Young McJasper at the farm: Stone Barns

High up on the list of reasons why I love Jasper's new school is this: they love growing food. The school has a plot at the local community garden and their activities there are integrated into the curriculum. And on Monday the school took a trip up to the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture. This is a sustainable farm and education center with a cafe and weekly farmer's market. The farm also helps feed the restaurant Blue Hill (where Lane and I celebrated an anniversary a couple years ago) in New York City.

I'm so glad the school planned the trip in late October, with the fall colors on full display. Sigh--I was often distracted by the fall foliage.

Stone Barns is a pristine example of sustainable farming; much of what I've read about Joel Salatin's farming methods was on display here. Sheep and cows are moved from field to field so as not to overgraze any one piece of land.

The "eggmobiles" are also rotated around the property so the free-range hens can peck new ground and so their droppings don't over-accumulate. Maybe it was the cool weather, but I couldn't believe how fresh the farm smelled.

The Berkshire piglets are kept in the forest. Did you know pigs can't sweat? This is why they roll around in mud--to cool themselves off. At Stone Barns the pigs keep cool in the shade. Jasper found the giant sow's snorting terrifying. They did kind of remind me of the boars in Princess Mononoke.

Gorgeous digs you've got here, piggies! Tell me, who does your decorating?

Of course, they also grow vegetables here.

I think this is drying basil.

The greenhouses.

It occurred to me, schools often take trips to see the animals at the zoo--but doesn't it seem more meaningful to see animals you encounter on your plate? Our tour leader and Jasper's teacher did a great job of engaging the children, helping them to understand how the farm works and what it means for the animals. The following day Jasper's class built their own farm made of blocks, their own clay figures, and other materials. I can't wait to see it this Friday! Jasper tells me he and a classmate got to make the eggmobile. I'll post the restults next week. And now, another gratuitous fall photo.

Food Buzz 24, 24, 24 Brooklyn Food Conference Web Team Cocktail Party

Welcome to Sustainable Joy, my new blog! I still have some tweaking to do here but I wanted to get things started here with a report on my Food Buzz 24, 24, 24 cocktail party.

24 Meals, 24 Hours, 24 Blogs is a special project of Food Buzz: 24 food bloggers around the globe throw a dinner party within the same 24-hour period and then post about it! I decided to use the opportunity to celebrate the fabulous Brooklyn Food Conference website team with a Brooklyn-based party on my roof deck.

Producer Xavier ThomasWhat better way to celebrate our efforts building a Brooklyn-based, grassroots event than to enjoy some of Brooklyn's best artisan, lovingly-made foods? I got much of my grub at the newly-opened Brooklyn Larder, sister enterprise to the divine Franny's.

Brooklyn Larder's pickled onionsI loaded up on their house-made pickled onions, pork fennel sausage, country pate, and porchetta, as well as Franny's olive mix and some Hot Bread Kitchen lavash.

Pinch-hitting coder Mig GreengardThen I hit the local greenmarkets for more cocktail nosh. At the Grand Army Plaza market I bought some wonderfully stinky, runny Cato Corner Rapple-Ree cheese, made with apple marc and brandy, baguettes from Buon Pane, and loads of fresh veggies.

Brooklyn Larder country pate, Londonderry cheese from Vermont, and oozing Rapple-Ree cheeseAt the Union Square greenmarket I happened upon the berry holy grail, a tiny, sweet wild strawberry cross-breed.

I've had Melissa Clark's sugar snap pea salad on my mind for over a week. I altered her recipe to make crostini, chopping the peas and radish smaller and using 8 ounces of creamy Salvatore Bklyn ricotta instead of ricotta salata.

Brooklyn Larder's porchetta is made with heritage pork, garlic, and Tuscan fennel pollen. It's a melty, gorgeously herbal meat that calls for special treatment, so I riffed on the usual prosciutto-wrapped melon and paired it with sweet, floral watermelon.

But what of the cocktails, you ask? We called upon the supremely knowledgable David at my husband's favorite watering hole Quarter Bar (in Greenwood Heights, 5th Avenue at 20th Street) for a recipe. Here is his Greenwood Cooler.

1 cucumber cut into 1/4-inch slices

4 lemons cut into 1/8-inch slices

30 mint leaves

7 ounces fresh grapefruit juice

3 ounces simple syrup (I used agave syrup--not recommended but it worked for me)

1 liter Luksusowa vodka (David insists on this brand)

Soda and ice

Muddle cucumbers, lemons, and mint. Swirl simple syrup into grapefruit juice and add vodka. Stir into muddle mix. To serve add 3 ounces to a highball and add ice and soda to fill.

I found Fee Brother's rhubarb bitters at Brooklyn Larder. They suggested a rhubarb sparkler: place a sugar cube in each glass, douse it with the bitters, and fill with sparkling wine. Over at 7th Avenue Wine, our other alcohol authority (also named David!) recommended for a rhubarb cocktail using a wine without apple undertones, so I used Domaine Ste. Michelle Brut.

We were so happy to be outdoors given the monsoon season New York City just survived. Alas, two brief showers kept us running downstairs and then back upstairs throughout the evening.

BFC blogger Paige Churchman enjoys a respite from the rainIn the end we prevailed and ended the evening upstairs, where we enjoyed Brooklyn Larder's house-made rhubarb sorbet and strawberry gelato and plotted the possibilities for the BFC website's future.

Anna's ginger thins are especially good with gelatoWhat a lovely way to start the summer!

Our fearless leader, BFC General Coordinator Nancy Romer