New Haven Independent

Sturgis-Pascale, the neighborhood’s alderwoman, showed up for opening day festivities on a splendid bright Thursday afternoon down by the Quinnipiac River, to receive the ceremonial lettuce from the arm of City Seed founder and executive director Jennifer McTiernan.

As sweet orange and red peppers, zucchini, cucumber, beans, and flowers were being spread out beneath white tents, McTiernan explained that several new farmers were bringing their wares to Fair Haven and City Seed’s other sites this year. Among them was Herban Gourmet, of Madison. In business in the area for only a few months (but with a long history of catering fresh foods in New York), Penington Marchael was pleased to display his vinegar and honey cayenne butter.

Why and how did Marchael, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, find City Seed? “We’ve been catering in Madison for years,” he answered, “and we don’t have a storefront and were looking to expand. There are other markets, but we heard that dealing with Jennifer was easy, that the bureaucracy was at a minimum, and it’s been great so far. We plan to be at all the sites this season.”

The second new farmer was one of the oldest, it turned out. Leo Tancreti, in the second row on the left, has been farming and raising flowers for 73 years. The last time his farm had brought its wares to New Haven was to the Cedar Street Market by Yale-New Haven Hospital, where food vendors in carts now sell prepared hot dogs and hummus to medical staff.

“Way back then, ” said Tancreti, whose family has been farming in North Haven for generations, “Cedar Street was where all the farmers brought their stuff. That was New Haven’s original market,” he said, “and all the old families like the Perrotis and Viauso were there. We heard about this market, City Seed, and we’re happy to try it this year.”

This young family was certainly happy with Tancreti’s bounty. Brenda Aponte, of nearby Poplar Street, and her kids Bianca, four, and Nicholas, eight, liked what they saw. They had patronized the market last year, and to them everything was nice. What was also nice was that all the farmers take the WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) coupons with which Aponte paid for her purchases. She bought a bag of zucchinis and cucumbers, and then Nicholas picked out a New Guinea impatiens plant. “It’s for his grandmother,” she explained. “My mom.”

All of City Seed’s farmers markets, said McTiernan, make a link between nutritious food and good health. The farmers, for example, are urged to discuss how to prepare the food they sell to the customers, especially if it’s unfamiliar. At City Seed’s table there is a specially chosen and healthy recipe, bilingually printed, and handed out at each market day. Thursday’s was “ratatouille au four.” The preamble goes as follows: “Ratatouille rivals sunbathng as an essential summer treat because your stomach, instead of your skin, gets to bask in the sunshine.”

But in the Fair Haven edition of the market, there’s a special link to health services. This year, as in years past, staff from the Fair Haven Community Health Clinic on Grand Avenue will be on hand to talk about blood pressure and cholesterol and the food connection.

Thursday, Gloria Beltran, an outreach associate with the Connecticut Department of Health, was also on hand to help this young couple and their ten-month old baby sign up for health insurance and for food stamps.

Other City Seed news for the 2007 season includes a grant of $10,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture enabling City Seed to expand the number of “shares” or $10 to $15 dollar weekly bags of the farmers’ wares delivered to peoples’ workplaces. So far, at the very beginning of the season, 31 people have signed up to receive bags, a kind of reliable customer support the farmers like. McTiernan expects many more people to participate.

“We’re also planning a big concert here at the park later in the summer,” she said. “We’ve teamed up with the Connecticut Children’s Museum in New Haven and have developed a curriculum about food and nutrition. It’s got songs and activities aimed at pre-schoolers. One Thursday, at the start of the market day, all the kids are going to come to the park and sing and dance about apples and bananas, and we’re going to present the kids each with a book. It’s called the Farmers Market Food Infusion Project, or FMFIP.”

Meanwhile the Sturgis-Pascales, after the excitement of the lettuce catch had faded away, were having a hard time deciding which of the Northfordy Farms (of North Branford) vegetables to buy. The alderwoman resisted the luscious tomatoes because although Bryna loves them, they give her diaper rash. But she bought two baskets of peppers and squash. “I make southern squash and onions,” she said, striking a non-political note, “and I could eat them every night.”

City Seed markets operate as follows: Wednesday, on Church Street in front of the Green, from eleven to four; Thursdays, in Quinnipiac River park, at the corner of Grand and Front, from three to seven; Saturdays in Wooster Square from nine to one; and Sundays in Edgewood Park from ten to two. All the markets, except Wooster Square, operate from now until near the end of October. Wooster Square runs through Dec. 15. For other details and other programs, contact cityseed.org

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