Plugging Away on GAPS

It's been a hard month. We've experienced die off on and off over the months, but this was a wave similar to what hit us at the beginning of GAPS intro and then again about 6 months after GAPS intro. Extreme fatigue, a general feeling of un-wellness and gloom and doom. We know something's happening for sure because just like the previous especially bad boughts of die off, we dropped weight drastically. Under a couple of weeks, Todd has dropped 6 lbs and myself, 4 lbs. On my 5'2" frame, it's significant.

Todd tells me this is something most girls would envy, but it's difficult for me. We've been terribly chemical sensitive, so other than Whole Foods, we've been purchasing everything online. Well actually, Whole Foods and the post office to drop off returns. I've been slowly replacing my wardrobe since purchasing clothes online can be a lot of trial and error, but discovered I've shrunk yet another pant size. I'm truly too tired to find more pants and run more return boxes to the post office. Some things will just have to fit loosely for awhile. And it's encouraging evidence of the revolution going on in our guts.

Die off is a bit exacerbated by the late fall/early winter weather. All the rain and short days mean less sun and no walks in the woods. Being outdoors and getting some sun always cheers me up. It gets easy to become mopey and self-pitying all cooped up.

Last week was the final week of our CSA. The final week was actually two weeks ago, but our CSA had extra produce so offered to extend for an extra week for those who were interested. I ordered a robust share for the extended week, glad to extend the season a bit longer before resigning to supermarket produce. I am so grateful to my CSA farmer for providing such quality produce that I now find the organic lettuce and squash at Whole Foods tasteless. I'm not putting down organic produce at Whole Foods as I am a loyal patron of the store. It's just that local produce grown with love just tastes so much better.

I have quite a bit of fermented and frozen produce stocked up in my fridge to help get through the winter:
5 gallon sized bags of frozen winter squash
4 gallon sized bags of frozen peeled, deseeded, halved tomatoes
3 jars lacto-fermented pickles
3 jars lacto-fermented eggplant
3 jars lacto-fermented radish
2 jars lacto-fermented baby bok choy
2 jars lacto-fermented stem medley (fibrous stems from chard and bok choy that I decided to ferment)
1/2 gallon sauerkraut

Although the sauerkraut is a ferment staple for us and I'm actually getting ready to make more. Okay, well, this blog was mostly a random ramble for me, but it feels good to get back to blogging. Hope to post again soon.

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First CSA Pickup of the Season

We just got our first CSA pickup from Potomac Vegetable Farms (PVF) yesterday. This is the second year we've signed up for a CSA with PVF, and we just love it. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture and is a great way to create a relationship with a local farmer. You pay in advance for a produce subscription, and the farmer plans their growing season based on the number of subscriptions. You receive a share of freshly picked, in season produce weekly for anywhere from 8 to over 20 weeks during the summer and/or fall season. Some farms also offer shares of other products such as flowers, fruits, eggs, milk, and meats. It is a great way to eat local and in season. Also, supporting your local farmer ensures biodiversity, which is so lacking in the mega farms growing masses of corn and other monocrops which require extensive spraying of chemicals and fertilizer to generate a moderate yield.

We signed up for both a summer and a fall share, so our CSA will extend for 24 weeks (16 weeks of summer and 8 weeks of fall produce), from the beginning of June through early November. We live only ten minutes from PVF East so we pick up our share straight from the vienna farm location. Many farms will deliver to various drop sites in addition to pickup at their farm. If you live anywhere in the DC Metro or NoVA area, chances are good that there is a CSA farm or CSA drop site near you. I have compiled a list of local CSAs, listed by location and it can be viewed in the group pages of the Meetup Group that I co-organize.

As CSAs are becoming more and more popular, the shares are filling up very quickly as soon as reservations are open. PVF East usually fills up in a matter of days once registration opens up in February. And no wonder. You can't get any better quality than a CSA. The quality and freshness is akin to growing your own produce. Many CSA farmers use sustainable farming methods, enriching the land through natural means and will harvest the produce shares the day before, sometimes hours before the shares are distributed.

Our first CSA pickup of the season included: garlic scapes, sweet onion, Mei Qing Choy, kale, baby salad greens, oregano, basil, escarole, curly endive, lettuce, a wee cabbage, and a pint of strawberries.

For dinner last night, we had Polyface pork chops, sauteed Mei Qing Choy with garlic scapes and a large salad of fresh baby greens. Life has never been so good. :-)

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