after picking up my vegetables with korrina, i felt so amazed by the clouds and sky when we turned the corner on first avenue and walked east towards the river and the cafe where we eat lunch before she goes into work.
after a delicious lunch of caesar salad with grilled chicken and a special cinnamon bun brought over by the cafe's pastry cook (i don't think i've tasted one more fluffier or cinnamony), korrina took me on a tour of the urban farm with the urban farmer, jonathan . .
carrots, melons and beans (three different kinds) on the right, nasturtium, dill, sorrel, strawberries and wildflowers such as the cornflower on the left. there are also cherry tomatoes, eggplant, sunflowers, okra, peppers and squash behind me. and that's only the ones i can remember. there must be a dozen more i've forgotten.
the first ripe melon of the season. (i was also impressed with the maintenance of the farm. jonathan works with organic principles: i.e. companion planting and biological pest control.)
cornflower or bachelor button . .
violets . .
some kind of small melon? i can't remember what this was . . but it tasted good!
eggplant flowers . .
eggplant . .
the tall leaves are sorghum plants, and right in front of them are okra plants.
i have never seen okra growing before, so this was exciting . .
i love this kind of sunflower!
containers of peppers . .
and containers of eggplant . .
just a view of what's on the other side of the garden (the people passing by don't realize what is growing here!)
cherry tomatoes . .
hello!
nasturtium . .
this little butterfly was what korrina was trying to get a picture of. it took us a few tries. it's so dainty looking that it should be called a flutterby (i think that's from the movie an ant's life?) (in harry potter, it's a bush mrs. weasley plants for bill and fleur's wedding).
now we're on the other side of the building in another section of the garden. on the right is thai basil and on the left is lemon basil.
shiso!!!
"regular" basil . .
i'm not sure what this was, but it was good.
shiso on the right, and i'm not sure on the left . .
thai basil . .
korrina identified these as lima beans.
strawberry mint and chocolate mint . .
and lemon verbena.
she named some other herbs too . . i was impressed with her ability to identify everything,
but she said she flavors and dresses her dishes with all of them, so of course she would know them.
and then we came around full circle to the view of the east river and the united nations and the 59th street bridge.
that was a fun farm tour!
