Founded in 2002, Clinton Hill Community Supported Agriculture is a non-profit, volunteer-run organization that brings fresh, locally-grown, organic produce to its members through a partnership with Windflower Farms in Valley Falls, NY. Like a magazine subscription, members buy shares at the beginning of the season and receive weekly (summer) or monthly (winter) deliveries of produce directly from the farmer. Through Community Supported Agriculture, the farms get money when they need it most and subscribers get not only the highest quality fruits and vegetables at the best possible price but also a direct relationship to the people that produce the food that they eat. All member must buy a vegetable share, and we also offer fruit, egg, and flower shares, as well as monthly opportunities to order beef, pork, lamb and chicken.
CHCSA is a mixed-income CSA—in order to make healthy produce available to families with a less income, 1/3 of our vegetable shares are made available at a lower price to households living on less than $30,000/year (these shares are subsidized by the other 2/3). We are very proud to be a volunteer-run mixed-income CSA in New York City!
The summer season runs 22 weeks from mid-June to mid-November. Members pick up their shares every Thursday between 5 and 7:30 p.m. at the distribution site. If you are unable to pick up your share, you may send someone to pick it up for you. Shares cannot be held past 7:30 p.m. on Thursday and any leftover produce will be donated to a local food pantry.
CHCSA is a community endeavor so members are expected to help out by volunteering 4 hours per season by setting up, breaking down or supervising the distribution site. We will also need help with outreach and advertising. If you have a special skill that you would like to contribute, we need your participation.
What You Give
Shares in the CHCSA are based on a sliding scale. 2010 prices are:
| income | cost/share | admnistrative fee | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Families of two or more | Plan A: over $30,000 | $505 | $15 |
| Plan B: $30,000 and below | $320 | $15 |
As of the 2009 season, CHCSA is now accepting food stamps! A check for the administrative fee must be paid separately with the member’s initial installment.
Payment Options
- Members may pay in one lump sum or in three installments
- Due dates are May 1, June 1, and July 1
- The administrative fee must be paid by check or money order, at the beginning of the season. Please contact us to find out about paying with food stamps.
If none of these options work for you, we encourage you to talk the treasurer about setting up a payment plan that does—we are somewhat flexible.
Methods of Payment
- The farm share checks should be made payable to “Windflower Farm.”
- The administrative check should be made payable to “Clinton Hill CSA”—Payment can only be made by check or money order, the CHCSA does not accept cash.
Fruit Share
Fruits include various berries, apples, peaches, plums nectarines and pears. All the fruit is always locally grown and delicious but only the berries are organic. The other fruit is grown using low spray practices—but as organic fruit becomes more available the farmer will include it in the share. The fruit share is only available to members who are buying a vegetable share. Pricing for 2009 fruit shares is available.
Flower Share
Flowers (all organic and local) come in large bouquets that usually stay fresh for over a week. Again, flower shares are only available to members who are buying a vegetable share.Pricing for 2009 flower shares is available.
Egg Share
CHCSA is happy to be offering our popular free-range egg share again. You can order either a dozen or half dozen to be delivered for 22 weeks (starts on the second week of the season). More info on the egg share, including current pricing is available for 2009.
Meat, Cheese, Honey, Jam and More Share
Members have the opportunity to order delicious grass-fed, free-range beef, chicken, lamb, and pork from our consortium of independent meat farmers upstate. You are not locked into a share, but via their website, you can order as much or as little as you’d like and meat will be delivered at least once a month. This year, we can also look forward to homemade sheep’s milk feta cheese and yogurt! No more worries about antibiotics, steroids, and Mad Cow! More info about ordering meat is available for 2009.
Coffee Share
In 2009, we’re also exploring a coffee share in collaboration with Crop to Cup. More info about the coffee share is available for 2009.
What You Get
- Fresh, seasonal, organically grown produce from Windflower Farm for about 23 weeks, from June to November.
- 8-15 different vegetables every week for less money than what you would spend at the grocery store.
- The satisfaction of helping to sustain local agriculture in upstate New York.
- Weekly newsletters on produce preservation, preparation, storage, and recipes.
- A greater sense of community.
Why it’s Important
A recent study of food access in New York City found that neighborhoods like ours are egregiously under-served. While Brooklyn Heights and the Upper East Side have 1 grocery store for every 7,000 residents, Bedford-Stuyvesant has 1 grocery store for every 63,000 residents!
We have all complained about the markets in our neighborhoods, and CHCSA can now provide an alternative. By making our shares affordable and accepting food stamps no one need be left out.
Share Prices
News From Windflower Farm (January 2010)
The season will last 22 weeks – from Thursday, June 7th to Thursday, November 1st.
Plan A: Households with a total income over $30,000 pay $505
Plan B: Households with a total income under $30,000 pay $320
We will be starting our deliveries in the week of June 7th, one week earlier than normal. Working in the cold and snowy weather at the end of the season has been unpleasant for everyone on the farm. The season will still be 22 weeks long. We don’t expect the first share to be very different from first shares in past years, but we may include organic dry beans to enhance the value of the first share.
