Last month I joined a food coop. So every Wednesday I go to the pick-up point and get my fruits and vegetables from Oak Hill Farms. Oak Hill sells only what it grows, which means the produce is picked within hours of my getting it and is fresher than the local supermarket. Even when the supermarket advertises local farmers’ produce.
It’s been an interesting experience so far. I never know what I’m getting. The first week I got blueberries and sweet cherries; but Terri, one of the owners of Oak Hill Farms, said I got in on the last of those fruits. I was disappointed only because they were so delicious. They tasted like fruit did when I was a child. But no matter. The next week peaches arrived. And they too tasted like my childhood memory. Nothing like the blandness of a store-bought peach.
“It’s the tree-ripening effect,” Terri told me when I praised her peaches. Hers are on the tree until the last minute, where supermarkets purchase theirs before they have ripened, hoping they will blossom on their way from local farmers, California, or elsewhere.
Because I have to use the produce before the next Wednesday, I think we’re eating more fresh fruits and vegetables. Tomorrow, for instance, I’m making pizza with eggplant and sweet peppers for part of our dinner. I’m considering peach smoothies too. And tomatoes like you’ve never tasted.
Earl, who often prefers the canned mushiness of vegetables, is eating them too. It’s an added benefit.
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