Happy Autumn!
Why? Several weeks ago we were missing one bag of
Tomatoes at the end of the night (the Tomatoes were counted twice by two
different people before the start of the CSA, so it’s not because the farm
shorted us), and no one has provided any information/help to solve this
mystery. So, to do a better job of keeping track of our CSA food, we’ll be
closing down the CSA at 5:30pm for as long as it takes to count our food
(hopefully no more than 15 minutes and possibly less). This will be a weekly
occurrence until further notice.
Important…if you send anyone to the CSA to
pick up food for you, please tell them to BRING BAGS!
- What you need to know
- Food safety and
COVID-19…
- Vote early and vote
often (in this case…you can! 😊)
- Got leaves? Got a
garden? Here’s what you can do…
- Emergency situations at
the CSA (hurricanes/electronic communication glitches/medical emergencies,
etc.)
- From the Food
Network…Win $10,000!
- What you actually got
last week
- And now, for something
completely different…
*Anything in any of our CSA 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.
Most immediate helpful hints…
- Bring at least TWO bags to the CSA EVERY WEEK
for wet and dry food items (and never the twain should meet)
- When packing up your CSA food, start at the left side
of the long table and work your way to the right and out the garden door.
Why? We set out the food to be packed in that order so the heaviest food
items will be on the bottom of your bag, and your food won’t get squished
(another way to make your food go bad faster), and if you separate the wet
from the dry foods you’re doing pretty good on having your food last
longer! 😊
- When you get your food home, if it’s in a plastic bag
take it OUT of the plastic bag and store elsewhere…even if it’s in another
plastic bag (the original bag will be too wet and your food won’t be happy
there for long)
- Plan on using your food in the order of how long it
will reasonably stay fresh (if stored properly). Any questions regarding
what this would be…ask. 😊
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 РSky Room Caf̩ 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 CSA 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 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!
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 #22
October 27, 2022
- Sweet Potatoes – 1 bag
- Leeks – 1 bunch
- Radishes – 1 bunch
- Peppers, Sweet – 1 bag
- Arugula – 1 bunch
Total Items: 5
Herb Share – October 2B
Tarragon AND Thyme
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…
After keeping the CSA going thru 2020 and 2021 (with
everyone staying healthy using the simple practices of wearing face coverings,
hand washing, and social distancing), this is where we are now at this moment
in time…
- Face coverings are optional
- Hand washing upon entering the theater is STRONGLY
recommended (it’s always a good idea in preventing COVID as well as the
flu and colds)
Why COVID HATES soap (works better than hand sanitizer or
gloves), and we’re talking plain soap, NOT antibacterial soap (the use of which
causes antibiotic resistance which could kill us all ☹)…
https://healthmatters.nyp.org/how-does-handwashing-with-soap-kill-the-coronavirus/
- We will try and keep the CSA area relatively uncrowded
- Enter near the Box Office entrance, and exit thru the
door that leads out to the Cinema garden and upper parking lot stairs
3.Vote early and vote often (in this case…you can! 😊)
From now till December 15th (our CSA doesn’t end
till December 8th 😊), you can vote for the
Cinema Arts Centre to win the “Best of Long Island” award for 2022 AND you’re
allowed one vote per one person per each day for each category (in this case
the category is Movie Theater). So like I said…vote early (start now 😊),
and vote often 😊!
Why vote for them? Well, it is the best movie theater on
Long Island (IMHO as the kids say 😊), but they’ve also been
gracious enough, over these past few years, to host Green Thumb CSA –
Huntington and so this is a fairly simple way to show them your appreciation
(if you feel so inclined 😊).
Here's the link…
https://www.bestoflongisland.com/voting/#/gallery/?group=436121
And since Green Thumb Farm wasn’t nominated for best Farm
Stand (I will try and make that happen next year 😊), I’m voting for Garden
of Eve Organic Farm…
https://www.bestoflongisland.com/voting/#/gallery/?group=436126
Under “Local Raw Honey” I voted for Bees Needs because
that’s owned by the beekeeper, Mary, for our farm…
https://www.bestoflongisland.com/voting/#/gallery/?group=436126
Are any of you out there nominated? If so, let us know any
maybe we’ll vote for you! 😊
4.Got leaves? Got a garden? Here’s what you can do…
It’s never too late to start a compost pile, and leaves are
a great edition to any compost pile (new or established) so here you go…
https://www.storey.com/article/twelve-rules-raking-leaves-compost
- It’s hurricane season till November 30th
(our CSA’s last day is December 8th)! 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 our 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 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 as it could be helpful
for you and those of us at the CSA. Again…show up, and at 3:30pm and
5:30pm if there were no emails please offer to work if you’re able and
available. 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 to
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 on any given week…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, etc., 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! 😊
- If there’s an emergency
situation in progress, consider offering to help out at the CSA whether
you’re asked to or not.
