Closed for the Winter

An Odd Post On An (So Far) Odd Day

I woke up today knowing that November, 20, 2010 was an important day: the last day of my über local farmer's market. I had to get there to scrape up what I could, especially since Thanksgiving is this week. Simple enough, I've made it there most other weeks, but today was going to be different.

This was going to be a long and difficult goodbye.


Transportation

A week or so ago my husband informed me that he was going to partake in a Professional Development opportunity in Manhattan for a couple of Saturdays. I thought, "Great opportunity. Go for it and Lord knows we could use the money right now." Then he said, "First day is the 20th." Ugh. OK, no problem. I'll walk. That just means I need a more time for this trip.

So, I woke up, got ready, let the dogs out and was gathering my stuff to leave at around 11am. It was a little later than I wanted to get going, but I still had enough time even if it took me an hour to walk there (I figured it should take 30-40minutes).

The Issue of The Jerk

Champ, my ShiTzu, came inside and was going nuts while I was putting my shoes on. I explained, "It is not a pet-friendly market, Champ, I'm sorry. I'll be back as soon as I can. You've got to stop jumping on me!" And, yet, he did not stop. You would think I would realize it by now that this dog is my version of Lassie - when he is going nuts he really is trying to tell me something - but I simply got frustrated and said, "Alright! Enough! Where's Buffy? I really have to go now!" and took Champ with me out in the backyard.

Buffy aka "The Jerk"

As soon as we got outside Champ started spinning all around, which I mistook for Champ thinking I was going on an adventure with him. "Buffy! Let's GO! What are you doing?" and then I reached, with Champ on my ankle, the open gate... The Jerk, who has currently been running around naked (my husband nor I can find her collar with license ANYWHERE) decided she should just TAKE A STROLL around the neighborhood. I turned, apologetically, to Champ, I finally understood him, "She left us again, Nicole. We have to find her!" was all he was trying to say.

I was torn between worry and aggravation. I wanted to just be angry with her for being a jerk, but, of course, without a collar and no real idea of cars and streets, my mind raced. I ran around one corner yelling her name, thinking, "If she's having fun, will she respond to me?" then I thought, "sometimes she likes to go the other way to see the dogs in back of the house, so I went around the other corner. Then I remembered I left my back door wide open, I had no keys, no phone and was just about helpless with my stupid, stupid horrible vision! I went back home thinking, "Forget the market. This is going to take me all day. My furry baby is out having a blast, I am worried sick and I am going to have to go to the insane supermarkets before Thanksgiving!"

When I grabbed my phone I saw that Frank, from across the street had called while I was out. I called back as I was basically tripping out the door wondering, "How long ago did he call? Did he just see her? Did something happen? Why is this phone taking so long to dial? Why won't it ring??" And when I opened the door, Frank was there and so was THE JERK. Evidently she was just walking in front of my neighbor's house! She probably came out from behind the bushes where "Fat Cat" lives when I called her, but because of my stupid vision I didn't see her!

"Fat Cat" is a stray cat in my neighborhood that sometimes gets confused and thinks he owns my front step.

 The Walk


It is a one mile walk to the Farmer's Market at the Mall from my house.

Such a pretty day.

It was a beautiful day and dragging my "old-lady" shopping cart with me I thought this was the greatest thing I have done for myself all week. Since I was all caught up in the dog drama as I left, I had no time to plug myself into my iPhone to listen to a podcast or an audio book, which both have benefits of their own, but the walk with my thoughts was so much better today. Sometimes I find myself a pretty cool person to hang around with.

Me, my cart and a tree.

And FINALLY The Market

We do not have a large market, and not all of the farms were there this week, but I decided to walk around to everyone first before purchasing anything. I gathered recipes and handouts from the grownyc.org stand and then went over to my produce guy.

Only stand left that sells veggies.

I grabbed onions, potatoes, broccoli, green leaf, parsley and, of course beets (my favorite!).

Yummy, yummy, yummy!!

 Before I left, I ventured over to another farmer's/baker's stand. It is a local orchard from New Jersey. I bought a bunch of apples and some sweet treats (small pies: pumpkin, apple and apple crumb) for my Thanksgiving guests.

The Goodbyes

I spoke with a couple of the farmers and thanked them for coming out to us every week. I told them to have a great year and they wished me likewise. And I got some great news: rumor is that this market will be coming back EVEN EARLIER  next year! The first year it didn't start until September, this year, until mid July and now one Farmer said June and another said that he heard it may even be as early as MAY! Like a normal NYC Seasonal Farmer's Market!! So Exciting! So although I am heartbroken and confused about what I will be doing in the months to come (I have not yet learned about canning, preserving and the like), I left the market feeling hopeful for next year's flourishing market.

Until next year, Greenmarket!

**Dedication**

Today's post is dedicated to Frank who, in dealing with "The Jerk", actually made my fabulous Farmer's Market trip possible. Besides being a superhero to pet owners everywhere, and in competition with me for the "I've Spent The Greatest Proportion of My Life Living In This Neighborhood"Award (although I am winning!!), Frank is also a photographer. You should check out his site!

