Mushrooms saving the world(maybe not as we know it)

Paul Stamets on 6 ways mushrooms can save the world

Squash Blossoms!!!

Zucchini flowers, fiori di zucca, flores de calabasa . . . whatever you want to call them they are now in season at Windfall!

This July's issue of La Cucina Italiana magazine features some fantastic summer recipes including a number for squash blossoms. Some of these recipes can get involved, but, as with most fresh vegetables, simple preparation is delicious (we like to sauté them in butter with eggs).

They'll be in season until the first frost in the fall. So, come by the stand and get some!

Windfall Produce in print

If you shop at our stand, you know how beautiful and vibrant our produce is, not to mention its so damn flavorful. Many photographers purchase our greens and other produce to use in their photos shoots. One such customer, Margarette Adams, brought it to our attention the other day that our wild edibles were used for a Whole Living-Body & Soul magazine article.

Lucy's Greenmarket Report

Since 1994, long before blogs were called blogs, Lucy Wollin has been reporting on the Union Square Greenmarket through her website, Lucy's Greenmarket Report. Stylishly featured here with a box of Windfall's edible flower mix, Lucy gives morning updates featuring a selection of what can be found at the market that day. Her love of Greenmarket traces back to 1976 when the market first opened and she became a regular shopper there. 

Full disclosure: Lucy was my high school librarian and can research the sh*t out of any variety of heirloom tomato

There's no such thing as an Organic Twinky

I recently spent an afternoon with a friend who is moving away from NYC, he took this photo.
I couldn't help but hear Morse in my head, "even organic Twinkies!", as part of his lecture on the USDA's Organic standards.
Well this wasn't even one of the "natural" attempts at junk food, and it tasted horrible.

reminder, eat your greens!

Not Eating Out in New York

We don't want to be responsible for propagating a nasty rumor, but there's been some chatter about a downturn in the economy. We feel it's our duty - nay, our mission to give some insight into weathering this financial sh#t storm. No time like the present to acquire a few practical skills in the kitchen and gain insight into alternative foraging.  To put it another way, expect to be dining out much less in order to survive this next Great Depression.  

Sadly, many New Yorkers' home ec. skills don't go beyond programming their microwaves. Fortunately, for some time, a few wise, souls have been living within their means and, oddly enough, eating better than most. One of them is Cathy Erway, the creator of NotEatingOutInNewYork.com, a great resource for anyone seeking a more frugal, healthy, inspiring and delicious diet. The site goes beyond simply providing recipes for home cooking, offering local food-related events, shopping tips and philosophy for tough times ahead. Of course, there is a large "locally grown" aspect to the website and buying fresh and local is an easy way to begin your budget cramped culinary adventure. 

With some signs of Spring (finally!), plants are starting to grow outside again at Windfall and we're looking forward to a great season. We want you to know that preparing meals does not need to be long and involved, especially when the food is fresh. Local, fresh vegetables are not only healthier, but they taste better because their sugar levels are much higher than starchy vegetables bread for long-distance travel. In fact, Windfall's salad greens are so flavorful that many eat them with little or no dressing. It's faster, cheaper, healthier and tastier than the alternatives.

One disclaimer: we are not advocating that you never eat out. There is a glut of wonderful restaurants in New York and one would be hard pressed not to eat out over the course of the week. However, we do hope that your chef's commitment to locally sourcing food on the menu plays a role in considering your choice of restaurant. 

Retrovore on Windfall Farms

There is a relatively new podcast site called Retrovore.com: The Union Square Market Report. Its producers recently recorded a couple of us at the Windfall market stand. The site's subtitle states "weekly news you can use from the New York City Union Square Greenmarket." It's the best produced material on the farmers market that I've come across on the web. On the site you can learn about farmers that don't use any chemicals, including "organic" ones, in their growing process. You can also subscribe to the Retrovore podcast from iTunes and get the full audio and visual experience!

CONSTRUCTION UPDATE

The ongoing construction in Union Square has temporarily displaced us to 15th St and Un Sq West.

This google photo is probably from last summer. So, if you come to Greenmarket, not only will you not see leaves on the trees, you'll find construction fencing along the West side of the Square from 15th to 17th Street. It might take a full minute of searching to find us: we have a bright green bus and cozy heated enclosure.

Click for the Greenmarket link to current maps of what farms are where for each market day (Wed & Sat for us).

Tired From Holiday Meals

Mybe you ate too much for the holidays and just want to relax like Draggin' here.
If not, you'll find the Windfall stand in Union Square this Saturday and New Year's Eve at our usual location!
Because of the Union Square renovation, we will be moved to another location, in the park, in the coming weeks. But don't worry we'll let you know, plus we'll have that beacon of a green bus!

Obama's Secretary of Food-from NY TImes

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

Published: December 10, 2008

As Barack Obama ponders whom to pick as agriculture secretary, he should reframe the question. What he needs is actually a bold reformer in a position renamed “secretary of food

A Department of Agriculture made sense 100 years ago when 35 percent of Americans engaged in farming. But today, fewer than 2 percent are farmers. In contrast, 100 percent of Americans eat.

