Green Thumb Farm Huntington CSA

Happy spring!
SO CLOSE AND YET SO FAR!!! We still need to fill 46 spots to have the CSA filled for the year!!! You will be hearing about this until either they’re all filled or until Labor Day (when Farmer Bill stops accepting new CSA members) whichever happens first! It’s not like I won’t be doing anything to achieve this. I’ve often wanted to keep track of the time I spend on the phone talking to people, sending emails, distributing brochures and talking to business owners, and doing public speaking but I haven’t…yet. I could use some help (and some of you do a darn good job of wrangling new members). Attached to this email is the contract for new CSA members, the CSA brochure AND a CSA fee sheet for the rest of the season. Please feel free to pass this on to friends, neighbors, co-workers and relatives who might be interested in joining the CSA this season! If we all were able to find one person to join…we’d be done in a minute. Please feel free to suggest places to leave the CSA brochures or names of individuals/groups to contact about CSA (either just to give info or to give a talk about CSA/local eating). I’m happy to do whatever is needed.
This email includes…
1. Your CSA needs you!! We’re looking for ONE (1) person to be there from 3:30pm to 5:30pm2. Notes from the Farm…Strawberry Picking Rescheduled!3. What you’re getting at the CSA this week (subject to change without notice…farming is like that!)4. Order now for Honey in June!5. BRING BAGS!6. Order Certified Organic Plants/Seedlings (grown at Green Thumb Farm) for your garden this season…7. What you actually got last week 9. Event Calendar
1. Your CSA needs you!! We’re looking for ONE (1) person to be there from 3:30pm to 5:30pm
If you were sent an email from Judi or me, you are scheduled to work this week. If not, you’re not.
IF you can work, please 1) respond to this email, 2) call 631-421-4864 and leave a message before 1pm OR 3) just show up a little before 3:30pm and offer to help out. You can always show up a little before 3:30 or 5:30pm at the CSA and offer to work if help is still needed…you never know! Everyone that’s scheduled doesn’t always show up on time…or at all.

2. Notes from the Farm…Strawberry Picking Rescheduled!
June 4, 2010
Welcome back for another CSA season! Our growing season is in full swing. Many of our crops are in the ground and ahead of schedule from last year. Our Strawberry crop was the earliest since we’ve been growing them that I can remember (over 45 years). We have never picked berries before the 1st of June – but this year we have!
Because of this, our Annual CSA Spring Farm Tour & Strawberry Picking will be moved up one week to Saturday, June 19th . It is open to all our CSA members and their immediate families (if you have someone you are sharing your share with, sorry but they cannot come along…if you want them to come instead of you they must use your name as the farm does not acknowledge anyone but the name on the contract as a CSA member…we have too many CSA members to do otherwise). A walking tour of one of our early fields with Peas, Lettuces, Squashes, Asparagus and Beans will be followed by Strawberry picking - 1 quart per person. There is no charge for the tour or the Strawberries. Directions are - take the 2nd right after our farm stand (at 829 Montauk Highway, Water Mill) and this is Rose Hill Road. Our field is the first one on the right. We will meet at the gate. The first walk will begin at 10am and then every hour until the last walk at 1pm. For more information call 631-7265-1900 between 9 and 5pm daily. We hope all can come out to meet and talk to Farmer Bill and pick some Strawberries. It’s a rain or shine event so dress accordingly.!
This June we will be bringing in, besides Strawberries and Lettuces, some different types of culinary herbs. These can be stored for long term use by drying or freezing. To freeze, wash, and then cut or chop the herb, and then freeze on a flat cookie sheet. Then store in Zip Loc type bags for later use. To dry, just hang herb in a dark, airy space until dry and then crumble and store in a jar.
We will also be bringing in many types of Salad Greens such as Curly Cress and Upland Cress, and some that can be sautéed or used raw such as Swiss Chard, Green & Red Mustard, Mizuna and Mibuna.
Toward the end of the month Peas…Snow, Snap & Shelling…will arrive as well as Fennel, Beets (Striped Chiogga, Red & Gold), Baby Carrots and Scallions.
So, enjoy the seasons and the ever changing bounty they bring!
Organically Yours,Farmer Bill (Halsey)

