Madroña Elementary 2012 California Distinguished School Winner
612 Camino Manzanas, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360 (805) 498-6102
Your Subtitle text
Healthy Kids
California State PTA Health Commission
Introduction
The Health Commission works to promote effective health education programs in schools and communities that offer children, youth, and families skills to make healthy choices.
Through legislative action, the Health Commission advocates for statewide health programs for children, youth, and families.
Commission members serve on various statewide committees that address mental health, physical health, and environmental health issues.
The Health Commission supports efforts that bring together concerned people, agencies and organizations to address the needs of children, youth, and families and assist them in establishing healthy behaviors.
Healthy Lifestyles Grants are now available from the California State PTA to develop, promote and implement healthy lifestyles programs, projects and activities that will improve the overall health of children and adults.
How You Can Help
Positive Assets
At Madroña, we take our children's health and well-being very seriously. However, parents need to spend quality time with their child. By spending quality time with their child, by promoting positive assets in their child, and by modeling a healthy eating lifestyle, parents can promote and enhance their child’s healthy body image.
“Talk the talk.”
Parents need to understand what healthy eating is, to teach it, talk it, and expect their child to embrace it. They need to intervene and actively engage the child in discussions about healthy eating and positive body image when appropriate, to understand that a problem cannot be resolved unless and until it is first defined, and to stay emotionally connected to the child through conversation.
“Walk the talk.”
Parents need to model healthy eating behaviors, particularly for the young child. Action speaks louder than words; parents need to live their values, making healthy eating a backdrop to a loving family existence. In addition, they need to provide the conditions, the opportunity, and the means for the child to engage in healthy eating habits.
Healthy Resources
The California State PTA website provides a vast library of information on many healthy topics. We encourage you to explore their site to larn more about:
Introduction
The Health Commission works to promote effective health education programs in schools and communities that offer children, youth, and families skills to make healthy choices.
Through legislative action, the Health Commission advocates for statewide health programs for children, youth, and families.
Commission members serve on various statewide committees that address mental health, physical health, and environmental health issues.
The Health Commission supports efforts that bring together concerned people, agencies and organizations to address the needs of children, youth, and families and assist them in establishing healthy behaviors.
Healthy Lifestyles Grants are now available from the California State PTA to develop, promote and implement healthy lifestyles programs, projects and activities that will improve the overall health of children and adults.
How You Can Help
Positive Assets
At Madroña, we take our children's health and well-being very seriously. However, parents need to spend quality time with their child. By spending quality time with their child, by promoting positive assets in their child, and by modeling a healthy eating lifestyle, parents can promote and enhance their child’s healthy body image.
“Talk the talk.”
Parents need to understand what healthy eating is, to teach it, talk it, and expect their child to embrace it. They need to intervene and actively engage the child in discussions about healthy eating and positive body image when appropriate, to understand that a problem cannot be resolved unless and until it is first defined, and to stay emotionally connected to the child through conversation.
“Walk the talk.”
Parents need to model healthy eating behaviors, particularly for the young child. Action speaks louder than words; parents need to live their values, making healthy eating a backdrop to a loving family existence. In addition, they need to provide the conditions, the opportunity, and the means for the child to engage in healthy eating habits.
Healthy Resources
The California State PTA website provides a vast library of information on many healthy topics. We encourage you to explore their site to larn more about:
- Dental Check-Ups
- Snack Foods Guideline
- Alternatives to Food as a Reward
- Beyond Zero Tolerance
- Sun Safety
- Healthy Kids Learn Better
- and Much, Much, More
March is National Nutrition Month
Have you seen the human strawberry walking the campus? That's our very own Health & Wellness Chair Janine Johnson placing her focus on the importance of making informed food choices and developing sound eating and physical activity habits. She is walking the walk and talking the talk. Thanks Janine!
