Yes, I know I’m flagrantly biting Pizappas’ schtick, but I’d like to take a moment to discuss a new, fulfilling relationship I have in my life. I’ve fallen deeply in love with the Park Slope CSA. It nurtures my body with crazy, fresh, organic produce I would never be able to afford otherwise and it nurtures my soul with fruity politics and community spirit.
For those of you who are not familiar, CSA is “Community Supported Agriculture.” Basically, one neighborhood teams up with a farm and buys one season’s worth of produce up front. For the next 5 months or so, the farm carts the produce down to a single location once a week. On the designated pick-up day, all of the neighbors who signed up for a share come get their heap of vegetables or fruit or flowers or eggs or meat or whatever they signed up for.
This is a nice thing because:
1. You eat and learn how to prepare vegetables you’ve never heard of before (i.e. garlic scapes or butter lettuce).
2. It’s cheaper than buying organic or even regular produce at a grocery store and most farmer’s markets. I’m just saying, it’s like $5 for a bunch of asparagus in my grocery store.
3. The farms are committed to organic, sustainable agriculture. So you know the food you’re getting is safe to eat (no e. coli for me!) and is not overly aggressive to the land it’s raised on.
4. It’s an energy efficient method of getting food. All of the food is grown reasonably locally (like 100 miles, as opposed to 4000 miles away). No need for airplanes, boats, etc. Additionally, because it’s delivered to one central neighborhood location, there is no wasted gas for deliveries and most people can walk their food home.
5. It’s good for independent farming because farmers get money when they need it (at the beginning of the season) and have a guaranteed market for their produce.
Okay, that is all I have to say about that. But if you’re interested in finding a CSA, the following Brooklyn neighborhoods have one:
Bed-Stuy
Brooklyn Heights
Carroll Gardens
Clinton Hill/Ft. Greene
Cobble Hill
East New York
East Williamsburg (845-943-8699)
Greenwood Heights
Kensington/Windsor Terrace
Park Slope
Prospect Heights
Prospect/Lefferts Garden
Red Hook
Williamsburg
And if you’re a sucker and you live somewhere else, you can find a CSA by state or ZIP code here.
holla at the farm fresh love!
if you want more info on finding csa’s check out http://www.justfood.org - they have the hook-up in nyc.
i’m happy for you reckles. i got garlic scapes too! i think i’m going to grind them up with radish greens and olive oil for a pasta sauce - what are you doing with them?
I cut up a little bit of them to garnish my salad last night. My breath will never smell good again. But they were delicious.
If you come up with a good recipe for them or the radish greens, let me know. I saw a pesto that I might try to make, but that was about it.
check around other csa sites - they sometimes give recipes for the more obscure items you get.
i got a shit-ton of lavender flowers last week (what the f am i supposed to do with that??). but then i found a recipe for some kick ass lavender shortbread cookies my csa’s website. now i only have a half a shit-ton of lavender flowers.
long live brooklyn csa!