GrowNYC & Greenmarket's Regional Grains Project, in partnership with NOFA-NY and The Culinary Institute of America invite you to join us for Heritage Wheat in the Hudson Valley, Saturday, February 21 at the Danny Kaye Theatre in the Conrad Hilton Library on the campus of the CIA in Hyde Park, NY.

The afternoon will feature a consumer preference tasting of heritage wheat from the Value-Added grains variety trials at 2 pm, followed by a panel discussion at 3 pm on the history of grain production in the Hudson Valley, the science underlying the culinary functionality of heritage grains, and how we can use these breeds to address health and wellness issues and environmental imperatives.  Panelists include: Steffen Schneider, farmer at Hawthorne Valley Farm, Maureen Costura, anthropolgist and food historian at the CIA, and Elizabeth Dyck from the Organic Growers Research and Information-sharing Network (OGRIN) and will be moderated by Chris Loss from The Culinary Institue of America. 

Tickets are $10 for the general public and free for CIA students with ID.

February is Local Spirits Month at SingL Lounge
 
GrowNYC’s Regional Grains Project is co-hosting a month long tasting series on Tuesday evenings in February at SingL Lounge. SingL Lounge’s popular two year-old Tuesday tasting series run by Master Sommelier Roger Dagorn will spend the month highlighting distilleries making their spirits with local, Northeast-grown grains.

Tickets are $25 and include samples of three spirits and snacks. There will be two tastings per evening, the first at 6:30 pm and then again at 7:15 pm. The tastings will offer attendees the opportunity to learn about the distilling process of each spirit directly from the distillers, as well as how these distillers are helping to spearhead the current renaissance of grain growing in the region. Staff from GrowNYC will also be on-hand to discuss the organization’s Regional Grains Project and sell a selection of local grains. 

Tickets are available on Eventbrite here. Proceeds from the tastings will benefit GrowNYC’s Regional Grains Project.

February is Local Spirits Month
SingL Lounge & The Fourth Restaurant
132 Fourth Avenue at 13th Street
Tuesdays in February
6:30 pm & 7:15 pm
February 3 – Orange County Distillery
February 10 – Breuckelen Distilling
February 17 – Hudson Whisky/Tuthilltown
February 24 – NY Distilling Company

The weekend before Thanksgiving, residents in one Chinatown complex took time to “unstuff”—closets and drawers, that is—bringing 2,500 pounds of unwanted clothing to a special collection in their building. 

In 2012 GrowNYC hosted an Earth Day textile collection as part of a larger community event in Chinatown, attracting residents from the nearby Confucius Plaza Apartments, who asked for more convenient opportunities to recycle unwanted clothing, shoes, linens and other textiles.  With the help of our Manhattan Recycling Outreach Coordinator, the co-op held the first of what is now a bi-annual collection at the 762-unit apartment complex.  GrowNYC advised management on the logistics of setting up a collection, connected them Wearable Collections (who also collects materials from Greenmarkets) and provided outreach and education assistance, from promoting the collection to educating residents about recycling with the help of bilingual volunteers.  In the past two years the building has hosted six events and collected over 6.5 tons of material that will be reused or recycled into new products. Plans are underway to establish more frequent collections as resident demand for this service shows no sign of slowing, and building staff appreciate the lighter loads they must manage when taking out the trash. 

Want to recycle textiles in your apartment building?  Check out refashioNYC to see if you are eligible for a free collection bin, contact Wearable Collections about in-building programs or find a Greenmarket drop-off site near you.   

GrowNYC's Marcel Van Ooyen, Lenny Librizzi, and Shawn Brody were interviewed by BBC Radio's Food Programme. As part of a larger audio piece, GrowNYC contributed comments on the role that a urban agriculture and community gardens play in promoting healthy eating in NYC.  

Listen to the piece on BBC Radio.

Governor Cuomo announced a slate of initiatives at the "Upstate-Downstate Farm to Table Agriculture Summit" in Manhattan last Thursday, all focused on linking upstate producers with New York City in order to increase city dwellers’ access to fresh, New York State grown and produced foods. GrowNYC has played an integral role in increasing New York City’s consumption of New York State farm products while putting more money directly into the pockets of small and midsized farmers, and we look forward to working alongside the State to continue growing these initiatives.

“Currently, low-income communities throughout New York City and the state lack access to fresh, healthy foods and small to midsized farmers cannot fairly compete with industrial sized farms from the west coast and beyond,” says GrowNYC Executive Director, Marcel Van Ooyen. “We are extremely thankful to Governor Cuomo and the State for recognizing the importance of continuing our state’s rich agricultural tradition and for investing in the financial health of our family farmers as well as the physical health of New Yorkers of all income levels.”

