Archives for category: weekly share

Pick up at St. Mark’s Church, 33-50 82nd St., Jackson Heights, NY, 11372, Thursdays, 5:30 – 8:00pm.

Fruit Share: This is a 16-week fruit share from Champlain Orchards of Shoreham, Vermont. Pickup will be at the same time as the vegetable CSA (Thursdays from 5:30 – 8:00pm at St. Mark’s Church, 33-50 82nd St.), but PLEASE NOTE: distribution will begin in August, with exact start date to be determined later in the summer as the fruit ripens. We will announce the date via email and website.

Prices:

Full Vegetable Share, April 23rd – June 7th: $909.04

Biweekly Vegetable Share, April 23rd – June 7th: $454.52

Subsidized Vegetable Share, April 23rd – June 7th: $454.52

Full Fruit Share: $176.32

Biweekly Fruit Share: $88.16

Early Bird Pricing! For the first time, we’re offering a special early bird price for members who sign up by April 22nd, 2025.

Refer a Friend! Receive a gift of a canvas Farm Spot tote bag if you refer a friend who signs up for a vegetable share. Be sure to drop us a line to let us know!

Biweekly Share! This year we are offering a vegetable share every other week (instead of every week). There will be Week A and Week B distributions. You will be assigned a week. If you have a preference, please let us know and we’ll do our best to accommodate you if we can. (The farm needs to split the alternate week shares 50/50 in terms of delivering, so we’ll need to keep a balance between Weeks A and B.)

Subsidized Vegetable Share In an effort to keep CSA shares accessible regardless of income level, Farm Spot offers a limited number of Subsidized Vegetable Shares. Sign up is on the honor system, available on a first come first serve basis. As more funds become available, we will increase the number of subsidized shares. 

2025 Pricing – Please read the message from Golden Earthworm Farm about their price increase this year: “You’ll notice an increase in the vegetable share price, reflective of our increasing costs of labor and transport.  This year the government’s mandatory wage rate increase jumped to $18.80/hour.  We had also underestimated the transport costs last season, so those had to be adjusted so we don’t lose money.  Under normal circumstances, we don’t expect significant share price increases from year to year.”  If you have any questions about the details of this increase, please let us know.  

A Farm Spot Administrative Fee has been added to the price of our shares to cover our expenses, most notably the rent we are required to pay to St. Mark’s Church for weekly use of the space. Since we cannot know how many shares will be sold every year, we do our best to calculate the administrative fee based on past years. If we have excess funds, they are rolled over into the subsidized share fund. 

Two volunteer shifts required per share* (not per household, so if two households split a share, it’s still a total of two shifts) *unless someone is unable to physically fulfill the volunteer responsibilities.

Questions: farmspot@gmail.com

The time has come to SIGN UP for a 2024 CSA share! 

Farm Spot will be partnering with Golden Earthworm Organic Farm again this year. Our CSA partner from 2006 – 2021, Golden Earthworm is now based in southern Vermont and continues to provide certified organic produce. The 2024 CSA season is 22 weeks, and they are able to provide an optional fruit share from a nearby farm. We’re looking forward to enjoying their delicious produce again, along with the helpful recipes and farm updates in their weekly newsletters. 

SIGN UP HERE – and please forward to anyone that might be interested. Deadline to sign up is 5/15/24!

Information about the 2024 share:

Distribution location: St Mark’s Church on the corner of 34th avenue and 82nd street

Dates: Thursdays, June 20th to November 21st, 2024, 5:30-8pm (no distribution on July 4th)

Cost for the vegetable share: $875.30

Cost of the Subsidized vegetable share: $437.80 (limited number of shares available – if sold out, please email us to be put on wait list)

Cost for the fruit share: $145.35

VOLUNTEERING

All members are expected to volunteer two shifts per share; Members who have both a vegetable and fruit share are required to serve two shifts, the requirement does not double. Any members for whom the ongoing COVID-19 crisis makes volunteering unsafe or impossible should email Farm Spot. Farm Spot CSA is only possible with the help of volunteers – we do not have other means to operate distribution. Feel free to contact us with any questions: volunteerfarmspot@gmail.com

Sign up for volunteer shifts here

SHARE PICK-UP

The above dates, between 5:30 pm & 8:00 pm, at St. Mark’s Church, 33-50 82nd st. If you do not pick up your share during those hours, it will be donated appropriately. We are unable to save shares. If you are unable to pick up your share yourself, you may ask a friend or neighbor (even if they are not a Farm Spot member) to pick up your share on your behalf. Please remember to give them the principal share member’s name (the name that your share is listed under in the sign-up book).

Splitting shares:

In past years, Farm Spot has encouraged members to look for share partners on social media and community message boards. People have been known to find share partners on our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/farmspotcsa/). If you cannot find a share on your own, please email farmspot@gmail.com and we will do our best to match you with a share partner.

This is the link to sign up for the 2022 share, deadline for signup is May 31st:

https://csa.farmigo.com/join/farmspot

This year we are offering a non-certified, organically-grown Vegetable Share from Angel Family Farm (please see previous post for more info on the farm!). The share will include enough to feed a family of 3-4 people. The season will run for 20 weeks, from June 16th – October 27th, 2022.

