Green Thumb Farm Huntington CSA

Happy Autumn!

Is anyone missing the inside bottom of a reusable bag? I have a green fabric-like square that’s about 8 x 11 inches. It will be on the CSA Sign-In table and after that I’ll give it to the UUFH lost and found.

I don’t know about you but I am THRILLED!!! Attached to your email this week (along with the usual info for informing possible new CSA members…even at this late stage of the game) are Veggie Tip Sheets from the organization Just Food in NYC. Look familiar? They should. Now you can print these out and start your own CSA notebook/cookbook. Have I been holding out on you guys? Nope. I’ve only been waiting numerous years (gave up counting) for Just Food to get a computer disk that could be copied. It’s a long story. Ask if you want to hear it. For those of you with an Herb Share this week, I don’t know what the Herbs are yet and those sheets will be sent with the next CSA email. Please keep in mind that this disk doesn’t have all the sheets for what we get. For example, I’m hoping farmer Bill has sheets for the two vegetables that are new to the CSA this year that we’re getting this week (see below). So if you can’t figure out what they are or what to do with them…well, that’s what the internet is for! 

If you like Jicama…you can thank CSA member Fritz Lang. He asked me if the farm grew it. I didn’t think you could in our climate so I put the bug in Farmer Bill’s ear and several years later…it’s here!

Anyone else still interested in Honey???

I ordered 8 extra in case anyone didn’t order yet or wants more than they ordered. They make great holiday presents and that time of year is fast approaching! If you’re interested, leave CASH ONLY at the CSA sign-in desk.

To order biodynamically raised Honey from Farmer Bill’s daughter who lives upstate NY near the St. Lawrence River (the same we got last time)…please bring in an envelope with your name on it, the number of jars of Honey you want and the amount in the envelope, and leave it at the Sign-In desk at the CSA. You can also email me to make sure I know it’s there. The Honey is $10 per one pound container and you can pay by cash. Last time is was in Honey Bear plastic squeeze bottles and it will be the same this time (unless we get surprised and get them in glass like we did the time before). Just read that in addition to being antibacterial and antiviral, Honey can be an effective cough suppressant, more than most over the counter medicines and without the side effects or taking pharmaceuticals!

PLEASE CONTINUE TO WEIGH OUT YOUR FOOD CAREFULLY.

SO CLOSE AND YET SO FAR!!! We still need to fill 40 spots to have the CSA filled for the year!!! I’m going to keep talking about this till Farmer Bill asks me to stop. 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.

Miss the Exchange Table? We don’t have one if there aren’t enough people to staff the CSA. This year, we need to figure out if it’s because we have less members and/or less working members. Hopefully, in the next weeks we can fill the CSA up and not have to contemplate everyone working more hours, or next year, putting a limit on how many non-working CSA members the CSA can sustain.

This email includes…
1. Your CSA needs you!! We’re looking for TWO (2) people to work from 3:30pm to 5:30pm!
2. What you’re getting at the CSA this week (subject to change without notice…farming is like that!)
3. It’s time to weigh our food!
4. Notes from the Farm
5. BRING BAGS!
6. Order Certified Organic Plants/Seedlings (grown at Green Thumb Farm) for your garden this season…
7. Fun, Cool & Interesting Stuff to Do (new events added weekly)
8. Click to win a new gas stove, or cash, and help children…
8. Do you use Agave? Read this!
10. Do you eat Salmon? Check this out…
11. Not so much fun facts (but a few happy ones at the end)…


1. Your CSA needs you!! looking for TWO (2) people to work 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 5:30pm 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. What you’re getting at the CSA this week (subject to change without notice…farming is like that!)

October 21, 2010
Week #27

1. Jicama (first time ever at the CSA – root vegetable)
2. Lettuce
3. Beans: Green or Cranberry (shelling)
4. Sentosai (first time at the CSA – cooking green)
5. Radishes
6. Eggplant
7. Squash, Winter: Butternut
Total Items: 7 (?)



3. It’s time to weigh our food!

Yup! It’s that time of year. Sounds easy right? Put food in the scale and weigh it, right? Not exactly .

A. Bring reading glasses if you need them OR have the person by the scale read it for you

B. Please follow the instructions given by the person(s) at the scale. There may be more than one food item that needs to get weighed at the same time on the same scale. It may not make sense to you or seem necessary but our farmer has asked us to do so. Will be glad to explain if you want to know the specifics.