March 2013 National Nutrition Month Information Flyer
My Plate
My Plate - En Espanol
Get your Plate into Shape
Get your Plate into Shape - Tips
Healthy Eating on the Run
Healthy Eating on the Run - En Espanol
25 Healthy Snacks for Kids
25 Healthy Snacks for Kids - En Espanol
20 ways to Enjoys more Fruits & Veggies
20 ways to Enjoys more Fruits & Veggies - En Espanol
2012 Healthy Food Promotion
Our Healthy Food Promotion is a great opportunity to introduce new foods to our student population. In partnership with Join the farm, we invite you to read more about this month's Healthy Food Promotion below.
What is the Healthy Food Promotion?
Each month during lunch time, all students will have the opportunity to sample 1 fruit or vegetable. After they sample the food item, they vote if they liked it or did not like it. Results are communicated to students, parents, and teachers.
Information about the food item sampled this month is in this Wednesday’s packet. Please reinforce good eating habits at home.
2012 / 2013 Schedule (subject to change)
Healthy Food Recipe Book
Download our healthy food recipe book created by our students. Thank you to everyone that contributed a recipe. More
Join the Farm
Endorsed by the school district, CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is an arrangement in which subscribers buy a portion of a farmer's crop at the beginning of the season and receive weekly boxes of whatever is being harvested fresh from the field.
What is a Join the Farm CSA box like?
Weekly shares of our fresh produce come in re-usable bushel boxes, enough to feed 4 people for a week. The contents vary depending on what we’re harvesting. In our summer season (July through September) we’re expecting lettuces, greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, summer squashes, onions, basil, cilantro, corn, melons, tomatillos, peppers, eggplants, beans and more! The winter season (January through March) should include lettuces, greens (kale,chard), beets, carrots, turnips, broccoli and much more.
We also include our newsletter with updates from the farm and a guide to what’s in your box with recipes to help you enjoy it!
Information
****FARM CSA UPDATE!!****
As of August 25th, 2012 Join the Farm! moved our farm to our new farm location at The Hansen Agricultural Center in Santa Paula During the transition onto our new farm we'll continue the fantastic CSA program our community of supporters and subscribers have come to know and love the past 3 years. We'll continue our CSA by sourcing organic vegetables from local farmers we know and trust while adding veggies from our field as they grow. Each week's newsletter will have a list of vegetables and fruits and details the farms providing the vegetables. This locally sourced CSA is temporary and we are looking forward to growing our own produce for our CSA over these next few months.
Dear Farm Friends,
Welcome to the Join the Farm! (JTF) Community and to our CSA program!
We are pleased that you decided to join our farm community!. We are happy and proud to be bringing the local, sustainably grown harvest from our farm to your table!
Below is information you will need and want about our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Program:
1. How to log into your account if you have questions about when and where to pick up your CSA boxes.
2. Various resources to help you get the most out of your CSA experience.
3. A brief description of the spirit and inspiration of our farm
Need to find out where and when to pick up your box?
You may log-in to your Farmigo account anytime to find out when and where to pick up your CSA boxes, change your pick up location, to find your site host contact information, to check your payment status and make payments, or to put a vacation stop on your boxes (you are never charged for boxes put on vacation hold!). Go to http://csa.farmigo.com/account/jointhefarm to log-in to your account. Or, click here to login to your Farmigo account.
Important Reminders
Our Fall CSA is 11 weeks. Our Fall CSA runs through the weeks of 10/8 through 12/17. We will take a 2 week CSA break the weeks of 12/24 and 12/31. Our winter CSA begins the week of 1/7/13.
Your CSA membership is year-round! When your account is low, simply re-charge to continue receiving boxes.
FULL SHARE members receive full-size boxes every week. FALL FULL SHARE PICK UP WEEKS: 10/8, 10/15, 10/22, 10/29, 11/5, 11/12, 11/19, 11/26, 12/3, 12/10, 12/17
HALF SHARE members receive full-size boxes bi-weekly. FALL HALF SHARE PICK UP WEEKS: 10/8, 10/22, 11/5, 11/19, 12/3, 12/17
MINI SHARE members receive a mini box every week. FALL MINI SHARE PICK UP WEEKS: 10/8, 10/15, 10/22, 10/29, 11/5, 11/12, 11/19, 11/26, 12/3, 12/10, 12/17
To check your next pick up date, log onto your Farmigo account and check your delivery date. This will always show your next box pick up date.
