CSA in PH!!! Meeting on 11/3

rbenghiat

If anyone is interested in the possibility of a CSA (community supported agriculture) site in PH, there's a meeting on 11/3 at Namaskar (643 Vanderbilt Ave) at 6:30pm. It shouldn't be long meeting but it will give everyone a chance to meet each other, talk about some of the CSA details and Paula Lukats, the CSA in NYC Program Manager from Just Food, Inc, will be happy to answer any of your questions.

You can e-mail her at [email protected] if you need more info (I'm not organizing, just privy to the meeting info, and am desperate to see a CSA within a reasonable walking distance!)

emily

Can you explain what that is? Haven't ever heard of it.

rbenghiat

ah. of course. sorry.

a CSA works thus: a bunch of people purchase "shares" of a local farmer's harvest. Usually, one can buy a share (or sometimes a 1/2 share) of veggies, sometimes fruit, sometimes eggs - depends on the farm.

then, once a week, the farmer carts the goods to a nearby location, and you pick up your goods. the selection varies from week to week, and you don't get to shop in the usual sense, but in my experience, you pick up like this: check in to make sure you're a shareholder, then take your bag and follow the directions of the week (2 lbs potatoes, 1 bunch of chard, 6 tomatoes, etc.). You get to choose your produce, but you can only take up to the stated limit on each item. A full share is a very generous amount for 2, and the goods are usually what's in season, and what the farmer has in excess.

CSA members rotate staffing the enterprise.

The theory is that the farmer gets up front $ to maintain their business, and a guaranteed outlet for their crops, especially the super productive ones. I guess in theory one could get all chard all the time, but I've never seen that happen - for instance, at the last CSA I joined, I got lemon verbena, those little husk berries (look like tiny tomatillos, taste like melon), and all kinds of neato tomatoes in the summer. I'm not sure how share pricing works, but from what I've seen it's usually a few hundred dollars for early summer - late fall. some CSAs go year round - not sure what will happen here.

does that make sense? I'm feeling like I'm rambling..