Local Roots NYC

Fort Greene CSA to Start on June 20!

localrootsnyc — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:50:48 +0000

This summer, we will be offering food and farming education for campers at the Alamander Day Camp (it’s not to late to sign your kids up!) at the Brooklyn Free School in Fort Greene. Beyond learning about the local food system, the campers will learn interpersonal and career skills through helping us manage the CSA site.

The Fort Green CSA will take place at Alamander Day Camp located at 372 Clinton Ave. CSA distribution is on Thursdays from 3:00-5:30 and runs from June 20 – August 29th. Tell your Fort Greene family and friends! You can sign up on our website.

2 Year Anniversary Party

localrootsnyc — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 20:31:52 +0000

Last year, we broke open a carrot shaped pinata. This year, we’ve got 2 food themed pinatas filled with goodies from our artisanal CSA share: caramels from Liddabit Sweets, sweets from Ovenly, jerky from SlantShack, chips from McClure’s and deliciousness from Granola Lab! We’ll also have a station set up where you can decorate postcards to send to the Local Roots community such as our wonderful farmers and the staff at our pick up locations. Before the end of the night, grab a complimentary pint of beet wheat home brew and stop by our makeshift photo booth!

All are welcome to bring a home-baked dessert to share as well as joining in on the hootenanny, so don’t forget your instrument and be sure to invite all your bluegrass loving friends.

Festivities will begin at 7pm and we’ll crack open the pinatas at 8:30pm. If anyone would like to help out setting up or manning the photo booth during the night, please let us know by emailing localrootsnyc@gmail.com

Where: 61 Local in the Mezzanine, 61 Bergen Street
When: Monday, April 29th from 7 – 10pm
Cost: Free, please bring a dessert or instrument!

Pop Up Supper Club: Abandoned Bank Edition

localrootsnyc — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 22:57:47 +0000

In partnership with Untapped Cities, we will be co-hosting a series of supper clubs which will take place in undisclosed locations or those of historical interest. The menu, sourced from local farmers, will be curated based on the chosen locations.

First in this series will take place in the Abandoned Bank of Manhattan as a benefit for No Longer Empty, a non-profit whose core mission is to widen the public engagement for contemporary art, to promote the work of imaginative and socially-conscious artists by presenting high-caliber, site specific, public art exhibitions in the heart of communities.

The evening begins with cocktails in the Clock Tower followed by a brief tour of “How Much Do I Owe You?” exhibition. Then join Chef Will Griffin for a multi-course seated dinner that is followed by a special performance by Korean artist Hayoon Jay Lee. For more information and to purchase tickets, see here.

When: Saturday, March 16th at 7pm

Where: The Clock Tower at 29-27 41st Avenue

Subway: Queens Plaza or Queensboro Plaza

Cost: $125 (100% tax deductible)

Sweet Potatoes

localrootsnyc — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 16:42:45 +0000

Nutritional Facts: Sweet Potatoes are loaded with vitamins A, C and E. They have been recently reclassified as an “anti-diabetic” food along with being an anti-inflammatory and can protect against emphysema.

Cooking Tips: To make peeling them easier, you can plunge them in boiling water for a minute, then into cold water. To keep peeled raw Sweet Potatoes from browning, place them in cold water mixed with a bit of lemon juice until you need them, then drain.

Storing Tips: As with potatoes, do not store uncooked Sweet Potatoes in the refrigerator. They taste best when allowed to age for at least a month after harvesting (as sugar starts to form immediately afterward.)
Freezing: Wash. Boil, bake or steam until just about tender. Let stand until cool then peel. Mash, slice, or chop into chunks. Package and freeze. Optional: drizzle and toss cooked sweet potato with a small amount of lemon juice before freezing to prevent any darkening.

Sustainable Cooking Tips:
The following recipes is straight from George Washington Carver, a famous scientist who developed 118 products from sweet potatoes including glue for postage stamps and starch for sizing cotton fabrics.

FLOUR No. 1. FROM THE RAW POTATO
1. Wash, peel and slice the potatoes extremely thin.
2. Dry in the oven or dryer until the pieces are quite brittle
3. Grind very fine in a clean coffee mill, spice mill, or any type of mill that will make wheat flour or corn meal
4. Bolt through fine cloth in the same way as for other flours. The fine flour-like particles will pass through and the coarse granular meal left on the bolting cloths.

USES: This kind of flour is fine for making mock rye bread, ginger snaps, wafers, waffles, battercakes, custards, pies, etc. Bread can be made with it, but it makes a dough deficient in elasticity, bread dark in color, and a loaf which dries out quickly.

Week 7

The Special — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 01:26:38 +0000

Vegetables
Half: 1 kabocha squash, 1/4 lb arugula, 1/2 lb kale, 1 bunch scallions
Full: 2 kabocha squashes, 1/2 lb arugula, 1 lb kale, 2 bunches scallions

Fruit
Full and half shares will pick up next week

Artisanal

Caramels or Caramel Popcorn from Liddabit Sweets Bread
Full share picks up White or Swiss Health

Milk
Full shares pick up 1/2 gallon Creamline or Low Fat
*Please remember your requested variety.

