CSA Pickup: Week of September 2, 2026 — Napa Cabbage STEM Exploration
CSA pickup day has become one of my favorite weekly routines. We head to the farm, see what is growing, choose our vegetables, and then decide which one will give us something interesting to explore.
This week, our CSA box was full of variety: tomatoes, carrots, yellow onions, celery, eggplant, cilantro, kale, zucchini, cucumbers, and Napa cabbage. Napa cabbage and eggplant were both new additions to our box this week, which made me especially curious to take a closer look.
What started as a simple weekly pickup has become an anchor for seasonal learning. Each box gives us a chance to slow down, notice what is growing around us, explore a little STEM, and cook something together.
In this series, I'll share what we received, one simple STEM exploration, and an easy recipe we made with something from our CSA box.
Jump Links to Main Sections
What We Received This Week
Tomatoes
Carrots
Yellow onions
Celery
Eggplant
Cilantro
Kale
Zucchini
Cucumbers
Napa cabbage
Quick Produce Notes
Napa cabbage: Napa cabbage is a type of Chinese cabbage with long, tightly layered leaves and thick ribs running through them. Its pale green leaves are crisp and mild, making it useful both raw and cooked.
Eggplant: Eggplant is a fruit, and the small seeds inside are part of the plant's reproductive structure. Different varieties can have different shapes, sizes, and colors.
Tomatoes: Tomatoes are fruits because they develop from a flower and contain seeds. Inside, the seeds sit in small chambers surrounded by a juicy gel.
Cilantro: Cilantro and coriander come from the same plant. Cilantro is the leafy part, while coriander comes from the plant's dried seeds.
STEM Exploration: Napa Cabbage Layers and Plant Structure
Napa cabbage is a great vegetable to explore because you can see its structure without doing much at all.
The leaves are tightly packed together, with thick ribs running through them and smaller veins branching outward. Peel the cabbage apart and you'll notice that the leaves aren't all the same size. The outer leaves are larger, while the leaves toward the center become smaller and more tightly packed. That makes Napa cabbage a simple way to explore plant structure, patterns, observation, and how leaves are organized as a plant grows.
You don't need a worksheet or a complicated experiment. Just grab your cabbage and look closely.
What You Need
1 Napa cabbage
A plate or cutting board
Knife
Steps
Look closely at the outside of the Napa cabbage before cutting it. Notice the shape, color, and arrangement of the leaves.
Cut the cabbage in half.
Look at the layers from the outside toward the center.
Carefully peel off several leaves.
Look closely at the thick central rib and the smaller veins branching from it.
Compare a large outer leaf with a smaller inner leaf.
What to Notice
Before explaining anything, simply ask: What do you notice? There isn't one right thing to notice. The goal is to look closely, find details, and wonder.
You might notice:
Leaves arranged in layers
Large outer leaves and smaller inner leaves
Thick central ribs
Smaller veins branching through the leaves
Different shades of green
Leaves that become more tightly packed toward the center
Differences in size, shape, and texture
Try Some Simple Math
If your child enjoys counting and comparing, let the cabbage become a simple math problem.
Try asking:
How many leaves can you peel away?
Which leaves are larger, the outside or inside leaves?
How many major veins can you see on one leaf?
Can you find two leaves that are about the same size?
How much smaller do the leaves become toward the center?
Can you arrange several leaves from largest to smallest?
You don't have to measure everything. Sometimes simply comparing and estimating is enough to get kids thinking.
STEM Concepts
The leaves of a plant have important jobs. They capture sunlight and help the plant make food through photosynthesis. The veins running through the leaves form part of the plant's transport system, moving water and nutrients through the plant.
The thick central rib gives the leaf support, while the smaller veins branch throughout the leaf. Napa cabbage also gives us a simple example of structure and organization. The leaves are not randomly placed. They grow in an organized arrangement around the center of the plant.
You don't need to explain all of that to your child, though. You can simply ask: "Why do you think the cabbage grows all of these leaves around the center?" Then see where the conversation goes.
Keep the Conversation Going
Pick one or two questions that naturally fit your child's curiosity.
Why do you think the outer leaves are bigger?
