I mentioned this in last week’s Recipe Roundup, but am just getting around to posting pictures…
Continue reading “Warm Butternut Squash Salad with Chickpeas, Cilantro, and Tahini Dressing”
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Volunteered Yet?
Volunteers are vital to the operation of our CSA, as we are a member-run organization. If you haven’t been able to fulfill your volunteer hours yet this season, there is still time! Please contact Volunteer Coordinator, Richelle Trivedi, at rickyrae@gmail.com to ask how you can help.
If you can’t make it to a volunteering slot during distribution, there are lots of other ways to help out. Richelle can help you find a volunteer activity that will fit your schedule.
You can also learn more on our volunteering page.
Yes, You Can Eat Baby Pumpkins!
Check out this recipe from CDKitchen!
Ingredients:
1/2 pound tinda (baby pumpkin)
2 medium potatoes, cut into cubes
1/2 inch ginger
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds, for the paste
5 whole red chili
1/4 teaspoon garam masala powder
3 green chili
1 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
salt to taste
4 tablespoons cooking oil
1 small, finely chopped tomato
a pinch cumin seeds
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 cup water
Directions:
Mix the potato with 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder and salt. Heat the oil in a pan, and fry the potato till they turn light golden brown. Remove and keep it aside.
Scrape the baby pumpkin with a peeler and cut into 4 pieces. Add 1/2 tsp turmeric and little salt. Fry in the same oil till they turn light brown. Remove and set aside. Grind to make a paste of ginger, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, and whole red chilli. Add Bay leaf, 1/4 tsp Cumin seeds (seasoning), sugar, garam masala powder to the oil in the pan. When starts spluttering, add the juice from the paste from step 3 using a strainer. Add the rest of the turmeric powder. Fry for 5 minutes in medium heat. Add the chopped tomato and fry till oil leaves the side of the pan. Add the salt, green chilli, fried potato and the tinda. Fry for few minutes. Add 1 1/2 cup of water and bring to boil. Reduce heat and let it simmer for 10 min. Remove and serve with rice or chappati.
Our Partner Farm, MimoMex
Our partnering farm is MimoMex Farm, is located on 16 acres in the Black Dirt Region in the town of Goshen, New York. Goshen is situated about 46 miles from North Brooklyn, in a valley area known for its extremely fertile soil left over from an ancient glacial lake bottom.
Nestled within the bosom of the Northeast Appalachian ranges, this series of valleys is a combination of areas with rocky forest land and rich cultivatable soil that is chiefly devoted to the industry of agriculture. It is owned and operated by Martín & Gaudencia Rodriguez.
Martín & Gaudencia both grew up on farms in Mexico and have 20+ years of farming experience. They have been on their farm in Goshen for about 5 years, and own most of the land they cultivate. This will be their third year as CSA farmers; they partner with 2 other Brooklyn CSAs (Southside and Sunset Park).
MimoMex, named after Martín’s son, is a success story for the New Farmer Development Project, a program that encourages immigrants to farm in the region. The program runs a training course to teach immigrants who already have agricultural experience how to navigate the US farming industry. MimoMex is the first graduating farm of NFDP to own its own land.
The Central Brooklyn CSA and The New York City Coalition Against Hunger
Although the Central Brooklyn CSA is a community-organized effort of Brooklyn citizens, we are able to provide low-cost shares for citizens through the Farm Fresh Initiative, a program run by the New York City Coalition Against Hunger.
The Coalition’s original mission was to “coordinate the activities of the emergency food providers in the city so that issues can be identified, prioritized and addressed effectively.” Though its aims have expanded and evolved over the last two decades – for example, it has strengthened advocacy and legislative efforts and now provides national service participants to emergency food providers – food access for all New Yorkers has always remained the Coalition’s animating goal.
The Farm Fresh Initiative is a city-wide program model that addresses this question by providing families with choices while connecting small local farms to low and middle income New Yorkers in traditionally under-served communities.
The centerpiece of this citywide program is a unique mixed income Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model that makes healthy, organic, fresh vegetables accessible to community members of all income levels by offering a variety of personalized payment options, including the ability to purchase vegetable shares using SNAP (Food Stamps) benefits.
NYCCAH’s involvement in the Central Brooklyn CSA is to support the mixed-income and community building aspect of the CSA, provide funding for the subsidized share prices, staffing support, and an AmeriCorps volunteer who coordinates the CSA.
If you are able to, please consider donating to NYCCAH to help programs like ours running by clicking here.
Central Brooklyn CSA 