Juice
Half: 1 32oz
Full: 2 32oz

Egg
Full shares pick up one dozen eggs

Meat
Full and half shares pick up next week (every other week)

Cheese
Full and half shares pick up next week (every other week)

Week 6

The Special — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 23:29:10 +0000

Vegetables
Half: 2 lbs beets or turnips, 2 lbs onions, 1 lb potatoes, 1/2 lb spinach, 1/4 lb mesculin mix
Full: 4 lbs beets or turnips, 4 lbs onions, 2 lbs potatoes, 1 lb spinach, 1/2 lb mesculin mix

Fruit
Half: 3 lbs apples
Full: 6 lbs apples

Artisanal
1 jame from Anarchy in a Jar: choice between Peachy Keen with Lemon Verbena, Sugar Plum FAiry with Shiso and Ice Wine or Morello Cherry Jame with Anise Hyssop

Bread
Full and half shares pick up 4 sandwich rolls: choice between ciabatta square, focaccia rounds, and onion pockets

Milk
Full and half shares pick up 1/2 gallon Creamline or Low Fat
*Please remember your requested variety.

Juice
Half: 1 32oz
Full: 2 32oz

Egg
Full and half shares pick up one dozen eggs

Meat
Half: 1 pack lamb stew, 1 steak: choice between NY Strip or Rib Eye
Full: 2 packs lamb stew, 2 steaks: choice between NY Strip or Rib Eye

Cheese
Dorset
Half: 1 wedge
Full: 2 wedges

Week 5

The Special — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 01:17:02 +0000

Week 5

Vegetables
Half: 1/2 lb. dried black beans, 1 lb. carrots or parsnips, 1 lb. kale, 1 bunch scallions, 1 bunch parsley
Full: 1 lb. dried black beans, 2 lbs. carrots or parsnips, 2 lbs. kale, 2 bunches scallions, 2 bunches parsley

Fruit
Full and half shares will pick up next week

Artisanal
Full shares will be picking up cookies and short bread from Ovenly, based in Greenpoint.

Bread
Full share picks up Beer Bread or Raisin Pumpernickel

Milk
Full shares pick up 1/2 gallon Creamline or Low Fat
*Please remember your requested variety.

Juice
Half: 1 32oz
Full: 2 32oz

Egg
Full shares pick up one dozen eggs

Meat
Full and half shares pick up next week (every other week)

Cheese
Full and half shares pick up next week (every other week)

Beans of Love

localrootsnyc — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 18:09:42 +0000

Next week’s CSA share includes dried black beans. Not only are they nutritious and delicious, but they’ve got a wonderful story behind them. The variety is called Beans of Love: a name coined by a young woman who worked on Rogowski Farm a couple years back.

Cheryl Rogowski started growing dried beans about 10 years ago – over 20 varieties, which over time reduced to a few varieties. The original black bean varieties were coco, valentine and turtle. She began saving these seeds at this time so today, the varieties that they continue to grow have been acclimatized to their soil and micro climate. At that time when the fall rains would come, Cheryl didn’t have a lot of work for the farmers but needed to keep them working until Thanksgiving. She realized that the beans would provide work for her farmers throughout the fall when weather did not permit them to work outside. The beans could be harvested, thrashed, and cleaned by hand.

In 2011 Hurricane Irene wiped out a five acre planting and they originally thought they had lost all of the beans they had been saving, ones that had taken them ten years to perfect. As luck would have it, two chefs at the farm’s cafe brought forward beans each of them had stashed away for use in the kitchen and thanks to them, they are once able to plant the beans of love.

Week 4

The Special — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 23:33:20 +0000

Week 4

Vegetables
Half: 1/4 lb arugula, 1/4 lb mesculin mix, 1 lb broccoli, 1 head garlic, 2 sweet potatoes or 1 lb jerusalem artichokes
Full: 1/2 lb arugula, 1/2 mesculin mix, 2 lbs broccoli, 2 heads garlic, 4 sweet potatoes or 2 lbs jerusalem artichokes

Fruit
Half: 3 lbs Pink Lady & Cameo
Full: 6 lbs Pink Lady & Cameo

Artisanal
Full and Half shares will be picking up Gingerbread Stout Caramels or Dark Chocolate Honeycombs from Liddabit Sweets

Bread
Full and half shares pick up Rye Seeded or Pumpernickel

Milk
Full and half shares pick up 1/2 gallon Creamline or Low Fat
*Please remember your requested variety.

Juice
Half: 1 32oz
Full: 2 32oz

Egg
Full and half shares pick up one dozen eggs

Meat
Full and half shares pick up Short Ribs & Lamb Stew

Cheese
Rupert
Half: 1 wedge
Full: 2 wedges

Week 3

The Special — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 01:39:42 +0000

Vegetables

Half: 1 head of cabbage, 1 lb potatoes, 1lb carrots, 1 bunch leeks, 1/2 lb spinach
Full: 2 heads of cabbage, 2 lbs potatoes, 2 lbs carrots, 2 bunches leeks, 1 lb spinach

Fruit
Full and half shares will pick up next week

Artisanal
Granola from Granola Lab
Half: 1 bag
Full: 2 bags

Bread
Full share picks up Irish Soda or Grain

Milk
Full shares pick up 1/2 gallon Creamline or Low Fat
*Please remember your requested variety.

Juice
Half: 1 32oz
Full: 2 32oz

Egg
Full shares pick up one dozen eggs

Meat
Full and half shares pick up next week (every other week)

Cheese
Full and half shares pick up next week (every other week)