Author: Grand Street CSA

We hope the long survey didn’t turn you off, but getting basic input on each type of vegetable and fruit gave us a lot of good data to look at. It’s difficult to reach consensus about how much of each crop to request from our farmers, but where there was a clear majority for “Too Little” or “Too Much” we can definitely ask for changes next year. For vegetables, that list looks like this:

Too Little
91%   Sweet Potatoes
87%   Brussel Sprouts
85%   Broccoli
75%   Cauliflower
71%   Cucumbers
67%   Spinach
67%   Scallions
65%   Eggplant
64%   Peas
62%   Onions
55%   Leeks
55%   Tomatoes
52%   Beets

Too Much
75%   Potatoes

For fruit, obviously, it was pretty clear that apples were oversupplied while berries were marginalized (more on this below). And for eggs — well, maybe it was a little silly to ask the same questions for eggs.

If you’re interested, you can see pretty graphs of the survey results here.

After collecting survey results, the core members met to discuss the year and make some initial plans for 2010. Among the many things we covered:

• We’d like to have more constant communication with our farmers/vendors, and with our members to make sure everyone’s in the loop about upcoming crops, weather-related mishaps, distribution problems, etc. On the core side it means assigning a primary contact person for each of the outside groups we deal with. For members, it means you’ll probably be getting more email from us and/or our web site will be updated more regularly.
• We are wary of going back to Breezy Hill for our fruit next year. The variety was a disappointment to many members, and our communication with the farm was less than ideal. If we can’t make sure of having a better relationship with Breezy Hill next year, we’ll look into finding another source for fruit.
• Providing low-income shares is a priority for 2010. We may be able to work with Henry Street Settlement or one of two other non-profit groups that have contacted us about finding eligible members. This year’s donations have given us a good footing for next year’s subsidies.
• We would like to have more Tuesday events next year tied in to distribution, and we’ll be looking for a (new) core member specifically interested in helping to plan some special programs.
• We will begin sign-ups for the season much earlier than last year — in January.

Thanks to all who participated this year in the CSA! As most of you know our support helps the farms we work with stay afloat and in return we get the freshest and healthiest food around. So here is a quick summary of what our CSA did this year:

We collected and paid the following to the farms:

• Woodbridge Farm: $34,250 for 21 full shares and 68.5 half shares of vegetables
• Breezy Hill Farm: $9,954 for 43 full and 26 half shares of fruit
• Knoll Krest Farm: $2,940 for 21 full shares and 28 half shares of eggs  

We invested $602 in 100 canvas bags and so far we have collected $310 but we still have 68 bags left to sell next year. We also collected $1571 in donations and administrative fees. Thanks to all of those who donated money this year, now we have a strong foundation for setting up multiple low income shares for 2010. We have been in contact with a local organization and a couple of state run organizations that will connect us to those in need. When we know the organization that we will be working with next year we will be sure to let everyone know.