Wild Country Discovery

Courtesy Reverend DeVanie Jackson

Chef Noah Sheetz with Reverends Robert and DeVanie Jackson organized the fig jam in Brooklyn.

A tree grows in Brooklyn — a fig tree, that is, and in Bedford Stuyvesant, no less. In 2004, when the Rev. Robert Jackson and the Rev. DeVanie Jackson had finally trudged through the red tape and organized to clear the debris and overgrowth from a neglected lot behind the Brooklyn Rescue Mission and an adjacent lot, Robert Jackson recognized something from his time spent on a farm as a child — a scrawny twig that looked like the beginnings of a fig tree. Now the 20-foot-high, healthy tree, which is protected from winter cold by the buildings on either side, is the center of a fig jam: the kind Noah Sheetz, executive chef at the New York Governor’s Mansion, glazes lamb chops with and a community celebration.

From the start, the Jacksons wanted to provide fresh, local produce for the Mission’s food pantry and put neighborhood kids to work on a project they could be proud of. Now, the Bed Stuy Farm grows 7,000 pounds of fresh produce a year that help feed 3,000 people a month. A community youth program tends the garden and runs the Malcolm X farmers’ market on Saturdays with the farm surplus. Senior CSA members in the neighborhood come to the garden to pick their own share of produce as well, bringing youth and age together.

Like the sheltering and thriving fig tree, the Bed Stuy Farm has grown to offer programs in nutrition and farming, and draws visiting schoolchildren, food activists and chefs. For the brunch, Chefs Sheetz, Tree Williams (a chef who has worked with the Jacksons on past events) and Nicci Cagan (co-founder of a youth and garden organization in Marbletown, N.Y., called “From the Ground Up”) prepared a fig feast, including not only the fig-glazed lamb chops, but also jerked local chicken with fig chutney, coconut crusted figs, arugula, local goat cheese and fig salad, local flounder with fig-infused balsamic vinegar and olive oil, and a fig mascarpone tart.

Other contributions were kale and collards from the three gardens at the Governor’s Mansion in Albany, potatoes from Chef Sheetz’s home garden, arugula from The Produce Project (Capital District Community Gardens in Albany) and wines from the Hudson Valley, which complemented the meal.

Because of land title issues, the farm has been threatened. Negotiations continue as the bountiful 2010 season moves into autumn. Let’s hope heartfelt, delicious efforts such as this can survive in unlikely circumstances, like the fig tree that supplied the figs for Chef Sheetz’s recipe below.

Coconut Crusted Figs

Ingredients

• 8 figs, cut into 1/8-inche rounds
• 1 cup flour
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup finely shredded, unsweetened coconut
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Preparation
Dip the fig slices into the flour and shake off the excess. Dip them into the eggs, and then the coconut. Heat the oil in a sauté pan. When the oil is hot, add the coated fig slices and sauté until golden, about one minute per side. Drain on paper towel.

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Courtesy The Park People

The city of Denver’s Denver Digs Trees program distributes trees to neighborhoods twice a year—once in the fall and once in the spring.

If a tree falls in Denver chances are very good someone will plant one back in its place.

That’s due, in large part, to Denver Digs Trees, a program of The Park People, a citywide parks improvement group, that distributes free and low-cost trees to residents twice a year.

“Our and Denver Forestry’s goal is to have a minimum of 18 percent canopy coverage throughout the city, and ideally that number is closer to 22 percent,” says Kim Yuan-Farrell, program manager of Denver Digs Trees. Unfortunately, she says, “We’re really far from that.”

Every year the city loses thousands of aging trees. And in some neighborhoods, there just aren’t very many at all. That’s why Denver Digs Trees wants to make it easy for people to plant trees—which come in the form of about 2-year-old, 6-foot-tall native varieties—throughout the city.

After a quick application, any Denver resident is eligible for a low-cost ($25) tree. And for those living in the program’s target areas—neighborhoods with low canopy or low-income neighborhoods—the trees are free.

Currently, the program has 23 target areas, and others are constantly being taken into consideration for inclusion. Although Yuan-Farrell says she’s had to work hard to get the word out about Denver Digs Trees in the target neighborhoods, so far, around 70 percent of the trees have ended up there.

“We partner with organizations that have close ties in those neighborhoods and work with community groups,” she says. “Our focus is to reduce as many of the barriers to obtaining trees as possible.”

The program has broken a few barriers for itself, too.

Officially founded in 1991 as a street tree program, Denver Digs Trees has modest roots.

“It started out in the garages of a couple of Denver residents more than 20 years ago,” says Yuan-Farrell. “And the city really embraced it.”

Denver Digs Trees is now funded through grants, but Yuan-Farrell says it’s able to operate because it gets what she calls “very-reduced pricing” from suppliers in eastern Oregon, which has a similar climate and soil make-up to Colorado. That allows the program to offer a variety of tree species appropriate for Colorado’s climate and urban environment.

Alhough the staff is still only two people, Yuan-Farrell says they have about 300 volunteers at each distribution, and the program distributes nearly 3,000 trees annually, with a spring distribution for street trees and one for yard trees in the fall.

Until last year, the program only distributed street trees—which were to be planted close to the curbside in the “tree lawn” between the sidewalk and curb—each spring. In 2009, Denver Digs Trees added a yard tree component, along with an annual fall distribution.

“People are really excited about free and low-cost yard trees for their properties,” Yuan-Farrell says. “The whole purpose is providing natural shade cover and reducing the energy used for summer cooling.”

Every tree designated for this year’s fall distribution on Oct. 2, 2010, was claimed early. (Traditionally, any unclaimed trees are sold for $35 following the distribution dates.)

“Trees define neighborhoods, make places more walkable, filter pollution and provide shade,” Yuan-Farrell says. “There’s a really broad quality-of-life benefit to providing trees.”

For Denver residents interested in street trees or yard trees in the future, visit Denver Digs Trees’ website.