This interview originally appeared on the Repair the World blog.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs – which give people the opportunity to pay in advance to receive a season’s worth of produce directly from a local farmer – have skyrocketed in popularity over the last decade. And it’s no wonder why. Members enjoy the personal connection with a farmer, the thrill of trying new vegetables, and the peace of mind they get from eating fresh, local food.

In Brooklyn, New York the 130 families who belong to the Brooklyn Bridge CSA like those things too. But they also see the CSA as a platform to do powerful food justice work in their community and around new york. And with support from two amazing organizations, Hazon and Pursue, they have built a vibrant, justice-focused CSA that is making a difference on the plate and off.

Joelle Berman (who spends her days as the communications manager for the Foundation for Jewish Camp, and her evenings and in-between hours being a volunteer extraordinaire for the Brooklyn Bridge CSA) spoke with Repair the World about using the CSA model to leverage food justice, the importance of working with a strong team, and why volunteering has become her creative outlet.

How is the Brooklyn Bridge CSA different than most others?
It’s a joint project between Hazon and Pursue that uses the CSA model to advance justice work. That’s an explicit part of our mission. We exist for all the reasons every CSA does – to provide local, fresh, sustainably produced, healthy veggies for people who want to receive them from farmers. But we have the additional lens of incorporating justice work into our model and programming.

What does that look like in practice?
It starts with our tiered payment structure program. We have a base price, a discounted share that is $100 less than the base, and what we call a “sponsor” share that is $100 more. Members pay what they can, based on their income level. We aim to specifically do outreach to low income communities, to help raise awareness about CSA as an option. We also share tons of information on food justice in our weekly newsletters to CSA members.

How do you spread the word?
We have spoken to just about every community organization, school, and YMCA in the neighborhood, and focus on forming partnerships with them. For example, we have a relationship with the church around the corner from the synagogue where we hold distribution. Via one of our members who volunteers with the church’s soup kitchen, we’ve been able to involve the greater community in that work. We have also experimented with partnering with the South Bronx CSA – giving them some of the excess funds we raised from “sponsor” shares to help people in their community join their CSA. We’re hoping to scale up that model with other CSAs in the coming year.

Why do you think other CSAs are less likely to focus on food justice work?
What we’ve found is that the kind of justice work we’re doing is not very popular, and it’s not necessarily because other sites don’t want to do it. It’s that there are many logistics involved with running a CSA, and time limitations are real. For many groups, just keeping the CSA running smoothly is the limit of how far they can stretch.

What inspired you to make the time commitment?
I was a member of the CSA it’s first summer. Halfway through the season I went to a film screening of “What’s Organic About Organic?” and ended up re-screening the film for our CSA, and facilitating a group discussion around it. 100 people showed up to the event! Because of that, the CSA’s organizing group swarmed me about getting more involved. I was reluctant to say yes, but before I knew it I was deeply involved. You kind of catch this fever, and end up way more devoted than you expected.

Does the food justice aspect make running a CSA more fulfilling for you?
It’s sort of amazing. I can’t really imagine a CSA without food justice work – it’s exactly the right use of a CSA. Once you’re a member of a CSA, you have already committed to something bigger than yourself. Why not leverage that further?

Personally, this CSA has become a creative outlet for me. 130 families allow 9 unpaid volunteers to manage their money and make sure a farmer gets paid for his work. No one is telling us what to do. The whole thing just happens on a wing and a prayer, and we keep it going because we care about it. As a volunteer, having that level of trust and creative control is very empowering. I have a very solid connection with the 6 other people on the organizing group with me – even though I wasn’t friends with any of them beforehand. They are smart, talented people and an honor to work with.

Do you connect your service with the CSA with your Jewish heritage?
I think it’s no mistake that there is a disproportionate amount of Jewish representation in our organizing croup. 3 out of the 9 of us work in the Jewish communal world. We do it to manifest values and ideas that are important to us, and I think a lot of that comes from Jewish tradition.

