Why Bring Your Own Bags? 

Single-use plastic bags are environmentally harmful.

• Even when properly disposed of, because of their weight and aerodynamic properties, plastic bags often become litter, clogging storm drains and waterways.

• New Yorkers use 9.37 billion carryout bags per year, the vast majority of which are not recycled.

• Plastic bags account for over 1,700 tons of residential garbage per week in NYC on average.

Plastic bags cost the public money. 

• Each year, New York City pays an estimated $12.5 million to transport 91,000 tons of plastic bags to landfills in other states.

• Shopping bags jam expensive machinery at recycling plants and contaminate the recycling stream, increasing costs.

Tips for a Plastic Purge!

1. Bring your own reusable totes, produce bags, and containers (great for fish and delicate produce) while shopping at Greenmarkets.

2. Say ‘no thank you’ if you are offered a plastic bag, or ask for a paper bag.

3. Carry a few extra reusable bags with you at all times. 

4. If you forget to BYOB, you can purchase reusable tote bags and produce bags at most Greenmarket Market Information tents. 

5. Collect your food scraps in resuable containers before dropping off at a food scrap collection location. 

6. Go #foamfree and quit using styrofoam for good. Learn more here. 

Instagram Contest on the @unsqgreenmarket Account!

We invite our followers to participate in a Plastic Cleanse social media contest! We know that single use bags are environmentally harmful. In NYC alone, they generate about 1700 tons of residential garbage on a weekly basis. We’re here to encourage you to make a difference and join our annual Plastic Cleanse. Show us how you shop plastic-free at the Greenmarket!

Photos can be taken at market or at home, we want to see how you avoid using plastic while shopping.  Two winners will receive a gift card to a restaurant that supports the Greenmarket and will be regrammed by the @unsqgreenmarket accounts.

Contest rules:

• Take a photo and post it to your Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook account of your plastic-free shopping supplies before heading to market, a plastic-free interaction at market, or of your plastic-free market haul after shopping.

• Tag @unsqgreenmarket and hashtag #GMKTnyc #PlasticCleanse to enter

• Dates to enter are 4/3 - 4/30/18.

• GrowNYC and Greenmarket staff, volunteers, farm staff, or farmers, or family members are not eligible to win.

• Open to NYC residents. Contest ends at 11:59:59 PM ET on 4/30/18.

• On 5/1/18, GrowNYC will pick 2 winners at random to receive a gift card to a local restaurant that shops at the Greenmarket.

Learn more about GrowNYC’s sustainability efforts: 
www.grownyc.org

#plasticcleanse

Since 2011, GrowNYC has worked to expand food scrap collections at Greenmarket. In partnership with the NYC Department of Sanitation, the program has grown to 30 markets, averaging 100,000 pounds a month diverted from disposal and used locally for renewable energy or fertile compost for urban farms, gardens and more.

To date more than 2 million pounds of food scraps have been dropped at market, which would fill enough of our collection boxes to create a stack taller than Mount Everest! But the impact is even greater: every apple core deposited in a compost bin has been a vote for increased composting citywide, which has come to fruition with the Department of Sanitation’s new Organics Collection Program. Keep on composting!

Read the complete press release here.

GrowNYC formed a partnership with Wagner Middle School in Manhattan called Healthy Kids, Healthy Schools, funded by NYC Council Member Jessica Lappin. Under one roof, we are providing support from five GrowNYC programs: Learn It Grow It Eat It, Grow to Learn School Gardens, Greenmarket Youth Education, Recycling Champions and Environmental Education. For an entire year, GrowNYC staff is educating young people about how to lead lives that improve their personal health and that of the environment around them; so that eating, growing, learning and going green become second nature.

On the recycling front, we recently helped Wagner launch a school-wide cafeteria recycling program – 1,200 students in grades 6-8 sorted everything from trays to milk cartons, placing them in their proper containers with help from dozens of student volunteers and Green Team members. 1,200 students recycling milk cartons for one year will save 31 trees!

To keep it fun, grades are competing to see who can reduce their overall waste – on a weekly basis, the amount of waste will be calculated and the winning grade announced on Fridays. At the end of every month, the grade that has reduced waste and recycled the most will receive special “Out-Lunch” privileges. Wagner has averaged a daily reduction of 9 bags of garbage or 17%, while generating an extra bag of recyclables.