Pick-up Procedures
When you pick up your box, please sign your initials next to your last name on the pick-up sheet. Most sites provide a labeled Swap Box, so if you know you can't use your turnips (but check our recipes first!), feel free to leave them in the box (or take the kale that someone else left!)
Also, please return your empty waxed cardboard box from the previous week when you pick up your box. We know the CSA boxes make for charming interior decor, but they do cost money and we like to re-use them!
If for some reason you are unable to make it to your pick-up site before it closes, please contact your site host (to find contact information for your site host, login to your account and select "pickup directions") to see if you can arrange to get your box after your scheduled pick-up time. Unclaimed boxes are donated at the site host's discretion.
The CSA Way: Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is about creating relationship between farm and community. We connect people who eat good food with each other, the local land from which our food comes, and the people who grow and harvest it.
The farm is our way of doing the best we can for the earth, our community, and your health. When you join the farm, you receive a regular share of fresh, sustainably-grown produce; have what you need to shape your meals around healthy and nutritious foods; help keep local land farmed sustainably; support a local farm and the people who work on it, and encourage young adults who are trying to create positive change and make a space for farm-based learning experiences for families, schools, and community organizations.
Give and Take: When you join our CSA, it isn't just about you being the consumer and us being the producer. We are partners together in personal, environmental and social transformation. Like any relationship, there is "give and take" involved in CSA. Sometimes weather extremes (like rain, wind, or heat) or field mishaps (like crows eating up a new planting) may result in a box that looks a little bit sad. Believe us, no one is more disappointed than we are when your box is less than lush and abundant! We are proud of our work and our produce and want you to feel showered with diverse and plentiful goodness every time you open it. We thank you for your flexibility and understanding when the reality doesn't match the ideal. On the flip side, we do our best to respond to your needs when you make them know to us. We try to make our farm as accessible to you as possible, we are generous with donations to schools and community groups, we work out sliding scale fees and payment plans whenever possible, and we listen to your feedback.
It is a good thing to be in this together!
Weekly CSA emails: CSA newsletters & Recipes
Every week we email all subscribers a CSA tip and recipe email that includes farm news. These emails are CSA gems with great subscriber contributed recipes and farm anecdotes. Find our CSA recipes on our recipe page for yummy preparation ideas. Click on the recipe tab on the right. Each recipe highlights vegetables found in your box. We especially enjoy featuring subscriber recipes, so send your favorites to us at info@jointhefarm.com, and we will post them in the catalog. We are also looking for someone to make our recipe database more user friendly, so if you can help, please let us know.
CSA box basics
Here are tips to help you love and not fear your CSA Box:
a. What is it?? First, scan the list of veggies in your box in your weekly farm email. A veggie name you don't recognize? Search our veggie info chart http://jointhefarm.com/JoinTheFarm.html Find the vegetable name and then check out the pictures to identify that item in your box! Then use all the nifty veggie information in the chart to begin a love affair with each item. If you can't figure out what something is, call us at 805-317-6571.
b. Good Guides: In addition to our recipe catalog and newsletter recipes (see above), feel free to seek out helpful cookbooks focused on eating seasonally and locally. Simply-in-Season by Mary Beth Lind & Cathleen Hockman-Wert, Eating Well in Season: A Farmer's Market Cookbook, and Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman are great resources for cooking with your CSA box.
c. So many greens! Not sure what to do with all those leafy greens? Experiment with kale chips, collard green & kale pesto, chard omelets, roasted beet greens, and veggie pizza! The sky is the limit!
d. First Aid for Wilted Greens: Do you need a tip to keep your greens looking fresh? Wilted greens and lettuce are often just dried out which can still occur even if the greens remain in constant refrigeration. Soak greens in ice water for 5-10 minutes, shake off extra water, put into a zip lock bag with a paper towel, and refrigerate overnight. Watch your greens come back to life!
