Happy Autumn (no matter how cold it is…still Autumn till
December 20th)!
IF you are trying to contact the CSA by phone on
Thursdays by calling the Cinema Arts Centre…KEEP CALLING till someone picks
up! The Cinema Arts Centre is having an intermittent unsolved (and so
far unsolvable) problem with people calling, it doesn’t ring at the Cinema, so
no one picks up, and people give up. You could also try calling 631-423-7611 in
addition to the usual 631-423-7610.
CSA weather report…so far it says rainy and
cold (upper-30s, but will feel like lower-30s), hopefully no snow, and more
important…that the temps don’t drop below freezing for icy driving
conditions…but ok to leave your CSA food in the car!
Last day of CSA…Thursday, December 13th.
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…in both nutrients and energy…Sweet Potatoes,
Winter Squashes, dark leafy greens, etc…. that are the energy powerhouses to
fuel us through the winter) to get you through winter to make it to…Spring!
Week #28
December 13, 2018
- Kale* – 1 bunch
- Winter Squash: Pharsi**
- Beans, Black: Turtle (dried)***
- Rutabagas
- Sweet Potatoes****
End of season bonus vegetable…
- Carrots*****
Herb Share – Dec 1A
Peppers, Hot (dried)****** AND Mint******* OR Sage********
*One of the world’s healthiest foods…
**One of the world’s healthiest foods…
***One of the world’s healthiest foods…
****One of the world’s healthiest foods…
*****One of the world’s healthiest foods…
******One of the world’s healthiest foods…
*******One of the world’s healthiest foods…
********One of the world’s healthiest foods…
http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=76
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
- Click activism…
- Blue Zone greens
- Events…both near and far
- Nutrient packed fall vegetables from the gang at the
Chopra Center
- Dr. Andrew Weil talks about Beans (Black and others)…
- 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.
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.Click activism…
We need a new 2018 Farm Bill that builds a more sustainable,
equitable food system. Right now, a congressional committee is working to
negotiate a final 2018 Farm Bill. This moment is critical for farmers, workers
and eaters. A vote on the 2018 Farm Bill is expected in the next week or so,
and negotiations are ongoing hour-by-hour.
Join in urging Congress to pass a strong 2018 Farm Bill for
a just, sustainable and thriving food system: http://bit.ly/2AU1Bjv?source=email&
What are Blue Zones? Areas of the world where people
commonly live active lives past the age of 100!
Our CSA gives us 6 out of the 8 mentioned in this article
(Nettles are more of a foraged food, and not sure if our farm grows Mache or
not)…
4.Events…both near and far
Thursday, December 13th
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.
Friday, January 18th to Sunday, January 20th
NOFA-NY’s 37th Annual Winter Conference: Climate
of Change
Saratoga Hilton & City Center
Saratoga Springs, NY
To register and for more info (and/or to join NOFA-NY)…
NOFA is the Northeast Organic Farmer’s Association and it’s
the organization that certifies organic farms in 7 states in the northeast (NY,
NJ, RI, MA, CT, NH, VT)…long before the federal government got involved. Great
group worth joining and/or donating money to. Our CSA farm, Green Thumb Farm,
is a certified organic by NOFA-NY and has been for MANY years (somewhere
between 20 and 40).
9am to 9:30pm
The Real Truth About Health
Hilton Long Island
598 Broadhollow Rd.
Melville
FREE (vegan lunch, dinner and Ice Cream included every day)
For more info and to register (they need to have an idea of
how much food to provide, etc)…
They did it last year, and they’re doing it again! CSA
member Karen Rubino went and already told me she’s planning on going again. I
missed it, but paid to get permanent online access to all the lectures. This
year I plan to attend at least some of them (10 days 12 hours a day…quite a
commitment of time). You can also watch the lectures streaming live (and need
to register for access). Some of the speakers this year include…Brian Clement
(Hippocrates Health Institute), Joel Fuhrman MD (latest book, one of many, is
Super Immunity), Joel Kahn MD (holistic cardiologist), Vandana Shiva (I MUST go
see her… a read “shero” of mine J ),
Jeffrey Smith (expert on GMO issues), and MANY more (a total of 35 speakers).
The focus is a vegan lifestyle, but there’s something for everyone if you’re
interested in healthy living, eating, and alternative/holistic medicine.
NAVEL Science of Human Optimization Conference (formerly the
NAVAL Expo)
Hyatt Regency
Hauppauge
For more info, get on their email list…
3pm to 7pm
Plant-based Summit
Baruch Performing Arts Center – Engelman Recital Hall
55 Lexington Ave
NYC
$54.99
To purchase tickets…
Hosted by Heidi’s Health Kitchen (located on Long Island and
they do periodic vegan/gluten-free pop-up dinners on the south shore), this is
a 7th Day Adventist event focusing on the health (alternative) and
dietary principles of being a 7th Day Adventist…which is
plant-based.
5.Nutrient packed fall vegetables from the gang at the
Chopra Center
And our CSA over the years has provided us with 5 out of 6
of them (with the exception being Endive)…
This year we didn’t get any Cauliflower (not sure why, and
didn’t ask but will over the winter), but on the other hand, we hadn’t gotten
any Brussels Sprouts in a bunch of years so was happy to see them again!
Farming is like that, some years some crops do better than others for a number of
different reasons.
6.Dr. Andrew Weil talks about Beans (Black and others)…
While he recommends canned Beans as being easy and “best”,
he doesn’t talk about the problem with cans containing BPA (and even the BPA
substitutes being a problem)…
The Black Beans we get at the CSA are the freshest you’ll
ever get (store bought dried Beans can be easily several years old)…
I checked Dr. Weil’s website and there doesn’t seem to be a
single article on BPA in canned foods. However the Environmental Working Group
is on the job if you want to learn more…
Why bother avoiding BPA?
Their recommendation is to avoid using canned foods (at
minimum rinse foods in water that come in cans to MAYBE lower the amount of BPA
you’ll consume)…
While I use canned Beans, cooking them up yourself is
cheaper and healthier. And since I bought my new “toy” (Instant Pot), I hope to
get rid of the cans for the most part (still a good idea to have some on hand
for emergencies of time and power outages…Westbrae brand is organic and doesn’t
use BPA in its cans).
7.What you actually got last week
Week #27
December 6, 2018
- Collard Greens – 1 bunch - $4.75
- Jerusalem Artichokes** - ¾ lb. bag - $4.50
- Cabbage: Green OR Savoy*** – 1 large head OR 2 small
heads - $3.50
- Pak Choi**** - 1 bunch - $3.75
- Sweet Potatoes***** - up to but not over 3 lbs. - $5.25
Total Items: 5
Total Amount: $21.75
(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 $1.75
extra. So far, the total comes to $25.25! 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
)
*One of the world’s healthiest foods…
Recipe - 5 minute steamed Collard Greens…
**Dr. Mercola on Inulin…found in Jerusalem Artichokes and
other foods…VERY good for most people (start small and build up if it’s a new
food), but NOT GOOD for those on a low FODMAP diet…
***One of the world’s healthiest foods…
And a recipe…
**** One of the world’s healthiest foods…says Bok Choi but
VERY similar to Pak Choi…
*****One of the world’s healthiest foods…
8.And now for something completely different…
Young woman tries to be a chocolatier for the day, with the
help of Jacques Torres (maybe she’s not getting the job? J )…
###