Live in New York City? Join Joelle and other great CSA volunteers and members at the Just Food CSA in NYC conference this weekend!

Leah Koenig is a freelance writer and editor whose work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Saveur, Every Day with Rachael Ray, Hadassah Magazine, Lilith, Edible Brooklyn and Beliefnet. She contributes a monthly column on food to The Forward and a bi-weekly column to Saveur.com. She is also the former editor of Hazon’s award-winning blog, The Jew & The Carrot. Leah joined Repair the World as a contributing editor in late 2009.

Last Thursday, October 27th, despite the cold, wind and rain, members of Pursue, the Brooklyn Bridge CSA and the larger New York City community crammed into the cozy Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS) to learn about why bees are disappearing. As part of BHS’s Brooklyn Food Stories and in conjunction with the Brooklyn Bridge CSA and Pursue, this event provided a space to view the 2009 documentary, Vanishing of the Bees, and discuss the global economic and ecological implications of the phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder (CCD).

Up until this point, I thought about bees only when I consumed their delicious honey and dodged them when they buzzed around my head at picnics. After about 25 seconds of looking at the informational pamphlets provided as the film began, I realized how embarrassingly little I knew about bees. Simply put, bees are incredibly important little creatures and understanding why and how they are disappearing en masse is crucial.

Throughout the film, I kept wondering how it was possible that I hadn’t become obsessed with bees sooner. Bees have many admirable qualities: they have strong female leadership in the queen, a whole fleet of female worker bees, and they work very, very hard–literally to death–not only to make honey but to help produce the vegetables and plants we eat every day. According to the informational pamphlet produced by the Natural Resource Defense Council, “For every third bite you take, thank a bee.” Bees transfer pollen and seeds from flower to flower and fertilize plants. This cross-pollination allows 30% of the world’s crops and 90% of wild plants to thrive and helps produce foods like apples, oranges, avocados, almonds and broccoli (NRDC 2011). In addition to helping bring these foods to our tables, bees have a large economic impact. Bees pollinate more than $15 billion in U.S. crops and produce nearly $150 million in honey annually.

According to ancient mythology, bees are prophetic. They are messengers between the heavens and the earth, and, according to the film, when they begin mysteriously disappearing en masse, humans need to start paying attention.

So, where are the bees? Beekeepers first realized massive bee disappearance in 2006 when their seemingly healthy bees abandoned their hives and never returned. Researchers call this mass disappearance Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and have estimated that almost one third of all honey bee colonies in the United States have vanished. In addition to destroying the livelihoods of many hardworking beekeepers, the disappearance of bees has serious economic and agricultural implications. The global economic cost of this bee decline has been estimated at as high as $5.7 billion annually, and we know that keeping the bee population safe and healthy is crucial for keeping our agricultural sector running smoothly.

What causes CCD? There isn’t one single cause of CCD. CCD is made up of a constellation of factors, including climate change, poor bee nutrition and stress, and harmful industrial and commercial farm practices such as pesticide use and monocropping.

What can we do to stop CCD? After the film, beekeepers Megan Paska and Tim O’Neal explained that a great way to help the bees is to support local farmers and beekeepers by joining a CSA, buying produce (and honey) at your local farmer’s market and maybe even keeping bees yourself. Keeping bees isn’t just about honey–it’s about raising healthy bees to pollinate plants that help grow fresh produce. The one positive thing about CCD is that it has helped spark conversation about sustainable agriculture which has in turn allowed farmers across the globe speak out against harmful pesticides and commercial farming practices. In some ways, conversations around CCD also led to the legalization of bee keeping in all boroughs of New York City. We already know that supporting local farmers is important, so let’s start thanking all the hardworking bees and beekeepers, too! You can learn more about Vanishing of the Bees and find a screening of the film here.


Jessica McCarthy is a honey-eating vegan, member of the Brooklyn Bridge CSA, food activist and AJWS employee.

