By Hannah Reale
For those of you who are hankering for some fresh produce from local farms—and for those of you who forgot to sign up this year—we poked around and found a few CSAs that are still accepting members!
A week’s portion of Cream of the Crop’s small vegetable shares from August, 2016.
Pickup from Cream of the Crop is on Tuesdays from 4 to 7 p.m. at 263 West 86th St, the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew. They offer a weekly distribution of farm-fresh veggies into early November. You can choose between regular shares or “vacationer’s shares,” and then choose either a large or small portion. Those who choose the vacationer’s share do not pick up produce during July and August, tailored for Upper West Siders that leave the city during the hottest months. Their website describes the large portion as “enough for a family of four, or a vegetarian couple.” The small portion is approximately half that. There are additional shares available for fruit, eggs, cheeses, and raw milk on either the regular or vacationer’s schedule, although the mushroom and organic Araucana eggs are waitlist only.
Cream of the Crop also facilitates sharing a portion with another member of the CSA, whether you sign up with a friend or are paired with another member that wants to split the same type of share. The strategy for splitting the share is up to the individuals, whether you choose to alternate weeks or both show up every week and manually split the produce.
Pricing for late signups: If you sign up for the June 27th distribution date, the regular large share costs $593.25, the regular small share costs $399, the large vacationer’s share costs $390, and the small vacationer’s share costs $293. There are 21 distributions left for the regular shares, and the remaining 13 distributions for the vacationer’s share will resume in September. The prices for the additional optional shares vary, but the full pricing is available in the online signup form. Cream of the Crop offers a plan in which you pay in installments and are happy to communicate with participants if that option doesn’t work with your financial situation.
Roxbury Farm’s full vegetable share.
Roxbury Farm’s pickup is every Thursday from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew, the same location as Cream of the Crop. Distributions have already started and run until mid November. Participants can choose between a full vegetable share and a shared vegetable share, which functions in the same way as Cream of the Crop’s. Roxbury Farm also offers orders of 30 different cuts of lamb, pork, and beef. Meat orders can be placed online during any given week for a one-time pickup with the vegetables the following week.
Pricing: The full vegetable share costs $617 or $636 and the shared vegetable share costs $340 or $350, paid by check or credit card respectively. The individual meat orders’ prices are all available on their website.
CSA at Ansche Chesed’s supplier, Garden of Eve, at the farm.
CSA at Ansche Chesed provides produce from Garden of Eve, which is available for pickup on Wednesdays from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at 251 West 100th St. They offer vegetable, combo, and “vegeholic” shares, all available on a weekly or biweekly schedule. The vegetable share includes “enough vegetables for two large vegetarian meals per week, for a family – or sides for a whole week.” The combo share takes the vegetable share and adds fruit, eggs, and sunflowers to the distribution, while the “vegeholic” share is a double vegetable share. If you opt for one of the veggie-only shares, there are weekly and biweekly egg, fruit, and sunflower shares that you can add on. The distributions have already begun and will continue through mid November.
The organization offers events that show CSA participants how to use their produce, although they have distribution sites all over the city and in Long Island, so these events may not be local. There is also a share swap forum on their website so that participants can get in touch with each other about trading produce.
Pricing for late signups: If you sign up now, the weekly vegetable share costs $600.60, the biweekly vegetable share costs $316.25, the weekly combo share costs $1003.86, the biweekly combo share costs $545.49, the weekly “vegeholic” share costs $1100, and the biweekly “vegeholic” share costs $582.12. There are 22 distributions left for the weekly shares, and 11 distributions for the biweekly shares. Pricing for the fruit, egg, and sunflower shares is available on their website.
There are also CSAs later on in the year that you can sign up for in the next few months, such as Hearty Roots’ fall CSA, which distributes weekly from mid September to mid December, and Roxbury Farm’s winter CSA, which distributes once a month in December, January, and February.
In addition, seniors can get inexpensive vegetables through a senior food program from Council member Helen Rosenthal and Borough President Gale Brewer. More from Rosenthal below:
Seniors should check in with their local senior or community center for the ordering and pick up process. If you do not belong to a center and your building is not participating, you may order and pick up at the Goddard Riverside Community Center, located at 593 Columbus Avenue at 88th Street (see flyer for more details).
If you know of other Upper West Side CSAs that are still taking on new customers for the summer, comment below!
CSA at Ansche Chesed is absolutely amazing. W e have been members for years and love it.
Too many family farms & family ranches, inc. century farms in U.S.A.; been allowed to go out of business during the past 50 years. G.A.T.T. harms France. NO to C.A.F.T.A.; &, N.A.F.T.A.. NO to the Spanish language at N.Y.C.’s Greenmarkets……Also, too many folk throw Banana skins on some sidewalks….
I prefer listening to people speaking Spanish then to the racist rantings of some unhinged mystery woman on the internet.
But thanks for reminding us all that your kind of intolerance and elitism exist in the world.
p.s. and learn some grammar and how to type for heavens sake.
Re: “NO to the Spanish language at N.Y.C.’s Greenmarkets”
Hey, we don’ need to go to Mississippi or Louisiana; we got real RACISTS/BIGOTS here on the UWS!
Only difference is that THEIR white KKK sheets are 500-or-higher thread count.
Normally I just make a joke about how hard these comments are to understand. Unfortunately, the little I HAVE understood has shown this anti-Hispanic attitude that I personally find offensive.
I don’t know what this persons deal is but enough with the bashing of Latino’s for no reason. How about that? If you have an issue, let’s hear it. Otherwise, keep your linguistic preferences to yourself. Thanks.:)
Agree – the ugliness of her regular racist postings is unfortunate.
Wow! Thank you West Side Rag for the featured story on CSA’s! As the Coordinator for Cream of the Crop CSA, I wanted to mention that in addition to the items listed in the article, we also offer KOSHER Dairy and Poultry products, 100% Grass-fed beef and lamb, pastured pork and chickens as our “Optional add on shares”. Many other items are also available for one time purchases throughout the season in our web store including Turkeys for Thanksgiving! Oh…and all our Veggies and Berries are Certified Organic.
Joining ANY CSA is a wonderful way to support local farmers, the environment, and our local community! We at Cream of the Crop donate all our left over produce to the West Side Campaign Against Hunger so everyone benefits, even those less fortunate!
Bernie, your CSA sounds really great and holistic. Was hoping to connect (I work in the local Ag/food industry). What would be the best way to get in touch?
our website creamofthecropcsa.org has the contact info but here it is too: bernie@creamofthecropcsa.org
You forgot Local Roots CSA – pickup is once a week from the Irving farm coffee roasters on 79th. Their share is amazing!!
I’ve belonged to Cream of the Crop for several years and get the half share of veggies, fruit share, kosher chicken breasts, araucuna eggs, and raw milk. Each week the haul is bountiful and it’s a great way to get exposure to new ingredients. I can’t say enough good things about this CSA – my boyfriend and I love it (though we wish distribution was on a Thursday or Friday so we would have tons of fresh produce to use for cooking on the weekends)!
This thread makes me crave doughnuts and a steak.
I lived in Louisiana for 12 years. Never met a racist. Stop your own form of bigotry.