New Haven Independent

The love affair was consummated again at the monthly winter Farmer’s Market there on Saturday. Peter Rothenberg (pictured) was selling eggs, maple syrup and yarn spun from his sheep.

The storm’s aftermath did keep the number of both sellers and buyers below a normal winter Saturday. Perhaps because of the extra effort it took to get there, many people seemed almost giddy to have a chance to buy the beef, eggs, milk, yogurt and artisanal bread on sale, like East Rockers Susan Meredith and John Watson (pictured).

“We come every week in the summer and we’ve been here every month so far in the winter,” Meredith says. “We’re really excited they’re doing this winter thing, because it’s a chance to get good local stuff. And usually, though not today, we see all our friends here.”

CitySeed, which runs this farmers’ market and three others in New Haven, was selling the bread for a Deep River bakery, and giving out free pastries. (Meredith is pictured with her choice.)

On Sunday, across town at the Unitarian Universalist Society on Whitney Avenue, another group gathered to talk about very local food. They’re planning a garden in the front yard of the society. This new project — to be called Lifeboat Gardens or Food Not Lawns — is an offshoot of the Bioregional Group that’s been leading hikes in and around New Haven and holding other activities in the past year or so to help residents develop a sense of place, and the wherewithal to survive in our own bioregion.

The “lifeboat gardens” idea comes from the peak oil movement, said Cervin, “where people are saying maybe our food supply will be threatened in the future by dependence on oil and chemicals.” Click here for more explanation of these two possible names for the garden.

Maria Tupper (pictured) and Fred Cervin are leaders of the group and experienced gardeners. Most of the half-dozen people at the meeting had attended a workshop on organic gardening the day before at Common Ground High School.

There, they planted seeds in flats that will now grow indoors for several weeks before being planted in the three beds they will create in a 20-foot by 27-foot space abutting the sidewalk along Whitney Avenue, for cucumbers, hot and sweet peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, lettuce, kale. They want the vegetable gardens to be plainly visible, not hidden in the back yard, to inspire others to follow their lead.

Roger Uihlein and his son, Avi (pictured), plan to learn all they can about urban, organic gardening, like planting purple potatoes from sprouts and having the great fun of harvesting them in the fall.