It’s a hot summer day, but Alex Martin, Adam Burnett and Melissa Kurtz are working hard, and getting their hands dirty pulling weeds from leek plants.

They’re members of the Poughkeepsie Farm Project’s farm share or CSA, short for community supported agriculture. Members purchase shares in the farm and then get to take the fruits and vegetables the farm produces home every week.

"They’ll sign up at the beginning of the season, when the farmer needs to plan how many vegetables to grow; needs funding to pay for seeds and labor and equipment; and then once the harvest season begins, CSA members get a share of the harvest every week of the growing season," said Poughkeepsie Farm Project Farm Communications & CSA Director Lauren Kaplan.

The PFP was founded in 1999 with three acres and 70 CSA members. Nowadays, the farm stretches 15 acres and has 500 farm share members. During the pandemic, PFP actually sold out of shares and sold more plants than ever before at their its plant sale.

"I think a lot of folks were wanting to grow food at home," said Kaplan. "I think PFP and a lot of other farms in the Hudson Valley saw record CSA member turnout during the pandemic."

Martin, Burnett and Kurtz are barter share members, meaning they work in the fields a few hours every week in exchange for the produce they take home.

Kurtz just started working on the farm a few months ago. She says working here is about more than just tending to the crops.

"It's physical, it's emotional, it's mental and it's spiritual, so there's nothing that it doesn’t touch," said Kurtz.

Burnett has been a member for about four years. He works on the farm two hours a week, sometimes bringing along his two-year-old daughter.

"It was terrific," said Burnett. "I could take her home and give her the tomatoes and the peppers that she had just helped pick."

But the fruits of their labor are not just for them. Of the 200,000 pounds of produce the Poughkeepsie Farm Project harvests every year, it donates 20%, or about 40,000 pounds, of that food to food pantries and low-income households in the city of Poughkeepsie.

"We have so many food insecure people, and I think it's really our responsibility to try to grow as much food as we can in cities," said Kaplan.

PFP also started the "CSA is a SNAP" program that allows SNAP recipients to purchase farm shares with their benefits, increasing access to fresh vegetables for more people. But whatever way they join, members say they feel good leaving here.

"It's good for the soul as well as for the belly," said Martin.