Sometimes I think I live in Manhattan’s Golden Food Triangle: over there a block is Trader Joe’s (and can I get an amen for the new store that’s opened in Chelsea, thus making line-waiting at Union Square TJ’s no longer quite an Olympic sport); a block in the other direction is Whole Foods (varsity-level line-waiting, not quite expert level); and then over thataway a block is the Union Square Greenmarket, four days a week. So if you need cheap wine, exotic spices, buffalo meat, or ostrich eggs…the triangle can hook you up.
Susan at Three-Corner Farm (great lamb sausage, cheese, and wool) explained to Liam (very gently) where sausage came from; the “bee man” as we call him, patiently explains all the different flavors of honey (and offers tastes of each); the pretzel guys give free pretzels with every purchase (best bet? a bag of broken pretzels, which fit more easily into lunch boxes). It’s endless, the Greenmarket, and if I ever were to move out of the city, it’s one of the things I would miss most.
Today at the greenmarket, I dropped off the compost (if you haven’t seen it already, go see “The Kids Are All Right,” if only for Annette Bening’s inspired rant against organic food, loca-voring, composting, and acai fruit)
then the textile recycling (those socks with a hole? the ripped sheets? the shorts that are too raggedy for Goodwill? Textile recycling turns the fabric into material for rugs, insulation, and god knows what else).
Then? Did I want wool for some pre-season knitting? 
Zucchini and summer squash? 
Sunflowers?
Eggs?
Peaches and a honeybee? 
Or did I want just to listen to someone playing the harp? 
Or maybe just more peaches? 
Or maybe take a minute and write whoever you like to write to in support of passing H.R. 5504, which advocates better nutrition (and better funding) for school lunch programs. Because every kid should get a chance to eat an actual peach, instead of peach “slices” in high-fructose corn syrup from a 10-quart can. (Yes, of course, as Rep. Cynthia Davis points out, “hunger is a great motivator,” but should that really apply to kindergartners? And if you’re thinking, oh, school lunch isn’t that bad, click here, for a day-by-day account of school lunch in one midwestern public school.)
So ignore Annette and start composting, send a letter to your representative, contemplate harp lessons, and yes, dare to eat a peach.
What a fab post! Yes, the school lunch thing is quite scary. The fact that a majority of the govt food that’s sent to our children is due to surplus they had to purchase is upsetting. This means poor quality, nonlocal, nonorganic, etc etc but also, basically, the food is in bad shape so they have to make things like meatloaf with lots and lots of corn so that the gross factor won’t come across. Obviously, I’m adlibbing/paraphrasing here but still it’s disturbing. So thank you for reminding me that we need to stay on our representatives about this. It’s fundamental.