Happy Spring!
CSA Weather Report…warm, rain and thunder! Because
of the weather this week, don’t park in the parking lot but line up in your car.
Park behind the light blue Acura (my car) and leave some room to pull out since
I won’t be leaving, check inside and if there are three people in the lobby
waiting on line to enter the CSA, please wait in your car and someone (probably
me 😊 ) will come out and let you know when you
can enter the building.
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…
- Peppercress Aioli and a
Spinach Leek Quiche!
- 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)
- Seasonal food website
and seasonal food guide
- 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)…*except when it’s raining (read the CSA Weather
Report above)
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.
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!
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.
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 #2
June 11, 2020
- Beets: Gold* – 1 bunch
- Asparagus** – 1 bag
- Lettuce – Check CSA Wall Chart for details
- Strawberries*** – 1 quart
Flower Share – Week #1
Sweet Williams
Herb Share – June 1A
??? and ??? (if you have an Herb Share, will send Info
Sheets tomorrow when I know what these are)
*Beets are one of the world’s 100 healthiest foods (good
info and recipes)!
And if we get the Beet Greens, they are too!
**Asparagus is one of the world’s healthiest foods (good
info and recipes)!
***Strawberries are one of the world’s 100 healthiest foods
(good info and recipes)!
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.Peppercress Aioli and Spinach Leek Quiche!
CSA member, Jackie Fumai, emailed me these two recipes and
said both were delicious (and was able to utilize the Leeks, Radishes, Snow
Peas and Spinach we got last week between the two recipes)! And this one
doesn’t get much easier to make (and it’s one I included in last week’s email
with the veg sheets attached)…
We might get Curly Cress/Peppercress again at some point in
the season so even if you don’t have any left, this is still a keeper (and you
can veganize it as you can most any recipe).
And while we may or may not be getting Spinach again this
season, you can substitute Kale or Swiss Chard for the Spinach, and we’ll
probably be getting Leeks again at some point…
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
Week #1
June 4, 2020
- Peas: Snow – ½ lb. bag - $3.50
- Spinach* – ¾ lb. bag - $5.50
- Leeks** – 1 bunch - $4.75
- Cress: Curly (also known as Pepper Cress)*** – 1 bunch
- $4.00
- Radishes: French Breakfast – 1 bunch - $4.00
Total Items: 5
Total Amount: $21.75
(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 week, it’s $1.75 extra. 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! 😊)
*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)…
6.Seasonal food website and season food guide…
These look really useful for CSA members, or anyone
interested in eating seasonally…
7.And now, for something completely different…
File under…what were they thinking? 😊
I’m basically glad I’ve never been served any of these
dishes either A) at all or B) in this fashion…
The one I know about featured in some of these photos is
getting beverages from street hawkers in Asia in a plastic bag, but we should
all be trying to get plastic out of our lives and not add more to the planet,
so not a fan of American chefs/eateries thinking this might be cool or trendy.
Events…both near and far
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.
Monday, June 8th to Sunday, June 14th
The Immune Defense Summit (online event)
FREE
For more info and to register…
Join a plethora of holistic health practitioners/advocates
for daily talks on how to naturally boost your immune system. At the end of
these online events they usually have a bonus day/weekend where you can catch
up on any of the lectures you may have missed since odds are you won’t have
time to view them all (which is why there will also be a sales pitch to
own/access the series to be able to view on your own schedule).
Thursday, June 11th
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.
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.
Friday, June 12th
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 13th to Saturday, November
21st
7:30am to 12:30pm
Huntington Farmer’s Market – G & G Long Island Farmer’s
Market
228 Main St. (Elm Street parking lot)
Huntington
Not the same organizer who’s been at this location for the
past ??? years, but the organizer that’s been hosting the Winter Market in
Huntington since Huntington first had a Winter Market. Possible there might be
up two certified organic farms…Golden Earthworm and Natural Earth Farm.
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.
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!
1pm to 3pm
DIY Fermented Pickles Virtual Workshop
$39 to $69 (depending on if you order equipment/supplies…or
not)
For more info and to register…
Join Austin Durant, founder and Chief Fermentation Officer
of the Fermenters Club, in this live virtual workshop. Learn how to make
fermented Dill Pickles (using Cucumber, Carrots, Peppers & more), and
explore different styles of Pickles from around the world! Don’t know what to
do with a CSA veg, and don’t want it to go to waste and end up in a compost
pile or (worst case scenario) in the garbage? The odds are that you can
probably pickle it! 😊
Monday, June 15th to Sunday, June 21st
The Mind, Body & Vagus Nerve Connection (online event)
FREE
For more info and to register…
Join holistic health practitioners/advocates for daily talks
on how to rebalance your nervous system, boost your immune system and improve
overall health. At the end of these online events they usually have a bonus
day/weekend where you can catch up on any of the lectures you may have missed
since odds are you won’t have time to view them all (which is why there will
also be a sales pitch to own/access the series to be able to view on your own
schedule).
Monday, June 15th to Wednesday, June 24th
10 Day Green Smoothie Challenge (online)
FREE
For more into and to sign up…
Join Jen Hansard (cookbook author, mother of 2 young ‘uns,
and founder of Simple Green Smoothies) for a 10 day green smoothie adventure.
Includes free shopping list, recipes and private online chat group.
Tuesday, June 16th
10am to 11am
Green Street Radio
WBAI-FM/99.5FM
To listen live or check out the archives…
Join Long Islanders Doug & Patti Wood (founders of the
Port Washington Farmer’s Market…the only all organic greenmarket in New York
State), in their weekly show featuring conversations on health and sustainable
living.
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.
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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