Competition for the Fort Greene CSA
Is Fort Greene big enough for two CSAs? We’re gonna find out. The Fort Greene CSA that was set up at the corner of Washington Park and Myrtle Avenue last year is about to be joined by the Paisley Farm CSA which will start distributing from the Metropolitan Exchange building at 33 Flatbush Avenue in…
Is Fort Greene big enough for two CSAs? We’re gonna find out. The Fort Greene CSA that was set up at the corner of Washington Park and Myrtle Avenue last year is about to be joined by the Paisley Farm CSA which will start distributing from the Metropolitan Exchange building at 33 Flatbush Avenue in June. The group will also be organizing a pick-up in Williamsburg. There’s a kick-off event next Tuesday. More info here. GMAP
There are actually three CSAs in the neighborhood: the original one is the Clinton Hill CSA, which draws from Clinton Hill, Fort Greene, and Bed Stuy. http://www.clintonhillcsa.org
Hey Brownstoner, thanks for listing us. As coordinator of this CSA site, want to point out that CSA sign-ups are not exactly competitive… All of us operate with the shared goal of providing sustainably-produced food to our neighbors and steady streams of income to local farmers. As the other posters mentioned, demand is quite high in our area, which is why we decided to open the CSA we set up for workers in our building (a co-working space for architects/urbanists/designers and green businesses – see http://www.metropolitanexchange.org, http://www.greeenspacesny.com, and http://www.treehouseny.com) to our friends and neighbors. We hope that all of the great local CSA options will make it easier for more Brooklynites to obtain healthy food.
(FYI, there’s another great new CSA serving nearby Boerum Hill: Check out the Brooklyn Beet CSA at http://brooklynbeetcsa.blogspot.com)
And to the first poster, this is our first year running this CSA – for now we’re focused on making sure it works for us and for our farmer. But once we get the hang of it we’ll certainly consider offering lower-cost shares.
-Meredith, at the Metropolitan Exchange Building, http://www.metropolitanexchange.org
Wow! Good to know there’s such a strong demand.
That’s correct, Amelia. I just joined the Greene Harvest CSA because the other one was all filed.
Maybe I’m wrong- but I thought there already were 2 CSAs in Fort Greene- the Fort Greene CSA with pickups at the NE corner of the park and the Greene Harvest CSA with pickups at Habana Outpost.
There is a different new CSA in Fort Greene/Clinton Hill called the Greene Harvest CSA http://www.greeneharvestcsa.com/
They seem to be filling up with overflow from the existing Fort Greene CSA so, I would guess the answer is yes – CSAs are growing in popularity.
Oh, and the pickup for this one is at Habana Outpost on Saturday mornings.
My understanding is that the Fort Greene CSA anticipates having very few new shares available this year, so the answer to your question might well be, ‘yes, Fort Greene is big enough for two community-supported agriculture’ cooperatives.’ That will especially be true if the new group subsidizes some shares for lower income households, as the Fort Greene CSA has done. I did not see that in my brief skimming of the Paisley Farm website.
Paisley? That’s a hybrid between parsley and salsify, right?