Tag Archives: FarmBox

FarmBox Fresh: 9/5/2012

6 Sep

This week, I was excited to have 14 other people get FarmBoxes!  Slowly keeps growing here!

Here is what I chose this week in my custom box:

 

This week, I chose radishes, the big ol’ beef tomato, Bartlett pears, green leaf lettuce, green chile peppers, Gala apples, Khorasan sandwich bread, baguette, and rhubarb.  I’m really looking forward to making something with the rhubarb, pie or a crisp, maybe with strawberries.  My girls are loving the pears and apples, and will devour the radishes.  I used the bread and tomato with some cheese for a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich.  The baguette is really good as well, I might spray with olive oil, rub with garlic, and broil it.  Or, just eat it, it’s great like the rest of their bread.

 

Note: I order a custom box and choose what I want in my box from their Web Store.  There may be variances in availability on different pick up days.

Tags: , ,

FarmBox Fresh: 8/22 and 8/29

30 Aug

I realized I never did post last week, so, I waited until I got yesterday’s box so I could just post them together.

Here is what I got last week:

Watermelon, red potatoes, Gala apples, a lemon cucumber, green leaf lettuce, zucchini, green beans, 1 pound vine ripened tomatoes, and coconut macaroons.  All of this was $28.75.  Coconut macaroons are one of my favorites, and these 3 got eaten in no time!  I made garlic green beans with the green beans, my daughter took sliced lemon cucumber to lunch one day.  The tomatoes I used to make a  tomato mushroom pasta sauce, and the zucchini made Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins.  The head of lettuce made a couple of great lunch salads for me.

Here is what I got this week:

 

I got 2 head of lettuce (yes, I love to make salads!), green beans, big ol’ beef tomato (GREAT addition to grilled cheese or perfect for BLTs), 1 pound red vine ripened tomatoes, white potatoes, dinner rolls, Gala apples, and Barlett pears (apples and pears are from Briggs and Eggers orchard, which is also organic).   One daughter had a pear, the other an apple in their lunches today.  I put the dinner rolls in the freezer, we’ll have those soon, but I didn’t want them to get moldy.  Excited to make green beans again, and the white potatoes are great boiled in salt as a side with dinner.

 

Note: I order a custom box and choose what I want in my box from their Web Store.  There may be variances in availability on different pick up days.

 

Tags: , ,

My FarmBox: 8/15/2012

16 Aug

I’m still hoping to have a FarmBox delivery to my city, but in the meantime, they now deliver to a town about 35 minutes from me, which is great and not too bad of a drive.  The box I got yesterday looked great, and we’re eating some of it already.

This time, I picked the pizza crusts, green leaf lettuce, 2 bunches of radishes, micro cilantro, micro parsley, gala apples (from Briggs & Eggers), white potatoes, zucchini, and spaghetti squash.  Love this program!

 

Note: I order a custom box and choose what I want in my box from their Web Store.  There may be variances in availability on different pick up days.

Tags: ,

Basket and FarmBox Breakdown: 8/4/2012

10 Aug

I have been trying to get this written all week!  We took an end of summer “staycation” to a resort in Tucson at the end of last week into the weekend, and then we had to get ready for our big start of school this week, part-time preschool and full day kindergarten for my two darlings.  It’s been just a little busy here lately!  However, the wonderful thing about our “staycation”, was that there was a Sunizona Familiy Farms FarmBox pick up and a Bountiful Baskets site, each within 10 minutes from the resort.  How awesome that both these programs are flexible enough that I can pick up in other locations so I don’t have to miss out on my produce!

Friday afternoon was the pick up for my FarmBox.  I got some of our favorites and tried a few new things this week.

 

This week, I got 1 bunch carrots, 1 seedless cucumber (to make Refrigerator Pickles), 1 bag white potatoes, 1 Big Ol’ Beef  tomato, 1 zucchini, 1 head garlic, 1 6 pack burger buns (these were amazing!), 1 Sprouted Khorasan Plus bread, and 1 head green leaf lettuce.  This cost me $27.25.  I love how fresh this all tastes!  I am so excited that the FarmBox program is now delivering a little closer to me, and I’m still working toward bringing it to my city!

I kept things simple for Bountiful Baskets on Saturday, just getting a regular basket and honey whole wheat bread.  It was neat to get to see another site and how they run things.  Here is what was in the baskets:

 

I got cherries, plums, a Galia melon, bananas, blueberries, Romaine lettuce, cabbage, red potatoes, mangoes,  and peaches.

 

Note: The type and amount of food may vary from another basket because of geographic location and because of variances in how case ends are distributed once everything is distributed evenly.

Tags: , ,

Lots of Produce!

22 Jul

This week, since I wasn’t going to be able to pick up a basket from Bountiful Baskets (I was doing a community car seat check at the same time), I didn’t participate this week.  So, I decided to once again pick up a FarmBox at Sunizona Family Farms again this week.  Instead of a standard box, I chose to get a Custom Box.  This means, that I went through their Web Store of items they currently have available to build my own box.  I selected 1 package Baby Heirloom Lettuce, 1 bunch Carrots, 1 Cucumber – Seedless, 1 head Purple-tinted Broccoli, 2 bunches Radish, 1 Squash – Patty Pan, 1 Big Ol’ Beef Tomato, 1 loaf Bread – Sprouted Khorasan Plus, and 1 1.5 lb bag Peaches – Sierra Rich.  My total was $28.25.  Here is how it all looked (also shown is a zucchini they gave me when I got there):

I was again happy with all that I got.  The peaches were not grown on their farm, but are from an orchard near them, Briggs & Eggers,  that is organic as well.  They are AMAZING peaches!  Very fresh and juicy.  The bread is again very good, this bread has added seeds and grains on top (hence, the Plus in the name), similar to the 9 grain bread that I usually get from Bountiful Baskets.  My husband immediately came home and used the bread to make a grilled cheese sandwich, also with the Big Ol’ Beef tomato.  I’m looking for a recipe to use the patty pan squash.  I’ve never had it, but I’m sure it’s similar to other squash.  Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be able to drive over this upcoming week, but I’m hoping to the week after.

