One of the things we've been working on at PS 146 is setting up a weekly CSA at the school.
But traditional CSA's -- in which you subscribe at the beginning of the season, and then get weekly "dividends", in the form of fruits and vegetables, as the harvest comes in -- don't work so well with the school year. You'd have to keep the school open in the summer, and a lot of families go away during the prime months of the harvest.
So working with Jay Dines from Dines Farm, my friend Meg set up a a CSA/Farmers Market at the school. Every Sunday night parents can email the farm with their order. On Wednesday afternoons, their is a farm truck outside the school, and people pick up their orders. I've gotten incredible sausage and ribs, gorgeous turnips and radishes, homemade bread and even brownies. It's been incredible. (The picture above is from an order Meg took home.)
How is it connected to the PTA? When our orders reach $500, the farm gives 3% back to the school.
So far we have not ironed out all the kinks, but when everything works, it's amazing to pick up your kid at school and then go get your grocery order!
We started out last year doing an egg delivery through Dines Farms. We got that idea from PS 29, where a parent was doing the same thing.
Even when we can't get school food to change, there are many things we can do to bring healthier food to the school families.
-Larissa/PS 149/Brooklyn
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