Flooded Hudson Valley: Organizing Help Post Irene

(Photo Credit: Just Food)

Although I glibly posted about throwing a hurricane party last weekend, it was in most part because New York City did not experience much damage. I apologize to anyone who felt that my post was insensitive. It wasn't until after my post went up that the stories of total devastation and flooding came out about our upstate NY farmers.

My CSA farm, Windflower Farm, was spared most damage. And our deliveries should continue as normal. But other farms have see minor flooding, the loss of certain fields and some have been washed away entirely. One of the main problems of farming is that it has only a few big payouts per year, in harvesting. Given weather, seasonality and the sheer time needed to realize the harvest, it is impossible to recoup dramatic losses that occur late in the season. The mornings are already chilly here. The winds blowing into the region are cold. Summer is over, it is obvious. And though the growing season will continue for several more weeks, now we are coming upon the time for root vegetables and squashes and late season greens. The farmers who have flooded fields will have to wait until next year. This is where you come in!!

There are ways that you can help the devastated farms of the Northeast. I have listed several links below that will point you in the direction of folks accepting direct donations, organizing homegrown fundraisers and large scale NYC dining events whose proceeds benefit upstate growers. We are what we eat. And if us New Yorkers want to keep eating goods grown in our home state, then participating in these events should be of top priority.

From Scratch Club's Fundraiser for The Denison and Kilpatrick Family Farm and Fellow Blogger Amanda- Christina from the FSC was the blogger who inspired me to write this post in the first place. She has, in all her lack of time, organized a fundraiser/ auction for not just her beloved Kilpatrick Family Farm but for the Denison Farm and also for her friend and fellow blogger Amanda who lost her house in a fire that was caused by the flooding of Irene. Check out the FSC for more links on the storm damage, local coverage, ways to participate in the auction as well as just plain donate.

Just Food NYC's Hurricane Relief Page- Just Food NYC is a fabulous volunteer organization who helps folks organize and lead their own CSA's. I blogged about attending their CSA conference last March. Their suggestions for helping out with the Hurricane Relief is to donate a percentage of the profits of their upcoming Let Us Eat Local event to hurricane relief, as well as accepting donations directly.


GrowNYC & NYC Greenmarkets- The organization GrowNYC that organizes all of NYC's Greenmarkets is offering a beautiful poster designed by artist Claudia Pearson for each donation of $50 (there are two different designs, though I downloaded just one from the GrowNYC website above). 100% of the donations will go to Greenmarket Farms affected by Irene. They are also encouraging folks to eat locally in September. It is still the height of the season and there are still crops in the farmers markets. We can show our support by buying the goods that have made it to market. Visit the link provided for more information.

Dine Out Irene- On September 25th participating NYC restaurants will donate 10% of their proceeds to Just Food and GrowNYC. For a list of participating restaurants (and there are some good ones), click the link provided

Hudson Valley Food Network- Another interesting group, the Hudson Valley Food Network has tons of information on their website forum. Megan Murphy, the site's organizer is trying to pair eager volunteers with farm who needs helping hands. Look to their site if you can give sweat, but not cash.

And finally, in an attempt to help out those farmers who still have product to sell, I would like to propose a 100% local pot luck to be attended by you, the readers of The Table of Promise. If you would like to participate please email me at thetableofpromise(at)yahoo(dot)com before September 20th. The pot luck will be held on Saturday September 24th at 4pm, location to be determined. I haven't exactly told my husband yet-so if dates or times change, don't be upset with me. If you are interested, please email me, I will start the email chain of what to bring and where to go! I would love to break bread with my readers and if organizing a local dinner can help out our local farmers then let it be so!

This post is shared with Simple Lives Thursdays and Fresh Bites Fridays and Fight Back Fridays

Spinach and Belgian Stoemp

I am declaring the local food season officially OPEN!! After months of dwindling vendors and almost no produce besides apples and potatoes I am starting to see the people come back. Our Inwood farmer’s market is now sporting a new vendor selling sprouts! They are not quite as delicate as Two Guys from Woodbridge that works the USQ Greenmarket. But they aren’t bad. He has told me that his sprouts are seasonal unlike the Woodbridge Guys who grow them hydroponically year round.

Another fantastic thing I keep seeing is spinach! Spinach is a spring delicacy here in New York. I just don’t see it locally as the summer gets on. Our CSA sometimes has it in June. But that spinach has a tendency to liquefy after 2 days out of the ground. This time of year the getting is good for hearty spinach. It isn’t too old or too babyish. It is simply perfect. And I think we have a few weeks too, because I am just starting to see it show up. By the middle of May the stalls will be overflowing with spinach.

