Washington Green Grocer - mail order produce

I returned home from work the other day to find a nice surprise on my front door step - my first delivery from the Washington Green Grocer. I ordered one box (small, organic, $37) to try out the service. It's not that I can't find good produce - we're surrounded by farmers' markets and there are two Whole Foods within a 15-minute drive - but instead, I was buying the same produce over and over again. Sure, it was colorful and healthy - spinach, sweet potatoes, red and yellow bell peppers, bok choy, apples and bananas - but we really needed to branch out and try some new items.

Owners Zeke and Lisa launched WGG in 1994 guided by the mission "to provide excellent quality produce and locally and regionally produced products" to those in the D.C. area. Today, WGG offers conventional and organic produce, meat and poultry (grass-fed local beef, free-ranging hormone-free local chicken, and soon turkey, pork and lamb), dairy and eggs (eggs from free-ranging hens, organic milk, local small-batch butter, local cheeses), local and regionally produced pantry items, and seasonal specialities such as cranberry sauce, local free-range turkeys and challah.

Every week, participants have the option to receive a box of conventional or organic produce (the majority of which is sourced locally) delivered directly to their doorstep. There is no contract required, and you can sign up for deliveries as often as you like - one time only, bi-monthly, or weekly. Plus, you can blacklist items you don't want, substitute other items, and add additional items as you see fit.

The box contained:

Purple potatoes
1 box of grape tomatoes (very sweet)
1 box of red seedless grapes (nice texture, but not very flavorful)
1 avocado
Two large heads of broccoli
Navel oranges
D'Anjou pears (once ripe, these pears are amazing!)
1 bunch of four green bananas (delicious, and a nice normal banana size)
York apples
1 large bunch of sweet white turnips
Tatsoi (Asian spinach) (didn't have as much luck preparing this as I had hoped)
Red leaf lettuce

It was like an early veggie-ful Christmas! It's a lot of produce for $37, considering I can easily drop $40 at the farmer's market on barely half this amount. I think we'll be pretty solid on produce for a while.

And while I'm at it, this recipe for Turnip-Potato Puree looks intriguing:

4 medium turnips, trimmed, peeled and halved
2 russet potatoes, peeled and halved
4 tbsp. butter
salt

Boil turnips and potatoes in a pot of salted water for 40 minutes until soft. Drain, return to pot, and mash. Stir in butter and salt to taste.

Note: I made the Turnip-Potato Puree last night and it is amazing! Very smooth, and less starchy than pure mashed potatoes. I think I will always add sweet white turnips to my mashed potatoes from now on.