We know we can get all the produce, beautiful and lush bouquets of flowers, fresh poultry and farm eggs in different forms of CSAs, but businesses on the North Fork are creative and have expanded well past those boundaries. Here are some nontraditional CSAs to sign up for this year to get a taste of all the North Fork has to offer.
A Little Dose of Art
Peter Treiber Jr. of Treiber Farms, who is an artist as well as a farmer, is venturing outside community supported agriculture and into community supported art. A few months ago, Treiber received over 1,000 postcards from a fellow art friend and decided to use them for a postcard CSA. For $60, you’ll get one postcard a month for one year. Each card is different, as Treiber has screen printed on them and written personal messages, musings or poems. For more information or to sign up, head to his website or follow him on Instagram.
Fresh Medicinal Herbs
Spice up your life with an herb share. Herricks Herbs and Heirlooms offers a bunch of options to pick from.
With the herb share, you’ll get access to the farm’s medicinal herb garden May through October, discounted workshops and herbs picked and bunched for you.
“We grow over 100 varieties of various medicinal herbs. Sourcing the highest quality, certified organic, locally grown herbs will only improve the potency and effectiveness of herbalists’ or home herbalists’ herbal remedies,” owner Nicole Orens-Williams said. “Our farm offers a unique opportunity to its herb share members—they are welcomed into our medicinal herb garden to self-harvest the herbs as well as develop deeper connections to the plants and other wildlife that make up the garden.”
The herb share is $240 and $10 for each additional herb bunch. The October root share is $100.
81-91 Herricks Ln, Riverhead, 722-2293
Cheese of the Week
If getting a box of delicious local cheese sounds like a dream, a cheese share from Sang Lee Farms is the way to go. This 18 week share begins in July and goes through November and is open to members of Sang Lee’s veggie share. Each week, you’ll get a four to eight ounces of cheese from a New York farm. Eight farms will be featured, including local favorites like Catapano Dairy as well as cheese makers from the Catskills, Hudson Valley and the Adirondacks. There will be cow, goat and sheep’s milk cheese, soft, medium and hard cheese, oh my!
The cheese share is $295 for pick up at Sang Lee or $315 for home delivery, and each cheese will range from four to eight ounces.
25180 Route 48, Peconic
Oysters Plus a Surprise Gift
Another oyster farm on the North Fork is entering the community supported aquaculture space with their version of a CSA. Yennicott Oysters is offering three different share options. Each comes with a shucking kit for two, a copy of Regarding Cocktails, 10 percent off a shucking class in New York City and a special gift from Yennicott, its partner Tilth and Smoke Farm or other local makers (think handcrafted aromatherapy candles, sea salt soaps, flowers, jarred goods or fresh produce). All shares run from Memorial Day to Thanksgiving but differ in frequency and oyster count. The weekly CSA gets you 26 oysters a week for $975, the monthly CSA gets you 26 oysters a month for $300 and the monthly party pack CSA gets you 50 oysters a month for $525. Pick up is at KK’s Farm in Southold, Friday or Saturday. For more information, contact [email protected].