 

Washed Away Dreams...

After I wrote my last blog, I woke up the next morning with a plan: I was going shopping! I waited for my husband to eat his breakfast and wipe the sleep from his eyes before I engaged him in one of my food conversations. It was raining Tuesday morning, so I wasn't sure that it would be the best day for a farm visit (I really want to look around when I get there if I can!), so this conversation was going to require some extra finesse - I wanted to negotiate TWO days of food shopping: Tuesday for Whole Foods and the Farmer's Market at the ferry and Wednesday for the farm trip. It took some negotiating, a quick glance at our whole vacation spread before us (we had exactly seven days left), a sketch of all of things each of us wanted to accomplish in that time, but it was agreed - we would go out to the Whole Foods in New Jersey, right over the bridge.

I opened my MacBook to search for the exact address and get directions when I heard it... a splash. I leaped up, "That's water," my heart was in my throat - what pipe just burst?! My husband said, "No, something just fell. RELAX." Unfortunately, we were both right - I heard a splash because my laundry bag, full of clothes (of course) fell into brown, smelly water that was at least 5 inches deep in our entire basement. Needless to say, we didn't make it to go Whole Foods, the Farmer's Market, nor have we fulfilled any of our vacation/free time desires. I'm sorry to say that the time in between was filled with ordering in and not eating very healthy either, but after you have been cleaning a basement filled with sewage, or dealing with the wreckage from it, the last thing you want to do is cook (and one is left wondering - should you be cooking like this??) So we ate pizza, sandwiches, more pizza, ordered from Better (a "healthy" take out place by us), but very little home-cooked food (one meal at my mother-in-law's?).

So, it's Monday again... I didn't mean for it to be exactly a week since my last post (I thought I would have SO much more to write about in the interim!), and I am going to attempt to go food shopping again, but we are shooting for today, and we are going local. I am going to go check out our Stop n Shop - I used t go there all of the time because of their great organic selection, but it was getting very expensive. I have heard the prices have gotten better, I guess I'll find out today. I also plan to cook tonight and, hopefully, continue to make a dent in the meat in our house, but I have to be realistic here: our home is still sort of like a funhouse. There is not much we can do about it since we have to wait for the insurance adjuster on Wednesday to see it as is, but it is hard to ignore and it is difficult to focus on anything else besides CLEAN UP CLEAN UP CLEAN UP! So wish me luck, that I can focus on all aspects of personal health: my internal as well as my external!

Eating Through The Meat...

Slowly, but surely, we are getting through the meat in our house one meal at a time. I am trying to do the right thing in terms of waste and NOT throw away what we have already purchased. Since we are members at CostCo, this has been no small feat to get through restaurant-sized bags of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, scallops, Ahai Tuna Steaks, Salmon and what was left of some Flounder. I feel as though I can finally see the end of this and begin, once again, to look forward to a new path. However, this waiting period has given me time to think about our plans, come up with some pretty concrete steps in the right direction, and to give us things to think about in terms of possible issues for our future with this, IF we are successful.

1. PLANS - Start small. See if we can find 'healthier" meat while we figure out not-meat alternatives we actually like. Be realistic, not too idealistic; this is a life changer and we have to find a way to fit it into our reality, otherwise it will not last.

2. CONCRETE STEPS - This week my husband and I will be taking our first trip to one of our local farms to possibly buy chicken and eggs along with some produce. In addition, we agreed that we should also take a trip to a Whole Foods Market to see if we feel they have anything of value to us that may be worth a return visit. (I definitely need to restock my quinoa stash, I remember how difficult it was for me to find, and I am pretty sure they have it there.) Also, there is a year-long farmer's market pretty close by that I have not taken advantage of (I did not realize it was YEAR ROUND!), so I hope to swing by that this week as well.

About a week ago I purchased a book I have been wanting for over a month, at least: The Conscious Cook. It is an actual book (no .pdf or audio on this one...) so it is slow-going, but I think there is a lot of potential for me to learn from. In short, it is a vegan cookbook, but what I like is how is takes time to describe various grains, proteins, et cetera and gives little ignorant me a little synopsis on their cool-factors.

3. POSSIBLE ISSUES - Just one word sums it up fine I think: family. What happens if you make this commitment, you go over to your in-law's house and, based on your new lifestyle, you suddenly can not eat that which you have eaten for years? Or, the more terrifying prospect for my family: I cook BOTH Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners for everyone - do I still serve turkey on those nights of food celebration? In other words, do I expose those I love to my beliefs in a way that compromises their own food choices and/or selections, or do I compromise my own in their presence? And if I choose to compromise, am I not defeating the purpose of the entire act? ...Anyway, these are very big questions for a later blog, when I am steeped in my decision and confirmed in my resolutions about my meals.

For now, I am going to grab The Conscious Cook again and see how much I can learn before bedtime without making myself to hungry (is it wise to read a cookbook before bed??).