Thursday, July 19, 2018

Thursday, July 19, 2018 Week #7


Happy Summer!

CSA weather report…warm and not so humid.

Living Foods Pop-Up this week (see Events for details).

Parking Alert!
From now till August 23rd there will be cars lined up from 2pm to 4pm at the end of the initial driveway of the building. It’s parents picking up children from summer camp at the YMCA. If you want to avoid it, come after 4pm. OTHERWISE, if you’re trying to get to the upper parking lot around the other side of the building, you will be forced to go in an “out” roadway so be careful someone doesn’t hit you head-on while you’re trying to get around the line of cars blocking the roadway you should be using.

DO NOT LEAVE MESSAGES FOR THE CSA WITH THE CINEMA BOX OFFICE STAFF!!! We don’t always get the messages…at all (people forget…and it’s not their job), and the Box Office staff doesn’t always give correct info. Ask to be transferred to the Café to speak to someone at the CSA. If not, the CSA will not be responsible if your food isn’t left at the Box Office to be picked up, or for anything else you might have wanted to communicate to the CSA staff.

Veggie info sheets added as needed. This is the link to the: Veggie Info Sheets. Print out, put in a notebook and you end up with a cookbook at the end of the CSA season. Also there are good tips on storage, prep, and nutrition.

The list…this is a general list and you’ll be sent another email within the next week with the detailed list after I get it (which isn’t till the day of the CSA…the list is subject to change without notice because farming is like that!  J . However, most of the time it’s accurate and if it’s not…usually only one food item will be changed)…


CSA words to live by…when trying any new food that you’ve never eaten before…START SLOW!  Read up about it (make sure it doesn’t interfere with any medications you might be taking or any health conditions you might have), see what traditional/conventional ways it’s prepared (cultures that have been eating certain foods for many years basically have a good idea what they’re doing and we can learn from that), try a small portion, see how your body/digestive system reacts, and proceed from there. Then try preparing in different ways and see what you come up with, and feel free to ask for suggestion/info/recommendations!

Paraphrased wise words by a nutritionist that I read and don’t remember where I read it or who said it, BUT it’s pretty smart info regarding eating seasonally in our part of the globe…
Spring… is all about detoxing (what we get from the CSA at this time is a lot of green things that are really good to help clean us out from whatever we accumulated during the winter)
Interesting piece about spring greens (out of the 14 listed, we get 12 of them with our CSA…watercress nutritionally and botanically similar to Peppercress) and detoxing…
Summer is all about being hydrated (the popular summer foods are all full of water…Tomatoes, Lettuces, Summer Squashes, etc.)
Fall/winter is all about storing energy (we get all the dense vegetables…Sweet Potatoes, Winter Squashes, etc…. that are energy powerhouses to fuel us through the winter) to get you through the winter to make it to…Spring!


Week #6
July 12, 2018

  1. Lettuce – 1 head
  2. Peas, Snow and/or Sugar Snap* (have no idea till I show up at the CSA if it’s going to be a choice, or a mix of the two of them, or what)
  3. Onions** – 1 bunch
  4. Swiss Chard*** – 1 bunch
  5. Beans, Snap****
  6. Thyme***** – 1 bunch

Total Items: 6

*On the list of the world’s 100 healthiest foods…

**On the list of the world’s 100 healthiest foods…

***On the list of the world’s 100 healthiest foods…

****On the list of the world’s 100 healthiest foods…

*****On the list of the world’s 100 healthiest foods…


Flower Share - #5
Strawflowers (it’s an “everlasting” so can be dried)…
With these, I have put them in a vase with no water and make sure the stems are not bunched together to prevent them getting moldy. Some everlastings are dried upside down but according to this article, these you dry right side up. You can also remove the flower heads and replace with wire if you’re a bit more ambitious.


