The West Village CSA
By Anthony Paradiso
SIGNING UP FOR A CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) helps consumers get the freshest veggies and provides farmers with some upfront capital to grow food.
The West Village CSA is a program that brings fresh and organic vegetables and fruits right from the farm to your kitchen in Manhattan. Community Supported Agriculture is a contract to buy produce from a local farm. Signing up for a CSA share usually starts in the fall. This helps consumers get the freshest veggies and provides farmers with some upfront capital to grow food. The West Village CSA started with Stoneledge Farm when there were only five CSAs in the city. They had a location in Chelsea and later moved to the West Village. Now there are quite a few more.
We talked to two members on Zoom early in February.
What do you like about the CSA?
Melissa This CSA is a little different in that there are sites where you pick up. I like that I’m getting fresh, organic produce. I’m lucky it’s just three blocks from my house and I know I’m supporting a farmer because part of the model is that we pay in the winter when they need cash for products and when they wouldn’t have money coming in. It allows them to plan, because if you sign up they know how many people they’re growing vegetables for. So I like being involved in something that simplifies the food system, supports organic farmers, supports direct contact between consumers and farmers, and has delicious fresh food. It also gives you the opportunity to talk to people in the neighborhood who you wouldn’t ordinarily meet.
Anna I’m a doctor of Chinese medicine and an acupuncturist. There’s something very healthy about eating food that grows local to you, in the season that it’s grown. So, in the springtime having those tender greens, and in the heat of summer having cucumbers that cool your system down, and then all those wonderful root vegetables in the fall. It’s picked the day before it comes down to the city, so it’s very fresh. The flavor is much better than those bags of carrots you get in the supermarket. You can tell it was in the soil very recently.
It’s great having a relationship with the farm and eating local, fresh, seasonal food that we can get at a farmer’s market but it’s more economical doing it this way. It’s also because you get a box of what’s exactly in season that week. You wind up getting things that maybe you wouldn’t have bought on your own and so it’s “Frisée–that’s interesting let me see what I can do with that.” It also expands your food horizons and the community. The people that we’ve met over the years through the volunteer efforts are also really lovely.
So, DO you meet at a delivery point?
Anna Yes. St. Francis Xavier Church (46 West 16th Street) lets us use their downstairs and we donate the rest of the food to their soup kitchen so it’s a nice, symbiotic relationship.
What happens at the site?
Melissa Our site is open every Tuesday from 4 to 7 p.m. Everyone has a box based on family size. We have a swap table, where at the beginning of the day we set up one full share. Say you don’t like Kohlrabi, but you love cabbage, you can trade. Or you don’t want your two pounds of potatoes, but you want two pounds of tomatoes. At the end of the day the least popular vegetables will be donated to St. Francis Xavier’s where they will be used for people who need food. So, nothing goes to waste. Also, each share member must volunteer to work two two hour shifts.
What happens after the summer season is over?
Melissa I often freeze stuff. One of the benefits is that I have tons of soup stock that I made from summer vegetables. In the winter, I try to shop at the farmer’s market at Union Square.
What about people who are worried about joining?
Anna If they’re worried they’re not going to finish all the vegetables, we will help them find a share partner where they can split a share with somebody.
How do I join?
You join for one season and if you love it, you keep coming and if it’s not for you, then you don’t renew so it’s not a lifetime commitment.
