Happy Farmers Market Weekend, UESiders!!
The final two days of Farmers Market Week 2018…
And the plan was to celebrate with Council Member Ben Kallos and his UES classic, Cooking with Kallos at 82nd Street…
Then came Saturday’s pelting rain forecast!!
Thus, look for NYC’s most culinary Council Member to be in apron/wielding spatula mode next Saturday, August 18th!
Be there, folks, for eats by and chat with CM, 10am-12pm!!
As for the week ahead:
Friday, August 10th: Summer Afternoon Music at Ruppert Park
Ruppert Park, 1741 Second Avenue at 92nd Street, 4-6pm
Join NYC Parks and the Muslim Volunteers for New York in a lovely late afternoon of music by The Blue Dahlia with their jazz/French chanson sound!! Come ready to have a great time!! Free. (Yes, Ruppert Park’s coming alive!!)
Friday, August 10th: “Peter Rabbit” at 24 Sycamores Park
24 Sycamores Park, York Avenue at 60th Street, 8pm
Beatrix Potter’s classic tale of one naughty rabbit and his adventures!! Animated film fun for the whole family!! Limited chair seating, but blanket-lounging welcome. Only plastic-bottled drinks. Made possible by NYC Parks and the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. Free! For more…
Saturdays, August 11th, 18th & 25th: Summer Streets!
Park Avenue, 72nd to Chambers Streets
Get out and walk… Bike… Zipline… Picnic… Stroll… Indulge in extreme sports… Park Avenue is all our park!! Rain or shine!! For more…
Saturday, August 11th: 82nd Street/St. Stephen’s Greenmarket
82nd Street between First and York, 9am–2pm
Compost & Clothes Collection, 9am–1pm
At their tables will be American Pride Seafood, Bread Alone, Ballard’s Honey, Sikking Flowers, Samascott, Old Mother Hubbert, Gajeski, Ale Wife, Hawthorne, Walnut Hill Farm and Cherry Lane Farms!!
And, yes, as promised by Mega Market Manager Margaret, Sun Fed/Maple Avenue Farm with their amazing beef, pork and lamb will be joining our merry 82nd Street band this Saturday!!
Margaret further enlightens us with: “Sun Fed’s beef is from cattle raised 2 ways. Half of the herd is purely grass fed and the other half is grass fed and grain finished, giving that meat a slightly higher fat content, making it more tender and easier to cook using traditional techniques.”
Good thing – given all the beef/pork/lamb we’ll be slicing – that the Master Knife Sharpener will be on hand to get our cutlery in shape!!
Meanwhile, there’ll be a new face tending to our compost/clothing/recyclables collection… Genny Rodriguez’ll be stepping in to fill Moises Enriquez’s very green shoes!!
Recycling totals 7/28: 59 lbs batteries; 24 lbs cords, corks, cellphones and cartridges; 1 pair of eyeglasses; 11 compost bins; 37 bags of clothes 8/4: 76 lbs batteries; 14 lbs cords, corks, cellphones and cartridges; 11 compost bins; 41 bags of clothes.
Bring on those makeup wands, ladies!!
Saturday, August 11th: 7th Annual Great Hudson River Estuary Fish Count
Randall’s Island Park, 1-4pm (and 18 other River locations)
Think waders, seine nets, minnow traps, rods and reels, 200 fish species, learning and a lot of fun… All under the guidance of actual naturalists!! And as NYS DEC Chief Basil Segos says, “Citizen science efforts like the Great Hudson River Estuary Fish Count provide our fishery managers with invaluable data and give people the opportunity to help DEC monitor New York’s natural resources!” For complete details…
Saturday, August 11th: “In the Name of the Earth” Choral Event
Harlem Meer, Central Park at 110th Street, 3-5pm
Four choirs – 800 professional and amateur singers – led by the great Simon Halsey – transform the names of North American rivers, lakes, mountains, and deserts into a musical meditation on the Earth, the Water, and the Holy Wind. Composed by Pulitzer Prize winner, John Luther Adams. Free! For more…
Sunday, August 12th: The 92nd Street Greenmarket
92nd Street at First Avenue, 9am-3pm
Compost Collection, 9 am-1pm
With us will be the fabulous American Pride Seafood, Back to the Future Farm/Ole Mother Hubbert Milk, Central Bakery, Sikking Flowers, Consider Bardwell, Meredith’s Bakery, Norwich Meadows, Halal Pastures, Phillips, Sun Fed Beef/Maple Avenue Farms and NS Wager’s Cider Mill!!