MEET THE FARMERS at a virtual meet + greet on SUNDAY, APRIL 3rd at 6pm. Join Zoom Meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81148071982?pwd=OGY0dkpUa25xcUYwNTMzaWRQUVlnZz09 (if you can’t make it live, we will have a recording of the Zoom session available – just let us know!)

Distribution is Thursdays, 5:30 – 8:00pm at St. Mark’s Church, 33-50 82nd St., Jackson Heights, NY. Please note: we cannot save shares as we have no access to refrigeration. If you can’t make it to pick up, you can ask a friend/neighbor/family member to pick up your share. They simply need to know the name that the share is listed under. All unclaimed shares will be donated at the end of the evening either to Lion’s Share Food Pantry or the Jackson Heights Community Fridge.

Prices: Full Price Vegetable Share – $700 for 20 weeks (please note: across the board, all CSAs that we have been in contact with have had to increase their prices for the year, including Golden Earthworm.)

Subsidized Vegetable Share: $350 for 20 weeks There are a limited number of subsidized vegetable shares for members who cannot afford the full price. If you only need a half share, please consider splitting a share with another household who needs a subsidized share – we can help you find someone to split with.

Donations: As you may know, we run on extremely slim margins in order to keep the price for the share affordable and to be able to offer a very limited amount of subsidized shares to community members in need. Please consider making a donation to Farm Spot so that we can fundraise for subsidized shares. Subsidized shares are available now through this sign up link.

Volunteer shifts:
The requirement for membership will still be two shifts per share. We are 100% volunteer run and really value the time that you spend helping to make this happen in our neighborhood. Please remember that volunteering is part of your responsibility as a Farm Spot member. Megan, our volunteer coordinator, will email with details about volunteer sign ups. As a note, two households splitting a share are required to do a combined two shifts in total.


Splitting shares:

In past years, Farm Spot has encouraged members to look for share partners on social media and community message boards. People have been known to find share partners on our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/farmspotcsa/) or on jacksonheightslife.com . If you cannot find a share on your own, please email farmspot@gmail.com and we will do our best to match you with a share partner.

 

We are excited to announce that Farm Spot CSA will now be partnering with Angel Family Farm!

The Angel Family

The Angel Family

Ana is the head farmer. Crisostomo, Ana’s husband, farms and is the driver.


Ana & Crisostomo

Lizbeth, their eldest daughter, farms and is in charge of Finance & Outreach. David, her fiance, farms with the Angels. Ana and Cristosomo’s son, Henry, has another full-time job but helps out. They also have two teenage daughters who help when they can.


History of Angel Family Farm

Ana grew up on a farm in Progreso, Mexico, where everyone farmed organically, although there was no such word in the local lexicon. 

Anna and Chrisostomo immigrated to the USA in the 1980s. They lived in Brooklyn and worked various jobs to help raise their four kids, but Ana missed farm life. In 2004,  Ana heard about and was accepted to the Grow NYC’s New Farmer Development Project, which helps immigrants with agricultural experience establish small farms. She trained in organic techniques, got help procuring seeds, finding land, and making connections. Two years later, the Angels became a farming family – at least on weekends and in the summer, when they drive up from Brooklyn to work their fields and live in a trailer on the farm. The family owns 15 acres and rents 25 in Goshen, NY, the black dirt region in Orange County, NY, a 1.5 hour drive northwest from Queens. In the winter, they live in Brooklyn and work other jobs. They sow the early season seeds in their apartment, and they bring the plants to Goshen when they are ready to be planted. They have several CSAs and also sell at several farmers’ markets. With this year’s addition of three CSAs (Farm Spot, Sunnyside CSA, and Forest Hills CSA) they hope to grow more for CSAs and decrease their market sales.


Farming Practices

The Angels follow organic practices but are not certified organic. The soil in the Black Dirt Region is very fertile, and they use few machines in their farming, so the soil needs little nourishment. The only fertilizer they use is compost which they make from any of their vegetables that are not in edible condition. They do not use any pesticides, but sometimes use pepper spray (as allowed in organic certification) as a deterrent to insects and mammals. 

They use crop rotation to minimize pests and for soil health. They have a tractor, but most of their farming is done by hand. They weed by hand and with handheld hoes. They mainly buy organic seeds but sometimes buy non-organic, untreated seeds when they can’t find the seeds they want organically certified, as is allowed on certified organic farms. They do not use GMO or treated seeds. All the produce in our shares is from their farm. They use a well on the farm for irrigation, which is infrequently needed. Most of their electricity is solar. This past winter, they purchased a small plot of land near their primary farmland. This plot has electricity, and they bought a walk-in refrigerator to keep our harvested vegetables fresh until distribution. Their delivery truck is also refrigerated. 


