Green Thumb Farm Huntington CSA

Happy Autumn!

FYI – Our CSA is on Thursdays (except the week of Thanksgiving where it’s on Wednesday) from 3:30pm to 7:30pm (if you need to come after 7:30pm call the CSA at 631-385-1079 on Thursdays from 3pm to 7:30pm to make last minute arrangements for alternate pickups).

Bulk Certified Organic Paste (Roma) Tomatoes available from our farm…$45 per 20 lb box (to place an order, call the farm at 631-726-1900 between 9am to 5pm and be ready to pay with a credit card).

Here’s some Tomato talk from the folks at the NYC Greenmarkets…
Forget proper storage, eat this fruit immediately! We suggest tomato sandwiches, mozzarella and tomato salad, tomato soup, tomato pie, salsa, gazpacho, tomato sauce, tomato juice, fried green tomatoes and plain old tomatoes eaten as is, or with a dash of salt. If you get a little overwhelmed by this steady diet, follow the lead of Greenmarket staff and host a tomato canning party at your house. Each September we pile into our co-worker's Brooklyn backyard and set up an assembly line to scald, peel, seed and can as many flats as we can get our hands on. If a perfect, local tomato is a treat in September, it's a bona fide treasure in the middle of March!

We could use a LOT more CSA members! If each of us (we’re now 56) managed to find three more members our farmer would be VERY happy. We now have till the week after Labor Day to accept new members. After that, we’re talking April of 2013. If each of us got one more member to join, that would be great, and if THEY got one more member…you get the idea. Even ideas of where to leave CSA brochures or posters, and where to do lectures about CSA would be helpful. So far this season I participated in the 1st LI CSA Fair, the 2nd LI Small Farm Summit, and a health fair at the Vitamin Shoppe in Melville, gave a lecture to the Holistic Moms Network about eating local and just put an ad (VERY reasonably priced) in the brochure for a charity auction for the local Montessori School.

This week’s email includes…

1. Your CSA does not need you this week, however…
2. Heritage Turkey talk and tasting this Saturday in Plainview and Westbury
3. Bags and you
4. This week’s list…subject to change without notice (farming is like that)
5. Click the “Make the Right Choice” tab on San J Tamari’s Facebook page to get coupons and possibly win a $250 gift card to Whole Foods…
6. Fun, Cool & Interesting Stuff to Do (new events added weekly)
7. Click here and help change our world!
8. Notes from the Farm
9. What you actually got last week
10. And now…for something completely different


1. Your CSA does not need you this week, however…

You can ALWAYS stop by the CSA a little before 3:30 or 5:30 to offer to help in case someone doesn’t show up (or is late) without letting anyone know…life happens! 

If you didn’t get a confirmation email from Judi (occasionally it’s me), you’re not scheduled to work this week.



2. Heritage Turkey talk and tasting this Saturday in Plainview and Westbury

Talk to Danny Williamson, farmer and Turkey breeder, and sample heritage Turkeys that you might want to order this upcoming holiday season…

11am to 12:30pm
Fairway, Westbury

1pm to 2:30pm
Fairway, Plainview

Fairway is collaborating with Heritage Foods USA (a great organization… http://www.heritagefoodsusa.com/heritage/index.html ) and Good Shepherd Ranch.

For more info:
http://www.fairwaymarket.com/news-events/



3. Bags and you

The short story is make sure to bring bags to pack your CSA food as the CSA does not provide them.

Suggestion…put bags (paper/plastic/cloth) in EVERY vehicle you own. Put them in the glove compartment, trunk, wherever, and make sure to replenish them when the supply is running low or you’re out of them. That way it will be hard to forget them.

And, if someone is picking up for you, please remind them about bringing bags with them.



4. This week’s list…subject to change without notice (farming is like that!)

Week #23
September 27, 2012

1. Tomatoes – up to 2 lbs
2. Squash, Summer **
3. Lettuce – 1 head
4. Snap Beans, Green
5. Peppers, Sweet*
6. Tat Soi – 1 bunch

Total Items: 6

Herb Share – Sept 2B
Dill AND Sorrel

*Dr Weil says eat your Peppers!
http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/TIP04552/3-Reasons-to-Eat-Bell-Peppers.html

** Can be made with any type of Summer Squash…and you can do it without the Basil…or if you made Pesto this summer you could put a drop of that on top…
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/26/dining/a-little-zucchini-for-your-grated-cheese-a-good-appetite.html?ref=dining&_r=0



5. Click the “Make the Right Choice” tab on San J Tamari’s Facebook page to get coupons and possibly win a $250 gift card to Whole Foods…

https://www.facebook.com/SanJTamari



6. Fun, Cool & Interesting Stuff to Do (new events added weekly)
.
Saturday, September 1st to Sunday, September 30th

The 3rd Annual NY Locavore Challenge!
For more info and to register:
http://www.nofany.org/events/ny-locavore-challenge

Challenge yourself to eat more local foods and get active, or more active, in the locavore world that’s all around you!


