Prosciutto from Big Boy the pig. Photo: Rebecca Winters.

"What happened to the rats on your property?" someone asks urban farmer Novella Carpenter.

"I have a theory that my pigs ate the rats," Carpenter says. Realizing that her audience has been munching on slices of said pig's hindquarters, she laughed. "So enjoy some delicious prosciutto!"

Farmers are reputed to have a tough streak. They step over piles of excrement, battle gargantuan hogs and, of course, have to earn a living. Carpenter, author of "Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer," seems no exception. She lives in the city, not the country, "so I can get Chinese food at 2 a.m."

The two 300-pound hogs she raised in what she calls the Oakland, Calif., "ghetto," also enjoyed Chinese takeout. She read about her adventures in urban farming on a Brooklyn, N.Y., rooftop adjacent to a 6,000-foot, 30-crop rooftop farm built by Goode Green and tended by farmers Annie Novak and Ben Flanner.

Dumpster diving, fish guts and the cost of rooftop farming, after the jump.

• From pig to prosciutto -- how dry-cured hams can offer the most rich and rewarding flavor.
• New York is awash in speakeasies. They might not look like the bars of Prohibition, but the same hidden doors and password rigmarole applies.
• A look at Zach Brooks and his Midtown Lunch Web site, which is dedicated to finding decent and reasonably priced lunches in, of course, Midtown Manhattan.
• Stop! That white wine in your fridge should never be served super-cold.
• Per Se, Thomas Keller's famous Manhattan eatery, has one heck of a saucy kitchen.
• Organic dairy farmers are in dire straits thanks to the recession's harsh impact.
• Ballparks might not be going gourmet, but the fast food has been given a haute twist at hotspots like Yankee Stadium and Citi Field.

More news after the jump.

Spring is almost here. (Hallelujah!) And while it may seem like there's all the time in the world, that time flies and before you know it, gardening season will be in full swing. To get us prepared for a whole slew of excellent self-grown herbs and vegetables -- the epitome of local food -- I thought I'd alert you to the Garden Girl, Patti. She's pretty much a gardening guru, and can help get you all set for your new crops.

The above video is the first in a series on Indoor Gardening, but there are also videos on composting, harvesting, hydroponics, insect control, and all of those important gardening particulars. Plan now, and be happy with lots and lots of food in the summer months. Happy gardening!

There's one sector of the economy that's growing because of the recession: Seed-sellers. The number of homes with vegetable gardens will jump more than 40 percent this year compared with two years ago, according to projections from the National Gardening Association, reports USA Today.

At W. Atlee Burpee, the world's largest seed company, seed sales are projected to jump 25 percent this year. This boom is spawning some good deals for the home gardener. Burpee recently unveiled its "Money Garden" package, a collection of tomato, bean, red pepper, carrot, lettuce and snap pea that sells for $10 and can produce up to $650 worth of vegetables.

"As the economy goes down, food gardening goes up," says Bruce Butterfield, research director at the National Gardening Association. "We haven't seen this kind of spike in 30 years."

Have you decided to grow your own fruits or veggies to save money?

Dagoba's Rosemary Mint bar was one of Marisa's standout picks for our Fancy Food Show Favorites, and I've since become slavishly devoted to their Seeds bar. It's 68% cacao, studded throughout with pumpkin, hemp and sunflower seeds, and now I've got even greater impetus to dig it, because the company is giving away free seeds via their website Seed the Day.

"Whether it's a pot on the windowsill, a patch in the backyard or a big community effort, everyone can garden. We'll get you ready for spring and help keep your garden blooming by sending you the very herbs and flowers found in our chocolate bars. Everyone who signs up will get at least one packet of lavender, mint, rosemary, pumpkin or sunflower seeds."

So far as I can tell, there's not a single hitch or string -- just free seeds and an extra excuse to think of chocolate. The site also notes that should your planting group be planning a late night planting romp, they just might send along some delicious provisions. And - if you live in Boston, Chicago or San Francisco, you can come on out and nab a handful for yourself. Dates are listed here.


