The Third Week

From Left to Right: Pea shoots, green garlic, turnip greens,
carrots, spinach, chives, and arugula

Our third week of CSA came this week from Bell Organics.   This week it included carrots, turnip greens, pea shoots, spinach, arugula, chives, green garlic, and salad greens. My mother and I have realized, with the help of Gwen Crist from Slow Food Utah,  that for the first couple weeks spring greens are what we are going to get.  Personally, I am still excited to see these fresh greens and I was especially excited to see carrots.
Carrots are full of vitamin A and they do help protect your vision.  The only problem with growing carrots in Utah is our soil.  The soil in Utah is full of clay and rocks, which makes it hard, alkaline, and lacking in nutrients.   For carrots, the density of soil makes it hard for the carrot to push down into the ground, making them stout.  With the right soil you can grow carrots.   Also, you don't only have to eat the root of the carrot plant, you can also eat the carrot greens.  We have included a recipe using carrot greens so you can see what I mean.  We had never eaten carrot greens before so we were surprised at how good they tasted.
Hopefully you are enjoying your local vegetables and are using everything you have.  Remember, don't waste anything you get.  Hopefully,  we will get some better weather and we can all start tending our own gardens.  I know my family got worried about our tomatoes with this cold weather.  Almost June and time for the farmer's markets to begin.
Enjoy!!