Garlic Scapes!

Wondering what to do with your garlic scapes and all that lovely fresh pasta? Look no further!

Here is a recipe for Spinach & Garlic Scapes Pasta.

Directions

  1. Place spinach, garlic scapes& parmesan in a food processor& pulse until mixture is chunky.
  2. With machine running, pour in olive oil.
  3. Process until mixture is smooth.
  4. Add butter& seasonings to taste.
  5. Meanwhile, cook pasta as directed.
  6. If the sauce is too thick, add a little pasta water& mix well.
  7. Drain pasta, place in serving dishes& top with sauce.

Eat and enjoy!

Another Chance for Veggies on Wednesday

Hello members.

Thank you for your patience and perseverance tonight. Our farmer hit a 7-hour traffic jam on the way to deliver our produce, arriving at Abrons after 8pm. For those of you who made it back to distribution, hopefully you’ll agree it was worth the trek.

For those of you that couldn’t come back, you still have a chance to grab your veggies on Wednesday. One of our core members has agreed to store about 14 half shares overnight in a cool (but not refrigerated) space. At about 8 am, she will leave individual half share bags in the hallway outside her apartment for pickup on a first come, first served, honor system basis.

    Seward Park Coops
    415 Grand Street (corner of Clinton)
    Apt. E1404

This is the center bank of elevators, go to the 14th floor, and turn left off the elevators and go to the end of the hall. Your grocery bag of produce will be waiting. The doormen are pretty cool if you just look like you belong. No need to ring the bell, just grab your share. If the lettuce looks wilted, there’s a good chance some cold water will perk it right back up again.

This was an extraordinary experience for all of us, so we really appreciate everyone’s patience, understanding, and good humor. Though this hasn’t happened before, and we hope will not happen again, we’ll be working on some clearer contingency plans to make any future delays run more smoothly. If you have any suggestions, feel free to email us.

Thank you.

CSA Delivery Delayed Today

Unfortunately, Farmer Dave is caught in some nasty traffic on his way to deliver our veggies and cheese. He’s estimating that he won’t arrive at Abrons until about 6:30pm.

If you arrive before 6:30pm to pick up your share, you’ll have to come back later.

Also, please note, that when he arrives, it will take volunteers a few minutes to get the veggies ready for pick up. Please be especially patient as they set up the bins and wait until fully set up to begin picking up your share.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Mt. Sinai Survey: What Do You Eat?

Just Food‘s Paula Lukats brought to our attention an online survey on eating habits being conducted by Mt Sinai School of Medicine. Here’s what she says:

Just Food works throughout New York City and the region to promote and support CSAs. Rigorous documentation of the impact of the CSA program would allow us to demonstrate the importance of CSAs to funders and policymakers.

The survey is not just for CSA members, it’s meant to review a broad spectrum of food habits, but getting CSA members to participate would highlight a particular set of choices.

The survey is taken twice — once now, and again in about a month — and each should take no more than 15 minutes. Here’s the link: What do you eat?

Zero-Out Your Scale

I noticed some of our new members fumbling with our scales at the first distribution yesterday, trying to figure out the right way to weigh out their spinach and kale. The trick is to make sure that the scale is set to zero with an empty yellow bowl sitting on top. Then you’ll get an accurate read on whatever you put in the bowl.

A lot of the children who come to distribution like to play with the scales, so you should always give yours a check before you start gathering your greens. (The members on duty should also be re-calibrating the scales periodically, but somehow they never stay set.)

Also, be aware that two of the scales have a loose spring and are designed for measurements up to 32 oz., while two others measure out many pounds (5?). And you might as well learn it now: there are 16 ounces in 1 pound.

Week 1

May 25, 2010 Week 1
Full Share from Woodbridge Farm

Great to see you all on the first distribution – sunny spring day was the perfect way to start the season!

First Cheese Coming with Veggies Tuesday

From Farmer/Cheesemaker Dave:

The first cheese will be our “Udderly Delicious,” a washed rind cheese that is based on a French Tomme recipe. It’s the softer of the two you tried during our last visit. We will then alternate between it and the “Cosmic Cow” which is based on a Gruyer recipe.

We will mix in other cheeses as they become available. We plan to make a camembert and a chaurce which are both classified as bloomy rind soft cheeses. Feta possibly down the road and Yogurt if you think folks wouldn’t mind a non-cheese dairy item in the mix.

Announcing 2nd Tuesdays

This year, on the “2nd Tuesday” of each month, the Grand Street CSA will hold a community event during distribution, with the dual purpose of increasing our members’ knowledge about cooking, eating, and food AND giving us all an opportunity to hang out and get to know each other. We’ll have music, a topic table with helpful CSA-related information (“How to Care for Your Share” is the first one on June 8), cooking demos (we hope), and … whatever else you can help us with!

Please use the form below to let us know if you can participate.

Update from the Farm

Julia from Woodbridge Farm writes:

The vegetables are looking beautiful, lush and green, and it appears that this spring a lot of leaf crops are exactly 10 days early. This means I am going to send a lot of lettuce and boc choys your way next week. There will also be some herbs and a mild salad greens mix with spinach, as well as kale and swiss chard.

On the dairy side of our operation, things are looking fabulous as well. The pastures are lush, cows and calves are happy and healthy, and we now finally have our official raw milk license.

See you all Tuesday!

Surpise!

We just got this note from Farmers Julia and Dave:

We are actually coming next Tuesday a week earlier then you thought. Last pick up will be the last Tuesday in October.

We will work on a farm update and send to you asap. Looking forward to another bountiful season!!

“Know Your Food!”

So there you have it — first distribution will be Tuesday, May 25!

A few things to remember:

  • We’ll be at Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand Street, on the stepped plaza outside the main entrance.
  • Come between 5pm and 8pm.
  • Bring your own bag.
  • Clean out the veggie bin in your fridge.

See you on Tuesday!