The week before last, I bought 2 big bags thinking that they looked small. But when I got home, it was as though the things had had babies. There was so much spinach I almost didn’t have room for it. We now throw it into everything! Pizza, green eggs, guacamole (it is actually amazing in guacamole), and even the smoothies that Thing 2 is currently boycotting. But then again, he is currently boycotting everything. I am breathing deeply and cherishing the fact that his older brother is now eating everything from braised brisket to kale soup.

If you have trouble getting spinach clean, try this. Fill up your sink with cool water. Add a bit of vinegar. I use Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar. Float your spinach in the water for 30 minutes. Be sure to agitate the plants so that all the sediment comes off. When you feel that they are clean enough, remove the plants from the water, shake off the excess and towel dry. Store wrapped in a plastic grocery bag in the fridge. Even if you place them in the crisper, they will stay good longer in a plastic bag. Or you can remove the stems and store in a large glass Tupperware in the fridge. That’s what I do. All my lettuces go together in a 4 quart glass bowl with a tight fitting lid. My greens are good for a week or two. A few days ago my colleagues at work questioned whether my stuff was really organic because it lasts so long. But they are organic. I think it is the soak in the water before storage.

Recently I went to one of my favorite place to eat a stick to my ribs lunch in New York, Le Petite Abeille. Their croque monsieur and omelettes are to die for, as are their French fries. I try to stay away, but these are hand cut lovingly fried Belgian fries. Though I try to stay away from the polyunsaturated oils and fried foods in general, I find I just can’t do it sometimes. C’est la vie, n’est-pas? Well, on my recent trip I did manage to order something that didn’t come with fries. But it did come with this oddity they called stoemp. I had never heard of it. The menu seemed pretty devoted to it. I ordered and hoped for the best.

When my plat arrived I saw, stoemp was just mashed potatoes with stuff mixed in it. My stoemp had spinach and leeks in it. Brilliant. I didn’t even have to look up a recipe for this one. I have now made the dish twice, and I highly recommend peeling the potatoes. My first batch was ruined by some very bitter red skinned potatoes. And don’t even bother cooking the spinach. I did that in the first batch, and I really didn’t need to. Uncooked spinach will wilt down when added to the mashed potatoes, but stays fresh enough to give the final dish some bulk and nice color. By the way, I made the pictured batch on Easter Sunday with a perfectly braised brisket (so much better than my overcooked Crockpot versions) and we all agreed that this was the best Easter dinner ever!

STOEMP

2 very large potatoes, I used peeled redskins

2 tablespoons of good quality butter

1 leek, white and light green part only (throw the top into your freezer stock bag with other veggie scraps, and if you don’t currently do that—start!)

2 handfuls of washed spinach, chopped.

Boil the potatoes until soft, drain and add milk sufficient to make mashed potatoes. Mash the potatoes by whatever means you prefer. In a small skillet melt the butter and add the leeks. Fry the leeks on medium heat until they are soft and just starting to turn brown. Mean while, fold the chopped spinach into the hot potatoes. When the leeks have cooked, add them and all the butter into the mashed potatoes and mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Our kids don’t like mashed potatoes (I know, I don’t get it either…) so DH and I couldn’t finish it. Therefore there were enough for me to have leftovers with a hardboiled egg for breakfast the next morning. Hallelujah, it was an Easter miracle!

Walmart Looks to Increase Its Local Produce Offering

Thanks to Marion Nestle's blog Food Politics for turning me onto today's topic. I was both thrilled and not so thrilled to read the NY Times article that she quoted for her recent article.



It seems that in 2005 Walmart created a set of goals for their operations to make their business more sustainable and environmentally friendly. Among them waste reduction and packaging opportunities, as well as a reduction in the greenhouse emissions made by their stores and distribution centers, and increasing the fuel efficiency of their transportation department. Local produce, it seems, is also part of their long term goals. Walmart is looking in to increase the amount of local produce that it offers. The store has set a goal of doubling the local produce offering here in the US, or increase to about 9% of the total. Produce will be considered local if it has been grown in the same state in which it is sold. Walmart has also said that it wants to source what it can from small farms, i.e.-farms of 50 acres or less.



The NY Times criticized Walmart (doesn't everyone?) saying that their goals did not go far enough for it's US Operations in increasing the amount of local produce as a percentage to the total. They stated that company has been far more agressive in it's programs in say, Canada, where they hope to increase locally grown produce to 30% of the total and possibly 100% of the total when it is in season. But here is where you really need more information. According to Wikipedia, the US portion of Walmart stores accounts for 67.2% of the total 258 billion dollar business. Wikipedia goes on to say that Walmart Stores in 2005 in the US numbered close to 3800 (they do not give store data for dates later than 2005, but I imagine a few more have been opened). In Canada, the number of locations is closer to 300. Still a large retailer, but it is altogether possible that 9% of US produce could be greater than 30% of Canadian produce. You can make numbers say anything. You really can. Ask the folks who ran Enron.

