. Much as I love supporting the local organic farm as a member of their CSA, I've decided I won't renew my membership next year.
Today is just the 4th Sunday I'll be collecting my half share of produce, but I've already found myself with certain veggies I either don't have time to cook up or don't care for all that much.
Part of the problem is that half share owners pick up on Sundays, not before 1 pm (Full share owners pick up on Saturdays.) I'm never quite sure what we will be getting until I pick it up, so I can't plan ahead with certain recipes picked out that make use of those vegetables. Sunday afternoons I don't like running around so if I'm missing an ingredient or two, that means I have to run to the store.
I also don't much care for Swiss Chard, and we've gotten that I think every single week so far. (It's easy to grow.) I've frozen a bunch for winter soups, which is fine, but I feel I have enough and don't want to totally take up space in my smallish freezer. I already gave some produce to my mother last week, but umm, I paid top dollar for all this organic produce and here I am giving it away or hoping I don't get ever more Swiss Chard or zucchini.
I'd probably do MUCH better cost-wise to simply shop at the farm on my own, to get exactly what I want and nothing more. I don't really see any advantage to having to take produce I don't necessarily want.
I was pretty productive this weekend. I tackled the stupid back wall of a hall closet again, using some special primer that's supposed to work well on problem surfaces and stop peeling. It didn't completely work on the back wall,which had been damaged 2 winters ago now by ice dam leakage from the roof. I already overpaid a contractor and all he did was compound over it several coats. When i tried painting regular primer on top of it, it began peeling in spots when it dried.
I'm so sick of this particular job. I decided to "give up." I painted over everything and it's just one smallish area near the bottom where you can't really see it where it's still peeling. It's just not worth my time or aggravation, and I'm tired of looking at the pile of sheets, blankets, pillows, etc. on the floor. So after it dried, everything went back in.
I also was able to install a new set of bamboo shades in my office. They look quite lovely. I had been making due with two panels from a single set of curtains in my office for YEARS. They were a navy/white plaid and didn't exactly match the wallpaper in here. Now that I've gotten rid of the curtain panels, I really like the minimalist and contemporary look of the bamboo shades which, being bamboo, also remind me of my hippie youth, for some reason.
These are now the 3rd set of bamboo shades I've purchased. The other sets are in the sun room and my bedroom. Each one's a different pattern. They do take more time to raise or lower each day as i have to wrap the cord around and around and around the little thing you mount on the side of the window trim.
My new Frigidaire dehumidifier is working like a CHAMP in the basement. It's taking a ton of water out of the air down there and has done an EXCELLENT job of drying out my concrete floor, which had been getting progressively wetter with all the humidity and after the breakdown of my older DeLonghii dehumidifier.
The DeLonghi is still at Jeff's Appliance. They are trying to determine if it's just a broke sensor or the "control board," which sounds a bit ominous. Maybe they are setting me up to pay more than the $60 or $80 they quoted me on the phone (admittedly sight unseen).
Conclusions I've Reached
July 27th, 2014 at 03:19 pm
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The only things we still struggle with are too many salad greens at the beginning of the season and too much winter squash at the end. But we waste//give away a bit less every year.
I wonder if we'll eventually give it up or take a smaller share, but we've done it for about 8 years and we feel like the rewards outweigh the challenges.
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