e. No such thing as "waste": Extra veggie scraps? Start compost, feed it to your chickens or guinea pig, or pass it along to a friend who does have those things. Or make a nutritious veggie broth. Simmer all your leftover, wilty veggies in water with peppercorns, a bayleaf, and salt. Use the broth as a water substitute in cooking rice, grains, and potatoes! Stock freezes well, too!
f. Imperfect is a good sign! As a sustainable, earth-friendly farm, we control pests with companion planting, beneficial insect hedges, and an occasional pesticide spray. All pesticides, organic and synthetic, have an effect on our ecosystem. We prefer not to spray, but sometimes it is vital to protect our plants. We consider each circumstance and try to use the method with lowest environmental impact. However, this is always balanced with a need to protect our plants and keep our farm healthy. This sometimes results in imperfect-looking vegetables, which we are growing to appreciate and celebrate!
Examples: Sometimes the arugula and spinach is holey because Bragada bugs dine on the leaves. Even though the plant isn't perfect, it is still packed with nutrients and tastes delicious. The Avocado Thrip Bug inhabited the avocado skins at a young age, causing cosmetic damage to the skins. Even though it looks like a muddy avocado, this rich, smooth fruit is unharmed and tastes great. Let us celebrate the imperfections and enjoy the abundance.
SUPPORT
Subscribing to the farm can feel overwhelming at times. Depending on past experience, you may be experimenting with new vegetables in the kitchen and learning the basic storage, preparation, and cooking techniques for a variety of whole foods. That is why the farm community is committed to be supportive as you become more creative in the kitchen or engage in lifestyle change with your CSA box-a new culinary adventure! See below for different ways we, as a farm community, provide support.
a. Throughout each season, the farm team hosts events at the farm and/or in the farm house centered around food, relationship, celebration, sustainability, and food system transformation. Expect to hear this season about CSA cooking classes, farming discussion/panel, and a Christmas sing-a-long and tamale making party! Engaging in these events and programs is a great way to connect with fellow subscribers, the farm team, and the land - and fuel your commitment to remain engaged in "the CSA way."
b. If you ever need advise or coaching related to using your CSA box, feel free to contact us. We are happy to provide support! The farm phone number is 805-317-6571. Our general email is info@jointhefarm.com.
Visiting and Volunteering
We love when our subscribers come out to see what we're doing or give us a hand with weeding and harvesting. Just give us a call at (805) 317-6571 to schedule your visit!
Special Offerings:
Farm-based Education
Children visit the farm on school field trips to learn about farming, food systems, plants and animals while harvesting vegetables and meeting the farm house chickens! Cost is $5 per student. Feel free to contact Erynn Smith (Erynn@jointhefarm.com), our California-credentialed educator, for more information about the farm education program.
Farm-based Nutrition Coaching & Programming
Are you interested in learning how to transition from a meat-based diet to a plant-based diet using your CSA box? Would you like support and guidance as you make dietary and lifestyle changes? If so, inquire about the nutrition coaching program which includes initial assessments and follow-up appointments. Alise also teaches cooking classes and facilitates on-site cooking demonstrations with CSA box vegetables. Contact Erynn@jointhefarm.com for prices, scheduling, and further information.
The Inspiration and Spirit of our Farm
Join the Farm! (our name is an imperative!) was established in July 2009 by people who were part of a small weekly gathering of the Episcopal Campus Ministry at Cal State Channel Islands (known as The Abundant Table). Our farm was born out of a calling to respond to the brokenness of our food system. We came with a spirit to do something constructive rather than despairing over what is going wrong throughout the system.
Growing food organically and sustainably has not been easy, but the support from the community has inspired and encouraged us. CSA members, local schools, farmers' market shoppers, and volunteers have joined and are joining us as we build relationship with the land and the produce it bears to sustain us. People of all ages have been transformed by their relationship with the farm and the community that is forming around the farm. Each day, as we (farmers, land, and community) live into this farm spirit, we grow together! Our farming rhythms improve, the land restores itself, carbon footprints decline, local economies revive, and bodies are sustained.