Herb Share – July 1A
Basil, Lemon* AND Parsley, Italian**

*On the list of the world’s 100 healthiest foods…

**On the list of the world’s 100 healthiest foods…



This email includes…

  1. What you need to know
  2. It’s time to weigh our CSA food!!!
  3. Click Activism – changing the world one click at a time
  4. Notes from the farm
  5. The dirty dozen…
  6. Events…both near and far
  7. What’s the big deal about fiber in food?
  8. What you actually got last week
  9. And now for something completely different…
 Anything in these emails not directly related to the functioning of the CSA feel free to take or leave at your discretion, and anything related to health issues always consult with your physicians before taking any actions.

 1.What you need to know (will be either new info to first time CSA members, or reminders/old hat to returning CSA members)…

Before you leave the houseBRING BAGS to pack up your food (CSA members are responsible for packing up their own shares) – canvas/plastic/paper…bring whatever suits your fancy. The CSA does NOT provide bags for CSA members. If someone is picking up food for you, please remind them to bring bags with them.
Time – 3:30pm to 7:30pm
IF you need to pick up later than 7:30pm, call the Cinema Arts Center Box Office between 3pm to 7:30pm at 631-423-7610 xt. 0 (make sure to ask to speak to someone at the CSA) and we can pack a bag for you and leave it at the Box Office but it MUST be picked up before the Box Office closes (call the Box Office to check the time…lately it’s been somewhere between 10pm and 11pm). If not, it won’t be there on Friday.
Place – Sky Room Café in the Cinema Arts Centre at 423 Park Ave, Huntington (if otherwise, you’ll be informed)
Parking – park in the lot all the way around at the back of the building by the day care center (you’ll see a fenced in playground area with a sandbox)
When you arrive at the CSA
  1. Check in at the sign-in desk
  2. Read the Wall Chart that tells us every week what we’re getting, how much we’re getting, and what the farm charged us for it…some weeks it’s take one of everything but SOME WEEKS IT’S NOT!!! So you have to make sure you read the Wall Chart every week, and not assume anything. You can also ask your fellow CSA members that are working at the CSA that day what the story is (they should have name tags on).
Before you leave the CSA – Make sure you have everything on the list! If you get to talking with people, have kids with you, etc., it can be easy to get distracted, but if you arrive home and find out you don’t have everything that was on the list, you’re out of luck because at 7:31pm the food is donated to a local food organization that’s waiting to pick it up and get on their way.

We send a 2nd email with the list for the week and the Veggie Info Sheet attachments that you’ll get because of a) concern if I send one email with attachments it might end up in junk/spam and you might not be in the habit of looking for it there yet, and b) modern communications technology not being all it’s cracked up to be so trying to hedge success rate in getting info out to you.

  
2. It’s time to weigh our CSA food!

  1. Please be aware that it may take a little more time for you to collect your CSA share when weighing is part of the experience, so plan accordingly.

  1. Check the CSA Wall Chart that our farmer brings in every week before taking any food so you know what you’re taking and how much to take…assume nothing and please feel free to ask questions!

  1. Bring your reading glasses or ask someone to help if you can’t see the numbers on the scale clearly.

  1. PLEASE DO NOT GO OVER THE AMOUNT STATED on the Wall Chart.

Please err on the under side of the weight posted…NEVER over. It may not seem like much to you, but we have 42 CSA members this week, and if every person is over by ONE OUNCE (for crying out loud! It’s only an ounce!!!) …that means we’ll be short over 2 1/2 POUNDS of produce and 1 or 2 CSA members (and one of them could be you) won’t get the food they paid for.

  1. IF you are asked to weigh more than one food item at the same time (and you probably will at some point in the CSA season)…please follow the directions given to you, and weigh in the order you are asked (you might not think there’s any good reason to be doing this but our farmer does, and that should be enough of a reason right there but if you want a further explanation – ask someone working at the CSA or contact suzanne…there is always a method to the madness J )
  

3.Click Activism – changing the world one click at a time

State your opposition to this bill which gives the advantage to Monsanto/Bayer, and will not allow California to label Roundup/glyphosate as a carcinogen (sets a bad precedent for people, good one for corporations)…


 4.Notes from the farm

July 2, 2018

Hello CSA Members!

