It's a lot of pressure! Especially for a single person. I feel like eating meat is a waste, because that's a meal portion that could be vegetables!

I listen to a great rural podcast called The Wiggly Wigglers Podcast. [link] The husband runs a mixed farm: various seed crops and beef cattle to be sold for fattening. They decided to raise their own heritage breed pork for the first time a couple years ago. They really struggled with the naming thing. While his cattle have names, they're herd names like Penguin Quarter and Surrey Snowball II (and even more bizarre and abstract), the farmer in general was not in favor of naming animals intended for meat. He doesn't have to worry about that as much with his own cattle because he sells those to other farmers to fatten for market. I think the eventually decided not to name the porkers. And they've raised a couple heritage pigs for their own use every year since.

I have to say, I have really loved hearing about everyone's CSA hauls. It is so interesting to me, and I'm so pleased to see local agriculture supported.

I know- every year when the CSA ends, I have this sense of relief... but I just don't eat vegetables like that during the rest of the year. If I don't have that pressure, I barely cook vegetables.

I'm glad I did it, but am not sure I'd do it again. We'll see what the rest of the season brings....

And exactly what Nora said -- it's really good for me, but kind of hard. Although I'm doing a good job of filling up the freezer for winter.

I'm glad I did it, but am not sure I'd do it again.

By the time you're halfway through the barren winter, you'll be craving this stress/problem, I can almost guarantee it.

Takes serious work to eat right, sometimes.

This is why I'm glad I'm freezing a fair amount!

All I can think about is my garden-- I think I was quite right to plant one cucumber and one squash plant-- I have had 2 cucumbers and 1 squash so far. However, I think my six tomato plants are going to kill me. I have this feeling they are going to produce well into September, when I cannot handle the tomatos!

You will have to make vats and vats of sauce. That's what's traditionally done, right?

Sophia, I just learned how to roast tomatoes - just quarter them (I de-seed at this point because I think tomato seeds are nasty) and put 'em on a cookie sheet skin side down, drizzle with olive oil and salt and whatever spices you like (I think I skipped that step entirely and it was fine), and roast at 425 for 40 minutes (for, like, big slicing tomatoes. You can do smaller tomatoes, just not as long). They come out halfway between sundried tomatoes and tomato paste, turn into sauce as easy as scooping them out of their skins, practically, and freeze up well. I love it, especially since I have 5 tomato plants and don't eat raw tomatoes at all.