Plate to Plate

In the wet and weary months of January and February it seems eons away. In March, as the snow begins to melt into slush, the idea that food could grow in the hard-packed earth seems dubious. But by April, as the crocuses finally begin nudging their way to the surface of the lawn in our yard, it seems entirely possible that we might once again be able to eat vegetables procured from the ground. May is four weeks of torture, and then, finally, early June rolls around, and we’re fairly champing at the bit to pick up our first CSA distribution at Caretaker Farm.

This year, I was greeted at Caretaker by Pip, a teeny-tiny three-week-old Nigerian Dwarf goat. He was as tame — and as small — as a kitten, but had the energy level of an overcaffeinated kindergartener on a pogo stick. After ramming his tiny goat head into my palm — also sort of like a kitten — and hamming it up for the camera, he headed into the distribution area and sidled up to a chalkboard propped on the floor announcing the day’s distribution helpers. Before anyone really knew what was happening, Pip was running up the side of the chalkboard and somersaulting his way back down again, sort of like a skateboarder on half-pipe. His little hooves clack-clack-clacked up the board over and over while a smattering of CSA members stood, slack-jawed, in a wide semi-circle around him.

Is this what goats are supposed to do?

Having had enough of that, Pip retired to Maribeth’s arms, where he rested contented, at least for a little while.

Below, some more photos of our first day back at Caretaker.

Among many, many other things, we got salad greens — including oak leaf lettuce, romaine, yukina, mizuna, baby lettuces, and arugula — bok choy, rhubarb, spinach, and many herbs.

You know when people describe a type of food as being like ambrosia? Food of the gods and all that? And you roll your eyes because, c’mon, it really can’t be that good.

My friends, these strawberries really were that good. They tasted like sugar and flowers, and I ate my allotted handful while I stood there in the field, smiling in the sunshine.