Author: Sunnyside CSA Core Group

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News From the Farm

Some words from Golden Earthworm Farm to start off the season:

Welcome to our 2012 CSA program! We are thrilled that you’re joining us as we celebrate our 16th year of organic farming on Long Island. With a mild winter and a very busy spring behind us, we are excited to harvest our first week’s crops, bringing you some delicious greens (both cooking and salad greens) and strawberries! If you’ve been a member in the past, the first week’s box must look very familiar by now! These are the crops that grow well in the late spring, so they are almost always guaranteed to make an appearance in the first box of the season. Coming up in the next few weeks you can expect to see some carrots, beets, fennel, spinach, and other delicious early-season crops!

For more information and recipes, head over to the farm’s website at www.goldenearthworm.com.

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Events

Strawberry Picking Spectacular!

GEOF-strawberries
Photo via: Golden Earthworm Organic Farm

On Sunday, June 10th, CSA members can pick organic strawberries at $4 a quart at Golden Earthworm Organic Farm (our vegetable farm)! Depending on your interest, we are hoping to help arrange transportation to the farm, which is a couple of hours away on the East End of Long Island. Whether this is in the form of a bus or carpooling depends on the interest level, so if you are seriously interested in this fun event, please fill out our online survey now! Time is of essence!

Just so you know, Golden Earthworm Organic Farm is open on other weekends for strawberry picking as well. If you want to go on your own, you can check their site for a list of U-Pick dates.

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Ready for the First Pick-Up of 2012?!

The first pick-up of the season will be on Thursday, May 31st from 5-8pm at Sunnyside Community Services on 39th Street. Remember to sign up for your volunteer shifts while picking up your box! The season will then run for 26 weeks, skipping Thanksgiving. The last delivery of the season is on Thursday, November 29th.

Please take a look at the 2012_CSA_Member_Shares list (Excel) to make sure you are correctly signed up for your vegetable, fruit and herb shares. If you have questions, please Contact Us.

For those of you wondering what’s up with our new shares (dairy, pickles, flowers), we’ll have an update really soon—sorry. There have been some logistical snags in getting it going. Thanks for being patient!

Are you getting our email updates? If not, sign up for our Yahoo Group. We also post to social media, so ‘follow’ @sunnysidecsa on Twitter and ‘like’ Sunnyside CSA on Facebook.

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Become the Sunnyside CSA Chef!

We are excited to offer a new volunteer opportunity for the 2012 season!  Just Food, our CSA’s umbrella organization, is running workshops to teach CSA members how to conduct cooking demonstrations about local, seasonal eating and cooking; fruit and vegetable identification; and food storage and preparation.

This would be the perfect way to fulfill your 2012 season volunteer requirement if you are a good cook who would like to learn more about local, seasonal eating and how to use the fruits and veggies you receive every week in your CSA share—and are excited about sharing this knowledge with your fellow CSA members.

The specifics:

  • You must be able to attend a training session at the Whole Foods at 95 E. Houston Street on either Saturday, June 2 OR Saturday, June 9, 9am to 5pm.
  • Sunnyside CSA will cover the training fee; we ask that you cover a $15 materials fee.
  • Together with Sunnyside CSA’s volunteer coordinator, you would schedule at least 3 demonstrations of your new skills over the course of the 2012 season, to take place during our Thursday evening pick-ups. If needed, you will be provided with a volunteer assistant during the demonstrations.
  • Sunnyside CSA will provide the equipment and food needed for your demonstrations.

To apply:

  • Please download the CSA_Chefs_App_2012, fill out the application and send it to Sunnyside CSA’s volunteer coordinator via email at volunteer [at] sunnysidecsa.com by May 5.
  • Please note that your application must be approved by our core group before it is sent to Just Food, so please DO NOT send the application directly to Just Food. It must be received by our volunteer coordinators by May 5 if you wish to be considered.
  • Questions? Contact us!
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Sign Up for Dairy, Flower and Pickle Shares

We are excited to work with Milk Not Jails and Partners Trace Farm to offer dairy, flower and pickle shares this year! Check out the details below and sign-up for the shares at Sunnyside Community Services on Tuesday, April 10 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Milk, yogurt and pickle samples will be available at sign-up. Yum!

Dairy Shares from Milk Not Jails

We will be offering milk and plain yogurt from Milk Not Jails. The milk will be from small local farms, low temperature pasteurized and non-homogenized. Visit the Milk Not Jails website to learn about how your purchase will help the rural upstate economy.

The dairy season will run the entire 26 week CSA season. You may choose as many containers of milk and yogurt as your household is likely to consume in a week.

  • Half gallons of milk (available in whole, low-fat and fat-free) will be $130, which works out to $5 per half gallon.
  • Quarts of milk (available in whole, low-fat and fat-free) are $78, which is $3 per quart.
  • 32 oz containers of plain yogurt (available in whole and fat-free) will be $104, which is $4 per container.

Monthly a la carte ordering will be available from Milk Not Jails during the season as well. Milk and plain yogurt will be available, along with flavored yogurt, half and half, butter, heavy cream, ice cream and cheese. More information will be sent at a later time, but you do not need to have a dairy share to order a la carte. A la carte orders and payments will be through the Milk Not Jails website and pick-up will be at Sunnyside Community Services.

Lauren Melodia, the founder of Milk Not Jails, will join us on Tuesday to answer questions and share milk and yogurt samples.

Flower Bouquets and Pickle Shares from Partners Trace Farm

We will be offering flower bouquet shares and pickle shares from Partners Trace Farm. Partners Trace is a 6 acre farm based in New Paltz started by Amoreen Armett and Tierney Dearing Medick. Deliveries will probably start in June.

