down on the farm

b and I joined the Red Hook CSA this year, and the pickups started last week. We are lucky not only to have a CSA in our neighborhood, but one that supports its own urban farm. Red Hook Farm sits on city park land that had formerly been a paved baseball field. (yes, that's how they used to do it) You can see its history in the remaining backstops and perimeter of London Plain trees, one of the city's most commonly planted species. When you're at the farm nature takes over and you can barely notice the Ikea right across the street! New York Harbor is on the other side of Ikea, its ocean breezes periodically breaking the heat on the farm. Membership requires that we work nine hours a season, and we've already fulfilled our requirement. As the farm will take walk-on volunteers, (show up at 10am on Saturdays if you're interested!) I have a feeling I'll be down on the farm a lot this summer.



Here's what I did with some of the ingredients from our first pickup:



Egg-bowl brunch. I sauteed chopped collard greens, kale and garlic scapes in a small pan. Since the heavy greens took a while to cook, I cracked the eggs right on top of them to finish cooking. The result was something between a fried and a poached egg. (I placed a lid on top for the last few seconds, to cook the whites) This went in a bowl, topped with my homemade kimchi, a dash of tamari and sprigs of oregano. Eaten with Finn Crisp. I made a similar version with zucchini (not from the farm) the next day, and placed the whole shebang on korean yam noodles. yummers!



Another use for the garlic scapes- hummus! While it can be tempting to pick up a tub at the supermarket, the amount of salt in most brands is insane! I prefer to make my own from dried garbanzos, tahini, lemon, a bit of cayenne and salt. Of course the variations on the recipe are endless. Substituting the scapes for bulb garlic was magic. Second pickup is today!

bushwick farmers' market

I had a bunch of packages to ship, and it was finally a good day for us to check out the bushwick farmers' market, which is near the post office. also nearby is our favorite cheap cuban restaurant, collado. as we approached, we were so pleased and happy to see several tents, not just one or two, and there appeared to be a crowd of mid-day moms and grandmas shopping, some using their wic checks. (bushwick also accepts the wic swipe cards) the market has a perfect location near the gates ave. J train station, using the sidewalk around the linden-bushwick community garden. today there was one vendor each selling vegetables, fruit, fresh baked bread, honey and desserts. one booth made smoothies on a bicycle-operated blender. there was also an information booth and a cooking demonstration, which was making ratatouille while we were there. this might seem small to most farmer's market shoppers, but for our neighborhood it's huge. You might also be thinking, I thought mollie and b lived in bed-stuy. and we do. but one of the closest places for us to walk is broadway, which lays on the bed-stuy / bushwick border. if you'd like to know what the major difference is, bed-stuy is mostly black and bushwick is mostly latino. not that there aren't some of each in both, with a smattering of most every other race and culture you'll find in nyc. (we seem to have a *little india* developing a block away from our apartment, and there are more indian families as you keep heading in that direction)

so anyways, it was super great to be able to take a short walk down to broadway and be able to buy fresh, local produce and bread. I'm in love with the bushwick market after one visit because of its vibe. it's the combination of the vendors who are eager to bring some good food to the neighborhood and the customers, who are happy to have it there. one woman was so excited, she was making sure everyone knew how great the market was, recommending the smoothies and ratatouille, and keeping the vendors in line! ha ha.

because nyc's such a walking city, it's easy to see when there's a clustering effect among business. it seems like this stretch of broadway is really starting to come up. my previous apartment was very close to this area, so it holds a certain nostalgia for me. my favorite small market, (when I remember to go) ralph ave. market, is over there, as well as the above mentioned collado. there are a couple of new men's clothing/sneaker shops, an immaculate mexican-run butcher, a decent hardware store, the post office and a new walgreens.

oh, and the bushwick farmers' market is holding a *harvest fair* on september 23. see you there?