We are proud of what we have started and proud of the young adults who have committed to at least one year of working on the farm with the hope of making a difference in the world. As well as providing a sustainable, nutritious harvest to over 100 families most weeks of the year, these young adults live together in an intentional spiritual community in Santa Paula reflecting on their work and vocations. This program is part of the Episcopal Service Corps, a ministry of the Episcopal Church.
As inclusive and open-minded Christians, the Abundant Table Community welcomes all people to join in our spiritual gatherings Sunday evenings We also have profound respect for people of different creeds or no creed. We celebrate our shared connection and interdependence with the earth and each other. If you're thinking about joining us, please email us at info@thebaundanttable.org
We hope this Fall CSA season in communion with our farm will be an enjoyable adventure, and we invite you to continue to nourish this farmer-land-community relationship with us!
Last, but most important...
We are your Farm, and we want you to be involved! We appreciate all kinds of input - feedback on the quality of the produce, recipes, suggestions of how we could improve the CSA experience, stories about how joining our CSA has changed your life... so please be in touch!
Email: info@jointhefarm.com
Phone: (805) 317-6571
P.O. Box 2305 Camarillo, CA 93011
In gratitude for YOU and our shared connection to the earth,
Erynn Smith
CSA Coordinator
Erynn@jointhefarm.com
Office: 805-317-6571
cell: 805-910-5642
Uncle Chris' Italian Ice
Starting Wednesday November 16 and continuing every other Wednesday, our school will be enjoy the flavors of Uncle Chris' Italian Ice. His flavors are dairy free, gluten free, fat free, cholesterol free, kosher and some are dye free. Buon appetite!
Check with the office for specific schedule.
Nutritional Information
Have you seen the human strawberry walking the campus? That's our very own Health & Wellness Chair Janine Johnson placing her focus on the importance of making informed food choices and developing sound eating and physical activity habits. She is walking the walk and talking the talk. Thanks Janine!
March 2013 National Nutrition Month Information Flyer
My Plate
My Plate - En Espanol
Get your Plate into Shape
Get your Plate into Shape - Tips
Healthy Eating on the Run
Healthy Eating on the Run - En Espanol
25 Healthy Snacks for Kids
25 Healthy Snacks for Kids - En Espanol
20 ways to Enjoys more Fruits & Veggies
20 ways to Enjoys more Fruits & Veggies - En Espanol
2012 Healthy Food Promotion
Our Healthy Food Promotion is a great opportunity to introduce new foods to our student population. In partnership with Join the farm, we invite you to read more about this month's Healthy Food Promotion below.
What is the Healthy Food Promotion?
Each month during lunch time, all students will have the opportunity to sample 1 fruit or vegetable. After they sample the food item, they vote if they liked it or did not like it. Results are communicated to students, parents, and teachers.
Information about the food item sampled this month is in this Wednesday’s packet. Please reinforce good eating habits at home.
2012 / 2013 Schedule (subject to change)
- November - Pumpkins More
- December - Tomatoes English En Espanol
- January - Berries English En Espanol
- February - Broccoli English En Espanol
- March - Peppers English En Espanol
- April - Cucumbers English En Espanol
Persian Cucumbers - Results
373 tries the Persian Cucumbers
363 like it!
97% of those who tried and voted, liked the cucumbers!
| |
# Liked It |
# Didn’t Like It |
|
Kindergarten |
68 |
2 |
|
Grades 1-3 |
162 |
14 |
|
Grades 4-5 |
133 |
9 |
Healthy Food Recipe Book
Download our healthy food recipe book created by our students. Thank you to everyone that contributed a recipe. More
Join the Farm
Endorsed by the school district, CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is an arrangement in which subscribers buy a portion of a farmer's crop at the beginning of the season and receive weekly boxes of whatever is being harvested fresh from the field.
What is a Join the Farm CSA box like?
Weekly shares of our fresh produce come in re-usable bushel boxes, enough to feed 4 people for a week. The contents vary depending on what we’re harvesting. In our summer season (July through September) we’re expecting lettuces, greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, summer squashes, onions, basil, cilantro, corn, melons, tomatillos, peppers, eggplants, beans and more! The winter season (January through March) should include lettuces, greens (kale,chard), beets, carrots, turnips, broccoli and much more.