Thursday, September 27th

10am to 11am

iEat Green
http://prn.fm/shows/lifestyle-shows/i-eat-green/

iEat Green is hosted by Slow Food Huntington’s Bhavani Jharoff. Listen to this internet radio show either live or if you miss this show, you can listen to it on the archives and it’s available for downloading on iTunes for your iPhone.

Today’s guest will my guest will be David Orr, author of "Earth In Mind: On Education, Environment and the Human Prospect." This was the first book I read in graduate school that inspired me to re-think how we are educating our children.

7pm

Forks over Knives
The Ethical Humanist Society of LI
38 Old Country Rd
Garden City
$10

Movie about healthy vegetarian/vegan eating hosted by Judy Griffin, founder of Nourishing Solutions 4 LIfe.


Saturday, September 29th

10am

14th Annual LI Naturally Environmental Fair
Manor Farm
210 Manor Rd
Huntington
For more info:
http://www.starflowerexperiences.org/12flyer.pdf

Music, games, community yard sale, info on green living.

10am

9th Annual LI Garlic Festival
Garden of Eve
4558 Sound Ave
Riverhead
$3/Children under 6 FREE
For more info:
http://www.gardenofevefarm.com/garlic-festival.htm

Food, crafts, music, theater and….GARLIC!


Sunday, September 30th

10am

9th Annual LI Garlic Festival
(see Saturday, September 29th)

5:30pm

Potluck Across New York
Glenwood Church
70 Grove St
Glenwood Landing
FREE (bring a dish to share…it’s a potluck)
For more info:
https://sites.google.com/site/seacliffcooperative/home/events

As part of the 3rd Annual NY Locavore Challenge (organized by NOFA-NY), Slow Food Huntington (co-founder is CSA member Ann Rathkopf), Sustainable Sea Cliff Cooperative, and the Glenwood Arts group organized a potluck! Please join us for an evening of conviviality and lively discussion. Topics will include our industrialized food system, GMO's, fracking, our own community garden and how we can create and support a healthy, local food system.


Monday, October 1st

World Vegetarian Day
For more info:
http://act.ran.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=3791&First_Name=[[First_Name]]&Last_Name=[[Last_Name]]&Zip=[[Zip]]&Email=[[Email]]


Tuesday, October 2nd

7pm

Huntington Food Share – Food Not Bombs
Fairground Ave and E 6th St (outside of All Weather Tires)
Huntington Station
For more info and to get involved:
http://www.lifnb.com/chapters/huntington_food_share

Distribution of food and clothing to all who attend and are in need.


Wednesday, October 3rd

6pm

Genetic Roulette
South Huntington Public Library
145 Pigeon Hill Rd
Huntington Station
FREE
For more info:
http://www.meetup.com/SavelongIsland/events/81752862/

GMO documentary by GMO expert Jeffrey Smith, with a Q & A with Bhavani Jharoff of iEat Green.

6pm

Let Us Eat Local
The Altman Building
135 W 18th St
NYC
$175 (before October 3rd…after $200)
For more info and to get tickets:
http://luel.eventbrite.com/

This event is a benefit for Just Food, the group that organizes CSA in all five boroughs of NYC, in addition to being involved in the City Chickens project, City Farms and getting more local food into food pantries as well as being involved in fighting hunger in NYC. They do great work and are a great bunch of folks. This will be a locavore’s delight if you see the list of participating restaurants.


Thursday, October 4th

10am to 11am

iEat Green
http://prn.fm/shows/lifestyle-shows/i-eat-green/

iEat Green is hosted by Slow Food Huntington’s Bhavani Jharoff. Listen to this internet radio show either live or if you miss this show, you can listen to it on the archives and it’s available for downloading on iTunes for your iPhone.

Today’s guest will my guest will be Amie Hamlin. Amie is the Executive Director of New York Coalition for Healthy School Food (NYCHSF). NYCHSF is a statewide nonprofit that works to improve the health and well-being of New York's students by advocating for healthy plant-based foods, comprehensive nutrition policy, and education to create food and health literate students.

