Happy Autumn!
This email includes…
- What you need to know
- Food safety and COVID-19
- Another reason to buy
organic…
- Tomatoes…UPDATED info
you may or may not know!
- It’s not all bad news 😊
- 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…
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
Week #20
October 14, 2021
- Beans - 1 bag
- Squash, Summer – 1 pc.
- Eggplant: Japanese – 1 pc.
- Pak Choi (see Bok Choi Veg Info Sheet) – 1 bunch
- Scallions – 1 bunch
- Lettuce – 1 head
- Tomatoes, mini – 1 pt.
2.Food safety and COVID-19…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkvw9lZ3v3I
Another reason to support organic farming…if all farms
converted from “conventional” farming to certified organic farming, there just
might be enough water for farmer’s to not be paid to NOT farm…
https://www.organicconsumers.org/news/reports-show-less-water-used-organic-farming
And if smaller farms would convert to organic biointensive
farming, they’d save even MORE water…between 67% and 88% less water used (you
can do this in a home garden but it’s more work than most home gardeners can be
bothered with…I know, I’ve taken classes with John Jeavons, and knew someone
who set up a biointensive mini-farm at their home on Long Island in the
Wyandanch area)…
John
Jeavons – Grow the Earth. Grow Biointensive. Grow Abundance.
This is a vegan farming/gardening method and after the first
year, you need no outside inputs (you grow your own compost so you don’t need
fertilizer, etc. – the only thing you might need is some micronutrients to
tweak your soil chemistry…this clearly is not for everyone BUT it’s amazing and
it works).
Turns out there’s a 3 Saturday Biointensive workshop in
November (6th, 13th & 20th) but the
deadline to register is October 20th...the cost is $285 plus another
$40 to $70 for books…
http://www.growbiointensive.org/workshop.html
It took me a 3 day workshop plus another class for me to
“get” this method of farming/gardening (I’m not great with numbers, and you
HAVE to at least be willing to be into numbers to do this method correctly…and
Mr. Jeavons says if you’re not going to do it correctly - please don’t do it at
all).
I really don’t know why John hasn’t been given a Nobel Peace
Prize (or at least a MacArthur Genius grant) for the amazing work he’s done all
over the world, but what do I know? 😊
You can become a member of his organization, Ecology Action,
starting at $40 to support the work he’s doing to help feed people around the world
by teaching people to feed themselves…
http://www.growbiointensive.org/giving/index.html
Lastly, if you’re interested in how people all over the
world want to feed themselves in a healthy sustainable way, you might want to
check out the People’s Food Summit online this Saturday (see the Events email
for details). Since I’ll be at our farm and out east on Saturday, am hoping
there will be some sort of access after the event so I signed up to attend and
will get any emails letting me know if that’s an option (or not).
4.Tomatoes…UPDATED info you may or may not know!
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!
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.
What once was lost…has gotten found! And you can eat it!!!
https://weather.com/science/nature/video/apples-thought-to-be-extinct-found-in-pacific-northwest
https://nypost.com/2020/04/18/apple-detectives-find-10-lost-fruit-varieties/
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
October 7, 2021
- Beans, Snap: Dragon Tongue OR Yellow (Wax) - 1 bag (2/3
lb.) - $4.25
- Leeks – 1 bunch - $4.75
- Lettuce: Boston, Red – 1 head - $3.75
- Arugula – 1 bunch - $4.00
- Tomatoes: Orange and/or Pink and/or Yellow – 2 lbs. (up
to but not over) - $6.50
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 $52 (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! 😊)
8.And now, for something completely different…
I’ve never thought of cakes being a source of humor and/or
horror…but then I saw these…
Events…both near and far
Saturday, October 9th 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….. 😊
Thursday, October 14th
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, October 15th
Fantastic Fungi Global Summit (online conference)
FREE (though you might want to purchase long term access
since there’s usually no way anyone has time to watch all the lectures…at the
moment it’s $99 and may go up to $149 at some point)
For more info and to register…
https://fungiglobalsummit.com/
Unlock the power of Mushrooms for your mind, body and spirit
with over 40 speakers such as chef Rick Bayless, Deepak Chopra, Dr. Mark Hyman,
Michael Pollan, Dr. Andrew Weil, and the Mushroom master himself…Paul Stamets.
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, October 16th
People’s Food Summit (online)
To register…
On this World Food Day, there is going to be the People’s
Food Summit, being held in opposition to the UN Food Systems Summit which many
around the world feel has been hijacked by corporate agribusiness and pesticide
cartels (and occurred September 23rd). The focus of this event is
about building a movement for regenerative, organic, and agroecological food
and farming.
7:30am to 12:30pm
Huntington Farmers Market
228 Main St. (Elm Street parking lot)
Huntington
Runs till some point in November.
10:30am OR 11:30am
Green Thumb Farm’s Annual CSA Pumpkin Picking Tour (rain or
shine…barring torrential rain or serious storm warnings)
Green Thumb Organic Farm
829 Montauk Hwy.
Water Mill
FREE
To make a reservation/RSVP (limited room on hay rides)…
Call the farm at 631-726-1900 (7 days a week between 9:30am
and 4:30pm)
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! 😊)!
All those attending get a 10% discount off any purchases at
the farm stand (food/plants/merchandise).
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/
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.
Sunday, October 17th
2pm to 6pm
Long Island Vegan Pop-Up
VFW Post 8300
330 N. Dunton Ave.
East Patchogue
FREE
For more info…
https://longislandveganpopup.com/#wpcf7-f1407-o1
100% vegan market (outdoors) to shop, eat, drink, learn and
have fun!
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
Tuesday, October 19th
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
Thursday, October 21st
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, October 22nd
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.
Sunday, October 31st
2pm to 6pm
Long Island Vegan Pop-Up
3434 Hempstead Tpke.
Levittown
FREE
For more info…
https://longislandveganpopup.com/#wpcf7-f1407-o1
100% vegan market (outdoors) to shop, eat, drink, learn and
have fun!
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