Week #7 June 5, 2014

Happy Spring and Happy World Environment Day!

For more info on World Environment Day…
http://www.unep.org/wed/

And maybe join Team Gisele (Bundchen…the model) since you’re already reducing your food footprint by being a CSA member, and if you learn to use up all the produce you receive in your CSA share (how many of you cooked up those delicious Radish greens last week? And always use the delicate greens and herbs first as the rest will last longer in your fridge) you’re reducing waste even more! But join the team you like the best…there’s no losers here! 
http://www.unep.org/wed/wedchallenge/gisele/

Planting a garden this year? Get certified organic Herb (many varieties), Vegetable (many varieties) and Flower (some…ask!) plants grown at your farm, Green Thumb Farm! To order plants, call the farm at 631-726-1900 between 9:30am and 4pm any day of the week/weekend and have a credit card on hand for payment. They will be delivered with the next available CSA delivery!

If you’d like to visit our farm (Green Thumb Farm in Water Mill) on days besides our CSA Strawberry picking in June and Pumpkin picking in October, the farm stand is now open until Sunday, December 7th. Tell them at the farm stand that you’re a CSA member and it’s sure to bring a smile!

Seriously…put this phone number (631-385-1079) in your cell phone, on your fridge, or wherever you put phone numbers you’re glad to have when you need them! It’s the hall phone of the UUFH to be used only on Thursdays from 3pm to 8pm. We’ve already had a few people who wished they had it and didn’t, and others who had it and found out how handy it can be! 

When picking up your CSA share (and “you” means the CSA member whose ONE NAME is on the CSA contract)…if you are sharing a CSA share with someone OR if someone besides you is picking up for you, the person who is not you must give your name to the person at the sign-in table along with their name. Last week, someone who lives with the CSA member gave their name and since it’s early in the season, we had no idea at the end of the night who the heck this person was and it caused a bit of a kerfuffle.


This email contains…

1. Your CSA doesn’t need you this week but…
2. Invitation to drink and dine
3. This week’s list…
4. Flower Shares are coming! Are you ready and on the list?
5. What you actually got last week
6. Pregnancy, babies and cell phones
7. Learn to play with your food at Fairway!
8. Strawberries picking at our farm!
9. Panera eliminating all artificial ingredients by 2016!
10. And now for something completely different…


1. Your CSA doesn’t need you this week but…

you can always show up at 3:30pm or 5:30pm and ask if we still need help!

Also, keep in mind that if you don’t get an email telling you that you’re working on a particular week…you’re not scheduled to work (but if you have any questions, get in touch with Judi and/or suzanne).



2. Invitation to drink and dine!

This Friday, there’s a culinary adventure afoot with suzanne j zoubeck, Dylan Skolnick, Katherine Congdon Caldwell, Vickie Muller, Judi & Paul Soehren (so far)!

Here’s the schedule…

2:30pm leave Huntington for NYC (there may be car pooling)
4pm arrive in NYC and park near Union Square Greenmarket
To 5pm – hang out at Union Square and buy (but nothing that needs refrigeration if you can’t get it cold within 2 hours) and nosh a bit as part of A Summer Night with Market Chefs…
http://www.grownyc.org/nightmarkets
5pm – leave for Williamsburg
6pm to 6:30pm – go to a wine/mead tasting at…
Brooklyn Kitchen
100 Frost St (between Manhattan Ave and Leonard St)
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
http://www.thebrooklynkitchen.com/
and for those of us who ordered, pick up our Community Supported Alcohol shares…if you want to purchase a wine share, it may be an option…not sure if he’s selling single bottles at this point in time
This is the specifics on the wines for this season’s share (I’m really looking forward to the Dandelion Wine – he invited CSA members to pick the Dandelions with him but I couldn’t make it…hopefully, next time I’ll join in)…
http://enlightenmentwines.com/EnlightenmentWinesCSA-SPRING2014.html
6:30pm – leave for dinner (it will probably be either The Meatball Shop in Williamsburg or Bun*ker Vietnamese in Ridgewood, Queens depending on how many people end up going along…so far the food requests have been gluten-free, vegan but vegetarian acceptable, no MSG, no artificial sweeteners, and fish ok but no meat. Both of these locations have options for all of the above)
http://themeatballshop.com/
http://bunkervietnamese.com/

If you’re interesting in coming along to any or all of these events, get in touch by email or phone (631-421-4864) and leave a cell phone number so we can stay in touch.

If you want to go on your own to the wine/mead tasting there’s Friday night in Williamsburg and Saturday in NYC…

Friday, June 6th

6 to 8pm

Enlightenment Wine/Mead Tasting & CSA Signup
Brooklyn Kitchen
100 Frost St (between Manhattan Ave & Leonard St)
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
718-389-2982
http://enlightenmentwines.com/news/

To join…Full Share $250 (12 bottles of wine/mead total – 4 varieties and 3 of each kind)/Half Share $130 )6 bottles of wine/mead total (6 bottles total – 3 varieties and 2 of each kind…won’t include 2014 Nought). Can be paid by cash or Paypal (you can ask/email about a check).