Vanishing of the Bees – Screening & Discussion

As part of Brooklyn Historical Society’s (BHS) Brooklyn Food Stories, BHS, in conjunction with the Brooklyn Bridge CSA, will present a film screening of Vanishing of the Bees. This 2009 documentary explores the phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder (CCD) and its global economic and ecological impact. Join us after the screening for an exploration of the local implications of the CCD phenomenon, led by the CSA’s core members and an NYC beekeeper.

Date: Thursday, October 27

Time: 7:00 p.m.

Place: Brooklyn Historical Society

Address: 128 Pierrepont Street (at Clinton Street)

RSVP (preferred): See below*

 This event is free and open to the public and is co-sponsored by Pursue.

*Seating will be limited and on a first come, first serve basis on the day of the event. Registering for the event does not guarantee a seat, but helps the organizers get a sense of numbers. If you register, please also make an effort to arrive on time in order to secure your spot. Thank you for your cooperation. We look forward to seeing you there!

The Holiday season is officially upon us. In a few days we will usher in the New Year. For the past month we heard the shofar’s call urging us to wake up and think about the year that has passed while looking towards the future. Realizing that some of the best changes are not necessarily made in synagogue, but as individuals in our communities, the holiday season reminds us to be our best selves. As Rabbi Elizabeth Bolton reflected on her recent trip to Ghana, “Each Jewish holy day—indeed, each day—presents an opportunity for kedusha, for holiness, and tikkun olam, the repair of the world.”

With that in mind, here are some resources to help kick-start your year:

• It’s fair to expect that some sermons this season will reflect the pre-election political climate. Whether Rabbis Inspire with Words of Torah or The Torah is Political is a matter of opinion. The real job comes from deciding how to turn the words of the sermons and reflection on the holiday into action that create positive change.
• Don’t have a congregation for services this year? You’re in luck: this list is full of low-cost or no cost High Holy Day services around the U.S. In New York, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ) is hosting a community Tashlikh at Prospect Park on Sunday, October 2nd.  This is a great opportunity for New York area Jews to come together in this season of reflection.
• The Workmen’s Circle, an organization focused on creating social change and working towards social justice in the Jewish community has a new home in New York.  Their new offices are up and running after selling their landmark space last year.
• Wishing friends and family a “Sweet New Year” is commonly heard during the High Holy Days. There are always opportunities to make the New Year sweet for people living in our communities that are in need. Hazon, America’s largest Jewish environmental group will be holding their inaugural Care to Share fresh food drive in October, encouraging volunteers to fulfill the Jewish custom of gleaning.
• Uri L’Tzedek, Orthodox Social Justice offers a virtual guide for Self Reflection and Social Change for the High Holidays. These thoughtful reflections should not be saved just for this season, but for the next year as well.
• There are a lot of clever Rosh Hashanah videos online this year. We’ve selected three, but make sure to check the rest out too. The G-d Cast’s animated “Shofar Callin’” tells the story of the Akedah set to a catchy rap. The Ein Prat Fountainheads once again take us to the Judean hills for their take on Shakira’s “Waka Waka” with “Dip Your Apple.” Lastly, the Art Kibbutz NYC’s Rosh Hashanah Greeting card is a round-up from the Shofar Flash Mob that took place across the globe last weekend. Shana Tovah!

This post originally appeared on The Jew and the Carrot.

August 18, 2011 marked the first day of Hazon’s annual Food Conference. The four day gathering at UC-Davis, a global leader in sustainability projects, united people from Colorado to Japan under open blue skies and amongst beautiful trees, flowers, creeks, and even a dairy farm and winery. Food, fun, and activities aside, the 311 person gathering had an intense agenda including seven program tracks like Food Systems and Policy and Jewish Agriculture.