3. What you’re getting at the CSA this week (subject to change without notice…farming is like that!)
June 17, 2010Week #9
1. Lettuce2. Mint3. Peas, Snow4. Beets5. Radishes *6. StrawberriesTotal Items: 6
*We get these at the CSA…not sure if we’ll get them this week but if not today…another time…http://www.amateurgourmet.com/2010/06/radishes_with_butter_salt.html

4. Order now for Honey in June!
What…Honey - not organic…organic Honey is not really doable…ask me to explain if you want to know…however she is using biodynamic and organic beekeeping techniques to keep the bees healthy –
Where…not local - the Honey is from NY waaayyyy up north by the St. Lawrence River in a rural area – so if you’re using it for allergy issues, this is too far away…but for anything else…yum!
Who…the beekeeper is the daughter of Bill Halsey, our farmer…he is trying to get her back to the farm by supporting her beekeeping project and I think he’d like her to come home and be the beekeeper on the farm
How…$10 per 1 lb glass container…pay by check made out to Halseys Green Thumb OR in cash…bring to the CSA Sign-In desk and leave with the person there
When…last day to order will be June 10th. When will it arrive? By the end of June.
Why…bees are dying and it takes good natural beekeepers like Bill’s daughter to help replenish the bee population

5. BRING BAGS!
What more can you say about this?
At the CSA, we bag our own food. I’d suggest to bring a selection of plastic bags (especially for things that are dripping wet like Lettuces and other Greens which we get later in the season when they are picked from out in the fields…as opposed to the greenhouse where they are probably coming from now) AND paper bags (for things that don’t like plastic like Tomatoes…the moisture that plastic attracts will make them rot faster).
Keep a stash of bags in every vehicle you own, and replenish when the stash gets low! That way you’ll never be without. AND, if anyone is picking up for you…please tell them about needing bags!

6. Order Certified Organic Plants/Seedlings (grown at Green Thumb Farm) for your garden this season…
Check out the attachment for instructions and plant list. This one has the phone number to the farm AND I put it as a PDF because some folks couldn’t open the Word version.

7. What you actually got last week…
June 10, 2010Week #8
1. Greens, Mustard: Red – 1 bunch - $2.502. Strawberries – 1 qt - $6.503. Lavender – 1 bunch - $2.504. Cilantro – 1 bunch - $2.005. Lettuce: Leaf, Red – 1 head - $2.006. Escarole OR Frisee – 1 head - $2.00
Total Items: 6Total Amount: $17.50
Flower ShareWeek #3Yarrow
Herb ShareJune 1ALavender AND Mint

