Education Alliance is gearing up to do several joint events with Just Food, the great organization that brings CSA to NYC (and helped get us started up two years ago). The first one will be a raw cooking demonstration and tasting on February 9 with Stephanie Tourles, author of Raw Energy. See here for details.
2010 Registration Coming Soon
2009 CSA members will be receiving instructions for re-registration via email within the next week, and will have until Feb. 9 to commit to the new season.
After that, everyone on our wait list will be notified via email about how to register for 2010.
Farmers Dave and Julia have already let us know that we’ll have 10 more shares available for the new season, which means that we’ll have room for up to 20 new members.
We’ll keep this site updated with registration information over the next couple months while we fill up our roster.
LES Food Co-Op Meeting
Brian Crowley from Hillman and Danny Rosenthal from Education Alliance are convening a second general meeting of community members interested in starting a food co-op in our neighborhood. This initiative is still in its earliest stages. Anyone at all interested is welcome to attend, get some more information, and figure out how to be involved.
Pasta with Parsnips and Bacon
For all those storage parsnips languishing in the back of your frige and that wonderful Woodbridge Farm bacon because, as Nick Kindelsperger observes
‘ … the fundamental property of the original Babbo dish remains the same: parsnips cooked in pork fat taste really good. They come out slightly sweet with a luscious, creamy texture. Whatever you do, don’t mess with that.’
This dish is from Babbo via Epicurious via Serious Eats: New York.
Pasta with Parsnips and Bacon
Ingredients
1/4 pound bacon or pancetta, chopped into 1/4 inch dice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 pounds parsnips, peeled, quartered lengthwise, and cut crosswise 1/4-inch-thick
8 ounces pasta (fresh pasta if you have it)
1/4 cup chopped parsley
Salt and pepper
Serve with: Grated parmesan
Procedure
1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Meanwhile, add the chopped bacon to a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook until the bacon is browned, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and let drain on a couple paper towels. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat.
2. Turn the heat to medium and add the butter to skillet with the bacon fat. Add the parsnips and cook for about 12 minutes, stirring often. They should be lightly browned and very tender. Turn off the heat.
3. Cook pasta according to the directions on the box to al dente. When done, reserve 2 cups of the cooking water and then add the pasta directly to the skillet with the parsnips. Turn heat to high and add about 1 1/2 cups of the cooking water, the bacon, and the parsley. Cook for 1 minute, stirring often. Add more of the cooking water if it looks too dry. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Mulch Your Christmas Tree
NYC Parks & Recreation sponsors MulchFest 2010 — instead of throwing your tree in the trash, drag it over to Corlears Hook Park on Saturday and Sunday, January 9 and 10, between 10am and 2pm. They’ll be collecting trees to chip down for mulch throughout the city’s parks.
Update: Apparently NYC Sanitation Dep’t is collecting trees this year for mulch as well, from Jan. 4 through Jan. 15. Just leave the tree out on the curb for regular pickup, with no ornaments, stands, or bags. (There had been talk in the fall of suspending this program for budgetary reasons, but apparently it’s been restored.)
Join the Core
The core group does the basic admin work of the CSA — signing up new members, arranging distribution, creating special events, etc. In addition, there is a core member at each distribution shift during the season, which last year meant six volunteer shifts for each core member, as opposed to the usual two.
But specific responsibilities can vary depending on each member’s interests and availability. If you’re at all interested in participating in the CSA in a more constructive way, please join us for our first 2010 planning session on Jan. 13.
New Amsterdam Wintermarket
Blizzard? Schblizzard! The New Amsterdam Wintermarket will be open as planned:
Sunday, December 20
Wintermarket
on South Street in Lower Manhattan
Between Beekman Street and Peck Slip
11:00am to 4:00pm
They have a pretty great set of vendors, dedicated to regional suppliers, sourced directly from farmers … all the things you love about CSA, with even more variety.
WH.gov: Planting the Winter Garden
Lovely, cheesy video about the White House garden getting covered for winter crops:
Pork Delivery this Saturday
Woodbridge Farm will be delivering pork shares again to the city this
coming Saturday. For those of you who missed out last time or need
another share (!) please email Dave and Julia to let them know:
The Mini Share is $150 and is roughly 17lbs of pork consisting of
bacon, sausage, ham, chops, ribs, shoulder.
Distribution will be at Roots & Vines (409 Grand St between Suffolk St
& Clinton St) from 3:30 to 6:00.
Happy Holidays!
Window Farms
Moira came across this site about Window Farms — the idea is to grow food inside your own apartment, like some urban, indoor, modern wonder of the world.
Some of you probably already grow some herbs inside, or have a potted plant or two. The problem, as with everything else in the city, is finding enough floor space for everything you want to grow. So here’s a good vertical solution.
If you register for their forum, you can download a PDF with D-I-Y instructions. (They’re also trying to put some kits together, but they don’t seem to have these available yet.)
Let us know in the comments below if you have any other innovative ways of farming indoors.