jgrussell – my world

I love going over to the organic farm on Friday mornings. There’s a bit of a sense of adventure — you never really know what the farm share will be this week — and even in the midst of all the neat orderly rows of garden, there’s always room for a few wonderfully colorful wildflowers.

Wildflower

This week’s share was a very far cry from those first couple of shares where the students spent some time apologizing for the fact that the weather had affected what could be planted and sowed. As I walked over towards the shed this week, there were great bins set out for squash and onions, and a sign saying to take FIVE squash and three onions.

Squash and onions

I decided to be as adventurous as possible and picked five different types.

Five squashes

With the helps of some friends online, I was able to identify them as five types of zucchini: top light green is a Magda zucchini, middle left is a Floridor zucchini, on top (yellow with green tip) is a Zephyr zucchini, middle dark green one is a Raven zucchini, and the lighter green one at the bottom is a Revenue zucchini.

Next to the table with all the squash was a table with large baskets of greens.

Greens table

They had two from the brassica rapa family — basically non-heading Chinese cabbages — that can be added to salads or sauteed in olive oil and garlic, called Vitamin Greens (or Vitaminna) and Tokyo bekana .

Vitamin greens

Tokyo bekana

Plus there was what the label said was mustard greens, but I hafta say — they don’t look like ANY of the photos of mustard greens I can find online. Instead they were exactly the same size, shape and texture as the bristly greens we’ve gotten in weeks past called spectrum greens or stir-fry greens. (Since those appear to be generic names for a variety of greens, that’s not necessarily inconsistent, but…)

Mustard greens?

And as if three big baskets of greens weren’t enough, the sign said to take TWO baskets of EACH type of greens!!

And that was just outside. Inside there was yet another head of cabbage, more bunches of leaf lettuce and more leeks.

Leaf lettuce

Leeks

So, here in week 8, we are a far cry from where we were in, say, week 1 — and rather than having to buy more veggies to get through the week, I am now looking everywhere for ways to freeze and preserve these goodies rather than have them go to waste!

Hard to believe it’s already seven weeks of this farm share! The first couple of weeks it was easy to use everything up during the week. It’s getting a bit harder now…

This week we had some of the usual suspects… chives, oregano, onions, even more sorrel (still looking for sorrel recipes!). We also had lavender…

Lavender

…and basil (mmmmm… looking for pesto recipes now…)

Basil

There was yet more kale (more to be blanched and frozen for the winter months!)…

Kale

…and more cabbage, albeit this week a different variety, a round head rather than cone-shaped head.

Cabbage

There was a smidgeon more broccoli — probably needs to be turned into soup, it’s a bit old, starting to flower.

Broccoli

And there was a whole bunch of lettuce, including green leaf, red leaf and a really flashy type called, not surprisingly, Flashy Trout Back Lettuce (well, it is a bit speckled, no?).

Flashy Trout Back Lettuce

Last Friday, July 3rd, was the third pickup of shares from the organic farm at Cook College. It was, frankly, a little disappointing. The weather had started to improve, but hadn’t been good enough long enough to make that much of a difference in what was available.  More kale, more onions, and not a whole lot that was new. One more shot at lemon balm:

Lemon balm

And there were more and larger beets.

Beets

This past week, however, summer has arrived. It hasn’t been all that warm, but it sure has been sunny and nice. So I drove over to pick up my farm share this morning with rising hope and expectation. And I wasn’t disappointed in the least.  There were more onions, and more beets, to be sure.

Beets

But for the first time there were leeks

Leeks

and snow peas

Snow peas

and cabbage

Cabbage

and carrots

Carrots

and even broccoli.

Broccoli

And I had a lovely broccoli in cheese sauce dish with my dinner tonight!

Some time ago, I put my name on a waiting list for a share of the crop of an organic farm run by students at Rutgers University’s Cook College. This year, I made it to the top of the waiting list, and today I went to the farm in East Brunswick to pick up my first share.

The farm itself is a beautiful piece of property just off Ryder’s Lane south of the Route 1 corridor.

Cook College farm

The shed where the shares are picked up is just a small building at the back of the property.

Share shed

The students were terribly apologetic that the bad weather we’ve had limited what was available in this share. Me, I’m one person. I have no idea how I’m supposed to eat all of this. Or how to eat it (or fix it or preserve it). Or even if all of it is supposed to be edible!

First share

The first share included:

1. 1 small bucket of pea shoots. Pea shoots. What the heck are pea shoots and why does somebody want me to eat flowers?

Pea shoots

2. 1 bucket of spectrum greens. I had to look that up on the Internet. Turns out it’s just various greens in different sizes, shapes and colors. I don’t think there’s any standard definition of what constitutes spectrum greens, and I have no idea what the specific greens were.

