As many of you know, and as two of our contributors mentioned in their posts Flooding Fields: An Argument Against Eating Locally? and Prayer for No Rain?, the abundance of precipitation on the northeast of the US has had a sad impact on local farmers. Our CSA was impacted by the deluge two weeks ago, so we received less produce than usual, but the following week more than compensated for it–despite an ominous, last-minute email which read: “The cherries have been compromised. Wash and eat immediately.”

Who knew local agriculture could garner so much drama? Read after the jump to hear about scapes, ramps and other vegetables with funny names.

During the rainy week we received beets, ramps, leafy greens, green onions, snap peas and strawberries. The beets were added, of course, to my mother’s salad, and the ramps added a delicious garlicky flavor to a basil dressing, which was used on the greens. The green onions, snap peas and the rest of the ramps were stir fried and the strawberries made a nice addition to my brother’s favorite applesauce.

The following week brought cherries (which were, of course, washed and enjoyed immediately); potatoes; red lettuce; radicchio; spinach; peas in a pod; beets; and scapes. Here’s how we used these amazing veggies:

• The potatoes were added to Bubbie’s vegetable soup; I enjoyed one microwaved with cheese as a snack.
• The red lettuce, raddichio and spinach all went into a salad.
• The peas from the pod were added to penne with a light alfredo sauce.
• My mother discovered a way to use the entire beet; she roasted the beet itself and sauteed the greens.
• Scapes added a delicious garlicky flavor to my favorite avocado dressing, which is essentially pureed avocado, olive oil and buttermilk.

Thanks to a break in the rain we got a colorful, varied box this week which included a re-appearance of rhubarb. More on that next week…