Loving the Earth from a Rooftop Garden

My rooftop garden has been a meditative journey, just like my yoga practice that teaches me: patience, freedom, strength, balance, flexibility, gratitude, self-determination, awareness, courage, respect and love. That is all a mouthful — but it is true. My challenges and joys are real, similarly to my farmers who I have become in awe of. Once I started growing my own food, I began to feel more connected to the earth, even though I'm gardening from a 360° sky view. Loving the earth from above has its advantages. Sometimes I feel as if I'm in a tree house, gardening with the birds who will sit on the trellis at times while I snip and clip. The bees always find their way to the top and buzz around the chicory puntarella that I let flower for pollinators. When I look below I see the wild turkeys and deer look-up with curiosity as they go about their business eating yard bugs and clover. If they only knew what was growing on the rooftop; the turkeys might know because they do perch in the trees at times. The deer, no chance, unless Rudolph is real.

I'm sure some of you are wondering why my husband Chris and I decided to create a rooftop garden. When we began designing our sustainable home Sheridan Green we always knew we wanted a garden. As we got to know the property intimately we noticed many deer and an abundance of other wildlife that would have enjoyed a free salad bar. Instead of fighting with Mother Nature's creature's (who we are very fond of) we raised our garden to the roof.

Last year, was the first season we began to grow our own food and it surely was a learning curve. I was not focused — so much— on the varieties (heirloom vs. hybrid) I was planting, but more of the what's in season, when and how. After that growing season I pondered on varieties and the: why does it make more sense to plant an heirloom (open pollinated) tomato over a hybrid? My go-to farmer Stephanie Gaylor of Invincible Summer Farms, the Long Island Regional Seed Consortium and Salt of the Earth Seed Company is my mentor and friend. She grows rare varieties of vegetables for her farm, for seed trialing and preservation, and seed breeding. I'm in awe of her perseverance to resist the usual and plant to preserve food diversity as an action and a practice.

Heirloom for me means: more nutritious, open-pollinated so I can save the seed from year-to-year, locally-adapted to our terroir (seeds that have been selected to grow well in our region), exceptional taste, and the historical and culinary stories of these varieties that have been grown for many centuries from around the world that we can cherish for years to come.

This year, my (two) 5' x 18' garden beds are filled with rare heirloom varieties like: eggplants, beans, snow peas, tomatoes, greens, leeks, peppers, fennel, tomatillo, chicory and kale. The majority of the plants and seeds are provided by Stephanie, and a handful are seeds I saved from last year. Soon, a fall crop of carrots, beets, kale, greens, and radishes will be planted.

I'm passionate about varieties that are on the Ark of Taste, an international catalogue of endangered heritage foods that are maintained by the Slow Food movement that is designed to preserve at-risk foods that are sustainably produced, unique in taste and history and part of a distinct ecoregion. The Long Island Cheese Pumpkin is a local variety that is on the Ark of Taste and was saved in the 1970's by a local seed saver Ken Ettlinger. I partnered with the Long Island Regional Seed Consortium as an Ambassador and Coordinator for The Long Island Cheese Pumpkin Project to spread the word about this pumpkin through educational events and grow outs to revitalize this variety from the farm and garden to the palate.

Aunt Molly's Ground Cherry (part of the nightshade family, tastes like a tomato crossed with a pineapple and a strawberry) is on the Ark of Taste and is being grown in my garden, along with the Shinnecock Currant Tomato that was grown by the Shinnecock Indians here on Long Island and a variety that I will be nominating to the Ark of Taste when I proudly attend as a Slow Food East End delegate at Terra Madre Salone del Gusto in Turin, Italy. Stephanie Gaylor has adopted this orphan variety that is on the verge of extinction, (only one or two people in the world have this seed) and has been cultivating its viability for the past four years in hopes to be released in 2017 (it takes approximately five years to cultivate a seed; grow, save the seed and repeat).

Terra Madre Salone del Gusto is the most important international event dedicated to food and gastronomy that is composed of exhibitors from five continents, numerous events dedicated to the wealth and diversity of global cuisine, conferences examining issues around food production, forums of Terra Madre’s food communities and how our food is made, preserving biodiversity and securing a better food future for everyone.

The theme of this year's edition is Loving the Earth.  A perfect theme for a girl who loves the earth from a rooftop garden.

Reaping the Benefits of a Farmers' Great Mistake

What's in season is directed by mother nature and nurtured by the farmer whose soiled hands tell a story of what's being tilled, sown and harvested. A farmer's watchful eye and deliberate planning starts well before the sun rises and into the dark of evening. And through it all there are trials and tribulations, sweet successes, and sometimes great mistakes. Stephanie Gaylor of Invincible Summer Farms and Ken Ettlinger of the Long Island Regional Seed Consortium, are reaping the benefits of a great mistake.

Imagine this. A kale, that Stephanie Gaylor affectionately named, Tough Mother, that overwintered in 2014 and prevailed polar vortex temperatures, had crossed with an heirloom rutabaga that gave birth to a tender like rapini foliage that stems from a crunchy and sweet root that tastes just like a rutabaga.

Stephanie and Ken named this serendipitous happenstance — The Great Mistake Rapini. And what's greater than that? They are selecting out the best varieties to save the seeds to grow in years to come for chefs like Ignacio Mattos of Estela, Marc Meyer of Cookshop, and Stephan Borgadus of North Fork Table and Inn, who are serving this at their restaurants for its tremendous flavor.

I tasted The Great Mistake at Stephianie's Farm. My brain was expecting a bitter like broccoli rabe bite, but what I experienced was surprisingly different. It is sweet, mild, tender and easy to eat raw — from root to foliage. I made this two ways: A raw salad with manchego cheese and endive, and a quick sauté with garlic that is topped with the root shaved raw.

