Comments

  1. Jenn says:

    Bok Choy: Sautee 1/4 cup of onions for 5 minutes or so. Add some garlic (finely chopped) and cook a minute or so longer. Add chopped up bok choy – cover and steam for a few minutes. Add some soy sauce to the pan (enough so the bottom of the pan has a thin layer of soy sauce), and grate in some ginger. Cover and cook until the bok choy looks done (white parts limp). Add some red pepper flakes or chili oil with the ginger, if you want a bit of heat. Remove from heat, add some sesame oil.

    Eat the above on rice. Very easy meal, tastes great, and it brings me right back to childhood (when I hated this meal). I eat it alone because Jeremy gets this very, very unhappy look on his face when I make him eat it. Also the kids wouldn’t eat it if I offered them unlimited screen time and all the dessert available in the whole world.

    • fordeville says:

      So funny — that’s pretty much (sans ginger) exactly what I did with the first round of bok choy. It was good and it was satisfying to see it shrink up 14,000% from the size it was in my fridge.

    • Tania says:

      I’ve never made bokchoy in my life, but your recipe makes me want to give it a try it sounds delicious and since we are trying to eat healthier now at my house, this recipe just might make it in to my routine. Thanks for sharing.

  2. I wanted to do a farm share this year, but the panicked look in a friend’s eyes told me to back away slowly. Instead, I planted a small garden that will most likely bear vegetables the day after we leave for three weeks.

    • fordeville says:

      For a nominal shipping fee, I can send you 2 metric tons of kale.
      Also, the irony is that I am still considering planting (though it may be too late) just to get something other than greens. So I’m paying someone to grow stuff and then I may do it as well. I like failure in multiples.

    • OMG, Amy – that is me exactly. And Kim – “failure in multiples” – you just nailed my (accidental) life philosophy.

  3. Jessica says:

    I tried to of a CSA too and didn’t know what to do with all the food! I only got a bin that was suppose to feed one person… But it could have fed like 12! I got way too anxious about wasting the food, I brought the extra to a food pantry… I will never do a CSA again! I’ll just buy at the farmers market!!

    • fordeville says:

      I can pretty much guarantee you that I’ll be the first in line at the farmer’s market next summer.

  4. Jill says:

    Thank you for making me feel massively better about never getting it together enough to even subscribe to the CSA farm share. Perhaps that was the successful personality quiz for me. I’ve been to the website about 10 times, and each time I get too distracted by other shiny things on the internet to commit.

    • fordeville says:

      I’m happy to be your cautionary tale. If I can save just one person from being held hostage by bok choy, then my work here is done.

      (And, always follow the shiny Internet things.)

  5. What I love about our CSA is that we can order each week so if I don’t use everything up, I just don’t order for the following week. Also, they let us say what we don’t want. So if I don’t want pea shoot greens then I can just check add that to my hell no list and it will never again show up in my order.

    Bok choy – I mean there is only so much you can stirfry right? I blend mine up with leftover kale and spinach and then freeze it in ice cube trays for addition to smoothies.

  6. I’ve actually been thinking about doing a CSA share for the past several years and just couldn’t get it together. If your house isn’t 100 degrees like mine is now, you could make a asian noodle soup and throw the bok choy in. My recipe: http://www.themamamaven.com/2012/03/02/recipe-nancys-udon-noodle-soup-with-veggies/

  7. Kim says:

    Maybe you can find a neighbor or friend to split it with each week?

  8. Kelley says:

    I once got 50 cloves of garlic in mine.
    I made gazpacho-with a seriously healthy dose of said garlic-and the sweet cyclist that was living with us while training in our town looked at me and said “Well, there won’t be any vampires at our table tonight.”

    Thanks for the laugh. I’m a defector-not a planner, lukewarm on smoothies, can’t get my kids to eat any green but kale-though I still feel the guilt. I’m with you!

  9. Samantha says:

    You should try Bountiful Baskets! It’s every other week and you only order when you want one. Plus it’s always half fruit and half veggies. It’s affordable and convenient. I’ve heard that the owners kind of have shady business ethic, but I don’t know if it’s true and it’s worth it anyway, in my opinion.

  10. Mariah says:

    I signed up for my arm share, full of dreams and plans, and then got pregnant. Which for me means morning (read:all the ding dong day) sickness. And an aversion to unfamiliar foods. Now picking up my share isn’t Even fun, since it makes me gag. I finally found someone on FB to buy half of my vegetables each week. I give them more than half, and still feel like I’m winning.

