OUR VEGETABLE SHARES
Our vegetables are grown on Golden Earthworm Organic Farm, which is located in Jamesport, on the North Fork of Long Island. The farm was started in 1996 by Matthew Kurek, a chef turned farmer with a passion for vegetables and for sustainable agriculture. Matthew’s wife, architect/designer Maggie Wood, joined him in 2002. Matthew and Maggie live on the farm with their two sons, Galen and Zinn. Together with a skilled and dedicated farm team, they grow over one hundred varieties of vegetables for over 2,000 CSA member families of Long Island and Queens.Our Farmers’ Year End Surveys have provided them with valuable information regarding member preferences and requests for certain crops and varieties.  As many of you know, the ultimate harvests are most often out of their control.  Our farmers have decided to supplement a few of the crops they grow with those from other local, organic family farms to round out the variety and provide more of what our members are asking for.  These crops will most likely include sweet potatoes and winter squash.  Any supplemental produce will be Certified Organic and grown using similar growing practices to those we use on our own farm.Vegetable Season
Vegetables Shares are distributed every Tuesday for 25 weeks, May 29th through November 13th, 2018.Vegetables in the Share 
Produce is picked fresh from the farm fields the day before distribution, boxed up, and delivered to us. This share contains 6 to 10 vegetables each week, depending on the season and availability. The “vegetable” share also includes some watermelon, and possibly also some strawberries, which are organic, as they are grown on Golden Earthworm Organic Farm. The share typically feeds a family of 3-4, but we have anywhere from 1 to 8 members who eat one share. Read newsletters, sample shares and the harvest schedule to get a better idea of what’s in each week’s shares. Read vegetables guides and recipes for more on how to store and cook the vegetables that may be in your share.Golden Earthworm’s Farming Practices
Read more about Golden Earthworm’s farming practices. Golden Earthworm is certified organic through NOFA – NY. They have been farming using organic practices for over 20 years.

FARM TOURS, EVENTS & U-PICK 
Members are invited to the farm in June for U-Pick Strawberries and Farm Tours.  Tours are held throughout the season and we have a wonderful CSA Harvest Festival in October!

Half shares

We do not offer half shares, but you are welcome to split a share with someone.
If you feel that one share is too much for you or your family, we encourage you to find someone who can split it with you. Our recommendation is for share partners to alternate picking up the full share every other week. If you prefer to divide each week’s share in half, we ask that you do so at home, and have one person pick up the whole share, as we do not have the room to keep half shares at distribution. If you do not know anyone to share with, you may post on our Facebook page to find someone.For those who are splitting a share, all members who are involved in splitting the share are responsible for the share’s volunteering obligation. Adults splitting a share are jointly responsible for completing all volunteering hours.

Subsidized Shares

Low and middle income shares are given out on an as-needed basis, to the extent that we can afford to subsidize them. Family size and income are calculated by the number of people eating the share (whether or not they are related) and those people’s total pre-tax income from all sources, not just salary. Subsidized shares are are funded by fellow members and are given out on the honor system, although the core group reserves the right to request supporting documents.

Middle Income Vegetable Share: $403.50 (GEOF receives $538)
Low-Income Vegetable Share: $269 (GEOF receives $538)
Please see chart for income guidelines, below, and note that they are for total PRE-TAX income, and are subsidized by your fellow CSA members.

Family Size	Middle Income Share Income Less than	Low Income Share Income less than
1	$32,000	$20,000
2	$44,000	$27,000
3	$55,000	$34,000
4	$66,000	$41,000
5	$77,000	$48,000
6	$88,000	$55,000

$92 for 14 weeks, from Briermere Farm
Our farmers have gone back to a shorter, 14-week program to avoid early season quality issues with the early peaches.
This is a tree fruit share only.
Peaches, Apples & Pears.
Conventional, Integrated Pest Management, Briermere Farm.

Approximate fruit season: 
Late July/early August – mid-September: Peaches
September – November: Apples & PearsOur fruit share distribution is not a traditional CSA share-of-the-harvest model, but is based on the Spend-Down Method. With the Spend-Down Method, CSA members pay a set amount of money at the beginning of the season. When the fruit starts to come into season (around the first week of July), the fruit farm starts giving a reasonable weekly quantity of fruit. This may be 1 or 2 portions, depending on what’s ripe to harvest. The fruit farmer continues to deliver fruit until the original payment is spent down. This is what Briermere farm prefers. 3-4 lb bag of fruit per week.Briermere Farm’s Farming Practices   
Briermere Farm practices Integrated Pest Management, in consultation with the Cornell Cooperative Extension. The tree fruit is sprayed with insecticides and fungicides at various points through the season. To reduce the use of chemical insecticides the orchards are close monitored and other pest control measures are used, such as insect pheromone mating disruption. Herbicides are also used to control weeds in the orchards.  Briermere Farm’s own leaf compost is the only fertilizer/nutrient source for their fruit crops. No chemical fertilizer is used.

Fruit-Only Members

We have a limited number of members who only have one or two fruit shares. You are welcome to only sign up for a fruit share, keeping in mind that the $15 member fee is per contract and the 6-hour volunteer requirement applies to fruit-only members, as well.

