Showing posts with label growing food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label growing food. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

The Horticultural Society of NY Hosts 3rd Annual Urban Ag Conference: Reception, Talks & Urban Farm Visits



Brooklyn Grange Rooftop Farm, Queens, NY © Anastasia Plakias

The road from the farm to the plate meets at the crossroads of The Hort. Starting tonight through Friday's tours of local urban farms, this is THE place to be to learn about our connections to our food.

See you at the Hort!



The Horticultural Society of New York (The Hort) Hossts the Third Annual Urban Agriculture Conference (UAC)

Visit NYC Urban Farms Hear International Speakers

Field tours include Brooklyn Grange rooftop farms, Randall’s Island Farm and the beehives and garden atop the Waldorf Astoria; discussions will highlight known food movement leaders.

From Wednesday, May 15 through Friday, May 17, The Horticultural Society of New York (The Hort) will present its third annual and largest ever Urban Agricultural Conference (UAC).

The UAC will open with an evening reception and work-in-progress screening of “Growing Cities,” a documentary that examines the role of urban farming urban farming in America and its power to revitalize cities and change the way we eat. 
The following morning, Thursday, May 16th, keynote speaker Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer will kick-off a day of innovative panel discussions and lectures led by some of the most prominent organizations and individuals in the movement.

 “The Hort has been committed to urban gardening for over 100 years, yet the focus has evolved and expanded with changing social and environmental issues, says The Hort’s Director of Horticulture and Public Programs George Pisegna. “With 80% of all people living in cities, we need to increase awareness of food sovereignty and food deserts food and discover ways that food production in urban environments can emerge as a prominent and viable alternative,” George Pisegna, The Hort.

On the final day, conference participants will visit farms in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens.  Among the sites to be visited are Brooklyn Grange (in the Brooklyn Navy Yard), a 65,000 sq ft rooftop farm hovering eleven stories over the East River; Eagle Street Rooftop Farm, the nation’s first commercial rooftop farm; Randall’s Island Park Farm, NYC’s only working rice paddy operation; Window Farms in the Global Kitchen Exhibition at the Natural History Museum; the Waldorf Astoria kitchen garden and beehives; and Battery Urban Farm at the southern tip of Manhattan.

“Growing Cities” filmmaker Dan Susman notes, “Urban farming connects people to their food, strengthens communities, creates jobs, revitalizes blighted areas. It allows us to reimagine what’s possible in cities. It challenges us to get beyond the urban/rural divide — to really think about how we can all be producers in a society driven by consumption.”

UAC panelist, Carolyn Dimitri of NYU, an applied economist with expertise in food systems and food policy who is studying urban agriculture in 15 US cities says, “In a city like New York… urban farms are a reminder, or perhaps an awakening … that our food does come from the tending of soil and seeds, and not the supermarket.” She notes though that solutions are not easy: “One concern I have is that we are asking too much of urban agriculture. Is urban agriculture the panacea for our urban food problems, such as uneven food access and poor health? And is it possible for our urban farmers to make a living, tending the soil in our cities?” These questions, and more, will be explored over three days.

Wednesday, May 15 – Opening reception and work-in-progress screening of Growing Cities at Brooklyn Lyceum, 6 pm to 8:30 pm
Here is the trailer:



Thursday, May 16 – Panel discussions at NYU Kimmel Center, 9 am to 4 pm.

Friday, May 17 – Field tours of urban farms in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, 10 am to 4 pm.

For a complete agenda of the UAC, visit: http://thehort.org/UAC/





Friday, March 18, 2011

Girls Night Out At Sickles Market


I will be the Garden Expert and Author featured at Sickles Market Second Annual Girls Night Out!  
This is a joyful, fun, educational girl friendly evening that is a benefit for the Jacqueline M. Wilentz Comprehensive Breast Center at Monmouth Medical Center.

The women who attend are amazing: so eager and keen to support their community. And to learn about wellness and gardens and food and -- to kick up their kitten heels and have a good time too.

I am honored to have been asked to return to participate in this extraordinary event.  
Thank you, Bob and Tori Sickles and Karen Irvine. 

