Pick up

Pierre and I dropped James off at the farm share stand this morning. Everyone is really nice and the garden is interesting. People also buy shares in this garden and then are allocated a plot of land. There were a lot of tomato and pepper plants , and a couple of rose bushes. There was a giant cherry tree which I really wanted to climb up into and then eat my way down from. Also lots of space for compost which gets used. Good for those people, I am not ready to hang onto my apple cores and strawberry stems just yet.

I hadn't been that far up into Williamsburg for a long time. It seems that all the new condos are also being built up there. Walk one block along Kingsland Ave ( aka Grandparents Ave.) and you can visit new luxury condos where the residents have the FT and NYT delivered, to straight up projects. There is more development over there then there is here.
I realize that for a lot of people growing tomatoes and peppers and belonging to a food coop are everyday occurences. For me it's not an everyday thing to have fresh food readily available, I get excited when there are new plants to eat at the markets. Living in the city I am especially thankful for the farm share and green market. It feels better to eat better. The enviornmental and social benefits are important of course. For obvious reasons like sustaining local agriculture and cutting down on carbon emissions by buying locally raised foods. One is, I believe doing something to dull the constant push by corporations and the government to destroy the food supply of this country. When I think about the buildings being torn down ( asbestos warning across the street), the exhaust, the mold I probably live in, I get anxious. Then if one takes the time to think about where your fruits and veggies are coming from, Chile, Italy, California, the amount of time it takes for them to get to your local grocery store, and the kind of chemicals they use to produce and transport them. The purpose of fruits and vegetables is diluted. After years of smoking I can only hope to erase some of the damage done, maybe by eating more pure foods. I'm also a huge fan of this kind of food gathering for the benefits of my mental health. It's about concrete and the desire to balance these man-made enviorns with a more wholesome way of life. It is easy to forget about the color green and nature and wide open spaces. These brief moments at the greenmarket and the farm share remind me of the things that are good and pure in this world. Smelling the vegetables and roots and herbs and fruits and flowers, I am reminded of soil and water, fresh air and wind, forests and freedom.
Here is what we picked up today:
Swiss Chard
Arugula

Garlic
Lettuce
Sugar Snap Peas, so crisp, so sweet
Turnips
Chive blossoms!!! Which I am really excited to incorporate into dinner.
From the farmers market I picked up 2 pints of bright red strawberries that we couldn't eat fast enough.
I'll le you know how dinner goes later. Now hurry to the market and get your strawberries, before I do.