Happy Autumn!
CSA Farm Tour date changed to October 27th
(see below under Events) and the farm is now taking RSVPs.
CSA weather report…pleasant…in the mid-70s
(don’t leave your CSA food in the car for an extended period of time…still too
warm)
HURRICANE ALERT!
We’re not having a hurricane YET but please read this now…
This is hurricane season and will be followed by the
possibility of snow and ice before the CSA ends for the season. So, please be
aware…
- If you don’t get any emails on any given week, show up
to the CSA at the usual time and place, and if you’re able…show up to
offer to work at 3:30pm or 5:30pm in case there’s a need. The reasons for
non-communication could be A) computer problems (storm or no), B) power
outages, and C) the X factor (unknown at the present time but…stuff
happens).
- Keep in mind that the farm will show up and deliver
food like the post office talks about the weather…rain, sleet, etc., so
your CSA share will be at the Cinema Arts Centre waiting for you, unless
there’s several feet of snow (or a serious ice storm or flooding) and no
one is able to go anywhere. We’ve had food delivered during Hurricane
Sandy, and during snowstorms.
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 #18
October 4, 2018
- Tomatoes*
- Leeks** – 1 bunch
- Tat Soi – 1 bunch
- Lettuce – 1 head
- Okra***
Total Items: 5
*On the list of the world’s 100 healthiest foods…
**On the list of the world’s 100 healthiest foods…
***Dr. Mercola on the health benefits of Okra (including
helpful hints for preparing…Okra water is a new one for me J )…
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.
This email includes…
- What you need to know
- It’s time to weigh our CSA food!!!
- Pickle it…
- Click Activism – changing the world one click at a time
- Golden Nugget recipe and Leek info
- Events…both near and far
- FDA not telling us about pesticides in food (or at
least not any time soon after they find out)
- What you actually got last week
- 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 house…BRING 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 –
- Check in at the sign-in desk
- 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!
- 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.
- 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!
- Bring
your reading glasses or ask someone to help if you can’t see the numbers
on the scale clearly.
- 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.
- 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.Pickle it!
When in doubt regarding vegetables…pickle it!
Things we get at the CSA mentioned here are…Beets, Cabbage,
Carrots, Cauliflower, Cucumbers, Snap Beans, Peppers (Sweet and Hot), Tomatoes
and Zucchini…
4.Click Activism – changing the world one click at a time
We need a new 2018 Farm Bill that builds a more sustainable,
equitable food system. As of the 2014 Farm Bill's expiration on October 1, more
than a dozen important farm bill programs have been left unable to
operate. Join me in calling on Congress for a 2018 Farm Bill: http://bit.ly/2xscuYR?source=email&
Read Wendell Berry’s (writer and agricultural hero) NY Times
Op Ed piece on the Farm Bill…
5.Golden Nugget recipe and Leek info
Looked into the Golden Nugget Winter Squash we
got last week as I thought it looked like a Kuri Squash, and while it was
hybridized and developed in North Dakota State University back in 1966 to be a
substitute for Sweet Potatoes (not GMO…old school hybridization techniques),
another name for it is Oriental Squash so I’m thinking there’s probably some
Kuri in there…
The only thing I must add to this (and our own Veg Info
Sheet) is that you CAN cook with the green part of the Leeks. I
eat in Flushing, Queens in many Chinese restaurants and whenever they say Leeks
and (fill in the blank), they NEVER use the white part but ONLY the dark green
part. I’d say to blanch them first to soften them up and then cut in ¼ to ½
inch pieces, or braise or cook low and slow or in something that’s liquidy.
Check out the recipes and info here…
Leek info…to grow and cook with…
6.Events…both near and far
Thursday, October 4th
10am to 11am
iEat Green with Bhavani online radio show
Progressive Radio Network
Always interesting guests. You can also check out the
archives for other shows.
Wednesday, October 10th
10am to 2pm
Senior Health Fair (60 + is the definition of “senior” at
this facility)
Senior Center
423 Park Ave
Huntington
FREE
Nutrition counseling (curious to see what that consists of J ), glucose and cholesterol screening,
blood pressure screening, BMI (body mass index) screening and more!
