RECIPE: Dandelion Pesto

This time of year pesto recipes abound, but here's a new twist using dandelion greens. If you find them a bit too bitter, try substituting some of the dandelion for the basil that we get this week to mellow it out.

From davidlebovitz.com

Ingredients:
12 ounces (350g) washed and cleaned dandelion leaves

1 cup (250ml) olive oil

4 cloves garlic, peeled

6 tablespoons (40g) pine nuts, lightly toasted

1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt

2 1/2 ounces (70g) Parmesan or Romano cheese, grated

Procedure:
1. Put about one-third of the dandelion greens in the food processor or blender with the olive oil and chop for a minute, scraping down the sides. Add the remaining dandelion greens in two batches, until they’re all finely chopped up.

2. Add the garlic cloves, pine nuts, salt, and Parmesan, and process until everything is a smooth puree.

3. Taste, and add more salt if necessary. If it’s too thick, you can thin it with more olive oil or water.

Storage:
The pesto can be refrigerated in a jar for up to four days. The top may darken, which is normal. You can pour a thin layer of olive oil on top to prevent that. It can also be frozen for up to two months.


Ideas for Dandelion Pesto:
-Spread over pizza with cooked potatoes slices, then baked.
-Smeared on crostini over a layer of fresh spreadable cheese.
-Use to dress potato salad.
-Toss with whole wheat pasta with chicken or roasted vegetables. Reserve a bit of the pasta cooking liquid to help smooth the sauce over the hot noodles. (I add a knob of butter, too, which helps smooth it out. Although pesto purists wouldn’t do that.)
-Mix with a salad of farro or wheat berries.

RECIPE: Salad turnips with miso

From Gourmet
Serves 4

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons white miso

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, divided

3 pounds small (1 1/2-to 2-inch) salad turnips with greens

1 1/3 cups water

2 tablespoons mirin (Japanese sweet rice wine)

Procedure:
1. Stir together miso and 2 tablespoons butter.

2. Discard turnip stems and coarsely chop leaves. Halve turnips (leave whole if tiny) and put in a 12-inch heavy skillet along with water, mirin, remaining tablespoon butter, and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then boil, covered, 10 minutes.

3. Add greens by handfuls, turning and stirring with tongs and adding more as volume in skillet reduces. Cover and cook 1 minute. Uncover and continue boiling, stirring occasionally, until turnips are tender and liquid is reduced to a glaze, about 5 minutes. Stir in miso butter and cook 1 minute.

RECIPE: Greens and Bulgur Gratin

From Gourmet

Serves 4 as a main course or 6 as a side dish

Ingredients:

1/2 cup coarse bulgur

2 pounds assorted greens such as kale, collard, escarole, spinach, Swiss chard, and/or mustard greens

6 large garlic cloves, minced

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan (about 1 ounce)

6 ounces chilled whole-milk or part-skim mozzarella, grated coarse

For topping

1/2 cup fine fresh breadcrumbs

1 tablespoon olive oil

Procedure:

1. In a heatproof bowl pour enough boiling water over bulgur to cover by 1 inch. Cover bowl with a plate to trap steam and let stand 20 minutes. Drain bulgur in a large fine sieve, pressing out excess liquid, and transfer to a bowl.

2. Keeping each variety of green separate, tear greens into bite-size pieces, discarding stems. Still keeping greens separate, wash thoroughly by dunking in a sinkful of water and transfer to a colander to drain.

3. Put coarser greens (kale or collard) in a 4 1/2- to 5-quart kettle and steam in water clinging to leaves, covered, over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until wilted, about 4 minutes. Add delicate greens (escarole, spinach, Swiss chard, and/or mustard) to coarse greens and steam, covered, stirring occasionally, until just wilted, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain greens in colander, pressing out excess liquid.

4. In a large heavy skillet cook garlic in oil over moderate heat,stirring, until softened but not golden. Stir in greens and bulgur and season generously with salt and pepper. Stir in Parmesan and remove skillet from heat.

