Seriously. Last week, it was good. Mostly greens, which is mostly what we expected. But this week, as Kristi and I waited in line for the veggie free-for-all to start (we were a miserable sight, having just had the CAR TOWED from the South End because of $treet $weeping. But I digress), we noticed quite a different spread. Arrowhead cabbage (kind of a pointy, leafy cabbage), kohlrabi, thick heads of romaine, turnips, dill plus tons more greens, like collards, kale, spinach and mesclun.

We weren’t really even in the South End, just parked there while we dined in the Prudential Center mall. I’m doing research on a certain chain restaurant therein and it requires much firsthand sampling of their wares. I know, it sounds hypocritical of me to be preaching about fresh Massachusetts kohlrabi here and eating ata chain, but my story idea makes some sense (writing about local, handmade, artisanal food MUST be coupled with writing and thinking about long distance, industrial, chain food for the sake of context, at least). We had — wait for it — cheesecake! Kristi had some unholy coupling of carrot cake and cheesecake and mine was laced with caramel. They’re made, we learned, in a factory in New Jersey and shipped in weekly.

The contrast between that reality and the reality in line for CSA pickup is disheartening. Not the CSA, just the chasm as represented by people eager to spend $7 a slice on too-sweet cheesecake spit out of a windowless turnpike factory and glistening, early season heirloom cabbages. Obviously, we want to know how to build a bridge, but we don’t. Thoughts are always welcome.

For the record, Wednesday is also the day we pick up the raw milk and eggs from Just Dairy, a buying club, which we did after we liberated Greenie, our trusty Civic. So for dinner, we made quiche with the local eggs and milk and filled it with sauteed spinach and garlic scapes. We pan fried a few baby zucchini and made a salad with the romaine, too.

In our share this week:
1 head lettuce (our choice romaine, redleaf or greenleaf boston)
1 arrowhead cabbage
1 handful garlic scapes (we may have taken an extra big handful)
1/2 pound spinach, mesclun or a mix of both
1 bunch turnips (these are amazing sauteed in garlic & oil with their greens)
2 kohlrabi (green or purple)
1 bunch kale or collards
2 zucchini or summer squash
Rosemary, dill or cilantro

This year we chose to join Red Fire Farm’s CSA (Stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Learn moreabout them here).  No particular reason why this over the dozens of others that deliver to Boston, really. Just, I suppose, that they deliver just up the street at the Harvest Coop in Central Square.

Once upon a time I worked for a small farm with a CSA. I was tasked with waking up well before sunrise, driving my cold, dirty, foggy self across the Connecticut River to Walpole, NH, and harvesting in the dew and mist for hours before dividing it all and bagging it up for all the shareholders. I was paid in produce.

But Red Fire Farm just brings crates full of stuff, like spinach, radishes and chives, and tells you how much you’re owed. You bag it up yourself, buffet-style.

Kristi and I are sharing ours with our friend Cate, who came over for dinner Wednesday night for the express purpose of snagging her veggies and left without them.

In our share this week:
2 heads green-leaf lettuce
1/4 lb mixed baby green
1/2 lb spinach
Chives
Cilantro (yes, that’s perfect, pungent cilantro shown with the sun on it’s tender leaves)
Hakurei turnips (for sauteeing or to be eaten raw)