To read more about Raphael and Enlightenment Wine…
http://www.ediblemanhattan.com/departments/notable-edibles/a-sparkling-mead-maker-takes-a-bite-out-of-the-apple/
http://nyc.cleanplates.com/drinks/community-supported-alcohol-enlightenment-wines/


Saturday, June 7th

4pm to 6pm

Enlightenment Wine/Mead Tasting & CSA Signup
508 Brewpub
508 Greenwich Ave (between Spring St & Canal St)
NYC
212-219-2444
http://enlightenmentwines.com/news/

To sample is free, to join…Full Share $250 (12 bottles of wine/mead total – 4 varieties and 3 of each kind)/Half Share $130 )6 bottles of wine/mead total (6 bottles total – 3 varieties and 2 of each kind…won’t include 2014 Nought). Can be paid by cash or Paypal (you can ask/email about a check).

To read more about Raphael and Enlightenment Wine…
http://www.ediblemanhattan.com/departments/notable-edibles/a-sparkling-mead-maker-takes-a-bite-out-of-the-apple/
http://nyc.cleanplates.com/drinks/community-supported-alcohol-enlightenment-wines/



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

June 5, 2014
Week #7

1. Strawberries
2. Rhubarb
3. Mustard (greenhouse)
4. Lettuce, Leaf: Red
5. Chives, Flowering
6. Cress, Curly

Total Items: 6



4. Flower Shares are coming! Are you ready and on the list?

The first week of the Flower Share is coming soon. In past years it’s been the first week of June but this year it seems like everything is running late when it comes to agriculture/horticulture.

So, if you don’t have a Flower Share yet and would like to, or you have one and would like more than one…this is it! Let me know and bring your checks in this or next week. It’s $70 for 10 weeks of Flowers at $7 a bunch but keep in mind that the Flowers don’t come every week for 10 weeks. They show up when THEY are ready. If you’re sharing with someone and you buy a Flower Share and they show up when your share partner is picking up you can either pick your Flowers up from them, or have them pay you for the Flower for that week.

The first week is often Peonies and we don’t get them again till next year so if you love them like I do…this is it! Also, keep in mind that you can have more than one Flower Share. A number of us (I’m one of them) get 2 Flower Shares because they are just that nice!!! 



5. What you actually got last week

May 29, 2014
Week #6

1. Kale, Siberian: White – 1 bunch - $3.50
2. Thyme – 1 bunch - $2.75
3. Radishes: Red (greenhouse) – 1 bunch - $3.00
4. Tat Soi (greenhouse) – 1 bunch - $3.00
5. Scallions – 1 bunch - $3.00
6. Swiss Chard (greenhouse) – 1 bunch - $3.50

Total Items: 6
Total Amount: $18.75 (We pay $18.50 per week for our CSA share. We were over by $.25 this week for the total of the season so far…meaning that the farmer is giving us more than we paid for…is $2.25 over from what we’ve paid so far)



6. Pregnancy, babies and cell phones

Patti Wood, who organizes the only all organic greenmarket in NY State, located in Port Washington, has a new project and this is it…
http://www.babysafeproject.org/

And it ties in with CSA member Andrew Pettenger’s successful film program at the Cinema Arts Centre last weekend about smart meters and EMF exposure. It’s a small world! 

If you didn’t get to attend the film program featuring the movie Take Back Your Power (or if you saw it and want to show it to friends and family), you can purchase a copy of the film from Andrew. Let me know and I’ll get you in touch with him.

You can see the movie trailer here…
http://www.takebackyourpower.net/



7. Learn to play with your food at Fairway!

Meet Bill Wurtzel and learn how to make fun food art using only healthy ingredients from Fairway…
http://www.funnyfood.us/

Saturday, June 21st

1 to 3pm

Fairway, Red Hook, Brooklyn
480-500 Van Brunt St.
$1.00 if you reserve online…not sure if there’s a cost if you reserve at the store
https://www.fairwaymarket.com/shop/funny-food-art-workshop/

Register at the Customer Service Desk or online.



8. Strawberries picking at our farm!

Saturday, June 21st

10am to 1pm

Annual CSA Strawberry Picking and Farm Tour
Green Thumb Farm
Rt 27
Water Mill

Save the date! The times are 10am, 11am 12pm and 1pm. It’s a walking tour of approx 1 hour in length for CSA member and immediate family members only!

If you’re sharing a CSA share with someone, only one person/family can go. In this case often one person will go in June for the Strawberry picking, and the other person will go in October for the Pumpkin picking and the name of the CSA member is the one used for the reservation.



9. . Panera eliminating all artificial ingredients by 2016!

If you like the direction this restaurant is going in (they already use meat with no added antibiotics and are eliminating trans fats)…GO EAT THERE (and suggest that others you know do the same)! Money talks…
http://www.grubstreet.com/2014/06/panera-all-natural-ingredients.html?om_rid=AADNgX&om_mid=_BTj2cOB86Zcehe

The nearest Panera to the CSA is 345 Main Street in Huntington Village. You can park either in the front or in the back in the lot on Gerard St and enter in the back entrance. The hours are Monday to Thursday from 6:30am to 10pm, Friday and Saturday from 6:30am to 11pm, and Sunday from 7am to 9pm. They serve breakfast every day to 11:30am.

BTW…Panera has had organic offerings in the past but since not enough people purchased them…they’re gone. The CEO likes to eat organic/natural/healthy and he’d like the rest of America to feel the same way but unless he has customers who agree by coming and eating there, his hands are tied to not be able to do more in this direction.



10. And now for something completely different…

File under…I’m SO sorry I missed this – NOT! 
http://www.lamag.com/lafood/digestblog/2014/05/29/the-magic-restroom-cafe-goes-down-the-toilet

And here’s the original!!!
http://www.moderntoilet.com.tw/en/about.asp

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