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Building Community Through Food

Lindsay — Sun, 30 Mar 2014 00:21:01 +0000

This week, I stumbled into two great examples of how food brings people together. First, we scored some local grains (for free!) from a poster on a Yahoo listserve for local parents. Super! After a short trip and a nice conversation, we are the proud owners of two quarts of local oats and some helpful info on CSAs in the area. Not quite sure what we’re going to do with the oats, but I’m excited to experiment and look into a couple of new sources for local food.

The second happened through a fantastic Facebook group of the most supportive, humble, self-deprecating, other-cheering, hilarious, and generous community of women. For the last couple of months, I have been talking to some women about breastfeeding and our little ones’ reactions to food we eat. Finley seems to have had mild reactions to dairy and soy in my diet, so I’ve cut those out for the time being. One of the other women, however, has had to eliminate practically everything delicious and convenient. Boo! But hurray to her for soldiering on! She had a particularly tough week, so I offered to bake a treat that she could actually eat. No easy task, but fun for this food nerd. No eggs or dairy – not a big deal, since there’s a lot of info out there on modifying existing recipes for vegans. The biggest issue was avoiding corn. “Whatever, just don’t make corn bread,” you say. Ha! Did you know there’s corn in baking powder?? I didn’t. Luckily, the internet exists. Baking soda + cream of tartar = corn-free baking powder.

We had a lovely chat when I dropped off the bread and agreed to get together for a walking date later on. Yay for new friends!

I didn’t have any of the bread (which is based on another Joy the Baker recipe), because wheat and I aren’t getting along at the moment, but my mommy friend says it was delicious. It makes two loaves, so wrap one well and freeze it or give it away and make a new friend yourself.

Allergy-Sensitive Butternut Squash Bread

Makes 2 loaves

Amount	Ingredient	Preparation	Notes
3-3/4 cups	All purpose flour		Bulk
2 cups	Sugar		Bulk
2-1/4 tsp	Baking soda
1/2 tsp	Cream of tartar
1 tsp	Sea salt
1 tsp	Ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp	Ground cloves
1 pint	Butternut squash puree	Substitute 15-ounce can of pumpkin puree	Homemade from Red Fire Farm CSA
1 cup	Canola oil
1/3 cup	Maple syrup		Hollis Hills Farm
2 TBsp	Molasses	Blackstrap or regular

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare two loaf pans (8 x 4 x 3 inches) by lining with parchment paper – cut two strips of parchment paper about 8 inches wide and long enough to hang over the edges of the pans; crease into the corners of each pan to create a sling to lift out the baked bread. If you’re not concerned about allergens, you could grease and flour the pans instead (making sure to knock out the extra flour).

Whisk together the dry ingredients (including sugar, which is usually considered wet).

Whisk together the wet ingredients (add about 1/4 cup of water if you use commercial canned pumpkin).

Pour the wet ingredients onto the dry and mix just until combined. If you mix like crazy, you’ll develop the gluten in the flour and end up with tough bread.

Divide the batter equally between the prepared loaf pans and bake for about 1 hour (until a toothpick inserted in the center of each loaf comes out clean).

Cool in the pans for 10 minutes (20 if you didn’t use parchment paper). Remove from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack.

Field Trip! Strawberry Picking at Red Fire Farm

Lindsay — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 12:50:50 +0000

[Note: This should have been posted yesterday, but I ran into some technical issues.]

After days and days of rain (including a crazy thunderstorm yesterday and resulting power-outage), today was just fantastic. To take advantage of the beautiful weather, a friend and I headed up (over?) to Red Fire Farm to pick some strawberries. Our CSA includes some pick-your-own opportunities, so we went bonkers and got 8 quarts each. That’s enough for two batches of jam, some strawberry lemonade concentrate, and snacking. Yum yum yum!

We had a great time crouching over the rows and talking to the other pickers. I was surprised to see so many young ones, but I guess it is a great kid activity. I remember going with my mom. They were so proud every time they found a really nice one. As was I, to be honest. I understand why the farmers’ market strawberries are so expensive. It’s not hard, but it is a little tedious after awhile and I was tired after an hour of kneeling and hunching. I can’t imagine picking enough to sell!! If you’ve never picked strawberries before, give it a try. An hour or so is really fun! I would recommend sunscreen and a hat, though, since there’s absolutely no shade.

We also grabbed a few snow peas. I can’t wait to make this with them, but maybe with fresh sausage instead of salami.

Food Justice Community Challenge #1

Lindsay — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 20:09:21 +0000

Emily at Finicky Farmer issued a call to those of us involved in the Dark Days Challenge to find ways to help improve food justice in our locals. It’s easy for many of us to forget how privileged we are to be able to eat this way. Today, for example, it was snowing. Undeterred, Erik and I got in the car and drove to the (indoor) farmers’ market. It doesn’t sound like a big deal, but we were lucky to have:

A working car
No other obligations (like a job) on Saturday morning
No kids or the ability to pay for childcare, if we did have kids
A nearby year round farmers’ market
Cash – although many farmers’ markets take food stamps now, few of them take credit cards, making it difficult for those living on credit to afford to shop there
The knowledge to cook the sometimes “weird” food found at a farmers’ market, like parsnips and rutabagas, and to minimize meat and dairy, which tend to be pricey

I don’t automatically appreciate my situation yet, but it’s something I’m working toward. Emily gave several ideas of how we might go about this (here) and suggested all interested parties pick one to work on for a two week stretch. Wanting to find out more about our new area, Erik and I signed up to “identify one awesome group that enables equitable food access.”

