SPACE TO PROVIDE 81 HARVEST CLUB PRODUCE + ART SUBSCRIPTIONS TO LOCAL FAMILIES AT NO COST
JULIE NOBLE RETURNS TO SPACE AS FARM DIRECTOR
SPACE on Ryder Farm--the nonprofit residency program and organic farm located on a 226-year-old family homestead in Putnam County, New York unveils the SPACE Harvest Club. The Harvest Club is a subscription program that will replace the traditional CSA (Community Supported Agriculture + Art) with an array of membership programming, access to the broader SPACE community and a weekly variety of nourishment, beauty and culture to brighten homes.
The SPACE Harvest Club model is the same as a traditional CSA, with some added perks! Just like SPACE’s 2019 and 2020 CSA program, Harvest Club members pay upfront for the full season of subscriptions. Some membership options will still be offered on a sliding scale for low, middle and high income households. Community members can purchase season-long subscriptions of produce, art and/or flowers by mixing and matching subscriptions to the following three programs: Produce + Art Subscription, Art Subscription and Flower Subscription.
SPACE on Ryder Farm firmly believes that our deeply rooted mission of cultivating art and agriculture is stronger when there are multiple perspectives at the table and that having access to fresh, healthy food is unequivocally a human right. In pursuit of this, SPACE aims to provide 50% of our Produce + Art Harvest Club Subscriptions at no cost to local food insecure families. SPACE partners with Catholic Charities, Neighbor’s Link and Putnam CAP in supporting these neighbors.. In 2021, SPACE is aiming to provide 81 fully-subsidized subscriptions. This community stepped up last year to help us feed our neighbors, we hope to count on this support again this year. Help us ensure that everyone in our community has access to healthy and organic food and one-of-a-kind art by making a tax-deductible donation of any size to the Friend of the Harvest Fund.
Registration for the SPACE Harvest Club is now open, and will remain open until limited subscriptions are sold out.
The SPACE Harvest Club is an ambitious program, and the Ryder Farm team is excited to bring this season to fruition. To help us bring this vision to life, SPACE is thrilled to announce the return of Julie Noble as Farm Director. Julie says, “In 2020, while I was away from the SPACE community and team, through diverse experiences I gained first-hand knowledge working with other farms across the Hudson Valley. Despite the time away, I never lost touch with SPACE. I am thrilled to be back in an official capacity and be teaming up with Farm Manager Adam Mahon as SPACE gears up for the 2021 farming season.” Julie has worked in agriculture for a decade on farms in Oregon, California and New York. She has worked as a seed producer with the Hudson Valley Seed Company and in vegetable production with Ironwood Farm. Additionally, she has milked cows at Chaseholm Farm, grown and designed bouquets with Stars of the Meadow, produced medicinal herbs with Whistle Down Farm and grown produce for the food pantry at Dutchess Outreach.
As SPACE’s Farm Director, Julie relishes the opportunity to grow for the community, achieve greater equity in the food system and share the joy of farming. “The COVID-19 crisis was, in a way, a boon to the local food system, since big worldwide food production was stretched thin with delays in shipping and procurement. As a result, communities turned to local food networks for safe, healthy and reliable food. Today, folks are more receptive than ever to buy local and support small farms, and 2021 presents new opportunities for invaluable small farms, such as Ryder Farm, to adapt and look forward to welcoming neighbors back into our fields and gardens, sharing in the awe and wonder of growing food,” remarks Julie.
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE HARVEST CLUB
The Produce + Art Subscription is an 18-week subscription of certified-organic produce and four issues of original art created by Harvest Commissioned artists. Based on each household’s needs, Produce + Art members may choose a Small Subscription, which generally feeds a family of two per week, or a Large Subscription, which generally feeds a family of four per week. Memberships are offered on a sliding scale. Subscriptions can be picked up on Wednesdays at Ryder Farm in Brewster, New York and, new this year, Atlas Studios in Newburgh, New York, or on Saturdays at Ryder Farm only. Additionally, SPACE has partnered with Hudson Valley Mushrooms this season offering Harvest Club Subscribers the opportunity to purchase a Mushroom Add-On to each weekly pick-up on Saturdays only. Finally, members can extend their Produce + Art Subscription to Thanksgiving by adding 6 more weeks of fall produce by purchasing a Fall Add-On.