The Food Justice and Tikkun Olam track provided an opportunity for community activists, teachers, students and foodies alike to learn from one another about our complex food system and a broader movement to address hunger, poverty, workers rights, and food access both locally and abroad. Pursue, a project of American Jewish World Service and AVODAH, hosted a session called “Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA): A Vehicle for Collective Action and World-Changing!” The workshop provided a platform for learning, idea sharing, and, ideally, continued conversation and collaboration. All three presenters were recipients of the Pursue Food Justice Scholarship, a pilot initiative to strengthen the food justice programming at this year’s conference.

On Sunday, July 31st the Brooklyn Bridge CSA, in collaboration with Pursue, hosted its first volunteer day of the season! We gardened, weeded, picked tomatoes, and tried to be of service in a spirit of partnership to help the community garden in Brook Park – and the community itself – thrive.

Photographs by Nicole Dooskin.

Join the Brooklyn Bridge CSA and Pursue on Monday, August 8th at 61 Local to talk about the local food movement, why it’s important, and how to support it. We will be hearing from leaders in the community about their  answers to the question, “Why local?” and what it means particularly for our food system. Come for the conversation, stay for the brews and snacks!

WHEN: Monday, August 8th, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
WHERE: 61 Local at 61 Bergen St., Cobble Hill, Brooklyn
Closest train: F train at Bergen St.
Questions? Email brooklynbridgecsa@gmail.com.

On Monday night, Pursuers in New York City will participate in the second installment of our Chewing on Food Justice series, Got Access?, an evening with Melissa Extein of AJWS, Mara Gittleman of Farming Concrete, and Steven Deheeger of the South Bronx CSA. As a preview, we’ve asked Steven some questions about his work and what he’s excited about for Monday night, below. To learn more about Steven or this event, click here. We hope to see you there!

How did you get involved with the South Bronx CSA?
I got involved with the South Bronx CSA (SBCSA) around a year ago when my good friend from Nepal, who I studied with at the New School, became an intern with Friends of Brook Park as site coordinator for the SBCSA. He invited me up to the South Bronx to visit one Wednesday and I helped run the stand, sat around a picnic table enjoying incredible tacos, and met fantastic people. I wasn’t an intern myself but continued returning every week, until one day I found myself at the helm of a ship full of opportunity. The rest is history. 

How do you think CSAs fit into the broader food justice/food sovereignty movement?
The bottom line is that all CSAs have the potential to play a large role in food sovereignty and food justice movements, addressing more immediate as well as overarching challenges. Though community supported agriculture is inherently about food sovereignty since we’re dealing with local food systems as alternatives to agribusiness, I think many CSAs don’t explicitly put food justice on the table. Since the South Bronx CSA happens to be in the poorest and hungriest Congressional District in the United States, ignoring that food justice “white elephant” on the table becomes more difficult.

CSAs with sliding scale payment structures in which the price of food is based on people’s incomes effectively make healthy food affordable for all, effectively transforming it from a privileged commodity into a basic right. There’s something very exciting and socialist about all this – I think we’re really onto something.

To that end, CSAs in mixed-income neighborhoods with high levels of income inequality like Chelsea, where some of the most expensive real estate sits next to the NYC Housing Authority Chelsea Houses, operate in the most ideal context in which to create access. Alternatively, CSAs in wealthier neighborhoods with lower levels of food hardship like the Upper West Side could easily partner with and subsidize CSAs in surrounding areas. The relationship we have with the Brooklyn Bridge CSA is a beautiful working example of exactly that. We need to present this model to other CSAs and encourage them to pursue similar relationships.

But creating affordable access is only half the story – food provision alone doesn’t bring about the lasting and systematic changes our food system needs. The most important thing to realize is that food isn’t just about food. Food is about the people that work so hard on our farms, in our meatpacking, and in our restaurants and kitchens around the country. Since most of those people are immigrants, food is also about immigration. Since many of those people (and our communities) are working poor, food is also about poverty and workers’ rights. That’s why we need to act as a unified force and pressure institutions that exploit our communities and our environment, like the refusal of Trader Joe’s to negotiate with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers in Florida or decades of systematic private and public disinvestment in the South Bronx and other low-income neighborhoods of color around the city.