After we were done at the farm, we headed to Willcox on the other side of I-10 to go to an orchard.  I had wanted to go to Briggs & Eggers, but we had already been in the car enough that I decided on Apple Annie’s, which also has some other goodies (homemade fudge!).  Right now, it’s peach harvest time, so we went through the orchard with a bucket and picked peaches right off the trees.  I ended up with about 9 lbs of peaches, which cost $14.

 

I will make a Peach Crisp and hopefully, some Peach Fruit Leather.  If I don’t get to make the fruit leather, I will probably freeze the peaches and make the fruit leather another time.  I haven’t had a chance to try one yet, but they look delicious.

Then, after getting all of that, I stopped in at Safeway and got even more produce!  They had 2 lb containers of blueberries for $5 again, plus lots of other produce on sale, along with my Just 4 U personalized deals, including a 20% off produce one time use coupon.  I spent $15.84, and here is what I got:

 

It is 1.41 lb broccoli crowns, 2.54 lb red seedless grapes, 1.39 lb black plums, 4 limes, 2 bunches radishes, 2.98 lb Gala apples, 1 head iceberg lettuce, 2 2-lb bags of baby carrots, and 2 lb blueberries.  Can you tell we like radishes in my house?  Well, I’m not a big fan, but my husband and 2 daughters are.  My youngest was excited to see plums, and half a bag of baby carrots is already gone between her and my older daughter munching on them.  Now, I would have preferred more of this to be organic since I’m trying to purchase more organic, but right now, my budget isn’t allowing it.  However, I’m still getting more produce in the house and snacking on this, not chips or other junk, so we’re getting there.  Baby steps, right?

Tags: , , , ,

Exploring Local Farms

13 Jul

Recently, I’ve had a strong desire to help support farms in my area.  I know that farming anywhere is hard, but in the dry climate of Arizona, I’m sure it’s even harder.  I already have bought from a very local farm and from our Farmer’s Market, but knew that there were more farms in our county that I wanted to see what they had to offer.  Today, a friend and I set out into the “country”.

Our first stop was Sunizona Family Farms.  They grow a variety of vegetables, some fruits, and micro-greens that are certified organic, and what they call veganically grown.  They use no animal products for growing, only plant-based materials.  They provide their produce mostly to the state of Arizona, available in Whole Foods and AJ’s Fine Foods, some farmer’s markets, and also through their FarmBox program.  The FarmBox program is a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, a way to get their product out to people.  This is what I signed up for and drove out to the farm for today.  They have pick up locations in Phoenix or Tucson, plus pick up at their farm.  I opted to pick up at the farm so I could see that farm and to see what it would take to get a delivery to my city.

We were greeted by Janice, who got my box for me, and then also took us on a tour of the farm.  It was great to see where and how the food I’m eating is grown.  This time, I got the small standard box for $22, plus extra carrots for $2.50 and a loaf of Spouted Khorasan bread for $5.50.  I also got to sample some thumbprint cookies.  They also have a large box for $30 or an option to make a custom box of items available in their web store, with a $22 minimum total.  They also have a variety of bakery items as well, breads, cookies, pies, hamburger buns, dinner rolls, and pizza crust.  Here is a picture of all that I got:

I got beets, a red pepper, tomatoes (1 is missing because my husband had to try one as soon as I got home), chives, white onions, lettuce, cabbage, basil, and collard greens (which apparently didn’t make it into the picture).  You can also see the thumbprint cookies, the bread, and the carrots.  It all looks amazing, and I can’t wait to cook with and eat all of it.  I will definitely be going back, but probably every other week because it is a bit of a drive.  I also think that I will do a custom FarmBox instead, and pick what I want from the store, which I think is a great option to have.  I like that the program is flexible like that, I can pick up different locations, put a hold on my subscription, change my subscription, or add-on extra things each time I get a box.

We stopped for lunch, then headed to Apple Annie’s Produce and Pumpkins.  I have been to Apple Annie’s about once a year during their harvest season for the last few years.  They have the produce and pumpkins part that we visited today, plus an orchard nearby.  Both locations have produce they pick or you can go out and pick your own produce.  Today, I did a mix of their picked produce and you pick produce.  Here is what I got:

Green beans, eggplant, tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapenos, zucchini, and okra.  All of this cost $6.89!  I was pretty impressed with that price.

I also got 5 dozen ears of sweet corn for $26.99 to share with my friend.

They also had cantaloupe, watermelon, black eye peas, yellow squash, green chiles, and cucumbers available.  We had thought about stopping at the orchard as they have peaches available right now, but we’d been lucky in missing most of the rain storms in the area today and didn’t want to push our luck anymore.  I have a couple other farms I want to check out, and hopefully will get to soon.

Tags: , , ,

Newer Entries →