The Art Subscription is an offering of original artworks created by commissioned SPACE residency alumni and local artists. Art Subscription members receive four issues of art. The pieces of art included in each issue encompass a wide range of artistic offerings including poetry, plays, short stories, visual and fine art and music samplers. Art Subscriptions can be picked up on Ryder Farm in Brewster, New York or mailed via USPS anywhere in the United States. The goal of the Harvest Commission is to support artists who were hit hard by the COVID-19 crisis and have experienced major losses of income and benefits. Each 2021 Harvest Commissioned artist receives a $1000 stipend for their work. Additionally, Harvest Commission Artists will receive 50% net profits from all Harvest Club Art Subscriptions sold. In other words, by purchasing a Harvest Club Art Subscription the community is putting money directly into the pockets of artists!
About SPACE on Ryder Farm is a nonprofit residency program and organic farm located on the grounds of a 226-year-old family homestead in Putnam County, New York, just an hour north of New York City. SPACE’s mission is to create an environment singular in its ability to invigorate artists and innovators and their work, and to contribute to the sustainability and resourceful preservation of one of the oldest organic family farms on the East Coast.
Located on Starr Ridge Road in Brewster, New York, Ryder Farm is one of the oldest continuously held family farms on the East Coast, first established by Eleazer Ryder in 1795 and stewarded through the years by successive generations of the Ryder Family. SPACE assumed management of the farm’s organic agricultural operations in 2019. The organization is proud to follow in the footsteps of the Ryder Family members and indigenous peoples before them, who have called this land home and cared for it through the generations.
Through unique programs supporting playwrights, filmmakers, activists, working parent artists and more, SPACE has served over 1,400 residents since its founding in 2011, and has developed a national reputation as one of the most sought-after residency programs in the country. SPACE counts among its alumni Academy Award winners, Tony Award nominees and winners, Pulitzer Prize winners, Guggenheim fellows, Obie Award winners and MacArthur “Genius” Fellows. Past residents include theatre artists Clare Barron, Adam Bock, David Cale, Linda Cho, Lucas Hnath, Samuel D. Hunter, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Young Jean Lee, Martyna Majok, Dave Malloy, Adam Rapp, Sarah Ruhl, Mfoniso Udofia and Anne Washburn; theatre companies Ars Nova, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, The Public Theater, Roundabout Theatre Company, Soho Rep and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company; musicians Cesar Alvarez, Heather Christian, Grace McLean, Riley Mulherkar and Shaina Taub; filmmakers Janicza Bravo, Begonia Colomar, Nia Dacosta, Josh Mond, Chioke Nassor and James C. Strouse; and visual artists Alta Buden, Kylie Manning and Tiffanie Turner.
Programs at SPACE on Ryder Farm are made possible with generous support from Amazon Studios, Anne Anastasi Charitable Foundation, Around Foundation, Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, Gerald and Janet Carrus Foundation, Deupree Family Foundation, Distracted Globe Foundation, Dramatists Guild Fund, Deann Dylandale Foundation, The F.B. Heron Foundation, The Getter Foundation, Hargrove Pierce Foundation, Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, The Lillian Hellman Fund, The Hyde & Watson Foundation, JKW Foundation, The Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation, Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts, Henry J. Kimelman Family Foundation, The Lilly Awards Foundation, Lost Man Foundation, Marjorie Weil & Marvin Edward Mitchell Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, Michael Palm Foundation, Puffin Foundation, Putnam Arts Council’s Arts Link Grant Program, Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund, The Shubert Foundation, Stanley Family Foundation, Still Point Fund, Sustainable Arts Foundation, Tamarack Foundation, UNCSA Foundation, The Rafael & Diana Vinoly Foundation, Watershed Agricultural Council, The Westchester Community Foundation's Emily and Harold E. Valentine and Evelyn Gable Clark Scholarship Fund, Tamara R. White Charitable Fund and hundreds of individual donors. SPACE is a Playwrights Horizons Company in Residence.