Lastly, we can’t just be against something – we need to be for something. That’s where CSAs and innovative food systems really come in. But that’s a whole other conversation.

How does your Jewish identity relate to your work?
Growing up Jewish, in my experience, meant growing up with certain mantra-like narratives that were impressed upon my brothers and I from an early age: the immigrant worker experience, our history of oppression, our discussions around the seder table about slavery, starvation, justice, etc. These are tenets that were close to my experience being raised Jewish and that should be remembered but also actively translated into contemporary life. 

In any case, food is certainly an integral part of our identity – from charoset (representing the mortar used by slaves in Egypt) to gefilte fish; our food reeks (sometimes literally) of history and symbolism.

Though we grew up in France, after moving to Chicago my three brothers and I worked in soup kitchens with members our synagogue. Even though many of my soup kitchen memories include running around the church with other kids my age, I know that work influenced my outlook. But it wasn’t until our rabbi invited me to an immigrant day laborer protest in Albany Park that I really started to understand the different but equally important roles that social service and organizing play in affecting both immediate and systematic change. That initial exposure led me down a path that would include working with unions, immigrant worker centers, community organizations, and more. Maybe Judaism’s emphasis on community (and expanding our notions of community) also has something to do with it.

What are you looking forward to about Chewing on Food Justice & Rolling Up Our Sleeves?
Definitely looking forward to meeting everyone! Also, really excited to collaborate and develop the very innovative and relevant work everyone is involved in. We’re gonna have a great time!

On Sunday, July 31st the Brooklyn Bridge CSA, in collaboration with Pursue, is hosting its first volunteer day of the season – and all are welcome!

Join members of the Brooklyn Bridge CSA, the South Bronx CSA, and the Friends of Brook Park for a day of rolling up our sleeves in the heart of the South Bronx.

We’ll be gardening, weeding, painting, and possibly helping to construct some chicken coops – basically, being of service in a spirit of partnership and doing whatever needs doing to help the community garden in Brook Park – and the community itself – thrive.

Date: Sunday, July 31st
Time: 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Place: Brook Park Community Garden
Directions: Click here (and feel free to use Hopstop to calculate your commute)
Closest train: 6 train to Brook Avenue (and a short walk from the 2 and 5 trains at 149th Street)
What to bring: Water and positive energy
RSVP (highly appreciated in order to coordinate the day!): Register below
Invite Friends: Through Facebook

Some snacks will be provided but please arrive having eaten lunch. Please also be sure to allow sufficient travel time to arrive a little before 1pm so that we can start on time.

About Brook Park
Since its inception about ten years ago, when community members literally took sledgehammers to the pavement of an abandoned cement lot in the South Bronx, Brook Park has epitomized the meaning of a community garden. Today it serves as a flourishing community center for urban gardeners, the South Bronx CSA, environmental education for young people, public art projects, a thriving activist space, and much more. To find out more about Brook Park, check out www.friendsofbrookpark.org.

About the Brooklyn Bridge CSA – South Bronx CSA Partnership
For the 2011 growing season, the Brooklyn Bridge CSA (BBCSA) established a pilot sister CSA relationship with the South Bronx CSA (SBCSA). Because the SBCSA has more low-income members than the BBCSA, the BBCSA decided to donate excess sponsor shares from their CSA to the SBCSA to subsidize some of their members’ shares. Through this arrangement, the BBCSA has helped create opportunities for more people, especially low-income people, to have access to fresh local food. This volunteer day is an opportunity for the two communities to connect in person and deepen their relationship. It’s also an opportunity for other folks with shared values and a commitment to food justice to connect with some exciting grassroots initiatives and have fun while doing it!