We also include our newsletter with updates from the farm and a guide to what’s in your box with recipes to help you enjoy it!
Information
****FARM CSA UPDATE!!****
As of August 25th, 2012 Join the Farm! moved our farm to our new farm location at The Hansen Agricultural Center in Santa Paula During the transition onto our new farm we'll continue the fantastic CSA program our community of supporters and subscribers have come to know and love the past 3 years. We'll continue our CSA by sourcing organic vegetables from local farmers we know and trust while adding veggies from our field as they grow. Each week's newsletter will have a list of vegetables and fruits and details the farms providing the vegetables. This locally sourced CSA is temporary and we are looking forward to growing our own produce for our CSA over these next few months.
Dear Farm Friends,
Welcome to the Join the Farm! (JTF) Community and to our CSA program!
We are pleased that you decided to join our farm community!. We are happy and proud to be bringing the local, sustainably grown harvest from our farm to your table!
Below is information you will need and want about our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Program:
1. How to log into your account if you have questions about when and where to pick up your CSA boxes.
2. Various resources to help you get the most out of your CSA experience.
3. A brief description of the spirit and inspiration of our farm
Need to find out where and when to pick up your box?
You may log-in to your Farmigo account anytime to find out when and where to pick up your CSA boxes, change your pick up location, to find your site host contact information, to check your payment status and make payments, or to put a vacation stop on your boxes (you are never charged for boxes put on vacation hold!). Go to http://csa.farmigo.com/account/jointhefarm to log-in to your account. Or, click here to login to your Farmigo account.
Important Reminders
Our Fall CSA is 11 weeks. Our Fall CSA runs through the weeks of 10/8 through 12/17. We will take a 2 week CSA break the weeks of 12/24 and 12/31. Our winter CSA begins the week of 1/7/13.
Your CSA membership is year-round! When your account is low, simply re-charge to continue receiving boxes.
FULL SHARE members receive full-size boxes every week. FALL FULL SHARE PICK UP WEEKS: 10/8, 10/15, 10/22, 10/29, 11/5, 11/12, 11/19, 11/26, 12/3, 12/10, 12/17
HALF SHARE members receive full-size boxes bi-weekly. FALL HALF SHARE PICK UP WEEKS: 10/8, 10/22, 11/5, 11/19, 12/3, 12/17
MINI SHARE members receive a mini box every week. FALL MINI SHARE PICK UP WEEKS: 10/8, 10/15, 10/22, 10/29, 11/5, 11/12, 11/19, 11/26, 12/3, 12/10, 12/17
To check your next pick up date, log onto your Farmigo account and check your delivery date. This will always show your next box pick up date.
Pick-up Procedures
When you pick up your box, please sign your initials next to your last name on the pick-up sheet. Most sites provide a labeled Swap Box, so if you know you can't use your turnips (but check our recipes first!), feel free to leave them in the box (or take the kale that someone else left!)
Also, please return your empty waxed cardboard box from the previous week when you pick up your box. We know the CSA boxes make for charming interior decor, but they do cost money and we like to re-use them!
If for some reason you are unable to make it to your pick-up site before it closes, please contact your site host (to find contact information for your site host, login to your account and select "pickup directions") to see if you can arrange to get your box after your scheduled pick-up time. Unclaimed boxes are donated at the site host's discretion.
The CSA Way: Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is about creating relationship between farm and community. We connect people who eat good food with each other, the local land from which our food comes, and the people who grow and harvest it.
The farm is our way of doing the best we can for the earth, our community, and your health. When you join the farm, you receive a regular share of fresh, sustainably-grown produce; have what you need to shape your meals around healthy and nutritious foods; help keep local land farmed sustainably; support a local farm and the people who work on it, and encourage young adults who are trying to create positive change and make a space for farm-based learning experiences for families, schools, and community organizations.