Well, summer is definitely finally starting to feel like it’s here. The past few days and the predicted week are bringing on some heat!

Thank you to all our CSA members who made it out to our 2018 Strawberry Tour! Was wonderful to see some familiar faces, as well as meet new CSA members, for a tour of one of our more productive fields. With that, Strawberry season has come to a close. It was good while it lastede and we hope you all enjoyed what was sent out to you!

Our Peas are in full effect - Snow Peas, Shelling Peas and Sugar Snap Peas are all picking very well right now. Some members got to pick some for themselves on the tour! The Peppers, Eggplants and Tomatoes are all growing well, and it won’t be long now. The fields are filled with goodies to start making their way to you!

The flowers have been beautiful as always, and more varieties are coming to blossom as we approach the best time of the year for us. We held off sending out a Flower Share this week  as we were informed that members may be traveling for the holiday, so next week we will send more out.

We hope everybody is enjoying their CSA shares so far, the best is yet to come. Thank you for your support! We appreciate you all very much.

Hope to see you soon (Saturday, October 20th is the last CSA farm tour for the year)!

Organically yours,
Green Thumb Farm

 5.The dirty dozen…

And the clean 16…the 2018 version…

 6.Events…both near and far

Tuesday, July 17th to Thursday, July 26th

Healing from GMOs (and Roundup)…both created and promoted by Monsanto
Online Conference
FREE
To register…

Included in the conference, hosted by Jeffrey Smith (author of Seeds of Deception, and founder of the Institute for Responsible Technology), will be 18 lectures, including those given by Dr. Josh Axe (holistic chiropractor), Dr. Joseph Mercola (osteopath), Sayer Ji (founder of GreenMedInfo), and many others.

 Thursday, July 19th

10am to 11am

iEat Green with Bhavani online radio show
Progressive Radio Network

This week’s guest is Ryan Madden, Sustainability Organizer for the Long Island Progressive Coalition. You can also check out the archives for other shows or catch this one at a later date.

3:30pm to 7:30pm

Living Foods Pop-up at the CSA
Cinema Arts Center
Sky Room Café
423 Park Ave
Huntington
FREE
For more info…
631-421-4864

Our CSA is having a pop-up to sample Sprouts and Microgreens, and sign up if you’d be interested in a weekly Living Foods CSA Share with Don’s Finest. Once we get an idea of how many people might be interested, we’ll work out the details and let everyone know about signing up. I’m already looking for someone to share with so let me know if you’re interested.
  
Friday, July 20th

5pm to 9pm

Crossroads Farm Food Truck Rodeo
Crossroads Farm
$5 (under 5 years old free)
For more info and to buy tickets:

Live music, kid’s activities, food from Green Street (vegan), Cheezy Pete, Teriyaki Plus, Kona Ice and Ed’s Polish Kielbasa.

 Saturday, June 21st

10am to 4pm

NY College Health & Wellness Fair
NY College of Health Professionals
6801 Jericho Tpke
Syosset
FREE
For more info and to get tickets:

Free classes for Tai Chi, Yoga, and Qi Gong, free chair massages, Acupuncture demos, food trucks and vendors.

5pm

CSA Culinary Extravaganza – July edition
Bunna Café
1084 Flushing Ave
Bushwick, Brooklyn
For info about Bunna Café…
To RSVP (leave name and number in your party):
Respond to this email
Leave a voice message at 631-421-4864

Schedule
3:30pm – meet at Cinema parking lot to carpool
4:45pm – gather at Bunna Café
5pm – Coffee ceremony followed by dinner
6:30/7pm – Dessert option (to be decided after dinner)

This month’s featured eatery is Bunna Café, a vegan Ethiopian restaurant. Non-vegans love this place too. If you’re gluten intolerant the options are to call at least 24 hours in advance and order gluten-free Injera or order white Rice. One of our CSA members who lived in Ethiopia for a time will be attending. We’ll gather at the parking lot of the Cinema Arts Centre at 3:30pm to carpool, or you can meet us there. The plan is to arrive at 4:45pm as a traditional Ethiopian Coffee ceremony will start at 5pm, and we’ll have dinner afterwards (the deal is to get the feast for 2 or 3 and share, BUT you can get a meal or feast for one). After dinner, if anyone’s interested we’ll head to Van Leeuwen’s for vegan (or non-vegan) Ice Cream, OR if there aren’t any vegans hanging out for dessert we could check out Republic of Booza (they have vegan options but I hear they’re limited so Van Leeuwen would be better for that). Booza is Turkish Ice Cream that I haven’t tried yet but it’s on my list. We can decide about dessert after dinner.