5. Preheat oven to 400°F and lightly oil a 1 1/2-quart gratin dish or other shallow baking dish.

6. Spread half of greens mixture in dish and sprinkle evenly with mozzarella. Spread remaining greens mixture over mozzarella and smooth top with a rubber spatula. Gratin may be prepared up to this point 8 hours ahead and chilled, covered.

Make topping


7. In a small bowl with a fork stir together breadcrumbs and oil until crumbs are evenly moistened.

8. Sprinkle topping over greens mixture and bake in middle of oven 30 minutes, or until bubbling and top is browned lightly.

RECIPE: Strawberry-Almond Bread with Strawberry Sauce

2 cups fresh strawberries, coarsely chopped
3 cups cake flour, sifted
1 cup sugar, granulated
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Put the chopped strawberries in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. In the bowl of a mixer, add the eggs, oil and vanilla and mix on low. Slowly add the dry ingredients. When thoroughly combined, remove the bowl and fold in the strawberries and almonds with a spatula.

Bake in a bread pan greased with butter or oil.

This bread is not terribly sweet, so I serve it with a fresh strawberry sauce. To make this, simply chop fresh strawberries, cook them until they have totally broken down, and add the amount of sweetener that suits your tastes. Let it cool completely before using.

FARM NEWS 6.26.11

Sunday morning on the farm is often filled with morning chores, perhaps a social visit. This morning was such a one with pancakes and a visit from former apprentice, Cody. He arrived at the house while Dan was at the farm milking. When we (the kids, Cody and I) got to the farm we saw the curious site of Koko, one of our cows, halfway inside the chicken coop.

For a full explanation I need to back up a week or two. Most of our chickens live in an old camper that we have made into a portable chicken coop. We move the coop around to fresh pasture and set up a movable electric fence so the chickens have plenty of pasture to roam around in. The electric fence is mainly to keep predators out, but does also keep the chickens in. For the most part. We have a few that regularly hop the fence. One of these hens has taken up with a guinea hen and you'll see them wandering around the farmyard together. Another one was busy laying eggs in the cow barn. One day I happened to notice that she had actually hatched chicks! Now, as natural as this is, it has never happened for us here at our farm. Usually the hen isn't broody enough or a predator (skunk or possum) comes and eats the eggs before there is a good clutch. We were all quite excited and after a day we realized we should protect the chicks so they wouldn't get eaten by said predators. As luck would have it we have another portable chicken pen that we use for meat birds that was sitting vacant in the pasture. When we had a minute and many hands available we scooped up the chicks (10 in all) and mama hen and brought them to their new home. Mama hen was very content and proud. Unfortunately, this only lasted about a week. Here we were, thinking we had done a good thing, but it just wasn't good enough. Some weasely creature dug a hole under the pen and had quite a dinner. All the chicks were gone. Poor mama hen. When Dan discovered this he let the door open for mama to come out and she hung around quite a while looking for her little ones.

Now, finally I can get to the cow part. Remember, this was a story about Koko? Anyhow, Dan let the hen be and went on to other more pressing matters. Removing the chicken feed was not one of those matters. Now come Sunday morning Dan went out to move fence for the cows before going into milk Patches. Koko meanwhile, not content with all the fresh grass she now has, discovers something new and interesting to explore... the chicken pen. Oh and look a yummy snack! By the time we got out to her she was all the way in the pen which is only about as tall as she is and perhaps twice as wide. Fortunately, as soon as Dan removed the feed, he was able to turn her around and out she went. If any of you know the children's book Helper Cow,well, Koko would be our helper cow. Patches is our sweetie, but Koko is the trouble maker.

Meanwhile.... Dan is out back at the farm cultivating (that's weeding with the tractor and implements) and no doubt preparing for a week of field work and harvesting.
This weeks CSA share:
lettuce mix, radishes, salad turnips, garlic scapes, collard greens, swiss chard, basil, dandelion greens

RECIPE: Simple Coleslaw With Fresh Mint and Garlic

Note: Try using your Chinese (Napa) cabbage and substituting your garlic scapes for the onion to use as many items from your share as possible.