“We are thrilled to hear Governor Cuomo is prioritizing so many programs that we see as integral to linking upstate and downstate economies and providing access to healthy food for all New Yorkers,” says GrowNYC Board Chairman, Robert J. Kafin, Esq. “New York State boasts some of the best farmers and food producers in the world and there is no better marketplace than that of the 8.5 million residents of New York City to help ensure they are able to continue their work and inspire the next generation of farmers, bakers, jam makers and beyond .”

For over 40 years, GrowNYC has worked hard to get New York State grown products to those who need them most, but there is still more to be done. We are grateful to the Governor for pledging financial support to help expand food box programs like GrowNYC’s own Fresh Food Box, which brings fresh produce at an affordable price directly to those who need it most. Additionally, we are grateful for his support to establish a Regional Food Wholesale Farmers Market along with a Regional Food Hub Task Force which will increase upstate farmers’ ability to access the vast New York City market while also increasing city dwellers access to fresh, local foods. With the generous support of the Governor and the State of New York, we look forward to continuing GrowNYC's efforts to ensure New York State makes farming and farmers an anchor of our economic and environmental sustainability.  

During our inaugural season, GrowNYC's Governors Island Teaching Garden, a dedicated multi-use learning and demonstration garden space within Governors Island Urban Farm, hosted 16 weeks of garden-based educational programming and skill-building workshops for 4500 school children, school and community gardeners, summer camps, and members of the public.

During the Fall 2014 school semester, the Teaching Garden provided 500 NYC public school students (K-12) the opportunity to dig in and connect to nature through urban agriculture, environmental education, and nutritional learning, by growing, harvesting, cooking, and eating farm-fresh produce. Students engaged in in-depth discussions of plant care, ecosystems, food justice, and healthy living.

Students also had the opportunity to make a healthy snack or beverage on the bicycle blender! Along with a range of public schools from all five boroughs, we had the honor of providing programming to some very special groups such as Lighthouse Guild, Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), and Rush Philanthropic. We also had the privilege of having GrowNYC’s own Mike Zamm come out one day to work with High School students making solar ovens.

In addition to hosting visiting school age students, the Teaching Garden was also open to the public during summer weekends. During these weekend open hours, 3,600 public visitors were able to take a self-guided tour of the space, drop-in on scheduled structured gardening activities, or taste produce from the garden during cooking demos. These activities included garden maintenance, (weeding, mulching, planting), harvesting, tours, and other hands-on arts activities.

On selected weekends during the summer, the Teaching Garden also hosted specific workshops and activities, include ones on animal care, making herbal teas, building trellising for peas, and vertical pallet garden construction. Weekend visitors were also able to see demonstrations of many of the garden and greening infrastructure elements that GrowNYC has built in the past three decades throughout the city. These included raised plastic lumber frame beds for edibles, ornamentals, and themed gardens; windrows for urban agricultural production; a shade structure; a rainwater harvesting system; a garden shed; mulched paths; easy to construct benches; fruit trees; season extending high- and low-tunnels; cold-frames; composting bins; recycling bins; a rain garden; stoop railing planters; and examples of enhanced tree pits for homes, gardens, and communities.

In total, the Teaching Garden produced a bounty of fruits, vegetables, and herbs -- much of it grown by children – totaling over 800 pounds. Most of this produce was harvested, cooked, and consumed by visiting school groups as part of Teaching Garden’s educational programming. Leftover produce was donated to city food pantries.

Get your locally grown Christmas trees, wreaths, and boughs from a local farmer. A list of markets where you can stock up on holiday greens follows:

Durr Wholesale: Wreaths (Union Square, Saturday) 
Fiori Di Fenice: Wreaths (Union Square, Saturday) 
Floral Beauty Greenhouse: Douglas fir trees (57th St, Wednesdays, Saturdays; Columbia, Sunday; Jackson Heights Sunday - plants only)
Keith's Farm: Organic trees and wreaths (Union Square Wednesday, Saturday)
Lebak Farms: Wreaths (Grand Army Plaza, Saturday)
Mountain Sweet Berry Farm: Wreaths and princess pines (Union Square, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday)
Rexcroft Farm: Trees, wreaths, garlands (Dag Hammarskjold, Wednesday; Fort Greene, Saturday) 
River Garden: Dried flower wreaths (Union Square, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday)
Stokes Farm: Herb wreaths (Tucker, Thursday, Saturday; Union Square, Saturday)
Trumansburg Tree Farms: Trees and wreaths (Union Square, Wednesday, Friday (12/19 only) and Saturday; Grand Army Plaza, Saturday)
Van Houten Farms: Trees and wreaths (Union Square, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday)

#GivingTuesday is back and we're proud to be a part of it for the second year in a row.

Coming after Black Friday and Cyber Monday, #GivingTuesday acknowledges that we don't just take, take, take. We give back too! This year, on Tuesday, December 2nd, be a part of this growing global movement by taking action in a way that is meaningful to you. #GivingTuesday is about doing what you can to give back. It's about showing that all of us can do so much more with our wallets than just consume.

This year we have an extra special treat: the first $5,000 that we raise on #GivingTuesday will be matched dollar-for-dollar!

