Hello Jersey City,

Poplar Wood Farm is a family run farm in Port Murray, NJ (Warren County) growing vegetables, flowers, herbs and eggs using organic methods with a focus on unique varieties and sustainability. We don't use any chemical or synthetic pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, or GMO seeds. We have a CSA program and attend the Hamilton Park Farmers Market (Wednesdays) and starting this spring we will also be at the Historic Downtown Jersey City Farmers Market (Mondays and Thursdays) at the Grove street PATH station.

We invite you to visit our website, www.poplarwoodfarm.com, where you will find the complete details about our CSA program and the application to become a member. We offer full and half shares as well as the opportunity to add weekly eggs and/or flowers. If you have any questions or would like to discuss the program further, please reach out to us at poplarwoodfarm(at)gmail.com.

See what our members have to say about us:


We would love to be your farm so thanks for taking a look.

Farmer Al

I belong to this one:
http://www.jerseygrown.com/

Been generally happy with it, the first year I belonged the variety was amazing, a couple of bad weather years has narrowed that a little but this year was better than the previous year. The pick-up is on 8th St, no work required but there are opportunities to visit the farm if you so choose. No idea if any slots are open for 2013 or not.

I'm looking for 2013 CSA options with pickups in Downtown. Aside from Downtown Harvest and Stony Hill, are there others? Thanks for any info!

Does anyone know of any Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) groups in or around Jersey City?

I've read good things about this one on here: http://www.downtownharvest.org/index.html

Registration for 2009 is closed though. Does anyone know of any other similar options?

Lynn Saltiel of Jersey City puts scallions in a bag as she picks up her produce. Members of the Downtown Harvest CSA gather at the garage of the OLC Church on Sussex Street in Jersey City to pick up their vegetables.


Jerseyans embrace new ways to get produce

by Nyier Abdou
The Star-Ledger
Monday July 14, 2008, 8:50 PM

Patti Sapone/The Star-LedgerShanna Kenny, carries a tray of tomatoes to plant at the Upper Meadows Farm Community Supported Agriculture in Montague.

When Danielle Levitt moved from New York to Westfield and formed a local group to buy produce from a New Jersey farmer, it wasn't some powerful, grass-roots movement.

"I just wanted the vegetables," Levitt said.

But it's not just about the vegetables anymore. "It's expanded," Levitt said, as people filed through her garage, digging into bins of spinach and lettuce and snapping up neatly bundled bags of fresh peas. "I feel really strong about it. I don't mind doing the work."
A community grows organically

Community supported agriculture -- known as CSAs -- are continuing to grow in New Jersey. People are starting to develop relationships with farmers and pay up front for a season of produce.

In one year, membership in Levitt's Westfield Area CSA jumped from 43 to 104. "Every couple of days, someone e-mails me," Levitt said. "I have to say, 'No, I'm sorry, we just can't fit that many people in my garage.'"

CSAs have grown steadily in New Jersey since the 1990s, but in recent years groups and membership have mushroomed, along with farmer's markets and canvas shopping bags.

Mikey Azzara, outreach director for the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Jersey, estimates there are about two dozen CSA farms in New Jersey, adding that at least 10 of them have started in the past five years.

Food scares like the 2006 E. coli outbreak and the current salmonella outbreak that has poisoned over 1,000 people also have boosted the movement.

"Small-scale and locally produced products are just inherently much safer," said John Krueger, a former contractor who has been farming organically in Warren County for 13 years. He started his first CSA five years ago and has since seen a "CSA explosion."

By partnering with Levitt and other CSAs in Jersey City and Montclair, Krueger has expanded his business. Membership in his CSA is growing by about 50 percent a year, and, this spring, it seemed he got a call every few days from interested people.

"The vegetables are so good, it's like the best you've ever tasted," said Deena Trainor, of Westfield, a recent CSA convert. "Every week it's exciting because you get something new and ... figure out what you're going to do with it."

At Upper Meadows Farm, a small family farm in Montague, Sussex County, Leonard Pollara says it's more meaningful to grow food for people he knows. CSA members are required to put in four volunteer hours a season.

"Instead of just giving lip service to having a connection with your food, we're actually putting it into practice," Pollara said.

Pollara started his CSA with nine shares in 2001. Today, he has about 200 members around the state. One share, for a family of four, costs $530 and provides 22 weeks of produce, from June to the end of October. Some people buy "half-shares" ($350) or split one with a friend.

Groups collect the produce at a designated pickup point -- a member's garage, an organic market, a parking lot -- and the share is different every week, depending on what was picked. Pollara plants about 200 varieties of vegetables, so in addition to 30 varieties of tomatoes and lettuce, members have been introduced to off-the-beaten path edibles like amaranth (the first domesticated grain), goosefoot (you cook it like spinach) and cardoons (a relative of the artichoke).

Meg Largey, who co-founded Downtown Harvest in Jersey City, said one of the best things about CSAs is knowing your farmer. At the first drop-off last month, Krueger, wearing a "Farmer John" name tag, lingered next to his van and chatted with members.

