What's that in those baby greens?

The weekly pickup of vegetables is beginning to flow. I needed to be out of town last Thursday afternoon and Carolyn did the pickup and the division of produce. She used a scale when she wasn't sure about dividing things visually. I arrived back home on Saturday and picked up my half share from Carolyn. As it turned out, being gone for two days put a dent in the amount of time we had to consume the food and we started falling behind again. I decided that lettuce would keep better cleaned, so I washed and spun all the leaves, storing them dry in a tightly covered bowl, and they did stay fresh longer.

I've noticed that the baby greens do not keep very long. After only a couple of days the edges begin to turn black, so they need to be consumed first before the lettuce. Somehow that hasn't worked out too well. Last week I gave away the baby greens, knowing I wouldn't be able to consume them in time. This week I am determined they are not going to waste.

On Saturday evening we arrived home from a day out and wanted a light supper on a rainy evening. Soup and salad seemed like just the right thing. I prepared two large salads with the baby greens, adding some radishes from our CSA share and some cherry tomatoes that I'd purchased at the grocery store, since our share is not providing tomatoes...yet. I sprinkled some pine nuts and feta cheese over the top of the salads and set them on the table while I was getting the soup into bowls.

I came over to the table and sat down, noticing something round and green sitting on the table next to my salad bowl. I frowned quizzically, and touched it, saying out loud, "is that a worm?" Sure enough, it was soft to the touch and it moved. I realized it was a caterpillar, just the right lime green color to be camoflouged by the lettuce leaves. I was relieved it had decided to hop out of my salad bowl before I started to eat it. I was a little suspicious of my salad after that and I looked carefully before taking the next few bites.

It was then that I noticed something moving in Scott's salad. The same sort of green worm was waving wildly, rising up tall, looking for a way out of his salad bowl. I let out a squeal. Scott jumped. "What's wrong?" and I pointed to his salad bowl where an agitated green caterpillar stood on his tiptoes and careened back and forth. Scott shoved his salad bowl aside.

My appetite for salad was gone. I pushed my salad bowl away, finished my soup, and called it good. After all, my soup was a vegetable soup, and I decided that was enough produce for that day.