This could come in handy with the holidays coming up 😊.
Click here to enter…
6.What you actually got last week
October 20, 2022
- Sweet Potatoes – 1 bag (3 lbs.) - $6.25
- Beets: Chiogga – 1 bunch - $5.00
- Peppers, Sweet: Assortment – 1 bag (1 lb.) - $2.75
- Mustard Greens – 1 bunch - $4.00
- Pak Choi (see Bok Choi Veg Info Sheet) – 1 bunch - $5.00
Total Items: 5
Total Amount: $22.75
We pay $20 per week for our CSA share…some weeks we get a
bit more, some a bit less. This week, it was $2.75 over $20.00. Doesn’t sound
like a whole lot, but it adds up over the course of the CSA season (so far the
total is up to $50.75 over what we paid). 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 (so
far it’s a little over two CSA Shares worth), and last year it was almost four
weeks worth extra so we’re talking almost $80 worth of food we got gratis…it’s
all good! 😊
7.And now, for
something completely different…
Vegetarian finds caterpillars in store bought Broccoli, and
decides to raise them to see what happens (talk about making Lemonade out of
Lemons 😊 )…
Saturday, October 29th
9am to 1pm
Fig Sale & Swap
Restoration Farm
140 Bethpage-Sweet Hollow Rd.
Old Bethpage
FREE
Have gig cuttings to sell or swap? Want to try growing Figs
in your yard/garden? Then this is the event for you!
Sunday, October 30th
7:30am to 12pm
Huntington Village Farmers Market
228 Main St.
Huntington
From now till November.
4:30pm to 7pm
CSA Culinary Extravaganza for October
Bunna Café
1084 Flushing Ave
Brooklyn
To attend please RSVP - your name (and number
of people in your party AND if you’d like to reserve an outdoor or separate
indoor table for yourself/your party…if you don’t mention anything will assume
you’ll be with the group table)) by either replying to this email, or leaving a
voice message at 631-421-4864 (24/7 land line…do not text).
4:30pm – gather
5pm – Coffee ceremony
5:30pm - dinner
Check out the website to get an idea of what the food will
be like (I’ll be getting the feast for 2 and sharing with Dylan…everything is
so good we always want to try everything they have) as well as the price
points. It’s very easy to share a feast for 2 with anyone because the way the
food is served, each half of the large plate is a meal for one person (very
convenient 😊). Will probably also be getting a cup of
Tosign Tea…Thyme and Ginger!
And here’s some info on how to go about eating Ethiopian
food (if you are not comfortable eating with your hands, they will provide
silverware)…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvKjTtl4vWU&ab_channel=NowThisNews
If there’s room in one’s stomach and the desire, we’ll head
over to Van Leeuwen’s for dessert (glocal Ice Cream…dairy/vegan/gluten-free
options…only their Ice Cream bars are Kosher, but not sure if they have them at
their Scoop Shops or just sell them in grocery stores).
And, there will be a free raffle for all those attending (it
will be a nifty prize that you WILL want 😊).
We did this event for the first time a few years ago, and
everyone who came enjoyed the food and had a good time.
Tuesday, November 1st
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
Sunday, November 6th
7:30am to 12pm
Huntington Village Farmers Market
228 Main St.
Huntington
From now till November.
11:30am to 2:30pm
Wildman Steve Brill
Belmont Lake State Park
625 Belmont Ave.
West Babylon
Adults - $20/Under 12 years old - $10
For more info and to register…
https://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/tour-calendar
Or call 914-835-2153
If you’ve never gone, do you self a favor and check this
out. A great event for the whole family. If you’ve gone before, you know Steve
is the biggest cornball on the planet 😊 but he’s BRILLIANT when
it comes to knowing his foraged foods. A goal I have is to take at least four
of his tours in one year for each of the seasons. If I get to one this year
I’ll be thrilled. 😊 And if you’re
going…read all his directions and follow all his recommendations! You’ll be
glad you did. 😊
Sunday, November 13th
7:30am to 12pm
Huntington Village Farmers Market
228 Main St.
Huntington
From now till November.
Saturday, November 19th
12:30pm to 3:30pm
Wildman Steve Brill
Sunken Meadow State Park
Rt. 908K
Kings Park
Adults - $20/Under 12 years old - $10
For more info and to register…
https://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/tour-calendar
Or call 914-835-2153
If you’ve never gone, do you self a favor and check this
out. A great event for the whole family. If you’ve gone before, you know Steve
is the biggest cornball on the planet 😊 but he’s BRILLIANT when
it comes to knowing his foraged foods. A goal I have is to take at least four
of his tours in one year for each of the seasons. If I get to one this year
I’ll be thrilled. 😊 And if you’re
going…read all his directions and follow all his recommendations! You’ll be
glad you did. 😊
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