There are three contract types for you to review and sign up with. A regular share, low cost share, and work share.

We have approximately 60 shares available, a few less spots this year than last year because of the farm renovation. It is realistically what could be handled this year. So, returning members will have access first to these open spots. The shares will be given out on a first come first serve basis, so better to get your signed contract and payment is ASAP! Below are the important details of the share, payment, etc.
The cheese and egg shares are back again as options.

Season dates: June 22nd – FIRST PICKUP November 16th – LAST PICKUP

To return signed contracts and first payment:
+ Returning members have until MAY 29th,
+ Waitlist has until JUNE 5th
+ CSA opens to all thereafter until we are full.

Payment can be made through :
1. Paypal : https://www.epkdesign.com/addedvalue/donateform.php
2. check mailed to : Red Hook CSA PO Box 310028, Brooklyn, NY 11231

Signed contracts can be :
1. emailed back to redhookbkcsa@gmail.com
2. mailed with payment to the address above

PLEASE LET US KNOW WHAT SHARE YOU ARE SIGNING UP FOR AND HOW YOU HAVE MADE PAYMENT SO THAT WE CAN TRACK IT PROPERLY!

Looking forward to having you back this season.

All best,
The Core Group

Summer is nearly here, and we are ready to open the Red Hook CSA for the 2013 season, finally. We apologize for the delays, but as you may have heard there are many transformations underway over at the farm, which have impacted our schedule. But the exciting thing is that reconstruction started this week, and we are now excited to get all our members in the loop and connected to the food that will be coming out of this new and improved space.

The farm renovation is a result of Sandy’s impact, and is made possible through the support of various city agencies, like the Dept of Sanitation. Added Value’s compost system is expanding, a solar system being installed, and the farm beds are being raised two feet to help flood-proof for future storms. Construction just started, and is expected to take the next 4-6 weeks. Check out the photos of the farm totally bare! If you have time in the coming weeks, feel free to visit and walk around the perimeter and take a look. The farm cannot have folks on site, due to construction, but it is still worth a visit, as it is the only time you will see the site like this.

Because of this, Added Value will be getting into the ground a bit later than previous years. Our CSA will be provided with the fruit of the farm when the harvest season starts. Until then Added Value has generously arranged with Green Markets and local farmers to provide us with fruit and vegetables so that our season can still start on time. Thank you Added Value!

In other news, have you seen the farm going in on NYCHA property? This is the work of Added Value as well. Farm beds are being constructed on the land next to the senior citizen center, across from the public library, and some the beds are already planted. Feel to stop by and say hello.

We will be having a welcoming event the week before first pickup. More details to come in early June.

We are excited for our 2013 season, since it will be the kick off to an inspiring new Red Hook Farm.

All the best,
The CSA Core Group : Gita, Abby, Cristina, Erika, Tracy, Caleb

It has been a long winter and now Spring has now really sprung. Corbin and our Youth Leaders (who have been joined by Aseel, who has returned to AV as a College Intern in the program) have just completed a Community Food Assessment; our Urban Farm Corps members are working hard to build out the new farm site on Wolcott street; David is still composting like a mad man; and yes, Kenny is quickly filling up the Greenhouse.

As we enter the tenth season of growing at Red Hook Community Farm, we here at AV want to first convey our gratitude to you, the CSA members, for your care and concern in the immediate aftermath of Sandy, and for your continued interest and investment in the health of the fields and the wellbeing of the Staff and youth leaders.

We are excited to say that despite the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, we will be rebuilding the farm this season. Our soil science came back with conflicting information. There were a number of toxins but only in negligible amounts.

We have been working with the City and State (and Gita’s firm ThreadCollective) to redesign the farm in a way that is more productive, more educational and more resilient to the changes that have come to us as a result of global climate change. We anticipate the approval of a final plan by early May and to begin the buildout soon thereafter.

Our current plan is to replace the existing soil, import new compost and raise the level of the farm to two feet deep. Raising the soil will allow us plant many new crops, manage irrigation and drainage better while limiting the impacts of future inundation.

Should this plan be approved, it may mean that the farm will not be planted until late June, which means that we will not have crops available to you until mid-July, or roughly three weeks after our traditional start time. BUT, WE WILL STILL HAVE A SEASON, EVEN IF DELAYED, AND THE FARMERS MARKET AND CSA will be held.

AS THE PLANS GET FIRMED UP WE WILL BE SENDING OUT WEEKLY UPDATES ON THE REBUILD SO THAT THE CSA CAN WATCH THE TRANSFORMATION.

