What's New at the Chelsea CSA?

Upcoming Events

Message from the CSA Core Group

Flowers from The River Garden

Chelsea CSA Seasons in the News

Get Involved!

Welcome to the Chelsea Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) project.

We are proud to be entering our TENTH(!) year of bringing locally grown, affordable produce to the Chelsea community. Shareholders are also eligible to order pastured meats, poultry and cheese year-round.

We are currently sold out for the 2009 season.

But please do visit
P.S. 11 Farmer's Market on Wednesdays from 8am-11am,
where you can purchase CSA vegetables.

The School is also a member of our CSA and the third grade runs the market as a part of an learning initiative on eating healthy. It's a good way to get your veggies and support a local school.

The Chelsea CSA is a partnership between Stoneledge Farm in South Cairo, NY and community members of Chelsea on the West Side of Manhattan. Chelsea CSA enables members of all economic backgrounds to enjoy farm-fresh organic vegetables while supporting local agriculture.

We receive space and support services for this effort from Hudson Guild, a non-profit settlement house serving Chelsea since 1895. The Chelsea CSA project was begun in May 2000 by a Hudson Guild staff member working with Just Food. Chelsea CSA has since transitioned to an all-volunteer effort which depends on shareholder support for continued success of current “locavore” offerings and development of new ones.

Upcoming Events

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Message from the CSA Core Group

Hi, Everybody-

In mid-November 2008 Chelsea CSA successfully completed a ninth season of bringing local organic vegetables and local fruit from Stoneledge Farm to the Chelsea area.

We continue to partner with Hudson Guild, which generously provides a distribution site and meeting rooms as well as on site support each week during season.

In 2008 we helped spawn PS11’s Third Grade Farmer’s Market! The school became another distribution site on Wednesdays, with 3rd graders helping the whole community learn more about organic vegetables and farmer’s markets. We are thrilled that PS11 is going to run their farmer’s market again this season. It’s a great way to introduce more neighbors to affordable, absolutely delicious, fresh organic vegetables without having to commit to a whole or half share of the season’s bounty.

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Flowers from The River Garden

Artful, fragrant arrangments at affordable prices - click here for contract (PDF)

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2008 Thank You’s

First, a big THANK YOU to the Kavakos Family for growing such fabulous food! Next, at Hudson Guild: Miguel Pedraza-Cumba, a stalwart executive supporter for Chelsea CSA over many years. Anne Marie Stoute responds to CSA requests for space & sets the custodial staff in motion to help us with delivery/set up/break down/access to the pantry. The Hudson Guild receptionists are unfailing polite - field telephone calls & helping out when we forget scissors or run out of staples (most notably Yvonne & Donna, who also help CSA outreach to community members).

The rest, in no particular order, are: Deb Osborne from PS11- our new partner - who leads the Wednesday morning Mini-Farmers’ Market initiative which provides a food & nutrition component in the classroom. <<Dore’s note: Deborah & I have a dream of one day collaborating on a “Go Green, Chelsea” cookbook!>>

Lillian Quartuccia and Chris Stadmeyer handled distribution all last season. Lillian also coordinated with Bernadette Kowalski at The River Garden Farm to bring flowers back for Chelsea CSA members! Jim Stein backed both Lillian & Chris up in distribution efforts.

Chana Neumann, a new 2008 shareholder, pitched in & produced almost all 24 newsletters! She had help on a small number but mainly just ran all the editorial & paste-up work as well as getting it out via listserv. Deborah Donenfeld printed out produce labels & amounts each week.

Doris Bruntel helped with the distribution list and with Excel spreadsheets. Lily Fisher also provided immense help with the spreadsheets. Emily Sessions helped with accounts receivable.

Frances Tesser continued to supervise/organize monthly Pastured Meat & Special Products deliveries year round. Rosa Maria de la Torre booked all of our Hudson Guild meetings and food demonstrations. Linda Crosby remained our steadfast volunteer coordinator.

Scott Codey helped to organize and run meetings, get the newsletter copied, and put together and ran the google group(s) and phone banking reminders.

Ali Smith, one of our chefs, led food demonstrations at PS11 and at Hudson Guild. Melissa Exstein chaired the membership/outreach committee. Serena Jost took care of our voice mail messages. Brad Grossman remained our recipe maven extraordinaire.

Rosa Maria and Christina Schiavoni organized an outside food demonstration. Christina & Dore Nash continued bringing their wisdom & hard won experience to the Core Group.

Mike Truese, whose been our volunteer web guy for over 5 years, continues to quietly maintain and upgrade the website from across the river in NJ.

I’ve probably forgotten someone (e.g., who organized the farm trip?), so please pipe up if I’ve left you out.

A few core group members from this year are not going to be back for the 2009 season. They include Melissa Exstein (moved to Brooklyn), me (Marion Banzhaf, moving to Florida), and Scott Codey, who organized our listserve.

Lillian Quartuccia has offered to hold the fort down as coordinator but needs to have a backup person or two in the wings for future efforts. Please think about whether you could take this role on, it’s mainly just delegating and being sure everyone is doing what they say they will do.

Administration work should be a lot easier this year since so much is being done on-line. Doris Bruntel will be the Treasurer and deal with critical functions such as low income eligibility verification.

I’ve learned a lot working with all of you, and it’s been fun! Enjoy all the good food! I’m going to be growing a lot of my own. That’s it for now…
~Marion Banzhof

PS from Dore: Kudos to Marion, who (among other tasks): recast & simplified the shareholder contract, championed a 2008 effort to revive Food Stamp processing, managed finances & held everyone together so we can make the quantum leap to 2009 intact as a mixed income CSA.

PPS from Dore: The Core Group met mid-March & found out that we are losing Chris Stadtmeyer to volunteer work abroad. He’s going to Norway – yeah, Chris, we wish you well. That said, Chelsea CSA now needs very active volunteers to better share the distribution load over a very long season. Best bet would be to build a distribution capacity where set up & break down (& everything in between!) can be more fluid over a greater number of us….

I’d like to see shareholders take more initiative: perhaps restoring a very old model from our 2nd/3rd years (i.e., an instruction binder that nearly any member could use to set up or break down on those days when distribution coordinators are delayed or not on site, or get called away, or are short handed & need more help).

Please try & pitch in – it can be fun as well as work. We have a very interesting & diverse membership: artists, writers, a belly dancing instructor, health/nutrition coaches as well as professional chefs & residents with great cooking skills & long memories of Chelsea.

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See The Chelsea CSA Video!


Chelsea CSA Video from Elaine Mak on Vimeo.

Chelsea CSA Seasons in the News (Past & Present, Here & Abroad)

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Get Involved!

We encourage current and prospective members to visit this site and learn more about the Chelsea CSA, a celebration of farming, food, and community! We are always looking for people to coordinate special events and/or otherwise become active volunteers over and above the required minimum hours (six for a veggie share; two for a fruit share).

Visit this site regularly to see new announcements, articles, and recipes, as well as obtain information archived from past newsletters. If you would like to contribute your ideas for the website, please submit via chelseacsa@yahoo.com.

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