Happy Summer!
Don’t plan on making a mad dash collecting your CSA Share
this week. Why? This week…we weigh! (read below 😊)
CSA weather report…hot, humid and breezy.
Anybody out there that can help a fellow CSA Member???
Someone needs their CSA Share picked up on August 19th and held
till they can pick it up on Monday, August 23rd (and if something is
too fragile to last till then I’m sure you’re more than welcome to make use of
it). If you can help, please get in touch and I will connect you to the person
in need. They live near Old Country Road west of Rt. 110 Melville/South
Huntington, but am sure they’d be willing to travel a bit to get their food
(they come to the CSA every week 😊). And if you go away
and need someone to do this for you…sounds like you’d have a fellow CSA Member
to cover you (truth be told…over the years I’ve found in general that CSA
Members are more reliable than friends or family members for this task)!
Important…if you send anyone to the CSA to
pick up food for you, please tell them to BRING BAGS and a FACE
COVERING!
This email includes…
- What you need to know
- It’s time to weigh our CSA food!
- Food safety and
COVID-19…
- Tomatoes…UPDATED info
you may or may not know!
- Emergency situations at
the CSA (hurricanes/electronic communication glitches/etc.)
- Click activism – you
don’t have to do much, or spend any money, to help make a positive change
in the world!
- Tomato Shares anyone?
- 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 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…and a FACE COVERING.
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 –
- Please wear a face covering when entering the building,
and proceed to the restrooms to wash your hands with soapy water (more
effective than hand sanitizers…COVID hates plain soap…NOT
anti-bacterial…the most)
- Check in at the desk with our friendly CSA worker (if
there are more than 3 people/couples/families of CSA members in the CSA,
you may be asked to wait in the hallway…socially distanced…before entering)
- 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 (like the story of the 3 bears…not too much, not too
little, but just right 😊)! 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 after the CSA closes for the evening, the food is
donated to a local food organization (Community Solidarity…see Events email for
more details about them). And if you accidentally took too much, please get in
touch ASAP (email or phone) so the food can be returned to its rightful owner
in short order.
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…
http://www.nourishingmeals.com/2012/03/detox-with-spring-greens.html
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 #11
August 12, 2021
- Cucumbers*
- Squash, Summer**
- Leeks*** - 1 bunch
- Eggplant**** – 1 pc.
- Peppers, Sweet*****
- Lettuce – 1 head
- Tomatoes****** – 2 lbs. (up to but not over 2 lbs.
Total Items: 7
Flower Share – Week #8(maybe…maybe not)
Herb Share – August 1A
Chives, Garlic AND Parsley*******
*Cucumbers are one of the world’s 100
healthiest foods (good info and recipes)!
http://www.whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=42
**Summer Squash are one of the world’s 100
healthiest foods (good info and recipes)!
http://www.whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=62
***Leeks are one of the world’s 100 healthiest
foods (good info and recipes)!
http://www.whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=26
****Eggplant is one of the world’s 100
healthiest foods (good info and recipes)!
http://www.whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=22
*****Peppers, Sweet (Bell Peppers are one
variety of Sweet Peppers and so they’re all good) are one of the world’s 100
healthiest foods (good info and recipes)!
http://www.whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=50
******Tomatoes are one of the world’s 100
healthiest foods (good info and recipes)!
http://www.whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=44
*******Parsley is one of the world’s 100
healthiest foods (good info and recipes)!
http://www.whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=100
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. Plus,
with social distancing in place we will only have one scale available so
you may have to wait to weigh your food.
- 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 53 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 almost 3 1/2 POUNDS of produce and 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 (this
might happen 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)
- How
to weigh your food? Place food on the scale (no need to touch any part of
the scale), watch the the digital readout, when you’re reached the correct
number, take your food off the scale, place in your bag, and head on to
the next stop in getting your CSA Share (another food item, or Herb Share
or Flower Share if you have one/both of those, or out the Exit door 😊).
3.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…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkvw9lZ3v3I
And read in more detail here…
4.Tomatoes…UPDATED info you may or may not know!
Our CSA food can be (depending on what exactly it is) either
MORE hardy, or MORE delicate, than the food we would get at a grocery store.
More hardy…it’s fresher. Most produce in the grocery store
is around 6 weeks old when you get it (organic or not).
More delicate…the food grown by our farmers is not grown for
shipping properties (ex. – if you throw it against a wall, how well will it hold
up 😊). It’s grown for things like flavor (what a
concept! 😊), adaptability to our growing region, and
preserving heirloom varieties of food (like the Costata Romanesco Summer Squash
we get… https://greenbeanconnection.wordpress.com/2016/04/03/costata-romanesco-italian-heirloom-zucchini/
).
