Tag: csa

Delivery #2, Week of June 2, 2025

The News from Windflower Farm

Hello from all of us at a still-wet Windflower Farm!

What’s in the vegetable share?

  • ‘Tropicana’ lettuce (green leaf) or red leaf lettuce
  • ‘Red Russian’ kale
  • ‘Prize’ bok choy
  • ‘Crunchy King’ radishes
  • Baby bunched red or yellow onions
  • Potted ‘Prospera Red’ basil 
  • News from the farm

On Friday of last week, in one spectacular day, three of our staff planted ‘Panisse’ and ‘Tropicana’ lettuce, ‘Red Russian’ kale, ‘Giant of Italy’ parsley and ‘Prospera’ basil, some 15,000 plants in all. And two more stellar employees, along with my son Nate, planted sweet potatoes, another 8,000 plants, or slips as they are called, making for a Windflower Farm one-day planting record. And then it rained, with nearly 3” falling before it was over.

There is much to be said for farming on high ground, and it is more than just the view. Our fields are usually quick to dry out. Still, runoff from a neighbor’s fields, which are even higher than ours, flowed between newly mulched beds of eggplants and chiles, producing nearly enough whitewater to kayak. Friends of ours who farm on both sides of the Tomhannock Creek had over 3” of rain and now cannot cross the ford to tend their crops on the far side of the creek. Weather, that fickle managing partner of our farm, has been particularly out of step with the plans we lesser partners have made for this season.

Next week, we expect to send purple kohlrabi, arugula, lettuce, kale, a mustard mix, radishes, and onions. Next to come from our fields will be cucumbers, squashes, garlic scapes and broccolini, but not until the weather becomes more of a team player.

Best wishes, Ted

Winter Share Distribution No. 1 November 16, 2024

The News from Windflower Farm

Things to remember: Please arrive on time. Winter distributions for Central Brooklyn CSA  are at 1251 Dean St. from 4:30 to 6:00

What’s in the share?

  • Lettuce
  • Red Russian kale or Purple Russian kale
  • Mixed mustard greens
  • Broccoli (check for caterpillars, rinse where necessary)
  • Carrots
  • Russet potatoes
  • Sweet potatoes
  • Butternut squash
  • Red and yellow onions
  • Borden Farm apples and
  • Borden Farm apple cider

Your vegetables, fruit and cider are in a large cardboard box that you can keep. The box is heavy! We recommend a wagon, cart, or a friend to help you carry it home. 

Next month’s share will include beets, carrots, kohlrabi, spinach, kale, potatoes, sweet potatoes, buttercup and butternut squashes, apples from the Borden Farm, and Harry’s honey.

Please remember to pick up your eggs, maple, and grains if you’ve ordered them.

A note about grains: Kristoffer from Hickory Wind Farm here- thanks indeed to everyone who signed up for grain shares, we’re glad of your support and to have had a good harvest to offer. Your November distribution includes bags of both Turkey Red Flour (Item 1) and Medina Flour (Item 2), please ensure you get one of each as you pick up. The bag of Medina should be sufficient to make two large sets of very nice pie crusts, if you have a wish to make some for Thanksgiving. A recipe for crusts and apple pie is now included on our website: 

https://hickorywindfarm.net/pages/recipes. You can also find our suggested Turkey Red bread recipe on that page. Thanks! – Kristoffer

What’s new on the farm?

I’m writing on Thursday morning. The landscape outside my front window has the look of Mid-November: the leaves are gone and a frost covers the lawn. We’ve delayed the harvest until 10:00 this morning because overnight temperatures were well below freezing. Greens that are harvested while still frozen will turn to mush afterwards while those that are allowed to thaw prior to harvesting will be fine. We’ll start with kale in the greenhouse which, while unheated, is still warmer than the outside. We’ll then head to the field for the lettuce and mustard mix that are still growing under floating row covers. It will likely be our final field harvest of the season and there is a festive feeling to the day.

Best wishes, Ted, Jan and Nate

Distribution No. 21, Week of October 21, 2024

The News from Windflower Farm

It’s winter share signup season! Please read below to learn more.

For those of you who purchased every-other-week shares and selected odd week deliveries, this is your last share of the season. We hope you’ve enjoyed your share of the harvest. Drop us a line any time to let us know your thoughts about the experience and to offer ideas for how we might improve the CSA going forward. Thank you very much for being with us. We hope to see you soon. You may reach us at windflowercsa@gmail.com. For everyone else, next week’s share will be your last.