The contest, designed by the Green Team, was the culmination of an outreach campaign they undertook to educate their classmates. Working with their advisor, teacher and sustainability coordinator Jessica Gordon, students created posters, morning announcements, and a PowerPoint. The success of the program could not have been possible without the support and help of Wagner’s administration and staff.

2013 Farm to City Expo
Monday, March 4, 12 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Jacob K. Javits Convention Center
655 W. 34th St

Attend panels on local purchasing and food infrastructure, followed by networking opportunities, and learn about GrowNYC Wholesale from GrowNYC executive director Marcel Van Ooyen, on a panel devoted to exploring regional wholesale infrastructure (12:20-1:10 p.m.). Enjoy all day access to over 40 New York farms and food companies at the Pride of New York MarketPlace.

Register by February 28 using this link: http://bit.ly/WP1rgI

View the flyer:

It was a “Wheat and Greet” that set the tone for the weekend as attendees arrived on a Friday night late last month for NOFA-NY’s annual Winter Conference in Saratoga Springs, New York. Local breads, pastas, beer, and spirits flowed freely as tasters chatted with the growers and processors who created them. Standout products included Flour City’s emmer fusilli and Kelso Brewery’s Rauchbier made with a smoked triticale malt, both of which consistently surprised people with outstanding flavors not normally associated with beer and pasta. To the question most heard throughout the night — “Where can I buy this?” — suppliers could happily point people to the many stores now stocking their products. Not bad for a region that just a few years ago did not have much in the way of food-quality grain.

On Saturday, Greenmarket and the Organic Growers’ Research and Information-Sharing Network, hosted a workshop on grain processing where presenters shared their products and experiences with a crowd of current or aspiring entrepreneurs hoping to launch their own thriving business in the delicious world of grains – be it growing, malting, milling, baking, or distilling, to name just a few. Greenmarket and OGRIN debuted their recently completed technical assistance video: A local Grain Renaissance in the Northeast.

Each year, the conference features a “grains track” with workshops covering topics like how to set up a malting facility to work with the many new regional distilleries; how to grow and mill food-grade grains, and new research on crop yields and disease resistance among the many grain varieties in the region.

While there is still much to be done, the NOFA-NY conference showed that the links in the supply chain are strengthening, new infrastructure is being built, and the wonderful symbiosis from farmer, to grain processor, to consumer continues to grow.

If you missed the conference, fear not! Greenmarket and the Organic Growers’ Research and Information-Sharing Network host a Shortcourse on Grain Processing in the Northeast on March 2 at Glynwood in Cold Spring, NY. Contact Elizabeth Dyck at OGRIN (edyck@ogrin.org) to register.

On Sunday, city officials, community partners, and compost enthusiasts gathered at the Carroll Gardens Greenmarket to celebrate a benchmark for GrowNYC’s food scrap collection program: ONE MILLION POUNDS!

Since the pilot program launched in March 2011, one million pounds of food scraps have been dropped off at Greenmarket’s collection sites, diverting that much food from the waste stream.

Emily Rubenstein, Assistant Commissioner of Sanitation, Recycling and Sustainability at DSNY, City Council Member Brad Lander, Birdie NYC and GrowNYC Executive Director Marcel Van Ooyen applauded the efforts of all those who have made this achievement possible.

“We’re thrilled that Speaker Quinn and the New York City Council helped launch the compost program last year and that DSNY stepped in this year to bring the successful pilot to the next level.  We’re demonstrating that the City of New York is not lagging far behind California and other places where compost has taken root. New Yorkers across the City are eager to participate and reduce waste while creating a valuable resource that will benefit local gardens and farms,” said GrowNYC Executive Director Marcel Van Ooyen.

Look up your nearest food scrap drop-off site here, and find out what can be contributed here. Once it’s dropped off, the material is transported to compost sites and urban agriculture projects within the five boroughs. We’re also signing people up for our winter incentive program—the Winter Compost Warrior. Visitors can sign in at our info tent when they visit the market, noting their weekly attendance and compost contribution. There’s a compost-related prize in it for those Winter Compost Warriors who check in ten or more times in the coming twelve weeks.

At the beginning of the New Year, this monumental benchmark lets us set a new goal for the year ahead. How much compost can we make in 2013?

Looking for a New Year's resolution you can stick with? One that makes you feel good, look good, and doesn't require a monthly membership fee? Look no further, here are 11 simple ways to make 2013 a happy and healthy year.

