed and toweled dry before storing; and for heaven's sake, you must engage with them or they will shrivel up and die. I'm not complaining, only stating that there are no weeks off to eat junk food without some serious guilt induced by wasting food that is literally grown from a labor of love. Unless, of course, you're the hubby and laugh out loud at the idea of cooking a vegetable meal for one.

Week 7 pick-up: broccoli, yellow squash, celery, beets, red cabbage, green cabbage, Swiss chard, white onions, green kale and purple kale.