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WE BUILD COMMUNITY THROUGH FOOD
We do this by forming genuine, trusting relationships with our farmers and partners, and serving food that embraces the seasons.
In our kitchens, our chefs prepare real food from scratch, inspiring them to cook up their best ideas and their own best futures.
We believe in the power of a shared table—for the everyday and the extraordinary—a place where friendships are made and ideas are born.
Let’s start with a meal.
DIG-ISMS
Buy food from farms.
Build a neighborhood around your kitchen. Form genuine relationships that last—with guests, partners, friends, and colleagues. Know the impact of your choices.
Roll with the seasons.
Connect with the world around you. Each season will bring fresh wonders and challenges. Consider them opportunities to learn and grow.
Make meals from scratch.
Celebrate the simplest pleasures. Real, living foods have a short peak of perfection. Respect that moment and seek to serve it.
Cook for a person.
You have the power to brighten someone’s day. Cook the last serving of brussels sprouts with the same care and attention as the first. Recipes are only as good as the humans behind them.
Serve mostly vegetables.
Be gentle with the land. Eat foods that are good for you, the environment, and the communities that grow them. Make decisions with tomorrow in mind.
Eat at a table.
Good food makes us happy. Enjoy meals the old-fashioned way—at a shared table with friends and family.
Nurture the next crop.
Cast a wide net. Teach as much as you learn, learn as much as you teach. Seed your ideas, and tend to the people around you.
Tell us a little about yourself.
Small restaurants in NYC and 3 in Boston
special delivery
I have a family
organc county
It’s a relaly cool
our focus is on seasonal and local american food
supply chain
locally grown produce
NY PA
vermont and New Hampsi
local food
fresh food at a
eating well is expensive
healthy bowl 12-15$
protein
starch
vegetables
50 farm partners
ne weekend
and
our own farm
last year
we farmed 6-12
In the Hudson Valley
Oranig county
black dirt region
unique piece of land
background
are
enormous
glacial lake
farma
we consider ourselves stewards of the land
don’t have to do much
don’t have to lay compost
time over time
cover cropping
never bare
yep I manage the farm
6th year of farming
first season on this particular piece of land
hired me to come on
planning and budgeting
I was born in 1990…
well I went to school at George washington U
agriculture
wwoofing
beet and avocado farm
CSA
Australia
worked for a couple of months in Australia
fell in love with the ag part
volunteered
northern va
marlyand and VA
farming
volunteer farming
managed one of the cities farmer’s markets
introduction into the thing
move to NYC after graduating
buying for a restaurant
northern spy food co
first farm to table
ride a bike to the farmer’s market
chef
ag policy
enventironmental studies
coursework
food studies food justice
theoretical understanding
macro level policy
industry
govern
non profits
I liked getting my hands dirty
CSA PA in suburbs
20 acre
3-500
time of year
300 full shares
big farm
vegetables
3 acres of fruits
8 acre orchard
apprentice there for 2 years
took over the management
no one is ever prepared to run a farm
make some mistakes
hopefully
12 acres
we grow a little bit of everything
growing for dig in
whole sale buyer
12 different things at the same time
grow more
3 weeks pick 2000 bunches of scallions
grow a lot
few things that we
persian cucumbers
really popular dish for us
this one dish
comes from our farm
so many restaurants one farm couldn’t serve all of them
supply our own chain with our own farm
teach our chefs
have the public
interesting things
example last year
10 different kinds of heirlooms
taste testing for our chefs
work with our partners
10 acres
test kitchen of a farm
grow a little bit of everything
no
50
40 different kinds of vegetables
80 varieties
when I was managing that farm
my background
bolser up selling program
what kind of restaurant
cafe we liked to go to
malverne butery
suburbs of philly
walked in between 3-4
bunch of catalogs
chef was there
Im a farmer
Im intersted in growing for you
your food is great
im
seed catalog
I like this variety
a whole plan
thses amounts
different restaurants
I wanna work with you
so this can be a productive relationship
I said I would grow this amount of food
I’m onna hav eit these particular weeks
menu for the year
have it down in writing
I’m gonna send cauliflwoer in early june
really gratifying
to work with a chef
oh Ill grow
800 bed feet of cauliflower
Im gorw 600
yeah it’s definitely in the winter
late fall
another time when I try to get in
larger
winter sort of
a lot of restaurants are always gonna have a plan b
there gonna understand that thins are gonna go wrong
true believers in
diseases issues
cretain amount of leeway
hey we had a really bad year
getting a great
something you said
we grew a lot of strawberries
case of strawberries
have them for free
let
great to bring something you’re really proud of
you know you’ve done really well
we plan it out in the beginning of the season
we’re not gonna have that much in the winter
they can make other arrangements
mainly on CSA
it was a CSA focus farm
4 high tunnels
grow through the winter
people who specialize in winter growing
people who are very into winter growing
leave the summer to rest of other farmers
not a glut of farmers
make their own thing work
there’s a lot of people in the market
if I’m
my parents always kept a garden
chinese chives
which really take no maintenance
grow and produce
little plot of chines chives growing up
my first was working in Australia
first farm I was at
beet and avocado farm
farmer who was very ecological conscious
there would be a time when the oil ran out
few years
his tractor broke
Im not gonna use a tractor anymore
intense system of cover coping
manual
great way
see the concepts of what a machine does by hand
what needed to be done to the earth
that was a really
there are probably
movement of permaculture
they are more aware of the environmental issues that are pressing
Tell me about your first gardening experience?
