Dana S.
Yelp
I used to love this farm and would always recommend it to others, especially their CSA program. However, this farm seems to be going downhill as they are growing in popularity. Sang Lee was already expensive, and throughout the years they have become more expensive.
I have witnessed first-hand their CSA get more pricey, rising in price and not becoming more affordable. Now it's at the point I will not be purchasing a CSA share from them because the cost is rising too high for my budget and there are no customization options available, like other farms give. While I used to get the full share, last year I purchased the partial share because it's only for one other person and me. Weekly, we would get more of what the farm had as surplus and not the needed staples, such as lettuce. While the full, which gives too much, had lettuce almost every time. I didn't like that I had to buy the full, which risks produce going bad because I can't eat it that quick, just to get the staples. Also, both of us also noted that the quality of their produce in these shares had gone down from previous years when they only had one size for their CSA.
Luckily the amount of organic farms is growing on Long Island and others offer produce, products, and their CSA at a much more reasonable price, and their produce is just as good. Their farm staff used to be much friendlier, but last season I ran into a lot of rude workers. Young kids that would huddle around the produce, talking to each other about non-work subjects as people were shopping, when they should have been working. I would get dirty looks when I would say excuse me so I could pick what I wanted to buy like I was disturbing them. Last year for the first time I experienced "roll of the dice" while buying watermelon. In years past they had stickers on their watermelon, but last year when I went they had them organized into three sections, one for each color. But there were no stickers on them. I purchased what I thought was one of each, but once I cut them I realized I got all reds. Clearly, the watermelons were not organized correctly and there's no way to double check since there's no sticker. I tried to confirm with a staff member, but they were no help. If I am spending an arm and a leg on a watermelon, I should be able to get the watermelon that I want. Which was such a disappointment because they do have very good watermelon, but for that price, you need the service to match. Especially when I drive over an hour to visit the farm.
If you are thinking about purchasing from these guys, I would look around at some of the other local farms first, or at least keep it in the back of your mind. If the price and quality of service makes you a bit uncomfortable, know that there are other options. We have quite a bit of farms here on the island. But, you might have to dig around on the internet to find some of them, as some the farms are small. There are even other options on Sound Avenue, such as Garden of Eve and Ty Llwyd. Also, keep in mind some farmers can not afford the Organic seal. It's expensive, and there are land requirements that take time, but they follow organic practices. Don't discredit those farms, keep them as an option as well. Many farms (local and non-local) have become MORE affordable as their business grew, not more expensive. I've lived and worked on an organic farm as a manager when I lived out of state, and we became more affordable when we grew, not more expensive.