From The Seattle Times, July 2010
Serves 6-8

Ingredients
Small head of cabbage (1 to 1 ½ pounds), finely shredded

2 medium carrots, finely shredded

1/2 medium onion, finely shredded

About 1/3 cup white wine or cider vinegar

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 to 3 tightly packed tablespoons of fresh spearmint leaves

1 to 2 large garlic cloves

3 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar, or 3 tablespoons cider vinegar and 1 tablespoon or more of sugar

1/3 cup mayonnaise, or to taste

Procedure
1. In a large bowl, combine the shredded cabbage, carrots, onions, the vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. Let stand 30 minutes. Then squeeze out most of the slaw's moisture into its bowl and put the squeezed portions in another bowl. Add about 1/4 cup of the liquid back to the slaw.

2. In a food processor or by hand, mince together the mint and garlic (add the next amount of vinegar if using the processor). Turn it into the slaw along with the second quantity of vinegar if it is not already in the mixture. Toss together everything so it's thoroughly blended, then stir in the mayonnaise. Taste for enough sweet/tart balance (it should be subtle), enough mayonnaise, and for salt and pepper.

3. Refrigerate the slaw for anywhere from 3 hours to several days. It's best the first day when the fresh mint flavor blossoms up.

RECIPE: Double Garlic Soup

From The New York Times, June 18, 2008

Serves 4

Ingedients

3 fat bulbs green garlic, root and green parts trimmed, outer layer removed

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 cups sliced garlic scapes (about 3/4 pound)

1 1/2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, more for garnish

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

1 large Yukon Gold potato, peeled and diced

1 quart chicken or vegetable broth

1 cup half-and-half or whole milk

2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, or to taste

Freshly grated nutmeg.

Procedure
1. Chop green garlic. In a soup pot, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add green garlic and sauté until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add scapes, thyme, salt and pepper, and sauté for 5 minutes.

2. Stir in potato and broth, reduce heat to medium, and simmer until scapes and potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Add half-and-half, and purée soup with an immersion blender or pour into a regular blender. Stir in the lemon juice and season with more salt and pepper. Garnish with nutmeg and thyme leaves, and serve hot.

RECIPE: Swiss Chard Lasagna with Ricotta and Mushroom

From Bon Appétit, January 2011

Serves 8

Ingredients

Béchamel sauce:

2 1/2 cups whole milk

1 Turkish bay leaf

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon (scant) ground nutmeg

Pinch of ground cloves

Swiss chard and mushroom layers:

1 pound Swiss chard, center rib and stem cut from each leaf

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

1 1/3 cups chopped onion

4 large garlic cloves, chopped, divided

1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

Coarse kosher salt

1 pound crimini mushrooms, sliced

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Lasagna:

9 7 x 3-inch lasagna noodles

Extra-virgin olive oil

1 15-ounce container whole-milk ricotta cheese (preferably organic), divided

6 ounces Italian Fontina Cheese, coarsely grated (about 1 1/2 cups packed), divided

8 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese, divided

Procedure
For béchamel sauce:

1. Bring milk and bay leaf to simmer in medium saucepan; remove from heat.

2. Melt butter in heavy large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add flour and whisk to blend. Cook 2 minutes, whisking almost constantly (do not let roux brown).

3. Gradually whisk milk with bay leaf into roux. Add 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt, nutmeg, and cloves and bring to simmer.

4. Cook until sauce thickens enough to coat spoon, whisking often, about 3 minutes. Remove bay leaf.

DO AHEAD: Béchamel sauce can be made 1 day ahead. Press plastic wrap directly onto surface and chill. Remove plastic and rewarm sauce before using, whisking to smooth.

