mission
The first website exclusively devoted to Community-Supported Agriculture groups in New York City, Farm Share NYC is envisioned to be an online resource for folks curious about the CSA landscape in our five boroughs. As well Farm Share NYC intends to be a resource for folks already a part of CSAs who would like to share or compare their work in farming or their CSA coordination with neighbors near and far.
Fully recognizing and respecting that online maps of local CSAs exist, and crediting Just Food and Local Harvest for data starting points, and Just Food for decades of capacity-building, Farm Share NYC strives to integrate the value of accessibility beyond financial affordability in both its aesthetic and approach.
Farm Share NYC aims to contribute to a stronger, more sustainable local food system by improving the visibility of CSAs, with an appreciation for inclusivity and accessibility in our uniquely diverse and dense city, through the complementary forms of an interactive city-wide map, conversational profiles, and an inviting community calendar.
motivation & inspiration
Farm Share NYC was conceived and created by Bridget Scallen, who was compelled by a personal interest in the big picture of CSAs in New York City and by her passion to reduce food insecurity in our society of extreme wealth inequality.
Bridget participated as a member in the Long Island City CSA in 2013, and she worked as a Core Group Member - Communications Lead in the Central Brooklyn CSA in 2014. She remains grateful to the farmers, their families, and the CSA coordinators for their labor that landed extraordinary dino kale and Romanesco to her 'fridge, and to a couple of Brooklynites with good taste for co-cooking and coming together to the table.
Bridget recounts the beauty and conviviality of Open House weekend at Windflower Farm last August as a continuing inspiration for this project. She hopes that Farm Share NYC reduces information asymmetries such that others might enjoy similar experiences, summers of farm-fresh food and a memorable weekend of fresh air, giant potluck, ag education, and good company at a New York farm.
methodology
Considering transparency an integral part of accessibility, below is a sketch of the steps taken, and to be taken, in this project to form a comprehensive CSA map.
The map component was informed by an environmental anthropology seminar taught by Stuart Kirsch during her Masters of Science at the University of Michigan, and writings of Arturo Escobar on the Colombian Pacific community land reform movements in which communities convened in cartography. The profile component was informed by a strong belief in the transformational power of story-telling and story-listening including solidarity as process and product.
Farm Share NYC continues to solicit information from CSAs and farms-- please be in touch with your own CSA information and story, to put your own CSA on the map!