7pm

Nutrition for Children’s Health
Holistic Moms Network Monthly Meeting (Huntington, NY Chapter)
Elwood Public Library
1929 Jericho Tpke (on the northeast corner of Jericho and Elwood Rd…in the strip mall where a Blockbuster used to be)
E Northport
FREE
For more info:
www.holisticmoms.org
Email: huntingtonhmn@aol.com
Check them out on Facebook…
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Holistic-Moms-Network-Suffolk-County-Huntington-Area-NY-Chapter/399399243443967

Join CSA member Vickie Muller (co-founder of this chapter) at this month’s meeting with featured speaker David Pollack, DC, from the Creating Wellness Center in Commack.


Saturday, October 6th

7am

Plant & Sing
Sylvester Manor
Shelter Island
$25 Adults/$10 Students (8 to 21)/FREE Children 7 and younger
For more info and to get tickets:
http://www.plantandsing.com/wp/

A weekend of workshops, music (Bela Fleck), good food and fun for the whole family!


2pm to 5pm

Growing Backyard Fruits, a Workshop and Tasting
387 Springtown Rd
New Paltz, NY 12561
$35
To register:
Mail a check to Lee Reich at the above address and include your email address and phone number in case of the need to cancel due to severe weather
Questions:
Email Lee: leeareich@gmail.com
Call Lee at 845-255-0417

Join fruit master, Lee Reich, in his garden. You can harvest DELECTABLE, ORGANIC, NO-SPRAY FRUITS right in your own BACKYARD. This workshop will cover which hardy fruits are best and easiest to grow, and how to grow them. Participants will also get to taste luscious fruits such as pawpaws, persimmons, hardy kiwifruit, and whatever else is ripe (grapes?, pears?, aki-gumi?, lingonberry?, medlar?)!
Check out his blog and website for other events…
http://leereich.com/
http://leereich.blogspot.com/


Sunday, October 6th

7am

Plant & Sing
Sylvester Manor
Shelter Island
$25 Adults/$10 Students (8 to 21)/FREE Children 7 and younger
For more info and to get tickets:
http://www.plantandsing.com/wp/

Garlic planting day!


Tuesday, October 9th

7:30pm

Let’s Eat! Food on Film presents…Sushi: The Global Catch
Cinema Arts Centre
423 Park Ave
Huntington
$10 Members/$15 General Public (includes reception)
For more info, to watch the trailer, and get info about purchasing tickets in advance (these events often sell out):
http://www.cinemaartscentre.org/event/sushi-the-global-catch/

CSA members Dylan Skolnick (Cinema Arts Centre) and Ann Rathkopf (Slow Food Huntington) are co-presenting this important documentary. Sushi is more popular than ever, and no fish is more beloved by connoisseurs than Blue Fin Tuna, but that fish and many other favorites are in danger of being over-fished to extinction. This fascinating new documentary explores how we can all enjoy this delicacy and preserve the ocean.


Wednesday, October 10th

6:30pm

Plant a Healthy School Lunch…
The NY Coalition for Healthy School Food’s Fall Gala
NY Academy of Medicine
1216 Fifth Ave (at 103rd St)
NYC
$100
For more info about NY Coalition for Healthy School Food:
http://www.healthylunches.org/
For more info about the gala:
http://www.healthylunches.org/events.htm

Ex-Long Islander Amie Hamlin is the Executive Director of this organization, and Joy Pierson (of Candle Café and Candle 79) is their board chair. A lot of the food at this event will be organic, local, vegan and raw (check the website and look who’d providing it).


Saturday, October 13th

8:30am

Holistic Moms Network presents…
9th Annual Natural Living Conference
Chicago, IL
$80 Member/$90 General Public/$45 child over 3 (lunch included)
For more info and to register:
http://register.holisticmoms.org/2012_HMN_NLC.pdf

Celebrate holistic parenting with special guests Andrea Beaman (natural foods chef, author, tv host and Top Chef contestant..and she cured herself of thyroid disease thru diet and natural methods) and Barbara Loe Fisher (National Vaccine Information Center Co-Founder). Learn…share…connect!

10:30am

Green Thumb Farm CSA Annual Farm Tour and Pumpkin Picking
829 Montauk Hwy
Water Mill
FREE
To make your reservation:
631-726-1900 (M to Su from 9:30am to 4:30pm)

Tour schedule: 10:30am, 11:30am, 12:30pm, and 1:30pm.

We do a riding tour on a farm wagon pulled by a tractor. We ride around the farm stopping to see our fall crops, some of our farming equipment, then up to a field where each person that comes can pick up a Pumpkin to take home (FYI - they are not organic and they are not grown on the farm). There is no charge for the tour or Pumpkin, but reservations are required since seating is limited on each wagon. Our tour is open to current CSA member and their immediate families only! If you are sharing a CSA share with someone, only one person/family can attend and you need to use the name of the person that is the CSA member. This is the last chance in 2012 to see a part of our farm, talk to farmer Bill, and ask any questions you might have about the farm, the food, and any gardening questions you might have (for starters you could ask why the Pumpkins aren’t organic and why they aren’t grown on the farm ).