Spectrum greens

3. 1 bunch of scallions. Yummy. (No picture — I’d already chopped ’em into my lunch salad by the time I remembered I was supposed to be taking pictures…)

4. 1 bunch of kale. I’ve heard of kale. I have no idea what I’m supposed to do with it. And there is a LOT of it.

Kale

5. 1 bucket of lettuce. Now that I understand.

Lettuce

6. Herbs, which were sage and lemon balm this time. Sage, I gather, you dry and use on things like chicken. Lemon balm? What the…???

It also included 1 bunch of turnips. Uh-uh. Not for me. I don’t like ’em no matter how you fix ’em. I left my share behind. (The farm has an arrangement with a soup kitchen in New Brunswick so even turnips won’t go to waste.)

Now I promised myself that, if I was going to do this (at several hundred dollars for the 24-week share), I was going to try to be serious about it, and at least try not to waste anything. So I spent some time on the Internet, did a bit of research, and took a few deep breaths.

First, for lunch today I had a salad. That was easy enough. I threw in some of the lettuce, all of the scallions and some of the spectrum greens, along with some grape tomatoes and some green pepper I had at home. Very nice. Very juicy. I may never look at the stuff in those plastic bags the same way again.

Dinner was a little more complex. I had done my research, so I looked carefully at everything I was given, and basically threw caution to the wind. I took some of the spectrum greens, some of the kale, all of the leaves of the lemon balm (which was starting to wilt badly since I hadn’t put it away properly after picking up the share) and some of the pea shoots (blossoms and all), chopped ’em up, and fried ’em in olive oil with minced garlic and salt.

Now maybe it’s just that I was hungry. And maybe it was just that you can fry ANYTHING in olive oil with minced garlic and salt and it will taste good. But one thing is for certain… Sigh… frozen veggies aren’t quite going to measure up any more…

All in all, I’d say this season is off to a very nice start.

Ecclesiastes 3:2

RIP Matthew P. Boylan, 1932-2009

Matthew P. Boylan was New Jersey’s Director of Criminal Justice when I first met him. As a news reporter, I covered his work and a trial or two that he personally handled. Later, when I started turning up some interesting information about the acquisition of land for a commercial project, I was able to team up with him for some investigative reporting when I was with the Daily News. When I got sued for libel, I didn’t trust the paper to represent me and got him to do it.

A few years later, when he found out I was going to law school, he hired me to work for him while I was in school. I worked for him all the way through school and then before and after my clerkship. We worked together, we fought together, we parted ways professionally when I went to the US Attorneys Office. He didn’t like the decisions I was making for my career (I suspect he had an old-fashioned attitude about women litigators), but over the many many years I knew him, he never stopped being a supporter, a confidant, a teacher, a mentor, a friend. He helped me out in more ways than I could ever begin to describe.

And Sunday afternoon Matt lost his battle for life after a massive heart attack. He would have been 77 in June. His funeral was today.

Matt was never an easy person to be around. He was a typical black Irishman, brash, bold, loud, larger than life. He was funny, he was challenging, he was opinionated and intolerant, he was kind and frustrating and infuriating and occasionally even sweet. He was demanding beyond all reason and supportive beyond all reason. I have often cherished being his friend at the same time I have been grateful that I wasn’t his child. He could be his most difficult self when he was trying to be most helpful. Being around him was never dull, never ordinary, never calm, never quiet.

He leaves a big hole in the lives of everyone who ever knew him.

January 20, 2009. The bumperstickers for months have read: “January 20, 2009. End of an error.” Eight long years of George W. Bush. Eight long years of “if you dissent, you’re a traitor.” Of ignoring our core values in the name of security. Eight long years. And on Tuesday, January 20, 2009, it came to an end.

I thought long and hard about whether to try to be there in Washington for the inauguration. A new President. For the first time in our history, a black President. For the first time in eight years, a President I voted for, and supported, and felt good about. The crowds were predicted to be ridiculous. The chances of getting any kind of tickets slim to none. The weather cold, bitterly cold, with snow or at least snow flurries predicted. So what was I to do? Simple: I decided to go. To do whatever I had to, to be able to be there, to feel it, to be part of it. I was already going to be in Virginia for the birthday party for my beloved nephew and godson Duncan, so… I had to go.

The first order of business was getting tickets. More than anything else, I needed mass transit tickets. As the signs said, traffic was going to be a nightmare and for most of the city you couldn’t drive at all:

Traffic warning

Thanks to StubHub and eBay, I managed to get a round trip ticket on the Fredericksburg line of the Virginia Railway Express (VRE) commuter train and two tickets for bleacher seats at the parade (it was cheaper to buy two than to buy one). Once my brother Bill heard I had a second parade ticket, he decided he had to go too.  So we scrounged and scrounged and finally came up with a second VRE ticket, even on the same trains. So far so good…

Inaugural tickets

Tuesday morning, we left the house well before daybreak and drove to Quantico to catch the VRE into the District. Two charter buses full of passengers had the same plan, but everyone was in good spirits as we waited for the train.