Seed the Day

Seeing sunflowers makes me smile. They are so bright and cheery. Now, however, I have even more of a reason to smile about sunflowers.

I had heard about the mysterious disappearance of the bees. As mentioned previously on this blog, Haagen-Daaz has done a good job spreading the news. They have a wealth of information on their Help the Honey Bees Site. Not surprisingly, most of their campaign revolves around buying ice cream. I love ice cream and support the cause, but what else could I do?

The Great Sunflower Project gives you a great opportunity to help out in another way. Sunflowers attract bees that subsequently pollinate the plants we eat. If you register by June 15, The Great Sunflower Project will send you sunflower seeds to plant in your garden. They then ask that you monitor the bees that visit your sunflowers. Don't worry, they make it easy by giving you lots of helpful hints on how to effectively monitor your backyard visitors. They will use your information to help get a big picture of the state of bees in urban areas.

Is it really bad to say at this point that bees scare me and I'm not sure I want extra bees in my yard? Probably, but I think saving fruits, vegetables, and one of the loves of my life, honey, wins out over my fear of bees. I also don't need to plant the sunflowers right next to my porch swing.

Check out The District Domestic for more on the plight of the honey bee and what you can do to help.

I love the idea of a pizza farm! It's a farm divided into pie slices with each slice featuring a different pizza topping. Sections could include tomatoes, onions, peppers, broccoli, or even pigs (for bacon). There are several pizza farms in the US that have become popular as tourist attractions and for school field trips. Visit Suite 101 for a list of these farms.

What I love even more than the idea of a large scale pizza farm is the idea of a small scale pizza garden. Why do our home gardens always have straight edges? Is it harder to make circles? I'm sure mine would end up looking like a pizza cloud, but I could live with that.

Having a pizza garden would be a great way to give kids a taste of gardening. Let me know if you try it!

I used to have a pothos plant growing on my kitchen windowsill. It never did too well, so I was surprised one day to see it had grown a long, thin new leaf. Then I figured out that my roommate had sprinkled chive seeds in the pot. The pothos didn't make it, but the chives thrived.

Fresh chives are wonderful, always good for a dash of springtime green in egg dishes, soups, cornbread, and practically any kind of veggie dish. I'm a big fan of frittatas with chives, tomatoes, and Parmesan, and don't even get me started on crispy golden Chinese chive pancakes...

Chives are easy to grow, both indoors and out, as my roommate ably demonstrated. April is a good month for planting chive seeds outdoors - seedlings should appear within ten days. Check out Garden Action for a primer on planting and caring for chives.

Maybe you've heard about "eating green," but aren't quite sure what it entails. Or you already try to eat organic, but sometimes wish there was more you could do for the earth. Or maybe you're already aware of eating green but could use a refresher.

Well, our friends at GreenDaily have done the research for you, and come up with a handy little guide to everything you should know about eating green. Each part of the guide features handy, straightforward information about topics like gardening, artificial growth hormones, and fair trade, complete with online resources and opportunities to learn more.

• Summer is the time for bluefish.
• Quick tips on cooking rhubarb.
• When you get married, you get better cookware.
• New moms need a hand in the kitchen.
• Another way to cook asparagus.
• More restaurants should have a simple wine list like T.W. Food in Cambridge.
• Have you ever eaten an MRE?
• Some great ideas for your garden.
• This week's recipes: Pulled Chicken Sandwiches, Tangy Slaw, Fish Tacos, and Grilled Shrimp.

If you're not in sunny southern California, you might not even be able to get a trowel through the top two inches of ground in your yard these days, but that shouldn't stop you from planning now if you want to have red ripe tomatoes and fragrant herbs in your garden come Spring.

According to finance blog Get Rich Slowly, February is the perfect time to start planning your vegetable garden. Their post, Plan Today for Summer Success, has some great, basic information about how to plan, including such probing questions as "Do you actually like to eat vegetables?" and tips on how to make best use of the space you have. Since it's the last day of the month today, you still have time!