Happy to say the Master Knife Sharpener will be back and honing for yet another week, too!!
Ultima Manager Margaret reminds: “Get that Frequent Shopper Card punched and win one of several great prizes!! And then observes: “Amazing how we can now get everything on our weekly grocery lists at the Greenmarket!”
Recycling totals 7/29: 21 lbs batteries; 17 lbs cords, corks, cellphones and cartridges; 4 1/4 compost bins 8/5: 16 lbs batteries; 8 lbs cords, corks, cellphones and cartridges; 4 1/2 compost bins
Closing in on 5 bins!!
Wednesday, August 15th: NY Ferry 90th Street Stop Debut
East River Esplanade at 90th Street
And its 90th Street schedule is… (There’re an amazing number of stops both north and south!!) With a ticket just $2.75!!
Thursdays, August 16th, 23rd & 30th: Rooftop Czech Center Cine-Concert Series
Czech Center NY, 321 East 73rd Street, 7pm
So fun… Taking in a brilliant, classic silent film… Accompanied by great, live Czech musicians… High above the Upper East Side… Icy cocktail in hand!! $12. For films, tickets and more…
And then:
Friday, August 17th: 2018 National Thrift Store Day Crawl – Grammercy
Thrift Store Row, 157 EAST 23rd Street, 5-8pm
And in celebration of the day, Housing Works, the Salvation Army, Goodwill and Vintage Thrift are partnering to benefit donateNYC!! Add in refreshments, bargains galore and prizes!! For the rundown…
Saturday, August 25th: 13th Annual Jamaica Bay Shorebird Festival
Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, 7:30am- 4:30pm
A propitious time as over the past 40 years, over 40 species of shorebirds (including rare and accidental vagrants) have been recorded at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge’s East and West Ponds from mid-July through October, with the greatest diversity and abundance usually occurring in August!! Activities include guided shorebird walks, family programming and talks by experts on shorebird conservation and identification and Jamaica Bay. Free but a $20 donations is suggested!! Free bus transportation from Manhattan for NYC Audubon members!! (Call NYC Audubon at 212-691-7483 to reserve a seat.) For more information, contact American Littoral Society at 718-474-0896 or Don Riepe at don@littoralsociety.org.
And then:
Saturday, August 25th: Pet Adoption at Biscuits & Bath
1064 First Avenue, 11am-3pm
Always a good time to give an adorable furry canine critter a forever home!!
Looming on the horizon:
Saturday & Sunday, September 8th & 9th: The Carl Schurz Park Conservancy Gracie Square Art Show
East End Avenue from 84th to 88th Streets, 10am-5pm (rain or shine)
Marvelous art of every discipline and style… Engaging art activities for the younger set… Delicious edibles from Yura’s on East End… An annual UES classic that not only sustains the Park but enables the evolution of its beauty!!
Tuesday, September 11th: New York Cares 9/11 Day of Service
Manhattan Location, 5:30am-1pm
One of the many fine ways to mark this most solemn day in our city’s history… Lending a hand with one of many tasks in assembling meals for 750,000 of those in need!! For complete details and to sign up…
Saturday, September 22nd: Jamaica Bay Sunset Ecology Cruise
Pier 9, Sheepshead Bay/Emmons Avenue, Booklyn, 3:30pm
Jamaica Bay in all its glory… Its history… Its ecology… Its amazing feathered wildlife… Its management issues… All imparted by expert Don Riepe and Mickey Cohen!! Then there’s the complimentary wine, cheese, fruit and drinks!! Adults, $55. Under 16, $25. Sponsored by Gateway National Recreation Area, NYC Audubon and the American Littoral Society. For full into and tickets…
Sunday, September 23rd: Marble Hill Walking Tour
Broadway & 225th Street, The Bronx, 12-2pm
Bryan Diffley, Project Manager of the High Bridge restoration, describes why and how the Harlem River was re-engineered, bridged over and – along with Manhattan Island – changed forever!! $30. For tickets and more (including more great NYC H2O events)…
Monday, September 24th: Variety (as in fruits and vegs) Showcase New York
GrowNYC’s Project Farmhouse, 76 East 13th Street, Daytime Session – 12-3pm, Evening Session – 5-8pm
Think – and we quote – “…an interactive mixer designed to build community between plant breeders, organic farmers and eaters where attendees have the unique experience to taste new and in-development vegetable, fruit & grain cultivars with the breeders that created them, share opinions, talk about needs & preferences and learn about the importance of organic plant breeding!” Amazing, yes? $100. For more and tickets… (There’ll also be interactive tables at a free, public outdoor space 2 blocks away at the Union Square Greenmarket from 11:00 am – 6:00 pm!!)
