Happy Autumn (and Happy World Vegan Month…see below for more info)!
THREE important things…PLEASE READ!!!
1.THIS WEEK is Thanksgiving so our CSA will be
held TODAY - WEDNESDAY, November 27th from 1:30pm to 7:30pm!
We’re starting earlier than usual since some folks want to get on the road or
start cooking ASAP.
2.IF YOU’RE NOT GOING TO PICK UP (or have someone pick
up for you) NEXT WEEK PLEASE LET US KNOW…we’d prefer not having to stay
till 7:30pm to wait for CSA Members who aren’t going to show up and leave early
if possible, BUT if you need to run in at 7:30pm to pick up your CSA Share…not
to worry 😊…that’s totally fine 😊.
2. Since people are starting to ask so, the last day
of our CSA season is Thursday, December 12th.
CSA weather report…cool, but still not cool
enough to be leaving your CSA Share in your car for an extended period of time
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
- CHECK YOUR CARROTS!!!
- Food safety and
COVID-19…
- Vote now and vote often
(it’s not what you think 😊)…
- World
Vegan Month, World Hello Day, and a FREE movie…
- How best to contact the
CSA/suzanne
- Veganuary
is coming up (yearly January campaign for people interested in becoming
vegan or checking out what it’s like to be eating vegan), and the wacky
and wonderful Chef Adam Sobel has a great offer for anyone interested in
learning to cook delicious vegan dishes
- FREE CSA Cooking Classes
on Zoom – if you missed any of the three of them you can watch now
- What you actually got
last week
- Emergency situations at
the CSA (hurricanes/electronic communication glitches/medical emergencies,
etc.)
- 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)…
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.
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!
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 #25
November 27, 2024
- Popcorn* – 1 bag
- Turnips** – 1 bag (if we get Turnips with the Turnip
Greens on them, the Greens are edible…cook like Kale or Mustard Greens or
Beet Greens, etc.)
- Sweet Potatoes - 1 bag
- Fennel*** - 1 bunch
- Lettuce – 1 head
Total Items: 5
Herb Share – November 2B
Dill AND Rosemary
*Popcorn – there’s no Veggie Info Sheet for
this so here’s some info…
How to get the Popcorn off the Cob…
By hand…and with a machine made for just that purpose (but I
don’t think we’ll be getting enough today to require that 😊)…
https://fromscratchfarmstead.com/shelling-corn/
If you ever grow a lot of your own Popcorn (or bought a
LOT), this is where I’d get such a device (can always count on the Amish for
these sorts of things)…
https://www.lehmans.com/product/lehmans-cast-iron-corn-sheller
Best method BUT…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay9dT1xWPjo
you need to do this to make this little “tool”…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9JP88tUXZk
However, I’m concerned about little slivers of wood coming
off and ending up in my Popcorn
Have an air Popcorn popper? Use as directed…
https://www.cuisinart.com/easypop-hot-air-popcorn-maker/P-CPM-150.html
How to make Popcorn on the stove…
https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/recipes/a94264/how-to-make-stovetop-popcorn/
**Turnips – some ideas other than
mashed Turnips (over 40 recipes for Turnips and a few for the Greens too 😊)…
Who doesn’t like Fries? Here’s Turnip Fries using an
air-fryer or baked…
https://www.aspicyperspective.com/baked-turnip-fries-airfryer/
Maybe one of these will become your new favorite! 😊
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/photos/turnip-recipes
https://www.countryliving.com/food-drinks/g4640/turnip-recipes/
***Fennel – why Fennel is the PERFECT addition
to your Thanksgiving table…
In Italy, it’s eaten after meals to aid in digestion after a
heavy or fatty meal (sounds like Thanksgiving to me 😊).
You can eat a wedge raw, or you can put it in a salad or eat it baked/roasted…
Fennel Salad
https://www.loveandlemons.com/shaved-fennel-salad/#wprm-recipe-container-74814
If you don’t own a mandolin you could…
And if you’re concerned about cutting yourself, get a pair
of cut resistant (NOT cut proof) gloves…
Baked Fennel…I skip everything else and just use Olive Oil,
Salt, Pepper, grated Parmesan Cheese (though I’m sure it tastes better with
everything else added…will try it 😊)…
https://www.themediterraneandish.com/roasted-fennel/#wprm-recipe-container-61457
2.CHECK YOUR CARROTS!!!
Another reason for buying local and seasonal (which is what
you’re automatically doing by being a CSA Member 😊), AND for getting into
preserving your CSA food by freezing, canning, drying or fermenting to be eaten
all winter long so you don’t have to be totally dependent on food being grown
elsewhere.