What’s in the share?

  • Spinach
  • Kale
  • Bok choy
  • Potatoes
  • Leeks
  • Carrots
  • Ginger
  • Sweet potatoes
  • Butternut squashes
  • Sweet peppers

What’s new on the farm?

It’s 67 degrees and sunny outside, which is very pleasant to be working in, if a bit unusual for late October. Tree colors are at their peak or just past, and are lovely. I can see the yellow of sugar maples out my front window as I sit to write. We’ve just had lunch. The packing team – Victoria, Kristoffer and Kage – washed greens, leeks and ginger this morning, and are on to packing and labelling shipping containers. Sam, one of our working members, spent the morning with them, so they are in good shape. Andrea is busy recording winter share signups, after which she’ll join in the packing. Salvador, Candelaria and the four youngsters in their family, Daniel, Martin, Miriam and Liz, having wrapped up the morning broccoli harvest and the planting of the last three beds of winter greens this morning are now planting onions. Jan and Nate spent the morning packing butternut squashes, and now they are heading out to the ginger patch to harvest for the Thursday delivery. Where would we be without these wonderful people?! I’ll join them shortly. All is well in this tiny corner of the world, if just for now.  

A winter share anyone?

Purchasing a winter share is your chance to extend the fruit and vegetable season through the New Year.

What is it? In a nutshell, the winter share consists of a total of three one-bushel boxes, one delivered every fourth Saturday from mid-November through early January (November 16th, December 14th, and January 11th). It contains a big bag of fresh greens (kale, spinach and more), 8-10 lb. of vegetables from our root cellar (including winter squashes, “Irish” and sweet potatoes, onions, carrots, beets, and other storage veggies), 4-6 lb. of delicious apples (and pears if available) from the Borden Farm, and a sweet treat every month (the Borden’s apple cider, Harry’s honey, and Deb’s jam). Optional grain, maple and egg shares are also available. Please follow the link for more details and to sign up.

Click here to learn more: Windflower Farm’s 2024-2025 Winter Share (wufoo.com).

We hope you’ll join us for the winter share season!

Best wishes, Ted

CBCSA 2nd Annual Harvest Picnic


Join us for a fall picnic with your fellow CSA members!

Please bring a dish or beverage to share and let us know what you plan on bringing on this form. Family, friends and dogs welcome!

When: Sunday, October 14th, 2018, 3 to 6 PM
Where: Brower Park (Meet at the SE corner, near the intersection of Park Place and Kingston Ave)

Deadlines extended!

We’re in such good spirits after the Crown Heights Community Mediation Center’s talent show this weekend! It’s giving us wind for our sails as we slide into the final month or so before the distribution season begins Thursday, June 13th!

Tomatillo

By the way, we’ve extended the deadline for purchasing Windflower Farm shares through the Central Brooklyn CSA. The deadline to submit your membership form and 10% deposit is now April 30th. The deadline to submit your full payment for your shares is now May 16th.

We hope the deadline extension is a relief to everyone!

CBCSA Membership Agreement Form 2013  (Wait List Only)

IMPORTANT REMINDER:  We are a volunteer-run organization, and we need you! There are a number of key core group roles open, and we would love to have you join us in organizing and running the CSA.   If you’re interested, leave a comment or email at centralbrooklyncsa@gmail.com.

For examples of core group roles, see below:

Outreach Coordinator(s): The outreach coordinators will assist in recruiting new members, handling publicity, answering phone and mail queries, and working on these projects during the off season. Multiple people can be involved in this effort.

Newsletter Editor(s): The newsletter editor will collaborate with the core group, farmer, and members to get newsletter material. This should be compiled, formatted, and edited at least two times a month, ideally every week. This could be a revolving responsibility among several members.

Volunteer Coordinator: This person is responsible for setting up and maintaining the weekly schedule for members to volunteer at the distribution site and contacting the volunteers each week to confirm shifts.

Distribution Site Coordinators: This person oversees the weekly veggie distributions, including being onsite when the farmer unloads the truck and making sure the distribution site is cleaned up at the end of each distribution. This role should also be a revolving responsibility among 2 or 3 members.