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Cromwell Valley CSA Newsletter |
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For those who want to participate in work hours and end with a potluck and bonfire, you can commit to work one or more of the following Fridays from 4 to 7 PM: There are two Friday potluck options left: · August 13 · August 27
For those who can’t make the Friday shifts, there will be work sessions on the following pickup days from 3 to 6 PM. These shifts are work hours only and there will not be a potluck following them. · Tues., Aug. 10 · Sat., Aug. 21 To sign up for one or more sessions, please email info@cvcsa.org. Each session will have 20 spots, which will be assigned on a first come, first served basis. |
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(Picture courtesy of Flickr user thebittenword.com.) |
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CSA Work Hours Reminder |
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August 8, 2010 |
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Cromwell Valley Park offers a number of fun and educational workshops throughout the season. Check out the full calendar online. We’ve highlighted a few of the upcoming workshops below. Sign up now to reserve your spot for any of these fun activities down on the farm! For any programs not indicated as sponsored by CVCSA, you can contact the park office at 410.887.2503 or email info@cromwellvalleypark.org for more information or to reserve your spot. Unless otherwise noted, payment must be made to CVP within 5 business days of your reservation, or the reservation will be yielded to the waiting list. All payments are donations and non-refundable unless CVP cancels the program. Make checks payable to: Cromwell Valley Park Council (CVPC). Mailing Address: Cromwell Valley Park, 2002 Cromwell Bridge Road, Baltimore, MD 21234. For programs sponsored by CVCSA, email molly.amster@gmail.com to reserve your spot or get more information. Workshop details are below: —————————————— SATURDAY AUGUST 7 Raccoons, skunks, and opossum have all adapted to living around people. What are their special adaptations, character traits, and behavior patterns? Learn this and more as we compare pelts, skulls, and prints. All ages. Reservations required. $2 members/$4 non-members. —————————————— SUNDAY AUGUST 8 The Cromwell Valley Park Council invites children of all ages to the Chocolate Chip Cookie Children’s Theater to discover the world of bears through Thirst ‘n’ Howl Musical Productions delightful retelling of this ageless tale. When Papa Bear loses his job at the Harry and Jerry Merry Berry Factory, Mama and Baby Bears take the Papa Bear and the audience on an interactive scavenger hunt through the neighborhood to introduce him to jobs he might be able to do. While they are away, Goldy explores their house, discovering how different it is from her home. Songs include “Get on a Bus”, “The Farmer’s Nose Knows” and “The Mailman Delivers”. This lively musical journey captures the children’s imagination for role playing a worker in their neighborhood and inspires appreciation of workers children meet every day. It also provides a background on bears that live in Maryland. Beginning at 5 PM, performers will assist children in making their own bears masks to take home. —————————————— TUESDAY AUGUST 10 Are snakes really slimy? Do we have venomous snakes in our area? Learn the truth about snakes. Program includes live native snakes, snake eggs, shedding, skeleton, and hike to snake habitats. All ages. Reservations required. $2 members/$4 non-members. —————————————— SATURDAY AUGUST 14 We are going on an insect hunt to learn first-hand about those amazing 6-legged critters. Ages 5 to 12 with adult. Reservations required. $2 members/$4 non-members. —————————————— SUNDAY AUGUST 15 Come learn how to use clues to figure out which animals call Cromwell Valley Park home. We’ll learn which animals live in the Park and how to recognize their tracks, scat, sounds and more. Of course we will also put our new skills to work! All ages. Reservations required. $2 members/$4 non-members. —————————————— SUNDAY AUGUST 15 Join Hanne Blank, writer & cook who learned to can at her grandmother’s knee, to learn the basics of hot water bath canning and freezer storage. Imagine fragrant, fresh tasting peach pie...in February! You will learn everything you need to know to ensure safe, hygienic & delicious canned goods. Ages 15+. Reservations required. For more info visit www.cvcsa.org. Please contact the CSA directly to reserve your spot - info@cvcsa.org $30 CSA shareholders/$35 non-shareholders. —————————————— SUNDAY AUGUST 22 Join the CSA farm staff for an exciting look at our flock of rare-breed chickens. Enjoy a hands-on experience with these incredible birds, learn about chicken behavior, our intensive grazing method, eggs and, for the kids (even for those that are kids at heart!), play a fun chicken game! All ages . Reservations required. For more info visit www.cvcsa.org. Please contact the CVCSA directly to reserve your spot - info@cvcsa.org.$3 CSA shareholders/$5 non-shareholders. —————————————— FRIDAY AUGUST 27 We’ll capture, tag and release monarchs as they head south for the winter. If the Monarchs don’t cooperate, we’ll settle for any of our beautiful butterflies. Ages 7 to 12. Reservations required. $2 members/$4 non-members. |
Highlights in this issue:· Work hours · Farm Update · Benefits of organics · Upcoming workshops · Recipes |
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Upcoming Workshops |
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Sign up for one of many summer workshops at Cromwell Valley Park or CVCSA and learn while having fun! |
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(Picture courtesy of Flickr user thebittenword.com.) |
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Farm Update by Andrea Anderson |
