Week #20 September 4, 2014

Happy Summer (it’s still summer till September 22nd)!

TWO mysteries of the other week solved (finally)!
1. Found out who left their Mini Tomatoes by the Flowers and how that happened
2. I found out who didn’t get their Flower Share and how that happened
This is useful to try and plan how to not have it happen in the future (one can always do a little better). Thanks! 

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! I’m hearing from the people who bought these plants so far that they’re doing GREAT!!!

If you’d like to visit our farm (Green Thumb Farm in Water Mill) on days besides our CSA Pumpkin picking in October, the farm stand is now open 7 days a week 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! 

This email contains…

1. HELP!!! Your CSA does not need you this week! However…
2. WE WEIGH!!!
3. This week’s list…
4. Anybody interested in going to the North Fork Foodie Tour?
5. What you actually got last week
6. Coincidence? Which 2 foods from this week’s CSA share are on Dr. Andrew Weil’s 8 BEST foods for a healthy immune system, and why should we be eating more Red Tomatoes?
7. Basil…I thought something was going on here!!!
8. Help change the world with a click!
9. Book sale! Chelsea Green (great eco/green publishing company) is having a 75% sale for the next few days…
10. And now for something completely different…



1. HELP!!! 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.

And if you got an email from Judi asking you to confirm that you’re working…you need to respond to that in the time frame stated in the email otherwise she’s going to try and find someone else to take your place.



2. WE WEIGH!!!

It’s time to weigh our food!

A. Check the wall chart before taking any food so you know what you’re taking and how much to take…assume nothing and ask questions! 

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

C. 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 51 members and if every person is off by ONE OUNCE (for crying out loud! It’s only an ounce!!!) …that means we’ll be short over THREE POUNDS of produce and some CSA members won’t get the food they paid for. And I’m sure you wouldn’t want it to be you!

D. IF you are asked to weigh more than one food item at the same time…please follow the directions given to you and weigh in the order you are asked (you might not think there’s a good reason to be doing this but our farmer does and that should be enough of a reason right there…if you want a further explanation – ask suzanne…there is a method to the madness )



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

September 4, 2014
Week #29

1. Lettuce
2. Tomatoes
3. Cucumber
4. Peppers, Sweet
5. Cantaloupe
6. Okra*
7. Squash, Summer

Total Items: 7

Flower Share #10 (maybe…maybe not)
THE END!!! 

*
Roasted Okra (with Summer Squash and Tomato)…
http://www.nytimes.com/recipes/1016763/roasted-okra.html



4. Anybody interested in going to the North Fork Foodie Tour this Sunday?

If so, maybe we can either carpool or just meet up at some point during the day! Last time we met up for an al fresco lunch at the Lunch Truck…part of North Fork Table and Inn.
Buy food at the truck and sit on lawn chairs, or on the grass out in the back (or bring a blanket in case the chairs are all taken)…
http://www.nofoti.com/the-lunch-truck/

Sunday, September 7th
10am to 4pm

Peconic Land Trust Agricultural Center at Charnews Farm
3005 Youngs Ave
Southold, NY
$25 Adults/Children under 12 FREE
For more info and tickets…
http://www.northforkreformsynagogue.org/community/annual-foodie-tour

You can check out organic farms, a raw milk dairy, mushrooms, meat, cheese, wine, micro-greens, honey, lavender, beer, chickens and a whole lot more!



5. What you actually got last week

August 28, 2014
Week #19

1. Lettuce: Oakleaf, Green – 1 head - $2.75
2. Eggplant – 1 - $2.00
3. Cabbage – 1 head - $1.50
4. Beans, Green* - up to 1 lb - $3.50
5. Cantaloupe – 1 - $3.00
6. Celery – 1 bunch - $3.25
7. Squash, Summer: Costata Romanesco, Eight Ball, Gold, Kousa, Patty Pan (Green, Yellow), Yellow, Zucchini – up to 1 lb - $2.00
8. Cucumber – 2 - $1.00

Total Items: 8
Total Amount: $19.00
(We pay $18.50 per week for our CSA share. Our farmer has give us $.50 more this week than the $18.50 which we paid for so, the total so far is $9.75 more than what we’ve paid so far this season)

Herb Share – Aug 2B
Sage AND Rosemary

*
Dr. Andrew Weil’s Three Reasons to be eating Green Beans…
http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/TIP05290/3-Reasons-to-Eat-Green-Beans.html
Dr. Weil’s favorite French Bean Salad…
http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/RCP02391/French-Bean-Salad-with-Vegetarian-Caesar-Dressing.html



6. Coincidence? Which 2 foods from this week’s CSA share are on Dr. Andrew Weil’s 8 BEST foods for a healthy immune system, and why should we be eating more Red Tomatoes?

Just got this last night and low and behold…we’ve got TWO of them in this week’s CSA share!

