Fresh Beginnings

This was our first CSA Pickup of the Season as we resumed our continued eager support of Wimer's Organics CSA or Community Supported Agriculture. Our first box included butter lettuce, red lettuces, green onions, garlic scapes, scallions, kale, arugula and unpopped popcorn. We have since had our second pick up and the third is next week as we are still on the bi-weekly list since, as you can see even without the arugula and popcorn not pictured, it would be difficult for L and I to eat all of it without waste, just given life, love, and of course our crazy schedules some days.

I know it's been some time since I've posted, but I hope you are still out there, dear readers. Like over a year, about which I cringe as I type. But sometimes as we know, life  throws us curve balls that land way in the outfield, far from wireless connections or a computer by which one can upload the latest dish. However, as usual, getting stuck in the outfield has not stopped my experimentation with flavors, food, pairings, herbs, taste and the senses, and of course, cooking.

So what's to come and what to expect? Recipes and pictures of meals and tasty things,  our re-cultivated container garden of various plants, flowers, and fruits, herbs, and vegetables (which are still a work in progress), and the super exciting addition of joining a local business that is all about composting. 

Stick around. If there is anything I can guarantee, it's that you will not be disappointed, nor have wasted your time.

When you have a garden full of pretty flowers, you don't demand of them, "What do you mean? What is your significance?" - Balanchine

Sorry fellow readers; I understand it has been a very long time since my last post - almost three months in fact, but in addition to the general insanity of life, I was felled by a Teratoma. I forewarn however, that you do not look at pictures of said benign tumor that was removed along with a ladypart UNLESS you have a strong stomach. It is NOT delicious nor appetizing. Apparently, 1 in 1,000,000,000 people get these so I can officially say I am 1 in a million.

Now that I have returned, fully recovered, from my "sick leave" I wanted to share the status of our garden this year. We tilled and soiled and mulched in the beginning and discovered the gladiola bulbs that were the size of maybe two walnuts had grown to the size of our palms! So far, we have two that have shot up and more on the way, as you can see by the images. Additionally, some wildflowers, a tiny cherry tree, a rhododendron, and two rose bushes. If you have been following since last year, you can see we have reused the same storage bins for our two large containers of green goodness. The cherry tree and the rhododendron are in containers we found in the alley running behind the houses on our block AND we decided that a $4 pink "beer bucket" was good enough for our roses :) Happy End-of-June-almost-July.

Recycling in the 215

Quick - take a poll of your friends and neighbors on the topic of recycling and recyclable materials. I guarantee you that not one Philadelphian will get all of the answers correct at the first go-around. At least these were my results, and given the ongoing conversation in my own household ("Are you sure we can't recycle a #6?" and "Why do all the non-recyclable plastic containers seem to come from Whole Foods?") no one seems to have a clear grasp on the recycling system.

In January of 2009, Philadelphia went from biweekly to weekly curbside pick up of recyclables AND around the same time, we also joined the ranks of the highly civilized around the country by going "single stream," meaning that no longer did we have to separate our plastics, paper, and metal and aluminum. Most, if not all of the confusion, stems from which "numbers" on the bottoms of plastic containers may be recycled. The answer is sadly, only Types #1 and #2.

It isn't as hopeless as it seems, however - Type #4 Plastics are the type of plastic commonly found in plastic bread and grocery bags, which can be recycled at local grocery stores. Rather than floating about in the ocean, these are recycled into lumber, trashcan liners, and other plastic bags. Type #6 Plastics are the hardest it seems to recycle as they are the evil foam materials. Some states and counties around the country do have drop off sites for these types of plastics, though Philadelphia currently does not. Click here for all thing (or at least, what the city offers) recycling in the 215.

Whole Foods has a program where you can drop off your Type #5 plastics (which tend to be commonly found on nearly everything - medication bottles, hair product, rotisserie chickens from Trader Joes, hummus, etc.) in the corresponding bin. Whole Foods will send the amassed Type #5 plastic containers to Preserve, a company who makes recycled household products. When they get your plastic, Preserve gets a little Sweeney Todd and grinds up your old shampoo, medicine, and/or yogurt and hummus containers into clean plastic pellets. These pellets will then be used to make new items. Click here for more information about Preserve's Whole Foods program and to find a participating store near you.

Aside from the plastic confusion, there is another very important contamination issue to be covered with your recycling: that which has not been rinsed of food residue. We all understand the need to be tidy and desire to make a difference but clearly, people, pizza boxes covered in grease cannot be recycled just as it would be preferable if you there, eating your chicken wings while walking your dog did not see open recycling containers on the sidewalk as "trash." When you do either type of "co-mingling" the recycled material just sits there. Because the recycling attendants do not collect trash. They collect recycling. And trash is what dog poop, chicken wings, and greasy pizza boxes are.