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Another few great weeks have passed on the farm and with the steady rain and relatively cooler temps we've had we're finally seeing a corresponding increase in our harvests. The past few pick-ups have seen additions of summer squash and green beans as well as some baby kale. With the arrival of our crops also came the arrival of the weeds. The previous heat and dry weather had, in addition, to slowing down our crops also slowed down, or eliminated entirely, most weeds. Now the weeds, as they generally do, are growing at rates far faster than our crops and we've officially entered the part of our season where most of our time is devoted to weed removal. Another large chunk of our time the past few weeks has been devoted to pest removal. We've been combating cucumber beetles in the summer squash and cucumbers for a few weeks now and have even begun spraying with an organic pesticide derived from chrysanthemums. Cucumber beetles are a particularly persistent pest because they have no problems surviving the winter. In addition to the actual insects surviving the winter, what's more problematic is the bacterial and fungal wilt and other diseases that also survive the winter in the insects’ digestive tracks. Cucumber beetles are leaf hoppers which means that they jump from plant to plant inflicting physical damage but also transmitting disease wherever they go. Typically when you begin spraying insect pests with an insecticide it is necessary to continue spraying until the plants are done producing or the pests just regroup and attack. The insecticide is usually a last ditch effort to save your plants when no other management strategy is working. We were seeing quite a few cucumber beetles in the squash before they were even fruiting so we regulated the irrigation making sure the ground, where the cucumber beetles lay their eggs, wasn't being kept regularly moist and we put up a vertical wall of shade cloth dividing the summer squash from the cucumbers to try and stop the leaf hoppers from making their way on to the more delicate cucumber plants. Then we started spraying the non-fruiting flowers where the cucumber beetles are busy living off of the plant’s pollen, making sure to avoid the times of day when beneficial pollinators like honey bees are present. Pyrethrin, the insecticide we use, is a contact killer meaning is has to contact the insect to kill it so we can't just coat our plants and hope for the best. Earlier this week I was doing some mid-week harvesting and weeding in the zucchini field when I noticed that the honey bees were exceptionally abundant in the plant flowers and field. I then began noticing that it wasn't just the honey bees but also bumble bees, wasps and other pollinators. What I didn't notice was very many cucumber beetles. It's possible that our combined management strategies are doing the trick but it's more likely that we've managed to keep the cucumber beetle population small enough that they can't compete with the larger pollinators for the pollen that they need to survive. Which brings me to the importance of pollinators and the ecosystems they need to thrive. When you walk, or drive, by the farm you will notice that the areas surrounding our fields are not mowed. You can see the purple flowers of chicory, Queen Anne's lace, dandelion, burdock, daisies... I could go on for days. While some might think it would look better to have immaculately groomed fields mowed to perfection, we would actually be eliminating entire ecosystems that are not just "helping" our crops but that are necessary to maintain species balance in the midst of the environmental interruption that agriculture causes. Fostering beneficial pollinators isn't just good for the environment but is also simultaneously protecting our crops. This reminds us that there was a time when farming was done with the help of nature and not in opposition to it and encourages me to continue seeking to improve the overall environmental health of the farm. Our crops continue to do well and we should continue seeing more additions to shares. I believe we should soon be seeing some tomatillos and perhaps some jalapenos in the near future. I would also like to mention that as crops start producing they don't always start out with enough food to make a share. We do our best to get as much of that early produce to the members so that means that the first few pick-ups of any item may just be for the large shares or the small share or one pick-up day that week. For example Tuesday members might get the first blackberries but in turn the last of the blackberries would go to Saturday members. We want to get everyone as much produce as possible so we feel it's better to give out those first few harvests rather than to wait until there is enough, at once, for the whole pick-up. With our small share system we need a minimum of 275 of any one item each pick-up day to do a share of 2 for Large and 1 for small. As you can imagine the plants don't always take that into consideration the first few weeks, so please remain patient as things start to come in. We're fully committed to making sure every member is getting their fair share over the course of the season. The work sessions have been going exceptionally well and we look forward to seeing even more members on the farm in the coming months. Watch for the upcoming Fall work session and potluck dates! See you in the fields! Andrea Anderson |
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Learn how to can and freeze the bounty of summer! Join us for a canning workshop in August. |
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An Update on the health benefits of organics |