The flowers and greenery in the bouquets will be heirloom and native plants, not treated with pesticides or chemical fertilizers. A 10 week flower share will be $160 and consist of a European style hand tied bouquet. Amoreen and Tierney say they really like the creativity of assembling the bouquets for the flower share.

A 10 week pickle share will be $100 and consist of a 16 oz jar of pickles every week. The produce is grown by Partners Trace and they happily accept suggestions for pickles and will introduce new varieties based on customer demand. We will have samples of three varieties at sign-up: simply dill; orange zest, pink peppercorns and chili pepper; and beets with ginger and allspice.

Want a Share But Can’t Come to Sign-Up?

If you would like a dairy, flower or pickle share but can’t come to sign-up on Tuesday, April 10, please email special_products [at] sunnysidecsa.com or Contact Us with your name and what products you’re signing up for. Or download the contract and mail it and your check to:
Sunnyside CSA
PO Box 4383
Sunnyside, NY  11104

Don’t delay! We must receive your check and contract by April 15th!

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Donate A Raffle Prize!

Happy Spring! As we gear up for another bountiful season, Sunnyside CSA is seeking raffle prize donations and we need your help! At vegetable pick-ups and events throughout the season, we will host a series of raffles to support our subsidized share program. Any prize you donate will help us continue to offer fresh, organic, local produce to those with limited incomes.

A few raffle prize donation ideas: Ball game or Broadway tickets, Weekend get-away packages, Museum admission passes, or Goodies from local businesses–massage treatments, dinner-for-two, or family events.

All proceeds from the raffle will go towards our subsidized share program.

If you are interested in donating a prize for the raffle, please email events [at] sunnysidecsa.com or Contact Us.

Thank you in advance for your kind donation!

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Annual Town Hall / 2012 Returning Members Sign Up!

Town Hall Meeting
Please come to our annual town hall meeting where you can meet our farmers, chat with the core group, have your opinion heard and get more involved overall with the 2012 year. You’ll also hear the results of our year-end survey. This is our only meeting of the year, so please attend- it’s our one chance to discuss the CSA openly as a group. There are several open positions within the core group, so anyone and everyone interested in the CSA’s direction is encouraged to come. Another great reason for attending is…

2012 CSA Sign Ups
All returning members in good standing are eligible for this early-bird sign up happening at the Town Hall Meeting. If you want to ensure a spot in next year’s veggie share, this is your chance. After this, our signups will be open to everyone, first-come / first-serve- so save the date! We will send another email soon with the contract and 2012 share details.

Town Hall Meeting & 2012 Sign Up:
Wed Jan 18, 7-8:30pm @ Sunnyside Community Services (43-31 39th St.)

Year-End Survey
Let your voice be heard by filling out our survey, which is instrumental in knowing what directions you want this CSA to head in. Without your feedback, we can’t improve! If you’re a CSA member, please fill out this quick survey by Sunday, January 15th.

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2011 Season End Survey

Happy New Year, CSAers!

Hope you all enjoyed a great holiday.

Although the new year has begun, we are still wrapping up the 2011 season and making plans with our farm for the 2012 season.
Please help us out by taking our annual season-end survey. The survey is open until Sunday January 15, but we would love to hear from you sooner.

We will announce the results at our annual town hall meeting on Wednesday January 18th.

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What the veg?

Discovering Pea Shoots

Just because the CSA summer / fall season is over and we’re not getting weekly deliveries doesn’t mean there is a shortage of organic, healthy vegetables.

While we love our root veggies as much as the next person, I was excited to spot this bright bag of green at the farmers market this weekend.

I’d never had pea shoots before. Like baby spinach, the leaf is mild and tender. But in contrast, the stalks are slightly woody, crunchy and bright.

They are delicious as a salad on their own and a great way to top a sandwich or add some depth to a simple bowl of soup.

Don’t forget to support your local greenhouse growers this winter!

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Events

American Meat Screening in Sunnyside

We are proud to present the first Queens screening of AMERICAN MEAT, a movie that should appeal to carnivores and vegetarians alike. Proceeds from the screening, as well as from the refreshments we’ll be serving, will benefit our 2012 Subsidized Shares, which goes to help our neighbors secure vegetable shares at a reduced cost.

Join us for a post screening panel with:

Euripides Pelekanos, co-owner of Bare Burger
Tom Mylan, Meat Hook’s butcher
Memo Salazar, editor of American Meat

There will be a panel discussion after the film with the filmmakers and other special guests!

AMERICAN MEAT is a new documentary about the farmers who raise the meat we eat. Unlike a lot of recent food docs, this one is not trying to scare you with horrible stories about the treatment of animals. It does, however, take a good, hard look at our current system and offers up some alternatives, as well as personal farming stories, on the challenges we are all going to be facing very soon if we want to keep eating burgers and wings.

If you are interested in watching the film, please RSVP so that we can have a head count. Everyone is invited, but RSVP’ing would help us out a lot! Email us with “CSA Movie Screening” in the title: events@sunnysidecsa.com

When: Friday, December 2; Doors at 7:15, screening at 8
Where: All Saints Church basement; 43-12 46th Street, Sunnyside (7 train to 46th Street / Bliss)
How Much: Free with suggested donation of $5.00 to benefit our subsidized share program

Free Popcorn! Wine, snacks, and refreshments available for purchase. All proceeds benefit the Sunnyside CSA Subsidy program.

VOLUNTEERS! If you haven’t fulfilled your volunteer hours, or if you feel like helping out with this event, we need help with the setup and selling tickets & refreshments. Please email our coordinator at events@sunnysidecsa.com