Give and Take: When you join our CSA, it isn't just about you being the consumer and us being the producer. We are partners together in personal, environmental and social transformation. Like any relationship, there is "give and take" involved in CSA. Sometimes weather extremes (like rain, wind, or heat) or field mishaps (like crows eating up a new planting) may result in a box that looks a little bit sad. Believe us, no one is more disappointed than we are when your box is less than lush and abundant! We are proud of our work and our produce and want you to feel showered with diverse and plentiful goodness every time you open it. We thank you for your flexibility and understanding when the reality doesn't match the ideal. On the flip side, we do our best to respond to your needs when you make them know to us. We try to make our farm as accessible to you as possible, we are generous with donations to schools and community groups, we work out sliding scale fees and payment plans whenever possible, and we listen to your feedback.
It is a good thing to be in this together!
Weekly CSA emails: CSA newsletters & Recipes
Every week we email all subscribers a CSA tip and recipe email that includes farm news. These emails are CSA gems with great subscriber contributed recipes and farm anecdotes. Find our CSA recipes on our recipe page for yummy preparation ideas. Click on the recipe tab on the right. Each recipe highlights vegetables found in your box. We especially enjoy featuring subscriber recipes, so send your favorites to us at info@jointhefarm.com, and we will post them in the catalog. We are also looking for someone to make our recipe database more user friendly, so if you can help, please let us know.
CSA box basics
Here are tips to help you love and not fear your CSA Box:
a. What is it?? First, scan the list of veggies in your box in your weekly farm email. A veggie name you don't recognize? Search our veggie info chart http://jointhefarm.com/JoinTheFarm.html Find the vegetable name and then check out the pictures to identify that item in your box! Then use all the nifty veggie information in the chart to begin a love affair with each item. If you can't figure out what something is, call us at 805-317-6571.
b. Good Guides: In addition to our recipe catalog and newsletter recipes (see above), feel free to seek out helpful cookbooks focused on eating seasonally and locally. Simply-in-Season by Mary Beth Lind & Cathleen Hockman-Wert, Eating Well in Season: A Farmer's Market Cookbook, and Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman are great resources for cooking with your CSA box.
c. So many greens! Not sure what to do with all those leafy greens? Experiment with kale chips, collard green & kale pesto, chard omelets, roasted beet greens, and veggie pizza! The sky is the limit!
d. First Aid for Wilted Greens: Do you need a tip to keep your greens looking fresh? Wilted greens and lettuce are often just dried out which can still occur even if the greens remain in constant refrigeration. Soak greens in ice water for 5-10 minutes, shake off extra water, put into a zip lock bag with a paper towel, and refrigerate overnight. Watch your greens come back to life!
e. No such thing as "waste": Extra veggie scraps? Start compost, feed it to your chickens or guinea pig, or pass it along to a friend who does have those things. Or make a nutritious veggie broth. Simmer all your leftover, wilty veggies in water with peppercorns, a bayleaf, and salt. Use the broth as a water substitute in cooking rice, grains, and potatoes! Stock freezes well, too!
f. Imperfect is a good sign! As a sustainable, earth-friendly farm, we control pests with companion planting, beneficial insect hedges, and an occasional pesticide spray. All pesticides, organic and synthetic, have an effect on our ecosystem. We prefer not to spray, but sometimes it is vital to protect our plants. We consider each circumstance and try to use the method with lowest environmental impact. However, this is always balanced with a need to protect our plants and keep our farm healthy. This sometimes results in imperfect-looking vegetables, which we are growing to appreciate and celebrate!
Examples: Sometimes the arugula and spinach is holey because Bragada bugs dine on the leaves. Even though the plant isn't perfect, it is still packed with nutrients and tastes delicious. The Avocado Thrip Bug inhabited the avocado skins at a young age, causing cosmetic damage to the skins. Even though it looks like a muddy avocado, this rich, smooth fruit is unharmed and tastes great. Let us celebrate the imperfections and enjoy the abundance.