This event is being organized within the context of Pursue’s ongoing Chewing on Food Justice series. See the Pursue website for more information about our upcoming programs in the series, especially Chewing on Food Justice: Got Access? which will feature Steven Deheeger, Coordinator of the South Bronx CSA!

This spring, a local Brooklyn blog featured an interview with Joelle Berman from Pursue’s Brooklyn Bridge CSA. The post introduced the Brooklyn Bridge CSA as a food justice CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). We, the members of the Brooklyn Bridge CSA core group, wanted to take a moment to share what it means for us to be an urban community that supports food justice and works to support farmers while increasing access to local, organic food. Below are some of our ideas and successes:

Make the CSA Accessible: Get the word out to diverse groups!
Our main focus during this recruiting season was on targeting our outreach and making the CSA more accessible to people with fewer means. We’ve been connecting with our local YMCA, churches, schools, and even just walking around and talking to people. In short, it’s been a great success! We’ve managed to sell 12 reduced-price shares, subsidized by the generosity of our members who are able to contribute more.

Partnerships
We are having conversations with the South Bronx CSA to explore the possibility of establishing an official partnership with them – they are an amazing grassroots initiative that is using the CSA model to fight hunger and to specifically address the problem of food deserts in their community. We already have a volunteer day scheduled with them in July where we will work alongside the local youth on their community gardening projects – and will invite Pursuers to join the fun!

Create Opportunities for Dialogue, Education and Analysis
Other than scheduling more volunteer days, we also plan on co-hosting a food justice film and discussion in September with the Brooklyn Historical Society, engaging with the students and teachers at the Urban Assembly School in downtown Brooklyn around our CSA and their school garden, and partnering with Pursue more systematically on food justice programming for our upcoming season.

Issues related to food access, affordability, and hunger are important to us, and we hope to engage and involve not only our own members in this current season but also the community at large.

Are you a member of one of the thousands of CSAs across the country? How do you incorporate food justice into your work?

Meet the members of the Brooklyn Bridge CSA Core Group:

Marina Berger was recruited by Pursue to start the Brooklyn Bridge CSA in 2009. She is a Personal Chef living in Brooklyn, working mostly on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. In 2009, she left her former life working at a prestigious SoHo art gallery to pursue good food. She has cooked for a US senator and for a Broadway director, but is happiest when cooking for her friends and family. She believes in preparing the season’s best — responsibly sourced — ingredients with straightforward cooking techniques to highlight flavor and quality. Marina has been featured on Heritage Radio Network’s Hot Grease with Nicole Taylor, and resides on the internet at www.marinacooks.com and @MarinaCooks.

Joelle Berman grew up harvesting basil and tomatoes from her mother’s garden in preparation for making what amounted to a winter’s worth of pasta sauce. She first learned about CSAs a couple of years ago at the Brooklyn Food Conference, and has since fallen completely in love with the sustainable food movement. As a member of the Brooklyn Bridge CSA Core Group, she helps liaise with New York City-based food organizations like Just Food and Hazon in order to provide resources to our CSA. She loves swiss chard, cherry tomatoes, and beet greens, and is thrilled to have the opportunity to write a bio that includes her favorite vegetables.

Sasha Feldstein is the Pursue: Action for a Just World liaison, a food justice/programming coordinator and a founding member of the BB CSA. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she loves anything that involves being outdoors in the sunshine: running, biking, hiking and practicing her lifelong goal of being able to walk on her hands. She grew up refusing to eat anything green and is currently making up for lost time with her new-found love of vegetables, especially Fred’s brussel sprouts, summer squash, asparagus and that crazy alien-looking romanesco cauliflower (just wait and see!).