For swiss chard and mushroom layers:


1. Blanch chard in large pot of boiling salted water 1 minute. Drain, pressing out all water, then chop coarsely.

2. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in heavy medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, half of garlic, and crushed red pepper. Sauté until onion is tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Mix in chard and season to taste with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper.

3. Heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil in heavy large nonstick skillet over medium- high heat. Add mushrooms and remaining garlic. Sauté until mushrooms are brown and tender, 7 to 8 minutes. Mix in nutmeg and season with coarse salt and pepper.

For lasagna: 


1. Cook noodles in medium pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain; arrange noodles in single layer on sheet of plastic wrap.

2. Brush 13 x 9 x 2-inch glass baking dish with oil to coat. Spread 3 tablespoons béchamel sauce thinly over bottom of dish. Arrange 3 noodles in dish to cover bottom (2 side by side lengthwise, then 1 crosswise). Spread half of chard mixture over pasta, then half of mushrooms. Drop half of ricotta over in dollops and spread in even layer. Sprinkle with half of Fontina, then 4 tablespoons Parmesan; spread 3/4 cup béchamel over.

3. Repeat layering with 3 noodles, remaining chard, mushrooms, ricotta, Fontina, Parmesan, and 3/4 cup béchamel. Cover with 3 noodles and remaining béchamel.

DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 hours ahead. Cover with foil. Let stand at room temperature.

4. Preheat oven to 400°F. Bake lasagna covered 30 minutes. Uncover and bake until heated through and top is golden brown, 20 to 30 minutes longer. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

ADVOCACY: Welcome and a few events

Greetings from your new advocacy coordinator. I look forward to getting to know you this season and helping to keep everyone up to date on the latest sustainable agriculture news and opportunities to get involved beyond our CSA share. We hope to take advantage of the great organizations already working for this cause by aggregating their information each week for the Chubby Bunny community. We will also work to organize groups of Chubby Bunny members to participate in city-wide local farming events throughout the season as appropriate. A few fun events to mark on your calendar in the coming weeks include:

· Edible Manhattan’s Eat Drink Local Week (June 24-30) – Raises awareness about the bounty of products grown in the region, drives customers to the restaurants and other businesses that feature these products, and raises funds for charitable partners dedicated to regional agriculture throughout the state. Check out events and participating restaurants here:http://www.ediblemanhattan.com/events/eat-drink-local-week/

· Food Karma’s Cookout NYC on Governor’s Island (July 10)– Outdoor grilling by chefs, meats from local purveyors, and custom beers from local breweries (Sixpoint & Barrier Brewing). All meat will be sourced from small independent farmers through Dickson’s Farmstead Meats, Fleisher’s Meats, Heritage Foods USA and others. Part of the event proceeds go to Just Food’s Farm School: http://cookoutnyc.com/

Look for regular updates in our weekly newsletter and from advocacy@chubbybunnynyc.org. We will be collecting relevant information and events from Grow NYC, Just Food, Sustainable Table and Local Harvest among others. If there are any specific organizations that you would like to hear from on a regular basis, please email me at the address above and we will add them to the list.

Thanks!

Emily

FARM NEWS 6.21.11

Hi folks,

It's been really great finally starting up distributions for 2011. Thanks again for signing on with us for another vegetable adventure with your farm family Hayhurst! It was great to see many of you back at the farm this week, also good to reconnect with Joel the driver in the first of 22 weeks of deliveries to White Plains and NYC. It was a relief for me to see how able and efficient this year's farm crew is at harvest and packing/washing veg on what would otherwise be complicated and stressful harvest mornings. Our crew has been a veritable dream team; I really feel blessed this year with some great apprentices, hourlies and volunteers. It's a cheerful, smart crew of folks hell bent on becoming farmers. With these folks putting in this kind of effort, I'm motivated to do well by them as a teacher, and as a farmer. Of course, it's our goal to do well by our CSA members as well, as y'all have trusted us to do our best to provide a decent share. Thanks for your commitment!

