Volume 25, Week 1

Full share & 🌿 green 🌿 half shares

218 Gates Avenue between Classon and Franklin
(IMPACCT Brooklyn at the Gibbs Mansion)
5:00 to 7:30 pm

We’re so excited to begin our 25th season! A few notes for day 1:

For distribution:

  • Bring bags: Some items may be bunched or packed in plastic, but you will need tote bags to bring your share home! We’ll have a limited number of Clinton Hill CSA totes available for sale for $10 - cash and venmo accepted!

  • Be on time! We pack up promptly at 7:30, and all remaining items are donated to IMPACCT and a local food pantry, so please arrive on time to claim your share. If you can’t make it, you can always send a friend (have them give your name) or coordinate a swap via the half share list: CHCSAHalfShare2026@clintonhillcsa.org

  • Shares will get bigger! It’s still very early in the growing season, and shares will feel a bit light these first few weeks. This will change before you know it…

And some housekeeping:

  • Work Shift Reminder: All Clinton Hill CSA members are required to fulfill their work shift commitment:

    • Members with full vegetable shares are required to complete (2) two-hour work shifts for a total of four hours. 

    • Members with half vegetable shares must complete (1) two-hour work shift. 

    This is a great opportunity to learn more about how your CSA works, and to get to know other members! Your work shift is a commitment that you agreed to when you signed up, and households that do not complete their shifts will not be able to join the CSA again in the future. Children are welcome on site when their parents are doing their work shift commitment; our youngest members can be very helpful, and we only ask that you bring snacks and other things to keep them busy. For questions about workshifts, contact volunteer@clintonhillcsa.org.

  • A note about payment: We thank everyone who has made payments early and helped to support Windflower Farm and all our other suppliers of wonderful produce. We encourage you to check your inboxes and make sure you're up to date with payments. Remember that with some extra shares, your invoices may not all come from Windflower Farm, so be sure you're opening the emails that tell you how to pay for your share. And on behalf of Windflower Farm and our other CSA suppliers, thank you!

This week’s share

  • ‘Coastal Star’ Romaine lettuce

  • ‘Fordhook’ Swiss chard

  • ‘Rongitoto’ spinach

  • ‘Red Russian’ kale

  • ‘Crimson King’ radishes

  • ‘Bridger’ green onions

  • ‘Prospera’ basil pots

  • Extras: eggs, bread, and mushrooms. The fruit share will likely get underway the week after next. It has been cold, and strawberries, typically the first fruits of the season, are a little late.

    We also host local makers at pop-ups throughout the season, where you can purchase items a la carte! The first will be a spice pop-up from our friends at Sourcery, happening June 18 and 25.

    Keep an eye on the Beet and on Instagram for announcements about other pop-up shares!

News from Windflower Farm

Delivery #1, June 4, 2026

Our organic inspection took place last week. I think what most impressed the inspector, who was from Montreal, was the amount of wildlife habitat in our neighborhood, including hedgerows filled with honeysuckle, wild grape, elderberry and rosehips, unmowed fields, cattail swamps, and woods. Wildlife sightings have been numerous lately. This morning, peeking out of a bittersweet hedge, Jan spotted a young bobcat with its pretty speckled face and alert eyes. Yesterday, Nate and I spied a grey fox, a permanent resident here, scouting woodchuck holes. A terrible screeching woke us the other night and we thought our old cat Hobbes, who is completely deaf, was being hauled off by some predator. It turns out that Hobbes, oblivious to all the goings on, was safe in his bed and that our fox was engaged in a fearsome territorial battle with an invading fox.

Turkeys and Turkey vultures, redtail hawks, bald eagles and a variety of other predators fill the skies. Nate heard a mockingbird the other afternoon in its attempt to mimic half a dozen other birds. Robins, barn swallows and house sparrows abound. The bird chatter at 4:30 in the mornings by songbirds, which appear to be threatened virtually everywhere, makes me almost happy for the disruption.  Nests are everywhere here. We try not to park our tractors in one spot for long lest they become inhabited and we must abandon them until after the newborns have fledged.

Rabbits, skunks, woodrats, garter snakes, American toads, chipmunks, possums – it’s quite a wilderness. And, thankfully, almost none of these are pests of our vegetables. There are exceptions, of course. A minor drama is unfolding even now in our greenhouse - our sweet corn seedlings are being eaten. Our greenhouse is relatively open to the outside, and birds, mice, rabbits and chipmunks will occasionally travel through, curious about what’s going on inside. One of these creatures has decided that sweet corn seedlings are good to eat. We’d like to know who it is, and tonight, Nate will place a “critter camera” over the bench on which they grow to find out. Stay tuned.

And, again, thanks so much for being with us this season.

Take care, Ted

Recipes

Orecchiette with swiss chard and lemon - the perfect dinner for a cool spring night

Bring THIS to a party: radish butter tower

Also - tips to get the most from your potted basil

Did you know? Our website has recipes, food storage tips, and information about the vegetables you might come across in your share!

 
Veronica