Renaming the department would signal that Mr. Obama seeks to move away from a bankrupt structure of factory farming that squanders energy, exacerbates climate change and makes Americans unhealthy — all while costing taxpayers billions of dollars.

“We’re subsidizing the least healthy calories in the supermarket — high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated soy oil, and we’re doing very little for farmers trying to grow real food,” notes Michael Pollan, author of such books as “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and “In Defense of Food.”

The Agriculture Department — and the agriculture committees in Congress — have traditionally been handed over to industrial farming interests by Democrats and Republicans alike. The farm lobby uses that perch to inflict unhealthy food on American children in school-lunch programs, exacerbating our national crisis with diabetes and obesity.

But let’s be clear. The problem isn’t farmers. It’s the farm lobby — hijacked by industrial operators — and a bipartisan tradition of kowtowing to it.

I grew up on a farm in Yamhill, Ore., where my family grew cherries and timber and raised sheep and, at times, small numbers of cattle, hogs and geese. One of my regrets is that my kids don’t have the chance to grow up on a farm as well.

Yet the Agriculture Department doesn’t support rural towns like Yamhill; it bolsters industrial operations that have lobbying clout. The result is that family farms have to sell out to larger operators, undermining small towns.

One measure of the absurdity of the system: Every year you, the American taxpayer, send me a check for $588 in exchange for me not growing crops on timberland I own in Oregon (I forward the money to a charity). That’s right. The Agriculture Department pays a New York journalist not to grow crops in a forest in Oregon.

Modern confinement operations are less like farms than like meat assembly lines. They are dazzlingly efficient in some ways, but they use vast amounts of grain, as well as low-level antibiotics to reduce infections — and the result is a public health threat from antibiotic-resistant infections.

An industrial farm with 5,000 hogs produces as much waste as a town with 20,000 people. But while the town is required to have a sewage system, the industrial farm isn’t.

“They look profitable because we’re paying for their wastes,” notes Robert P. Martin, executive director of the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production. “And then there’s the cost of antibiotic resistance to the economy as a whole.”

One study suggests that these large operations receive, in effect, a $24 subsidy for each hog raised. We face an obesity crisis and a budget crisis, and we subsidize bacon?

The need for change is increasingly obvious, for health, climate and even humanitarian reasons. California voters last month passed a landmark referendum (over the farm lobby’s furious protests) that will require factory farms to give minimum amounts of space to poultry and livestock. Society is becoming concerned not only with little boys who abuse cats but also with tycoons whose business model is abusing farm animals.

An online petition that can be found at www.fooddemocracynow.org calls for a reformist pick for agriculture secretary — and names six terrific candidates, such as Chuck Hassebrook, a reformer in Nebraska. On several occasions in the campaign, Mr. Obama made comments showing a deep understanding of food issues, but the names that people in the food industry say are under consideration for agriculture secretary represent the problem more than the solution.

Change we can believe in?

The most powerful signal Mr. Obama could send would be to name a reformer to a renamed position. A former secretary of agriculture, John Block, said publicly the other day that the agency should be renamed “the Department of Food, Agriculture and Forestry.” And another, Ann Veneman, told me that she believes it should be renamed, “Department of Food and Agriculture.” I’d prefer to see simply “Department of Food,” giving primacy to America’s 300 million eaters.

As Mr. Pollan told me: “Even if you don’t think agriculture is a high priority, given all the other problems we face, we’re not going to make progress on the issues Obama campaigned on — health care, climate change and energy independence — unless we reform agriculture.”

Your move, Mr. President-elect.

Check out comments to this peice at NYTimes

Petition for Michael Pollan for Agriculture Secretary

Sign this petition.  More about it in our previous post.

Hey, Obama!

Michael Pollan's essay to the next President about the future of food, "Farmer in Chief", appeared in the New York Times Magazine (Oct. 9, 2008 issue). If you have time to read the whole article, you really should. Otherwise, here is a quote:

There are many moving parts to the new food agenda I’m urging you to adopt, but the core idea could not be simpler: we need to wean the American food system off its heavy 20th-century diet of fossil fuel and put it back on a diet of contemporary sunshine. True, this is easier said than done — fossil fuel is deeply implicated in everything about the way we currently grow food and feed ourselves. To put the food system back on sunlight will require policies to change how things work at every link in the food chain: in the farm field, in the way food is processed and sold and even in the American kitchen and at the American dinner table. Yet the sun still shines down on our land every day, and photosynthesis can still work its wonders wherever it does. If any part of the modern economy can be freed from its dependence on oil and successfully resolarized, surely it is food.

This isn't pie-in-the-sky philosphizing (our farm's practice of diverse, sustainable agriculture is a good example of what Pollan is describing). Fossil fuel-based fertilizer and sprays have no place on the farm. Maybe Obama should consider Pollan for Secretary of Agriculture!

