Green Thumb Farm Huntington CSA

Happy Spring!

BRING BAGS TO PACK YOUR CSA SHARE…now and forever! Put bags (paper/plastic/canvas) in every car you own so you’ll never be without. In your trunk, glove compartment, back seat…whatever works for you. You’ll be needing them every week for the next 34 weeks and the CSA is not set up to provide them. If you are sending someone else to pick up your CSA share (spouse, relative, friend, offspring), this is the most important thing to tell them.

We have 41 intrepid CSAers for the second week of the CSA season. If each CSA member were to find 4 more members…we could fill the CSA. Attached is the CSA “kit” consisting of the contract for new members, brochure and fee sheet. Let’s do this thing! The sooner I don’t have to beat the bushes for members, the more time I have for things like managing the CSA better, finding cool new things to add to the CSA mix (Mushrooms, Tempeh, a Winter CSA Share?) and doing the extra work it would entail.

I’d be happy to place brochures, do a lecture, call, email…do whatever’s needed to spread the good word about CSA. If you have suggestions, please make them known. So far this year we’re going to put an ad in the program for an auction at a local Montessori School. Next, will be an ad placed in the UUFH bulletin called The Beacon (never done before…silly CSA). Both should be reasonably priced. $40 for the Montessori ad and not sure about the UUFH one yet but I don’t imagine it will be very expensive (that one we may want to run a few times).

Any ideas for recruiting new members will be considered… how about jumping out of a van, putting a bag over some random person’s head, taking them to a warehouse in a discreet industrial area, feeding them amazing salads, juiced veggies, soups, vegetable delights made with CSA produce, and Dines Farm grilled marinated chicken thighs, Hamburgers and Hot Dogs (if they’re not vegetarians), and let the food do the talking? Just a thought  .

This email includes…

1. HELP!!! Your CSA does need you this week!!! We need ONE (1) person from 3:30pm to 5:30pm and ONE (1) person from 5:30 to 7:30pm
2. The list…subject to change without notice…farming is like that!
3. Fun, Cool & Interesting Stuff to Do (new events added weekly)
4. Mother’s Day…or any day…try Organic Bouquet for the gift of flowers
5. What you actually got last week…
6. Still have that Sorrel hanging around?
7. Computer click activist – Support Food Day!
8. Got milk? Not anymore!!!
9. Amazing food art!



1. HELP!!! Your CSA does need you this week!!! We need ONE (1) person from 3:30pm to 5:30pm and ONE (1) person from 5:30 to 7:30pm

IF you can work, please 1) respond to this email, 2) call 631-421-4864 and leave a message before 1pm, 3) call the UUFH Hall Phone at 631-385-1079 after 3pm and let us know you’re coming OR 4) show up a little before 3:30pm or 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. The list…subject to change without notice…farming is like that!

Vegetable Info Sheets attached to this email (keep in a notebook – by the end of the year you’ll have a cookbook!)

Week #2
May 5, 2011

1. Mizuna (greenhouse*)
2. Kale Rabe**
3. Greens: Collard
4. Leeks
5. Beans: Turtle, Black (dried)
6. Greens: Mustard, Red (greenhouse*)

Total Items: 6

*Refers to being grown in their greenhouse as opposed to when we get it (whatever it is) after it’s been planted out in the field…go to the farm tours in June and October to see what I’m talking about
**Kale Rabe article…
I learn something new every day whether I want to or not! I thought it was a natural hybrid! Cool.
http://nymag.com/restaurants/recipes/inseason/kale-rabe-in-season-2011-5/



3. Fun, Cool & Interesting Stuff to Do (new events added weekly)

Friday, May 6th to Thusday, May 12th

Check listings for times

Le Quatro Volte
Cinema Arts Centre
423 Park Ave
Huntington
$6 – Members/$10 – General Public/$7 – Seniors & Students (except NOT Fri & Sat after 7pm)
For more info and schedule:
http://www.cinemaartscentre.org/011/011Mayo/LeQuattroVolte.htm#LeQuattroVolte
631-423-FILM
An idyllic village in Italy's region of Calabria is the setting for Le Quattro Volte, an exquisitely filmed take on the cycles of life. Structured in four parts, per its title (“four times”), it opens with a shepherd tending his herd of goats, then shifts focus to one animal in particular, the tree under which he seeks shelter, and the industrialized fate of that plant. A.O. Scott of The New York Times writes: "(Its) view of nature is among the most profound, expansive and unsettling I have ever encountered on film. There is virtually no dialogue, yet the film is far from silent: the rustling of trees, the sounds of agricultural labor, and in particular the cries of goats supply a meaning that transcends words, while Mr. Frammartino's eye for both comedy and mystery produces compositions that are so strange and memorable that they seem to reinvent the very act of perception."

