Garden nerds unite! There are two spring plant sale events this weekend – The Beach 91st Street Community Garden is hosting a plant sale tomorrow, Saturday May 6, from 11am-2pm. On Sunday – the following day – head to Edgemere Farm for more plants of different varieties and music. Below are the details for both community happenings.
B91 Garden Plant Sale – Saturday, May 6 from 11am-2pm
For sale find veg starters and herbs – many varieties of tomatoes, sugar snap peas, cucumbers, soybeans, basil, sage, parsley and more. Add to your ornamental garden salt torrent perennials – the lovely yellow stella d’oro daylily, pink echinacea, walkers low (hello cat people) with its irresistible purple, popping flora in June, autumn joy will deliver late season burgundy bursts. Look out for a few other perennial surprises and some annual plants too! Shop house plants – spider plants and purple queens. The plants for sale have been propagated by garden members with love or purchased by members as donation from our favorite local nursery Lisena Garden Center.
The garden gates are open to all. Tour the space, bring a picnic and stay a while. There will be sidewalk chalk for the kiddos and freebies for the community. Come hang!
Location: 136 Beach 91st Street, (beach block) Rockaway Beach. Follow the B91 Garden on IG (@beach91communitygarden) to watch it grow, for educational garden tips and to view their monthly rotating art exhibit.
Edgemere Farm Plant Sale – Sunday, May 7 from 10am – 1pm
Edgemere Farm is kicking off their season with a spring plant sale which is an important fundraiser for the farm. Seed swap, free compost giveaway, and a live performance by Rockaway Chamber Music is on the agenda. Flowers for sale – cosmos, french marigold, snapdragon, coreopsis, anise hyssop and many more. Get your veggie starters – broccoli, cabbage, bell peppers, swiss chard, strawberries to name a few. And of course your staple cooking herbs will be available for purchase.
Edgemere Farm is a volunteer-run, half-acre urban farm in Far Rockaway that provides homegrown organic foods to the Edgemere community and beyond. This is a special place, please visit on Sunday and support!
Location: 385 Beach 45th St. Far Rockaway . A little birdy told me there will be some jammin events this season at the farm. Keep an eye out on IG @edgemerefarm and visit edgemerefarm.org for additional information.
This zucchini bread is a crowd-pleaser. I know because my Aunt Marie brought it to my Easter party last week and it very much pleased us all.
Aunt Marie calls it bread. It contains Bisquick, so that makes sense. I thought it was more like a crustless quiche, but wouldn’t that be a frittata? But the recipe does not include milk. What’s in a name? Call it what you will, this recipe is bellissimo!
The taste is punchy. The sweet onions and parmesan cheese are rich and dominant. The texture is fluffy with a complementary crispy edge. Aunt Marie says, “Serve it very hot!”
What I like and most often gravitate toward in a recipe is simplicity. This one is that. Let the flavors of the limited ingredients shine. Italian Zucchini Bread is perfect for breakfast, brunch, lunch, or to impress guests at a party.*
Ingredients:
2 cups diced zucchini (peeled or unpeeled)
1 large white onion chopped
1/2 cup extra light Colavita oil (or vegetable oil as a last resort)
1/2 cup parmesan (or more, you know how we Italians do it)
1 cup Bisquick
4 eggs beaten
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Grease a 9 inch pie pan or a 9×9 square pan
Combine all ingredients
Bake at 350 for 35-40 Minutes or until lightly brown
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Update: My friend Roberta said after reading my column that this recipe was on the back of the Bisquick box back in the day and many homemakers of the time would make this bread!
by Paula D.
on April 20, 2023 10:16 am in Animals / Cats
My cat Johny unexpectedly passed away last week. The whole ordeal has been quite traumatic for me.
I heard a scuffle in the middle of the night. He was limp in the legs, yowling and breathing heavily. I knew immediately this was an emergency. I got him in a carrier, found my keys, and headed to VERG Animal Hospital at four something in the morning. I was f*!king frantic. I was exhausted, yet fired with adrenaline. I was driving dangerously through red lights. I pulled up and just left my car outside the building on 4th Avenue, later to find a hefty ticket on my windshield. One of two from that morning. I don’t even care.
I was in absolute hysterics. The doors flew open and they took Johny STAT. Someone put me in a little square waiting room. But I didn’t have to wait long. Dr. James, the emergency medicine physician on at the time, entered to find me on the floor screaming and crying. I was told about feline cardiomyopathy. The heart condition is most often undetectable, until it’s too late. I believe John actually passed away in the car with me on the way to Brooklyn.
Johny’s life could have ended 7 years ago. He was on the ACC kill list with 48 hours to go. Through my friend Chris and his team at Bushwick Street Cats, we rescued John. He was emaciated and severely dehydrated. His road to physical and mental recovery was a long one. In time though, Johny settled and I feel, finally found happiness and felt loved.
