Happy Summer!
Anyone want some Flowers? There will be one bunch of
Strawflowers (an everlast…can be dried and doesn’t need to be put in water)
available for $15. If you’re interested, reply to this email and the first one
to respond gets it, OR check at the CSA sign-in desk and see if it’s still
available.
If you signed up to work at the CSA this week but didn’t get
an email asking for your confirmation, you’re not working at the CSA this week.
Farm update – our CSA Farm has stopped
accepting new CSA Members for this season, so at this point if there’s anyone
who’d like to join our CSA this year we’ll be starting a Wait List to see if
our farm will re-open membership in the near future.
CSA weather report…hot with a light breeze
Do NOT leave your CSA Shares in your car! They will
not be happy, and neither will you when your food doesn’t last as long as it
could. Over 40 degrees in your car and your CSA Share’s not happy (and inside
your car with closed windows it’s probably hotter than you’d think… and it is –
check this out… https://abc7news.com/how-hot-can-it-get-inside-a-car-baby-in-gets/2266627/#:~:text=Here's%20a%20look%20at%20just%20how%20hot%20it%20can%20get%3A&text=When%20it's%2080%20degrees%20outside,and%20119%20after%2030%20minutes
)
Important…if you ever send anyone to the CSA
to pick up food for you, please tell them to BRING BAGS (and make
sure at least one of them is plastic for the wet foods so you don’t get the dry
ones wet which would not be a good thing…will make the foods that don’t want to
be wet rot faster)!
This email includes…
- What you need to know
- Win a VIP Experience
Trip to Farm Aid worth $5,000 with Dave Matthews, John Mellencamp, Willie
Nelson, and Neil Young
- Food safety and
COVID-19…
- Next CSA Culinary
Extravaganza coming up on Wednesday, August 21st!
- What you actually got
last week
- FREE CSA Cooking Classes
on Zoom – if you missed any of the three of them you can watch now
- Emergency situations at
the CSA (hurricanes/electronic communication glitches/medical emergencies,
etc.)
- FREE Online food movie
STILL available till this Sunday at midnight (plus awesome cookbook
download)!
- 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.
1.What you need to know (will be either new info to
first time CSA members, or reminders/old hat to returning CSA members)…
- 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.
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)
When you arrive at the CSA –
- Check in at the sign-in 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 (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
(Community Solidarity…read more about them in the CSA Events email under
Tuesdays) 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!
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
August 1, 2024
- Beets or Eggplant – not a choice…our farmers aren’t
quite sure what this is going to be yet so like last week, will email you
the appropriate Veg Info Sheet when I know what this ends up being
- Cucumbers
- Squash, Summer
- Leeks – 1 bunch
- Peppers, Sweet
- Lettuce – 1 head
- Tomatoes, Mini – 1 pt.
Total Items: 7
Flower Shares – Week #6
Strawflowers (everlasts – can be dried)
2.Win a VIP Experience Trip to Farm Aid worth $5,000 with
Dave Matthews, John Mellencamp, Willie Nelson, and Neil Young
Farm Aid is coming up on Saturday, September 21st and will be in Saratoga Springs, NY, this year.
Even though it’s been a while since the word “pandemic” has
been bandied about, people are still getting COVID and other illness. And the
lessons we learned during the past few years can still come in handy today to
avoid basic things like colds and the flu.
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 while the
Cinema Arts Centre was closed (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 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/
- Will try and keep the CSA area relatively uncrowded if
any future outbreaks of any infectious diseases occur
- Enter near the Box Office entrance, and exit thru the
door that leads out to the Cinema garden and upper parking lot stairs
Check your calendars and see if you’re able to attend our
next Culinary Extravaganza! If you’re free and would like to attend, email or
call and leave your last name and number of people in your party (for CSA
Members and immediate family and if you’re coming on your own you’re welcome to
bring a friend).
We’ll be going to Thai USA in Huntington and CSA Members
attending will be able to sample (gratis…in addition to whatever else you might
order) up to three dishes (one will be vegan friendly and I think they’re all
gluten-free) containing Bitter Melon which we may be getting at our CSA the
next day!
