The Fort Greene/ Clinton Hill Community Supported Agriculture Group, Tillies Coffee, 1/13, 8PM

Tonight at 8PM at Tillies (248 DeKalb Avenue), there will be a meeting of community members who would like to form a New Fort Greene/Clinton Hill CSA for the 2009 growing season. They are meeting to discuss the development of a CSA and will pass that info on to www.justfood.org.

FYI: a CSA is a Community Supported Agriculture group which is a group of people who get together and purchase their share of vegetables in advance from a farmer before the growing season begins. The farmer will deliver the food weekly to a pickup location (like a farmers market), and members will come to that location and pick up their share. CSA shares are always cheaper than buying retail because you cut out the middle man and often reduce the travel time and distance from the farm to the table. The share usually costs about $10-$20 per week from May/June to November. Almost always the veggies (which are organic and sometimes heirloom) cost less in the CSA than non-organic GMO varieties do at the local supermarket. CSAs are usually vegetable based but can also include fruit, eggs, dairy, meet, flowers, grains etc.

The Clinton Hill/Fort Greene neighborhood has 2 CSAs already (Clinton Hill CSA; Fort Greene CSA), but there are hundreds on their waiting lists. There are CSAs in almost every surrounding neighborhood, and they sell out/fill up quickly (DUMBO, Bed-stuy, williamsburg/Greenpoint, East Williamsburg, Brooklyn Heights, Bushwick, Caroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Pospect Heights, Park Slope, Prospect/Lefferts Garden, Red Hook etc). There is still a large demand for CSAs, and due to the nature of these arrangements, it's easier to form a new one than grow the existing ones. There are several local farmers who would like to do a CSA, but the farmers currently serving the CSAs in the area cannot fill all the orders that that are wanted and needed within the community.

There will be more meetings to come but this is the meeting where you get to voice your opinion on what the CSA goals and major principles will be.