Tuesday, October 2nd: Solar One Oktoberfest Celebration/Benefit
Under the tent at Solar One, East River Esplanade at 23rd Street
Oktoberfest beer… Delicious Bavarian snacks… Oompah music… Yes, all the trimmings of a traditional Munich Oktoberfest and every penny benefitting the great, green work of Solar One!! $85 and up. For more and tickets…
Doesn’t get more miscellaneous than this week’s collection… i.e.:
First and foremost, given the incredible recyclers that we are, pretty fascinating just what’s in our waste citywide!! (Totally worthwhile getting on GrowNYC’s newsletter mailing list!!)
The rest of the world may think we live in a concrete jungle, but UESider Susan Hewitt and participant in the NY Botanical Garden’s Eco Flora Project is constantly coming across the surprising nature in our midst…
Meanwhile, no matter how modern we think we are in 2018, NYState’s offering a hunting and trapping course!!
Going more serious:
In the On-What-Planet-Do-They-Plan-On-Living Category, there’s the Interior Department’s move to allow pesticide use and GMO farming in wildlife areas…
Still more UES construction afoot…
Thank goodness this UWS structure will be saved!!
Into our activist mode:
Should you think asbestos regulations should not be relaxed…
Give NoSpray’s brief summary of NYC insecticide spraying a look and you might want to contact the mayor to say, “The City lost the court cas in 2006… So stop spraying our city with insecticides.”
(They’re using the stuff in our Manhattan parks, too!!)
Going brighter:
How about a Manhattan beach…?! !
It’s summer, we’re out in nature and keeping NYS Forest Rangers busy…
Same for our Environmental Conservation Officers…
Among the world’s most amazing waterfalls are…
No limit to human ingenuity, even the material’s plastic bottles… (Why aren’t we building roads with the darned things?)
Elsewhere, here’s what folks are doing with a mixed plastic-melt cocktail… (Thanks to reader Tori Gilbert for the tip!!)
In the animal world:
A construction worker repairing a piling below Pier 40 in New York Harbor discovered a ‘giant’ oyster and brought it to researchers at the nearby The River Project, a marine science field station in Hudson River Park. Workers weighed it there, and it clocked in at more than 610 grams (around 1.3 pounds) and measured 8.5 inches long. The wild oyster is not edible.
That Giant Oyster
(Oysters are filter feeders; they feed on algae in the river and can help improve the ecosystem of estuary waters. They also provide structure and habitat for hundreds of species, including crabs and fishes. With cleaner water in the harbor, oysters are returning and settling in small numbers.)
(The River Project offers hands-on education programs, live exhibits, and research internships.)
Staying aquatic, we ask:
What loves figs and belly-rubs and is almost 90 years old? Answer Methuselah—an Australian lungfish residing at the California Academy of Science’s Steinhart Aquarium!!
Among the furry, scaled and finned:
Choose your animal cam...!!
And from the Hudson River Almanac:
7/29 – Manhattan: Anglers at Hudson River Park’s Pier 84 caught young-of-year bluefish (125 mm) as well as male blue crabs (100 mm) today. At Pier 63, a camper caught a summer flounder (125 mm), a rare catch for us. Finally, at Pier 25 in Tribeca, anglers caught more bluefish (150 mm) as well as our first ever horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus). – Olivia Radick
A Horseshoe Crab
(The bluefish were young-of-year, likely born in April in the Lower Bay of New York Harbor outside The Narrows. They come into the estuary in spring to seek sanctuary – small silvery fishes are like candy to larger fishes – and take advantage of the incredible amount of forage – other, smaller young-of-year fishes like herring. – Tom Lake]
8/3 – Manhattan, HRM 1: With thoughts of oyster toadfish, we checked our research gear in Hudson River Park at The River Project’s sampling station on the lighthouse tender Lilac at Pier 25. We were not disappointed, as we found ten young–of-year oyster toadfish (25-30 mm) and a blue crab (105 mm). – Emma Palmer, Justin Chen
An Oyster Toadfish
And with that…
See you in September, friends,
UGS
This Week at The Markets 