Johny enjoyed using computers and playing with paper and plastic bags. He always asked to be brushed before his breakfast. He preferred crunchy dry food over wet food. Johny was very smart. I discovered that early on, when he started opening doors in the house! He had a complex, deep personality. John was a people cat. He loved the attention from me and visitors that came to the house. John had beautiful gold eyes. Friends said Johny resembled Steve Buscemi!
While this has been an arduous mourning process, I have also been given a gift – sincere compassion and love from my family, my friends, and two special strangers.
My people have left little presents outside my door – chocolate, a cool jello-like squishy fake tomato, cards, and a slice of pizza. Other friends have texted kind condolences. The morning it all happened, and a dear Brooklyn friend showed up at the animal hospital, unannounced after receiving my text. I am filled with gratitude for this.
The two strangers, not strangers anymore…
Dominique, who works at VERG came around from her desk, embraced me as I cried and said, “I feel your energy.” That brief moment of compassion from Dominique I will never forget.
Dr. James could not 100% confirm the diagnosis of heart disease. Therefore, I was contemplating a necropsy. I felt I needed to know. It was all so sudden and unexplained. I felt guilty, maybe I could have prevented it? But if I ok’d the necropsy, Johny wouldn’t have a proper cremation and I wouldn’t receive a beautiful imprint of his paw. I could not think clearly.
Dr. James was assisting me with this difficult choice, patiently and empathically. Truly more than was required of her. Before I made my decision against the necropsy – on her break – Dr. James went to Target, purchased a clay imprint kit, and made a print of Johny’s paw. I am beyond overwhelmed by this gesture of kindness. Dr. James’ dedication to her practice, to the animals she cares for and their humans is exceptional. She gives me hope.
There was nothing else I could possibly write about this week. I gather many of you have suffered the loss of a beloved animal family member. I hope some of these words comfort you and I appreciate you taking the time to read this column.
“Paula! Mercury is in retrograde this weekend, be careful.” My friend called out. “Oh shit, thanks!” I shouted back as I swung the bodega door open. Sign talk is everywhere in Rockaway – on the boulevard, on the beach, on your board, at the gym… waiting for the shuttle. “He had a great aura in the water today.” “Why are there so many Aries in Rockaway?” But wait… what is your rising sign?” “Crystals.”
I’m a novice. I didn’t know what Mercury in retrograde ment until like two years ago. Guess what? The messenger planet does not move backwards. It moves slower and therefore, in the simplest of terms, things are out of whack. This phenomenon happens three to four times a year, for about a three to four week period.
What will happen to you when Mercury is in retrograde tomorrow? According to various questionable websites on the internet, earth signs (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn) in particular will feel unmoored. We need to be especially careful when this cosmic occurrence ensues. Unresolved situations from our past may surface. Mercury’s lethargy will bring attention to situations that are unsettled in our lives. A positive perhaps… this allows us latitude to gain closure, putting the difficult past behind us if we choose. Mercury is the planet of communication, intellect, memory, and transportation, therefore for the next few weeks, expect trouble in all of those areas. I suggest taking the ferry instead of the A train.
A day after my friend kindly warned me that my Universe will turn upside down, my other friend, who is a Casual Sorcerer, comes by for morning coffee. Lauren brings with her six different Tarot card decks (casual Monday). She tells me to choose one. “It is a gift!” she says. All the decks looked precious. They were so worn, I could almost see the stories they had predicted. It was hard to choose. The cards were beautifully designed with illustrations and mystifying unknown symbols. “Take the one that calls to you,” Lauren suggests.
The Casual Sorcerer also gave me a sacred book, The Message Of The Stars. It opens, “It’s a matter of common knowledge among mystics that the evolutionary career of mankind is indissoluble bound up with the divine hierarchies who rule the planets and the signs of the Zodiac, and that the passage of the Sun and the planets through the twelve signs of the Zodiac, marks man’s progress in time and space.” I’m keeping caution with this book. I’ve placed it by the brass, holy water crucifix my father found on the job,* which he gave to me years ago. I will read the book, bit by bit when I feel open to its pages.
Between my “lay low” Mercury is in Retrograde reminder and the new presence of tarot cards in my life, I feel I’ve received a message. I’m unclear what the Universe is trying to tell me but my mind is open to listening and my body is ready to receive it.
Disclaimer: I’m a witch in training, consequently, I have know idea what I’m talking about. But I’m learning new things, so there’s that! See my journey through Mercury in retrograde on IG – @theglorifiedtomato.
*NYC Sanitation Dept.
The peninsula is geographically special. We have manifested here in fire, earth, air and water. These elements throughout our seasons in Rockaway are more extreme than elsewhere. The sun’s fire over the ocean sweats our drive and pride into the sea. We planted our roots in earth’s soil on the edge of the ocean. We swim in the water we hear when we sleep deeply, entering our psychic realm. The windy air blows freedom through these connections, calling the misfits and mystics to Rockaway.