From the field:

It's been a wet spring. I'm reminded of the wet 2009 summer, only now it's spring. So far no reports of blighted tomatoes. The wetness has hampered efforts to get some crops in on time as plowing has been delayed in some of our wetter fields. Wetness also offers weeds an opportunity to get ahead of the crops. This is because when the field is wet, it's a bad idea to drive the tractor in to cultivate in a timely way. When weeds get bigger than an inch tall, they're ten times harder to kill with a hoe or tractor cultivator. So the weed problem compounds as you miss timely cultivations. Hoeing a crop of leeks on time can take an hour. That same crop hoed a week late can take four hours. A stitch in time saves nine stitches... The good news is that we expect a dryish week. and the crops will get a nice boost from the warm weather.

Here's the approximate share:

Spinach, Lettuce Mix, Romaine Heads, Swiss Chard, Garlic Scapes, Mint, Chinese Cabbage

This weeks pics: Swiss Chard and Romaine Head Lettuce in the field.

Enjoy!

Farmer Dan

FARM NEWS: 6.12.11

Howdy all, here is our first newsletter of the season!

The above pictures are garlic scapes still on the plant and radishes and scallions ready for CSA distribution.

We've got a great share to start of the season:
Scallions, Spinach, Lettuce mix, Arugula, Dandelion Greens, Radishes, Garlic Scapes.

A note about some of these items: Dandelion greens are bitter so they'll add a bite to your salad and would be great sauteed with your garlic scapes. Scapes? These are the flower buds of garlic plants. We pick them off to encourage more growth at the bulb. Lucky for us they are tasty - our first taste of garlic long after last year's garlic supply has run out. Cut off the very pointy thin tip up to the point of the chubby flower bud. Then chop fine as you would garlic (they are more mild) or cut into 2 inch lengths for a bigger bite.

June is our busiest month of the season. This week we'll continue starting seeds in the greenhouse - scallions, basil, beets, fennel, dill, broccoli as well as direct seeding lettuce, lima beans, edamame and arugula in the field. We'll be plowing and preparing beds for transplanting cabbage, winter squash, beets and romaine lettuce. We'll be cultivating (shallowly working the soil with the tractor) and hoeing leeks, beets, parsley, celeriac. (As you can see with reference to the beets we plant many successions of the same item several times through out the season so you can have them in the share during different points of the season.)

And we also begin our CSA harvest. The first week is always a big week as our crew is learning our harvesting systems. We are fortunate enough to have 3 out of 4 apprentices with farming experience but each farms' practices vary a little bit. There are inevitable kinks to work out and little last minute details to attend to. All part of going with the flow.

Besides the field work, harvesting and CSA distributions we are also hosting an apprentice visit on Monday. We belong to a collaborative of farms that train apprentices. Apprentices from each farm visit the other 8 farms throughout the season for a farm tour and talk on a specific specialty - drip irrigation, cover cropping, tractor safety... that sort of thing. The apprentices gain a glimpse of how other farms operate and a chance to meet other aspiring young farmers at a pot luck after the meeting. If the farmers get a chance, they come along to the potluck and get to crop talk and commiserate about growing conditions with their colleagues.

So all in all we've a busy week ahead of us. We hope you enjoy your first taste of the season!
Tracy and Dan

SHARES: Last chance for Dairy Shares

LAST CHANCE FOR DAIRY SHARES:

Goat Dairy Shares are straggling in but WE HAVE YET TO MEET THE MINIMUM ORDER SET BY ADAMAH in order to participate. Our deadline has passed but ADAMAH has extended it for us so please, if you haven't signed up yet do so TODAY!

If you're a cheese lover, I can tell you that the cheeses are To Die For! They make a great addition to any recipe or if your a purest, simply put them on a cracker! Yummy.

As for the goat yogurt, only rave reviews again and members tell me there is no comparison to what is available in the city.

Remember, due to the high demand for their local shares, they WILL NOT be offering pay as you go cheeses and goatgurt like last season. So the only way to participate is to purchase a monthly share for the season. Please see below for ordering and payment details.