Our CSA Shares

Angel Family Farm will deliver fresh vegetables to Farm Spot for pick up every Thursday, 5:30 – 8:15pm, for 20 weeks, June 16th through October 27th, 2022 at St. Mark’s Church, 33-50 82nd St, Jackson Heights, NY. You will receive a generous amount of 6-8 different vegetable varieties, including herbs, that will change from week to week as the season progresses. For past Farm Spot members, it will be similar in size to Golden Earthworm’s shares, but with five fewer weeks to the season, due to the shorter farming season in Orange County.

Prices: Vegetable Share is $700 for the season (20 weeks)

Subsidized* Vegetable Share is $350 for the season (20 weeks)

*limited number of subsidized shares available


Share Examples:

Early season: kale, chamomile, green lettuce, red lettuce, garlic scapes, mizuna

Peak season: zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, fresh onions, collard greens, carrots, peppermint, potatoes

Late season: winter squash/pumpkin, thyme, onions, potatoes, carrots, beets, celery, kale

The crop plan for 2022 ought to be very similar to this one from 2021!


You can learn a lot more about Angel Family Farm
online:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AngelFamilyFarm

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/angelfamilyfarm/

A recent article on them in Dirt Magazine https://tinyurl.com/dirtmagAngelFamilyFarm

A farm video, produced by JustFood in 2012: http://vimeo.com/45161846

A Brooklyn Beet CSA Farm Visit: https://vimeo.com/316620678
They also have lots of brief Youtube videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK4c48FkwSMgQYw7TXWdKkA/videos

They were featured in the film, “What’s on your Plate?” Available on https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/whats-on-your-plate or  Amazon Prime

Golden Earthworm
Here’s the news for this week

Below are the contents of tomorrow’s share – your final share of the 2013 season!  As you may recall, the fruit shares are finished.

Savoy Cabbage (1 head)
Russet or White Potatoes (2 lb bag)
Watermelon Radish (3 lb bag)
Broccoli (3 heads)
Carrots (1 bunch or 1.5 lb bag)
Toscano Kale (1 bunch)
Romanesco (1 head)
Mache (.25 lb bag)

Like us on Facebook!

 

You can find 2013 prices here. Registration will open soon and remain open unti April, 15th.

Check back for updates.

Vegetable Share
There will be a delivery this week, however, due to the storm the vegetables will not be washed.
Thank you for understanding. Check The Golden Earthworm newsletter for updates about what’s in the share.

Fruit Share
Finished for the season

Herb Share
Finished for the season

A Note on the final deliveries of the season 
This is just a quick reminder about the final delivery of the season. There will be no delivery on Thursday, November 22 because it is Thanksgiving day. So we will skip that week and make your final delivery the following Thursday, November 29th. The delivery you receive on Thursday, November 15 (the week before Thanksgiving) will be the holiday share, as it will include special items that members may want to cook for their holiday meal.

Want to Join the Farm Spot Core Group?
We are looking for a Volunteer Coordinator to start for this winter season. This is a rare opportunity! If you are organized and love our CSA. Reply to this e-mail us and let us know!


Pick up your fruit and vegetable shares this Thursday from 5:30-8:15pm at St. Marks.

Vegetable Share
Strawberries – 1 quart
Rhubarb – 1 bunch
Arugula – 1 bag
Baby Bok Choi – 1 bunch
Red Kale – 1 bunch
Japanese Salad Turnips – 1 bunch

Fruit Share
Strawberries

Milk Not Jails
Will have samples and will be signing people up!

Sungold Cherry Tomatoes – 1 pint
Basil – 1 bunch
Long Green or Bell Pepper
 – 1 piece
Baby Leeks – 1 bunch
Cucumbers – 2 pieces
Red Tomatoes** – 5 pieces
Baby Arugula – 1 bag
Zucchini – 3pieces
Surprise Item!

Click on each item for tips & recipes from Golden Earthworm.

VEGETABLE SHARE
The contents of the box may change this week.  Please check Golden Earthworm’s web site daily for an updated list. You can click on a crop below for recipes and storage information.  

Nicola Potatoes – 3lb bag – These are a beautiful yellow-fleshed variety– Farmer Matt’s favorite!
Sungold Cherry Tomatoes – 1/2 lb.
Long Green Peppers – 2 pieces
Bell Pepper – 2 pieces
Swiss Chard – 1 bunch
Parsley – 1 bunch
Asian Eggplant – 2 pieces
Lettuce – 2 baby heads

FRUIT SHARE
Mixed bag of yellow peaches and nectarines
Mixed bag of white peaches and donut peaches

HERB SHARE
Basil
Thyme

 

notes on the share

The tomatoes are finally coming in — a bit later than usual, but better late than never!  This week we have cherry tomatoes and we hope to have some big red beefsteaks to give out in the share by next week.  Our watermelons and cantaloupes are ripening quickly in this heat, so those should be making an appearance in the share next week as well.  Some of you have asked about cucumbers…  Well, we lost the first few plantings due to poor germination & wet weather that kept us from getting them into the fields on time back in June, but our final planting looks good and should be ready to harvest in about 3 weeks.  The potatoes in the share this week are called Nicola, and are one of our favorites!  They have a beautiful yellow color, lovely textured flesh and delicious flavor!