Friday, October 19th

6pm

The Healthy Planet Radio Program
WUSB-FM 90.1FM
Or listen online:
http://www.wusb.fm/stream


Tuesday, October 23rd

6pm

Taste of the Harvest
Crest Hollow Country Club
Jericho Tpke
Woodbury
$295
For more info and to buy tickets:
http://www.islandharvest.org/page.aspx?name=fundraisingevents&eventid=123

Island Harvest is celebrating 20 years of service fighting hunger and touching lives, and honoring Stop and Shop.


Wednesday, October 24th

Food Day!
For more info and to get involved…
http://www.foodday.org/

5pm

The Future of Food: 2050
US Capitol Visitor Center
Washington, DC
For more info and to get involved…
http://www.foodday.org/
To reserve a seat…
http://www.foodday.org/2012_marquee_event?utm_campaign=rsvp_marquee_ev&recruiter_id=109&utm_medium=email&utm_source=foodday
• Dr. Michael Jacobson, Executive Director, Center for Science in the Public Interest
• Dr. Sonny Ramaswamy, Director, USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Eric Meade, Vice President and Senior Futurist, Institute for Alternative Futures
• A.G. Kawamura, farmer, former California Secretary of Agriculture
• Dr. Catherine Badgley, Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan
What will we be eating in the year 2050? How will that food be produced? Where is the food movement going? Food Day’s national marquee event conference will bring together forward-thinking experts on agriculture policy, nutrition, and sustainability to discuss the future of Americans’ diet and food system.


Thursday, October 25th to Sunday, October 28th

Salone del Gusto & Terre Madre
Turin, Italy
For more info and to get tickets:
http://salonedelgustoterramadre.slowfood.com/

This is Slow Food’s biannual international event in the land where the organization Slow Food began…Italy! CSA member Ann Rathkopf (one of the founders of Slow Food Huntington) will be attending, and she’s been there before, so ask her if you have any questions.


Saturday, October 27th

7pm

Dr. Helen Caldicott…the medical and political implications of Fukushima
Healthy Planet
Sweet Hollow Hall
Gwynne Rd
Melville
$???
For more info, reservations and directions:
631-421-5591
http://www.healthy-planet.org/


Sunday, October 28th

2pm

A Harvest Homecoming
Dominican Village
565 Albany Ave
Amityville
$40 Adults/$10 Children
For more info and to purchase tickets:
516-842-6000 xt 307
Email: Sofiagardengrow@aol.com

Music, dancing, food, raffles, Chinese auction benefitting Homecoming Farm and Sofia Garden, and honoring Sister Ginny Maguire.


Thursday, November 1st

7pm

GMOs!
Holistic Moms Network Monthly Meeting (Huntington, NY Chapter)
Elwood Public Library
1929 Jericho Tpke (on the northeast corner of Jericho and Elwood Rd…in the strip mall where a Blockbuster used to be)
E Northport
FREE
For more info:
www.holisticmoms.org
Email: huntingtonhmn@aol.com
Check them out on Facebook…
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Holistic-Moms-Network-Suffolk-County-Huntington-Area-NY-Chapter/399399243443967

Join CSA member Vickie Muller (co-founder of this chapter) at this month’s meeting with featured speaker Kathleen Furey, trained by GMO expert Jeffrey Smith.


Thursday, November 15th

8:30am

Harvesting Opportunities in NY
Hotel Albany
40 Lodge St
Albany
$85
For more info and to register:
http://newyork.farmland.org/harvesting-opportunities

A conference to inspire and educate New Yorkers to support local agriculture, strengthen local farm and food economies, and get involved in protecting farmland.


Sunday, November 18th

9am

The NAVAL Expo
Huntington Hilton
Melville
$20
For more info (if you look at the last one they had in May you’ll get an idea of what they’ll have in November) and to buy tickets:
http://www.navelexpo.com/expo.php

All day alternative health expo with many lectures, demo, samplings, etc including Steve Meyerowitz, the Sproutman! More info TBA.