1) PASS ON PLASTIC. We know you have tons of reusable bags in your apartment; carry a few with you while shopping at Greenmarkets and give up plastic bags for good.

2) FALL IN LOVE WITH RUTABAGA. Boil them, steam them, roast them, or put in tarts, soups, or salads - turnips, beets, rutabagas and the rest of the root vegetable family are versatile and delicious.

3) DROP OFF YOUR FOOD SCRAPS. Start small – keep a bag of all of your carrot tops and coffee grounds in your freezer and drop it off at a market once a week. Your trash will start to have no odor - honest! Plus, think of all that rich compost being made instead of helping our landfills grow. Locations and times.

4) CLEAN OUT YOUR CLOSETS. Do your spring cleaning early and drop off all of your old textiles at one of 16 markets that collect year round. Locations and times.

5) JOIN A DINNER CLUB OR RECIPE EXCHANGE (or start your own!). Baby, it's cold outside. Warm up with friends and share dishes and recipes.

6) BECOME A WINTER WARRIOR. Stay devoted to Greenmarkets. The farmers that are there want to see you and most year round Greenmarkets (there are 22 of them!) have a frequent shopper program beginning in January where you can check in each week and get a fun market-y prize at the end of winter.

7) TRY A NEW INGREDIENT EVERY WEEK. Fresh horseradish, kohlrabi, celery root, creamed honey, purple potatoes - even in the winter, chances are pretty good that there are some ingredients at Greenmarkets that you've never tried. Take a closer peek and see what's there.

8) EAT AT A LOCAL RESTAURANT. For those nights you just don't feel like cooking (never, right?), there are many restaurants around NYC that purchase from Greenmarket and GrowNYC Wholesale all year long.

9) VISIT A MARKET YOU'VE NEVER BEEN TO BEFORE. Explore New York City's greatest asset - its communities! With 22 Greenmarkets open year round, you have many opportunities to visit markets in Inwood, Jackson Heights, Cortelyou/Ditmas Park, and many more neighborhoods. Greenmarket map and schedule.

10) BECOME A GREENMARKET VOLUNTEER. Greenmarket hosts volunteer orientations and provides opportunities (indoor and outdoor) year round.

11) CREATE A MEAL USING LOCAL GRAINS. Can you think of anything better than homemade bread made with local grains slathered in some fresh farm butter? We can't either.

Another ancient grain is roaring back to life in the city’s Greenmarkets and restaurants -- and this one is grown by farmers right here in our very own state. Emmer, the sweet, robust grain that adds dreamy texture to any soup or salad, grinds into a fine flour used in pasta and bread, and makes an incredible pilaf or hot cereal all on its own, is taking its well-deserved place in the spotlight. In just the latest example, Gramercy Tavern Executive Chef Michael Anthony is featuring emmer grown by Cayuga Pure Organics, a farm located in the Finger Lakes region, in the soup he created for Hale and Hearty and being served in its restaurants this week (12/10/12-12/16/12).

Emmer, called farro in Italy, is among the oldest forms of wheat. Its cultivation dates back 10,000 years to ancient Egypt and Israel, where it was used to make matzoh as well as leavened bread, pasta and beer. It gradually fell out of favor because emmer seed has to go through an extra step after it’s threshed called dehulling, which removes the seed from its hull, or husk. It was replaced by wheats that broke free from their hulls in the threshing process, like modern bread wheat and durum wheat (commonly used for pasta). Thankfully farmers throughout Europe, Turkey, and Ethiopia still appreciate emmer’s special qualities and grow it aplenty.

The hardy crop hit American soil in the late 19th century, when German farmers migrating from Russia planted it in settlements across the northern plains of North Dakota and Montana. The USDA quickly spotted its merits: Not only was it extraordinarily high in protein and fiber content, but it proved remarkably tolerant to extreme weather, assuring a harvest even when the wheat crops failed.

Emmer found its way to this region in 2009, when organic farmers in North Dakota who were willing to share this potentially high-value crop relatively new to the U.S. -- which they alone possessed – sent a seed shipment to organic growers in New York and Pennsylvania. The momentous hand-over was part of a USDA-funded collaboration among farmers, crop scientists and sustainable agriculture advocates (Greenmarket) intent on introducing farmers and consumers to this new-old grain.