How did you learn how to garden organically?
Tell us about something that grew well this year.
4
Is there something you would do different next year or want to try/new?
4
Tell me about something that didn’t work so well this season.
4
Which activity is your least favorite activity to do in the garden.
There are
what I have found the more you do something the less of a pain it becomes
I used to hate putting out row cover
you do it a few times
1st time it’s terrible
don’t like putting out sprinkler lines
heavy and difficult to manage
like everything
a lot of people like to glamorize
get through it and preservere
I certainly couldn’t be than
My mother
northeast over abundance of water
very few areas
takng notes
seeing what works what does
tdry farm gonna be different
observing taking notes
black dirt
coming from soil in pa
figured out there are things
carrots
really
figuring out what are your
lands strength
working your
What is your favorite activity to do in the garden.
I love transplanting
its one of my favorite
water wheel
it is sensually a giant rack with
one water tank
fill it up
there are a set of
depends on what your planting
one two or three wheels
spikes
water line
into the wheel
punch holes in the ground
dropping
water in the holes
carnival ride
riding along
large machine
throwing plants
transplant almost everything
brassicas
curcurbits
black dirt is very
weed pressure
transplant as much
root crops
we use
a good amount of plastic mulch
because of the weed pressure
without it
mulch will suppress a lot of weeds
the only thing that pokes through is the transplant
bare gound
the transplant hav ea jump start on th weeds
create a canopy over the bed
3 weeks 4 weeks
growing in the greenhouse
not weeding
when I was in college
after I graduated
new thing
johnnys sells it
the paper claw transplanter
trays we use
trays are biodgradable
put it in
push it like
unravels like a chain
transplant
just by using it through the ground
small market
trying to to hire
very cool very satisfying to watch
our scale is a little too large to use it
someone
needing to hire someone
get through really busy
What is the best gardening advice you have ever received?
you know the best advice I have gotten
don’t worry too much
we are
at the mercy of mother nature
nothing I can do to push a frost back
or make it hotter or cooler
deep spiral of anxiety
tell my team
take it day to day
nothing you can do about it
ovciously
best of your ability
mother nature
it is what it is
nature of our business
last year I had 2 people working for me
me and 2 others for 6 acres
4 people in total
i hink
again
our farm being a part of dig inn
we ride on the back of our restaurants
were not in this to make money
how can small farms integrate into our supply chain easier
people running 3,5,10 acre farms
how do we bring them into
how can we advane
teaching a new generation of
our farmers all aging out
inerested in taking it over
have kids
good for them
choices
people ar leaving the farm
we need to bring more people in
someone who is training folks to be a good farmer
making sure that
they aren’t
I am not abusing them for their labor
like to over work
50-60 hour weeks
not sustainable
a lot of our farmers
super independent
who can work hardest longest
burns people out
making sure that
working our
getting a real actual education into how to grow things
tasks are
enjoy coming to work
we’re going to start in the heat of season
letting people get off an hour early on a friday
hour
employees
come in and want to work
keep people that want to work
by having a strict limit on time
don’t like to keep
10 hours a day
I;ll be there
might be there 12-14 hours a day
a lot of people
just trying it out
is this the life I want to live
not bought into farming
this is something that they can grow into and love to do
care about their liveliehood
right now because we are a new farm
we don’t do any winter growing
we only seasonal workers
we are not required by law to give overtime
we pay $12 hour plus overtime
average
worker
main not here just to make money
leeway to hire
don’t need to hire most experience
do’t car eif you have any experience
how I farm
that’s the thing
if you keep people happy and motivated
and a sense of caring
may not love what they are doing
close relationship
space
personal life and professional life
friends with people I work with
try to hire people who are interested in farming and food
claire and peter
they’re awesome workers
they may have not be as productive and as fast
intersetd in the thing
what it’s like to be out there
pickng
people who are
A favorite tool that you like to use? If you had to move and could only take one tool with you what would it be.
