FAQ
> What is a CSA?
> How much does it cost?
> What is the administration fee?
> How do I pay for my share in the CSA?
> What if I can’t pay for the full share up front?
> How do I get my vegetables?
> Where does the meat/dairy come from?
> How does meat/dairy work - instructions for ordering?
> What does a weekly share look like?
> Do I have to do anything else? (Volunteering)
> Why do I have to volunteer?
> Where do the vegetables come from?
> What if I hate/am allergic to/don’t want something?
> Where do the leftovers go?
> What is the Hellgate? Why such a funny name?
CSA Stands for Community Supported Agriculture.
CSA is an arrangement between a small farmer and a group of consumers who want fresher, healthier produce. Each CSA member buys a “share” before the beginning of the growing season and when the harvest begins the farmer delivers the fresh produce weekly. Think of it like pitching in on a one year lease of a farm, you own a “share” of everything that the farm produces during the growing season, and it is delivered weekly to you. The vegetables are picked the day before distribution and are organically and locally grown. This insures that CSA members like you receive the fresh, healthy, and sustainable produce.
A basic vegetable share in 2007 was $300 dollars for 25 weeks of fresh vegetables, plus an administration fee for the season of $25. The total cost of a basic share is around $13.00 per week.
Additional options that were available this previous 2007 season:
- A herb share.
- A fruit share for $104.
- A meat/dairy share is available to anyone, and the orders are delivered once a month, year round.
- A tomato share included 20 lbs of red, Italian, and paste tomatoes for sauce/canning. Tomatoes were delivered three weeks in September. Cost of tomatoes is approximately $25 for a 20-pound box.
What is the administration fee?
The administration fee is used to pay for supplies for the distribution site, other fees such as the cost of banking and processing credit cards, and other unforeseen expensives. The administration fee is not used for labor costs (since the CSA is run entirely by volunteers), and does not benefit any one individual. In addition, if you cannot volunteer for at least one setup or distribution shift during the season (or offseason for meat/dairy), you will be assessed a fee of $50.
How do I pay for my share in the CSA?
Full payment or a deposit is due when you join and then you can pay with check, cash, credit card, or a payment plan. If you want to split a share, we suggest that you post your interest in sharing on Astoria’s popular online forum, Astorians.com. We are currently placing all previous requests on a wait list for the 2008 season, please check back in the coming months to find out more information.
What if I can’t pay for the full share up front?
You can choose to make 3 payments over the season, or use a credit card.
You pick up your vegetable share weekly, on Tuesdays, between 5:30 - 7:30 pm. If at all possible, please bring your own bags to pick up your vegetables.
You may pick them up in person or let us know that someone else will be picking up for you. We encourage you to meet your CSA neighbors and be neighborly! Offer to pick up for someone or ask someone to pick up for you one week!
Where does the meat/dairy come from?
Lewis Waites is an upstate farm that raises grass fed beef and natural pork (pastured). They have put together a collective of farms that offer extended products — eggs, lamb, chicken, turkey, cheese — goat and cow’s milk (some raw), honey, jams, syrup, bread, etc — and offer delivery service to CSAs in the city once a month year round. There are so many good things in that sentence you should go read it again! A product list is available on their website — you’ll want to read through the descriptions of all the product offerings as the product list is extensive and information specific to the production of all goods is listed next to it.
How does the meat/dairy share work?
Ordering and payment happen individually — you’ll put in an order with the farm directly, pay them, and they’ll deliver to us at the CSA site. Yay!
Orders come frozen and packed in insulated boxes with a mid-afternoon delivery. Our site coordinators will be running abbreviated CSA distributions on delivery Tuesdays in front of the Freeze Peach — as usual — so please make sure that when you order, you are available to pick up your order on the Tuesday scheduled for distribution before 7:00 pm.
Lewis Waites has partnered with other local farmers to develop a larger site to place orders through that involves all of the above mentioned foodstuffs (not just pork/beef) at — http://www.csapasturedmeatandpoultry.com — all ordering should happen there.
- Head to — http://www.csapasturedmeatandpoultry.com.
- Click on CSA Member Login and Select “Hellgate” from the drop down list of CSA’s.