8. Fun, Cool & Interesting Stuff to Do (new events added weekly)
If you don’t mind trekking into the city, these are two email lists to get on that have a lot of very cool food-based (local/organic) events…http://brooklynbased.net/http://www.eatingintranslation.com/
Thursday, June 17th
7:30pm
Let’s Eat! Films on Food presents…Two Angry Moms (film/book-signing & reception)Cinema Arts Centre423 Park AvenueHuntington, NY 11743For more info and to get tickets:http://www.cinemaartscentre.org/010/010JUNE/CAC-LetsEat.html#twoangry$9 Members/$13 General Public
An event co-presented by Slow Food Huntington and the Cinema Arts Centre…timely, controversial and cutting edge, Two Angry Moms, the film and the movement, address an issue of great concern to parents across the country: what is happening to the health of our children and, how does school food factor in?
Our very special guest, Dr. Janet Poppendeick, Professor of Sociology, Hunter College, will be speaking and signing her new book Free for All: Fixing School Food in America. Bookforum’s review states this book is: “Meticulously researched, patiently explicated, potentially groundbreaking. . . . Should be required reading for everyone who eats food, buys food, has kids, or cares about nutrition.”
Friday, June 18th
9am to 10:30am
Morning Meditation with Rev. RatzlaffUUFH109 Browns RdHuntington, NYFREE
CSA member, Rev. Paul Ratzlaff conducts a morning sitting meditation every Friday. The schedule is as follows…9am to 9:45am – silent meditationBell is rungPoem or Buddhist reading is read aloudCheck in with everyoneReading a selection out of a collection of Buddhist stories and discuss it The end!
Saturday, June 19th
10am, 11am, 12pm, 1pm
Green Thumb Annual CSA Member Spring Farm Tour & Strawberry Picking829 Montauk HwyWater MillFREE
See “Notes from the Farm” for further details
10:30am to 12:30pm
Vic Skolnick Memorial ServiceCinema Arts Centre423 Park AveFor more info:http://www.cinemaartscentre.org/010/VicsMemorialTributePage.htm#Tribute
Long time CSA member, Vic Skolnick (husband of Charlotte Sky and father of CSA member Dylan Skolnick), and co-founder/co-director of the Cinema Arts Centre, passed away last Thursday and all who knew him are invited to attend this memorial service.
10pm
The HotlineGunther’s Tap Room84 Main StNorthport631-754-9659
Monday, June 28th
7:30pm
Food, Inc.East Meadow Public Library1886 Front StEast MeadowFREEFor more info:http://www.eastmeadow.info/
CSA member Dylan Skolnick hosts a monthly film series and this one’s the wonderful Oscar nominated Food, Inc. If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s an opportunity to see it for free on a screen possibly bigger than your home tv (maybe yes, maybe not). Speaking with the film will be Green Thumb CSA - Huntington founder and organizer, suzanne j zoubeck.
Saturday, July 17th
The HotlineGunther’s Tap Room84 Main StNorthport631-754-9659
CSA member, John Morina is the drummer for The Hotline. If you like Blues, Rock, R & B or Funk The Hotline might be the band for you! They rock and provide a rockin’ good time….seriously!
Saturday, July 24th
The HotlineGiacomo Jack’s248 S Ketcham AveAmityville631-691-2722
CSA member, John Morina is the drummer for The Hotline. If you like Blues, Rock, R & B or Funk The Hotline might be the band for you! They rock and provide a rockin’ good time….seriously!
Thursday, July 29th
7:30pm
Let’s Eat! Films on Food presents…The World According to MonsantoCinema Arts Centre423 Park AvenueHuntington, NY 11743www.cinemaartscentre.org
An event co-presented by Slow Food Huntington and the Cinema Arts Centre…more info to come!
Saturday, August 13th to Sunday, August 15th
The 36th NOFA (Northeast Organic Farmer’s Association) Summer ConferenceUniversity of Massachusetts AmherstN Amherst, MAFor more info and to register…http://www.nofasummerconference.org/
Be there or be squarer than square! Featured speakers this year are Sally Fallon of the Weston Price Institute and Dr. Fernando Funes, father of the Cuban organic agriculture movement.
Thursday, August 26th
7:30pm
Let’s Eat! Films on Food presents…The Botany of DesireCinema Arts Centre423 Park AvenueHuntington, NY 11743www.cinemaartscentre.org
An event co-presented by Slow Food Huntington and the Cinema Arts Centre…more info to come!
Saturday, August 28th
The HotlineGunther’s Tap Room84 Main StNorthport631-754-9659
CSA member, John Morina is the drummer for The Hotline. If you like Blues, Rock, R & B or Funk The Hotline might be the band for you! They rock and provide a rockin’ good time….seriously!
Saturday, September 4th
12:30pm to 3:30pm
Wildman Steve BrillSunken Meadow ParkParking lot by the Sunken Meadow BathhouseSuggested Donation: $15, under 10 years old $10For more info and to reserve a spot…http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/
If you’ve never experienced Wildman Steve Brill and you like eating locally and/or organically…this is a must! You will leave with interesting things to cook for dinner, and may start to look differently at the “weeds” that come up in your backyard. You MUST read his website carefully and follow the instructions if you are to maximize your experience by dressing properly and bringing what you need to bring on this adventure. I’ve been told he’s corny…well, that’s true…but he’s also brilliant, and knows about eating and foraging in the wild like nobody’s business. Since he’s a fairly recent father, the event is a family friendly experience.
Saturday, October 16th
Green Thumb CSA Member’s Annual Tractor-pulled Hayride & Pumpkin Picking Farm TourDetails to be announced
Sunday, October 24th
12:30 to 3:30pm
Wildman Steve BrillSunken Meadow ParkSuggested Donation: $15, under 10 years old $10For more info and to reserve a spot…http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/
If you’ve never experienced Wildman Steve Brill and you like eating locally and/or organically…this is a must! You will leave with interesting things to cook for dinner, and may start to look differently at the “weeds” that come up in your backyard. You MUST read his website carefully and follow the instructions if you are to maximize your experience by dressing properly and bringing what you need to bring on this adventure. I’ve been told he’s corny…well, that’s true…but he’s also brilliant, and knows about eating and foraging in the wild like nobody’s business. Since he’s a fairly recent father, the event is a family friendly experience.
###