As A Matter Of Fork @asamatteroffork-blog - Tumblr Blog

Once, during Prohibition, I was forced to live for days on nothing but food and water. - W.C. Fields

Smart idea: Surplus food is harvested from neighbors trees and sold. Free trees are offered to those who will later allow them to be harvested. Talk about sharing the wealth.

www.hollywoodorchard.org

Retailers w/extra food post it for a discount. You get a deal & help curb a $165 billion problem.

Help support the Pare Up indigogo campaign - still 12 days left!

I am a tad obsessed with PES and his stop motion food films.

"If people let the government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny."

Thomas Jefferson

oahficw

Bike transit + urbanism + coffee? Yes, turns out it’s possible to combine all of these wonderful things in a single creative act. The city of Zurich partnered with designers to deliver a drive-up (bike-up?) table for bikers to enjoy a cup of coffee without having to get off their ride. No need to find a place to lock up before heading inside.

As an added bonus: if you check in via Foursquare, a barista delivers fresh cup of joe right to your table (for free!).

asamatteroffork-blog

I'm totally into this idea! Would love to see this in NYC!

Our Global Kitchen at the MNH.

I am totally impressed with the Our Global Kitchen exhibit at the MNH. They took the extremely broad and not so simple subject of food and broke it down into many different parts: history, future, environmental and health issues, ancient and modern traditions, sensory aspects, and that is only scratching the surface. There were big issues identified and some solutions offered, but above all it hopefully encouraged people to think more deeply about the food they eat everyday. It is open until August 11th and I highly recommend to see it before it closes.

#our global kitchen #mnh

Going Global.

Just got back from a great time in Munich speaking about the Lowline at the DLD conference. I felt honored to be among the company of so many smart and talented people out there doing some pretty impressive stuff. Mitchell Joachim, Ellen Jorgeson and Oliver Medvedik from Gen Space, Hugh Herr, and Tony Hsieh of Zappos were so inspiring!

#thedld #thelowline #mitchell joachim #gen space #hugh herr #zappos #tony hsieh

Learning about Re-Nuble.

Cool company started by a friend of a friend, and great resource for the horrifying facts on food waste.

#re-nuble #food waste #recycle

Not my kind of fork.

Has it really come to this? At this year's CES, HAPIlab just launched a fork that vibrates when you are eating to fast. Talk about taking the enjoyment out of eating. I would hope that we can find other ways to become healthier eaters (or rather just reverse the 20 or so years of unhealthy habits that have been developed). I guess the "HAPIfork" just really hits you at the point of contact so to say.

What Are You Doing Tomorrow?

I can't wait to tour Stone Barns tomorrow. I have long respected everything they have created there-- the farm, the restaurant, the educational center.... My buddies from Eagle Street Rooftop and I will be headed up there. Details to follow.

#new york #stone barns

My Day At The Moma.

This was no ordinary day at the Moma. A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to work with artist Fritz Haeg on his latest installation-- Domestic Integrities. What a truly amazing experience it was.

It was all a bit surreal-- here I found myself walking through the streets on Midtown dressed unlike I had ever been before-- shorts, a ripped t-shirt and sneakers. It felt so funny to walk along side the business execs, like I was once, dressed like this.

I arrived at the Moma and immediately started hauling bags of potting soil which we proceeded to dump into a big circular plot. Fritz then suggested we all take off our shoes and jump in-- how else would we spread all that soil? And might I add it, it made a wonderful foot massage. The next step was to plant tons of medicinals, herbals, edibles, and pollinators. My guess is that we have around 70 different type of things growing.

The project opens officially in September 2012 and will be connected to another project of Fritz' where he makes large rugs out of old clothes. It was so amazing to be part of making this happen, and I will hopefully be involved in the next stages. Stay tuned.

#art #moma #fritz haeg

jaymug

asamatteroffork-blog

Chicago City Hall Rooftop Garden.

I love how forward thinking Chicago is. Construction on their green roof began over a decade ago, which means that have a lot of key learnings to share (i.e. they save over $5k/year on utility bills). I look forward to the day when all the city roofs are green, and having proven cost saving statistics will only help speed this process. Way to go Chicago!

#chicago

Ever Heard Of Peppers From Antarctica?

I just learned today about a great project to bring fresh vegetables to teams working in Antarcica. Cool, no? Here is a testimonial from Jenn Nelkin, the greenhouse director of NY Sun Works:

“The Antarctic Treaty states that no country may import soil to the continent. As greenhouses have become a common feature in Antarctic stations, hydroponics was the obvious growing method. These hydroponic greenhouses not only provide the stations with fresh produce, but also provide warm, humid, aromatic spaces for station personnel to enjoy during dark winter months. McMurdo Station, the largest US base, has just over 700 square feet of growing space using recirculating NFT systems to grow a variety of crops including tomatoes, bell and hot peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, dark leafy greens and various herbs. All of these systems have had great success using the General Hydroponics Flora Series. In addition to providing quality produce, the Flora Series is very user-friendly, making it possible for staff with limited background in hydroponics to participate in growing crops in the greenhouse. I would recommend the Flora Series to any new grower and look forward to experimenting with new products as they arise.”

#antarctica #hyrdoponics

A World Of Possibilities Underground.

I love all of the underground projects featured in Dezeen Magazine. From desert lodges in Jordan (top) to a converted bunker in the UK (bottom), there are so many innovative underground projects across the globe. I love pushing the boundaries of design possibilities, and making use of underutilized or derelict spaces.

#underground

surfistastravelogue

“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.” ― Henry David Thoreau

Today I Scooped Poop.

It was a beautiful day at the farm. The sun was shinning and plants with shades of green, red and purple were in abundance. Laura and I started by harvesting arugula. A lot of arugula. It wasn't going to be sold at the farmers market so it would either be composted or we could take it home to eat it. It was enough to feed an army, so we got talking about all the different things we could do with arugula. We talked about different salad options. I suggested pesto. She suggested preserving it by freezing it in olive oil (she had heard about doing this with basil). I questioned whether it could be cooked like spinach. What a wonderful little arugula brainstorm.

Laura began to tell me how her boyfriend was a fashion photographer and spent all his time in Soho and she found it humorous how different her life was here farming. She asked me where I lived. I told her Soho, and added that I used to work in fashion. Next, it was onto check on the chickens. When I opened their coop, I was so excited to see an egg - our first egg! The only problem, was that it was deep inside and I would practically need to crawl in the whole thing to get it - through their poop, spilled feed and all. Laura started chanting, "go Soho girl, do it," so I climbed in and got it.

Laura needed to leave shortly after, and I finished up the tasks around the farm. I sat on the deck for a bit too and had a peaceful quiet moment looking back and forth between the water and the green farm. I was also waiting for a call back from the head farmer Annie as I needed some instruction on a task I had yet to do on the farm - clean the rabbit cage. She told me what to do, and it seemed easy enough - but, oh was I wrong. I had to basically scrape a combination of pee and poop that was completely matted down in their cages, all while having three large rabbits staring at me and in one instance bite me (I knew it was a smart decision to wear those gloves). The front part of the cage was bad, but I pushed through it and got it done. Cleaning the back part was near impossible, and I felt like at any moment all three rabbits were going to launch at me, and kill me. I felt like the guy in 127 hours as he is cutting off his hand to get free, and he knows it is crazy, but he knows it is the only way out. I know this may seem like an extreme comparison, but that is how I felt while scooping poop today.

Not to worry, I had a wonderful ending to the day. I put together a delicious meal - arugula and radish salad with a fried egg with chickpeas and garlic (the first three ingredients from the farm).

#rooftop farm #urban farming #arugula #new york

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