Results tagged “communitysupportedagriculture”

Earlier this year, vintners Paul Wegimont and Greg Sandor opened Bridge Urban Winery, an offshoot of their North Fork vineyard. Nestled by the Williamsburg Bridge in a blossoming artisanal corridor that includes Marlow & Sons and Diner, their sleek yet cozy wine bar specializes in strictly New York State wine, as well as food pairings prepared with all locally-sourced ingredients.

Photo courtesy of Daily Candy.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bicyclist was struck on 72nd St. and Park Ave. in Manhattan, shots were fired on Halsey St. in Brooklyn, and there was a suspicious death at Mary Immaculate Hospital in Queens.
• A dozing violinist awoke to jump onto an arriving subway train at the Clark St. station, but left his valuable "Scarampella" violin on the platform in Brooklyn. Have you seen it? UPDATE: the violin was turned into the MTA's lost and found. It's a July 4th miracle!
• The nocturnal cat-eating New Jersey chupacabra. Pet owners beware!
• The Gowanus Lounge notes the quick vandalism and destruction of a new bus shelter in Gerritsen Beach.
• The next time a developer decides to renovate a brownstone or an apartment building, we hope they can spare some time to do something like Houston's Tunnel House.
• A guide to Community Supported Agriculture in NYC, connecting farmers with New York residents.
• The city will cut the number of pedicabs allowed on New York's streets from 500 to 325 this fall.

At the farmer’s market you’re entranced. The stalls swell with the season’s natural bounty—corn, tomatoes, peaches, peppers—all the foods that taste right only when eaten at this time of year. You buy pounds and lug the harvest home. But as the shortening days slip by, those special $2 bags of veggies risk going to rot in your fridge. It’s enough to make a gourmet’s heart sink. What do you do? Can it. That’s what some people in the city are learning to do. It may seem like a lost art, but canning could be coming into a revival. “Putting up” food has an old-fashioned homey appeal, not unlike that of knitting, another noble homestead craft that has spurred a recent craze. This summer the Unitarian Church in Brooklyn Heights threw a couple “jam sessions,” and the Park Slope CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) group gave a tutorial for members last week. If you’re a believer in the importance of buying locally, canning gives you a way to have your cake and eat it too. Stock up on berries now, cook them into jam, and eat them in January without any guilt. Preserving food at home can even feel a little revolutionary in this era when industrially produced food is the norm.

Today's New York Times Dining & Wine section sounds the death knell for the Bronx Terminal Market, once a thriving hub of trade in locally-grown produce. Squeezed out of the wholesale market by cheaper, more plentiful imports and lower transportation costs, and too big to profitably tour the Greenmarket circuit, many of the region's medium- to large-scale farmers are on the out-and-out. And discontent has been simmering in the food world over the declining quality and ethics of the Greenmarket system. What's a New Yorker who cares about fresh food and supporting local farmers to do?