Community Supported Agriculture
Did you know that the LES and Harlem have the city’s highest concentration of CSA’s?
Fourteen separate farms provide the neighborhoods’ residents with an array of vegetables, meat and dairy. Other neighborhoods that have a high number of CSAs are the Upper West and Upper East Side; both of them get their first CSA shipments next week.
Read more at WNYC’s Culture Blog.
Great to see everyone — old members and new — back at Abrons today for CSA pick-up. The afternoon went off without a hitch, except we were a little short of dill there at the end. The farm usually sends us a little bit extra of everything, but please also make sure that you count and measure everything carefully so no one gets shorted.
The syrup tasting was a real treat, and for anyone who hasn’t yet signed up you can still order syrup online. All syrup orders will be fulfilled next week at distribution.
And next week our other extras will be in as well — fruit, eggs, and pasta. See you then!
Heather is on the road … here’s what she’s bringing us today:
Half Share Full Share
Dill 4 sprigs 8 large sprigs
Lettuce heads 1 head 2 heads
Mustard greens 3.5 oz 7 oz
Kale 14 oz 28 oz
Radishes 1 bunch 2 bunches
Just a reminder that our CSA season starts Tuesday, May 31. Distribution is at Abrons Arts Center on Grand Street, from 5:15pm to 8:00pm. Please come with your own bag, check in with the member on duty who is holding a clipboard, and then go ahead and measure out your share.
Our Woodbridge farmers write on Facebook that this first week should include the following: lettuce heads, salad greens, radishes, kale, swiss chard, and dill. But they also pass along the following two caveats:
… we sometimes make in-the-moment decisions on harvest days based on quality and health of the plants. So if a last minute change arises, forgive us! We’ll also list crops we’re harvesting, but some might be a choice between crops for your share.
Reminder: fruit, eggs, and pasta start next week, June 7.
See you at CSA!
We’re glad to announce the availability of New York State Maple Syrup this year from Circle C Maple Farm.
Circle C is nestled in the Shawangunks Mountains — “The Gunks.” Joseph and Cathy Cicero are the owners and maple producers. Joe has been a member of the NY State Maple Producers Association since 1993.
For 18 years, Joe and Cathy produced syrup exclusively for their family. In 2010, they offered their syrup for the first time to CSAs, including Southside CSA, just across the Williamsburg Bridge. This year, the Ciceros expanded their production, and are offering syrup to restaurants and more CSAs in Brooklyn. (Grand Street CSA would be their first offering in Manhattan!)
This Maple syrup is all natural, organically processed from a family-owned farm in NY State.
Circle C offers both Grades A and B syrup (Grade A has a lighter color and milder flavor) in half-gallon ($30), quart ($20), and pint ($12) containers.
CSA Members can order online here: goo.gl/hPNmj
We’ll be accepting payments at our first vegetable distribution on May 31 (and will hopefully have some samples to taste). Syrup will be available only once, at our second distribution on June 7.
The weather is warm, the trees are green, and fresh vegetables are on the way.
First distribution for vegetables will be May 31, the day after Memorial Day. We were shooting for May 24, but, as Heather writes on Facebook, a cold spring and frequent rain have pushed their schedule back one week. (Don’t worry, we’ll still get a full 23 weeks.)
In the meantime, please pay the remainder of your membership fee (that’s a message for only a few of you — most of our members are all paid up … thank you!) and remember to sign up for your CSA work requirement. (Anyone who hasn’t received an email from us this week.)
If you’re interested in helping to plan a Second Tuesday event, send a note to info@grandstreetcsa.org. We try to put some sort of special event together once a month, but we could really use your input and your help.
We are looking to organize a few more extras, like grass-fed beef and maple syrup. Both of these would be one-shot deals, not part of the weekly distribution. We’ll have more details soon.
We’re looking forward to seeing everyone again on May 31!
From our friends at Breezy Hill Orchard:
Our Annual Spring Wassail is approaching, and we’d love to see you there!
Experience a truly eclectic spring celebration. Participate in an ancient Celtic ritual as we sing to the apple trees to ensure a bountiful harvest. Honor the farms when we partake in a sumptuous and filling feast on local & artisanal food. Join the circle for traditional, folk-style dancing to live Balkan music as we celebrate Djurdjevden/Herdelezi (St. George’s Day) into the wee hours. Enjoy the rich sounds of driving Balkan brass with Zlatne Uste. Experience Macedonian Romani music with Seido Salifoski and friends. Take part in afternoon workshops in drumming with Seido, singing with Eva Salina Primack, and dancing with Steve and Susan Kotansky. Shop our farm stand and enjoy seeing old friends and meeting new ones, plus many other guests and surprises.
We are very busy these days trying to get the field ready for planting! It is that early spring dance between wet and dry, where we check the weather report 7 times a day and change our to-do list as often as the weather report changes (which for the last week has been about every 1/2 hour).
But tomorrow we will start planting!!
Read more at Woodbridge Farm’s Facebook notes.
We got this note from our friends over at the LES CSA:
We are thrilled to announce that Melinda, the farmer, emailed and said that Monkshood will extend the deadline and that they are committed to making LES CSA happen for 2011.
But we absolutely must get more shares, and must reach the minimum by end of May, and much earlier if possible, so that Monkshood can plan properly and still have some vegies to sell at green market.
The LES CSA started just last year, and, from what I’ve heard, had a great season. Since we’re all filled up over here on Grand Street, if you have any friends or neighbors still looking for organic vegetables this year, please send them over to lescsa.blogspot.com.
Thanks to Nivia from Our Lady of Sorrows food pantry and Heather from Woodbridge Farm for joining us last night at Abrons Arts Center — and thanks to the many new CSA members who showed up and shared some Woodbridge cheese. And of course thanks to Rose Ortiz from Abrons who has been such a good host to the CSA for two years now and running.
I hope Heather was able to speak to some of the finer details of running a small organic/biodynamic farm, as well as the economic role CSAs play in keeping such farms running.
And Nivia addressed the other end of the CSA, where our food goes when members don’t show up. Her food pantry is a great help to the less fortunate in our neighborhood, and the vegetables we contribute are some of the only fresh foods her pantry has access to.
All of which I hope drives home the point that belonging to the CSA is not the same as buying vegetables at the store or farmers’ market once a week. There is a broader community we are attempting to build with your cooperation.
As of this morning we have closed our 2011 registration, having reached the share limit allotted by Woodbridge. With more people picking up half shares this year, and a few people joining only for the fruit, we have our largest CSA yet, 120 families strong.