Texas Turkey

Starting with my first year away from home in a quest for higher education I have dreaded the flight home to visit my family for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving used to be my favorite holiday...family, great food, and no present stress...until I moved away from home. The stress of Thanksgiving travel and high ticket prices coupled with more than one unplanned night spent in a random U.S. city en route to my final destination have soured me on the experience all together. Hence the initiation of Friends Thanksgiving, and the beginning of the fried Turkey tradition (drawn from my husband's Louisiana roots).
This year we decided to extend our thanks to the local farmer and seek out a Texas free range Turkey to share with our friends. Shockingly, this became a bit of a task. Local farmer's markets were selling local free range Turkeys for as high as $6.75/lb to a slightly more palatable $3.75/lb. Still...$88 for a 13lb Turkey? We love our friends...but maybe not THAT much...we could practically switch to Fillet Mignon for that price. Slightly angered at the elitist nature of the locavore movement, I almost opted for the free Kroger Turkey with a $50 purchase when...Co-Op to the rescue! Fran's Fryers, our normal supplier of chicken and sausage, carries Turkeys for $1.87/lb. We were floored at the price, with frozen Butterball Turkeys running $1.47/lb. We have 2 Turkeys on their way, local Thanksgiving is saved! :)

Veggie Claus Returns!!!

It has been quite awhile since we have received fresh veggies at our doorstep. We were starting to think Veggie Claus wasn't real. After Ike, the CSA had a hard time getting back on its feat, and to top that off, the CSA's computer crashed, leaving the member lists jumbled and some delivery lists lost. So after Ike, missed deliveries, and rain delays, the prodigal veggies are FINALLY back, and there was much rejoicing!!! :)
What we found on our porch:

• 1 Dozen Eggs
• Pie Pumpkin
• Summer Squash (yellow and green)
• Turnips
• Radishes
• Kale
• Long Beans
• Sweet Potatoes
• Green Onions
• Roma Tomatoes
• Grapes

Veggie Status

It has been a LONG time since I posted about the container garden. Some success, some failure. BIG lesson learned is to properly place seeds and thin out! The radishes and arugula completely failed. The sugar snap peas are still growing but are definitely being challenged. The swiss chard is struggling, but still alive. The good news is that the pepper and tomato plants are doing really well! The Black Pearl budded and has a new crop of little green tomatoes. The pepper plant is going strong as well and has 2 peppers growing...1 in the budding stage and one half grown! How exciting...I can almost make 1 WHOLE salad from this fall's work ;)