Union Square Market

Union Square Market is a terrific Farmers Market in the heart of New York city. Held every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, farmers and food producers travel down from upstate New York, and as far away as Pennsylvania, with their wares.

The market has sprung back to life now that the growing season is under way. There were double the number of stalls this time than on my last visit in March. Seasonal produce included young spring garlic, ramps, nettles (at $8 a pound!) chickweed and ground elder. 

They were also selling beautiful eggs and fresh chickens and doing a roaring trade in chicken broth - that people are now realising the value of - at $10 for 24 fluid ounces!

There are several wonderful bread stalls including a not-for-profit enterprise called Hot Bread Kitchen - which makes and sells gorgeous authentic multi ethnic breads including: m'smen - made with white and semolina flour, plain or filled with cheese, kale and onion; nane barbari, a flattish indented oval bread sprinkled with sesame and nigella seeds; quandi, little sweet breads made with butter, milk  and honey; bealys with caramelised onion and poppyseed; Moroccan flatbreads... I wanted to taste everything.

Nane barbari and m'smen

There were lots of stalls selling pickles and ferments - all doing a roaring trade.

I greatly admire the system where local people can bring along their food waste so that it can be composted, and in exchange they get a bag of rich compost to grow some of their own food. In Manhattan this means growing in pots on window ledges and balconies. It's a terrific system, reflecting and encouraging the growing interest in urban gardening and one which could be implemented in so many places around the world with relative ease.

They also have an education station. I was there on a Wednesday and there were lots of teachers bringing school groups of children along to see the various stalls and learn about how food is produced. Now that's what I call real education.

Ballymaloe Garden Festival - Win a Day Pass!

It's such a beautiful time of the year. The gardens and greenhouses are just so lovely at the moment. I know it sounds like a cliche, but when I walk around, I just can't help but give thanks to the good Lord that I live in the middle of a farm and that we have the opportunity to grow and produce so much of our own produce.

Inspired and buoyed up the success of  Lit Fest this May and the glorious summer we have been enjoying, we have decided to have our first Ballymaloe Garden Festival at the end of this month! We are, needless to say, both hugely excited, and incredibly busy, planning what we hope will be another magical event! Do read on for your chance to win a day pass!

Once again events will take place in both the Grainstore and Big Shed at Ballymaloe House, and here at the Cookery School in Shanagarry. So mark the weekend of August 31st in your diaries and join us - it looks to be an incredible line up, with many of my personal gardening heroes, gathered in our glorious surroundings. See the complete programme of events.

The festival is dedicated to sustainable gardening, and we are so excited to be welcoming so many inspiring experts to share their knowledge with us, ranging from rare plants to garden design, wetland systems, urban gardening and herbal medicine, through to flower arranging and cooking with flowers.

We are delighted to be welcoming back familiar names from Lit Fest. Guardian newspaper gardening columnist, author and presenter Alys Fowler will lead foraging walks through the gardens at Ballymaloe and Michael Kelly will inspire you to “Grow it Yourself”. Gerard Mullen, Bloom 2013 gold medal winner will talk garden design using our native materials. Helen Dillon, award winning creator of The Dillon Garden in Dublin, will speak about the evolution of her garden."The doyenne of the kitchen garden", Joy Larkcom will be speaking, as will Madeline McKeever of Brown Envelope Seeds, Jim Wilson from Irish wildlife, as well as our Ballymaloe crew -  myself, Rory O’Connell, Elizabeth O’Connell, and Susan Turner.
Click for a complete programme of events.

There will be workshops, garden walks and talks on composting; the almost forgotten skill of seed saving; foraging, preserving and pickling natures’ bounty; flower arranging with natural and native flowers; painting flowers in watercolour; wild birds, bees, butterflies and much more.

And if you want to explore our beautiful farm and gardens here at Ballymaloe Cookery School, there will be a free guided tour at 3pm on both days.

The Big Shed at Ballymaloe will once again be abloom with abundant plant, craft and food stalls. There will be music and fun fringe events for all the family.

Tickets for the events will be available on the day at the door and prices range from €8-12, and a number of them are free. Day passes, which cover entry to all events for €45 are available online now. 

ONE lucky person can win a DAY PASS for either Saturday OR Sunday. Just tell us below which day you want to come and why. We will choose our favourite answer at midday (BST) on Wednesday 21st August. Be sure to leave contact details (either email/ Facebook/ Twitter) with your answer.

For another great Garden Festival ticket giveaway do visit our local baking blogger, The Queen of Puddings.

We look forward to welcoming you!

Urban Farming

In the US something very interesting is happening, it’s virtually a grass roots revolution. However, it’s not just in the US, in cities all over the world people seem to feel a deep need to produce food locally once again. It seems to be an international phenomenon - an eerie almost primeval reaction as if deep down people sense that there may be a shortage of food before too long.

In fact, rooftop farming including backyard chickens and rooftop apiaries are now a major international urban trend. From Detroit to Tokyo, Rotterdam to Hong Kong, Montreal to Brooklyn, there are urban farming projects.

I first noticed the guerrilla garden movement on a visit to San Francisco about five years ago. Virtually every patch of waste ground or disused parking lot had been commandeered by eager gardeners who planted vegetables, herbs and salad leaves. Some shared their surplus with local shelters and sold the remainder from farm stands on the edge of the plot.

Since then I have visited numerous projects particularly in the US. From the Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley and the City Slicker Community Farms in Oakland California, to a two acre farm in the centre of Austin, Texas. Some projects are one man bands, others community based.

Recently, I went to New York to check out the urban farming movement. For the first time I began to get idea of the sheer scale, there are over 700 urban farms and gardens across New York City alone.

Last year, I visited Brooklyn Grange a two acre rooftop farm on top of a five story building on Northern Boulevard, New York, established in May 2010.

On a recent trip, I looked at a couple of other models, a branch of Brooklyn Grange at the Navy Yard, 65,000 square feet of vegetable beds on the top of an eleven story building. This project provides a livelihood for four people, employment for a further ten people and 30 apprentices plus a refugee training program. They sell their fresh produce from a farm stand outside the building and also have a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and make lots of jams, pickles, hot sauces and herb teas from the surpluses and gluts from the farm.

Anastasia Cole Plakias showed me around and explained how nowadays there is growing support at government level for initiatives that are helping to change the food system plus deliver environmental benefits. Hurricane Sandy really spooked New Yorkers particularly those in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, some of whom were without power and water for over a week. So any initiative that contributes to storm water management (a buzz word) is welcomed and generously supported. Anastasia explained that the Navy Yard got a generous SARE (Sustainable Agriculture, Research and Education) grant from Mayor Bloomberg and Department of the Environmental Protection who see it as more efficient to invest in green roofs and infrastructure which creates jobs and has several extra benefits. 

Roof top farms and green roofs not only utilise space that would otherwise be empty and unused but they absorb rain and storm water run-off that would eventually end up polluting the East River. They also absorb heat during the day and release it into the atmosphere at night plus decrease the heating and cooling needs of a building. The Nave Yard Project also links up with GrowNYC on a composting program. Local residents collect their organic waste which when composted enriches the fertility of the soil, which is the biggest challenge for rooftop farms.

The Edible Schoolyard started by Alice Waters in Berkeley in California now has a branch in Brooklyn which partners with schools to build gardens and kitchen classrooms where children can engage in hands-on learning. They aim to provide students with the knowledge and skills and environment required to healthier choices and change the way they eat for life.

Top chefs are also frantically growing their own produce and linking in with local projects but there is a whole other article in that of which more anon.