By now, if you’ve read any of my stuff, you know that the summer is my all time favorite time of the year. I also think it’s the easiest Season to be our most active and healthiest. This is the time of year of an over abundance of fresh and delicious vegetables and fruits. There’s just no excuse for eating the processed junk when there is so much fresh food available.
Growing up I loved the summer as I do now. However, with my mom around it was not always full of those lazy days of playing and swimming. She looked at the summer and the fruits and vegetables available as the time of year to get the work done. And get it done we did. By 5:30 am my worker bee mom had us in our grandparents’ gardens or some friends’ garden pulling, picking and digging. Then back home we were shelling, shucking, canning, freezing and working all day to “put up” the vegetables. My brother got really lucky with all this vegetable “putting up”. Somehow he always got released when it came time to go to the dreaded canning plant or spend hours in the kitchen making jams, jellies or pickles. I’m sure he had to pay the price with some other summertime chore, but I remember secretly seething as I was blanching peas or trailing around in that steamy canning plant.
As I grew older and moved away, there was never a time that I visited home that my mom didn’t pull out and pack a grocery bag full of fresh frozen corn, peas, butter beans, greens or peaches to send with me. She had three freezers dedicated to her frozen goods and a pantry full of canned and jarred food. While I did appreciate those gifts at the time, not nearly as much as I do now that they are gone. My own freezer is bare without my mother here to gift her frozen vegetables and fruits on me.
Fast forward to now and living in the heart of Atlanta I do not have access to my grandparents’ gardens or generous friends. I’ve found a couple of roadside vendors with wonderful fresh tomatoes and peaches and am a big fan of a Farmers Market. While it isn’t the same, in the city, I’ve learned we have to be a little creative to get our fresh goods. Last week I received a HUGE “mess” of fresh vegetables right at my doorstep. It made me so happy! A local company, Fresh Harvest, was recently at The Husband’s building. They were generous to allow us a try of their service and I am thrilled to share with you all!
Fresh Harvest is a local company that works with local farmers to deliver fresh produce, dairy, baked goods, you name it, straight to your door. After spending some time on their website and reading their blog to familiarize myself with their company and philosophy I am a big fan. They want to work with local farmers to support their effort. They want to provide fresh, organic produce for our benefit. They want to work toward improving our city and community.
Some of their Georgia partner farms range from Social Circle, Calhoun, Zebulon, and Danielsville to Commerce, to name a few. The baskets offered range from a family size priced at $73 to a mini basket priced at $32. I received the mini and let me tell you it was a ton of food! When ordering your baskets you can also add fresh meat, eggs, honey or other options from their website.
Looking at the amount of fresh, organic goodies I received in the mini, I know I could not have spent the time and gas and purchased that much food for under the $32. I had plenty for us, to share with friends and to have as sides for impromptu dinner guests.
This was my delivery, straight to my door:
I also got a FREEBIE!!
With the zucchini freebie I made wonderful zoodles I shared on Instagram!
I checked out what would be delivered this week in a mini basket and it would look like this:
Mini Basket
1 pint Blueberries Georgia
1 Sun Jewel Melon Georgia
.5 lb Grape Tomatoes Georgia
.5 lb Fingerling Potatoes Georgia
1 lb Cucumbers Georgia
1 lb Squash Medley Georgia
.5 lb Slicer Tomatoes Georgia
3 Bicolor Corn Georgia
1 bunch Kale Tenn
That sounds pretty good, right?
And if you are looking for a little inspiration, Fresh Harvest offers some for you:
NEED SOME INSPIRATION?
Contact a neighbor in need.
Find a local mission.
Reach out to a homeless person you pass every day.
Cook a meal for someone who has lost a loved one.
Ask the minister at your place of worship for the name of a family in need.
Partner with your child’s school.
Give to a local food pantry.
They really do have a great website, full of all sorts of good stuff. Check it out HERE!
*While I received the mini basket free of charge, all opinions are my own*
I’m looking forward to making a real order of my own.
What is your favorite Season? Where do you get your fresh fruits and vegetables? Have you ever made the dreaded canning plant trip?
Enjoy Your Day!
*Just a little fyi here if you notice I’m quiet for the next week or so. I’ll be taking a little break working on a couple of projects and having a little more of our “stay cation”. Enjoy!
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