We still have vegetable shares available.
Deadline is extended to June 8th, sign up here!
The first distribution is Thursday, June 15th and runs through October 26th.
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We are announcing sign ups for our 2023 season! Also, a reminder that the Meet the Farmers event hosted by the Sunnyside CSA at Sunnyside Community Services (43-31 39th St. at Queens Blvd. 40th St. stop on the 7 train) is on Monday, April 3rd at 7pm. Come meet our farmers from Angel Family Farm and ask them any questions. All are welcome!
This is the link to sign up for the 2023 share, deadline for signup is by May 31st. This year the price of the vegetable share remains the same at $700 for the 20 week share. If you don’t want to buy a full share, please consider splitting a share with a friend/neighbor. We have a very limited amount of subsidized shares available on a honor system/first come basis. 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.
Sign up for a 2023 vegetable share here!
Distribution will run from June 15th to October 26th on Thursdays from 5:30-8pm at St. Mark’s Church, 33-50 82nd St., Jackson Heights, NY 11372.
Each weekly share will have 5-6 items (generally 6 items, but if there’s a very large amount of one particular item, it may be 5 on some weeks). After discussing feedback from last season, our partner farm, Angel Family Farm has provided us with the following list for this coming season including:
Beets
Carrots
Lemon verbena
Sweet peas
Collard greens
Kale
Onions – multi variety
Cilantro
Lemon balm
Parsley
Basil
Lettuce — multi variety
Asian greens
Radishes
Arugula
Swiss chard
Lemon grass
Tomatillo
Oregano
Chamomile
Kohlrabi – multi variety
Garlic
Zucchini – multi variety
Potato – multi variety
Tomatillos
Tomato – multi variety
Sweet peppers
Hot pepper
Eggplant
Corn – bicolor
Sweet potato – multi variety
Winter squashes – multi variety
Pumpkin – multi variety
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.
We thank Megan for her hard work and service as Volunteer Coordinator for the past few years and are currently looking to pass the torch to another member who would like to step into this role. Please email farmspot@gmail.com if you are interested to volunteer as a core member.
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.
Unclaimed Shares: Shares must be picked up each week between 5:30 – 8:00pm. If you can’t make it, feel free to ask a friend or neighbor to pick up your share. Farm Spot is not able to store unclaimed shares, all unclaimed shares will be donated.
Thank you for reading this all the way through, we look forward to our upcoming season!
If you know anyone that might be interested, please forward this link.
We are excited to announce that Farm Spot CSA will now be partnering with Angel Family Farm!
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
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
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