The East Fishkill Open Space Preservation Committee sponsored a program on Community Supported Agriculture on Friday evening May 9 at 7:30PM in the East Fishkill Town Hall on Rt. 376 in Hopewell Junction. The public was invited to learn how CSA’s work and how community residents can assist in the establishment of such projects. The presence of Community Supported Agriculture projects in a community ensures open space while offering local residents healthy fare.
CSA’s are catching on big in the Hudson Valley. There are five Community Supported Agriculture farms already in Dutchess County and five in Ulster County. As of 2007 there were almost 2000 CSA’s across our country. There are two farms in the Town of East Fishkill considering establishing similar operations to provide members weekly freshly picked chemical free produce from late spring on into the fall.
CSA farms are run in a variety of ways, generally with members paying for a “share” and then going to the farm once a week to pick up their share of freshly picked produce. Some CSA’s offer “working shares” whereby the member gets a reduced member fee in exchange for a certain amount of work hours on the farm. Members are generally encouraged to visit the farm and get to know the farmer. Most CSA’s provide a vast variety of vegetables varying as the season moves along. Some also offer flowers, berries, fruits, and eggs if these items are a part of their production.
I think this is a great idea!
I read about the January meeting in the Southern Dutchess News and, unfortunately, I can not attend. I am the chair of the Dutchess/Putnam Appalachian Trail Management Committee and as such am very much interested in preserving open spaces in East Fishkill plus facilitating the enjoyment of these spaces by E.F. residents. As you probably know the National Park Service has acquired over a thousand acres in East Fishkill for the Appalachian Trail and this land will be forever left in its natural state. There are several properties either adjacent to the NPS lands or within the AT viewshed that are gems to the community. These include (1) the Jackson Farm, (2) the Garbasz farm along Hosner Mtn Rd, (3) the horse farm along Shenandoah & Hortontown Rds owned by Orsetti and (4) the Orsetti property on the east side of Hortontown Rd. The later property was subdivided a few years ago and a 2.5 acre segment has been for sale since that time. This borders on NPS land and a house built here would be most detrimental to the trail as well as the valley consisting of the horse farm. It would be of utmost interest to preserve this parcel so please let me know of anything I, the NPS or the Appalachian Trail Conservancy can do to protect this land.
Please contact me on any issues where I or the Appalachian Trail community can assist the Open Spaces Committee. My phone number is 845-462-2893.
The January 11 meeting was terrific! I commend Supervisor Hickman and the Committee for addressing this vital endeavor and I look forward to assisting anyway I can.