CSA workshare
For the past few months, I’ve been making trips to the farmers market, instead of the grocery store for all of my produce. Though Wheatsville Co-op is great because a lot of the stuff (if not all?) is organic, and some of it is locally sorced… but with farmers markets, you’re buying organic produce straight from the farm. The only draw back is that it can be a little more expensive. So today, I made my first trip out to Johnson’s Backyard Garden to do a workshare. Basically, volunteers harvest, wash, organize, and pack veggies and in exchange, get to take home a share of veggies! Today, I primarily washed veggies and packed some in boxes. I came home soaking wet (my fault for not wearing proper attire), and freezing, but It was totally fun… and I’m really stoked to see how a vegetable farm runs. not to mention the gorgeous loot I brought home! Guess who’s not spending money on groceries this week?
in my box: Huge Carrots, Hakurei Turnips, Collards, Mixed Lettuce, Spinach, Parsley(?), Radishes, Kohlrabi, Cabbage, Broccoli, Scallions, Green Garlic, Grapefruit, and Oranges!
Believe it or not, I couldn’t even fit everything in the picture. There was tons more broccoli and lettuce than shown. Hopefully I’ll get more opertunities to do more work shares there in the future.
Milo enjoyed the carrots, too! :) Thanks Johnsons Backyard Garden!
This past Sunday I attended the Vegetarian Chili Cook off here in Austin. It was a total blast, and I had a hand full of friends who competed! The way it works is you pay $7 to get in, and you receive a bowl, a spoon, and a ticket to cast your vote. You go around to each booth and they ladle out about 2 oz of their special chili for you to try. With over 20 vendors, I only made it about half way before I had to go home and take a nap. haha.There were tons of crazy blends of chili. My friend Molly and her husband, Matt, competed with their spicy bulgar chili, which is amazing as always. They won 2nd place, and I couldn’t think of anyone who deserved it more! Congrats! My favorite vegan co-op, House of Commons, house was represented by some of the lovely ladies of the house, and Green Island Catering was there, as well!
There was chocolate chilis, spicy chilis, chili’s with vegan jerky in them, masala chili, coconut curry chili, and a bunch of other interesting and tasty spins on this Texas classic. Dog Almighty was there selling veggie dogs, and Celeste from Celeste’s Best was selling her cookie dough and cupcakes! Ben from Organic Athlete was also there tabling about their Austin Chapter of the organization. Overall it was a great time, and a big thanks to the Vegetarian Network of Austin for setting this up!