We are working to improve our tomato and summer and winter squash production. We have entered into an informal collaboration with two nearby organic farmers for the coming year. They are going to help us by growing extra squashes and tomatoes, and we’ll help them with some other vegetables. The large new greenhouse we built last fall and our discovery of some new, disease-resistant varieties should also help enhance our tomato crop. We also intend to expand our salad crop offerings.
Our fruit and flower share prices will remain the same as last year. Fruit will cost $140 per season (20 weeks) and flowers will cost $120 per season (10 weeks). The fruit share should include some of our own organic berries this year.
We will not be adding new CSA groups this year, but you may notice changes in our drop-off locations or times as we work to better serve our existing members.
Mary and Bob Pratt at Elihu Farm will be offering egg shares again this year. They will provide updated share information within the next few days.
(more ...)Meat, Cheese, Honey, Jam and More Share
CHEESE and DAIRY PRODUCTS (cow, goat or sheep cheeses, yogurts and milk); POULTRY (Chicken, Duck and Turkey – whole or parts, sausages, ground and smoked); EGGS (see our egg share, too!); LAMB, BEEF, PORK, HONEY, MAPLE SYRUP, GRANOLA, JAMS and SAUCES, and BREAD
Orders are delivered twice monthly to our pick-up site. Watch our “Upcoming Dates” to see delivery dates and deadlines.
Order directly here. Log-on to review each farm’s specialty; see specific sustainable practices used; heritage varieties available; etc.
First time log-in use “clinton hill” as you log in name and “downing” for your password.
(more ...)Coffee Share
The Clinton Hill CSA OSLO Coffee Share. Photo courtesy of Photo315
Last year, we piloted a coffee share as an extra option. We’ve worked out some kinks and we are very pleased to partner with Oslo Coffee this year. Oslo roasts their own ecologically and socially sustainable beans (organic and fair-trade), including heirloom and seasonally available varieties. Members will be able to sign on to Oslo’s website and order weekly at discounted prices. Beans will arrive in glass mason jars (on a modest deposit). A representative will be offering a coffee tasting on the first CSA pick-up; please be sure to sign-up then if you are interested!
Per lb prices will vary between $7.50 and 9.00. Full, half and 5lb orders will be available: get an additional 20% discount for each 5 lbs order.
Upcoming Oslo Fair-Trade roasts:
- Organic Nicaraguan Selva Negra Estate – Rain Forest Alliance
- Organic Mexican H/G Chiapas
- Organic New Guinea
- Organic Peru CEPICAFE
- Organic Sumatra Gayo
Tags: 2010(more ...)Hello, and thank you for considering Oslo Coffee Roasters for your CSA 2010 coffee share program. Our premium coffee beans come from farmers who utilize ecologically and socially sustainable practices, helping to support a healthy ecosystem and providing a fair living for their workers. These are the only farms that can produce the high quality coffees we use. The care that goes into growing, shipping and finally roasting these coffees is reflected in the flavor of the finished product. Oslo offers a weekly rotating selection of what we like to call ʻcurrentʼ or ʻin-seasonʼ varietals; coffees that have been only recently harvested and shipped to us here in NYC. As part of the CSA coffee share program, we would offer these same organic, fair-trade coffees to members at a wholesale discount.
Flower Shares
Organic Cut Flowers (10 weeks) – $120.00
Flowers will start during the first or second week of the vegetable season.
Fruit Shares
Fruit shares are sold out for 2010
Sorry, please sign up early next year
2010 Fruit Shares (20 weeks) – $140.00
Fruits will start during the first or second week of the vegetable season. Fruit is IPM, not organic.
The fruit share should include some of our own organic berries in 2010. Here’s what was new in 2009: We will be adding melons grown at the Moses Farm to the list of items included in the fruit share this year. (We will be growing our own melons this year, but our hope is to make them available to everyone as a part of the vegetable share.) Locally grown organic berries have proven impossible for us to source in adequate quantities or at reasonable prices. So, we are planting our own berries this year. So far, we have ordered 500 blueberry plants, 100 gooseberries, 1000 red raspberries, 500 black raspberries and 200 each of yellow and purple raspberries. The raspberries should begin to bear in 2010, and come in well in 2011; the blueberries will start in 3 to 5 years. We are finalizing plans for a strawberry planting and a small table grape vineyard, too. The strawberries will bear fruit this year; and the grapes will start in 3 to 5 years. All these purchases, too, are being made among local suppliers.
Egg Shares
Egg shares are sold out for 2010
Sorry, please sign up early next year
2010 Egg Share Prices
$4.77 per dozen, or $2.50 per half dozen, with discounts for members who order two or three dozen per week.
Egg shares are handled a bit differently from the fruit and vegetable shares at our CSA. While you must be a Clinton Hill CSA member to order eggs through us, you should fill out the form and send it, along with your payment, directly to the Pratts.
Eggs are delivered weekly for the whole 22-week CSA season.
- Primarily large to extra large size
- Guaranteed fresh
- Minimally washed
- No chlorine used
- Usually packed in paper cartons (The Pratts reuse or recycle cartons that are returned to them, so you won’t always get paper cartons.)