Bitter Melon is the most medicinal vegetable on the planet
(anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, anti-HIV for starters) and is eaten all over the
world, but not in Europe, Canada or the USA. Yes, it’s Bitter but when it comes
to food and health…bitter is better 😊.
This dinner is a way to introduce our CSA Members to this
new food. It’s the most “foreign” food we get (unless your cultural background
is one of the groups of people who have Bitter Melon as part of their culinary
heritage and have already had the opportunity to try it). We Americans go for
two tastes…sweet and salty. The rest of the world also adds bitter, sour and
umami. Believe it or not, most of us already eat bitter foods. Coffee and
Chocolate are in the bitter family BUT most of us also put so much sugar in
them to hide the bitter taste that we’re not getting the full medicinal value.
More people (about 34%) are eating Dark Chocolate with percentages of 70 to 80%
of Cacao and are getting more of the health properties, but only 18% of Coffee
drinkers are fans of black Coffee.
That said, I hope you’ll join us! There will be a raffle and
all who attend will automatically be entered (and the raffle prize will be
given out at the event 😊).
5.What you actually got last week
Week #7
July 25, 2024
- Cucumbers – 2 pc. – price is being totaled with the
Summer Squash and Pepper
- Squash, Summer: Costata Romanesco OR Cousa OR Eight
Ball OR Gold OR Yellow OR Zucchini – 2 pc. – price is being totaled with
the Cucumbers and Pepper
- Pepper, Sweet: Purple – 1 pc. - $4.75
- Peas: Shelling (1/2 lb.) OR Snow (.4 lb.) – 1 bag -
$5.00
- Scallions – 1 bunch - $5.25
- Dandelion Greens – 1 bunch - $4.50
- Lettuce: Romaine – 1 head - $4.50
Total Items: 7
Total Amount: $24.00
We pay our farm $22 per week for our CSA share…some weeks we
get a bit more, some a bit less. This week (and last week), it was $2.00 over
$22.00. Doesn’t sound like a whole lot, but it adds up over the course of the
CSA season (at the moment it’s a total of $19 more food than 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, 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! 😊
Flower Shares – Week #5
Sunflowers
Herb Share – July 2B
Cilantro AND Mint
6.FREE CSA Cooking classes on Zoom – if you missed any of
the three of them you can watch now!
The title of this is…So, you’ve joined a CSA! Now what? 😊
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOmk6t_rsS4
The 2nd episode is…Keep on Cooking – Sustaining
Momentum as a CSA Member…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK9F0NdlMns
The 3rd episode – Let’s Cook! Watch as recipe
creator Frances as she checks out her CSA Share, figures out what to do with
everything (to feed herself, her partner, two children and dog 😊),
and gets cooking…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6Gk64b0rc8
7.Emergency situations at the CSA (hurricanes/electronic
communication glitches/medical emergencies…on my part, etc.)
- It’s hurricane season till November 30th
(our CSA’s last day is December 12th)! 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
for us 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.
8. FREE Online food movie STILL available till this
Sunday at midnight (plus awesome cookbook download)!
What is it?
The title is Eating for Tomorrow, narrated by Kate Winslet
(remember her from Titanic?), and endorsed by Leonardo DiCaprio and Sir Paul
McCartney. This is an extended (and I hear more upbeat 😊)
version of the film Eating Our Way to Extinction.
To watch the movie’s trailer and see the whole film, sign up
here…
Spoiler alert…my guess is that it’s going to advocate for
eating a plant-based diet (which I hope includes vegetables, and ideally a
whole foods plant-based diet 😊).
The downloaded cookbook looked so amazing that I’m going to
see if this works (getting a paperback version from the UK because I know I’m
less likely to use the online version, AND there’s a kids version of the
cookbook too…get them in the kitchen ASAP! 😊)…
https://www.eating2extinction.com/shop/books/
9.And now, for something completely different…
Who’d a thunk it?
https://weather.com/travel/video/drink-cans-explode-on-southwest-flights-amid-extreme-heat
On a personal level I guess it’s a good idea to not let
carbonated canned beverages sit in the hot sun for any length of time or…watch
out!