There’s a recall of regular and baby Carrots that were sold
at places like Aldi’s, Target, Trader Joe’s, Walmart, Whole Foods and other
stores sold between August 14th and October 23rd.
There’s been one death, 15 hospitalizations, and 36
illnesses, and one of the states that have sold these ORGANIC Carrots is New
York under different brand names.
They were grown at some place called Grimmway Farms (based
in California but grows in various locations around the country) that was
family owned for 40 years, till they sold it to a private equity firm in 2020
(things can go very bad for businesses once that happens).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimmway_Farms
Check your Carrots and make sure they’re not listed here…
https://www.allrecipes.com/fda-investigates-organic-carrots-e-coli-outbreak-nov-2024-8746971
And here’s the official FDA article with photos…
I hope they find out why this happened and that it’s
reported so the public knows what happened!
3.Food safety and COVID-19…
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
4.Vote now and vote often (it’s not what you think 😊)…
If you’d like, you can vote for the place that gives your
CSA a home, the Cinema Arts Centre, to win the Best of Long Island award for
2025. The voting starts now!
Click here, then look for “Arts & Entertainment” and
click on that, and then scroll down to find “Movie Theater” and click on
“Cinema Arts Centre”…
You can vote every day, once a day, using one email address,
from now till Sunday December 15th.
And under the category “Restaurants”, and then “Thai”, you
could vote for Thai USA, the place where our CSA holds its yearly Bitter Melon
dinner 😊 (and the non-Bitter Melon food’s really good
there too).
Lastly, are any of you out there in any of these categories?
If so, let us know so we have the option of voting for YOU! 😊
For example, under the category of “Health, Wellness & Beauty” and then
under “Yoga Instructor” I just voted for CSA member Danielle Tarantola AND her
yoga studio (under “Yoga Studio” 😊) Yoga Foundation. And
if you’re on the list of Yoga Instructors or Yoga Studios, let me know and will
mention you as well! You can vote every day so one can spread the love 😊.
5.World Vegan Month and a FREE movie…
It started out with World Vegan Day being November 1st,
1994, then World Vegan Week and now it’s World Vegan month…
Here’s a FREE movie for you to watch during World Vegan
Month. It’s called Christpiracy, that explores the relationship between
Christianity, and other religions, and veganism…
Here’s the trailer for the film…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlHaV5rEBN8
And here’s the link to the whole movie…
You will be asked to pay to watch this film to keep the
option open for free viewing for others, but you don’t have to.
6. How best to contact the CSA/suzanne
First thing you might think is…I don’t need or want this
info.
I get that BUT there might come a time when you wish you
knew…for example…
- Something’s
come up at the last minute and you know you’re going to be running late
and would like to have your CSA Share packed and waiting for you at the
Cinema Box Office to pick it up before the theater closes
- You’re
scheduled to help out at the CSA and something comes up at the last minute
and you need to cancel
- Something
comes up and you can’t make it to the CSA at all and you’d like to see if
someone can take your CSA Share and hold on to it till you could pick it
up from them
You get the idea 😊.
I am not a 24/7 connected person, have no desire to be, and
try and keep my CSA and personal communications separate, so…
- Phone…you
can leave a message on my landline (yes, they do still exist 😊) at 631-421-4864 at any
time 24/7 (keep the ringer off when sleeping) BUT on Thursdays if you
leave a message it needs to be before noon otherwise I won’t hear it till
I get back from the CSA Thursday night
- Email
– you can email 24/7 at gtCSAhuntington@gmail.com
but again, if you email after noon on Thursday, I won’t get it till I get
back from the CSA Thursday night
- On
Thursdays I am totally incommunicado from noon to 3:30pm so if you want to
get in touch with me between those times, the best option is to make sure
you call or email me before noon OR wait till after 3:30pm and call the
Cinema Box Office to reach me up till 7:30pm
- On
Thursdays after 3:30pm (and up to 7:30pm), call the Box Office at the
Cinema Arts Centre at 631-423-7610 xt. 0 and ask to speak to someone at
the CSA and they will connect the call to the Café and we’ll talk to you
directly. If you leave a message with someone at the Box Office, we might
not get it in a timely manner or at all, as it’s not the Cinema staff’s
job to take messages for the CSA.
- FYI
– I don’t get emails on my phone, and CSA members aren’t able to text me
as I don’t handle CSA issues on my cell phone
Consider putting the two phone numbers (suzanne –
631-421-4864 and Cinema 631-423-761) in your phone under “CSA” or “Green Thumb
CSA – Huntington” and you can put in the notes the details of when to call,
what days to call, etc.