That said, the large Tomatoes are on the delicate side. The
minis we get are hardier than the large Tomatoes for some reason (had my Red
Grape Tomatoes on the counter till I finished them today…5 days later).
For ages I’ve been told that fresh, local Tomatoes do NOT
belong in the fridge EVER because chilling them turns off a flavor enzyme and
makes them not taste as good…and you don’t need to. So I am going to say
something I NEVER thought I would say in a million years…
If your Tomatoes are ripe when you get them home, leave them
on the counter for no more than a day or two (and check daily) and if you have
any left…
PUT THEM IN THE FRIDGE!
If the Tomatoes aren’t ripe, leave them on the counter till
they are (shouldn’t be more than a day or two), and then get them in the fridge
ASAP.
I’m always willing to learn and have discovered that the
answer to the question of whether to fridge or not to fridge, isn’t as cut and
dry as I thought. And here’s why…
https://www.seriouseats.com/why-you-should-refrigerate-tomatoes
Also, any Tomatoes that aren’t either Green or Red will be
more delicate (IMHO 😊)…Yellow being the most
delicate, followed by Orange and any other color you might come across.
5.Emergency situations at the CSA (hurricanes/electronic
communication glitches/etc.)
- It’s hurricane season! Farmers are more hardcore than
postal workers so your food will be at the CSA between 3:30pm and 7:30pm
on Thursdays, pretty much no matter what. Hurricane Sandy didn’t stop the
CSA. We were at the Unitarian Fellowship in Huntington and there was no
power and there were tree limbs around the property BUT I checked out the
building to make sure there was no danger in being in the building or
entering the property, and with flashlights brought by me, we had our CSA.
If there’s no emails…show up anyway. If there’s some problem/issue with
the food arriving there should be a note on the door of the Cinema letting
you know what’s up (if we’re not already in there waiting for you). In a
storm situation…please bring a flashlight/lantern. It could be helpful for
you and those of us at the CSA. Again…show up and 3:30pm and 5:30pm if
there were no emails and offer to work if you’re able and available. And
if you feel it’s not safe/wise for you to venture out, know that any food
left at the end of the CSA will be picked up and donated by the gang at
Community Solidarity. They have NEVER missed a food distribution day even
in snow and ice storms (regardless of the weather…hungry people will still
be hungry if there’s no food to eat).
- Electronic communication is FAR from perfect. IF you
get no CSA emails or responses to your emails…come to the CSA anyway. It
could be a problem with my laptop, etc. Stuff happens.
- Anything else that might come up (these days…who
knows??? 😊)…no emails, come anyway
and will do our best to keep everyone informed as best we can (look for
notes on front door of Cinema if nothing else). The CSA has always
happened every week during our 20+ seasons…(lifted from the postal worker
motto 😊) - Neither snow nor
rain nor heat nor gloom stays these farmers & CSA crew from the swift
completion of their appointed rounds…to get you your CSA Shares!
6.Click activism – you don’t have to do much, or spend
any money, to help make a positive change in the world!
Urge the EPA to ban brain-damaging (especially to children)
chlorpyrifos…Sign here: https://bit.ly/3xlYOLb
Want to see why it should be banned? And why “we the people”
need to do something about this (if not us, who will?)?
https://theintercept.com/2021/06/30/epa-pesticides-exposure-opp/
And if you have children in your life (or just generally
like them 😊), read this…
https://theintercept.com/2021/04/29/chlorpyrifos-epa-brain-damage-children/
And this…
Eat organic…live organic! 😊
7.Tomato Shares anyone?
If you’re interested in a Tomato Share and you’re not
already signed up to get one, reply to this email or let someone know at the
sign-in desk at the CSA.
What is it? Each Tomato Share is a 20 lb. box of Tomatoes
(the variety is Plum/Paste/Roma…different names, same Tomato type) and the cost
is $45.
What the heck are you going to do with all those Tomatoes?
People tend to either make Tomato Sauce and can or freeze for later use, one
year someone made the BEST sundried Tomatoes I’d ever eaten with her
dehydrator, and the EASIEST thing to do is freeze them whole for later use (see
link below)…
https://food.unl.edu/article/freezing-tomatoes
Defrost the frozen whole Tomatoes by leaving them in the
fridge till their defrosted and then enjoy a little bit of summer in the cooler
months of the year. Best eaten within 8 months of freezing (April/May 2022).
These will come in handy and bring a smile to your face in
the depths of winter when the only “fresh” Tomatoes in the store look pale and
wan, and taste like…NOTHING! ☹
Twenty pounds too much for you? Let us know if you want to
split a Tomato Share with someone, and will see what we can do.
