IN THE KITCHEN WITH: SHAWN BENGIVENNI

Bengivenni's vegetables wow CSA members and Lafayette Farmer's Market, By Laurie Gordon

Wantage ? Every Wednesday, Shawna Bengivenni sees something most people don't. She watches the sky transform from a dark gray to a gradually lighter hue and finally, dawn rises over her garden. Bengivenni starts picking by 5:30 am, carefully selecting those vegetables that are worthy of being loaded into her truck for delivery later on.

Bengivenni has a CSA ? that stands for Community Supported Agricultural group. She started her CSA last year and had 13 members. It went so well and word of mouth spread, so this year, she upped the membership to 23. With most CSAs, members go to the farmer's house to pick up the hand-grown, culinary treats, but Bengivenni did it a little differently this year making the deliveries herself each Wednesday.

It's a little like getting a visit from Santa Claus. Her members leave their coolers on their front stoops for her each Wednesday and she fills them with vegetables and fruit from her garden.

"It's so amazing to come home from work and have a cooler full of such wonderful things she's grown," said Deborah Drumm, a CSA member who lives in Stillwater. Like some others, Drumm shares a "share" of the CSA with a friend.

Debra Pazoria, of Newton, just heard about the CSA last week when she had dinner at a friend's house who served dishes including tomato marmalade as an appetizer. "I asked about the recipe and learned all about the CSA. We'll definitely sign up next year."

Created many years ago, the idea of the CSA is that people buy shares or half shares and get fresh vegetables every week or every other week during the growing season. The farmer can then use the money from the CSA during the winter months to buy such things as seeds, trellises, tools and other supplies needed for the garden.

Back in 1980, when Bengivenni was living in Paterson, her neighbor had a garden. She would watch him work in his garden, and then, when most of the work was done, sit in a chair placed right in the center to admire it and "watch it grow." She befriended the man and soon, she found herself his student, learning the ins, outs and secrets to creating a garden. One of the most precious things he taught her was about heirloom tomatoes. An heirloom is an old variety that has gone out of fashion in favor of perfectly-shaped varieties found in stores these days. But heirloom varieties are coming back in vogue and this year, Bengivenni paid $13.80 per seed to grow a variety as part of her bounty called the Annlee Heirloom. Bengivenni's garden has over 300 tomato plants including dozens of varieties. She has countless types of vegetables including ? just to name a very few ? some unique types of squash, purple basil and even a plum tree near the center.

"I never realized how much produce it is to get it to 23 customers," she said. One of her disappointments was her broccoli and cauliflower, which didn't prosper as she'd planned. "That's just part of the CSA. The weather took out the plants. They were ready to go and then come picking day the next day, they'd rotted due to the weather." But that was her only casualty, and her customers are not only pleased, they are amazed by what she grows.

In addition to the CSA, Bengivenni can be found every Sunday at the Lafayette Village Farmer's Market. This is a rare chance for non-CSA members to purchase her all-organic veggies. "I don't spray anything," Bengivenni explained. "Organic means there are certain natural ways you control the bugs in your garden so there are no chemicals used at all." She can be found every Sunday at her booth at Lafayette Village called Fresh as it Gets Garden.

As for the CSA, with growing numbers, next year Bengivenni will return to the traditional method and have her customers pick up their veggies at her house once a week. "My pick up truck just isn't big enough to transport all of the coolers to keep things fresh when I add more people," she said. "I'll charge less for people to come to me and can take on more customers this way too."

For information about reserving a spot to be part of Begivenni's CSA for next year, e-mail her at olditalian47@aol.com. You can also find Bengivenni and her produce weekly at Lafayette Village at the Sunday Farmer's Market.

Bengivenni's garden is her heart and soul and a true labor of love. And when she's all done ? at least for a while ? she sits in a chair similar to the one her former neighbor had in the center of his garden just watch it grow.

Tomato, Basil and Garlic Pie from Shawna’s Garden
INGREDIENTS
2 defrosted frozen pie crusts
regular, not deep dish)
5 thinly sliced medium sized tomatoes (mix up the variety)
2 handfuls of fresh basil (some green and some purple)
1 cup grated mozzarella
1 cup lite mayonnaise
1/2 cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese (get the fresh stuff in the grocery cheese section)
3 cloves of garlic from Shawna’s garden
Divide mozzarella in half and sprinkle in each of the two pie crusts.
Arrange tomatoes and fresh basil in the pie crusts.
Mix together the mayo, Parmesan and finely chopped garlic and spread over the pies.
Put tin foil over the crusts to prevent from burning and bake at 375 for 45 minutes or until done
? Recipe created by Laurie Gordon from a base recipe by Jackie Kaufman

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