I am both delighted and disappointed by the news. I am a proponent of local produce and small farms. I am pleased to see that a large retailer is picking up on what was just a fringe foodie movement just a few years ago. And it doesn't bother me that Walmartwants to take advantage of this movement and make a buck off of it. Produce isn't free and farming isn't a charity endeavor. It is a business like any other, and I invite capitalism to create a marketplace to fill the demand that consumers have for local produce. I have said it before, the biggest problem local foods and organic foods have in this country is a lack of infrastructure available to bring them to market. Here you go, Walmart is looking to bring these goods to market, which means more business for small family farms. However, my trepidation is, will Walmart do to local food growers what it did to say, Vlasic Pickles? Walmart has a history of using their buying power to force companies to slash their own profits just to continue selling to Walmart. Local produce and produce from small farms tends to be more environmentally sound (though not always) and thus more expensive. If Walmart pulls the same move, then it could bankrupt some small producers.

There is no way to tell what the outcome will be. So far these are just goals that the company has set forth. I will be sure to stay abreast of this story as it unfolds in the next several months. I don't really shop at Walmart. Here in New York I have to go out of my way just to get to one. So I will continue to support my CSA and local farmer's markets as I always have. Here's to hoping that this story will have a happy ending.

Washington Heights Peach?

Last week, because of their birthdays, I had to take my Things to their annual pediatrician appointment. As we were walking home (everyone is good, healthy and growing) my big guy noticed that one apartment building had a peach tree planted in the small flower bed in front of their building. To my amazement the tree was full of nice big ripe peaches. Thing 1 stopped to check it out, because he loves peaches. I think he was a little surprised to see peaches on a tree since he usually sees them at the Farmer's Market or the grocery store.

We do alot of sharing in our city life. We have to share the sidewalk, our playground, our park, our hallways and elevators. With a little brother now, we share all toys and books. I like the idea that our set of toys is communal. We never had too many problems with "mine-itis" and I think that is because we are always sharing things with other people. But this peach tree was not for sharing. We are at an age now when we are talking alot about other people's property, what is appropriate to touch, whose toys you can play with (those abandoned in the playground) and whose you shouldn't (those in someone else's hands).

As we were stopped, having a conversation about the peaches on the tree, the building's Super overheard me saying that Thing 1 shouldn't take a peach from the tree because it belonged to the people who live in that building, nor should he take the peaches off the ground because they were icky or had worm holes. The Super told me that he had just picked some peaches from the tree and that we should take some home. In his truck nearby he had a big bag of peaches, which he told me to go home and wash because of the prickly peach fuzz. As he left to back inside Thing 1 shouted "THANK YOU!" and the Super called after me "These are organic you know, no pesticides or fertilizer or nothing." After dinner Thing 1 reminded me that I had the peaches in my bag and we all ate them for dessert.

What a special treat this was. I read local food blogs all the time and I love the spirit behind supporting your community's food. I love the connection to regionality and where one is on the earth that comes from eating local and indigenous foods. But to me in New York City, eating local means eating foods that were grown 100 miles north in Columbia County, in Northern New Jersey or Long Island. There is alot of amazing food that comes out of these places, but it is not exactly my backyard. It is unfortunate that the patch of earth that feels my footprints every day will likely never sustain me.

There are a few people who have windowsill herb gardens. I know of some friends that are planting some veggie plants in pots in quiet, out of the way outdoor places. There are a couple of community gardens in the city, and there are some very cool people working on a whole roof top farm in Brooklyn. The interest in Urban Farming is growing in our community, but in the borough of Manhattan it is different. Most buildings do not have any outdoor space, and of those that do, most of them are paved areas in the back of the building with little light because of adjacent buildings. I am fortunate that my building has a full backyard and shrubs and a flower garden, but I share this garden with about 1000 other people and I can't just go and rip up the ground for my own personal use. We would all have to agree that that is what we want to do. Our roof is off limits because of liability and insurance issues, but somehow I am going to find a way to have a tomato plant next year...without pissing off my neighbors...I will just have to keep at it and think of a way.

So to sit with the kids on a lovely cool evening with the windows open and a breeze coming in, and eat peaches grown and serendipitously found in Washington Heights, well it was sublime. For us in the concrete maze we call home, to eat from this land is especially sweet.