8.What you actually got last week
Week #10
August 5, 2021
- Celery* – 1 bunch - $4.50
- Tomatoes, Mini: Grape, Red OR Yellow** – 1 pt. - $5.75
- Eggplant: Asian*** – 1 pc. - $1.75
- Beans: Snap (Green): Romano**** – 1 bag (1 lb.) - $3.25
- Lettuce: Leaf, Green – 1 head - $3.75
- Peppers, Sweet: Green AND Purple***** - 2 total - 1 of
each color (no substitutions 😊) - $1.50
- Squash, Summer: Costata Romanesco, Gold, Kousa, Patty
Pan (Green/Yellow), Yellow, Zucchini****** - 2 pc. total - $1.75
- Cucumbers******* - 2 pc. - $1.00
Total Items: 8
Total Amount: $23.25
(We pay $20 per week for our CSA share…some weeks we get a
bit more, some a bit less. This week, it was $3.25 more. So at the moment we’ve
already gotten $24 (1 CSA Share + 😊) more than we paid for.
This adds up over the course of the CSA season, and 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! 😊)
Flower Share – Week #7
Amaranthus “Red Spike”
*Celery is one of the world’s 100 healthiest
foods (good info and recipes)!
http://www.whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=14
If you don’t already…EAT THE LEAFY TOPS! 😊
Good in salads, smoothies, etc….
https://foodprint.org/blog/how-to-use-celery-leaves/
https://www.thekitchn.com/celery-leaves-deserve-far-more-attention-the-vegetable-butcher-219994
**Tomatoes are one of the world’s 100
healthiest foods (good info and recipes)!
http://www.whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=44
***Eggplant is one of the world’s 100
healthiest foods (good info and recipes)!
http://www.whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=22
****Green Beans (Snap Beans…same thing) are
one of the world’s 100 healthiest foods (good info and recipes)!
http://www.whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=134
*****Peppers, Sweet (Bell Peppers are one
variety of Sweet Peppers and so they’re all good) are one of the world’s 100
healthiest foods (good info and recipes)!
http://www.whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=50
******Summer Squash are one of the world’s 100
healthiest foods (good info and recipes)!
http://www.whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=62
*******Cucumbers are one of the world’s 100
healthiest foods (good info and recipes)!
http://www.whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=42
9.And now, for something completely different…
Recipe disasters (and some successes)… 😊
Thursday, August 12th
10am to 11am
IEatGreen radio show (new live shows start Sept 1st)
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.
Friday, August 13th
6pm to 7pm
Natural Alternatives
WUSB-FM/90.1 FM
Rotates with Healthy Planet radio with Huntington area
resident Bob DiBenedetto, and Dr. Eugene Zampirone of Dr. Z Naturally.
Saturday, August 14th
7:30am to 12:30pm
Huntington Farmers Market
228 Main St. (Elm Street parking lot)
Huntington
Runs till some point in November.
12pm to 1pm
Food Chain Radio
https://metrofarm.com/food-chain-radio-3/
Host Michael Olsen always has interesting guests on the
issues of food, food politics, health, and related topics. Check out the
archives.
Sunday, August 15th
11am to 12pm
Stirring the Pot…with Florence Fabricant and Dorrie
Greenspan
Guild Hall (virtual event on Zoom)
East Hampton
$8 – Members/$10 – General Public
To purchase tickets…
Join Florence Fabricant of the NY Times Dining Section as
she interviews James Beard award-winning cookbook author, Dorrie Greenspan,
about baking and her specialty…cookies!
Tuesday, August 17th
10am to 11am
Green Street Radio
WBAI-FM/99.5FM
To listen live or check out the archives…
https://www.wbai.org/program.php?program=365
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
8:15pm – Drive-thru distribution
Huntington Food Share
Community Solidarity
Fairground Ave. & 6th St.
Huntington Station
FREE
For more info…
https://communitysolidarity.org/foodshares/huntington
To volunteer…
https://communitysolidarity.org/volunteer
Or to make a donation (they REALLY need a new truck)…
https://communitysolidarity.org/donate/funds
Community Solidarity (formerly Long Island Food Not Bombs)
is an amazing group, doing much needed good works. These are the folks our CSA
donates food to (and have for the last several years). If you’d like to
volunteer, make a donation (they REALLY, REALLY need a new truck), or have need
of their services (or know people who might)…get in touch/get information via their
website (listed above).
