Chives, Butter Lettuce, & Sunflower Shoots
If you haven’t heard much from me lately, it’s because I’ve been busy whirling around in an emotional salad spinner. On the one hand, I’ve been over the moon about becoming an aunt soon and had a blast helping throw my sister-in-law a beautiful baby shower. On the other hand, I’ve been dealing with a lot of stress and anxiety as I try to get my bearings in a new position at my job.
In comes CSA season to the rescue! Getting back up on the roof to pick up our first share of produce this weekend, a spark was reignited in our hearts. It is our peak. With our canvas bags filled with green, we immediately came home and made a meal with magical curative properties. Restorative. Life-affirming. It felt so good to prepare something that came from soil and not from the store.
For our first meal, we made bagels with cream cheese and flowering chives, and a salad of Blushed Butter Oaks Head and sunflower shoots with cherry tomatoes and lemon-mustard dressing.
For the rest of our share, we get to mull over all the delicious ways to eat up kale, mint, radishes, Hakurei turnips, mixed greens, and braising mustard greens. Cannot. Wait.
When we picked up our share, we had the pleasure of meeting Anastasia Cole Plakias, the author of The Farm on the Roof, the inspiring story of how Brooklyn Grange was founded. I’m only halfway through so far, but it’s spoken so strongly to me and truly given me words to live by. Behold:
Some more mantras:
“But no matter how much you plan, you can never truly know exactly how a project will unfold, and more often than not, your best course of action is to let go of that part of yourself that wants to control every aspect.”
“You are your own most precious resource. But if you push yourself too hard, you destroy that resource.”
“We say it over and over again when we get frustrated: perfection is the enemy of good, and done is better than perfect.”
Be good to yourself and be good to the world.
