The Veggie Bin

The weather is finally cooling down, and that means that here in northeast Florida we’re entering our season of agricultural abundance.  If you planned ahead, you may have joined a CSA organized by one of the farmers you met at the Riverside Arts Market - perhaps you’re already picking up boxes of fresh, local produce every week from Down to Earth Farm or Magnolia Farm.  But if you were too late to join a CSA, you should consider signing up for The Veggie Bin.  

Every week during our growing season, the Veggie Bin coordinates with area farms and pulls together a box overflowing with locally-grown produce (this year the Veggie Bin’s season extends from October 23 through the end of June).  

They then deliver the box to residents in Riverside Avondale, as well as our neighbors in Murray Hill and Ortega.  You can also choose to add coffee, bread, honey, soaps and lotions from local merchants, and you pay by the month so you can cancel at any time.

The Veggie Bin is two weeks into the season.  The first week the box was full to the brim with arugula, bok choy, radishes, sweet potatoes, yellow squash, cucumbers, oregano, and pineapple mint.

This week’s bin included chocolate mint, rosemary, cucumbers, cubanelles, green beans, kabocha, mustard greens, yukina savoy.

The fun thing about the Veggie Bin is that you receive - on your doorstep! - produce you might not otherwise purchase, so you expand your diet and get to try new fruits and vegetables.  I enjoyed devising recipes for kabocha and yukina savoy, two items I’d never before cooked with.  Kabocha is a Japanese variety of winter squash, and yukina savoy is a green that reminds me of spinach.  They were delicious in a creamy gratin topped with chopped walnuts and parmesan cheese.

Consider joining The Veggie Bin and support a local Riverside Avondale business!

The Veggie Bin

www.theveggiebin.com