Farmers' Market season is underway across Long Island and Sustainable Long Island is once again proud to be offering technical assistance to seven markets throughout Nassau and Suffolk County.

 

The number of farmers' markets in the U.S. continues to rise, along with their collective impact on communities across America. More than just a shopping trip, markets have become integral parts of regional food systems, economies, and social networks. Markets offer a place to connect with neighbors and provide nutritious food to neighborhoods in need.

 

Sustainable Long Island's partner farmers' markets are unlike any traditional farmers' market you may have visited. They are unique at every level, from the staff to the farmers to the customers from the community! 

 

Each market is run by local high school students, under the supervision of a market manager (also from the community), who learn valuable skills, tools, and basics of business, along with customer service, nutrition, and farming. The income, experience, and training in agriculture, marketing, and community building go a long way for those who come from often underserved neighborhoods, with dreams of one day attending college, as well as securing full-time jobs and long-term careers.  

 

Simultaneously these markets make it easier for farmers to maintain a viable agricultural business, while making farmland preservation on Long Island possible - helping make farming profitable. The model allows farmers to devote more time to tend to their farms, rather than traveling back and forth to each delivery site, as each week's order is picked up by market staff and delivered straight from the farm to customers' tables later that same day.

 

Sustainable Long Island's partner markets are also predominantly located in food deserts (a 1 mile radius with no access to fresh food). For many who frequent these markets, the available produce is some of the only access they have to affordable, healthy alternatives close by.

 

With so many great benefits to local communities, employed young adults, and participating farmers across the region, these markets are a win-win-WIN for all involved!  

 

Please see below for dates, times, and locations for all of Sustainable Long Island's partner markets.

 

Flanders Farm Fresh Food Project

Saturdays

10AM-2PM

6/27- 10/17

David W. Crohan Community Center

655 Flanders Rd, Flanders NY 11901

 

Freeport Farmers' Market (Southeast)

Saturdays

11AM-4PM

7/11- 10/31

Freeport Recreation Center (parking lot)

130 E. Merrick Rd, Freeport, NY 11520

 

Freeport Farmers' Market (Northeast)

Saturdays

12PM-4PM

8/1- 8/29

Zion Cathedral Church of God in Christ (parking lot across from church)

312 Grand Ave, Freeport, NY 11520

 

Greater Bellport Community Youth Market

Saturdays

11AM-4PM

7/11- 10/24

Boys & Girls Club of the Bellport Area  

471 Atlantic Ave, Bellport , NY 11713

 

New Cassel Farmers' Market

Saturdays

11AM-3PM

7/11- 10/31

First Baptist Cathedral of Westbury

212 Garden St, Westbury, NY 11590

 

Roosevelt Community Farmers' Market

Sundays

11AM-4PM

7/12- 10/25

Roosevelt/Freeport Family Center

380 Nassau Rd, Roosevelt, NY 11575

 

Shiloh Community Farmers' Market

Saturdays

1PM-4PM

7/11- 10/3

New Shiloh Baptist Church

221Merrit Ave, Wyandanch, NY 11798

 

Spinney Hill Farmers' Market

Sundays

9AM-2PM

7/12- 10/25

North Shore LIJ Parking Lot (across from Spinney Hill apt complex)

125 Community Dr, Great Neck, NY

 

Sustainable Long Island's High School Fellowship Program will wrap up its sixth year of engaging young adults in planning at the end of this month. The fellows are now finishing their hands-on training, project work, field trips, and guest speaker presentations before an alumni dinner which will take place in August 2015. 

  

Recently, they visited Covanta, Long Island's largest Energy-from-Waste facility, which provides environmentally safe municipal solid waste disposal. The students were led on a tour where they learned how the facility processes 2,505 tons of municipal solid waste per-day, how the power generated is then sold to the Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSEG), providing electricity to homes across Long Island, and how Covanta's belief in responsible stewardship of the environment is essential for business efficiency and success. This trip helped build upon the fellows' knowledge of pollution control, waste disposal, renewable energy, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and recycling.

 

They also had the pleasure of meeting with Erin Reilley, Town of North Hempstead's Chief Sustainability Officer. Erin touched on water quality, brownfield contamination and cleanup, and habitat preservation, among other topics. In addition, the fellows heard from Stony Brook University students from the department of Environmental Design, Policy and Planning. The undergraduate students presented findings on a semester-long recycling research project where they investigated ways to increase the viability of recycling programs across Long Island. They discussed with the fellows what the state of waste management and recycling looks like and what lessons municipalities could learn from other areas with successful waste diversion programs.

