Happy Autumn!
- What you need to know
- Food safety and
COVID-19…
- Some news from the farm
- Tomatoes…UPDATED info
you may or may not know!
- It’s time to weigh our CSA food!
- Emergency situations at
the CSA (hurricanes/electronic communication glitches/etc.)
- 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.
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 #17
September 23, 2021
- Cabbage* – 1 head
- Beans, Snap** - 1 bag
- Okra – 1 bag
- Tat Soi – 1 bunch
- Basil*** – 1 bunch
- Tomatoes**** - 2 lbs. (up to and not over)
Total Items: 6
Flower Share – YES!
Herb Share – Sept 2B
Arugula AND Parsley*****
*Cabbage is one of the world’s 100 healthiest
foods (good info and recipes)!
http://www.whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=19
**Snap Beans (same as Green Beans) are one of
the world’s 100 healthiest foods (good info and recipes)!
http://www.whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=134
***Basil is one of the world’s 100 healthiest
foods (good info and recipes)!
http://www.whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=85
****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.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…
3.Some news from the farm…
I was thinking about what we get at the CSA this time of
year so I asked Farmer Jesse about a few things and found this out…
Sad to report that for the fans of Bitter Melon (and yes…we
do have a number of them 😊)…the seeds never
germinated (and they have no idea why) so there’s no Bitter Melon for us this
season (a first in almost 20 years!). However, if you want to still get
certified organic Bitter Melon you can try checking out Sang Lee Farm (either
at the Northport Farmers Market on Saturdays at their farm in Southold). Not
sure if the Bitter Melon season is over, but it might be worth checking out
(unless they had problems with them too).
Also, no Melons at the CSA this year (Water or Cantaloupe)
as there was too much rain, and the same goes for Cucumbers!
However, with about 100 acres of land to farm on (plus
greenhouses), our farmers still have plenty of good eats coming our way in the
weeks to come (last day of the CSA isn’t till December 9th)! 😊
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.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 😊).
6.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!
7.What you actually got last week
Week #16
September 15, 2021
- Peas, Snow – 1 bag (.4 lb.) - $4.75
- Peppers, Sweet: Lunchbox* - 1 bag (1/2 lb.) - $4.50
- Swiss Chard: Green/Rainbow/Red** – 1 bunch - $4.50
- Lettuce: Crisp, Green – 1 head - $3.75
- Tomatoes, mini: Sungold*** - 1 pt - $5.50
Total Items: 5
Total Amount: $23.00
(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 more. So at the moment we’ve
already gotten $42 (2 CSA Shares + 😊) 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 #???
Sunflowers: Teddy Bear
*Bell Peppers (a type of Sweet Pepper) are one
of the world’s 100 healthiest foods (good info and recipes)!
http://www.whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=50
**Swiss Chard is one of the world’s 100
healthiest foods (good info and recipes)!
http://www.whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=16
***Tomatoes are one of the world’s 100
healthiest foods (good info and recipes)!
http://www.whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=44
8.And now, for something completely different…
Necessity is the mother of invention…
Why Drivers Are Growing Gardens on Their Car Roofs - Videos
from The Weather Channel | weather.com
Thursday, September 23rd
10am to 11am
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.
Friday, September 24th
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.
6pm to 9pm
Egyptian Festival
St. Mark’s Coptic Church
90 Woodbury Rd.
Woodbury
For more info…
http://stabraam.org/new/index.php?view=article&id=743:egyptian-festival-2021&catid=2
Not organic but tasty Egyptian food. Tours of church, ethnic
music and dance, family friendly.
Saturday, September 25th
7:30am to 12:30pm
Huntington Farmers Market
228 Main St. (Elm Street parking lot)
Huntington
Runs till some point in November.
Noon 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.
Noon to 9pm
Egyptian Festival
St. Mark’s Coptic Church
90 Woodbury Rd.
Woodbury
For more info…
http://stabraam.org/new/index.php?view=article&id=743:egyptian-festival-2021&catid=2
Not organic but tasty Egyptian food. Tours of church, ethnic
music and dance, family friendly.
Sunday, September 26th
Noon to 9pm
Egyptian Festival
St. Mark’s Coptic Church
90 Woodbury Rd.
Woodbury
For more info…
http://stabraam.org/new/index.php?view=article&id=743:egyptian-festival-2021&catid=2
Not organic but tasty Egyptian food. Tours of church, ethnic
music and dance, family friendly.
Tuesday, September 28th
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
Friday, October 1st
4pm to 8:30pm(?)
LI AgriCULTURE: Celebrating Local Foods with the Power of
Film
Seasons of Change on Henry’s Farm (outdoor movie screening)
Fink’s Country Farm
6242 Middle Country Rd.
Wading River
FREE (but need to get free tickets)
To get free tickets and for more info…
VERY family friendly (corn maze, pumpkin picking, hay ride,
feed the animals, candy apples…animatronic Chickens!), but no pets allowed on
the property unless they’re service animals. Post-film Q & A. Live music
and more! Bring a picnic (or eat before coming), blanket or chairs, and not a
bad idea to bring along or put on some bug spray/stuff for dusk mosquitoes.
Watch the movie trailer (looks like a great documentary
about an organic farm)…
Not organic, but a family farm that has a 3rd
generation family member running 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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