Stephanie hosted her first Seeds & Suds (video here) talk (a video series focused on seeds — what is growing on the farm— and drinking good beer) at her farm where we discussed the interspecies rutabaga/kale cross that overwintered and created The Great Mistake Rapini, while we drank a St. Feuillien triple style abbey ale.

Perhaps great mistakes like these can create a new local variety on the East End of Long Island that we will reap the benefits from for years to come.

recipe

the great mistake raw salad

Directions

Chop the foliage of The Great Mistake and the endive; place in a bowl. Mix the olive oil, lemon, Dijon mustard, honey and a pinch of salt and pepper for the vinaigrette. Then pour on top of the greens and toss. If needed, add more salt and pepper to taste. Then add the shaved Manchego cheese.

Ingredients

• The Great Mistake, 1 bunch chopped
• Manchego cheese, shaved
• 1 endive, chopped
• 1 lemon, squeezed
• Olive Oil, 3 tablespoons
• Dijon Mustard, 1 tablespoon
• Local Honey, 1 teaspoon
• salt and pepper, to taste

Hail to the Long Island Cheese Pumpkin

The Long Island Cheese Pumpkin has had a complex since the 1960's. It has been pushed aside by the likes of it's curvaceous and—oh so sexy relative—the butternut squash, and glossed over by it's default pie-favorite neighbor, the sugar pumpkin; the name alone is cute. These winter squash go-to favorites seem to have been marked early on as, "most likely to succeed", "best bottom", and "biggest flirt", that easily moved them up the Cucurbita charts as squash Queen and King to join the biggest Jester of them all, the modernization of seed and food production. Pumpkin varieties like the Dickinson and Kentucky field pumpkins were preferred by farmers for their round shapes and smooth skins (easy roll off on conveyors and for easy peeling and processing for the canned pumpkin), unlike the Long Island Cheese Pumpkin that is squat in shape like a cheese rind (hence the name) with beige skin that has deep ridging. Sadly, the Long Island Cheese Pumpkin was not widely being grown and was not available through seed retailers.

But I'm here to say, "Hail to the Long Island Cheese Pumpkin", because it is making a come back.

In the late 1970's, Ken Ettlinger, a local seed saver, noticed the pumpkin had disappeared commercially from seed catalogs and farms. It was then that he began scouring farmstands and saving the seeds from select varieties. "Growing up on Long Island during the 1950's, I would pick up a Long Island Cheese Pumpkin from farmstands in Cutchoque, just before Thanksgiving for my mother to make a pie," says Ettlinger. "Anyone who grew up during that time was using the Long Island Cheese Pumpkin for pie."

If you want to learn more about the Long Island Cheese Pumpkin, the Long Island Regional Seed Consortium will be hosting their 2nd annual Seed Swap on February 13th at the Suffolk County Community College in Riverhead. There will be a panel discussion dedicated to the pumpkin, recipe demonstrations and much more.

My go-to squash for pie, pasta and risotto has always been butternut squash. I am now taking the Long Island Cheese Pumpkin pledge and can attest that this pumpkin reigns supreme. I have made gnocchi, stews, raw salads, pie and most recently, soup. The bright orange flesh is meaty (with less strings) and has a sweet nutty flavor. I made the soup with unsweetened coconut milk —in place of dairy—that gives it a silky taste and baked for depth of flavor. What to do with the seeds? Roast them as a garnish with cHarissa, brown sugar, salt and olive oil. They are addicting and may not even make it to the bowl.

This Thanksgiving, let's give thanks to the folks who are saving seeds, the farmers who are growing varieties that are on the verge of disappearing and to those who see beyond the surface, for what is inside is what really counts.

RECIPE: Long Island Cheese Pumpkin Soup

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400°. Cut pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds and set-aside. Lightly apply olive oil to flesh of pumpkin and bake until tender. Careful to not allow the pumpkin to burn (may need to cover with tinfoil)
2. Once pumpkin is done let cool so it is easy to handle with your hands. Scoop out the flesh and set aside.
3. Place a soup pot over medium heat. Add the olive oil and sauté the onion, carrot and turnip.
4. Once onion is translucent add the spices, salt and pumpkin pureé. Then add the stock and deglaze.
5. With a hand immersion blender, blend until smooth. Then add the brown sugar and coconut oil and blitz again.
6. This is where you may need to adjust the seasoning to your liking.
7. Garnish with roasted pumpkin seeds and a drizzle of pumpkin olive oil.
   
   Note: If you do not have a hand-held immersion blender you can use a food processor or blender. Make sure the mixture is cool before you pureé.

Ingredients

• 1 Large Long Island Cheese Pumpkin, roasted
• 1 large white onion, chopped
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 1 medium Milan turnip, chopped (any turnip would do)
• 1 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground clove
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground coriander
• 1 tablespoon of sea salt
• 3 tablespoons of Olive Oil
• 1 can of unsweetened coconut milk
• 3 tablespoons of brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon of black pepper
• 4 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
• Pumpkin olive oil for garnish (okay if you do not have on hand)
   

RECIPE: Roasted Pumpkin Seeds                          

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325°.
2. Place the pumpkin seeds in a colander and run under water to rinse and separate the seeds from the bits and pieces of pumpkin flesh.
3. Soak seeds in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes to remove the remainder of the flesh. (do the best you can). Then strain the seeds from the water into a bowl.
4. In that same bowl mix-in the olive oil, salt, cHarissa, and brown sugar. Then pour on a baking sheet.
5. Cook until golden brown and fragrant.

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon of cHarissa
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of brown sugar