They also need/accept donations of the following…Bicycles,
Books, Clothing, Flowers (good for general mental health…taking care of the
mind AND the body), Food, Medical Care (is there a Doctor or Dentist in the
house? 😊), Plants/Seedlings, School Supplies, Toys
and more. For details on donating items, please go to the Home Page, scroll to
Donate, and read the appropriate listing (and scroll to Material Goods to see
the topics not initially listed)…
https://communitysolidarity.org/
Here’s founder Jon Stepanian’s TED Talk (TEDxNYU) on
Community Solidarity and Hunger Relief…
https://www.ted.com/talks/jon_stepanian_community_solidarity_hunger_relief
Saturday, August 21st
Hours…TBA (basically all day)
Back to Eden Gardening Summit (online event)
FREE
To register…
https://courses.backtoedengardening.com/p/back-to-eden-gardening-summit
If you have a vegetable garden (or want to have one), this
may be an event for you. Four people who are lecturing were enough to get me on
board for this…Alice Waters and her daughter Franny (founder of Chez Panisse
restaurant and school garden advocate par excellence), Lee Reich (the fruit
whisperer…who I’ve taken classes with and is from upstate NY), and Dr. Elaine
Ingham (who I’ve been hearing about for years regarding soil healthy and I hear
is a very smart cookie). There are 15 lectures so they will ask you to buy
access to all of them for $40 but you don’t have to (though you may decide it’s
worth it).
Saturday, October 2nd to Sunday, October
17th
Cider Week New York
For more info (there’s a lot going on) and tickets (some
events require tickets, some not)…
The one location participating on Long Island is Wolffer
Estate Vineyard (not organic…ah well ☹)…otherwise, NYC (Brooklyn,
Manhattan & Queens), and other parts of NY State. Wonder if any of the
participating ciders are certified organic? Or biodynamic? Or sustainable? Or
at least “natural”? Hmmmm….. 😊
Saturday, October 16th
Times available – TBD
Green Thumb Farm’s Annual CSA Pumpkin Picking Tour
Green Thumb Farm
829 Montauk
Water Mill
RSVP (will give info when reservations open up)
FREE
Take a hay ride around YOUR farm (you’ll see a different
part of the farm than you did if you went to the June Strawberry picking tour),
and pick some certified organic Pumpkins (good enough to eat…or carve 😊)!
This is a CSA Member exclusive (for current CSA Members
only…if you’re sharing a CSA Share with someone and the CSA Member won’t be
attending, you need to register under the CSA Member’s name…no offense, but as
far as the farm goes – you don’t exist! 😊)!
Recommend eating after (or before if the timing is right) at
the following places…(by me…take ‘em or leave ‘em 😊)
- Barrow Food House in Riverhead – 11:30am to 9:30pm – no
reservations (where I’ll probably go afterwards, but if it’s a madhouse
and I don’t want to wait…or can’t even get near there, will try #2 and
then #3)
Farm to table (farm belongs to the
dad of the chef and is down the road) have had 2 Soups, 2 Salads, Roast Beef
Sandwich, Fried Chicken Sandwich (OMG), side of Greens, Almond Torte Dessert
and everything was good enough for us to want to try everything on the menu
(only complaint was my side of Sugar Snap Peas needed to be de-strung…spitting
out bits of undigestible fiber…ugh…minor complaint but in this sort of place
they could/should do better)
- Farm Country Inn in Riverhead – 11:30am to 11pm – can
make reservations (never been…hear it’s decent…overlooks river)
https://www.farmcountrykitchenli.com/
- Pita House in Medford – 11am to 11pm – not far off the
LIE at exit #64/Rt. 112 heading south - shouldn’t need reservations, not
sure if they take them (long time fave…Turkish AND Turkish grocery store
next door)
https://www.longislandpitahouse.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=gmb&utm_campaign=gmb
- Hamptons Coffee Company – 5:30am to 6pm (right next to
Green Thumb Farm farm stand…have eaten here…didn’t love it, but couldn’t
be more convenient, happy to have this option, and would go again)
https://www.hamptoncoffeecompany.com/
Tuesday, October 19th to Thursday, October
21st
EWG’s Clean Con 2021
To register for notification when tickets go on sale…
https://www.ewg.org/cleancon/?ms=WEB_EWG_BannerCTA
Join scientists, healthy living experts and marketing
innovators in exploring the chemicals that are in our personal environment, and
how we can embrace habit-changing behaviors to live a cleaner, healthier life!
Will learn about the body burden of these toxic chemicals, what “clean beauty”
truly means, and how to make better choices when it comes to food and water.
If you want to check out last year’s event to get an idea of
who the speakers might be and what they may be discussing…
https://www.ewgcleancon.org/home
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