Happy Summer!
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
)
This email includes…
- What you need to know
- It’s time to weigh our
CSA food!
- 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
- Cucumbers and
wasps…what’s the connection?
- 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.)
- Landmines and
farming…what’s the connection?
- And now, for something
completely different…
- 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.
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.
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 8, 2024
- Cucumbers
- Squash, Summer
- Eggplant
- Beans, Snap
- Peppers, Sweet
- Basil – 1 bunch
- Lettuce – 1 head
- Tomatoes
Total Items: 8
Flower Shares – Week #7 (?)
Hydrangeas
Chives AND Tarragon, French
- 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.
- 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 50 CSA members, 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 POUNDS of
produce and 2 CSA members (and one of them could be you) won’t get all the food
they paid for.
- IF you are asked to weigh more than one food item at
the same time (this might 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)
Farm Aid is coming up on Saturday, September 21st and will be in Saratoga Springs, NY, this year.
4. Food safety and COVID-19…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkvw9lZ3v3I
- 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
5. Next CSA Culinary Extravaganza coming up on Wednesday,
August 21st, 6pm
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 😊).
August 1, 2024
- Eggplant: Purple Rain – 1 pc. - $3.75
- Cucumbers – 2 pc. - $5.75 (this amount includes the
Summer Squash and Sweet Peppers)
- Squash, Summer: Costata Romanesco, Cousa, Eight Ball,
Gold, Yellow, Zucchini – 2 pc. – (see Cucumbers)
- Pepper, Sweet: Green – 2 pc. – (see Cucumbers)
- Leeks – 1 bunch - $5.75
- Lettuce: Loose leaf, Red – 1 head - $4.50
- Tomatoes, Mini: Sungold – 1 pt. - $6.00
Total Amount: $25.75
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 $3.75 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 $22.75 more food than what we
paid…which is now a little more than ONE CSA Share’s worth of food). 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! 😊
Strawflowers (everlasts – can be dried)
https://www.housedigest.com/1360251/slice-cucumber-hack-keep-wasps-out-garden-pest/
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
9.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.
Turns out there are about 60 countries in the world that
have land with a lot of land mines hidden in it.
You can’t farm on land with land mines or you’ll get blown
up trying to plow the land! No farms, no food.
How do you solve this problem?
Rats! 😊
Yup…specially trained rats (and a particular variety of the
critters) can detect land mines by their sense of smell so they can safely be
removed, AND they’re light enough so that they won’t set off the mines when
they’ve found them and be blown up in the process.
To support this worthwhile program (and watch the video of
these amazing animals doing their thing 😊), donate here…
11.And now, for something completely different…
What have you ruined by accident (or…food failures 😊)?
*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 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
6pm
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 😊).
Sunday, August 25th
11am to 3:30pm
Foraging Tour with Wildman Steve Brill
Belmont Lake State Park
North Babylon
For directions of where to meet up…
https://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/travel
Adults - $20/Children under 12 - $10 and bring exact change
(suggested donations…his knowledge and experience is worth at least twice this
amount 😊)
For more info about attending a tour…
https://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/sign-up
To register…
Call 914-835-2153 at least 24 hours in advance of the tour
and if you need to cancel, call 24 hours in advance (if you do not cancel 24
hours in advance, you will be charged $25 prior to being allowed to schedule
another tour)
If you’ve never gone on a foraging tour with Wildman Steve
Brill, do yourself a favor and go. He knows his stuff and he’s entertaining
(silly and corny and sweet), and you’ll go home with some interesting and
delicious local seasonal foods to eat.
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.
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