Sickles Market is unmatched for food, entertaining objects and party items, and garden plants and objets of art.  I am all too often there buying unique plants for my garden clients, including topiary and herbs and container pots.  The cheeses and farm fresh food are too tempting and I am seduced more times than I can count.  I wrote in the Introduction to my first book, "Homegrown Long Island" how I had scooted over to get my buffalo mozzarella one Saturday only to be told by the cheesemonger that she'd sold the last one.  I sighed (or was it screetched??) to high heaven, whereupon she admonished, "You have to fight for your food!"  I was stopped dead in my high drama.  It is true.  Good food is worth going to the mat for.  And Sickles is THE place.  
I learned my lesson.

I write about food and drink for Examiner.com and also on my blogs: Garden Glamour and Master Chefs and Their Gardens (http://celebritychefsandtheirgardens.blogspot.com).  There is just too much news about the edible landscape and homegrown food and food issues and gardens -- so I Twitter with both Chefsgardens and GardenGlamour too!

I am completing the Homegrown Long Island cookbook and will be talking about the inspired gardens that help the "Field to Table" and "Fin to Fork" Chefs I selected for the book create delicious recipes that are made from fresh, succulent, just picked and just caught fish.  
The book is an intimate profile of each chef - 28 chefs in all.  The book also includes four exciting, seasonal, locavore recipes from each chef, drop-dead luscious color photos of the chefs in the kitchen, of the plated food, and of the chefs with their farmers or in their gardens. I render their gardens in a garden design water color and provide a plant list for every garden and farm, too.  It's an informative cookbook you can use in the kitchen, in the garden -- and display on the coffee table!



For Girls Night Out, I will be signing the two Caroline Seebohm books that feature my garden designs and input:  Cottages and Mansions of the Jersey Shore                 


It’s always a thrill to open this gorgeous book and see all the great houses and gardens, especially my two garden designs:  Joe DiMattina -- and now Uncle Bob :) in Atlantic Highlands; and Mary Rogowski in Monmouth Beach. Two beautiful, enduring gardens that get better every year






And Great Houses and Gardens of New Jersey   













I will also provide a handout for the goody bags :) with four recipes from some of my female chefs featured in the book - a sneak peak!  shhhh...
In addition, I have put together a list of some of my favorite plants to inspire seasonal garden designs.  All blue-ribbon beauties. 

The award-winning Sickles Market is on Facebook and Twitter ad on the web at http://shop.sicklesmarket.com/ 

Menu

Appetizers

Alexian Pâtés & Terrines
  
 Crab Cakes with Chipotle Aioli

 Mini Shrimp Cocktail

 Grilled Petit Filet with Tzatziki

 Black Bean Fritters with Guacamole

 White Bean & Spinach Quesadillas

 Braised Shitake & Leek Crostini

 Smoked Salmon Blini with Crème Frâiché

Vegetable Ratatouille

Cheese
  A Selection of Fine Cheese & Accompaniments 
Brebirousse D'Argental
France Sheep
Accompanied by
ChocoLove Cherries & Almonds in Dark Chocolate

Parmigiano Reggiano
Italy Raw Cow
Accompanied by
Pink Moscatel Grapes

Point Reyes Farmstead Blue
California  Raw Cow
Accompanied by
Herbertsville Honey Co. Walnuts in Honey

Montchevré
Wisconsin     Goat
Accompanied by
Fourth Creek Sweet Red Pepper Relish

Dessert
Sickles' Own Cakepops
Vanilla & chocolate cake dipped in white chocolate

Daisy Chocolates
A mix of chocolate pretzels and cookies

Wine Bar Provided by Rumson Wine & Spirits


Services, Door Prizes, Giveaways, and Treats from:
 Milagro Spa at The Atlantic Club
Mini facials, mini massages, mini makeovers

Leeann Lavin, Garden Expert & Author
Tips on gardening & landscape design

Brad Wolff, Ph.D., P.A. and Certified Life Coach
Relaxation demos & tools for "living your best life"

Salon Concrete
Hair care secrets

Elizabeth Ebner, M.S., R.D. 
Medical Nutrition Therapy

New Balance Shrewsbury
New Spring collection

Switchflops by Lindsay Phillips
Spring trends in fashion footwear

Halia Fashion Jewelry
Latest looks in "add-on" jewelry

Jacqueline M. Wilentz Comprehensive Breast Center
Health assessment checklist

Sickles Market
Fresh herb tasting & tips for growing

Flipping Fun
Photobook favors

6 Degrees of Celebration, LLC.
Fabulous Door Prize

________________________________________________

Many thanks for supporting the Jacqueline M. Wilentz Comprehensive Breast Center at Monmouth Medical Center.

We'll see you Friday, March 18th!