The Inwood Farmers' Market

In my last entry I mentioned the Inwood Farmers' Market and how hubbie and I thought it was staged just for us to entice into moving to Inwood! Well, nearly three years later the market remains one of our favorite things about the neighborhood. Now everyone knows that New York has several great greenmarkets, the mother of them all being in Union Square, but our little market on Isham Street is a true gem! There are a few things we lack in Inwood, which I will elaborate on in a future post, but somehow we are blessed to have a weekly supply of locally grown products delivered to us each Saturday!

That first fall when we moved to Inwood we were saddened to learn that after Thanksgiving, the market shut down for the winter. When the weather turned warmer the next April, we kept looking for the market to return, only to discover that we wouldn’t see the vendors until Memorial Day! Finally, they came back and we enjoyed their wares all summer, but again they went into hibernation in November. This past winter (2006-2007), however, we were thrilled to learn that several of the vendors would continue to serve us ALL WINTER, so the Inwood Farmers' Market is now year-round! There are fewer stands in wintertime, but right now the Market is at the height of its bounty. I believe there are about 15 different stands and here are a few tidbits about the kinds of things you’ll find:

PRODUCE/VEGGIES: I count at least 4 stands dedicated to produce & vegetables. My favorite anchors the Market at its Eastern end where Park Terrace West becomes Cooper Street. This stand is where I buy my salad greens, fresh basil, and recently they have some wonderfully sweet cherry tomatoes. They also have eggs, potatoes, herbs and plants for sale. Another great produce stand anchors the Western end and is the first one on your left if you are coming from Seaman Avenue. Last week we picked up spinach, onions and garlic from them but they also have many other vegetables—carrots, radishes, cilantro, etc. In the middle of the market are 2 other smaller produce stands. I patronize these less frequently but they look lovely as well, overflowing as they are with green beans, peppers, zucchini and such.

BREAD: There are 2 stands dedicated to baked goods. The one closer to the Western end has a wider variety of products including foccacia and quiche and the like, but we tend to buy from “Bread Alone” closer to the Eastern end. My husband loves the San Francisco Sour Dough loaves, and we always stock up on baked treats for breakfast. Our favorites are the blueberry muffins, the “morning glory” muffins (a delicious carrot-raisin concoction), the apple tarts and the chocolate-chip-hazelnut scones…yum!

FISH/FOWL/DAIRY: Our farmers’ market also has an egg man, a fish man, and turkey man. The egg man is pretty basic—he mostly carries eggs and whole cow’s milk. The fish stand has a variety of aquatic creatures recently caught in the Long Island Sound. We have enjoyed their fluke, their scallops and recently some top-notch tuna steaks. Often the fish folks will give you helpful hints on preparation as well. And we love the DiPaolo (sp?) Turkey farm! We have used their ground turkey regularly for burgers, meatloaf and meatballs, and we especially like the spicy Italian turkey sausage. Usually, grilled samples of this last item are available for tasting on market day. We sometimes eat it with eggs for breakfast (and today I’ll be putting some in my meat sauce for lasagna!)

ORCHARDS: There are 2 orchards represented at the market. On the Eastern end is “Breezy Hill Orchard.” These guys are all about the pies! I brought their strawberry-rhubarb pie to my 4th of July festivities and it was scrumptious! I also get the very tasty “Empire” apples from this stand and last week we picked up some juicy peaches from them as well. The Samascott Orchard stand at the Western end is also terrific and if you judge by the lines then it might be the most popular stand at the market. They were the first to have tomatoes this season and they go quickly so get there early! We get our berries there (strawberry season seems to be over but the blueberries are ripe and abundant) and lately hubbie can’t keep his hands off of their sugar snap peas! But perhaps our favorite item from this stand is the pear cider. The label boasts one ingredient: ”Carefully selected tree ripened pears”. I call this stuff the nectar of the gods! They have lots of other great items at this stand and both Samascott and Breezy Hill feature the famous “cider doughnuts” that seem to be a must-have for the neighborhood kids.

ALL THE REST: There are 4 other excellent vendors at the market. The stand toward the Western end with the green awning is sort of a catchall. They have greens and sprouts and cheeses and yogurt and breads and granola and meats! You’ll know this one by the lady who works there with her young child strapped to her back. There used to be a stand devoted solely to meats & cheeses (I think they were from Eklund farm and they sold jerky and yummy “snack sticks”) but I have not seen them lately and since their disappearance this catchall stand is the main place for meats. I got my ground beef there last week and they usually have bacon and other cow & pig products. Then there is the flower stand where you can purchase a wide variety of potted plants. I have always had a black thumb and killed some marigolds I bought there in about a week; but my most recent plant purchase from this stand has been absolutely thriving! I forget its name but it is a lovely little thing with yellow & green leaves that slowly turn to purple. They also have beautiful cut flowers-- I was compulsive about the peonies when they were in season but I am equally happy with the other bouquets I’ve picked up there too. The market also has an artisanal cheese stand, which I can’t personally comment on. I think most of the varieties are made from sheep’s milk and one day I will try some, but for now I am off the soft cheeses due to the pregnancy. And finally, there is my favorite character at the market—the honey man. He comes from Tremblay Apiaries and I usually get their “bamboo” honey. The honey man is very chatty and he will tell you anything you want to know about bees and the honey-making processes. One time, I went to see him and complained that I had to use my sugar in my tea since I ran out of honey and he looked horrified and said “Oh no! That stuff will kill ya!” Sadly, I have discovered that the honey man smokes cigarettes. Sugar will kill me but tar and nicotine are ok? Hmmm…something’s out of whack there, but I enjoy him nonetheless.