"I feel a lot of responsibility to the folks in the CSAs because they've taken a leap of faith to put up their money ahead of time," Krueger said. "Listening to how grateful people are and how excited people are ... helps me through some of the tough times."

"He can say, you know, we don't have any more peas because the groundhogs got to them," Levitt said. "And I understand that. But I'll know that I get more tomatoes because the groundhogs are too busy eating the peas."

In their first few years, Largey had to explain the CSA concept at neighborhood meetings. Everything changed last year, however, when an informational meeting was suddenly standing room only. "We were just floored," Largey said. "We had 25 people who gave us checks that night."

CSA members trumpet the freshness of the produce, but also like living the farm life vicariously. At Honey Brook Organic Farm in Hopewell, one of the largest CSAs in the country, the Mercer County farm is becoming a weekend destination for families, co-owner Sherry Dudas said.

"I have seen the farm evolve," said Donna Arold, who joined the Honey Brook CSA as a Hopewell resident 10 years ago. Now living in Flemington, where she runs the Main Street Manor Bed & Breakfast, Arold uses the CSA produce in the food she serves, from zucchini frittatas to fresh berries.

"There's such a major difference, there's not comparison," said Arold, who says a trip to the farm "is like going to church."

"I just feel like it's the best thing I can do -- keeping things simple and unplugged," said Virginia Lamb Falconer, who runs a CSA partnered with Honey Brook from her garage in Maplewood. Members come by on Sunday mornings to collect prepared box shares, and Falconer's kids actually run out to the farm truck when it arrives.

"They eat the stuff right out of the box," Falconer said.

Does anybody know if there will be something similar going on this February? I'd like to join this year.

Quote:

What would be great is if Starbrite could sell some kind of wholesale share to Subia's and Go.

I'm just too disorganized to dare to buy a share, and I really like supporting Subia's and Go, anyway. But my impression (sorry, Go and Subia's people if this is wrong) is that it's probably really difficult for them to get good produce and keep it fresh.

Downtowners to hear pitch to buy a share of farmer's produce
Wednesday, February 07, 2007

By COTTON DELO
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Winter is reviled because of its weather, but for Meg Largey of Jersey City, the bitterness of the season extends to the extra supermarket shopping she's obliged to do.

From June to October, Largey gets her produce straight from a New Jersey farm through Downtown Harvest, CSA - an initiative sponsored by Our Lady of Czestochowa Church in Jersey City's Paulus Hook section, where weekly shipments of fresh vegetables arrive throughout the season.

"I go through withdrawal," said Largey, 55, who recently polished off the last of the winter squash she had frozen during the harvest.

John Krueger of Starbrite Farm in Hardwick - Downtown Harvest's partner since last year - will appear at OLC Church, 120 Sussex St., Jersey City, tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. to discuss the coming harvest in an effort to recruit new members.

Started in 2005, the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) group supported 50 shares last year, consisting of whatever Krueger had freshly harvested - from offerings like sugar snap peas in June to butternut squash in October.

The cost of a share is $440 - plus a $15 administrative fee - and several of last year's 66 members chose to split one.

Krueger, 50, sells to farmers markets and two other CSAs in addition to Jersey City. He says the benefits of growing for CSAs are money in advance of the harvest season and a guaranteed customer base.

Some CSA members like the feeling of connectedness to their food source, Largey said, and Krueger provides regular updates that are posted on the group's Web site (www.downtownharvest.org).

The deadline to sign up for the 2007 season is March 26.

Sounds good. Tired of lugging food from Whole foods in NYC with no car.

Was awesome last year - joined in with our neighbors. Had a full share and it was totally enough for all four of us. Not always picture perfect looking produce, but the tastes were unbelievable! So much good stuff - new things too you wouldn't necessarily have bought before cuz it wasn't familiar! Now I'm hooked to sauteed kale!Can't wait!

I was in it last year and am re-upping for this year. It's good value.

I was in this last year -- it was worth every penny. We got really great organic produce -- lettuce and other greens, potatoes, tomatoes, squash. And it's nice because it's dropped off right in the neighborhood -- there are precious few places in downtown JC where you can get organic stuff -- certainly not this fresh.

Bump.

Here is your chance to get fresh organic produce from a local farm.

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Webbie, I think we need to show more than just 20 "Recent Replied Topics".

Hey Jersey City! Enjoy Fresh, Organic Produce from Summer into Fall with Downtown Harvest,
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) in Jersey City

We will open enrollment for our third season on February 8, with a presentation about Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and Downtown Harvest

Meet Our Farmer:
John Krueger of Starbrite Farm

Thursday, February 8th, 7:30 pm
OLC Church Hall, 120 Sussex Street, Jersey City

Learn how you can:
? Become a member for the 2007 season!
? Enjoy locally grown organic produce
? Enhance the health and vitality of yourself and your family
? Grow a more direct relationship with your community and the earth
Membership is limited

Refreshments will be served.

website: www.downtownharvest.org
email: downtownharvest@yahoo.com

Downtown Harvest is sponsored by OLC Church, 120 Sussex Street, Jersey City