The #GivingTuesday campaign is a platform for you to contribute to your community and to help make this the biggest giving season yet. Your donation to GrowNYC helps give schools the tools they need to get learning outside, brings NYC's youngest to experience the outdoors through field trips to different urban farms, offers community leaders the tools they need to keep growing, helps New Yorkers recycle smarter, and supports new farmers and Greenmarket producers.

All of us here at GrowNYC know that you care about making a difference, and that's why we invite you to join #GivingTuesday. Donate, spread the word, volunteer for groups you care about (we hope that includes GrowNYC!) and encourage your friends to to give in lieu of gifts or just because.

Mark your calendar for December 2 and take action in ways that mean something to you.

Together, #letsgrownyc!
To learn more go to www.givingtuesday.org
Be sure to follow us on twitter @GrowNYC and use #letsgrownyc. We'll be sure to retweet you!

Here are some sample tweets to get you started on spreading the word:

• Be a part of a new worldwide tradition of giving. On #GivingTuesday, #letsgrownyc.
• Black Friday. Cyber Monday. What about #GivingTuesday? Together, #letsgrownyc!
• Remember, it's not how you give or what you give, it's THAT you give. For the second year, #letsgrownyc on #GivingTuesday! 

Happy Giving!

GrowNYC recently released The New Greenmarket Cookbook by Gabrielle Langholtz, a collection of one hundred seasonal recipes from today’s top chefs and culinary minds. In light of this exciting occasion, Hyatt Union Square New York is celebrating its neighbor with The Greenmarket Experience. Guests who book this experience package will receive a robust sampling of, and introduction to, what this beloved green oasis in the heart of Manhattan has to offer.

Guests will receive:

• A Greenmarket Wheat Beer from Brooklyn Brewery, which is grown from 70% New York State-grown wheat and barley
• A $20 shopping credit to use at the Greenmarket throughout their stay,
• A Hyatt Union Square New York canvas bag to tote their loot, and
• A guide featuring interesting background on GrowNYC and its vendors.
• The New Greenmarket Cookbook.

This package has been carefully curated to demonstrate the hotel's alignment with the GrowNYC initiatives, which include supporting family farms, farmers, markets, gardens, recycling, and education.

Going to a friend or relative’s house for Thanksgiving and need to take a gift? Did you agree to bring a dish and then realized you don’t have enough time to cook? Look no further than your neighborhood Greenmarket for all your Thanksgiving gifts for hosts! Here are a few ideas:

A bouquet of flowers, dried and fresh.  Showing up with an arm full of flowers is never unwelcome. And, if they’re dried, it’s a gift that will last for months.

A jar of delicious, flavored whipped honey. Orange blossom and apple cinnamon are two of our favorites and whipped honey is a perfect consistency for those Thanksgiving rolls.

Soap and lip balm from Nature’s Way Farm. Made from honey, there are so many incredible scents and flavors to choose from. Heading into winter, these gifts are especially useful to protect your host’s skin and lips. Plus, Nature’s Way makes kids’ soaps that are just adorable (hint: they have toys in them).

Tweefontein Herb Farm has amazing salves, herbal rubs, fire cider, lotions, and many more items that are perfect for that host that loves unique gifts.

Jams, preserves, pickles and jellies from Berkshire Berries, Josephine’s Feast, Rick's Picks, and Beth’s Farm Kitchen. Each producer sells very original spreads and preserves that are sure to please everyone. Plus, they travel well.

Maple syrup. Or maple cream. Or maple candy. Or maple cotton candy. Or maple popcorn. If it’s maple, chances are we have a producer that sells it at your neighborhood Greenmarket. Plus, who doesn't want some pancakes on Friday morning after Thanksgiving? 

Booze. Greenmarket has a number of wine and hard cider producers, as well as Brooklyn Brewery's Greenmarket Wheat beer (available at the Union Square Greenmarket Saturdays) and Orange County Distillery's corn whiskey, sugar beet vodka and bourbon whiskey. The cook always needs a drink. 

Don’t have time to bake a dessert? Pick one up at one of our many bakeries who will all be selling Thanksgiving-themed pies.  Food restrictions? Many of our bakers have vegan and gluten-free desserts.

Are you going to a non-traditional Thanksgiving? Or need a non-traditional gift? Then take along The Bronx Greenmarket Hot Sauce, The New Greenmarket Cookbook (perhaps to serve as some inspiration for your host for next year’s menu), or a snazzy GrowNYC apron. The cookbook is available at a number of Greenmarkets around the city, and the apron and hot sauce (along with the cookbook) are available at Union Square Wednesdays and Saturdays.

We hope you’ve found some inspiration from this list. We’d love to see what you’ve picked up from market, too. Just take a picture and Instagram it. Make sure to use #GMKTthanksgiving!

Have an incredible Thanksgiving. We know your hosts will love anything you bring them, especially if it’s from Greenmarket.