Gardeners and beekeepers are taking over urban rooftops. In his New York Times op-ed, Columbia University professor Dickson D. Despommier offers another ingenious way to bring local ingredients to the cityscape: vertical farms. "Move most farming into cities, and grow crops in tall, specially constructed buildings," he writes. His vision would include multiple floors of produce grown using hydroponic and aeroponic technologies that would use less water than conventional farms. And because these farms would be within city limits, the new definition of local might be reined in from say, 100 miles, to just around the corner.

Last week I was sailing through the Pacific Northwest and fell in love with Lopez Island and its food. The island, located north of Seattle, is relatively remote and can be reached by ferry or sea plane. After docking, we waited in line with the locals outside of Holly B’s Bakery to fill up on their almond-studded cinnamon rolls, warm baguettes and crumbly cheddar-herb biscuits. Next door, lattes made with Graffeo beans beckoned us to recaffeinate at Caffe la Boheme. We headed out of town on bikes and stumbled upon Lopez Island Farm’s store, where the cash box was (trustingly) left out for us to ring up our purchase. I scooped up some marionberry syrup, which was perfect with our pancakes the next morning, and a goat cheese spread with apricots and pistachios that became our preferred snack for refueling after hikes. I only wish I had put ice in my day pack, so I could have brought back some of their beautiful lamb sausage to grill as well.

F&W Best New Chef 2002 Dan Barber, the chef and co-owner of New York City's Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Pocantico Hills, New York, strikes again with another insightful op-ed in the New York Times. This time, the subject is late blight, the pesky, fast-spreading plant disease that's made finding flavorful organic tomatoes across much of the Northeast harder this summer than in seasons past. While Barber names several culprits for the disease's severity, he also turns the tables and blames...himself. "It’s a nostalgia I’m guilty of promoting as a chef when I celebrate only heirloom tomatoes on my menus," he writes. (It turns out that 70 percent of heirloom tomatoes have fallen victim to late blight.) Barber's vision of the more resilient farm of the future? One that grows multiple crops, with multiple varieties of the same vegetables—a few heirlooms, yes, but also new varieties bred to resist diseases. Perhaps that vision might cause a ripple of shock across the Slow Food movement, but it may be what's necessary to ensure flavorful produce for the future.

For those lucky enough to get their hands on a ripe, juicy tomato, we offer tomato recipes here. We also offer recipes for other seasonal produce, like corn, eggplant and watermelon.

Yesterday my colleague Emily McKenna gave an enticing preview of the first ever Vermont Cheesemakers Festival on August 23. Murray’s Cheese has organized a 24-hour field trip to get transportation-challenged, cheese-loving New Yorkers to Vermont. A red-eye bus departs Manhattan at midnight, stops for breakfast at Vermont's excellent Farmers Diner and drops passengers at the festival when the doors open at 10 a.m. The field trip tickets include round-trip transportation, breakfast, festival entry, and special access to some of Vermont’s top producers.

 

I’ve been vacationing in Kauai since before I could walk, so when I visited the Hawaiian island last week, I knew where I would be eating before I even collected my luggage:

Hamura Saimin This James Beard "America’s Classics" winner is always my first meal off of the plane. Saimin is a dish that's unique to Hawaii and is a hodgepodge of Japanese, Chinese and other Asian influences; the soup of egg noodles, dashi, scallion and fish cakes is done amazingly well here. I also love their marinated beef skewers, towering lillikoi (passion fruit) pie and malasadas (Portuguese doughnuts). 2956 Kress St., Lihue; 808-245-3271.

Kilauea Bakery & Pau Hana Pizza On the north shore, this bakery turns out piping-hot thin-crust pizzas with a variety of toppings, from Maui onions to smoked ono, a local fish similar to mackerel. I adore their island-style pie with pineapple, ham and chipotle peppers, which I like to follow with one of their chocolate-drizzled coconut macaroons. Kilauea Lighthouse Rd., Kilauea; 808-828-2020.

Koloa Fish Market Off of Koloa's tourist strip is this small market which has excellent poke, the Hawaiian dish of raw fish, traditionally marinated with sesame oil and shoyu (Japanese soy sauce) and served with sweet onions and seaweed. This market has many variations, and my favorite is the Korean poke, which has a bit of kimchi and sesame seeds mixed in with the ultrafresh ahi. 5482 Koloa Rd, Koloa; 808-742-6199.

Koloa Farmer’s Market Island life moves slowly, except during Koloa’s Monday farmers' market off of Maluhia Road. Shoppers are kept behind bright orange cones until exactly noon, when they trample in to buy lychees, pineapples and papayas. I always get a fresh coconut for sipping, and purveyors are great about explaining what each exotic fruit is and what it tastes like. Adorable orchid bouquets can be had for just a dollar.