I think that covers all of our vendors! A quick google search didn’t turn up any detailed pages about the Inwood market so I hope this info encourages you to check it out. Do be warned that it can be pricey, but I think it’s worth it for fresh, local and organic foods, and I am happy to spend my dough there to make sure they keep coming back. I’ll see you at the market every Saturday!

The slow creep northward

So how does one end up at the top of the island without developing vertigo? Well, for me it was a gradual thing. I first moved to the city in 1994 and shared a railroad apartment on West 43rd Street with 2 male roomates. It was cheap, it was fun and after a year I had to get out of there. I had roomed with women in college, with men post-college, and I finally decided that both genders had their issues and I'd prefer to live alone. So I decided to look for an apartment in Manhattan (studio or 1BR) that I could afford by myself. At the time I had a decent waitressing job but, of course, was struggling and I wanted to pay around $500/month. Even then, finding a solo place for that amount in Manhattan was pretty impossible. My broker actually laughed at me. In the end, I had to come up in price to $595 but I found a bright, clean and not-too-cramped studio on Manhattan Avenue and 103rd Street. But I hesitated. I felt I was moving to the ends of the earth. With the exception of one visit to a bar near Columbia U., I had never been that far North and no one I knew lived there. Friends were shocked I was going up so high. Moreover, the neighborhood was a bit sketchy for my 22-year-old single, white self. The broker reassured me that while some characters might try to sell me drugs on 103, the neighborhood was safe and a Rockette had just moved into the apartment below mine. Still, there was a dicey housing project across the street and I would be one of very few white people in the building. I guess what ultimately sold me was the super. Smitty was probably in his mid-50's at the time with an endearing chuckle and something very fatherly about him. I felt reassured. I signed the lease and stayed 5 years.

I loved that studio and that building. And as the years passed I watched the neighborhood change around me. More and more people that looked like me were moving in and new business were springing up on Broadway. People were getting priced out of the Upper West Side and suddenly the invisible line above 96th street started to fade and the 100's up to Columbia became inviting. I was thrilled but I was outgrowing my studio. Mostly I was sick of sleeping on a futon couch and wanted a real bed and real bedroom to put it in. Sadly, my neighborhood had gentrified so much that I couldn't afford a one bedroom in my beloved building. And so, it was time to move once more. Again, I wanted my own place in Manhattan, but this time I hade to have either a 1BR or a very large alcove studio and I didn't want to spend more than $700/month (I had a real job at this point but still was not making tons of money). Again, I had set myself a ridiculous goal, but I was determined. I was pleased with how things had turned out on 103rd street and I figured I simply had to find another cheap neighborhood that was "on the edge" and wait for it to gentrify. I considered myself a pioneer! And now that I was 27 and had lived in NYC for 6 years, I was much less afraid of the grit. My comfort zone had widened so I was more willing to consider neighborhoods and buildings that I would not have 5 years earlier. This is how I came to live in a dump on 139th Street.

The new apartment met my criteria-it was around $700/month and had a large sunny bedroom with a southern exposure. And if you leaned the right way by the kitchen window you could even get a glimpse of the Hudson. I had a river view! But the apartment was not exactly nice. It had an ugly linoleum floor that I despised and was just generally not very appealing. The building was worse--dirty, urine-scented hallways, bullet holes in the stairwell windows and teenagers selling weed and lord-knows-what-else out of the lobby. Once again, I was one of only a couple of white people in the building and once again I was reassured by the super--a sweet Latin guy in his 30's who lived with his sweeter wife and new baby. If it was safe enough for his family, I thought, then I could live there too, and remember, I was a pioneer! I was convinced it would only be a matter of time before everyone else moved north again. So I waited. I held my breath. There were encouraging signs like when a college acquaintance moved in a few blocks from me. And then, the holy grail of gentrification appeared--one day, there it was across Broadway--a Starbucks! This is it, I told myself. Now my friends will start moving up here and I will be vindicated! But they never did. I lived there for 3 years and the neighborhood never changed. In the meantime, I started dating the man who would become my husband who was subletting in Washington Heights and that's when I realized what was happening. The gentrification had moved north again all right, but it had pretty much skipped from 126th Street to 181st! In order to stay ahead of the curve I would have to move EVEN FARTHER NORTH!

