Happy Spring!
And Happy World Environment Day…the theme this year is
ending plastic pollution…
https://www.un.org/en/observances/environment-day
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.
CSA weather report…hot with a slight breeze.
DO NOT LEAVE YOUR CSA SHARE IN YOUR CAR FOR ANY LENGTH OF
TIME (it’s too hot and it will not be happy, and won’t last as long as it would
if it were happy…which happens at about 40 degrees 😊).
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)!
CSA Events coming up this month…
Wednesday, June 18th – CSA Culinary
Extravaganza…June edition (Blind Bat Brewery Bistro, Centerport)
Saturday, June 21st – CSA Spring Harvest Farm Tour
(at our CSA farm, Green Thumb Organic Farm, Water Mill)
Details about these events coming soon!
This email includes…
- What you need to know
- Wonderful resource for
CSA Members
- Food safety and
COVID-19…
- Click activism…every
little bit counts!
- 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 go 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.
The list…this is a general list and you’ll be sent another
email within the next week with the detailed list after I get it (which isn’t
till the day of the CSA…the list is subject to change without notice because
farming is like that! 😊 However, most of the
time it’s accurate and if it’s not…usually only one food item will be changed)…
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
June 5, 2025
- Beans: Black Turtle, dried – 1 bag
- Scallions – 1 bunch
- Tarragon* – 1 bunch
- Lettuce – 1 head
- Strawberries – 1 pint
Total Items: 5
Please let me know if any of these links no longer work…
https://food52.com/blog/12703-fresh-tarragon-and-its-5-best-uses
http://www.food.com/about/tarragon-347
https://www.epicurious.com/ingredients/tarragon-tips-recipes-chicken-steak-article
http://www.herbwisdom.com/herb-tarragon.html
https://www.spiceography.com/tarragon/
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/t/tarrag07.html
http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/tarragon-herb.html
2.Wonderful resource for CSA Members
Want to know more about what foods you’re getting at our
CSA? Check this out…
Seasonal Food Guide
https://seasonalfoodguide.org/
Keep in mind we’re not going to be getting everything listed
(for example we’ll never be getting Ramps or Morels as they’re usually foraged
and not farmed), but it is useful for the foods we do get.
You can get the app, or just use the website to find out
what’s seasonal and local for New York, and then click on “seasonality” and
then click on “cook and learn” for more info.
3.Food safety and COVID-19, flu, etc.…
Even though it’s been a while since the word “pandemic” has
been bandied about, people are still getting COVID (there’s new variant going
around) 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
A. Join me in signing the petition to save organic pet food!
The Trump Administration has proposed cancelling new USDA Organic rules for
pet food. We have until June 11 to try to change their minds.
The action would hurt the struggling organic pet food sector which, unlike
the overall organic market, is in decline. Organic pet food sales hit a high of
$125 million in 2015, but shrank to just $104 million in 2024.
The move wouldn't just hurt pet food producers. The new rules addressed an
important concern for consumers, clarifying that meat by-products used in the
production of organic pet food should exclusively come from animals that meet
human-grade standards.
https://advocacy.organicconsumers.org/page/84096/petition/1?chain
B. Using our farmland as a dumping
ground for contaminated sewage sludge is short-sighted and puts our entire food
system at risk. Join us in calling on NY Assembly member Glick, chair of the
Environmental Conservation Committee, to advance the PFAS in Biosolids
Management Act. The bill would stop the contamination of farmland with toxic
sewage sludge and help mitigate the damage of over four decades of land
application of biosolids in New York State by implementing a five-year
moratorium, a PFAS testing program, a grant program to support farmers, and a
taskforce for identifying solutions going forward. PS – California has issues
with water shortages and because of that they can now use sewage sludge to
irrigate their land. Much of the produce sold in the USA comes from California
and unless it’s certified organic, it could have been grown using sewage
sludge…another one of the many reasons to buy certified organic foods when
possible (and local too 😊).
https://win.newmode.net/nofany/farmlandisnotadumpingground
Disasters in the kitchen strikes yet again!
Events…both near and far
*Please keep in mind that any events or services listed do
not indicate a direct endorsement from Green Thumb Organic Farm or Green Thumb
CSA – Huntington
Thursday, June 5th to Saturday, June 7th
Brain Breakthroughs Masterclass (online)
FREE
To register…
Pick your day and time, and check out this 90 minute
masterclass hosted by Ocean Robbins, and being given by neurologists Drs. Dean
and Ayesha Sherzai (vegans), authors of The Alzheimer’s Solution. Rewire your
brain for health, end brain fog, and slash your risk of dementia. I bet they’re
going to recommend eating certified organic whole foods (and vegan…these two
are vegans).
Tuesday, June 10th
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.youtube.com/watch?v=v76MyFuXfqc
Tuesday, June 17th
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.youtube.com/watch?v=v76MyFuXfqc
Tuesday, June 24th
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.youtube.com/watch?v=v76MyFuXfqc
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