Melissa Extein has been part of the BB CSA since its early days of meeting and brainstorming in the AJWS offices back at the beginning of 2010. Her day job involves working at AJWS as the associate director of grants for knowledge management. She’s also an organizational psychologist who occasionally teaches on leadership and emotional intelligence and consults to non-profits. Based in Carroll Gardens, she fills the rest of her time working on outreach and developing community partnerships for the BB CSA, serving on the board of JFREJ, gardening, biking, climbing, dancing, traveling, and trying to convince herself to eat lettuce for breakfast. She’s been a convert to the world of CSAs and an avid proponent of them ever since a friend asked her to pick up his share six years ago (thanks, friend!). Originally from South Florida, Melissa migrated to NYC almost ten years ago and is happy to now call Brooklyn home.

Shari Rueckl moved to NYC from the Midwest almost 7 years ago. It wasn’t until she moved to Brooklyn that Shari was able to join a CSA (the BB CSA of course!) and has been a core member since the beginning of the first season. Even though there are farms everywhere in her hometown, it wasn’t until moving to New York that she truly realized the value of good, fresh food. She is very interested in the sustainable food movement and finds the BB CSA a great way to stay involved with it. Shari does the newsletter for the CSA each week and enjoys learning about all aspects of food justice and finding recipes and local events to feature in the newsletter. She looks forward to Farmer Fred’s fresh veggies each week, especially kohlrabi and beets!

Nora Chovanec grew up in Oregon’s Willamette Valley and feels lucky to have had a childhood rich in healthy, fresh food. When she left Oregon to go to school in Boston, she became acutely aware of how her rural upbringing allowed her much different access to food and an understanding of farming culture. From that revelation, she began working with environmental groups to use art as a means to teach about the farm to table process in the public school system. She is a photographer and currently works for the artist and architect Maya Lin on her environmental conservation multimedia memorial—the What is Missing? Foundation. A lot of her work focuses on agricultural issues; you can see a project she did on corn farmers in Mexico and the Midwest US at www.norachovanec.com. She moved to New York recently from Mexico City and knew that she wanted to get involved with local agriculture and farming projects. She joined the Brooklyn Bridge CSA because she has loved being a part of CSAs in the past and thinks it is vital to help support local farmers.

David Chung moved to Brooklyn in 2004 and loves it here. Raised in the Bronx, he and his wife met at Columbia University. They have 3 kids (2 girls and a boy) and a grandson; their youngest just graduated from college. David is an active volunteer at the Brooklyn Heights Food Pantry. David’s wife Lily has been an organic food proponent since the 80′s and helped run an organic food co-op in NJ. His younger daughter is currently pursuing a Masters degree in Gastronomy (specializing in sustainable food and local sourcing).

Andi de Saro is a recent resident of Brooklyn who just moved into the neighborhood a few months ago. Andi grew up in Northern NJ, attended art school at S.U.N.Y Purchase for furniture design, and now works as a manager in a small biotech company with customers that span across several therapeutic areas. Becoming a member of the Brooklyn Bridge CSA was an amazing way to become a part of something that not only benefits our health, but also supports a local farm in a much more intimate way.

Kristina Wollenberg is in her 2nd year in the CSA and 1st as a as a Core Member. Kristina is excited to be able to contribute to such an important cause. Kristina loves everything related to food – from eating out to finding great new Brooklyn vendors and cooking healthy meals. So much so, that she translates her passions to a food blog in her spare time. She is excited to be able to help organize community outreach days this season, in an effort to make a difference in our local community.

Nicole Dooskin is BB CSA’s Volunteer Coordinator extraordinaire and somehow manages to do it while also working as a city planner and studying at Columbia University! Nicole loves everything active from hiking, to biking, to working in ecology and the environment. She is a founding member of the BB CSA and is excited to work with all the great CSA members for a second year!

Jeff Hutchison and Misa Myagawa, while  not Core Members per se, help David as the Emergency Food Provider liaisons, ensuring that all of the extra produce from the BB CSA goes to members of the local community at the First Presbytarian Church of Brooklyn. Jeff is a bartender at nearby 61 Local and also works at a local farm right near Fred and Karen’s!