Thursday, August 26, 2010

Adventures in Farming

I haven't told my coworkers about my blog. Maybe one of these days I will come clean, but for now it is a private part of my life. I have told them about my CSA share. None of them had heard of a farm share before, and it was an intriguing concept to them. Most of them don't really cook, it is amazing how few people in NYC really do. I guess it could be blamed on small apartments with even smaller kitchens, so many good restaurants only steps away, or busy lives with long hours at work. Anyways, I always try to bring a homemade lunch to work, so between that and the farm share, I'm really the odd woman out.

A couple of days after I mentioned my farm share, a coworker shared that he found a show on a new cable channel that featured the story of two former New Yorkers who moved upstate to try their hand at farming called The Fabulous Beekman Boys. He was telling me about their trials and tribulations and how much he enjoyed the show. I asked where they lived, but he couldn't remember. He happened to mention that there was a hotel close by. I asked if he could remember the name of the hotel. He answered, "The American Hotel." It turns out the show is set only about 20 miles from where I used to work, and I think I have driven down their road. What a coincidence?!?

I think this show and my coworker's interest in it reveal a growing interest in food, where it comes from, and getting back in touch with the land. There seem to be a fair number of books coming out on the topic. Last weekend I noticed a sign in our neighborhood bookstore, McNally Jackson, that there would be a book reading today by Keith Stewart from It's a Long Road to a Tomato: Tales of an Organic Farmer Who Quit the Big City for the (Not So) Simple Life.


I had no expectations for the reading. I knew only the title of the book before going. It turns out that he sells his tomatoes, garlic and other organic vegetables at the Union Square Greenmarket on Wednesdays and Saturdays. He has been selling there for 24 years and is one of the longest running vendors. There were about 30 people in attendance, and many of them were his long-time customers. Keith shared some stories from the book about his transition from a corporate job in NYC to organic farmer in Orange County, NY at the age of 40. He was charming and entertaining, his New Zealand accent animating his humorous anecdotes. It was an evening well spent.

This post is part of Simple Lives Thursday at A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa, I'm Lovin' It Fridays at TidyMom, and Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade.

4 comments:

Sustainable Eats said...

Interesting! That's funny I've been calling this my mid-life crisis as well. I wonder how many of us are doing this around 40...Thanks for linking up to simple lives thursday!

xo, Sustainable Eats

Simply Life said...

that's great you were able to attend this!

Amanda said...

I've heard of that show you were talking about. I'm lucky, I live in a small town, it's a nice mix. It's a lake town, so it's touristy in the summer, and we are surrounded by farms. So i get my beef from my farmer friend, he lets me pick sweet corn and raspberries, and i get my turkey from him every year too. I can drive a quarter mile away and hit two or three roadside farm stands from people growing veggies in their backyard, and I even have a small herb and tomato garden outside my front door. A mile down the road is a huge apple orchard with big pumpkin patches and several miles away I can visit and pick from a big strawberry farm. I LOVE it and I love that you are bringing harvest into your workplace, even if you are the odd woman out :) You go girl!

Diana Bauman said...

You are so right, more people are starting to be more attentive to where our food comes from and it's so wonderful to see so many more people going back to the land! What a fun post to read. Thanks so much for sharing on Simple Lives Thursday :D

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