In order to keep our schedule on track and provide members with fresh, locally produced food we have been organizing with our friends at Greenmarkets who have agreed to provide us with delivered produce from great regional farmers. Linking into the regional food system will help to ensure that we can launch Saturday June 22nd. Our additional share options of egg (new producer from the Finger Lakes), fruit, and cheese will remain unaffected and will be part of the share options as usual.

We will be providing you with contracts by no later than the beginning of next week. Within the contract you can opt in or opt out of these first weeks when the produce is not ours. Whatever your choice we hope that you know that your continued support of the farm and our work at Added Value is meaningful and important to us. We hope that you will continue in the CSA and participate in the local urban agricultural community.

All the best,
Ian and the rest of the AV team.

We hope this message finds all of you well and warm and as excited as we are about the 2013 CSA season. It may not feel like it, but spring will be here before we know it! You’ll be hearing from us soon with details about shares and sign-up. In the meantime, if you are unsure of where you stand with your volunteer hours from 2012, or have any unreported hours outstanding, please email us so we can get you squared away. We are particularly aware that during post-Sandy many of you came out to help and may not have reported (or even had the ability to report). So please let us know.

And if you haven’t taken our end-of-year survey yet, please do! It will only take a few minutes of your time, and your feedback can help us shape the coming season.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZH8QTTN

Looking forward to see you all soon!

Cristina and the Core Group

Tomorrow is the final Added Value Pop Up Market of 2012! Come to Coffey Park between 10am and 3:30pm to shop for delicious fresh produce right inside the neighborhood, and pick up your final fruit and cheese shares.

We all know that in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, it’s become increasingly difficult to find fresh produce in Red Hook. Fortunately, Added Value is running a pop-up market in Coffey Park on Saturdays and Wednesdays, from 10am to 3:30pm, where CSA members can buy globally-sourced produce and redeem remaining fruit and cheese shares in the upcoming weeks. The market will run through the end of December. Happy shopping!

Farm volunteers cleared the debris and prepared the flood-soaked crops for composting.

The core idea of community-supported agriculture is that those who purchase shares become stakeholders in the farms they support, sharing the benefits of a great harvest season and the risks of a scant one.

This week, our farm’s dice came up snake eyes.

Monday’s storm surge covered the farm with several feet of water, and Added Value’s office also flooded, drowning its computers and other gear. Ian estimates that the equipment damage is in the $10,000 – $40,000 range — and that’s not counting the crop losses.

The good news is that the farm is committed to rebuilding. The soil is being tested to find out what contaminants got in (petroleum, at minimum, is pretty likely), and Added Value is putting together a list of what equipment and infrastructure is needed to get  back in business. Stay tuned on more updates on how you can help.

We still had a few weeks left on our CSA season. Here’s where things stand with each of the shares.

Veggies: Done for the season. Anything that didn’t drown risked being contaminated. Volunteers hit the farm on Saturday (check out this video about the effort) to pull everything that remained up for compost.

Eggs: These were being paid for by Added Value on a month-to-month basis, and hadn’t been delivered recently because the provider abruptly lost most of its flock late this summer. The CSA was about three weeks behind on vouchers to offset the missing eggs. Right now, that money remains in Added Value’s coffers. Anyone who would like a refund for their missing eggs can email redhookbkcsa@gmail.com; otherwise, those egg payments will become a farm donation.

Cheese: Saxelby’s had its cheese cave in Red Hook. We’re trying to get in touch to find out how it weathered the storm. Stay tuned for an update on what happens to the last few weeks of cheese deliveries.

Fruit: Our fruit came from outside the city, and the CSA is reaching out to fruit vendors to see if we can arrange the last few weeks of fruit delivery. If so, it’ll be available at the usual pickup spot on the farm, though probably for curtailed hours — likely 10 am to noon on Saturday. Stay tuned for an update.

Fish: Mermaid’s Garden extended all subscriptions by a week to offset the missed delivery on 11/3. Deliveries are on track to resume 11/10 with pickups at the farm as usual, Saturday 10am to noon.

If you have any questions, please comment on the blog or email redhookbkcsa@gmail.com. Thanks for your commitment to the farm and the CSA. We look forward to being back in business next summer.

Friends, it’s Food Day.

Today around the city and around the country people are gathering to celebrate the growing movement for healthy, affordable, and sustainable food that is produce with fair and humane practices.