Thursday, May 12th

3 to 5pm

Vineyard Walk & Wine Tasting at Shinn Estate Vineyards
2000 Oregon Rd
Mattituck
$5 – NOFA-NY Member/$15 General Public
To register:
631-804-0367
For more info:
https://www.nofany.org/events/field-days/vineyard-walk-amp-wine-tasting-shinn-estate-vineyards
Join owners Barbara Shinn and David Page on a walk through their vineyard, where they will discuss the organic and biodynamic farming practices they are using, along with natural winemaking practices including indigenous yeast fermentations. They can answer your questions about biodynamic farming & the certification process, as well as addressing how they make use of practices such as:
• permanent cover cropping in tandem with permaculture
• compost tea
• biodynamic field preps
• putting compost "to sleep" for an extended summer cure.

7pm

Earthlings
Molloy College
Suffolk Center
Farmingdale
FREE
To RSVP:
516-678-5000 xt 7562

See the movie that Woody Harrelson says…This is the single most powerful and informative movie about society’s treatment of animals. Vegetarian food by 3 Brothers Pizza of Rockville Center. This event is co-sponsored by Healthy Planet, and The Sustainability Institute at Molloy College (and part of their Sustainable Film Series). For directions: http://www.molloy.edu/directions.asp


Saturday, May 14th

9:30am to 4pm

2011 NYC Community Gardeners’ Forum
Youth in Gardens: Growing Peas and Justice
The New School
66 W 12th St
New York City
FREE (Suggested donation $5 for lunch)
To register and for more info…
http://nyccgc.org/nyccgc-community-gardeners-forum-2011/

Sponsored by the New York City Community Garden Coalition. Workshops include a range of topics, including Grant Writing & Fund Raising, Green Classrooms, Youth Empowerment, and Garden-to-School Café.


Monday, May 16th

2 to 7pm

Water Fight! Fracking, Food, Art & Economy
The New School
Tischman Auditorium
66 W 12th St
New York City
FREE (suggested donation $10)
To register…
http://www.eventbrite.com/event/1519648309/efblike

Parsons The New School for Design and The Baum Forum present an action-oriented conference to energize and educate the public about industrial hydrofracking in our watersheds and regional foodsheds. The event will provide inspiration and tools to protect our ecosystem and build a green economy. By confronting, debating, strategizing and visioning, we will celebrate water, food, art and activism. The program will be moderated by Anna Lappé, author of Diet for a Hot Planet.

Hydrofracking, a dangerous, modern technology employed by gas and oil companies to extract hard to reach gas in the Marcellus and other low-permeable shales, is recognized for its potential to degrade the watersheds of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and beyond. The toxic effects of fracking on water, air, soil and health have been documented and measured, and will compromise the sustainability of farming, vitaculture, and tourism in this region and elsewhere.


7pm

Hungry Filmmakers V
Anthology Film Archives
32 2nd Ave
New York City
$15
To purchase tickets…
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/174100
For more info:
http://hungryfilmmakers.blogspot.com/

Admission includes the screenings/discussions of seven up and coming unique food related films, panel hosted by George C. Stoney (NYU Professor Emeritus and legendary documentary filmmaker), and recepton with Lagunitas beer, wine and snacks.


Friday, May 20th

6 to 7pm

The Healthy Planet Radio Show
WUSB-FM / 90.1FM
For more info and to listen live or archived:
http://www.thehealthyplanet.org/


Tuesday, May 24th

7 to 9pm

Celebrate Spring with JUST FOOD
Whole Foods Market – Bowery
Culinary Center
95 E Houston St
New York City
$25 (Demonstration & Tasting)
To register…
http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaID=218692