Thursday, October 11th to Wedneday, October
17th
7 Day Metabolism Reset Challenge
Online educational series
FREE
To register…
Lose weight, eliminate fatty liver disease, feel better! You
will be asked to buy the book…but you don’t have to!
Saturday, October 27th
10:30am, 11:30am & 12:30pm
Annual CSA Pumpkin Picking Farm Tour
Green Thumb Farm
Water Mill
FREE
Call to RSVP:
631-726-1900 (M to Su 9:30am to 4:30pm)
This tour is for CSA members and immediate family only
(sorry, but if you share a CSA share with someone, only the person listed on
the contract is a CSA member…however, if the CSA member isn’t coming, you can
show up and use their name to RSVP). 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 ).
This is a hayride tour of a different section of the farm
than we toured in June during Strawberry picking.
Also, there’s usually a discount at the farm stand for those
attending the farm tour (will check on that).
Saturday, November 3rd
8am to 5pm
LI Food Conference: Food as a Solution
LIU Post
Northern Blvd.
Brookville
$30 (before 10/22)/$40 (starting 10/22)/$15 Student (ID
required)/FREE – students of LIU Post students…online registration required
To buy tickets…
A project of the Long Island Food Coalition (connected to
the North Shore Land Alliance). Scheduled speakers include Frances Moore Lappe
(author of the classic Diet for a Small Planet), Sally Fallon (author of the
classic Nourishing Traditions), celebrity chef/food activist Tom Colicchio,
Ellen Kamhi – the Natural Nurse, and Karen Washington (co-founder of Black
Urban Gardeners and founder of Rise and Root Farm in the Bronx). Breakfast and
lunch are included in the price of the ticket. Other groups involved in the
conference are the North Shore Land Alliance, Sierra Club, LIU, Long Island
Cares, Slow Food and iEat Green.
Sunday, November 18th
2pm to 7pm
Healthy Planet’s 25th Annual Turkey-free
Thanksgiving Potluck Dinner & Lecture
Sustainability Institute at Molloy College
7180 Republic Airport
Farmingdale
$10 – Members/$15 – General Public/FREE – under 12 years old
(however, add $10 to each category if not bringing any food to share and
eating)
To reserve, purchase tickets and become a member of Healthy
Planet:
Come for all or part of this event…I usually show up for the
lecture and raffles
2pm – Live music, complimentary soup course, socialize
3pm – Potluck begins (bring only vegan food…see website for
details…or don’t, and eat the food provided by everyone else plus some donated
from vendors)
4:30pm – Member announcements and lecture…guest speaker to
be announced.
5:30pm – Raffles and more (our farm usually donates a
“basket of plenty” for this event as a raffle prize)
7. FDA not telling us about pesticides in food (or
at least not any time soon after they find out)
If the FDA isn’t telling us, how can we avoid carcinogenic
chemicals in our food? Buy certified organic everything…or as much as you’re
comfortably able to…
8.What you actually got last week
Week #17
September 27, 2018
- Tomatoes, Mini: Grape, Yellow* - 1 pt. - $5.24
- Radishes, mixed – 1 bunch - $3.25
- Onions** - 1 lb. bag - $3.00
- Fennel*** – 1 bunch - $4.25
- Peppers, Sweet: Concho de Toro – 1 lb. bag - $3.25
- Squash, Winter: Golden Nugget**** - 1 - $2.50
Total Items: 6
Total Amount: $21.50
(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 $1.75 So far that total is $18 which may not 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 )
Herb Share – Sept 2B
Cilantro AND Thyme
*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…
9.And now for something completely different…
Rapper hospitalized due to Cheeto overdose (really!)…
File this under “who knew?”…eating spicy snacks are the #1
reason children are admitted into hospitals for gastric issues, and just one
hospital talked about seeing 100 to 150 children every year due to the
OVERCONSUMPTION of spicy snacks! Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and Takis seem to be the
main culprits. Moderation and portion control is the cure J .
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