FOREST HILLS TUV HA'ARETZ CSA

Felicia Seidel has been a co-chair of the Forest Hills Tuv Ha’Aretz CSA for the last 14 years.  She is the volunteer coordinator and she helps designing and maintaining our website and Facebook page. You can meet her on  helping open up the pickup.  She is usually the one chatting and sharing recipes at the unpacking table.

When did you first hear about CSA and did that change you in any way? I think it was back in 2009.  I was talking to some friends and they said they thought I would be interested in joining a CSA, and boy were they right!  I remember taking a yoga class and getting a flyer from Hila Abel, one of the founders of the Forest Hills Tuv Ha’Aretz CSA. Once I found out what a CSA was and how it seemed like a perfect fit for me and my family I joined and met such wonderful like-minded people.

What is it that makes our CSA special? I remember the passion and enthusiasm and also the uncertainty of starting a new endeavor.  I loved working with Hila and Jackie and Celia.  We were not sure if this would catch on, and there was another CSA in the neighborhood, but we had a pretty big membership the first year which continued to grow in the subsequent years.  I enjoyed working alongside Michelle and Alexa and now Judy.  We both have an easy going attitude and we work well together.  We have a great core group which really supports our efforts.

Please tell us a bit about your life beyond CSA. I have had my own business “Felicitations” since 1982.  I do custom invitations and hand calligraphy.  Also – for the last ten years I work as an administrative assistant for Beverly Sacks Fine Art, a gallery in New York City.  I also design websites. I am a long-time Forest Hills/Rego Park resident, but not as long as my husband Barry who was born and raised here, and even got Bar-Mitzvah-ed at the Forest Hills Jewish Center.  We have two fabulous daughters.  Rebecca is a senior at Wesleyan University (UPDATE 2021: Rebecca is now a producer at Marvel Entertainment) and Emilie has been working at Trader Joe’s in Forest Hills since they opened.  Emilie is a great help in the kitchen, she actually prepares most of our meals and always figures out interesting things to do with all the unusual (and usual) CSA vegetables! I have been a vegetarian for most of my life and have always focused on a healthy lifestyle which includes healthy eating and yoga and exercise.  As an artist I live creatively which does include cooking. I love to take what’s around and make something interesting and delicious.  That is why the CSA has worked so well for me.

Which vegetables do you look forward to? Hmmm – I have to say I do like almost everything we get in the CSA box.  I love the early spring garlic scapes.  They are so wonderfully unusual and fun looking!  That is one vegetable that I never knew about before the CSA.  This year we had an amazing tomato crop and I learned to slow roast them, which makes them taste like candy.  I continue to buy tomatoes and slow roast them and I am a fan of all the gorgeous leafy vegetables we get in the share.

2015 Interview by Marija Sajkas, member Tuv Ha’Aretz CSA