Crown Heights’ first ever Farmers Market will debut tomorrow, Thursday, and will offer a variety of fresh produce grown in nearby Iona Hills, NJ.
Farmers Markets, popular around the world as one of the oldest forms of direct marketing by small farmers to the general public, promotes healthy eating and brings the community together by offering locally grown seasonal produce.
Thursday’s opening in Crown Heights will be the first for the Brooklyn neighborhood.
This week’s market will feature produce from Roy Hildebrant, a farmer in Iona Hills, NJ, although coordinator Jack Silberstein told COLlive they plan on including more farmers in the near future.
The committee of volunteers is also working on featuring a bee-keeper demonstration next week, in honor of Rosh Hashana.
In order for the market to be accessible to everyone, they will be accepting EBT, WIC, SNAP and FMNP.
The Crown Heights Farmers market will operate seasonally and will close this year in November to re-open next spring.
The Market is being sponsored by Seeds In The Middle, a non-profit organization that brings healthy foods and sports programs to the Crown Heights community.
The market committee is made up of Seeds in the Middle Founder Nancie Kats, Jack Silberstein of Jack’s Gourmet, and Natasha Smith as well as other volunteers.
The market will take place every Thursday, 3pm-7pm at Hamilton Metz Park (Lefferts Park) at Albany and Lefferts Aves.
The market is very grateful to Senator Adams, NYC Parks Dept, NYS Agriculture Markets, USDA, Farmers Federation of NY, Empire State Development and all the dedicated and employees and neighbors that made this project happen.
,I would love to go .. I see you are now beginning at 1:30 are you still ending at 7??? or are you ending earlier too? I would love to bring my kids after school (5:00pm) and show them all the beautiful produce and let them be part of the shopping – so that when its time to eat they’ll be more willing to try different vegetables
Rosh Hashana and Succos both fall on Thursday will there be a change then?
the produce was really fresh and whatever I tasted was really good. they had an array of cherry tomatoes of all different colors, beautiful!!!
the prices? same as everywhere else if not more expensive.
Thank you to all of you who came out today to the market, you really made our launch a huge success.
We are going to start the market a little earlier, at approximately 1:30PM.
Stay tuned for updates by visiting http://www.seedsinthemiddle.org.
The market will run EVERY Thursday through November 10th.
As this is a farmers market, where interaction with the farmer is a great added benefit, there will be NO delivery.
See you all next week where you can expect multi-colored heirloom carrots, white and orange sweet potatoes and lots of apples.
For those who cant make it on the scheduled day or designated time…… there is a store on Albany Ave with beautiful produce….. its called “Mr Greens”
is there going to be the deal $5 EBT= $7 in market tokens?
keep the times its great btw do u deliver
Would love shop there. Please keep us posted if earlier hours are available, for those of us who need to be home by 2 pm to pick up our school age children.
Also, are there going to be organize items available?
Good luck with this venture!
I can’t wait to try it out and am grateful you’re having it a bit later in the day so I can actually go. Will it be on next week? Is there some sort of mailing list or website so we can check to see if it is running every week? Thanks!
Firstly, thank you for offering this. Second, is any (or all) of this produce ‘organic’? Third, to #22: Speak all your words softly (daber es kol devarecha binachas) and you will be saved from… etc etc etc! Another way to say the exact same thing you said is: It would be beneficial to alot of families if it can start earlier in the day since many mothers during this window of time (3-7pm) are completely busy on a regular basis (younger kids getting dropped off from school, then older kids coming home, dinner, homework etc). Either way, it’s the first… Read more »
We are going to work very closely with all patrons of the market to operate during times that satisfy as many people as possible. Right now were getting this market off the ground and will make positive changes as needed.
I have the same concern !
I wish they’ll start earlier in the day .
Jack , can you pull some strings ?
How do they compare to the stores?
i dont have wic or foodstamps can we get some kind off discount
Thanks.
why is it so late in the day, how am I suppose to get my kids off the buses and shop at the same time, if I wait till they come home at 5:00 then what about dinner, homework, baths? can you start it earlier in the day like noon or even one
i recently read about these markets in one of the cooking magazines – love the idea will check it out
hey jack! great article! great work everyone! N WHO R ALL THESE PEOPLE!!!? .. ex ci ting 🙂 nandi
So nice to see you answering the queries so promptly.
love the idea
B”H
let us all go, jack you r a tzadik lots of mazal
can you get herbs like cilantro, parsley, and more
My mouth is already watering at the thought of fresh produce. We always looked forward to farm fresh fruits and veggies every summer. Brings back warm and fuzzy memories.
No Sausages Yet.
We will have:
Peppers, Eggplant, Tomatoes, Zucchini, Yellow Squash, Cucumbers, Kirbys, Broccoli, Corn, Kale, Collard Greens, Romaine Lettuce, Green Leaf Lettuce, Onions, Butternut Squash, Acorn Squash, Sweet Potatoes, Nectarines, Prune Plums, Apples and more.
Very good Idea!
EBT? YES!
Well now, aren’t we getting fancy shmancy!
Yes, we will take checks. We take everything.
very exciting to get fresh produce like that!
can you use wic checks there?
look forward, thank you jack!
Great Idea and great for the community@