Winter Farm Share Week 1 – Omnivore

Winter Farm Share began the first week of November with a gorgeous array of vegetables and a whole chicken. We elected to get the Omnivore share this winter. Last year we played with the Vegetarian Pilot program from Fresh Fork Market. We’ve been living on a Vegan or Vegetarian farm share for over a year and it’s time for a change.

We’re not Vegan or Vegetarian but think of ourselves as Flexitarians because our meat eating is flexible. Although we don’t consume a large amount of beef, pork or chicken, we do have it in our diet along with fish. Also, we rely on beans, nuts and dairy to also provide our protein because we like a variety. A piece of meat or fish as one item on our dinner plate occurs twice a week. The rest of the week we’re having combined dishes with meat in them for flavor.

Mr. Carnivore thinks he prefers meat, but truthfully, his meat consumption started to decline a couple years ago. I realized I was eating twice the amount of meat as he was and I didn’t feel well. That’s when it clicked that my diet needed to change. I started making our meals 2/3 veggie at first, gradually incorporating less meat when I made combined dishes. We both feel better and don’t really miss it.

I fell in love with fruit and vegetables after a serious illness, finding it easier to stick to low fat if I didn’t have a lot of meat. I’ve since discovered that it’s the cut and quality of the meat that makes a huge difference. I’m really curious if I can work out our consumption to equal what we get in the farm share. We will find out as we experiment this winter. Of course, we’re splitting our share with my parents, so I’ll be using what I’ve stockpiled to supplement.

Week 1 of our Winter Omnivore farm share included (featured photo at the top of this post)…

Whole Chicken – this goes to my parents because we have one in the freezer.
Sweet Potatoes – 4 lbs
Kale – 1 bunch of curly, my favorite!
Beets – 1 bunch – these go to my parents
Grape Tomatoes – 1 pint
Onion – 1
Broccoli – 1 head
Shallots – 1/4 lb (2 bulbs – didn’t get these)
Apples – 6
Lettuce – 1 sleeve
Brussels Sprouts – 1 stalk

My half of the share (above photo), plus extras, and how we used it.

Sweet Potatoes – 2 lbs – stored in the pantry.
Kale – 1/2 bunch of curly, my favorite! We used almost all of this in the salads I made this week for 2 pot lucks.
Grape Tomatoes – 1/2 pint – these were used in the 2 pot luck salads.
Onion – 1 – this looks and tastes like a Candy Sweet – we’ve used half of it in the salads.
Broccoli – 1 head – I ordered an extra head but it’s not pictured here. I have about 1.5 heads left to eat or freeze.
Apples – 3 – 1 left as these have the softest skins and are delicious.
Lettuce – 1 sleeve – a little left but most of it went to salads to share, plus I bought more lettuce at the grocery for one of those 2 salads.
Brussels Sprouts – 1 stalk – waiting for me to roast them.
Honey – I love raw honey in tea, or to use on my cereal instead of sugar. I’ve been using local raw honey for over a year to combat pollen allergies.
Milk – 2% – we’ve been going back and forth with the whole and 2% — both are really good.
Grassfed-Beef Chuck Arm Pot Roast (2-2.5lbs) – this thing is huge and gorgeous. It will probably be split into 4 pieces to be used in smaller amounts.

RESULTS…(week of November 1)

The first three weeks of November we’ll get a Winter share, then we’ll pick up our Thanksgiving share. After that, we’ll pick up our share every other week. The winter share differs in that it’s a larger bag, so it’s easier to make it last two weeks. I’ll continue to post updates on our shares, but there will hopefully be more time for posting recipes between share weeks.

I’ve been told that I’m the poster child for winter share because I love it so much. Let’s face it. If you cook enough times a week there comes a point when you need a rest. Winter is my resting time. Cooking becomes a chore toward the end of the summer. That’s when all the veggies are coming in and you have to do something with them. It’s also the time when I start to panic and need my outdoor time before winter really gets here.

I love winter share because it’s easier. Many of the veggies can be stored to use later. This week was a prime example of that and thank goodness, because it was a busy week of running around. The Brussels Sprouts are cleaned and ready to roast (above photo).

We participated in two pot luck dinners this week so having all these extra veggies really helped. I made two huge salads with lettuce and kale. Then I added in chopped pieces of onion, broccoli, carrots, peppers from our garden. Plus, added in any other veggie bits I needed to use up. One salad helped to feed about 20 people and the other one fed 10, with leftovers. Good eating!

I had ordered cauliflower as an extra but they ran out so they gave us broccoli instead. It really doesn’t matter to me — I like both veggies equally and so do my parents.

My whole week was spent gardening, cooking and baking, but most of it was on the fly. I even forgot to take photos of the gorgeous salads I made twice. It was a fast paced week and I was so very grateful for enough food at hand, so I didn’t have to spend what little time I had leftover in the grocery store.

All in all, I feel empowered with cooler temps and less fresh veggies to deal with immediately.

What has your fork been up to?

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