Happy Spring!
CSA weather report…warm and pleasant!
Important…if you send anyone to the CSA to
pick up food for you, please tell them to BRING BAGS!
This email includes…
- What you need to know
- Sign up for the 30 Day
Eat More Vegetables Challenge…
- Celebrity smoothie!
- Food safety and
COVID-19…
- What you actually got last
week (to give you an idea of what we got the last week of our CSA)
- Need something a little
cheerful and uplifting to read?
- 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 physician(s) before
taking any action.
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.
Time – 3:30pm to 7:30pm
Place – Sky Room Café in the Cinema Arts Centre
at 423 Park Ave, Huntington
Parking – park in the 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 desk with our friendly CSA worker
- 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 that day what
the story is for the day (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 be distracted and if you get 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.
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! 😊 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 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 Curly Cress/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 #1
June 4, 2020
- Peas, Snow – ½ lb. bag
- Spinach* – ¾ lb. bag
- Leeks** – 1 bunch
- Cress, Curly (also known as Pepper Cress)*** – 1 bunch
- Radishes – 1 bunch
Total Items: 5
*Spinach is one of the world’s 100 healthiest foods (good
info and recipes)!
**Leeks are one of the world’s healthiest foods (good info
and recipes)!
***Curly Cress (has no Veg Info Sheet…but I will NEVER leave
you hanging 😊)…
It’s speecy spicy, very good for you, and goes well in SMALL
amounts (unless you like it spicy, then you’ll figure out what level of spice
works for you) in any salad, sandwich, wrap for starters…read on…
Pepper Cress – tangy/spicy herb that can be used raw in
salads, on sandwiches or wraps and you can toss a small amount in at the end of
a stir-fry or cooked recipe to give things a bit of a culinary punch
Peppercress Aioli…
more Peppercress recipes…the Smoothie/Juice and Hummus
recipes look pretty good (weights need to be translated as this is from the
UK)…
more recipes from a place that does Peppercress Sprouts more
than growing them in soil outdoors…
Web MD on “garden cress” (basically same as Pepper/Curly
Cress)…
2.Sign up for the 30 Day Eat More Vegetables Challenge…
Well, how timely and appropriate this is (and as CSA members
we’ve certainly got the resources)!
Join Eating Well magazine’s…
annual Eat More Vegetable Challenge…
Past versions have been all about the fresh produce, but
these days depending on what’s going on in one’s life it’s a matter of getting
them into your kitchen by any means necessary (fresh, frozen, canned, jarred,
stored in a root cellar 😊 ). I’m sure they’ll
have useful suggestions for us CSA members to make use of all season long! 😊
3.Celebrity smoothie!
Check out Reese Witherspoon’s green smoothie that she’s been
drinking daily for about 8 years (and it features something we’re getting at
the CSA this week – Spinach, and other things we also get but just not this
week – Romaine Lettuce & Celery)…
4.Food safety and COVID-19…
Watch writer J. Kenji Lopez-Alt (son of a Harvard University
geneticist and immunologist, grandson of a chemist, and author of Food Lab:
Better Home Cooking Through Science), talk about COVID-19 and food safety…
And read in more detail here…
5.What you actually got last week (to give you an idea of
what we got the last week of the CSA )
Week #27
December 12, 2019
- Kale: Russian, Red OR Vates, Curled* – 1 bunch - $4.50
- Tat Soi** – 1 bunch - $3.50
- Carrots: Orange/Red Mix*** – 1.5 lb. bag – $4.00
- Rutabaga – 1 (2 lbs.) - $3.00
- Radishes: Winter Mix (Black Spanish, Green Meat,
Misato/Watermelon, White) – 2 lb. bag - $4.25
Total Items: 5
Total Amount: $19.25
(We pay $20 per week for our CSA share…some weeks we get a
bit more, some a bit less, but the extra adds up over the course of the season.
This year, it’s a grand total of $42.25 which is a tad over two CSA shares! We
seem to always get at least one CSA share’s worth of food every year that we
didn’t pay for…some years two, and some between one and two…it’s all good! 😊)
Herb Share – December 1A
Parsley, Italian**** AND Thyme*****
*Kale is one of the world’s healthiest foods (good info and
recipes)!
**Bok Choi (and Tatsoi are in the same family…so will have
similar health benefits) is one of the world’s healthiest foods (good info and
recipes)!
***Carrots are one of the world’s healthiest foods (good
info and recipes)!
****Parsley is one of the world’s healthiest foods (good
info and recipes)!
*****Thyme is one of the world’s healthiest foods (good info
and recipes)!
6.Need something a little cheerful and uplifting?
Here’s a lovely interview from the star of the food travel
series Somebody Feed Phil (as well as the creator of Everybody Loves Raymond),
Phil Rosenthal (Queens born and Hofstra University graduate), about his
thoughts on the future of travel and food…
7.And now, for something completely different…
Do you think this will catch on?
Initial thought…the staff having to clean after every diner,
and then the diner smelling whatever cleaning product they’re using (and the
health implications of snorting whatever it is)…oh dear…
Events…both near and far
Thursday, May 21st to Thursday, June 4th
Right to Harm (online film screening available to 3pm,
Thursday, June 4th)
FREE
Want to see the movie trailer?
Register here to see the film…
Right to Harm is a film about the health implications of the
factory farming of animals, and in particular how it effects low-income
communities. The link to this film expires at 3pm on Thursday, June 4th.
There will also be a panel discussion you can sign up for that will take place
Thursday, June 4th at 8pm.