After a little internet searching, we decided on Community Servings. Community Servings is a multifaceted organization providing:

Meal delivery to families and individuals with critical and chronic illnesses. Each meal is respectful of special dietary needs and cultural situations and is designed to promote healing
Nutrition care and education
Food service job training for those who face obstacles to entering the workforce
Culturally appropriate and nutritious meals to schools and other nonprofits that serve vulnerable populations (sold through their social enterprise to subsidize free services)
Access to local food to its neighbors through CSAs, local fish shares, a farmers’ market, and on-site herb garden.

Whew! That’s a lot! So, does it meet the criteria of the challenge? Yes! Is it “awesome”? Undoubtedly. Does it enable equitable food access? Certainly!

I’m really excited about this organization, so I think I’ll “work as an ally (i.e., supporting member) with that awesome group I identified” in the next round of the Community Challenge. Leave a comment if you’re interested in joining me!

Support Cayuga Pure Organics!

Erik — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 18:22:07 +0000

[UPDATE] We received a response from the GrowNYC; Cayuga stays!

Hello Erik.

Thank you for your email. I am happy to inform you that Cayuga Pure
Organic will remain at Union Square on Saturday.
This Saturday, look for them in the same location as last Saturday. You
will be able to find them on the northeast side of Union Square Park
beginning Saturday, April 16th.
They will also be at Union Square on Wednesday and Friday year round.

Thank you for shopping at Greenmarket.

Hooray!

——————————————————————–

The NYC Greenmarket (a program of GrowNYC) is taking away Cayuga Pure Organics’ spot at the Saturday Union Square market!

The Union Square Greenmarket has begun to expand again over the past two weeks after its winter hibernation, and the stated rationale is that they need to make room for sellers of fresh produce now that the weather is warming up. Cayuga will be welcomed back in the fall as the market shrinks again.

While we appreciate the fact that space is limited, and that sometimes tough decisions need to be made, we could NOT DISAGREE MORE with this decision. While we support their desire to offer as much fresh produce as possible, Cayuga is a truly unique vendor at the Greenmarket. They are one of only two vendors that sell locally grown and milled flour (of all types). They are the ONLY vendor that sells local beans and grains (again, a huge variety), as well as local oil that can be swapped in for olive oil, in the form of local sunflower oil. These local products can and should be made available year-round.

If you read EatLocal365 on a regular basis, you know that we frequently use products from Cayuga Pure Organics. In fact, if you search our site for “Cayuga”, two-thirds of our recipes show up in the results!

When they are available, we should all eat more leafy greens, fresh tomatoes, and all of the other great things that will be coming into season soon. However, that doesn’t mean that we won’t ever want to bake bread with local ingredients or sauté those leafy greens using local oil. If GrowNYC needs to find space for the summer months, there are better choices than sidelining the sole vendor of these types of products. Worst of all, Cayuga has one of the smallest footprints at the entire market, with a tiny stand and a small truck. GrowNYC could work with some of the larger vendors to carve out a small spot for them.

As of now, Cayuga will still be at the Union Square market on Wednesdays and Fridays, so they won’t be completely gone from the neighborhood. However, many people cannot make it to the market on weekdays, and for that reason Saturday is the most lucrative market day for vendors. Cayuga will no doubt take a hit in their business. For a business that is pretty much single-handedly trying to bring back local flour, grains, and beans to the NY area, that would be a shame. They need our support!

Call to Action:

Please send GrowNYC a message through their contact page (or call!). Feel free to use this text if you like:

Please reconsider the decision to take away Cayuga Pure Organic’s spot at the Saturday Union Square Greenmarket. As the only purveyors of local flour, grain, beans, and oil, they are a unique asset and we want their products to remain widely available through the Saturday market, year-round. While we understand the need to make decisions to allocate space at the market, please find an alternate solution!

Please Support Conuco Farm and Evolutionary Organics

Lindsay — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 01:41:36 +0000

This October, Conuco Farm and Evolutionary Organics were struck by a devastating fire, losing a season’s worth of storage crops, farm equipment, and personal belongings. Conuco Farm is the Community Supported Agriculture farmer for Bed-Stuy Farm Share. They have driven fresh produce to Bed-Stuy each week for 5 years. The Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood is a food desert (aka a low access area) and really benefits from having access to community supported agriculture. We’ll be attending the dinner on Tuesday, December 14th, and would love to see you there, too!

Make a donation to the farm directly here.

Auction at “A Year at Rooftop Farm” Exhibition
Friday, December 10, 2010, 8pm
6pm-11pm (auction begins at 8pm)
The Commons: 388 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
Check out a season of photographs of Eagle Street Rooftop Farm and do your holiday shopping at our auction! Live music, food & drinks.
Want to donate something to the auction? Contact bedstuycsa@gmail.com

Benefit Dinner at Palo Santo Restaurant
Sunday, December 12, 2010, 7pm
652 Union Street, Brooklyn, NY
$75 per person
Latin cuisine with wine pairings
Purchase ticket now

Benefit Dinner at iCi Restaurant
Tuesday, December 14, 2010, 7pm
246 Dekalb Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
$75 per person
Seasonal cuisine with beer & wine
Purchase tickets now

More information? www.conucofarm.blogspot.com, bestuycsa@gmail.com, or (718) 783-8443