[via: LifeHacker]

Using fresh herbs in your recipes is a sure way to brighten up your favorite chicken dish or add some dimension to a rice pilaf. The flavors from fresh herbs are more vivid and complex than those from dried herbs. Once way to obtain said herbs is by choosing bunches of fresh at your local market, but growing them at home is going to be more convenient and less expensive than buying them every time you need a few tablespoonfuls. These garden-in-a bag kits are perfect for anyone interested in trying to grow some fresh herbs who doesn't have the space - or gardening abilities - to handle something bigger. The indoor-friendly options include organic chives, mint, basil and lavender, along with a variety of flowers. To get your herbs to grow, all you need to do is stir the included seeds and water into the bag, full of already primed soil, and wait. Germination takes a few days and, depending on what you're growing, you'll have fresh herbs within a couple of weeks.

Depending on how you look at it, the Nation Trust's ugly vegetable competition is either a good idea or a bad one. On one hand, it gets kids involved in growing their own fruits and vegetables, which could start them with good habits for later in life. On the other hand, the sight of some of the "winners" could put them off veggies for quite some time.

The contest isn't just for children, though. It started as a way to cultivate some appreciation for ugly fruits and vegetables, most of which are underappreciated in the kitchen. There are multiple age categories: under 5, 5-7, 8-11, 11-16, 25-65 and over 65 years old. In each range there was a winner and this parsnip, grown by Mrs Hilary Nellist in the 25-65 group, took home the grand prize for the ugliest vegetable of the year.

There were no winners for the 16-25 category, which either means that they are all exceptional gardeners and can't grow ugly veggies or that gardening isn't exactly a cool past-time for that age group.

[via growabrain]

You may have sprayed garlic juice, tobacco juice, combonations thereof on your tomatoes to stave off aphids and the like...you may have sprayed any number of "organic solutions" on your precious crops. But, there is a naturally occuring compound that will not only protect your plants from unwanted insects, but for livestock as well. It's called Diatomaceous earth (DE, diatomite, diahydro) and it is a clever approach to pests. Yes I know, one plant's pest is some benign bat's snack...however, serious small-scale growers (say, tomatoes, green beans, squash, etc.) pull their hair out to keep insects nibbling on other things.

Diatomaceous earth is one good answer. It's simply a porous, chalky, white sedimentary rock composed of fossilized diatoms-- hard shelled algea. The compound absorbs the waxy outer layer of an insect's body; they die from dehydration.

DE can be used in livestock and humans, but the efficacy is low since there is no shortage of liquid in the digestive tracts of either. So, if you've run out of eco-friendly insecticide ideas, give this one a try. It doesn't smell and your plants won't mutate into super-tobacco.

If the store is out of the question and even the farmer's market is getting to be too far away, there is a growing trend of "delawning" and replacing the "useless" grass front lawn with a garden of entirely edible plants. Edible estates is a throwback movement to times in the early 20th century when yards had to be used for gardening and not for recreation. It is also a mission for its founder, Los Angeles architect Fritz Haeg, who has made connections to start several Estates all across the country, in addition to the ones currently operating in Salina, KS and just south of LA in Lakewood, CA.

The conversion process involves ripping out everything in a flat, sunny front yard and replanting it with up to 195 varieties of fruits, vegetables and other edible plants. The yards must be tended by their owners 7 days a week, and since no pesticides are allowed, the maintenance can become a second job. And with that many plants in a limited space, the foliage can become rather aggressive, making it even more of a standout from neighboring homes. Incidentally, neighbors aren't too thrilled when one of these springs up on their block, saying "what happens in the backyard is their business, but this doesn't seem...to be a front yard kind of a deal."

Check out the edible estates website if you're interested in learning more. I think I'll stick to the various markets in my area. I like to garden, but the only point I'm trying to make with it is part of my dinner, not one about eco-polotics.

By the way, the family in LA has a blog about their gardening that is quite interesting.