Every weekend many of us hit the farmers market circuit, navigating between Union Square Park, Union St, and Russell St in an effort to avoid the wilted offerings found at the Super A. However, there’s a simpler way: a plethora of local CSAs (community supported agriculture) – essentially a prepaid share of a farm’s produce that offer us the chance to avoid the vagaries of choice and opt instead to support a small farm that in turn supports us.
Below are several of the CSAs from which we Greenpointers can choose. Is your CSA listed? Is it missing? Love your CSA? Have any recipes? Canning secrets?  Let us know in the comments.
Vegetable CSAs
Note that prices are listed for full, weekly shares. Other options may be available.
Rachel Mae’s CSA: picks up at Cafe Grumpy (193 Meserole Ave), $600/24-week season.
Greenpoint-Williamsburg CSA: Picks up at McCarren or McGolrick Park. Weekly shares are $595/275/155/66 for veggies/fruit/flowers/eggs and $200 for a bi-weekly cheese share.
Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative: Picks up at Eastern District (1053 Manhattan Ave), so be sure to budget extra for irresistible cheese. $725 for a 25-week season.
Southside CSA: Picks up at The Woods (48 S 4th St). Dizzying array of share options, so best to check their website for information. Donates to the Greenpoint Soup Kitchen!
Lineage Farm CSA:Â Picks up at the Greenpoint Reformed Church (136 Milton St.)
Partners Trace: Picks up at TBD (224 Franklin St) & Huckleberry Bar (588 Grand St)Â 20 weeks /Â egg shares / flower shares / berry shares / orchard shares / canned good shares
Fish CSAs
I’m particularly excited by the fish CSAs available, as they provide a good, sustainable source of fresh fish, something Greenpoint lacks outside of smoked offerings or the farmer’s market stalls. I’ve heard great things about both of these.
Mermaid’s Garden CSF: Picks up at Urban Rustic. $33/week for a 2-2.25 lb delivery, $16.50 for a 1.25 lb delivery. Possible add-ons/substitutions for shellfish.
Gabe the Fish Babe: Details online are scarce but she was enthusiastically recommended. The fish club is apparently full at the moment, but join the mailing list on the website for updates.
Eat locally, Greenpoint!
Local Beef Enthusiast CSA!
Hey just wanted to let you know that my butcher shop, Tiberio Custom Meat, in the lower east side also is offering a beef CSA. It runs for 5.5 months with pickups of 3-6 lbs of meat every other week. The CSA is designed with a unique cut every pickup so that you can eventually eat every cut on the animal. We provide a book that we add to every week with our favorite recipes on how to prepare.
The cost is $675 which works out to around $12/lb for every cut from brisket to ribeye. All of our beef is raised naturally and comes from Argyle NY from Argyle Angus Farm. My business partner and I both live in Greenpoint and have been hoping to find some interest so that we could setup a pickup point in the neighborhood.
Thanks for the post and always glad to check in with greenpointers to see what’s going on in our hood.
Erik
Just wanted to let people know that the Greenpoint Williamsburg CSA (GWCSA) has updated its website, and can now be found at http://www.gwcsa.org. Also feel free to email us at [email protected].
Happy harvest,
Greenpoint Williamsburg CSA (GWCSA)