C. Most important…If you can’t get an exact weight (it happens), DO NOT GO OVER THE WEIGHT POSTED ON THE CSA WALL CHART!!!!
I can’t emphasize this enough. All we need is a few people thinking that it’s no big deal to be a smidge over the amount and….it becomes a big deal! Just think about it…1 oz…what’s that? Two Green Beans? So what???? Ok…we have 82 CSA members and if 32 of them go over by that 1 oz that adds up to 2 pound and it may mean that one or two people don’t get ANY Beans at the end of the night. Serves them right for coming late, huh? That’s not how the CSA works. Everyone paid the same amount to receive the same amount of food so it’s up to each one of us to make sure that happens.

D. Please stand directly in front of the scale and make sure the red line (weight indicator) has not “disappeared” behind the colored tape on the readout part of the scale. If you stand to either side of the scale…you can still see the red line but you’re going to go over the correct amount (it’s the customer’s equivalent of the story about the butcher that keeps their finger on the scale to skew the weight).

E. There may be a plastic bag in the scale…if there is, don’t take it with you! We use it to keep the vegetables from falling out of the bowl and, believe it or not, keep the weight consistant. Different plastic bags weigh different amounts. So, weigh it in the bag that’s in the scale and then dump the food into your own bag/basket/carrier. Thanks!

F. Please don’t drop the scales…the top sometimes sticks to the bottom and lifts it up when you’re getting your food out of the measuring bowl and so the bottom then drops on the floor and breaks…just be aware and please be careful…thanks!



4. Notes from the Farm

October 15, 2010

We had our annual fall farm tour and Pumpkin picking last Saturday and it was a beautiful day to visit the farm. I would like to thank everyone and their families who took time to visit us. It’s a great opportunity for you to see the farm and talk to me about what’s going on with farming, organics and CSA. The next chance to visit the farm is Strawberry picking in June 2011 so mark your calendars!

As the weather becomes cooler, our crop selection is slowly changing. Our summer crops are ending and the fall crops have begun. Winter Squashes: Butternut, Acorn, Carnival and Delicata have all been harvested and are being stored in the barn for distribution over the next two months. Our Sweet Potatoes are all out of the ground and curing in our greenhouse. In addition, our field crops in the cole family are beginning…Broccoli, Cauliflowers, Cabbages, Kales and Brussel Sprouts. Lots of green s of many types and root crops will all be coming in the next two months!

Organically Yours,
Farmer Bill (Halsey)



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. 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, October 21st

7pm

No Impact Man
Sustainable Institute at Molloy College
Farmingdale
FREE but RSVP required
To RSVP:
http://www.renewableenergylongisland.org/calendar.cfm?calendarID=446&month=10

Free food! (local snacks, popcorn & beverages) Networking! Good environmental movie that talks about eating local/organic! Co-sponsored by the Renewable Energy Long Island (RELI).


Friday, October 22nd

9am to 10:30am

Morning Meditation with Rev. Ratzlaff
UUFH
109 Browns Rd
Huntington, NY
FREE

CSA member, Rev. Paul Ratzlaff conducts a morning sitting meditation every Friday. The schedule is as follows…
9am to 9:45am – silent meditation
Bell is rung
Poem or Buddhist reading is read aloud
Check in with everyone
Reading a selection out of a collection of Buddhist stories and discuss it
The end!


Sunday, October 24th

12:30 to 3:30pm

Wildman Steve Brill
Sunken Meadow Park
Suggested Donation: $15, under 10 years old $10
For 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.

3pm

Healthy Planet Dinner/Lecture Series
Copper Wok Indian Fusion Eatery
16 W Marie St
Hicksville
$25 General Public/$20Members
For more info and reservations:
Call 631-421-5591
e-mail: info@healthy-planet.org
http://www.healthy-planet.org/Series/index.asp

Feature speaker Dr. Michael Greger will lecture on “The Latest in Human Nutrition: 2010”.


Sunday, October 31st

6 to 9:45pm

Boorito 2010
Chipotle
Wherever they’re located (Huntington, Farmingdale, Hicksville on LI)
www.chipotle,com/boorito

Come into any Chipotle after 6pm dressed as a horrifying processed food product (think snack foods, cheese goo, weiners) and they will give you a Burrito, Bowl, Salad or an order of Tacos for $2.00!!!

The money (up to $1,000,000) will go to benefit Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution!

Take a photo of your horrifying processed food costume inside or in front of a Chipotle on Halloween and submit it online on or before November 8th and be entered into a costume contest where the top prize is $2,500!


Sunday, November 21st

2pm

Healthy Planet Dinner/Lecture Series
16th Annual Turkey Free Thanksgiving Potluck!
Sweet Hollow Hall
Melville
For more info and reservations:
Call 631-421-5591
e-mail: info@healthy-planet.org
http://www.healthy-planet.org/Series/index.asp

Featured speaker will be Howard Lyman, the Mad Cowboy…made famous when he helped Oprah Winfrey when she was sued for saying on tv how she’d never eat a Hamburger again after knowing how they were made and what was in them.