 

Before the Fellowship Program is complete they will be participating in Sustainable Long Island's youth-staffed farmers' markets, gaining hands-on experience in all aspects of market operations, including stocking and setting up the market, operating the cash registers, and interacting with community members and customers.

Sustainable LI is part of a consultant team for the downtown Riverhead BOA study, primarily responsible for the public outreach component. Read below for updates on the project and view a recent presentation to the town board here.

 

(via Riverhead News Review) - Twenty one years ago, the News-Review reported that there would "definitely be a 751-space, two-story parking structure" created in downtown Riverhead to address a burgeoning traffic problem.

 

While that traffic problem remains - and in fact, more residents than ever are living downtown, with more residential units in the works - the parking garage remains a dream.

 

But that didn't stop a consulting firm from examining the idea at Town Hall recently after giving downtown traffic a grade of "F."

 

That proposal, as well as others, were all part of a wider look into developing downtown Riverhead as it continues to grow - from a traffic perspective, a housing perspective and an overall marketing perspective.

 

The town hired Nelson, Pope and Voorhis of Melville with the help of a $567,000 state grant it received four years ago. The funds came through the state's Brownfields Opportunities Areas program, which the state's website says aims to "revitalize communities, create jobs, support environmental remediation and expand the tax base in distressed neighborhoods that have been adversely affected by multiple brownfield sites."

 

The planners gave Town Board members an update June 11, saying that the following areas should be prioritized moving forward: water quality, traffic, parking, marketing, economic development and an effort to reclassify several parcels along the Peconic River through the state Department of Environmental Conservation. That change, through the state's Wild Scenic Rivers Act, is expected to incentivize development on certain riverfront parcels in the study area, which runs from Hubbard Avenue to Tanger Outlets.

 

Supervisor Sean Walter - formerly skeptical of yet another downtown study - said Tuesday that he sees one of the firm's proposals to re-route traffic as the change that could be implemented most immediately after the study, which is expected to be completed by the end of the year. But that's not the only promise he sees in it.

 

"The BOA study allows us to do a couple of things," Mr. Walter said. "It gives us the ability to amend the Wild Scenic Rivers lines. It gives us the information needed to change traffic patterns in downtown Riverhead. And it gives us a parking analysis."

 

Read more here... 

   

Read more here... 

   

AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for you to support Sustainable Long Island every time you shop, at no extra cost to you. When you shop at smile.amazon.com, you'll find the exact same low prices, vast selection and convenient shopping experience as Amazon.com, with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to your favorite charitable organization, such as Sustainable Long Island.

 

Bookmark the link http://smile.amazon.com/ch/11-3464049 and support Sustainable Long Island every time you shop!   

 

Another way you can support Sustainable Long Island while you shop is through BestSeatsFast.com.

 

BestSeatsFast.com has tickets to over 80,000 concerts, sporting, and theater events worldwide. They have graciously offered to donate 5% of every sale to Sustainable Long Island if purchasers use the Discount Code: Sustainable upon checkout.

 

E-Tickets and hard tickets are available. Overnight and e-mail delivery available. Major credit cards welcome.  

 

 

Sustainable Long Island is proud to partner with EmPower Solar as they offer solar energy systems to our supporters at a discounted priced through their Employee and Member Solar Incentive Program.

 

All participants receive $0.08/watt whether they purchase, lease, or finance a solar system for their home. This discount equates to $800 off an average 10kW system.  

 

For every supporter that goes solar with EmPower Solar, Sustainable Long Island receives a a generous donation! Just mention us when talking with a representative. For more information on the program visit www.EmPower-Solar.com today.  

 

Powersmith - Home Energy Solutions 

Interested in a Home Energy Audit for your Long Island Home? Powersmith, the top performing Home Performance Company on Long Island, is offering no-cost Home Energy Audits that can provide customers with information on how they can benefit from energy savings in your home through measures such as insulation, air sealing, heating and cooling upgrades.  

 

Best of all, for every Home Energy Audit Powersmith schedules, they will donate $25 to Sustainable Long Island. For more information and to sign up, visit www.thepowersmith.com/sustainableli.