Today was my first pick-up for this year’s CSA. For those of you who don’t know, CSA stands for community-supported agriculture which is a particular network of individuals who have pledged to support one or more local farms, with growers and consumers sharing the risks and benefits of food production. CSA members receive weekly shares of fruits and veggies (and sometimes flowers and eggs). My CSA share is with the “Garden Of Eve Organic Farm” located on Long Island’s East End in Riverhead, New York.
Today’s share contained radishes and beautiful greens including butter leaf lettuce, arugula, broccoli rabe and snap peas. I will probably make a great salad tonight with these veggies. My fruit share consisted of gorgeous strawberries and two long stalks of rhubarb. Check out the adorable CSA member, Olivia, in one of the photos below waving around her two rhubarb stalks. Tonight, I will attempt to make a simple strawberry-rhubarb compote and, if it comes out good, I will post the recipe later in the week. The flower share consisted of a beautiful bunch of lavender. When my friend Rebecca asked me what I was going to do with it, I immediately thought of making a lavender mist.
For the record, lavender possesses many healing benefits. A great way to reap those benefits are with a simple spritz. You can use it on your skin, as a natural air freshener, or sprayed on your pillowcases at night. Lavender helps reduce stress and tension, promotes restful sleep and can uplift your mood. It can also soothe insect bites. I was thrilled to find this video clip of model Josie Maran showing how to use her 100% Organic Argan Oil to make a refreshing lavender mist. It just so happened that I had a free sample bottle of the argan oil from my last Sephora purchase and I didn’t know what to do with it. I followed the steps on the following video and my lavender mist came out great. I would use a glass bottle next time.