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Most of us are members of CVCSA because we value eating locally grown organic produce. Several research articles about organic food and pesticides have been published in the last few years. Below are brief synopses of some articles of interest. Researchers in Boston (Bouchard, Bellinger, Wrignt and Weisskopf, 2010) reported in May in the journal Pediatrics, on ADHD and urinary metabolites of organophosphate pesticides using data from the 2000-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The researchers reviewed data for 1139 children ages 8-15 years of age. In the study population 119 children met the diagnostic criteria for ADHD. Children with levels of the most-commonly detected metabolite, dimethyl thiophosphate , who had higher than the median level had twice the odds of ADHD compared with children who had undetectable urinary levels of the pesticide. The authors concluded “Our findings support the hypothesis that current levels of organophosphate pesticide exposure might contribute to the childhood burden of ADHD.” Researchers performed an intervention study (Lu, Toepel, Irish, Fenske, Barr and Bravo, 2006) that substituted organic food for the conventional food of 23 children ages 3-11 measured urinary biomarkers of organophosphorus (OP)pesticide residues. OP pesticides are known to cause neurologic effects in both humans and animals. Almost immediately after the organic diets were introduced levels of malathion and chlorpyrifos decreased to nondetectable levels and remained so while the children were eating the organic food. These two pesticides are commonly used in fruit, vegetable and wheat production. The authors concluded, “To our knowledge, this is the first study to employ a longitudinal design with a dietary intervention to assess children’s exposure to pesticides. It provides new and persuasive evidence of the effectiveness of this intervention.” The Organic Center (www.organic-center.org) produced a report in 2008 titled “State of Science Review: Nutritional Superiority of Organic Foods. New Evidence Confirms the Nutritional Superiority of Plant-Based Organic Foods.” The researchers (Benbrook, Zhao, Yanez, Davies and Andrews) reviewed 97 peer-reviewed studies published since 1980, examining matched pairs of measurements that included both an organic and conventional food sample . The authors found that organic foods within the pairs were nutritionally superior in 61% of the cases. The nutrient levels of the food pairs where the organic foods exceeded the conventional samples by >10% included total phenols, total antioxidant capacity, quercetin, Vitamin C and Vitamin E. Two systematic reviews by Dangour and associates published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2009 and 2010 found no convincing evidence of superior nutrient quality and the nutrition-related health effects of organic foods as compared with conventional foods. The authors reviewed thousands of articles dating from the late 1950s to 2008 for both studies yet found very few research articles of sufficient quality to include in their analyses. A letter to the editor noted that food production techniques have changed over 50 years, and that people choose organic foods for reasons other than increased nutritional quality. To summarize, there seems to be some strong evidence that pesticide residues are present in the urine of children, and that they reduce to insignificant/non-detectable levels when children consume organic food. Depending on the review methods of researchers, there may be some increased levels of some nutrients, or no difference between organic and conventional foods. Clearly more research is needed using well designed studies to determine if some nutrients in organic foods may be superior to conventional foods. Nadine Braunstein, PhD, RD, CDE is an Assistant Professor at Towson University. She is a Registered Dietitian and a Certified Diabetes Educator. |
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Snakes, insects, chickens, butterflies and more - learn about nature and wildlife down on the farm. |
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recipes |
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This week, I have another great recipe for you from our small potluck recipe collection, and a new recipe that will help you take care of those lambs quarters. If you’d like to share your potluck recipes (or any other recipes), as always, feel free to send them to me at newsletter@cvcsa.org and I’ll include them in upcoming newsletters.
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Ingredients · 1 (19 oz) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed · 2 Tbsp vegan mayonnaise · 2 tsp whole grain brown mustard · 1 Tbsp sweet pickle relish · 2 green onions, chopped · Salt and pepper to taste |
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Instructions In a medium bowl, combine garbanzo beans, mayonnaise, mustard, relish, chopped green onions, salt and pepper. Mix well. |
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More Resources: Two documentaries that were recently screened in NYC that were mentioned on a listserv of dietitians interested in hunger and environmental issues that may be of interest to CVCSA members: “What’s Organic About Organic” http://whatsorganicmovie.com “My Toxic Baby” www.mytoxicbaby.com |
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Vegan “Tu-no fish” Salad |
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This recipe is contributed by Elena Johnson and adapted from Allrecipes.com (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mock-Tuna-Salad/Detail.aspx). |
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Ingredients · 3/4 lb lambs quarters · 1/2 head of garlic · 1 small onion · Olive oil for sautéing · 1 package softened Neufchatel (light) cream cheese · 1 16oz container fat free or light sour cream · Parmesan cheese to taste |
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Instructions Remove leaves of lambs quarters from stems and discard the latter. Wash well and drain. Dice onion and mince garlic. Sauté onion and garlic in olive oil until onion is translucent and garlic begins to brown. Add lambs quarters and sauté until color darkens and volume reduces (like spinach). If necessary, add a little water and cover the pan with a lid in order to steam on low heat. |
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Lambs Quarters Dip |
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CSA member Jeff Samuels submitted this recipe last week saying, “I had started to get a little bored with simply sautéing the lambs quarters and eating them as a side dish, so I decided to make a dip. It turned out pretty well, though next time I will probably add some nutmeg and/or lemon, and/or pepper, and/or horseradish. Also note that I tend not to use much salt, so most people will want to add some salt, soy sauce, or tamari as well.” If you’re looking for something new to do with those lambs quarters, give this a try! |