Inauguration VRE train

Once we got off the train at L’Enfant Plaza, it was easy: just follow the signs held up by very cold (but very happy and enthusiastic) volunteers:

Volunteer

We managed to find a good spot on the National Mall between the Smithsonian Castle and 12th Street. There was a Jumbotron not far ahead of us, and we could see and hear fairly well. By the time the sun rose, the National Mall was full.

National Mall as the sun rose

People came alone, in pairs, in groups, in families, all looking to be part of the moment:

Family at inauguration

Inaugural montage: people

They came with hats and buttons and jackets and flags and signs to show their views:

Inaugural montage: signs

Everywhere you looked, there was security of one kind or another:

Inaugural montage: security

And it was cold. Cold cold cold. Low to mid-20s, maybe. A bit of wind. No snow, however… (though it clouded up and seemed a bit threatening for the last few minutes of the Bush Presidency, it was otherwise clear and completely clear and sunny by the time the new Vice President and President were sworn in!) And we ended up standing there in the cold from before 8 a.m. to just before noon when the ceremony got underway. People did what they had to, to try to stay warm.

Cold

None of it — not the cold, not the security — dampened the enthusiasm in the slightest:

Enthusiasm

People paid a great deal of attention to what we could all see and hear on the Jumbotron. And folks made it clear where they stood by their reactions to what they could see and hear. When Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut was shown, he was soundly and roundly booed. When former Vice President Al Gore appeared, he got a nice round of applause.

No real reaction, nothing negative, for either Cindy or John McCain. (As far as we could tell, Sarah Palin wasn’t there — she surely wasn’t shown on the Jumbotron — I’d have loved to have heard the crowd’s reaction to her.) Nothing much by way of reaction to former President Bush or former President Carter. Some polite applause, nothing else. That all changed when the last former President appeared: former President and Mrs. Clinton were cheered, loud and long.

When Vice President Dick Cheney was wheeled into the viewing area, a whole section of the crowd started singing the Darth Vader theme song!!! And when President Bush was shown, in the tunnel area approaching the viewing area and then emerging into the viewing area, the crowd made it quite clear when it stood. As a group, they sang: “Nah nah nah nah, hey hey hey… goodbye!” (I hear that the media regarded that as tacky. It may have been, but where we were standing it was obviously heartfelt and spontaneous.)

Every time any of the Obamas appeared on the Jumbotron, the crowd reacted with applause, cheers and flag-waving. Michelle Obama was warmly greeted, and the Obama girls were definite crowd pleasers. (I heard later that both girls were wearing J.Crew outfits — and that the J.Crew website crashed that afternoon with the press of people trying to get those outfits for their kids!)

Everyone quieted down nicely as Joseph Biden of Delaware was sworn in as Vice President of the United States:

Biden sworn in

And then the moment  came… the moment everyone had been waiting for:

"I, Barack Hussein Obama, ..."

And the crowd on the Mall went wild, throwing hands and confetti into the air, waving flags and screaming:

The crowd went wild

People applauded. They grinned. They sang. They hugged each other. They shouted Obama’s name. The crowd noise was so deafening, you literally couldn’t hear yourself think. It was wonderful.

Hugs and cheers

Smiles and cheers

We never managed to make it over to the parade route. Though we had carefully scoped out the route to walk using public information that emphasized where to be able to cross Pennsylvania Avenue, what nobody ever reported was that Constitution Avenue would be closed. Since the public info said you had to be through security by 1 p.m., and we realized there was no way we could make that, we decided to walk around, get souvenirs for both of Bill’s boys, and see what we could see. And one of the things we saw was Bush’s last flight on Marine One as he came down the Mall and back up and off one last time to Andrews AFB.

Bush's last ride

Eventually, we decided to start making our way out of the District. That meant we had to make our way past the Capitol towards Union Station. That building sure looked good all decked out:

The Capitol all dressed up

We had to walk a convoluted route to get to the train station,and when we got around to the side of the Capitol where the parade was supposed to start from, we saw that the military honor guard was still on the steps and the parade hadn’t yet started. So we did get to see some of the parade (the groups were standing there, shivering and literally pale with the cold):

Parade marchers

We couldn’t imagine what was delaying things, but just kept on the long cold route to the train station, where we had to wait out in the cold to finally be allowed in, and then had to wait for the train home. That’s when we found out that Senator Kennedy had collapsed at the Congressional Luncheon and that’s why the parade had been so terribly delayed. We felt a whole lot better about not making it to the bleachers then — we would have missed the train if we’d waited for the parade! So it all worked out in the end, I suppose.

And it was worth every bit of cold and discomfort and annoyance. It was a moment I never expected to see in my lifetime, a moment that made me so very very proud to be an American. As I said to my brother as we waited for the train, we have a President now who is smart and capable and who speaks English with proper sentences and words that exist and make sense. How bad can the next eight years be?