SUPPORT
Subscribing to the farm can feel overwhelming at times. Depending on past experience, you may be experimenting with new vegetables in the kitchen and learning the basic storage, preparation, and cooking techniques for a variety of whole foods. That is why the farm community is committed to be supportive as you become more creative in the kitchen or engage in lifestyle change with your CSA box-a new culinary adventure! See below for different ways we, as a farm community, provide support.
a. Throughout each season, the farm team hosts events at the farm and/or in the farm house centered around food, relationship, celebration, sustainability, and food system transformation. Expect to hear this season about CSA cooking classes, farming discussion/panel, and a Christmas sing-a-long and tamale making party! Engaging in these events and programs is a great way to connect with fellow subscribers, the farm team, and the land - and fuel your commitment to remain engaged in "the CSA way."
b. If you ever need advise or coaching related to using your CSA box, feel free to contact us. We are happy to provide support! The farm phone number is 805-317-6571. Our general email is info@jointhefarm.com.
Visiting and Volunteering
We love when our subscribers come out to see what we're doing or give us a hand with weeding and harvesting. Just give us a call at (805) 317-6571 to schedule your visit!
Special Offerings:
Farm-based Education
Children visit the farm on school field trips to learn about farming, food systems, plants and animals while harvesting vegetables and meeting the farm house chickens! Cost is $5 per student. Feel free to contact Erynn Smith (Erynn@jointhefarm.com), our California-credentialed educator, for more information about the farm education program.
Farm-based Nutrition Coaching & Programming
Are you interested in learning how to transition from a meat-based diet to a plant-based diet using your CSA box? Would you like support and guidance as you make dietary and lifestyle changes? If so, inquire about the nutrition coaching program which includes initial assessments and follow-up appointments. Alise also teaches cooking classes and facilitates on-site cooking demonstrations with CSA box vegetables. Contact Erynn@jointhefarm.com for prices, scheduling, and further information.
The Inspiration and Spirit of our Farm
Join the Farm! (our name is an imperative!) was established in July 2009 by people who were part of a small weekly gathering of the Episcopal Campus Ministry at Cal State Channel Islands (known as The Abundant Table). Our farm was born out of a calling to respond to the brokenness of our food system. We came with a spirit to do something constructive rather than despairing over what is going wrong throughout the system.
Growing food organically and sustainably has not been easy, but the support from the community has inspired and encouraged us. CSA members, local schools, farmers' market shoppers, and volunteers have joined and are joining us as we build relationship with the land and the produce it bears to sustain us. People of all ages have been transformed by their relationship with the farm and the community that is forming around the farm. Each day, as we (farmers, land, and community) live into this farm spirit, we grow together! Our farming rhythms improve, the land restores itself, carbon footprints decline, local economies revive, and bodies are sustained.
We are proud of what we have started and proud of the young adults who have committed to at least one year of working on the farm with the hope of making a difference in the world. As well as providing a sustainable, nutritious harvest to over 100 families most weeks of the year, these young adults live together in an intentional spiritual community in Santa Paula reflecting on their work and vocations. This program is part of the Episcopal Service Corps, a ministry of the Episcopal Church.
As inclusive and open-minded Christians, the Abundant Table Community welcomes all people to join in our spiritual gatherings Sunday evenings We also have profound respect for people of different creeds or no creed. We celebrate our shared connection and interdependence with the earth and each other. If you're thinking about joining us, please email us at info@thebaundanttable.org
We hope this Fall CSA season in communion with our farm will be an enjoyable adventure, and we invite you to continue to nourish this farmer-land-community relationship with us!
Last, but most important...
We are your Farm, and we want you to be involved! We appreciate all kinds of input - feedback on the quality of the produce, recipes, suggestions of how we could improve the CSA experience, stories about how joining our CSA has changed your life... so please be in touch!
Email: info@jointhefarm.com
Phone: (805) 317-6571
P.O. Box 2305 Camarillo, CA 93011
In gratitude for YOU and our shared connection to the earth,
Erynn Smith
CSA Coordinator
Erynn@jointhefarm.com
Office: 805-317-6571
cell: 805-910-5642
Uncle Chris' Italian Ice
Starting Wednesday November 16 and continuing every other Wednesday, our school will be enjoy the flavors of Uncle Chris' Italian Ice. His flavors are dairy free, gluten free, fat free, cholesterol free, kosher and some are dye free. Buon appetite!
Check with the office for specific schedule.
Nutritional Information