Pay individually for your order.Deliveries twice a month.

The Lewis Waite Farm CSA Extras program is run by Alan and Nancy Brown, of Lewis Waite Farm. Along with Colin Brown, they raise grass-fed and grass-finished beef and pasture raised, GMO free pork on land that is Certified Organic by NOFA-NY. They partner with a number of other farms and small family-run businesses in upstate New York and Vermont to offer a wide array of products fresh from small farms. You may read more about farms and producers and their farms or operations on their website. Their deliveries are year round, but more frequently in the summer, ranging from once a month to twice a month. Each CSA member may order whatever items they like from their wide range of products. Members can also ask them to pre-select items for them in several share type packages. All FHCSA member will receive regular emails from LWF during the season with ordering information. We do not yet have the 2018 season delivery dates, but when we do, we will notify members.

LWF Offerings

• Bread
• Dairy (milk, cheese and yogurt from cows, goats and sheep)
• Drinks (coffee, herbal teas, kefir, sparkling cider, and probiotic drinks)
• Eggs
• Frozen berries
• Fish and shellfish
• Meats (beef, buffalo, chevron, chicken, duck, goose, lamb, mutton, pork, rabbit, and turkey)
• Pantry items (apple sauce, dried beans, chutney, coffee, dried grains, energy bars, fresh ground flour, granola, herbal infusions and syrups, honey, jams and spreads, maple syrup, trail mix, mushroom products)
• and more!

Lewis Waite Farm Network-Only Members
We have a limited number of members who only order from LWFN and do not get vegetable or fruit shares. You are welcome to only sign up for LWF ordering, keeping in mind that the $15 member fee is per contract and the 6-hour volunteer requirement applies to LWFN-only members, as well. If you only want to order from LWFN complete the contract with your contact information, checking off no vegetable share, no fruit share, and checking that you commit to volunteering, to paying the member fee and read the Member Agreement and commit to it. We have a limit of 5 LWFN-only members due to space constraints.

Volunteering

Volunteer Sign-up Process

Non-distribution Volunteering

Membership Agreement

I commit to membership in the Forest Hills Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Program for the 2018 harvest season, which lasts for 25 weeks.

The Shares

• I agree that while Golden Earthworm Organic Farm and Briermere Farm will act in good faith to provide fresh produce, there is no guarantee of quantities or contents of shares. I understand and accept that I share both the risks and the benefits of the harvest, and as such, can not be guaranteed any specific vegetable or fruit as part of my share.
• I understand that all vegetable boxes delivered in a given week are the same, or as close to the same as possible.

Member Responsibilities

•  I understand that it is my responsibility to read the Members’ Handbook in its entirety before the season begins, so that I understand how distribution and the CSA works. The Members’ Handbook will be emailed before the season starts.
•  I understand that it is my responsibility to attend the pre-season meeting (if I have never done so in the past). The dates of the meetings will be emailed some time in April.
• I understand that this is an all-volunteer CSA and it is my responsibility to sign up for volunteer slots on SignUpGenius or arrange for other approved duties. I will sign up for 3 hours within one week of completing my contract, and will sign up for the balance in the spring, when emailed. The total volunteer hours will probably be 6 hours, but may be less or more, as needed.
• If I choose non-distribution volunteering, I will email FHCSAvolunteers@foresthillscsa.com and make a detailed proposal to the core group within one week of signing-up for my share.  If I do not do so, I understand that it will be assumed that I wish to volunteer at the distribution site and can make the scheduled times.
• I understand that if I split a share, one member needs to pick up the whole share (half of a share can not be kept at distribution) and that volunteering requirements are the responsibility of all adult members who split the share.
• I understand that I may have a friend or relative pick up my share if I can not make it, and I will explain to them what they need to know to pick up my share(s)
• I understand that if I do not pick up my share during distribution it will be donated appropriately; I do not expect to have my share saved.
• I agree to keep my membership account information up to date and to promptly notify info@foresthillscsa.com of any changes.
• I understand that the CSA’s primary means of communication is via email, and I will read FHCSA emails and respond appropriately.
• If I sign up for a low or middle income share, my family/ies truthfully meet/s the income guidelines.
• I understand that I am only a member once my full payment is received.

Payments, Refunds & Cancellations

• Requests for refunds by a member prior to the first day of the CSA harvest season will be issued a full refund less a $15.00 administrative processing fee.
• Cancellation by the farm during this period will dictate a full refund to the member for the share price paid.
• From the first day of the CSA harvest season on, we can not refund your share as we have already paid our farmers and we are counting on your volunteering. The Core Group will try to help you find someone from our wait-list who would buy your share. However, it is ultimately your responsibility to sell your share, if you desire, and to notify the Core Group of the new CSA member(s).
• Cancellation by the farm during the season will dictate a pro-rated refund to the member for the remaining weeks of unclaimed produce.
• A $15.00 fee will apply to all returned checks.

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Volunteering Link

Please click here to sign up for volunteering.

Contract Link

Please click here to sign up for shares.

If you have any questions, you are welcome to email info@foresthillscsa.com or call Marina at (917) 748-3186.

We hope you will join us!

Anna, Marina and Tom
The Forest Hills CSA Core Group