Van Leeuwen…

Republic of Booza…

 Monday, July 23rd to Sunday, July 29th

Alzheimers and Dementia Summit
Online conference
FREE
To register…

Some of the speaker for this summit that I know of are…Dr. Dale Bredesen (author of The End of Alzheimer’s), Dr. Russell Blaylock (retired neurosurgeon and author), Dr. Mark Hyman (functional MD, Dr. Steven Masley (holistic cardiologist), Dr. Daniel Amen (holistic psychiatrist), Sayer Ji (founder of GreenMedInfo)

 Monday, July 23rd to Sunday, August 12th

Oprah & Deepak Energy of Attraction Manifesting Your Best Life
Online meditation course
FREE
To register…

Not food related BUT if one is more relaxed, you will digest your food better! J
  
Saturday, July 28th

5pm

Lecture and book signing of his book Soil with Woody Tasch, founder of Slow Money
Marders
120 Snake Hollow Rd
Bridgehampton
FREE ($20 with book)
To RSVP and order the book…

This book is a new resource for investing in local food systems (wonder if it includes joining a CSA? J ). Q & A will be moderated by Brian Halweil of Edible East End.
  
Saturday, August 4th

10am to 4pm

LI Summer Veg Fest
Walt Whitman High School
301 West Hills Rd
Huntington Station
FREE (suggested donation of $5)

Food trucks, live music, kid’s activities, raffles. This is a benefit for the LI Farm Sanctuary.
  
Friday, August 10th to Sunday, August 12th

44th Annual NOFA Summer Conference
Hampshire College
Amherst, MA
For more info and to register (register by August 1st if you want to purchase meals in advance…it’s cheaper if you do)…

NOFA (the Northeast Organic Farmer’s Association) is the organization that’s been certifying farms organic before the USDA got involved (and will probably do so if something ever happens to the federal program). The member states are CT, MA, NH, NJ, NY, RI, and VT, so there’s a NOFA-NY chapter. They have 2 yearly conferences. The summer one includes all 7 member states and in the winter (usually January) each state has their winter conference. This one is a LOT easier to attend.

Check out the program section of the website to see if there are workshops you’d like to attend. There’s dancing and parties at night, movies to watch, a swimming hole if you know where to find it ( J ), and a good time is had by all. It’s for families, singles, seniors and college age folks. The food served is all organic and Saturday night it’s all local and organic. The foods offered can accommodate anything from vegan to paleo, and are served buffet style in the school’s cafeteria.

The two keynote speakers this year are Rowen White, founder of Sierra Seeds (located in California but she’s actually from NY and a member of the Mohawk community of Akwesasne), and Eric Holt-Gimenez, Executive Director of Food First.

There’s a children’s conference with workshops for kids aged 5 to 12, and childcare is available for 2 to 4 year olds.
  
Saturday, August 11th (to be confirmed)

10am to noon

CSA Monthly Meeting
Cinema Arts Centre
Sky Room Cafe
423 Park Ave
Huntington
For more info…
631-421-4864

10am to 10:15 – gathering
10:15am to 10:45pm -  Good Eats (Tomatoes) – recipes seen in the DVD given to those that attend
10:45pm to noon - meeting

This month’s episode of Good Eats with Alton Brown will be all about Tomatoes (first bulk deliveries scheduled for next week) and will include . This month’s meeting topics will include the ever popular challenge of how to increase CSA membership, how to increase participation in farm tours, planning for future meetings and restaurant outings, and any other input that might come up about the CSA, the food we get, etc.