Pumpkins are a gourd-like squash, but not all Squash are Pumpkins

With Halloween next week, remember to swing by the stand and grab a pumpkin from us!
As usual they're grown with no pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, or chemical fertilizers. You wouldn't want a poisoned jack-o-lantern. Think about all those seeds inside that are excellent roasted. We're selling the small ones at $3 each, or 2 for $5. Larger pumpkins for $10. Considering the local bodega in Manhattan is probably asking 20 bucks a piece, surprise, our stand is a bargain.

With the cooler weather our salad greens, lettuce, and root veggies are tasting incredible. Swing by and see us!
Every Wednesday & Saturday 8am-6pm
16th St & Union Square West

Our First Frost-Coming Soon

This is what we may wake up to at the farm, Monday morning. Morse took this photo in October 2003, and surely it will be repeated in the near future. Fall is officially here and with it comes cooler weather.

Squash blossoms, squash, tomatoes, basil, and other warm weather produce will be replaced with carrots, radishes, potatoes, turnips and more in the coming weeks.

"Some things better, others won't exist...Greens become sweeter." Morse
Pitts, October 2nd

Lettuces, kale and salad greens become heartier and even more tasty. Semposi a leafy green similar to a collard, yet sweeter and more tender, is a really good cooking green thats in season. We just sauteed some in our eggs for todays late breakfast!

Corazon taste-testing Semposi leaves that we used for our meal.

Kermit the Bus

Morse and I (and Elmo) drove down in the new bus on Saturday, aptly named Kermit for its color. The new bus will be another experiment in alternative fuels and will also run on biodiesel. We produce the fuel on the farm with a Neely Green Solutions kit with used veggie oil from many of our restaurant customers. We hope to have more success with this vehicle, after discovering the previous bus has a sensor that rejects the Biodiesel.
This bus is slightly bigger than the last which means a different setup in our usual location at the Greenmarket. Morse's favorite feature being the wheelchair lift in the rear door, while I like the prospects for the internal/external PA system! Can't you hear "Buy 2 Get 1 Free!" coming from it already?!
At Loren's encouragement we took some portraits of everyone working the stand that day in front of our new friend.

Mexican Sour Gherkins

Those little cucumbers are back in season. Learn about them from last year's New York Magazine article . . .

Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes and Arugula Recipe - NYTimes July 22, 2007

This recipe caught my attention.  If you visit our farm stand at the Union Square Greenmarket, you will find a choice selection of tomatoes in season for the next couple of months.  Arugula is also available - we try to grow it year-round.  The "wild" arugula (or sylvetta arugula) is actually out of season for us, but I challenge you to tell the difference in flavors.  FYI - we read from outlets other than The New York Times website, but this was too good to pass-up. Enjoy!

Squash Blossoms in the NYTimes-Summer2006

Squash Blossom season is peaking, again, at Windfall Farms. They'll be available every Wednesday and Saturday until we get our first frost, which is a far off thought considering the hot and humid days we are enduring. Here's the link from the NY Times Food Section regarding the Blossoms, it's still pertinent 2 years later.
In addition to the restaurants listed in the article, I suggest heading to Casellula. I ate their stuffed blossoms last summer and my mouth has been watering for them ever since!

Squash Blossom Recipes from Windfall

Stuffed Squash Blossoms

• 1/2 cup ricotta cheese, goat, or fresh mozzarella
• 8 squash with blossoms intact
• 1-2 eggs, beaten
• ¾ cup white flour
• ¾ cup cornmeal
• Oil for deep frying
• Salt and pepper

Gently open the end of the squash blossom and fill approximately one tsp of cheese in center.

Twist top of flower closed and dust with white flour

Dip in egg and then roll into cornmeal

Deep fry

Sprinkle with salt and pepper if desired

Serve immediately

Filling for Quesadillas

• 1 TBS vegetable oil
• 1 ½ TBS chopped white onion
• 1 garlic clove finely chopped
• 1 poblano chilie, charred, peeled seeded and stripped
• 4 ½ cups chopped squash blossoms
• 1 TBS chopped epazote
• salt to taste

Heat oil in frying pan, add onion and garlic and cook over medium heat for 1 minute.

Add the chilie strips and cook for 2 minutes.

Stir in squash blossoms and ssalt, cover pan and cook over medium heat, until the bulbous base of flower is tender. About 10 minutes.

If flowers are dry, add water. If they are juicy remove the lid. Mixture should be moist but not juicy,

Stir in epazote and cook for 3 more minutes.

Create quesadilla with Chihuahua cheese or cheddar and fresh tortillas.

Adapted from Diana Kennedy

Windfall Farms on Flickr

If you look around on the web, chances are you'll find people posting photos or
writing about you. Here's a flick I found recently of our Arugula, there is more at mrittenhouse, Daniele Bilton