Well, for I love having a vast array of hoes,
what I have started to use more
razor edge good for getting really close to the base of your plants
stirrups
oscilating hoes
first things I buy
a good sledge hammer
things that need to get moved,
pounding
A favorite recipe you like to cook from the garden?
there was this really great recipe
marco conoa
italian restaurants
sun gold tomatoes
mabye a pound of sun gold tomatoes
quarter cup of olive oil
low heat sliced garden
red paper
15 in
spicy
garlicy
fry the sun golds
fast 3-4 minutes
turn it off let it be
let i
lemon zest
parsley
garlic
nice topping
take the tomatoes
throw it on pasta
lemoneade garlicky
spicy
mix it all togther
bite rom fresh garlic
easy
ton of sun gold tomatoes
A favorite internet resource?
I a lot of what I find now days if I ma looking for info
extensions websites
always good to have academic papers on disease issues
extension in another state
growoing seasoning might not b e as long
A favorite reading material-book, mag, blog/website etc you can recommend?
books
mmy research
give it to all my crew
new organic grower
baseline introduciton to grroin
gsil health
nutrient
pest management
ben hartmann
series of books called the lean farm
the lean
toyota car
assemeblyie line and making it more efficient
how do you arrange your washroom
walking as much
how to not waste time on the farm
a minute you could have
stearmliine my operation
Final question-
if there was one change you would like to see to create a greener world what would it be? For example is there a charity or organization your passionate about or a project you would like to see put into action. What do you feel is the most crucial issue facing our planet in regards to the environment either in your local area or on a national or global scale?
I think one of the most important things we can do is reduce our energy consumption
walkins that need power
solar panels on their green houses
operate
odnt have to be attached to their electrical
modify a small tractor
quiet tractor
oil or diesel
small farm secto
innovation happening where folks are figuring out a different growing method from our forefathers
how do we grow without fossil fuels
bcs
he has a beautfiul amazing productive farm
all of these famers who are trying to grow in smaller spaces and produce more with using less
50% of the farms to use a little less powers
4
Do u have an inspiration tip or quote to help motivate our listeners to reach into that dirt and start their own garden?
I mean, if you want inspiration
anything Wendll barry has written
just ge tout there and don’t worry about it
all these plants they want to live
they are not working against you
push them along
have faith int he plants
cant let yourself get down about
growing a good amount of time
nautre workins the mysterious ways
contantly grown new things
force out there greater then you
say mother nature
How do we connect with you?
sure
well
I think
if you’re in the new york area
restaurant group dig inn have a meal
see how were trying to bering healthy affordable
really amazing food
I’m happy to help anyone with
lthelearbear
qustions or advice
pwerufle
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Now Let’s Get to the Root of Things!
The Organic Gardener Podcast is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com
If you like what you heard on the Organic Gardener Podcast we’d love it if you’d give us review and hopefully a 5 star rating on iTunes so other gardeners can find us and listen to. Just click on the link here.
and don’t forget if you need help getting started check out our new
Free Garden Course.com
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If you like what you heard on the Organic Gardener Podcast we’d love it if you’d give us review and hopefully a 5 star rating on iTunes so other gardeners can find us and listen to. Just click on the link here.
About the author, Jackie Marie
I’m an artist and educator. I live at the “Organic Oasis” with my husband Mike where we practice earth friendly techniques in our garden nestled in the mountains of Montana.