Note that all payments go directly to ADAMAH so below are direct links to their online store where it is easy to pay with a credit card - Please be advised to choose "CSA Orders Only" as their shipping method after filling out their billing address.

Thanks!

Bernie

ADAMAH Dairy Shares

with Chubby Bunny Farm CSA in New York City

KOSHER LOCAL DELICIOUS

Say Cheese!

Become a Shareholder Today!

adamah.org/dairy
Hand-crafted artisanal dairy products

$55 – $220 for 5 months

In our small herd of 14 milking goats down the road in Falls Village, each doe receives the individual attention she needs. From the time the baby goats are born until the cheese is ready for your enjoyment, each step is lovingly done by hand.

In addition to munching on local flora, our goats receive a fine blend of organic grains and high quality alfalfa hay. This varied diet is ideal for the herd’s health and happiness, which we’re certain you’ll taste in our cheese.


The success of our small, artisanal dairy depends on reliable customers. You can select the size share that is right for your household. Dairy shares will available for pickup with your CSA vegetables once a month on the following five Tuesdays:

* June 28 * July 26 * August 23 * September 27 * October 25

Dairy Share Options

Click below to purchase the share of your choice securely online with a credit card. Please choose "CSA Orders Only" as your shipping method after filling out your billing address & clicking "same as shipping address".

Cheese Lover $220

• 1 lb Falls Village Feta

• 1 lb Holy Chevre

Sampler $145
• ½ lb Falls Village Feta

• ½ lb Holy Chevre

• 1 pt Goatgurt

Just Chevre $120

• 1 lb Holy Chevre

Just Feta $120

• 1 lb Falls Village Feta

Just Goatgurt $55

• 1 qt Goatgurt

You may also mail a check made out to "Isabella Freedman" to the address below with your share size & "Chubby Bunny NYC" in the memo line

VOLUNTEER: Off site volunteering opportunities

Bunnies,

If you would like to fulfill your 2 shift volunteer requirement from home, and/or would simply like to be more involved, here are descriptions the positions we need to fill ASAP:

**Please note that the following positions will be set up with a chubby bunny e-mail address so your personal e-mail addresses are protected.

Please do NOT RSVP to this e-mail. Contact Bernie@chubbybunnynyc.org

Recipe Committee members: Members will assist the Recipe Coordinator with doing a few tasks involving the e-newsletter where we include a recipe or 2 using the ingredients in that week's share and our blog. The farmer e-mails the recipe coordinator a list of produce on Sunday so you can choose recipes with some of those veggies. I like to provide recipes using some of the more unusual veggies and encourage members to send in their favorite recipes to you as well. As a bonus you can choose to write a few lines about the veggie(s) highlighted in that week's recipe. Nutritional content, best ways to store, whatever. Once the staff has put that information together it will get emailed to newsletter volunteers and they will cut and paste to make it work on the newsletter. It would be great if a member of this committee was good with uploading and maintaining a blog.

Optional Share Coordinator: This member will act as a liaison between Whippoorwill Farm, ADAMAH, Hepworth Farms, and Cayuga and the members who receive the shares from these farms. Your responsibilities will include: sending out weekly e-mails reminders to the different member groups, receiving e-mails from any member who is experiencing a "problem" with their share and communicating that to me and likely the farmer. The other optional shares we offered are covered by another member, Leigh Morgan so if either of you need a week(s) off during the season you will have a back up.

Advocacy Coordinator: If you are passionate and connected to local sustainable farming issues, environmental issues, green markets etc., this may be good for you. I'm looking for someone who is not hesitant to be proactive and will send out periodic e-mail announcements re: these issues and or events happening locally or politically.

Chubby Bunny Event Coordinator and staff. Each year we organize a few activities for the membership. This year I would like to organize a trip(s) to the farm and our annual grill night at the site. If possible, we can also do some cooking demonstrations with chefs from Just Foods. We have done all of these in past seasons so the Coordinator can be briefed from previous staff to help out.

