Union Square Mondays

Since the year-round Brooklyn Greenmarkets are only open Tuesdays & Saturdays, I’ve been hitting the Union Square Greenmarket the past few Mondays. The set-up there is a little different right now due to some construction going on off of Union Square West. For the most up-to-date list of producers, swing by the CENYC tent & grab a map detailing who’s there on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. This list will help you plan for future trips but may be updated when more producers return in the springtime. If you decide to go to Union Square on a Monday, you will find: Bread Alone, Patches of Star Dairy, Greener Pastures, Buon Pane, D&J Organic, Red Jacket Orchards, Central Valley Farm, Martin’s Pretzels, Body & Soul Began Bakery, Madura Farm, Queens County Farm Museum, Berkshire Berries, Troncillito Farm, NY Beef Co, Tello’s Green Farm, Healthway Farms, and Race Farm.

During my first walk through, the greens at Hydrogarden Farm, D&J Organic caught my eye. I paid $6.00 for 1/4th of a pound of baby spinach and frisee. I was too excited by the thought of the greens and decided to splurge. My next stop was at Patches of Star Dairy for goat cheese. Their goat cheese is so smooth and creamy that it needs little else to be enjoyed. They also have ice cream but it might be until summer before I get up the nerve to try it. I also picked up half a dozen eggs at Central Valley Farm. 

Queens County Farm at Union Square Mondays

I was almost headed home until I spotted the Queens Country Farm Museum’s stand. I had no idea they were at the Greenmarket, and as of right now they only have a stand there on Mondays. What really caught my eye were the free samples of hot tomato soup being handed out on a really cold day of walking around outside. The soup was made from the farm’s frozen Brandywine tomatoes. Other notable edibles included: fresh local eggs, microgreens, broccoli sprouts, and honey.

 

Herbs and Microgreens and Honey

 

And now for a bit of history. The Queens Farm can be traced back to 1697 with only eight owners of the farm since then. The museum opened in 1975 and became a historic landmark in 1979. For more information on the farm, check out their website www.queensfarm.org where you learn more about events starting up in the spring, renting out the farm, educational programs, sustainable agriculture, and more.

Tomato Soup

Make sure to stop by their booth the next time you’re in the neighborhood for a tomato soup sample and to learn more about the farm’s historic origins. You will also now find pasture-raised heritage pork – could there be a better reason to go to Union Square.

Going green

The New York Times article “Praise the Lord and Green the Roof” reports on a group of unlikely trendsetters: Episcopal sisters going green. What was inspiring to me was the sisters’ devotion to local and sustainable eating. The sisters shop at farmer’s markets, pick up a produce share from Roxbury Farm at a neighboring church, and even compost their food detritus. The sisters are now working on a new green home which will be built in West Harlem.

This eco-conscious move underscores the correlation between knowing where your food comes from and knowing where your roof comes from. One green idea, shopping at your farmer’s market, leads to the next green idea: understanding your surroundings and registering the implications of consumption on a variety of levels. While I currently do not have the opportunity, like the sisters, to build a new green structure from ground up, I do have the opportunity to start with just a few, small green thoughts: carrying my own bags with which to shop at farmer’s markets, drinking tap water, consuming less in general but being more thoughtful when I do. Recycle your green thoughts here and share the ways in which you and your community are going green.