What is Community Supported Agriculture?
Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA, is a unique partnership between a specific farm and an individual or household. As a CSA member, you share in the risks and benefits of local, organic farming. You receive a weekly share of farm-fresh produce, get to know the life of the farm, and share in a sense of community around food, farming, nature and nutrition. By receiving payment before the growing season begins, farmers are able to buy seeds and supplies, plan what to grow, and offset some of the risk inherent in farming, like extreme weather and crop failures. We do our best to mitigate these risks and fill any gaps that occur during the season. Through the CSA model, we commit to the close connection between farmer and eater and to growing healthy, nutritious food in a way that is environmentally and socially responsible.
Hawthorne Valley Farm has a 350 member Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program and supplies organic and Biodynamic® produce to Columbia County residents and to New York City communities including Garden City, Inwood, and Riverdale. We also offer pick up sites at three green markets: 82nd Street, Union Square, and Columbia. Over 40 varieties of vegetables are grown on 16+ acres, and fruit shares from local farmers are also available. We offer a variety of CSA options from June through December:
- Vegetable Share(22 weeks for Early June through October)
Our Vegetable shares come in two different sizes.
Full Share is approximately 10 items per week
Partial Share is approximately 6 items per week
You would pick the share that best supports your family size and the amount of vegetables you normally utilize per week. Each week you’ll receive a variety of seasonal vegetables and herbs to take home. With every pick-up you will receive a newsletter with stories from the field and a list of what will be in your share. We hope to make the connection between the farm, the food, and you.
- Local Fruit Share(22 weeks for Early June through October)
Add to your Vegetable Share and receive fresh, local, organic or Ecologically grown fruits throughout the growing season! We partner with Thompson-Finch Farm, Grindstone Farm, and Fishkill Farms to bring you the best seasonal, organic fruit our region has to offer. Expect strawberries in June, blueberries in July, peaches in August, and apples and pears from September through October.
- Winter Share (6 weeks)
Hawthorne Valley Farm will potentially offer an 6-week Winter CSA, with pick-up locations at the farm in Ghent, and three locations in NYC – Garden City, Riverdale, and Inwood. Deliveries are weekly and the offering would be limited and first offered to our Summer CSA members as an extension on the season.
What does a CSA share cost?
The price of a CSA share depends on the pick-up site and may vary from year to year. Pick-up sites are organized and run by a core group of Hawthorne Valley Farm CSA member volunteers. A site fee is added to the overall price of your share to help manage off farm pickup sites. Please visit our sign-up site for the most up-to-date pricing (2022 shares range from $383-$649).
Because paying for an entire CSA share at once can be challenging, you have the option to join the CSA with multiple payments.
If cost of the share is an obstacle to joining our CSA please contact Todd Newlin (Vegetable Production Manager) to discuss alternative options.
What vegetables are in my CSA share through the season?
We grow over 50 types of vegetables and 120 different varieties! Read below to see what a sample week would look like.
What does a typical week’s share look like?
Each week we try to harvest a balanced variety of produce to feed two adult vegetarians, or a small family. Amount and diversity within each share changes throughout the 20 weeks (and from year to year), but here are some sample shares from this year that will give you a sense of how much of which vegetables to expect.
Week 1: 2 lettuce heads, 1/2 pound arugula, 1 bunch beets, 1 bunch swiss chard, 1 bunch scallions, 1 bunch dill
Fruit: 1 quart strawberries
Week 5: 1 head lettuce, 1 bunch kale, 1 bunch onions, 1 bunch beets, 1 bunch radishes, 2 zuchhini, 1 patty-pan squash, 1 cucumber, dill, parsley
Week 10: 1 head lettuce, 1 bunch swiss chard, 3 leeks, 1 bunch beets, 2 fennel bulbs, 3 pounds potatoes, 2 zucchini, 3 peppers, 5 pounds tomatoes
Fruit: 2 pints blueberries
Week 16: 1 head lettuce, 1/2 pound arugula, 1 bunch kale, 2 delicata squash, 1 bunch salad turnips, 1 bunch broccoli raab, 2 heads broccoli, 3 pounds potatoes, 1 bunch celeriac, 3 peppers, 2 eggplants, dill
Week 20: 1 head lettuce, 1 bunch kale, 1 head bok choy, 1 green cabbage, 3 pounds potatoes, 2 leeks, 1 pie pumpkin, 3 peppers, 1 bunch turnips, 3 pounds carrots, dill
Fruit: ½ peck bag apples or 2 quarts pears
Where can I pick up my share?
We currently have pick-up sites at:
Inwood, Isham Park, Thursdays
Riverdale Neighborhood House, 5521 Mosholu Avenue, Bronx, Thursdays
Garden City, The Waldorf School of Garden City, Thursdays
Rudolf Steiner School, Manhattan, Thursdays (September – December)
Hawthorne Valley Farm, Harlemville, Fridays
Can I split a share?
You can split a share with a friend at pick-up, or alternate weeks. Your site coordinator may be able to help pair you with another member looking to split a share.
What if I go on vacation?
Contact your site coordinator to let them know that a) you’re giving your week’s share to a friend or b) would like the food donated.
Do all the shares come from Hawthorne Valley?
The same way that water in a watershed flows from diverse sources to the ocean, food in the foodshed flows from the farm to your family. Hawthorne Valley Farm actively works with a number of other growers to insure that you receive the highest quality and widest variety of vegetables in your weekly share. Often, we turn to other local farms for vegetables that we find difficult to grow in the soil at Hawthorne Valley. For carrots and potatoes we partner with Thompson-Finch Farm (who is one of our growers for your fruit share) and for string beans Markristo Farm. Corn (non-GMO) is provided by Kinderhook Creek Farm, a neighboring grower – although not a certified organic. In all cases, we can assure you of the high quality of the produce and production methods. These farmers are friends and, in most cases, neighbors of ours. In this way, as CSA shareholders, you are helping to support farmers within a whole growing region – farmers using sustainable growing methods. Community Supported Agriculture is not like shopping at the supermarket – it’s about growing our foodshed, building relationships, and enjoying a diverse array of farm-fresh produce.
How can I help?
At Hawthorne Valley Farm, we believe that fresh, sustainably grown food is a vital part of a creating healthy people, healthy communities and ultimately a healthy society. We hope to be able to provide this food to everyone, regardless of income. Your contribution to the Hawthorne Valley Farm Long Table Harvest Program or the Good Food for Hudson Program will help to increase access to wholesome, Biodynamically-grown produce by reducing the cost of a CSA share for those in need. Thank you for your generous donation! Click on the button below and you’ll be directed to our donation page. Select HVF Food For All Program in the dropdown Designation menu. If you need any assistance in making your donation, please email our Development Office or phone 518-672-4465 x 224.
Visiting the Farm
Our farm is located only two hours north of NYC and urge you to come visit us during the season! Members are always welcome to help out in the fields either planting, weeding or harvesting. If you are interested in experiencing the farm this way, please contact Todd for information via email [email protected].
In addition – we have a number of seasonal festivals each year: Our Spring Fair in May, the Fall Festival in October and our Yuletide Fair in December. These are great events with food, music, vendors and other farm-related activities. Keep an eye on the newsletter to get specific event details.
You are always welcome to visit the farm on your own throughout the year. If the farmers are available, we may be able to show you around. To arrange a guided tour, please complete the form at this link, and we will do our best to accommodate you. Otherwise, you can pick up a self-guided walking tour pamphlet at the Hawthorne Valley Farm Store any time.