Trial Shares Coordinator: This person would keep a list of people who got shut out of our CSA this year but would be interested in trying a trial share sometime during the season. Later in the season, when/if we have extra to spare, I will periodically let you know if we have a small or large share(s) to offer the following week. You will then contact people on that list until you receive confirmation and then relay that person(s) name to the site coordinator via e-mail. It's important that the person for this position be friendly and helpful as he/she will likely be the first to represent Chubby Bunny CSA!

Thanks,

Bernie

Bernie@chubbybunnynyc.org

PS Priority for the above positions will be given to members who have already requested alternative volunteer shifts.

VOLUNTEER: Notes about volunteering on site

Dear Chubby Bunny members,

You can now sign up on line for volunteer shifts for the full season. As a former resident of Chicago, I invite you to vote for yourself to volunteer "early and often!"

For the benefit of new members and for those who have just lost the knack:

Most members fullfill their volunteer commitment by working two shifts at the distribution site over the course of the season. (And many members choose to work extra shifts beyond the two-shift requirement.) Those who cannot work at the site can volunteer in other ways off-site (by arrangement with Bernie) or by buying their way out (by arrangement with June). The requirement is per membership unit; so if a multi-person household has a membership, only two shifts are required, i.e. a two-person household must contribute two shifts, not four. The requirement is the same without respect to whether a share is "full" or "half" and does not vary with additional shares, i.e. two shifts for full share members, half share members, and no extra shifts attached to fruit, chicken, egg, and milk shares.

We have an early (4:30 - 6:00) and late (6:00 - 7:30) shift each date. We also have added several double shifts for chicken distribution. You can satisfy your two shift commitment by working single shifts on two seperate dates or by working a double shift on one date. To receive credit for the shift, you must arrive on time. Although arriving late is preferable to not showing up at all, late arrivals place an extraordinary burden on the site coordinators: when a volunteer does not show up on time, the site coordinator has to spend time finding somebody else and re-distributing the work, rather than doing the actual work of running the site.

When you sign up, please be sure to include your phone number and e-mail address in the space provided. If you have a mobile phone that you are likely to carry the day you are volunteering, please use that number.

If you are signing up for more than one shift, please be sure to check the date and time for each slot you want.

Please be sure to include any special information (such as "no heavy lifting" or relevant medical conditions) in the space provided for additional instructions. We generally can accommodate only one person with limitations on each shift. As a general matter, the late shift requires less heavy lifting than the early shift.

To sign up, go to http://www.chubbybunnynyc.org. Choose the link for "volunteers" from the list on the left. You will be taken to a page that gives a detailed description of the duties for each shift, including the new chicken shift. Scroll down and click the link for signing up. You will be taken to a form requiring your name, e-mail address, phone number, and special instructions. After entering that information, be sure to scroll down and click the box to the left of each shift you want. To register, you will have to type in a security code that appears, and click "register." If you have done all this perfectly, you will be rewarded with a message that your sign-on has been successful and you will be able to click on a link that takes you back to the volunteer page showing your name next to the shift for which you have registered. Please be sure to check that your sign-on has been successful.

Once you've signed on, I'll receive a message and record the information in my records. I won't send you a message confirming your sign-on, because you will have done that yourself already. I will send out a message each weekend to the volunteers for the upcoming Tuesday confirming that we look forward to seeing you.

If your schedule changes, please let me know as soon as possible (by sending an e-mail to volunteers@chubbybunnynyc.org ) so I can get you off the list and recruit somebody else to work in your place.

Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions or ideas about how to make any of this work better.

Looking forward to a great season!

Best,

Abe
Volunteer Coordinator

PS. A FEW NOTES ABOUT VOLUNTEERING:

A few notes on sign-up:

1. Please make sure to include the name in which the share is held if it's not yours so I can give credit correctly.

2. Please include spaces in the usual places when putting down your phone number.

3. Note that we've added more shifts this year so sign-up should be easier.

4. And note that late shifts are going fast!

Best,

Abe