This past weekend, while my cohorts were riding gondolas above Aspen at the Food & Wine Classic, I was off climbing mountains around Burlington, Vermont. To make sure I was at my athletic peak, I fueled up on the best local food I could find. Here’s how to follow my culinary regimen:

Climbing Mt. Mansfield  
Pre-Hike Boost: American Flatbread's blisteringly hot pizza with house-made sausage, sun-dried tomatoes and caramelized onions.  
Post-Hike Recovery: Crispy-skinned duck breast and hanger steak swirled in horseradish aioli from F&W Best New Chef 2008 Eric Warnstedt at Hen of the Wood in Waterbury.

Climbing Mt. Abraham  
Pre-Hike Boost: Heavenly honey-glazed doughnuts from Dinky Donuts at the Burlington farmer’s market, followed by softly poached eggs over crisp potato rösti at Waitsfield's The Green Cup.
Post-Hike Recovery: The Alchemist's superjuicy blue-cheese burger and a Lightweight, the perfect pale lager for rehydration, in Waterbury.

Hiking to Lake Champlain at Shelburne Farms
Pre-Hike Boost: Soft, sugary blueberry scones from Burlington's City Market.
Post-Hike Recovery: A farmhouse grilled cheese from the Shelburne Farms cart with a salad of just-picked local greens.  

A confession: I often peek through the fences of New York City's community gardens and fantasize about walking among the vines. Last week, I finally got to live out my fantasy at the kickoff event for Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi’s "Giving Through Growing" campaign, which launched yesterday. Held at La Plaza Cultural’s garden on Manhattan's Lower East Side and catered by Outstanding in the Field, the event announced a partnership between the winery and the American Community Gardening Association (ACGA). Woodbridge is helping ACGA by donating a dollar for every e-seed sent from their website this summer (the campaign ends on September 20). The funds will be used to help community gardens around the country expand, and the website will follow their progress and share garden-to-table meals. Now to fulfill my replacement fantasy: another chance to eat Outstanding in the Field's scallop salad with potatoes, green beans and baby fennel. 

In my home state of New Jersey, the strawberry season is short—from the last week in May through early June. With this in mind, I decided that the only berries worthy of Mark Bittman’s almond crème anglaise in the New York Times last week were those that I could pick myself. My sister and I drove to Terhune Orchards, a 200-acre pick-your-own farm in Princeton that I’d found on LocalHarvest, a website with nationwide directories for small farms and farmer's markets. A week of rain had left the plants a bit droopy, but there was fruit galore and scrambling children competing to see who found the biggest strawberry. I chose only the darkest, most petite berries, which tended to be the ripest, while my sister preferred anything big and bright as a fire truck. I know my berries will be fabulous in a Melon-and-Strawberry Salad with Spicy Lemongrass Syrup or in a Warm Strawberry Crumb Cake from one of my favorite chefs, Gerard Craft of Niche in St. Louis. Or I might go the super-simple route and just top the berries with barely-whipped cream.

A Californian such as myself might be forgiven for thinking that all roads from the current sustainable-agriculture movement lead back to Alice Waters. Not so! Last week I was at the Morgan Library, where I stumbled upon a New Yorker cartoon of a woman at a deli counter asking, “I wonder how much Louis Bromfield charges for his bacon?” Curiosity sparked, I did what every journalist does—I Googled him—and realized the movement was chic even before Waters was born. Bromfield was a Pulitzer Prize–winning writer who, in 1938, moved from France back to his childhood home in central Ohio and built one of the country's first organic farms, Malabar Farm. There he put his earlier study of agriculture to use, becoming a champion of sustainability and grass-based farming. Like food stars today, Bromfield also had Hollywood connections to help bring attention to his cause—Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart married and honeymooned at Malabar. Bromfield's farm still runs on the principles he supported decades ago, although it is now a historic landmark owned by the state of Ohio.

The James Beard Foundation just named Dan Barber its 2009 Outstanding Chef. That's bad news for menus: Barber ditched them a year ago at his Westchester restaurant, Blue Hill at Stone Barns. Instead, waiters present diners with a list of seasonal ingredients—the only clue about the meal to come. Guests simply decide between five courses or eight (the Farmer’s Feast) and notify the kitchen of any off-limits foods. Plus, “Our servers make a point of finding out how adventurous people feel,” says Barber. “Will they eat offal?”

The fun of Stone Barns is relinquishing the decision-making power to the kitchen, not knowing what’ll come next and spying on neighbors to see what's on their plates. No two Feasts are identical. At a recent meal, I had lamb neck with parsnips, while a nearby couple ate beef. According to Dan, “The kitchen preps at least five dishes for each course in the Farmer’s Feast. There are probably 50 or more different dishes going out on any night.”

All this depends on the season. “We base our menus on the day’s harvest and use what we have from the farm, or other farms, which often comes in small supply,” Dan explains.

In the past year, only three people have refused to give up control of their dinner. The restaurant happily printed them menus.