Apparently, not much! A peach has fuzz and a nectarine doesn’t. Nectarines seem to have a denser flesh than peaches, but they are very similar.

On a genetic level, http://www.michiganpeach.org/facts/nectar.htm states:

“The nectarine characteristic is controlled by a single recessive gene. In order for a tree to be a nectarine type, it has to receive the nectarine gene “g” from both parents. The cross between two nectarines will always result in nectarine offspring. Most peaches are homozygous for “G”, the peach characteristic. Two peach varieties that have a single nectarine gene are Autumnglo and Encore.”
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Brooklyn Rescue Mission (BRM), located in Bed-Stuy is one of the few food justice organizations in Brooklyn committed to community health, food and economic challenges in daily life. In addition to East New York Farms and Added Value, the BRM farm is one of the few community urban food agriculture projects in the city.

In addition to running a food pantry and a farmer’s market, BRM runs a farm in the heart of Bedford-Stuyvesant. In 2005, BRM created partnerships with the New York City environmental and food justice organizations to break ground on an abandoned lot behind the Mission in order to grow fruits and vegetables for pantry recipients. The site, once a neighborhood garbage dump, was transformed into an urban oasis that has served several hundred people since its creation. The farm has become a community gathering space and a classroom to teach neighborhood youth about food growing and community service.

Now, due to real estate development pressures, the farm is under threat of eviction. No longer a vacant lot and a dumping ground, it has become desirable to others. It is in danger of being sold by the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) to developers to repay a debt incurred by Neighborhood Partnership Housing Development/Direct Building Management.

Sign the petition and help save the farm!

A few people in the PLG community (CSA members and non-members) have been doing some preliminary planning around forming a Food Coop in the Prospect Lefferts Gardens area. CSA board member Karen Oh and member Sara James are actively leading the effort and asking any of you who are interested in joining this effort to email karen@houseofcakes.com to join the PLG Food Coop email list. There is a planning meeting scheduled for August 26, 2009 (location TBA) which we will send out more information in a separate email.

Why a Food Coop?

It’s easy to think that another grocery store might do the trick, but food coops benefit the community in more than just bringing food to the consumer. Read the rest of this entry »

This year, we are getting donut peaches. I’ve never had one until I had one last year. They are delicious! Their true name is “Saturn” peach as they are reminiscent of the rings of Saturn but they also look like a donut (which sounds more tasty—eating Saturn or eating a donut?). Most peaches have yellow flesh, but the white flesh peaches are pretty spectacular. Donut peaches are sweeter and a little firmer than the traditional peach.

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So, most of you know that we donate our leftover shares and vegetables to Food Not Bombs. Ever wonder what happens after that? Well, board member and founder of the CSA Diana Liss and board member Karen Oh went to volunteer at Food Not Bombs to help them cook our leftovers and other donations and then serve them to the public at a local park.

Food Not Bombs is housed at 123 Community Space, a shared community space in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. Currently located at 123 Tompkins Avenue, 123 Community Space has just been through a nasty eviction battle and will probably move in September. The space hosts four grassroots groups: A New World In Our Hearts, Freegan Bike Workshop, Misled Youth Network, and NYC Anarchist Black Cross and hosts a variety of community programs from free/low cost screenprinting workshops to bicycle repair to political prisoner letterwriting. Read the rest of this entry »

The Time for Lunch Campaign is a project of Slow Food USA, an educational non-profit with the goal of creating a world in which everyone can enjoy food that is good, clean and fair.

This year, they are asking parents, teachers and every responsible citizen to speak up and tell our nation’s leaders that change can’t wait: It’s time to provide our children with REAL FOOD at school. Read the rest of this entry »

Last year, we also received a large number and variety of plums. I’m linking the article to some recipes here. In doing my low-key research about plums for this article, I have learned that they don’t seem to be as popular as the peach in terms of interesting links online (which, I admit, is really not a very good research technique). However, I did find out this: Read the rest of this entry »

Who are you?
Amy Plattsmier

What do you do?
Have as much fun with my daughters as I can get away with.

Where do you live?
Kensington

Where did you grow up?
Fort Worth, TX

How long have you been a member?
It’s my first year! (I missed the cut-off last year)

When you do your pickup where are you coming from?
I’m already at Maple Street School, where my 6-year-old has her piano lesson and my 4-year-old is in school. Read the rest of this entry »

PLGCSA is having it’s first tag sale! Items have been donated by many of our members and all proceeds will benefit the PLGCSA low-income share program. Come on by and browse the assortment of items we have, large and small. There is always something you could use and it’s for a great cause!

Good day to all. It is so hard to find time to “blog” these days but I find myself confined to the house at the moment to watch my son Noah play with his wooden train set. Hopefully enough time to share a little update to you all as to the “going ons” here on the farm.

I’m afraid most of what I will blog about today is our worries related to such an unseasonably wet June which is usually sunny and summer like.

A very wet spring and early summer is great for some crops and not for others. The leaf and root crops love these condition while for others it poses a great threat for fungus infestation due to the unseasonable moisture in June. We have noticed severe fungus infestation in our first succession of Zucchini, Peas and green house Tomatoes. Read the rest of this entry »