The group also hopes to clear the confusion people have between emmer, spelt and farro -- which has long frustrated farmers and researchers. In a rare show of annoyance, a 1911 USDA report cited the necessity “to protest strongly against the use of incorrect names for emmer.” Now that chefs in our region have their very own source of home-grown emmer -- no need to import farro from Italy anymore! -- they are only beginning to discover the subtle differences between this hardy grain from the plains, and the crop of the same species that took another path to the Mediterranean, acclimating to Italian conditions over the years.

Cayuga Pure Organics began selling emmer at Greenmarket, where it has been embraced by regional grain enthusiasts, including Chef Anthony. Chef Patti Jackson, late of I Trulli, made a memorable emmer pasta at a regional grains tasting in 2010 that folks are still raving about. With its rise in popularity, you can expect emmer to pop up more and more on menus around the city. You’ll surely see it in a range of forms, whether the whole grain, a bag of flour, a loaf of bread, fresh pasta or flatbreads. At some point in the not-too-distant future you might even be toasting an emmer beer or savoring an emmer whiskey cocktail.

Local food for lunch just became that much easier to access.

During the week of December 10-16, look for emmer, a locally grown grain from Greenmarket producer Cayuga Pure Organics, in a special soup at Hale and Hearty. The New York chain of popular lunch spots will feature guest chef Michael Anthony’s “Kabocha Squash Soup with Emmer and Cranberries” as part of its Chef Series of signature soups. The Gramercy Tavern executive chef and long-time Greenmarket devotee applied his penchant for local ingredients to a recipe that will reach the masses of noshing New Yorkers.

It’s not uncommon to bump into Chef Anthony at the Union Square Greenmarket, which is just a few blocks from his acclaimed fine dining establishment. It’s a short enough distance to tote fresh products from the farmers market back to his kitchen via hand trucks. But Hale and Hearty has 28 restaurants throughout the city, as well as a 20,000 square foot USDA-certified commissary kitchen in the heart of Brooklyn. They serve 125,000 customers per week.  Thanks to GrowNYC Wholesale, GrowNYC’s new wholesale distribution service that delivers regionally grown produce to bodegas, groceries, and restaurants around the city, Hale and Hearty was able to receive deliveries of the same high quality, locally grown product Chef Anthony calls for in his recipe. This means more New Yorkers will be eating New York-grown food for lunch—a win for city eaters and upstate farmers alike.

“The Chef Series came about in an effort to connect with some of New York's top Chefs while giving back to the community,” said Simon Jacobs, CEO. “This collaboration with Chef Anthony, GrowNYC Wholesale and God's Love We Deliver is bringing this idea full circle by not only donating a portion of proceeds to charity, but supporting local farmers by using ingredients grown in New York communities." Next week, 10% of each Kabocha Squash Soup sold will be donated to God’s Love We Deliver.

What’s in the soup? Emmer, a regionally grown grain known to Italians as farro. GrowNYC Wholesale has delivered 250 pounds of emmer to Hale and Hearty on behalf of Cayuga Pure Organics, a farm located in the far north Finger Lakes region of the state. This integral farm to restaurant connection enables broader distribution of local ingredients on the wholesale level. It also means that even if you’re not able to make it to Gramercy Tavern for lunch, you can easily enjoy a locally-sourced bowl of soup at multiple locations around the city—likely there is a Hale and Hearty near your office!

Donate a bag of market produce to help feed hungry New Yorkers. Donate-A-Bag opportunities are available at the below Greenmarkets through the month of December. Help feed hungry New Yorkers affected by Hurricane Sandy by purchasing an extra bag of produce while you shop and bring it to the Market Information Tent to make a direct donation to a kitchen that is serving hot meals to those in need. So far, Greenmarket customers are donating harvest season items in record numbers in response to the immense need for hunger relief that Sandy created, over 25,000 pounds have found their way to community kitchens, churches, shelters, food pantries and others serving victims of the storm. Volunteers Needed!  We need volunteers to assist with collections for our Donate-A-Bag program. Volunteers will help promote Donate-A-Bag throughout the market and collect items as they get donated. If interested, please email Liz Carollo directly at lcarollo@grownyc.org and specify which market you are interested in. DONATE-A-BAG SCHEDULE Wednesdays, thru December (8am-1pm) Union Square Greenmarket  Saturdays, thru December (8am-1pm) Manhattan Greenmarkets Union Square Greenmarket Brooklyn Greenmarkets Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket McCarren Park Greenmarket Fort Greene Greenmarket