May 2003

Dear CSA Members and Friends,

The new season for Community Supported Agriculture begins Tuesday, June 3, 2003! Please see registration form attached. This year we’ll be working once again with Hepworth Farm located in New York’s Hudson Valley, just outside of New Paltz. Hepworth Farm will provide both Vegetable and Fruit shares. In addition, we’ll continue to offer wild Alaskan fish from Prime Select Seafoods of Cordova, Alaska to those interested.

You can also sign up now for the 2003-2004 Winter Share. We’re working with Purple Dragon Coop in Bloomfield, New Jersey to continue providing our CSA members with the best organic produce available while supporting small to medium size organic farmers during the winter season (November 14, 2003 - May 13, 2004). Purple Dragon draws from farms in the Northeast and throughout the US and beyond.

This season we’re asking all CSA members to consider participating in at least one of our three committees—Outreach, Newsletter and Logistics. The Outreach Committee does mailings, hands out and posts flyers, and speaks to groups in the community about the CSA. The Newsletter Committee puts out the weekly CSA newsletter. Help is needed in writing articles, editing and preparing the newsletter for distribution and posting on our new website www.sixthstreetcenter.org. The Logistics Committee organizes volunteers to do set-up and clean-up on CSA pick-up days.

As a result of the difficult times we’re in, we know that many families are experiencing financial hardship. This season Sixth Street Community Center, with support from Just Food, is happy to announce that we’ll be able to provide subsidies to members or families in need who otherwise would not be able to participate in the CSA. If you would like to know more about this program please call me or Annette Averette at (212) 677-1863.

Finally, we’re having a CSA organizing meeting on Thursday, May 22, 2003 at 7:00pm to prepare for the upcoming season. If you can, bring a dish to share. We’ll provide refreshments. At these meetings we’ll be launching our Committees and explain in detail how the subsidies will work.

We thank you all for your support!