So I went out on tour for a year and the week before I left to go on the road I fractured my finger wrestling my wallet back from some guy who was trying to rob me on the subway platform at 137th street. A perfect goodbye to that neighborhood. A year later, I was back from the road and had saved up a bunch of cash (I held no lease while I was touring). My soon-to-be fiancee and I were getting serious and we found a six-month sublet in midtown while we figured out our next move. We decided to buy a one bedroom. We both liked the Washington Heights area where he had been subletting previously and I was still determined to stay in Manhattan. We knew we could probably get the most for our money way uptown in the Heights or in a neighborhood right above it that we'd been hearing about called Inwood. So we searched. Or I should say, I searched. He was working crazy hours and I was temporarily unemployed so I previewed all of the apartments. I finally found the one I wanted. Unfortunately, on the only day he was available to come see it, the broker was not working and couldn't get us access. I dragged him up to Inwood anyway. I showed him the building from the outside. It was on Indian Road and the front door literally opened onto Inwood Hill Park. We sat in the park and stared at the river. My husband is an outdoorsy type from the South and really values being near nature. He was bowled over by the huge park and especially the building's proximity to it. Even though he had yet to see the apartment itself, we pretty much decided that day to buy the place.

The day of our final walk through before the closing was in early November 2004. All the trees were brilliantly colored and the farmers market was a cornucopia of Fall's harvest-apples and cider and pumpkins! The air was crisp and dogs and children bustled about. The ballplayers were squeezing in their last games before the weather turned cold and bat cracks rang through the air. We joked as we ambled around Inwood on such a glorious day, that our real estate brokers had hired all of these people as extras to convince us that buying in the neighborhood was the right thing to do. It surely was. Our migration North finally ended and we have been deliriously happy here ever since. When just 2 years after buying our apartment we learned that I was pregnant and we needed more space, we migrated East instead...but just 2 blocks East! At least for now, Inwood is home-- our son's first home--and we are where we belong.

Inwood Pride

In the New York Times City section this past weekend there was a lengthy piece about the proliferation of “Brooklyn” blogs. This was not surprising to me, as many Brooklynites seem to display a passionate love of their borough. I can also buy the theory mentioned in the article that the “high ratio of homeowners to renters…inspires a strong bond beyond resident and neighborhood.” Might I also suggest that residents of Brooklyn are often put on the defensive about their ‘hood by Manhattanites and thus as a species, are compelled to extol Brooklyn’s virtues at every opportunity. I’m here to say that I don’t live in Brooklyn, but I can totally relate. You see, I live in Inwood and I, too, love my ‘hood.

Let’s start with the T-shirts. My husband and I own several T-shirts emblazoned with the name of our neighborhood. When friends have moved close by we have given Inwood T-shirts as gifts (we purchased them from local merchants or ordered them on www.neighborhoodies.com). Rarely does a day by go where I don’t spot someone sporting an Inwood tee around these parts. Now, I have been a New Yorker for over 13 years; I have lived, worked and spent time in many neighborhoods and I have never seen such overt neighborhood pride (with the possible exception of the aforementioned borough of Brooklyn) as I have here in Inwood. I know lots of people who love living on the Upper West Side but would they go so far as to wear it on their chests? Not that I’ve seen, and the idea of an Upper East Side tee is just laughable.

No, I think Inwood-pride is unique and that’s why I am starting this blog. Well, the fact that I have just quit my job and I’m hanging around the house waiting for my son to be born may have something to do with it too! Surely once I become a mom this blog will morph with motherhood, but my intent for now is to talk about Inwood and connect with others who love living here as much as I do (and maybe even encourage skeptics to come North). So the inherent question in this first entry is “Why Inwood pride?”

Well, I think that the two reasons touched on above with regard to Brooklyn certainly apply. While I have no statistics on the matter, I’m pretty certain that we have an ever-growing number of homeowners up here, as Inwood remains one of the last affordable neighborhoods in Manhattan, so the “bonds between resident and neighborhood” seem to be burgeoning and blossoming. We also may have a teensy weensy chip on our shoulders and feel the need to defend ourselves. Sure, we can still (technically) be snobby Manhattanites and look down our noses at the other boroughs, but let’s face it, it’s just as hard to throw a party in Inwood as it is in any of the outer boroughs. In fact, I must sheepishly admit I’ve never tried it. I just assume that the majority of my non-Inwood friends still consider Washington Heights, let alone Inwood to be somewhere VERY FAR away and a HUGE PAIN to get to. And while I know now they are wrong, I remember that feeling and it can be hard to get past it until you actually live here. Hence the chip, the defensiveness, and the need to wear Inwood T-shirts in order to proclaim “No, really! Inwood is a great place to live and it’s worth the trip!”

Of course, there are many, many more reasons for Inwood pride and I plan to discuss them all in upcoming entries. I’ll do my best to blog bi-weekly on all things Inwood, plus whatever else inspires me. In the meantime, I welcome your posts about what YOU love about living here. My name is Amy and I’ll write again soon From the Top of the Island.