Fruit Share Update

Several of you have asked, so we thought we'd post an answer: we do plan on having a fruit share available again for 2010, though we haven't yet worked out the details.

There were some concerns from members about our partner last year, Breezy Hill Orchard, mostly stemming from miscommunication early in the season. We've been in touch with them about those issues, and recently received this note from Breezy Hill's Elizabeth Ryan:

Hi, I am writing to touching base about our CSA program this year. As you know, last year was our first ever experience with CSAs, and it was a quite rocky. It took us a while to get a grip on the whole thing, and as it turned out, it was also a pretty challenging year in terms of the weather, The rain was unprecedented, there were actually only 4 days in June that did not rain., and that was only the beginning of some pretty challenging weather. We wanted to reach out to you to get an understanding of whether you want to work together this year.

We learned a lot last year. We will be making some very substantial changes in our CSA's this year. There will be significantly more summer fruit, more diversity, better communication and hopefully it will be a successful year. We have spent the last several months working through the successes and challenges of last year, and have had some very helpful conversations and feedback from CSA members and lots of great advice from other CSA farmers. We also have taken on another wonderful farm with lots of cherries,peaches, plums, and apricots,

We have a full time CSA coordinator this year, Anne Matos Diaz. We will be expanding the variety of the weekly shares, we heard a lot that the early season quantities were too small, and the members wanted more diversity of fruit on a weekly basis. We think we can do that. We will also be hosting a CSA blog so that member can have a better idea of what's ripe and ready each week.

Probably our most important innovation will be a discount program so that our CSA members can get an ongoing discount in the farmers markets. I am hoping to meet personally if possible at the beginning of the season with each CSA to be sure that we are all on the same page, and to answer questions in person. We have drafted a brochure that we will be handing out at the Just Food meetings, We want to be sure that the expectations on the part of the members are line with what is realistic from a production point of view. We also hope that CSA members will take advantage of the opportunity to visit our beautiful orchards more this year.

We will also be offering the egg and pasta shares again, that was pretty straight forward.

Please let me know, of course feel free to forward this to anyone who you think should get it,

with best regards,
Elizabeth Ryan

Community Gardens Forum

The New York City Community Gardens Coalition (NYCCGC) holds an important forum on the future of New York's community gardens on Feb. 6 at the New School. From their flier:

In 2002, most community gardens were "saved" by a legal agreement. That agreement expires in September, 2010. After that, no city garden is "safe." United we will demand to know from our state and city representatives what is being done to make our community gardens permanent! All community gardeners and supporters need to be at this Forum!

If you're interested, you can get more info at their website,  and register for free here.

Community gardens are a bigger part of life above Houston St. than in our corner of the lower east side, but the principles NYCCGC fights for could affect the future of empty lots all around us.

2010 Registration Now Open for 2009 Members

Last year's members have just received an email with instructions for re-registering for the 2010 season. The deadline for re-registration is February 9, after which we will notify our wait list if there are shares still available for this year.

Raw Cooking Demo at Education Alliance

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

- serves 4 -

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.