Thursday, June 4th
10am to 11pm
IEatGreen radio show
To listen to the show live (or listen to the archived
programs)…
Hosted by Long Islander Bhavani Jharoff. Older shows can be
accessed in archives.
11:30am to 1pm
Health Immunity & Food: Mitigating the Effects of
COVID-19
Online Facebook Viewing Party
FREE
To register…
This talk (public premiere of a private event from May 19th)
features Dr. William Li, author of Eat to Beat Disease (one of the few
researchers actively doing work on food and the prevention of diseases like
cancer, etc.), and Chef Amanda Cohen (owner of what was generally considered
the best vegetarian restaurant in NYC…Dirty Candy - which I’ve been to and was
swell, and Lekka Burger – which had just opened so never got to go, but may
reopen soon for takeout/delivery and will get over there ASAP as long as
there’s a bathroom I can use in the area 😊 …otherwise I could take
it home to eat if Chef Amanda thinks the burgers are good cold or reheated).
Even though this is a prerecorded broadcast, you’ll be able to ask questions
live of Dr. Li & Amanda Cohen, there will be cooking demos and recipes
featuring immune boosting foods, AND guests will be receiving a list of immune
building foods.
1pm to 2pm
The Magic of Compost (online
Cornell Cooperative Extension – Suffolk County
FREE
For more info and to register…
Learn 4 different methods of composting (including indoors
as well as outdoors!).
Friday, June 5th
6pm to 7pm
Green Inside and Out
WUSB-FM/90.1 FM
Long Islander Beth Fiteni us the host. Rotates with Healthy
Planet radio with Huntington resident Bob DiBenedetto.
Saturday, June 6th
12pm to 1pm
Food Chain Radio
Host Michael Olsen always has interesting guests on the
issues of food, food politics, health, and related topics. Check out the
archives.
2:30pm to 3:30pm
Organic Vegetable Gardening (online workshop)
Cornell Cooperative Extension – Suffolk County
FREE
For more info and to register…
This session covers the 5 keys to successful vegetable
gardening…location, soil preparation, planning, plant choices and good
maintenance.
5pm
Peconic Chat: conversation with John v.H. Halsey (yes, he is
related to our farmers 😊 ) and Scott Chaskey
FREE
To register…
Peconic Land Trust President, John v.H. Halsey, chats with
farmer/poet, Scott Chaskey, about poetry and Scott’s 30 year relationship with
Quail Hill Farm.
Monday, June 8th
7pm to 8pm
Organic Vegetable Gardening (online workshop)
Cornell Cooperative Extension – Suffolk County
FREE
For more info and to register…
This session covers the 5 keys to successful vegetable
gardening…location, soil preparation, planning, plant choices and good
maintenance.
Tuesday, June 9th
7pm - Volunteers/8pm – Food Distribution
Community Solidarity Food Share Distribution
Fairground Ave & E. 6th St.
Huntington Station
For more info and to sign up to be a volunteer (though you
can also just stop by)…
This is the group that Green Thumb CSA – Huntington has
partnered with for the last number of years to donate produce remaining at the
end of the night from our CSA.
7pm to 8pm
Pollinator Gardens (online workshop)
Cornell Cooperative Extension
FREE
For more info and to register…
Butterflies,
birds and the other pollinators (not quite sure why they’re not mentioning Bees
😊 or even Moths…they’re all
needed in our local ecosystems) need host plants for nectar, food and lodging.
By introducing three seasons of key pollinator plants into your garden, you can
create a pollinator-friendly habitat in your front and back yard. Discover the
best planting arrangements as well the many colorful and hardy plants
attractive to pollinators.
Wednesday, June 10th
7pm to 8pm
Organic Vegetable Gardening (online)
Cornell Cooperative Extension – Suffolk County
FREE
For more info and to register…
This session covers the 5 keys to successful vegetable
gardening…location, soil preparation, planning, plant choices and good
maintenance.
Thursday, June 11th
6pm
Long Island Grown: From the Sea (online event)
FREE
To register:
Hear Long Islanders involved in aquaculture, oysters and
general seafood businesses on the East End. You can watch it on Zoom or
Facebook live.
Saturday, June 13th
1pm to 3pm
Herb Identification Walk (medicinal)
Restoration Farm
140 Bethpage Sweet Hollow Rd.
Old Bethpage
$25 ($20 if also attending July 12th event)
For more info and to register…
Join Ellen Kami, RN (the Natural Nurse), on a walk in the
gardens and fields of Restoration Farm and learn to identify “weeds” that are
good for your health!
Sunday, July 12th
11am to 3pm
Herb Identification Walk (medicinal) & Medicine Making
Workshop
Restoration Farm
140 Bethpage Sweet Hollow Rd.
Old Bethpage
$45 (till July 10th)/$50 (at the door)
For more info and to register…
On this 2 part event, part 1 will be spent walking and
identifying herbs with Ellen Kamhi, RN (the Natural Nurse), and Dr. Eugene
Zampieron, ND, and part 2 will be learning to make simple tinctures, salves,
and smudge sticks.
Monday, July 13th to Friday, July
17th
8:30am to 3:30pm
Organic Field Day (online only for 2020)
Rodale Institute
611 Siegfriedale Rd.
Kutztown, PA.
$25 (all week access) – Veterans may be able to participate
for free (contact veterans@rodaleinstitute.org
)
To register…
Join researchers at the Rodale Institute and learn about the
latest research and projects being done using regenerative organic agriculture
(not sure how different it actually is from conventional certified organic
agriculture), by online viewing of the 11 different demonstration stations at
the farm.
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