Posts Tagged ‘local organic’

The Strength to Move Melons

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

A few weeks ago, when Gregg was shopping at the Union Square Greenmarket, he ran into Shelley Rogers, director of the delightful, dirt-defending documentary What’s Organic About Organic? Turned out she needed a load of organic Florida watermelons delivered to six Manhattan restaurants below 59th Street, as part of a promotion for the film’s week-long NYC premiere (yes, the premiere is now over – but you can still host a screening of your own). So, on Monday, June 22nd, two of RR’s crack cargo couriers set out to distribute a few hundred pounds of mouth-watering fruit (we know it was mouthwatering because, um, one of the melons, um, “fell off the back of the trike”). RR did, yes, breathe a sigh of relief when RR received confirmation that the melons were going to be transported from Hunts Point to our depot by a vehicle boasting eighteen wheels, instead of three.

Intrepid RR Courier #1

Intrepid RR Courier #1

Intrepid RR Courier #2

Intrepid RR Courier #2

Unloading Melons at Fatty Crab

Unloading Melons at Fatty Crab

And speaking of watermelons – we’re growing some at Lincoln Tunnel Farm!

See the baby melon in the foreground?

See the baby melon in the foreground?

We’re going to hear Richard Register…

Monday, March 29th, 2010

…and we think it would be great if you came too!

He’s speaking this Wednesday (March 31st) at 7:30pm at The Commons (388 Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn). The title of his presentation is “No wars, no cars: Ecocities according to Richard Register.” Buy tickets ($15) here. And if you haven’t done so already, sign up for the Cooperative Evolution mailing list, to hear about more events like this.

What’s an Ecocity?

“It’s an urban settlement where residents live a good life while using minimal natural resources. Buildings make best use of sun, wind and rainfall. Natural habitat corridors foster biodiversity and give residents access to nature. Food and other goods are sourced from within the bioregion. Most residents walk or cycle to work, and take public transportation when they need to travel further. Car-sharing allows people to use a car only when needed. The labor-intensive economy maintains full employment and minimizes energy and water inputs. Goods are designed for reuse, remanufacture, and recycling; and production is designed to reuse by-products and minimize transport.”

Sounds great to RR! Let’s make it happen!

Peace, trikes: Crossing the Brooklyn Bridge with Gregg Zukowski

Peace, trikes: Crossing the Brooklyn Bridge with Gregg Zukowski

Revolution to the Rescue!

Friday, March 19th, 2010

RR is pleased that private chef Carlin Greenstein had a great experience using rickshaw transport to run birthday-party goodies for 50 kids over to Central Park’s Swedish Cottage. Motor weapons can’t access the cottage on weekends, so delivery by rickshaw was the perfect solution!

In other news, RR is once again making deliveries for The Cleaver Company, one of New York City’s finest purveyors of local, organic and seasonal cuisine.

Have food. Will travel.

Have food. Will travel.

Organic Transport for CSA Supporters

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

On Sunday 2/28 RR hit the road for an appearance at Just Food’s CSA Conference at Columbia U’s Teachers College. Gregg rode a trike uptown, executing a catering delivery to Central Park along the way, and I walked. This year’s scrumptious lorganic treat was the ecological thumbprint cookie (its footprint is so tiny we call it a thumbprint) featuring premium ingredients from Farmer Ground Flour, Queens County Farm Museum, Evans Farmhouse Creamery, Deep Mountain Maple, and Norwich Meadows Farm. Can you tell we love lorganic food almost as much as we heart organic transport?

Gregg guards the goodies

Gregg guards the goodies

Trike vs. Gas-Guzzling Tuk-Tuk

Friday, January 22nd, 2010

Middletown Power in Middletown, CT replaced the vehicle on the right with the vehicle on the left.

Guess which dinosaur is headed for the trash heap of history?

Guess which dinosaur is headed for the trash heap of history?

We at RR would like respectfully to suggest that the folks at Hudson River Park make a similar effort to GET WITH THE PROGRAM OF SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT…I mean, investigate pedal-powered alternatives to letting motor weapons (like the two pictured below) loose on one of the city’s most popular and heavily used bike lanes.

Triceratops

Triceratops

Ankylosaurus

Ankylosaurus

Really, HRP poo-bahs, it’ll be better for everyone: Your employees will be healthier, and buzzing with endorphins. You’ll no longer be subject to the screeches of iPodded joggers getting the shit scared out of them by – surprise! – motor weapons whizzing past. To transport tools and materials, you can use a fully weatherproof rickshaw van. To move dirt or plants, you can use a pick-up trike. To treat visiting dignitaries to tours of the park, you can deploy a pedicab (with rain cover, if necessary). As long as the rickshaw rider is properly outfitted with rain gear and a warm coat, there should be no problem. Best of all, you’ll be investing in a transportation strategy as green as the astroturf on Pier 45! Find out more about Revolution’s rickshaw van rentals here.

Organic Transport + Edible Organic Delights!

Monday, January 18th, 2010
Last Wednesday’s inaugural round of Winter CSA home deliveries went off quite well – as did Team RR’s inaugural experience of CSA participation. Mmm, pickled green tomatoes! Mmm, roasted root vegetables! Mmm, curry cole slaw! You can’t get carrots as sweet as these in any grocery store I know of.
As local and organic as it gets!

As local and organic as it gets!

We admit it: We at RR are freaks for local organic food. We haul food by the trike- and bike-load to midtown Manhattan from the Park Slope Food Coop. We frequent farmers’ markets. We’ve even dipped our toes into the magnificent milk pails of the Traditional Nutritional Guild. When we go on vacation, we scour stores and restaurants for non-toxic treats we wouldn’t be able to find anywhere else. We’d love to use our trike capacity to promote, distribute, and expand the availability of food grown by farmers who enrich – rather than deplete – their land. We dream of the day when freight trains once again frequent the West Side rail yards (just a few blocks from RR). What a wonderful thing it would be to bobtail over to the train station, pick up a trike-sized container of organic upstate produce, pedal it to a local co-op or restaurant, then deadhead back to the depot.

You heard it here first: Trike is the new truck!