 Monday, August 13th to Sunday, August 19th

Addiction Summit
Online conference
FREE
To register…

In addition to the more obvious drugs and alcohol, this also includes food and technology addictions. Some of the speakers I know about are Dr. David Perlmutter (holistic neurologist) and Dr. Joel Fuhrman (holistic family MD creator of nutritarian diet…vegan based).

 Monday, September 3rd

1pm to 4pm

Wild foods tour with Wildman Steve Brill
Sunken Meadow State Park
1 Sunken Meadow Pkwy
Kings Park
$20 – Adults/$12 – under 12 years old
To register and for more info…

Steve Brill is a rock star of food foraging. Will be on the lookout for Beach Plums, Sea Rocket and Honey Mushrooms! The tour may, or may not, be co-led by Steve’s 14 year old daughter, Violet, and whether she’s there or not, it will be kid friendly.

 Saturday, September 15th

10am to 4pm

10th Annual Organic Apple Festival
Rodale Institute
Kutztown, PA
$10 parking fee per vehicle (suggested donation)
For more info:

Pick your own organic Apples, wagon tours, kid’s activities, live music, lecture, and much more!
  
Saturday, October 20th

Annual CSA Pumpkin Picking Farm Tour
Green Thumb Farm
Water Mill
FREE

Last time to get a behind the scenes tour of our farm and talk to our farmers (Got a garden? Got questions? These are the guys to ask J ). More info to come

  
7.What’s the big deal about fiber in food?

It’s actually pretty amazing and important, and our CSA shares have a lot of it…

  
8.What you actually got last week

Week #6
July 12, 2018

  1. Lettuce: Leaf, Red – 1 head - $3.25
  2. Peas, Snow*  – 1/2 lb. - $4.50
  3. Beets: Chiogga** – 1 bunch - $4.00
  4. Squash, Summer: Costata Romanesco, Cousa, Globe (8 Ball), Gold Zucchini, Patty Pan (Scalloped), Crookneck Yellow, Zucchini***  – 2 lbs. - $5.25
  5. Beans, Fava**** – 1 lb. - $4.25

Total Items: 5
Total Amount: $21.25
(We pay $20 per week for our CSA share…some weeks we get a bit more and it adds up over the course of the season. This week we got an extra $1.25…whoo-hoo J ! So far that total is $3.25 which doesn’t sound like much, but…just wait and see! We seem to always get at least one CSA share’s worth of food every year that we don’t pay for…some years two, and some between one and two…it’s all good! J )

*On the list of the world’s 100 healthiest foods…

**On the list of the world’s 100 healthiest foods…
And if we get the Beet Greens, this is a 2 for 1…

***On the list of the world’s 100 healthiest foods…

****Fava Beans – no Veggie Info Sheet for this one so…
OR if you have G6PD (also known as favism…rare genetic disease in Sephardic Jews, and people of Mediterranean or African descent http://g6pddeficiency.org/wp/g6pd-deficiency-home/overview-of-g6pd-deficiency/#.WWXB1RtK3ug  if you don’t have a problem with Soy there’s a decent chance you don’t have this…and it is rare…and seems to get detected in childhood)
OR if you have issues with migraine headaches you might want to see if there’s any connection between eating Fava Beans (and Chickpeas and Navy Beans), and onset of migraines. This may or may not be a trigger for you.  Black Beans don’t appear to have this issue at all for those who tend to get migraines.

How to prepare…

Nutrition info…

Recipes…
Easiest…however you make Hummus – substitute cooked, skinless Fava Beans for your Garbanzo Beans/Chick Peas and proceed and use however you’d use Hummus
Fava Beans with Snap Peas and Mint
Grilled Fava Beans
Broiled Fava Beans with Dill and Garlic Salt…
Fava Bean and Goat Cheese Dip with Radishes


Flower Share - #4
Ageratum (all parts of the plant are toxic so keep away from pets/kids)



9.And now for something completely different…

Charles Manson doughnut???

Doesn’t even look like a doughnut!

###