PLGCSA is having it’s first tag sale! Items have been donated by many of our members and all proceeds will benefit the PLGCSA low-income share program. Come on by and browse the assortment of items we have, large and small. There is always something you could use and it’s for a great cause!
Well, our farmers have managed to do it again: give us these beautiful vegetables. How do they do it?
This time, it’s a cabbage the size of my head (and I have a big head). Several of our members have sent me recipes on how to tackle this vegetable. I love cabbage–cooked (stuffed), fermented (sauerkraut), raw (slaw), pickled. It tends to be prepared on the sour and salty side, which is probably why I like it so. Read the rest of this entry »
This week instead of focusing on a single fruit or veggie, I am highlighting four things I think are necessary to have around to make the most out of your CSA. The first year I was a member, I always had a surplus of food. I just didn’t know what to make with all these vegtables. Now I feel like I have it figured out a little better. Thanks to these items I am able to plan my menu weekly and make the most of my veggies. Read the rest of this entry »
This week we profile the eternally optimistic Barbara Rosen.
Who are you? Barbara Rosen, married to member Kenneth Griffin
What do you do? In my professional life (1967 - 1989) I was a teacher in the public elementary schools. I have always been an artist and writer — and I’ve had years of vocal training as well. My interest in animals, specifically in animal rescue, led me to begin sheltering stray dogs and cats in my home. These days it’s only cats (although we own a couple of aging dogs who were originally rescues). I’ve been doing that work all of my adult life — for over 40 years now.
Since I had to leave teaching (I became very ill and didn’t find out until years later that I’d had Epstein-Barr) I’ve had the time to garden extensively. I have got no turf of my own: I find odd corners that no one cares for and move in like an invasive weed. At the moment I’m caring for the small garden in front of my building, a large corner of the old Bowling Green at Caton and Coney Island Aves., the playground across the street from me and a traffic circle. I grow flowers, fruit and veggies. I think of it as re-establishing Eden.
The other things that I do for pleasure are perform with the Renaissance Street Singers, compose music (a relatively new skill, and one that I’m still astonished I have) and ride my bicycle (a very new skill indeed: I had my first lesson the day after I turned 62 and I’m now 64).
Where do you live? Parade Place in Flatbush
Where did you grow up? NYC
How long have you been a member? Since the beginning; this is my third year.
When you do your pickup where are you coming from? Home.
Where are you going to? Home.
What are you never without at pickup? Whatever I need, which includes the markers to post the big sign each week.
What time is it usually? I arrive early, set up, help David unload, make the sign — and take my loot home.
Who cooks your veggies/fruits? Me.
Who eats them? Both of us — and whoever we’ve invited to dinner.
What do you think you use the most? I use everything except the hot peppers; I enjoy planning our menus around what we get. But I can’t even be in the room where hot peppers are being cut: they attack me.
What’s the best part of the CSA? The best? Ummm… The yummy food, the chance to help save the planet by buying local and organic, the trips to the farm… Did you say best?
Is there a fun fact about you that you would like to share? Not fun, exactly, but I have a mild handicap: I have a perfectly awful time remembering names and faces. So if I fail to recognize you, don’t be offended.
If you were a fruit or veggie what would you be? Why? A tomato plant: they bloom and fruit up to the frost that kills them, never thinking that their time is almost up. They are eternally optimistic – and they never stop growing.
Check out Barbara’s website: www.barbarathecatlady.org
This year this newsletter is trying to put the C back in the CSA. We want to hear from you. You may not know it but our CSA is full of renegade gardeners, amateur chicken keepers and all kinds of people you probably want to know better. And we want to know you, too. So send us your ideas, your pictures of the meals you make with your bounty, your most embarrassing high school moments, your gripes, your quick hellos, your whatever. We want it all. Don’t delay send it to themamapapa@yahoo.com.
My good friend is a member of a CSA in Seattle and we love comparing notes on our bounties. I am amazed to hear that she gets stuff like bags of chanterelle mushrooms. Last year when her farm had suffered lots of flooding, she was amazed that I was actually getting a pickup every week. This past Christmas she gave me Deborah Madison’s cookbook Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. It’s quite a tome – you could do serious bicep curls with it. This book is awesome. I am an omnivore, but this book is so big and chock full of recipes, that I sometimes think it might be possible for me to live without meat. Or at least try. The pictures and illustrations are beautiful. I am still making my way through the recipes, but so far they seem simple and straightforward. And there is a lot of info about cooking methods, kitchen staples and seasonings. This year I’m going to give the kohlrabi with horseradish recipe a try.
Is there a cookbook you wanna eat? Tell us about it. themamapapa@yahoo.com
So we haven’t gotten into the real thick of the herbs yet, but if past years have been any indication they’re coming. This advice from Mark Bittman was in the Dining In/Dining Out section a few weeks ago on what to do with fresh herbs.
If you have extra herbs, your four best options are: Make pesto by puréeing the herb with oil and whatever other seasonings you like; make “pesto,” a purée of herb and water, with or without other seasonings; make compound butter; chop herbs, and freeze in ice cube trays covered with water.
If you want to read the whole article that talks about better ways to use your freezer, click below
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/06/dining/06mini.html?scp=6&sq=freezer%20bittman&st=cse
Have a favorite fruit or veggie you want to see in the spotlight? Email me at themamapapa@yahoo.com and I will do what I can.
The Brooklyn Food Conference is being held on May 2 at John Jay College in Park Slope. Created by the Brooklyn Food Coalition, over 500 people have already registered for the conference and thousands are expected. There is a fundraiser dinner featuring local/sustainable foods that is almost sold out.
For more information and to register go to www.brooklynfoodconference.org
The annual Food for Thought Film Festival is coming up on April 11th and 18th. The 2009 festival focuses on several crucial issues: access to clean food and water, human rights, local and sustainable agriculture, and the effects of policy on small American farmers.
Featured Films
Asparagus: Stalking the American Life
Eating Alaska
FLOW
Shorts
Farm to Cafeteria: A Red Hook Lunch
New Amsterdam Market
Hotbread Kitchen
The screenings are free, and will be followed by discussion sessions and a reception.
Thanks for the tip Gabby!
We are currently sold out for the 2009 season. If you’d like to be added to our mailing list, please send us an email, and we’ll let you know when we’re ready to start signing up new members for the next season.
Or if you just can’t wait to get your CSA fix, check out these other options. There are two new CSAs starting up this year not far from us: Flatbush Farm Share and Crown Heights CSA. Just Food also has a listing of other CSAs all over NYC posted here.