7.Veganuary is coming up (yearly January campaign for
people interested in becoming vegan or checking out what it’s like to be eating
vegan), and the wacky and wonderful Chef Adam Sobel has a great offer for
anyone interested in learning to cook delicious vegan dishes
Chef Adam Sobel, of The Cinnamon Snail food truck and
restaurant (formerly at The Pennsy at Penn Station), is offering a month’s
worth of vegan cooking lessons for a donation of your choice. The course
normally costs $78 but if you feel like contributing $1, no problem.
Check out the intro video (it’s a hoot, and he’s a very
talented vegan chef with some really good recipes to share)…
https://shop.cinnamonsnail.com/products/veganuary-vegan-cooking-program
I might sign up just for the pleasure and amusement of
watching him do his thing 😊.
8.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
9.What you actually got last week
Week #24
November 21, 2024
- Garlic – 1 bag (1/3 lb.) - $5.00
- Jerusalem Artichokes/Sunchokes (different name, same
veg) – 1 bag (3/4 lb.) - $6.00
- Broccoli: Purple Sprouting * - 1 head - $4.50
- Pak Choi/Bok Choi (same veg/different name) - 1 bunch -
$5.25
- Lettuce: Looseleaf, Red – 1 head - $4.50
Total Items: 5
Total Amount: $25.25
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 $3.25 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 $75.50 more food than what we
paid…which is a smidge over THREE CSA Share’s worth of food…so if you didn’t
pick up at the CSA for 3 weeks this season, you haven’t lost out
financially…just culinarily 😊). 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! 😊
*How to clean Broccoli to make sure there’s no worms or
anything else hiding in it…
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-clean-broccoli
And if you want to read about Purple Sprouting Broccoli
(it’s an heirloom variety different from the regular Broccoli we get and even
different from the Purple one’s we’ve gotten in the past)…
https://seedalliance.org/publications/psb-guide/
10.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.
If you’re concerned about how tomorrow’s Thanksgiving dinner
will go, it probably won’t be as bad as what happened here (and if it was, you
could submit photos for next year 😊)…
https://www.boredpanda.com/thanksgiving-disappointments/
Events…both near and far
*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
Food for Health Masterclass with John and Ocean Robbins
FREE
To register…
This 80 minute class will cover…
How to harness the power of a whole food plant-based (vegan)
diet for longevity and vitality
The connection between the foods you eat and how you feel
Simple steps to upgrade your diet for maximum energy and
health
And includes a free downloadable workbook.
Saturday, December 7th
9am to 1pm
Fall Makers Market
H.O.G. Farm
319 Beaver Dam Rd.
Brookhaven
Live music, craft vendors, Coffee, Cider, Tiny Pizza
Kitchen, baked goods, fresh Bread, and farm stand.
Tuesday, December 17th to Monday, December
23rd
Depression and Anxiety Solutions Summit (online)
FREE
To register…
This summit includes speaker such as (some of the ones I
know of) Dr. Drew Ramsey (who runs the Brain Food Clinic and written the book
Eat to Beat Depression), Austin Perlmutter (following in his father’s, Dr.
David Permutter’s, footsteps of being a holistic doctor focusing on brain
health), Dr. Josh Axe (I find Googling his name and my health issues I get
pretty good information), my new hero, Dr. Emeran Mayer (author of The
Gut-Brain Connection), and last but certainly not least, Dr. Heather Sandison
(author of the book Reversing Alzheimer’s). During this summit, every day they
will ask if you want permanent access to these videos for $67 but you can say
no 😊, or you may want to buy this if you feel
this material would be of interest or help to you (I find it impossible to have
the time to watch all of these videos as they’re aired).
January 8th and January 9th
44th Annual Long Island Agricultural Forum
Riverhead
For more info…
https://ccesuffolk.org/agriculture
More info to come as event gets closer.
Saturday, January 18th
NOFA-NY Winter Conference
SUNY Morrisville
80 Eaton St.
Morrisville, NY
For more info:
https://nofany.org/2025conference/
More info in the coming weeks as far as pricing and workshop
info.
Saturday, January 25th
9am to 8pm
NOFA-NJ Winter Conference: Living Roots, Resilience &
Food Security
The Berkeley Oceanfront Hotel
1401 Ocean Ave.
Asbury Park, NJ
$150 General Public/$120 - Member
For more info and to register…
https://nofanj.org/calendar/wc/
Some NY farmers will attend this conference instead of the
NOFA-NY one because it’s closer and the weather and drive are usually not as
treacherous.
###
