This Week at the Greenmarket: Learning From the Pros
Posted in Around the Garden on November 20 2013, by Caitlin Rowles
This week’s Greenmarket dispatch comes to us from the Garden’s Greenmarket intern, Caitlin Rowles.
For the past three months, I’ve worked at The New York Botanical Garden as the Greenmarket intern. I have gained a wealth of knowledge and experience regarding food, farming, and public education. With just over a week left until Thanksgiving and the end of the Greenmarket‘s season, I am thankful for all that I have learned from the Greenmarket, its vendors, and the shoppers who come by every week.
After studying Global Food Systems at NYU, I’ve come to consider myself pretty knowledgeable about produce. But one recent Wednesday—when Migliorelli Farm arrived at the market with the biggest assortment of squash I had ever seen—reminded me of how much I still have to learn. The vendors explained to me the difference between acorn and kabocha squash, how best to prepare a delicata squash, and what on earth anyone would want to do with a “cheese pumpkin.” And the best part? They’re all grown right on New York State land by the farmer I get to see every week!
I have even had the chance to talk to these farmers about aspects of agriculture that I’m learning in my classes, like how farms feel climate change and the huge effects of varying weather and extreme events on production, and bring these stories back to NYU. For one of my food studies classes, I will be writing my final research paper about food waste in the production chain using primary resources—stories from the farmers themselves!