  11. This year I didn’t do my HALF share, half of which ended up in my garbage disposal last year. I decided to just go to the farmers market instead. But it does get better as the season goes on, you get tomatoes and basil, less tonnage in leaves.

  12. This is so my internal monologue. I’ve let so much chard go bad it’s not even funny. I just threw away a whole bunch of kohlrabi. I don’t even know what it is. I identified with this post so much!

  13. Bring it to the food pantry! I know my local one happily accepts fresh produce.

  14. Crying with laughter at this post! There were veggies (plants? weeds?) mentioned here that I swear to God I could not name if you slapped $100 on the table and gave it to me multiple choice style. I feel like even if I was getting a farm share of say Zingers and M&M’s I would still struggle with it…no I wouldn’t.-Ashley

  15. My life as well: “Like I’m cheating on it with carbohydrates and preservatives. Fuckkkkkk.”

    My bestie’s life: “OHHHH, not the fucking bok choy. ”

    My solution: Screw it. I’m going to Rosa’s.

    Hilarious post!

  16. So true. So humiliating. So humbling. So HYSTERICAL! Yes- on all accounts! A few of us here in New Orleans just trade & swap in the parking lot. It’s a lot like playing poker. Sadly, the bok choy is always the wild card. I’m going to follow you! I think we have MUCH juice in common. Hahahaaa

  17. I stopped my membership to these things for exactly this reason. I pay a little more getting the stuff from my local grocery, but at least that way nothing goes to waste! =) (and btw this was a funny post)

  18. Ed Marsh says:

    As a five-year vet of CSA, it is entirely too stressful to try and put together meals each week. I was constantly frazzled trying to use up head after head of greens (hint: you can cook lettuce!).

    What finally reduced the stress for me was splitting the share with another couple. Now we get entirely too many vegetables every other week, but it’s certainly more manageable. Also, pickle just about everything.

  19. Brilliant.

  20. Kizz says:

    All of this and more is why I’ve never been brave enough to sign up for a farm share. Go with god…and a straw!

  21. Dave says:

    You’re a terrific writer and this is a hilarious post. As someone who runs a small CSA, though, this confirms my sickening suspicion that a significant percentage of my customers actively resent my vegetables. I understand the motivation to sign up for a CSA — you like the idea of supporting local food, adding more fresh vegetables to your diet, etc. But perhaps us CSA folks need to do a better job of dissuading people from signing on unless they are diehard veggie heads. I second the advice of other posters; it’s not too late to find a friend or neighbor willing to split the share.

    • fordeville says:

      Dave, thanks so much for your comment. I will say that the harvest has gotten better (for my taste, anyway) and more diverse as the season has progressed — so there is hope for me yet!

  22. Melanie says:

    LOVE this post! For the love of Richard Simmons…. what is with the Bok Choy?! And Beets?! After watching my six-year-old girl gag while trying to choke down bok choy for the third time, I said, “To hell with it! (not to her… in my head), and got up from the table and threw the slimy sliders in the disposal.
    Shockingly, three out of six of my family members liked it, but when the cooker (that’s me) can’t swallow the stuff, it’s off the menu. I canceled my coop order the next day.
    I don’t feel so guilty after your post. Thanks. 🙂

    • fordeville says:

      Bok choy overdose solidarity!
      Also, “for the love of Richard Simmons” might be the best phrase I’ve read in years.

  23. My neighbor tried to convince me to take part of his share. I decided that I wanted to send money to the prince in Africa instead. The Ponzi scheme just seemed more palatable. Ellen

  24. Rachel says:

    I know this is an old post, but it had me rolling! The first year I did a farm share, I just about died. It was WAY TOO MUCH KALE!!!! That was a few summers ago. This year we joined again and got the LARGE SHARE! It’s triple the size of the small share. But knowing what to expect, this time has been much less chaotic. And we are loving it. Phew! I hope you re-joined again after last year’s debacle. 🙂

    • fordeville says:

      You got the large?! Oh, dear woman, I wish you luck drowning in bok choy for the next three months.
      #teamfarmersmarket

Trackbacks

  1. […] you seen this post? It’s called I Can’t Handle My Farm Share. A hilarious blogger I follow, shared it on social media with the quote, “I don’t know […]

  2. […] recently read this article about not being able to handle the farm share each week. For me, its great fun to figure out how to […]

  3. […] I Can’t Handle my Farm Share – Do you like the idea of a Farm Share? I so totally love the IDEA but the reality of it would be more like this one by Fordeville Diaries (also in ISJWTPA). […]

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