- Hellgate CSA members have been emailed a username and password to access the meat & dairy website for the first time. If you need us to resend the password and are a current Hellgate CSA member, please email us at info@hellgatecsa.com. Once you have the meat & dairy website password, use it to login the first time.
- Follow the on screen prompts to create a login.
After you create your own login, you’ll use it on subsequent visits to the site in place of Hellgate/Astoria. You will not be able to place an order until you’ve created your own login.
Once you are logged in with your own username, you can page through the product lists and start making a list!
Orders must be place by the order cutoff date for distribution on the delivery date.
Upon placing an order, you will receive an email order acknowledgment displaying all the items ordered with estimated amount based on the average size/weight of items. If you do not get an order acknowledgement, your order was not properly placed and you should try again (or contact us for help).
If you are paying by PayPal you will not be invoiced until the order is packed. Invoices are sent out based on size/weight of items and availability (occasionally ordered items are unavailable at the time of packing in which case you will not be charged for unavailable items) usually the night before or the day of distribution.
If you are paying by check, you will bring a check to the distribution site on the Tuesday of distribution made out in the amount owed to “CSA Pastured Meat and Poultry”. On site volunteers will collect check payments and mail them off to the farm.
What does a weekly share look like?
The share usually includes 5 or 6 types of vegetables that have been harvested less than 24 hours before it reaches your table. The share changes from week to week based upon what vegetables are in season and grown at the Green Thumb Farm. Here are a few examples of a typical share from the 2005 season:*
* Note that the flower shares were not available in 2007.
Do I have to do anything else? YES! (Volunteering)
Our CSA is run on a volunteer basis, there are no paid employees. CSA members are required, as part of their commitment to the CSA, to sign up to volunteer at least 2-3 hours of their time to setup the distribution when it’s delivered by the farmer or to run one distribution during the season. You’ll sign people in, identify the produce for the week, and get a chance to meet people in your community!
Because the CSA has no paid employees we ask that every member help when as how they can.
Where do the vegetables come from?
The Hellgate CSA has a relationship with Farmer Bill of Green Thumb Farm in Watermill, NY. Farmer Bill delivers the shares to our distribution site weekly for twenty-five weeks, June through November.
The Green Thumb Farm, located in Water Mill, Long Island, consists of 90 acres and has been farmed by the Halsey family since the 1640s (yes you read that right). In 1978 Bill and Larry Halsey started growing environmentally friendly organic vegetables on three acres.
Today, all 90 acres are certified organic. In spite of the challenges and expenses involved, Green Thumb Farm has made the commitment to be totally organic. The Halseys continue to farm because they value raising their children in a rural environment, producing on land that has been in the family for generations, and preserving and improving the land for future generations.
Get to know your farmer though farm tours, pumpkin pickings (as a CSA member you’ll get a free pumpkin too) and meetings at the distribution site!
What if I hate/am allergic to/don’t want something?
Hate cucumbers? Eggplant? Just don’t like tomato?
If you have an aversion to asparagus, we suggest you leave it behind — or better yet — talk to the CSA members you meet on distribution day. Chances one person’s unwanted brussel sprouts and broccoli are another’s delight.
Hellgate CSA leftovers are donated to the two following Astoria churches:
Pastor Dwayne — First Astoria Reform Church
27-26 12th Street (near Astoria Blvd)
Service @ 11am Sundays
Cell: 917.940.0028
Church: 718.721.4047
firstastoria@aol.com
Pastor Jeanne — Steinway Reform Church
41st & Ditmars
Service @ 10:30 Sundays
Church: 718-728-2948
steinwaychurch@verizon.net
What is the Hellgate? Why such a funny name?
The Hellgate Bridge is Astoria’s most beautiful landmark (ok, well we think so). Built in 1916 over the Hell Gate channel (named for its turbulent and deadly current), it was the largest steel-arch bridge in the world. The Hell Gate Bridge was last restored in 1996 when it was repainted “Hell Gate Red.”
More about the bridge and its colorful history can be found on its website — http://www.hellgatebridge.org
Still have questions? Send us an e-mail and we’ll try to answer your question as best as we can. Maybe we’ll even add it to this page!