Afternoon (more info TBA)
Turkey Free Thanksgiving Dinner/Lecture
Healthy Planet
Sweet Hollow Hall
Gwynne Rd
Melville
$???
For more info, reservations and directions:
631-421-5591
http://www.healthy-planet.org/



7. Click here and help change our world!

Walmart worker found memo proving their concerns about safety issues are NOT unfounded as Walmart executives have said…sign here to support the workers request for safe working conditions…
http://takeaction.walmartwatch.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=6643

Sign the Read Food, Real Jobs pledge…the sustainable food movement is starting to work for sustainable food jobs…this was forwarded to me by Elizabeth Henderson, godmother of CSAs in the USA (she started one of the first two CSA in the USA in the mid-1980s and I love her to bits)…
http://afl.salsalabs.com/o/5872/c/1247/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=4902

Tell Gov. Cuomo, no sham health studies…ban fracking NOW!
http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/cuomo_study/

Tell Trader Joe’s we want meat without antibiotics…
http://signon.org/sign/trader-joes-we-want-meat?source=mo&id=52455-620103-bxG8xux

Another petition about the GMO riders on the Farm Bill…sign them all!
https://secure3.convio.net/aahf/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1177

Tell the EPA to clean up a NY waterway!
https://secure3.convio.net/river/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=413

Sign as many as you can!!! I would have put the link for just one of these (9/19/12) but it came up with my name and there’s no “if this isn’t so and so” thing to click so…sorry! And yes, I did all of them…I wouldn’t ask any of you to do something I wouldn’t or didn’t do…once you’re in the system it doesn’t take long…
http://www.organicconsumers.org/action.cfm



8. Notes from the Farm

September 28, 2012

September is almost over all ready. It sure is hard to believe! It seems like we were just starting up our CSA a short while ago and now our season is more than half over.

It’s time for you to start planning to attend our fall farm tour and Pumpkin picking event. October 13th , Saturday, is the date. Times will be at 10:30am, 11:30am, 12:30pm, and 1:30pm.

We do a riding tour on a farm wagon pulled by a tractor. We ride around the farm stopping to see our fall crops, some of our farming equipment, then up to a field where each person that comes can pick up a Pumpkin to take home (FYI - they are not organic and they are not grown on the farm). There is no charge for the tour or Pumpkin, but reservations are required since seating is limited on each wagon. Our tour is open to current CSA member and their immediate families only! If you are sharing a CSA share with someone, only one person/family can attend and you need to use the name of the person that is the CSA member. This is the last chance in 2012 to see a part of our farm, talk to farmer Bill, and ask any questions you might have about the farm, the food, and any gardening questions you might have (for starters you could ask why the Pumpkins aren’t organic and why they aren’t grown on the farm).

We hope you all come out and spend some time to see the farm. We meet at our farm stand at 829 Montauk Highway, Water Mill.

Call for reservations at 631-726-1900, between 9:30am and 4:30pm any day of the week.

Thanks again!

Organically yours,
Farmer Bill (Halsey)


9. What you actually got last week

Week #22
September 20, 2012

1. Tomatoes, Mini: Cherry, Red OR Grape, Red OR Sungold – 1 pt - $4.25
2. Squash, Winter: Butternut – 1 - $2.00
3. Soybeans – ½ lb - $3.25
4. Mizuna – 1 bunch - $2.75
5. Squash, Summer: Costata Romanesco, Cousa, Eight Ball, Gold, Patty Pan – Green, Patty Pan – Yellow, Yellow, Zucchini – up to 2 lbs - $4.50
6. Snap Beans: Wax/Yellow – ½ lb - $1.75

Total Items: 5
Total Amount: $18.50 (We pay $17.50 per week to our farmer for the food we get every week. Today we’ve gotten $1.00 extra, making the total extra that we’ve received from our farmer [over and above the $17.50 we pay per week] for the year so far $26.50 – doesn’t include Aug 9th)



10. And now for something completely different…

I know the Jewish high holy days are over but just thought you might want to read this one…

Do you know about the tradition of swinging a live chicken over your head???
http://forward.com/articles/162292/swinging-the-chicken-for-the-first-time/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=The%20Forward%20Today%20%28Monday-Friday%29&utm_campaign=Daily_Newsletter_Mon_Thurs%202012-09-24
As it says in the article…you can substitute coins, and there is a movement afoot that says STOP SWINGING THE DARN CHICKENS…it can’t be much fun for the chickens.


Check out the video Sugar is Killing Us (I bet you’ll like it and if you do…spread it around)…
http://www.facebook.com/#!/SugarIsKillingUs/app_208195102528120

If you like the video, like the Facebook page…
http://www.facebook.com/#!/SugarIsKillingUs

In my research it looks like this is an extremely subtle commercial for water called “Fred Water” but you know what? It’s still a cute video with a good message (sorry to say for the makers of the video…I probably won’t be buying this brand of water).

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