Chioggia beets, also called candy cane beets, due to their delicate concentric white and red rings, are stunning. Whether thinly shaved into salads or coarsely diced and roasted, these beauties always steal the show.

When I saw candy cane beets in the share room, I couldn’t wait to take these marvels of nature home from the farm and get creative with them. But then I lost all ambition to cook. Yet another heat wave had hit us New-Englanders and I was having trouble getting into the kitchen.

In the oppressive heat of the afternoon last week, I was contemplating the many ways in which I could showcase the beauty of my lovely CSA Chioggias. As hard as I tried to brainstorm recipes featuring root vegetables, my mind kept wandering back to cooler things. With visions of swimming pools, industrial fans and frozen margaritas dancing in my head, I just couldn’t focus on roasting, mashing, pureeing, dicing or slicing beets.

And then it hit me.

Ice cream! Because really, when in doubt…ice cream.

I would make sundaes, starring not only the lovely candy cane beet, but also her more practical, if less showy friend, the red beet. I’d kill two beets with one sundae. A risky endeavor that sounded like a solid plan in my head, which, in retrospect, was clearly affected by the midday heat.

I spent most of Sunday morning feverishly working in the kitchen to bring to life my vision. First, I peeled and juiced a few red beets and boiled down their liquid with starlight mints, producing a shocking red, “candy cane” sauce.

I then hauled out the ice cream maker to whip up a coconut milk based, vegan, “candy cane” ice cream.

To the ice cream I added crushed up starlight mints and a bit of my fresh “candy cane” sauce for a red, minty swirl.

I even candied and crisped paper-thin candy cane beet chips for a dainty garnish.

After all that work, I was excited for my sundaes to be a total hit.

But alas, they were a total flop. The once vibrant candy cane rings on my beet chips became washed out and faded, the ice cream was waaay too sweet and the red minty swirl was more like gelatinous, semi-coagulated beet juice with subtle notes of Listerine.

I decided to share this kitchen nightmare because it proves that while it can be very rewarding to leave your comfort zone and try new things, you won’t always hit a home run. And that’s OK! For every failed recipe you’re bound to create some winners. Especially when cooking with a CSA, half the fun is in being creative…in leaving behind the cookbooks and breaking some culinary rules. A little coagulated beet juice isn’t going to stop me. A bold new beet recipe is my next project, and it’s going to be a good one!

When I got to work on Friday morning, a normally jovial co-worker was standing in the parking lot looking really glum. He’d found a baby bird laying on the hot pavement, unable to move. He figured it had fallen from it’s nest but wasn’t sure how to help it and he was feeling bummed at the thought that it would probably die.

I love all living creatures. That’s a fact. But there is one member of the wild kingdom that I fear above all others.

Birds.

I know it’s a strange phobia. Birds are cute, they sing pretty songs, they fly. What’s to be afraid of? The theory in my family is that I developed a healthy respect for all things feathered as a toddler, when I used to run around our paddock with the ducks and geese we kept. Their love of shiny objects meant I had to be quick on my feet to dodge their incessant eye-pecking.

Still, our feathered friends deserve the same consideration as everybody else. I was going to do what I could to help. But I had no idea where to start.

Luckily, I had the contact information of local bird rescue guru, Jodi Swensen. I e-mailed her a photo of the baby bird and she quickly identified him as an English or House Sparrow. He didn’t quite have all his feathers and really wasn’t ready to leave the nest yet.

Jodi was unable to take him in because she needed to save what little space she had for species that weren’t doing as well as him. She said that he was just days away from fledging and that there were a couple of things that I could do to help him.

I was not aware of this until Jodi educated me, but it is illegal to intervene with certain species of protected birds. She assured me though, that sparrows are not on the protected list and that I could legally help him by closely following her instructions.

The first thing Jodi asked me to do was to try to return the baby bird to its nest. It is a myth that the parents will reject a baby that’s been touched by human hands. Unfortunately, the nest was in the gutter at the very top of our building and there was no way for me to reach it.

Jodi next asked me to decide whether I wanted to hand-raise the bird, feeding him every half hour from sun-up to sun-down, or to make a new nest for the bird and place it in a spot where the mother and father would be able to care for him.

I wanted to intervene as little as possible, so I thought it best to get the bird back to the wild as soon as I could.

While I worked on his outdoor accommodations, Jodi told me to keep the baby bird inside in a box lined with something soft. She said that even though outdoor temperatures were in the 90’s, he would probably still need a source of direct heat since he didn’t have all his feathers yet. She told me to fill a water bottle with hot water and wrap it in something soft.

I can’t thank Jodi enough for her advice. This is actually the second time she’s successfully helped me with a wild bird dilemma. Please take a look at her website and consider donating something from the list of items she needs. She’s a great resource for Cape Ann residents who come across wild birds in need of help. If you aren’t local, please find a qualified wildlife rehabilitator in your area. It’s really important that you have the right information before trying to help any wild animal.