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.

Week 11

This week's share marks a turning point. We got our first tomatoes and sweet corn through the farm share. A very exciting development! We immediately started plotting delicious ways to prepare them.


This week we will be enjoying corn, tomatoes, onions, wax beans, garlic, yellow cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, rainbow chard and zucchini from our CSA share.


At the end of the day, we headed over to the Union Square Greenmarket to see if there were any bargains to round out the vegetables from this week's share. We did quite well. We picked-up some tomatillos, peppers, cucumbers, cabbage, sage and blackberries. I'm going to try my hand at making some sauerkraut from the small cabbages. I realize it will be a small yield, but I see this as a test run for when cabbages really come into season in another month or so.

Week 7

This week's share looks skimpier than previous deliveries, but it has a nice variety. We will be enjoying bok choy, cucumbers, kale, carrots, summer squash, zucchini, lettuce, kohlrabi and scapes.


We went to the Union Square Greenmarket to round out our veggies. While we have been eating a lot of vegetables since starting the share, I don't feel like we have gotten much variety. We have eaten a lot of greens, radishes and salad turnips, and I'm ready for something new. Last week, I went to a reading by Leda Meredith on her book, The Locavore’s Handbook: A Busy Person’s Guide to Eating Local on a Budget. One of her tips for saving money was to get to the farmers' market at the end of the day when farmers are packing up and sell things at a discounted rate. We decided to try it out. I felt a little bit like a cast member from Gleaners, but the deals were incredible. A pint of blueberries, a beautiful big bunch of basil, and green beans were each only $1! We came home with a bargain shopping high.


We also got some little baby eggplants at the greenmarket. I had just seen a recipe earlier in the day for Eggplant Caviar in an old issue of Real Simple. I loved the name and the recipe, so we gave it a try. We didn't have all the ingredients, so I made some adjustments. Here is my version of the recipe:

Eggplant Caviar inspired by Real Simple
4 baby eggplants or 1 eggplant, peeled and chopped
2 scallions, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 T olive oil
1 T apple cider vinegar

Saute the eggplant until very tender. Combine the ingredients and smash with a fork to break up the eggplant. Enjoy with bread or pita.

The version I actually prepared was too heavy on scallions, so I have adjusted the quantity. I only coarsely chopped them and they were a bit chewy, so I have adjusted the directions to finely chopped. Because of this, yours will look a bit different from my photo.

Week 6

We woke up with a lot of vegetables still in the fridge, and it was already time for another farm share pick-up. I decided to make a breakfast chock full of veggies. I steamed a bunch of kohlrabi greens (very similar to kale) and one of radish greens until they were tender. In the meantime, I chopped up 7 garlic scapes. I sauteed the scapes and once they were tender, added the greens. I spread them out in the pan and added 4 beaten eggs. I cooked them until they started to firm up around the edges (about 8-10 minutes). Sprinkled some soft goat cheese over the top and placed it under the broiler for 3-4 minutes. You can see in the photo it looks like greens with a little bit of egg, but it was really good. We enjoyed it with some bread from the Sullivan St. Bakery. Mmm, better than eating out.

After breakfast, we headed over to the Union Square Greenmarket where we made a beeline for some of our favorite stalls. We picked up a loaf of the whole wheat multi-grain bread from Our Daily Bread Bakery. I should consider branching out and trying something else, but this is just soooo good that we have gotten it for the last 3 times. We headed over to Elk Trails Bison, and we picked out some bison stew meat and beef livers. I love these farmers. They wouldn't sell us the stew meat until we promised not to brown it first. We promised, and were sent on our way with some crock pot instructions for the stew meat. We got some eggs from Northshire Farm in Herkimer Co, and had a lovely chat with the farmer. We learned that he's been making the trek from West Winfield, NY to NYC for 17 years. My husband grew up not far away, so we know that drive well. Picked up some milk from Milk Thistle Farm, grabbed some peaches and headed on our way.

After the farmers' market, we walked over to pick-up our CSA share. Here's the photo of this week's loot:

This week we will be enjoying summer squash, zucchini, purple and green kohlrabi, bok choy, fennel, lettuce, mustard greens, salad turnips, radishes and garlic scapes plus the leftovers from last week.

Stay tuned to learn how we do on eating our way through all of these vegetables.