Behold, vegetables! (And fruit.)

I picked up a CSA box today, thats not really a CSA box. "CSA" stands for "community supported agriculture", and a CSA box is usually a box of locally grown fresh fruit and veg (and sometimes chicken eggs or a loaf of fresh bread, if you're lucky). I found out about this group online, and read their website which openly states that some of the food doesn't come from the Great State of AZ (it comes from Mexico! OH NOES!!) and that some of it is trucked in frozen. Sigh. Thats definitely not "local" and not as "earth-friendly" as I would like. But, I thought I would give it a go anyways. I haven't been able to find any actual local CSA's in my area, and I'm loathe to drive to the other end of town just to get groceries.

The box is full of good stuff, with just one veggie that I'm not sure what to do with. (Oh, the internet can help me figure that out, can't you, internet?) (Am I the only one amused that blogger's spell check doesn't recognize either "blogger" or "internet" as correctly spelled words?) So, I guess I'll give this faux-CSA a go for a while and still keep an eye out for a better (and more local) CSA.

Bill and I have found a local butcher, who butches locally raised pigs and cows. And the meat is DELICIOUS. Its The Meat Shop, located just south of Downtown PHX. The website isn't the most informative website, but if you call them, they are super duper helpful. We've bought meat (both beef and pork) there now for three weeks, and I will never again buy meat from the grocery store. I was SO excited to hear them tell me this week that they will soon carry chicken, too! Good bye, big super chain grocery stores!

Our garden here at Chez Chaos is moving along, too. We harvested broccoli this past week, and steamed it and ate it. Everything else is still growing. Things have been kinda slow, but I think its because it has been so cold... well, so cold for the Great State of AZ. I am hoping that things will go a bit quicker as it gets warmer in the next few weeks. And then I have a whole new bunch of stuff to plant!! We do need to start on some water reclamation projects though, for sure. I'd love to be able to re-use some of our graywater for the garden, or to keep the ground moist longer even when its brutally hot outside. That would greatly help, and it would avoid a repeat of last summer where everything just DIED no matter how hard I tried to keep it all watered.

Today, I have a list of chores to do and I must (must must must must must MUST MUST MUST) find my missing motivation. Its been gone awhile now, and I miss it. AND I NEED IT. It could very well just be buried under Mt. Laundry.  I really need to get cracking.... I guess this blog thing isn't helping, eh?