Here in our neighborhood we are working with our Friends at the New York City Housing Authority and our Urban Farm Corps to install a new farm right in the middle of the Red Hook Housing Development.

While we’re in the field many of our friends are in the streets and online advocating for changes in our food system that would ensure a more justice and equitable society. We wanted to share the news of three very important and exciting things happening today.

First, here in New York City, our Council has completed is first report (required under Local Law 52) on how food is produced, processed, distributed, and consumed throughout the region so we can better understand how the food system is operating and what we can do to improve it.

The metrics included in the report cover everything from the amount of local and regional food being purchased by the NYC Department of Education; to the impact of FRESH, Healthy Bodegas, Green Carts and other city programs to increase access to healthy, affordable food; to the efforts being made to make meals served in hospitals, senior centers and homeless shelters more nutritious. Having this data will help the City make better decisions about how we get our food and how to improve its impact on public health and the environment.  You can download a copy of the report here. I am very excited about the publication of this report as I believe it helps all of understand what is happening on the ground and in our city.

On a national level PolicyLink is today issuing a very exciting report, Growing Urban Agriculture: Equitable Strategies and Policies for Improving Access to Healthy Food and Revitalizing Communities.  You can find a link to the PolicyLink page which has the full urban ag report, the urban ag online tool, and a video about Added Value, here.  Angela Glover Blackwell, Founder and CEO of PolicyLink, will be blogging about urban agriculture on the Food Day blog page all today. I believe that Policy Links Focus on racial and economic justice in the food system and throughout our society is vitally important to positive transformation of our neighborhood, this country, and the world as a whole.

If we are to transform this system it is critical that we have a detailed understanding of the crisis we are facing in our food system and who is manufacturing it. It is also vitally important that we learn about the successful models being built out there.

Today, FOODMYTHBUSTERS officially launches their website. Food Myth Busters is brought to you by the Real Food Media Project, a collaboration between our friend author Anna Lappé, Corporate Accountability International, and an amazing Coalition of leading food and farming organizations. They offer creative videos, online resources, and grassroots organizing tools that debunk the myths that corporate agriculture are selling us, and that tell the real story about the food we eat and how we can grow a stronger, healthier more just and sustainable food system.

If you have time in the next few days read some of these reports, watch one or two of these great short videos, and share this information with friends and family.

As a shareholder in the farm also please consider becoming a friend of ours on Facebook. You can follow us here.

With respect and gratitude,

Ian and the AV team.

Added Value will be hosting our Seventh Annual Red Hook Harvest Festival this coming Saturday, October 20th. The Farm opens at 10am and will close at 4pm.

As always this event is free and open to the public.

We like to think of our gathering as New York meets New England.

As is our tradition great local chefs from our restaurant partners iCi, The Good Fork, Fort Defiance, Kevin’s and Home/Made will be preparing special treats for festival goers. The pumpkin patch will be the place to be as live music is played by Bomba Yo! Children and families can spend time with Llamas and other animals. Milk Not Jails and the Community Farm Workers Alliance will performing, educating and advocating for a more just and sustainable world.

Of course you can shop at our expanded farmers market for produce grown right here in our neighborhood and by our friends in the region like Wilklow Orchards, John Glebocki, Mark Phillips, Nestor Tello, Bread Alone, and Ronnybrook Dairy.

While you shop you can learn from local organizations that willl be promoting health and wellness, urban agriculture and justice as hundreds of your neighbors surround you in celebration of the power of the sun, the soil, plants and people.

If you haven’t been to the festival, or would just like to get excited about returning to this special community event we have some videos of past festivals:

2011 http://vimeo.com/31026841

2010 http://vimeo.com/16033945

and some great children’s voices from past festivals at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_hwj9Nk5Wo&noredirect=1

Hoping to see you Saturday October 20^th!

If you missed out on the Big Salad compost event in August, or if you just want to experience the decompositional magic again, you’re in luck. This Sunday 10/7 from 12-4pm, the Big Salad is back. Join master composter David Buckel (and some hardworking earthworms) to turn kitchen scraps into the nutrient-rich soil that grows our food. There’s a lot to be done, and many hands are needed, so come on down and get dirty while putting in some volunteer hours.

This Sunday there will also be a Repurpose Bin at the farm. Please bring one item you don’t use but that you know somebody else might use, put that in the bin and see if you find one item to take home.

Don’t forget to email Redhookbkcsa@gmail.com with updates on your hours. CSA members should complete volunteer hour requirements by the end of November, so get cracking.