Sunday, December 5th

Green Thumb Farm
Rt 27
Water Mill, NY

Our CSA farm’s farmstand’s last day of operation till May 2011! There might be some pretty good deals to be had.



8. Click to win a new gas stove, or cash, and help children…

Click here to have Frigidaire donate $1 to Save the Children and enter to win $50 or a new gas stove…
http://www.maketimeforchange.com/index.html



9. Do you use Agave? Read this!

Pregnancy Alert!!! Think twice about using Agave…
http://www.sacredchocolate.com/agave-blues-david-wolfe



10. Do you eat Salmon? Check this out…

Sign petition for healthy sustainable Salmon!
http://www.whywild.org/sign-bill-rights
and this one too…
http://www.whywild.org/take-action/chefs-letter
Salmon buyer’s guide…
http://www.whywild.org/resources/buyers-guide



11. Not so much fun facts (but a few happy ones at the end)…

Farm Facts…why we need more farmers, to support the ones we have, and why they need to be organic!
Re-printed from Miranda Productions.com

Only 0.2% of U.S. population is producing most of its food. The average age of U.S. farmers is currently fifty-six.
US Census Bureau

We suffer a net loss of 32,500 farms a year. 88% of average farm household income is derived from off-farm.
PrairieFire for Rural Action

U.S. farmers apply nearly 45 billion pounds of synthetic fertilizers each year. From 1990-1994, food processors and manufacturers showed an annual average return on their investment of 17.9%. Farmers during the same period showed a 1.98% return on their investment.
PrairieFire for Rural Action

In 1971 a new tractor cost $20,000 and wheat was $1.71 a bushel. In 1994 a new tractor of the same horsepower cost $100,000 and a bushel of wheat was $2.66.
Des Moines Register 7/16/94

Soil loss costs the U.S. economy around $44 billion a year. Worldwide, the number is well over $200 billion.
Dr. David Pimentel, Science magazine

Every pregnant woman in the world today has chemicals in her body that disrupt the endocrine system. These are transferred to the fetus as it grows. She also has measurable concentrations of endocrine disruptors in her milk that are transferred to the infant.
ERICE Statement 5/30/96

The World Resources Institute reports that, measured by traditional methods, the average farm shows an $80 per acre profit. If we calculate in all the costs of soil loss, water contamination, and environmental degradation caused by conventional farming practices, the average farm would show a $29 per acre loss.

Food in supermarkets travels an average of 1300 miles between production and consumption.

Out of every dollar Americans spend for food, ten cents goes to Phillip Morris, and six cents goes to Conagra.
PrairieFire for Rural Action

In a USDA study of twelve common food crops, from 35% to 80% of all samples tested had residues from one or more pesticides. This was after the samples had been washed, peeled and cored. In these residues were 12 different carcinogens, 17 different neurotoxins, and 11 different endocrine disruptors.
Environmental Working Group

Tree bark gathered from ninety sites around the world, from the tropics to the treeline, bears traces of chemicals related to DDT, lindane, chlordane, aldrin, and to 18 other pesticides and fungicides. Some chemicals used decades ago are still affecting the environment, often thousands of miles from where they were sprayed.
Associated Press 9/30/95

4.7 billion pounds of pesticides are annually applied to food crops worldwide. 1.25 billion pounds of pesticides were used in the U.S. in 1995, an all-time high.
EPA draft document June 1996

Assault rifles kill an estimated 250 people each year and pesticides kill an estimated 10,400 people each year, yet assault rifles have been banned while the use of pesticides is expanding.
Environmental News Weekly

Every spring, 18,000 pounds per day of herbicides wash down the Mississippi and into the Gulf of Mexico.
Environmental Working Group

Between 1950 (the beginning of the Chemical Age) and 1988, the incidence of all forms of cancer increased by 43.5%, adjusted for age. Mortality rates from cancer rose by 2.9%.
Environmental News Weekly

In the United States, despite the use of pesticides, 35% of potential crops are lost to insects, diseases, and weeds. In 1945, before synthetic pesticides came into use, crop losses were 33%.
Dr. David Pimentel, Cornell University

Sales of U.S. organic products increased from $2.31 billion in 1994 to $2.8 billion in 1995. This is a 22% increase, and the sixth year in which sales have grown by more than 20%.
Natural Foods Merchandiser survey, June 1996

The USDA states that total organic cropland is approximately 1,127,000 acres in 1996, up from an estimated 550,267 acres in 1991. The number of organic farmers almost doubled between 1991 and 1994, increasing from 2,841 to 4,060.

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