PROGRAMS AND COMMUNITY EVENTS
2023 to 2020
Since 2020 we’ve conducted all but one of our educational programs via Zoom or Instagram Live. The one exception was a Mushroom Growing class taught by Mushroom Queens in 2021. We hope to resume our in-person classes and workshops this year! Look for announcements in your weekly emails when the CSA season begins.
You can click on the links to all eight of our classes below. We offer three canning tutorials, all taught by Amanda Collins—a class on Canning Whole Tomatoes, another on Canning Tomato Sauce, and a class on making Strawberry Balsamic Jam.
The talented Jennifer Lipper teaches us how to pickle literally ANYTHING! Kaylin Greene, our in-house mixologist, shows us how to make amazing cocktails from the fruit and herbs that we get in our weekly shares. Kaylin’s Strawberries and Mint Cocktail is as delicious as it looks, and her Red Currant Syrup Cocktail will make you wish that we got currants in every share.
Sarah Hoffman, of Phoenix Bakehouse, teaches us how to make the Sourdough Bread that’s made her famous. And Kara Vona, of Kara Vona Naturals, gives us a tour de force tutorial on making fruit vinegars.
2019
In August 2019 we were fortunate to receive a generous Community Grant from Amalgamated Bank to fund our programming. We offered three workshops that fall, which were open to our members and the Arrow community.
At a gardening workshop on September 10, 2019, we planted mums and daisies along the borders of the grass plot in the Arrow courtyard. Both children and staff watered the plants throughout the fall, and we hope to see lots more flowers at Arrow this summer.
CSA member Amanda Collins demonstrated good canning techniques at an outdoor class on September 17, 2019. Amanda shared her safety tips and stressed how important it is to always use a brand-new lid when you’re canning. Lids today are manufactured with less of the red sealing material on the inside of the lid, and they might not form a tight seal if you try to reuse them. So be safe and use a brand-new lid every time!
On October 22, 2019, we hosted a pumpkin-decorating workshop for our members’ children and the children in the pre-school and after-school programs at Arrow. More than a hundred kids attended! The pride on their faces as they showed off their pumpkins makes clear that this was our most popular event!
SEED MONEY FOR OUR EQUITY SHARES PROGRAM
We spent half of the Amalgamated grant to fund Equity Shares for our neighbors who have been affected by COVID-19. Equity Shares are half-price shares for members who cannot afford to pay full price upfront for an entire CSA season of fruit and vegetables. Please see the Equity Shares section of our website for more information about this program. Our Educational Programming goes hand-in-hand with our commitment to offering Equity Shares and attempting to fulfill our Mission, which is to help our community eat healthy by enjoying sustainably grown fresh fruit and vegetables from local farms. (See our Mission Statement).