I wasn't planning on writing a review for this, but after an internship with these people, I felt a duty to save you, future student interns, from the trap you will fall into when you work for these people. To give you a little overview, I spent my last semester wasting valuable time and expense to conduct what I initially thought was "experiential learning." When I arrived, not only was Naomi insecure about herself, and unwelcoming, she thought that I, the student, was there to take her job. This unnecessary tension throughout the internship caused her to assign very menial work to position me for failure, even at meetings she discouraged me from sharing my opinions. I found Mr. Gorowitz to be short tempered, and Mr McDowell as simply a figure head for this non-profit who were filled with empty promises. Not only was the internship disorganized, everything seemed to be all over the place. Gorowitz and McdowelI are unprofessional to interns, do not have YOUR future in mind, and will only respect you if you are say, a New City native with lots of money to donate, or you have a dad with lots of money to donate, for example. I was promised letters of recommendation for my hard work [albeit, free labor] to several Ivy League institutions only to receive absolutely nothing in return. Because of this, I had to scramble to procure recommendation letters at the last second from other people.

That being said, if you, the student, have any choice between this and ANY OTHER internship, I would go for the other. This was a very painful experience that I did not deserve, and will NEVER forget, and can confidently say I learned next to nothing about sustained agriculture.

It's a good thing I had other sources of food since this farm has been off the tax rolls for six years and I have not been offered so much as a carrot. I wonder if they solved the global warming problem? I am out of ton this week, how hot has it been in Rockland?

I don't get jah's comments; it doesn't match my experience because I loved interning at the farm. Having previous intern experience in other situations there was no comparison. I learned SO much and had a great time and met some super cool people.

$6,000,000 and six years later, this is what we got.....NOTHING EXCEPT A PIECE OF PROPERTY OF THE TAX ROLLS.

Editor's note: The Farm Alliance story mentioned in today's comments was published on Patch back on Nov. 9, 2010.

Maybe some people don't like parks, and open land, and prefer it all to be paved over. I'm not one of them, and applaud the purchase of the Cropsey property, which had, according to my math (6M/300K residents/23 acres) cost us under $1 per citizen per acre. If we could convert more land into parks around our homes at this rate, that would be incredible!

So the county did it, and then didn't quite have enough money to develop it into a park, so the land was saved for later, while incurring some maintenance costs. Then a group of wonderful people came up, offered to do the maintenance for free, and ALSO created a community supported farm, where people can get produce that hasn't been poisoned by chemicals, and hasn't spent a week or more sitting in transport. And we can also come and get some exercise, and peace of mind by working in the field. And we can get some education on how things grow. And schools come by for educational trips. And you can stop by and meet people. AND, they are doing it all for free!

So please just stop by, and those hard working selfless people will give you a carrot to make you less bitter about your couple of $ in taxes which you can't seem to realize are coming back to you ten fold.

I am also baffled by jah's comments, and concerned that it might turn some other young people off from interning with Rockland Farm Alliance or at Cropsey. My son was an intern there last year and had a wonderful experience, he learned a lot, met some great people, and had so much fun he didn't want to leave when I would come to get him! His experience has renewed his interest in biology and he is now much more focused in his studies. I can't emphasize enough how important the work is that these people are doing for the community, building this farm for students to come and learn about sustainable agriculture. I'm sorry about jah's experience, but it sounds a bit strange to me, and doesn't at all match up with what my son experienced, or all of the happy interns that I witnessed at the farm. And in my experience Mr. McDowell and Ms. Camilleri (I never met Mr. Gorewitz) were nothing but professional, welcoming, helpful and kind. Ms. Camilleri wrote up all the paperwork for my son promptly so that he could get the credit he needed, and was very supportive all throughout. Every organization goes through a start-up phase where they are getting their feet on the ground, and perhaps jah came in at a difficult moment. Regardless, I would hope that students considering an internship with this fine group of people will not be daunted, and will do their own research. You won't find too many opportunities like those at the Farm Alliance, in my opinion.

THE County LOST $80,000,000 .It did not have the $5,000,000! It had to be borrowed do in the end the cost is even higher. If you divide anything by 300,000 it will be cheap. Why not buy me a $30,000, car, it will only cost you .10 cents. This seems to be a program for the elitists in the County who feel comfortable telling us that the good we buy at my local De Ciccos, a very reputable family owned business that pays plenty of taxes to the Town and County is POISONED BY CHEMICALS.

Thanks Richard for telling us that the De Ciccos family is selling us poisonous food. You should be ashamed.

I passed thru Spring Valley and Haverstraw and asked anyone if they knew about this elitist program. No one did.

That comment was for Patrick Dunn not Richard. Sorry Richard.

Just who are the people participating in this program? I live not too far from Cropsey. My kids worked at the store. I met the Croseys many times. I never heard of this program.

Patrick Dunn, you indicated in your post that we are consuming poisonous food sold by our local businesses. Can you please elaborate on that comment? I would hate to think that even a "bitter" person such as myself, is being poisoned by these local establishments? Have you notified the local authorities? It is your duty to do so lest we all perish.