By Carolyn Llewellyn

Glynwood Farm is gearing up for the 2012 planting season. This year the farm has expanded its Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program in response to community demand for more locally grown produce. Like other CSAs in the area and throughout the country, the CSA at Glynwood offers shareholders a weekly variety of vegetables in season. Glynwood’s program spans 22 weeks from mid-June through late October, with weekly pick-ups to retrieve that day’s bounty from the farm’s offerings of over 100 varieties of more than 30 crop types.

The share pickings increase as the season progresses. A spring share may include fresh herbs, lettuces, scallions, radishes, turnips, and garlic scapes. By mid-summer it’s a haul — more herbs, plus tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, carrots, potatoes, kale, swiss chard – and the average late summer or fall share includes 12 to 15 perfectly ripe veggies and herbs.

A perfect option for families who enjoy eating a wide variety of just-picked vegetables, a Glynwood CSA costs $675 for the 22-week season, which averages less than $31 per week. For most of the 22 weeks, purchasing the same produce at a farmer’s market or supermarket would cost significantly more than that. Glynwood’s veggies are Certified Naturally Grown, a local organic certification that was created by farmers in the Hudson Valley in 2002.  A new addition this year is Glynwood’s “farm store”, offering meat and eggs from Glynwood’s pasture-raised livestock as well as regional products like Sprout Creek Farm cheeses, available for sale during the CSA pick-up hours.

Why Choose a CSA for your food?
CSA is a form of selling local farm products that started in the US a few decades ago and has become hugely popular in the new millenium. Created to free farmers from the yearly cycle of debt by having customers “share” in the risks of the season, customers pay for their share before the season even starts, ensuring that farmers have cash on hand in the spring to purchase and prepare seeds, equipment, and supplies. Customers put their faith in the farm, pledging to pay the agreed price whether the season brings an abundant bounty or disappointments due to hardships of weather, pests, or disease. Seasoned CSA growers mitigate these risks by planting wide varieties of crops, feeding their soil, and planning plantings in secessions and in different physical areas. Hurricane Irene caused significant loss to Glynwood’s crops last fall, and the late blight wiped out tomatoes up and down the coast in 2010. But each year Glynwood’s CSA customers were rewarded with a large variety of veggies each week due to good planning.

In addition to benefiting farmers, CSA allows families to visit the farm each week and get to know their own food supply. Flowers and cherry tomatoes are planted near the pick-up area for customers to pick themselves. Shareholders can see what the farmers are doing week to week, share recipe ideas with fellow members, while their children enjoy visits to the animals. Shareholders who participate year after year truly get a feel for the season, sensing how the weather and farm conditions are directly related to the food on their plate, and the fates of people worldwide.

There are still a limited amount of CSA shares available at Glynwood Farm. Official CSA pick-up hours for 2012 will be Tuesdays and Fridays, 3-6pm. Shareholders unable to make those hours may pick up their veggie shares until 3pm on Wednesday or Saturday. Learn more about becoming a CSA member and  sign up for your seasonal share online or by calling Glynwood Farme, telephone 845. 265-3338 x117.

Carolyn Llewellyn teaches the Farm Fun Together workshops to toddlers at Glynwood Farm. She and her husband Dave Llewellyn, Glynwood’s CSA Manager, live on Glynwood Farm with their two children.