In this benefit class for Just Food! join Peter Berley, cookbook author (The Flexitarian Table, Houghton Mifflin) and former executive chef of the legendary Angelica’s Kitchen, as he shows you how to prepare seasonal and healthy dishes while highlighting some of the season’s tastiest offerings, such as early greens and herbs, radishes, and strawberries.
All proceeds from tonight’s class will benefit Just Food.
On the Menu: Potage of Spring Greens with Green Garlic and Mint; Dandelion and Goat Cheese Frittata; Butter-Glazed Radishes with Radish Greens; Warm Honey-Lemon Curd with Strawberries.
Instructor: Peter Berley, Chef, Cookbook Author, and Culinary Instructor
www.peterberley.com
www.justfood.org


Thursday, June 2nd

7pm

Holistic Moms Network Open House and Chapter Kick Off!
Western Suffolk NY Chapter
Elwood Public Library
1929 Jericho Tpke
E Northport
FREE
For more info and to get involved:
www.holisticmoms.org
Email: wsuffolkhmn@aol.com

Our CSA member Vickie Muller has helped organized this new group! Cool!!! It’s all about “Living Healthy, Living Green”


Saturday, June 18th

Times: TBA

Annual CSA Member Strawberry Picking Walking Tour
Halsey’s Green Thumb Organic Farm
Rt 25
Water Mill, NY
FREE

MEET your farmer! SEE where your food is being grown! EAT the Strawberries! This is one of two opportunities we have to tour the farm and spend time with the people that make it happen…Farmer Bill Halsey, his family and co-workers. This event is for CSA members and immediate family only! If you are sharing a CSA share with another person or family…you have to choose who’s going and register under the name of the CSA member. There are too many CSA members between Long Island and NYC to accommodate more people.


August 12th to 14th

NOFA (Northeast Organic Farmers Association) 37th Annual Summer Conference
For more info:
http://www.nofasummerconference.org/

I’m going this year…and you? It’s fun, educational, reasonably priced, and anyone who goes WILL have a great time. Whether you’re single, family, senior…whatever…a good time will be had!


Monday, October 24th

Food Day
For more info:
http://www.foodday.org/



4. Mother’s Day…or any day…try Organic Bouquet for the gift of flowers

http://www.organicbouquet.com/Default.aspx



5. What you actually got last week…

Week #1
April 28, 2011

1. Jerusalem Artichokes – ¾ lb - $4.50
2. Kale: Russian, White – 1 bunch - $3.00
3. Greens: Turnip – 1 bunch - $2.75
4. Scallions – 1 bunch - $2.50
5. Sorrel – 1 bunch - $2.50
6. Mizuna (greenhouse) – 1 bunch - $2.50

Total Items: 6
Total Amount: $17.75 ($.50 more than what we paid for…over the course of the year this adds up!)



6. Still have that Sorrel hanging around?

http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2011/04/50_things_to_do_with_fresh_sorrel.php

Different variety of Sorrel (never seen this before) but surely can be substituted…
http://www.amateurgourmet.com/2011/05/salmon_and_sorrel_troisgros.html#tpe-action-posted-6a00e54ee6b31b8834014e8837446a970d



7. Computer click activist – Support Food Day!

Ask members of Congress to support the Eat Real Agenda!
http://foodday.org/

Check out their advisory board…some pretty heavy hitters and talented chefs…Michel Nishan, Nora Pouillon, Marion Nestle, Michael Pollan, Dr Dean Ornish, Colin Campbell, Alice Waters, Dan Barber & Caldwell Esselstyn!
http://foodday.org/about-food-day/food-day-advisory-board.php



8. Got milk? Not anymore!!!

Feds sting Amish farmer for selling raw milk locally (Rainbow Acres Farms)…
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/apr/28/feds-sting-amish-farmer-selling-raw-milk-locally/?page=1

Rainbow Acres Farms delivers raw dairy to Long Island…but for how much longer?

Why are people interested in drinking raw milk?
http://www.raw-milk-facts.com/Raw_Milk_FAQ.html

If this is an issue that is meaningful to you…if you’ve ever purchased from this farm…if you’ve ever enjoyed their food…consider joining the Weston A. Price Foundation…
http://www.westonaprice.org/
Suffolk County Chapter Leader
Suffolk County: Betty Moore (631) 987-9792, bmoore4718@aol.com

Membership info…
http://www.westonaprice.org/get-involved

And the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund…
http://www.farmtoconsumer.org/index.html
Membership info…
http://www.farmtoconsumer.org/become-a-member.html



9. Amazing food art!

http://weburbanist.com/2009/01/08/food-art-and-food-artists/

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