*Please keep in mind that any events or services listed do
not indicate a direct endorsement from Green Thumb Farm or Green Thumb CSA -
Huntington
Tuesday, August 6th
10am to 11am
Tai Chi class
Cinema Arts Centre
Sky Room Café
423 Park Ave
Huntington
FREE
Join teacher Roger Sencer in this free Tai Chi class that’s
been held at the Cinema Arts Centre for a number of years. All levels welcome.
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
Tuesday, August 13th
10am to 11am
Tai Chi class
Cinema Arts Centre
Sky Room Café
423 Park Ave
Huntington
FREE
Join teacher Roger Sencer in this free Tai Chi class that’s
been held at the Cinema Arts Centre for a number of years. All levels welcome.
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
Tuesday, August 20th
10am to 11am
Tai Chi class
Cinema Arts Centre
Sky Room Café
423 Park Ave
Huntington
FREE
Join teacher Roger Sencer in this free Tai Chi class that’s
been held at the Cinema Arts Centre for a number of years. All levels welcome.
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
Wednesday, August 21st
Somewhere between 6 to 7pm…will have exact time by next
week
CSA Culinary Extravaganza
Thai USA
NY Ave
Huntington
To RSVP…
Respond to this email with your last name and number of
people in your party (for CSA Members and immediate family members only…if
you’re coming by yourself you’re welcome to bring someone with you)
Call and leave the above info at 631-421-4864
This month we’ll be going to Thai USA in Huntington and CSA
Members attending will be able to sample (gratis…in addition to whatever else
you might order) up to three dishes (one will be vegan friendly and I think
they’re all gluten-free) containing Bitter Melon which we may be getting at our
CSA the next day!
Bitter Melon is the most medicinal vegetable on the planet
(anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, anti-HIV for starters) and is eaten all over the
world, but not in Europe, Canada or the USA. Yes, it’s Bitter but when it comes
to food and health…bitter is better 😊.
This dinner is a way to introduce our CSA Members to this
new food. It’s the most “foreign” food we get (unless your cultural background
is one of the groups of people who have Bitter Melon as part of their culinary
heritage and have already had the opportunity to try it). We Americans go for
two tastes…sweet and salty. The rest of the world also adds bitter, sour and
umami. Believe it or not, most of us already eat bitter foods. Coffee and
Chocolate are in the bitter family BUT most of us also put so much sugar in
them to hide the bitter taste that we’re not getting the full medicinal value.
More people (about 34%) are eating Dark Chocolate with percentages of 70 to 80%
of Cacao and are getting more of the health properties, but only 18% of Coffee
drinkers are fans of black Coffee.
That said, I hope you’ll join us! There will be a raffle and
all who attend will automatically be entered (and the raffle prize will be
given out at the event 😊).
Tuesday, August 27th
10am to 11am
Tai Chi class
Cinema Arts Centre
Sky Room Café
423 Park Ave
Huntington
FREE
Join teacher Roger Sencer in this free Tai Chi class that’s
been held at the Cinema Arts Centre for a number of years. All levels welcome.
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, September 21st
Noon to 11pm
Farm Aid
Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Saratoga Springs, NY
$107 (only tickets left are for lawn seating)
For more info and to buy tickets…
https://www.farmaid.org/festival/tickets/
The tickets will surely sell out soon, and I imagine there
will be a live feed for the concert on FaceBook or YouTube or on the Farm Aid
website.
Saturday, September 28th and Sunday,
September 29th
10am to 5pm
Hudson Valley Garlic Festival
Saugerties, NY
Tickets per day…
Adults - $10 in advance ($15 at the gate)/Seniors (65+) - $8
in advance ($15 at the gate)/Children under 12 – FREE
Parking is FREE
For more info and to buy tickets…
This is the biggest and the best Garlic festival NY has to
offer. Come rain or shine, there will be music, crafts, food (with Garlic and
without 😊), Garlic to buy, cooking and gardening demos
and children’s activities.
###