Dr. Andrew Weil’s 8 best foods for a healthy immune system…
http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/TIP05302/8-Best-Foods-for-A-Healthy-Immune-System.html

Another one of them we’ll be getting again later in the season, the other (Strawberries) we got for 4 weeks in June/July, and the other 4 can’t be easily grown locally (meant for warmer climates than Long Island…maybe in another 20 years it won’t be, but for now…unless you have a greenhouse they can’t be grown here).

Eat more Tomatoes specifically (the Red ones are the ones with Lycopene), and of course, more vegetables and fruits in general…
http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/WBL02419/More-Tomatoes-Please.html



7. Basil…I thought something was going on here!!!

We didn’t get any Basil in our regular CSA share this year, the Basil Shares were shorter stalks of Basil then I’d ever seen before, and there was a break in the Basil share where none came in for a week. All this indicated to me that there was something going on at the farm with the Basil crop. I asked our Farmer Bill but he is a man of few words so all he had to say was that it was done for the season and I know he’s REALLY busy this time of year so I didn’t want to press for more of an answer (plus, it just might be really depressing to think about how much money was lost in the failed crop). In talking to other people at the CSA I thought there might be something going on island wide (between problems in home gardens and other farms) so I wrote to the REAL vegetable queen of Long Island (sometimes I think it’s me  ), Sandy Menasha of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County. She deals with organic vegetable growing and problems in our area (as well as non-organic produce). I’ve met her over the years at various events and conferences so I felt ok about contacting her.

This is basically what I said…
Is it my perception, or is it reality, that there were issues with growing Basil this year on Long Island? And if so, can you (or someone) tell me why?

This is what Sandy (who rocks hard  ) had to say…
It is not just perception. Basil downy mildew if the fungal disease that has made growing Basil a nightmare. This disease is so devastating because it produces spores and the undersides of leaves turning them black. Since with Basil we eat the leaves it is then unmarketable and unappetizing. The spores are wind dispersed so it can spread very quickly. This has been a problem all over the US starting in about 20009 or 2010 and was introduced most likely through seed as overseas has had the problem before it was introduced here. Cornell and Rutgers are working on breeding disease resistance into Basil to help manage the problem and Meg is looking at various organic and conventional spray programs that may also help.

My basil in my home garden was hit with Basil downy mildew by late-July and I had to tear out all my plants. Hopefully soon, we will have some good disease resistant varieties available and be able to grow Basil again without any sprays.

Meg has put a lot of information on the web about Basil Downy Mildew. If you Goggle search this you will find more information on the subject.

Last comment from me…
Damn! I am hoping they are not creating GMO Basil (but sure some people are), and at least some are using old school hybridizing programs to create disease resistant Basil varieties (which is the only kind certified organic farmers could use).



8. Help change the world with a click!

A. Tell Governor Cuomo to help the next generation of farmers find affordable farmland!
https://secure2.convio.net/aft/site/Advocacy;jsessionid=BFBFE78AD3496BE690982B4185E5EBAB.app274b?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=463

B. Former US Secretary of Labor Robert Reich asks us to tell Burger King’s corporate headquarters to stay in America (they want to lower the amount of US taxes they pay by merging with Canadian company Tim Horton’s restaurants and switch their corporate headquarters is in Canada where the corporate taxes are lower)…
http://act.democracyforamerica.com/sign/BurgerKing/?t=1&referring_akid=5218.600188.4A5jZl

C. Tell Congress to support the Saving America’s Pollinators Act…and if you’re so inclined there’s a BUNCH more food related petitions to sign that just pop up…
https://takeaction.takepart.com/actions/help-save-our-bees-tell-congress-to-support-the-saving-america-s-pollinators-act?cmpid=tp-eml-justlabelit-bees-2



9. Book sale! Chelsea Green (great eco/green publishing company) is having a 75% sale for the next few days…

If you like books on healthy cooking, green home building, this sale runs through Sunday, September 7th…
http://www.chelseagreen.com/content/summer-savings-time-running/?utm_source=Bronto&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=EOS&utm_content=EOS4&utm_campaign=EOS

Have already seen some books I’m getting…
Growing, Older – Joan Dye Gussow (if you like Marion Nestle, you’ll probably like Joan Gussow…Marion is at NYU and Joan was at Columbia…I own nothing by this woman and she’s a shero of mine)
Preserving Food without Freezing or Canning – Terre Vivante (I’ve wanted to get this one for years)
Seed to Seed – Suzanne Ashworth (a classic seed saving book)
The Winter Harvest Handbook – Eliot Coleman (it’s good to have dreams and anything by Coleman is worth reading and owning)



10. And now for something completely different…

Jeff Bridges narrates and is featured in this film/commercial for Kahlua (what else? If you’re a fan of “the Dude”) that seems like it was directed by David Lynch and reminds me of the plot of No Country for Old Men…
http://www.grubstreet.com/2014/09/jeff-bridges-white-russian.html?om_rid=AADNgX&om_mid=_BUB2LcB88FxjFq

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