Why are the center leaves so tightly packed?
What do you think the veins are for?
Why does each leaf have a thick rib?
Do you think the leaves would grow differently without sunlight?
Why do you think the plant needs so many leaves?
What do you think would happen if we planted a cabbage seed?
Sometimes one question is enough to turn a vegetable into a STEM investigation.
Kitchen Science: This Week's CSA Dish
Napa Cabbage Stir-Fry
Napa cabbage is one of those vegetables that changes quite a bit when you cook it. Raw, the leaves are crisp and crunchy. Add heat, and they soften while still keeping some of their texture.
This week's Napa cabbage can also be paired with several other vegetables from our CSA box. We used some of our yellow onion, celery, zucchini, and carrots to make a simple vegetable stir-fry.
Ingredients*
4–5 cups chopped Napa cabbage
1 carrot, thinly sliced
1 celery stalk, thinly sliced
1 zucchini, quartered and sliced
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 tablespoons olive oil (can also use avocado oil)
Your favorite stir fry sauce or just soy sauce
Optional: garlic, ginger, sesame oil, or red pepper flakes
*You can easily adjust the amounts based on what your family likes and what you have available.
Directions
Wash and chop the vegetables.
Heat the oil in a large skillet or wok.
Add the onion, carrot, celery, and zucchini.
Cook for several minutes until the vegetables begin to soften.
Add the chopped Napa cabbage.
Stir and cook until the cabbage begins to soften.
Add your favorite stir fry sauce or soy sauce and any additional seasonings you'd like.
Continue cooking until the vegetables reach the texture your family prefers.
Serve on its own or over rice.
How Kids Can Help
Washing the vegetables
Helping separate the cabbage leaves
Measuring ingredients
Adding vegetables to the pan with supervision
Stirring with adult help
Comparing raw and cooked cabbage
Taste testing
Kid Skill Highlights
Observation: Noticing how the cabbage changes during cooking
Texture comparison: Comparing crisp raw cabbage with softer, cooked cabbage
Measurement: Measuring sauces and seasonings
Sensory exploration: Noticing changes in smell, texture, color, and flavor
Prediction skills: Guessing what will happen when heat is added
Kitchen confidence: Participating in a real family meal
Cooking Reflection
You don't need to ask all of these. Pick one or two while you're preparing or eating the stir-fry.
What did the cabbage feel like before cooking?
What changed when we added heat?
Did the cabbage get smaller?
Did the color change?
Which vegetable stayed the crunchiest?
Which vegetable changed the most?
Did the cooked cabbage taste different than you expected?
What would you add next time?
Cooking Observations and The Science Behind Them
Food preparation gives us another opportunity to notice changes without turning the kitchen into a formal lesson.
Water: Vegetables contain water, and heating them causes some of that water to move out of the plant tissue.
Texture: Heat softens plant tissues, changing the crisp texture of raw cabbage into something softer.
Structure: The thick ribs and leaf tissue soften as the cabbage cooks.
Volume: Cabbage can appear to shrink considerably during cooking as the leaves soften and lose some of their water.
Flavor: Cooking changes the compounds responsible for a vegetable's smell and flavor, creating a different taste from the raw vegetable.
Science Words to Know
You don't need to memorize these words. They're simply useful vocabulary for describing what you're noticing.
Leaf: A plant structure that helps the plant capture sunlight and make food.
Vein: A structure within a leaf that helps transport water and other materials.
Rib: The thicker central structure that supports a leaf.
Photosynthesis: The process plants use to make food using sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide.
Structure: The way something is organized or put together.
Texture: How something feels, such as crisp, crunchy, soft, or smooth.
You can introduce one word during the activity or come back to the vocabulary later. The goal is understanding, not memorization.
Closing
This week's Napa cabbage gave us another opportunity to slow down and look closely. A vegetable that was new to our CSA box became a chance to explore layers, leaves, veins, plant structure, patterns, texture, and the changes that happen when food is cooked.
And that's one of my favorite things about seasonal learning. We don't always need to create a lesson. Sometimes we just need to notice what's already in front of us.
This week, that happened to be a head of Napa cabbage.
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