canvas Dropcloth

Working in journalism has allowed me to be something of a hermit. Especially since, thanks to the understanding of the publishers of canvas, I work largely from home so I can be with my 22-month-old daughter.

What this means is that I mostly communicate with the world through email, IM and an occasional phone call. Sometimes, I don’t speak to another adult until well into the evening when my husband comes home from work.

It’s a peculiarity of life in the technological age that most of us face. But today, something happened that made it really hit home how this “peculiarity” has become a serious problem.

Read the rest of this entry »

Last week I attended the New York Fancy Food Show in hopes of ferreting out some great organic, natural, sustainable or local finds for canvas’ food pages. I eagerly hit the Organic Foods “pavilion” of the show, knowing I would see some great new items.

I did not.

Sadly, the area set aside for organic companies was sparse and has the usual run of the mill offerings at a food show: some chocolate, jams, crackers, a few cheeses. One of the items I was pleased to see was organic vanilla beans from Tahiti—something that any serious baker will surely want to procure.

Dejected, I headed to the main show floor and began to stroll through the glitzy, shiny, displays manned by professional marketers. As I stopped here and there, something began to be very obvious. Nearly every one of these food product companies had a natural, organic, sustainable, or local offering. It seems that, at long last, “green” foods are totally mainstream.

With my colleague, canvas production manager, Jen Malone in tow, I happily sampled, tasted, and queried the various proprietors. Some of the notables were offerings from Sustainable Sourcing LLC, a company dedicated to finding pure and ethically sourced products like HimalaSalt, a pink salt from the Himalayas. The company’s manufacturing process are energized by 100% wind power and 5% of profits go back to the environment.

Another find was an organic, naturally caffeinated and simply delicious energy drink called essn ENERGY and produced by SkylarHaley out of San Francisco, makers of antioxidant berry blends. The drink is delicately flavored with pure cane juice and is antioxidant rich. It will be in your local Whole Foods by the end of the year, company reps told us.

One very clever company was tsp spices, that made prepackaged organic spices measured out to equal a teaspoon. The packaging, like a narrow sugar package, is airtight so spices don’t lose their potency or aroma.

There was also a company selling a very good organic chai mix, and from Gluten Free Pantry we tasted chocolate chip cookies that were better than conventional counterparts we sampled on the show floor. These are but some of the many many products we saw there including a display by the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce of locally made offerings from that borough at the other end of our island.

As we left we talked about how those items that once only occupied the specialty section in the grocery store are now par for every course—literally. We also talked about how we never thought we’d see this day. The credit goes to all the conscious eaters and consumers out there who are always seeking a better food and health experience—you.

And since you deserve to know what’s coming down the pike in the new arena of sustainable gourmet dining, we will be sharing our finds with you, the readers, both here on the site and in the print pages of canvas—so check back often.

Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday, Newsday had a front-page article about how harmful the chemicals and pesticides used in conventional lawn maintenance are to the environment and to us as individuals. Organic lawn care was given as a good option for reducing the dangers associated with these products. As readers of canvas will know, this is a story that we already did in our May issue

You may think that this post is going to be about the ethics involved in one media outlet seemingly piggybacking onto another media outlet’s story. It’s not.

Unfortunately, big guys picking over the little guys for material they themselves are not nimble enough to procure is pretty standard operating procedure sometimes. Further, ideas can’t be copyrighted, only words can. So perhaps, Newsday got the idea from canvas. Perhaps they even used canvas‘ story for background. Other local media outlets have used our material as well. If that is what actually happened, then I guess I should say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

So then, Newsday did nothing ethically wrong in writing this story. Quite the contrary, in fact. As editor of canvas, I’m always pleased to see ideas being shared. To see the spread and promotion of information that is to our larger public benefit is always a coup–no matter who had the idea first.

No, this post is about something quite different. This post is about the disturbing number of comments the Newsday story received online. While there are comments from people who are both genuinely concerned and, at times, scared about the poisons we are pouring into the ground there were just as many nasty, snide, ignorant and belligerent posts as well.

It seems that some folks are very angry about being told their lush lawns are less of a priority than preventing diseases like cancer or assorted birth defects.

What a sad commentary on some of our fellow Long Islanders.

It makes me realize that canvas is lucky to have a loyal following of folks who are specifically looking for honest information whenever they can get it. Having worked for big newspapers like New York Times and, yes, Newsday too, I know that being the biggest guy in town means that you have to be all things to all people. As such, it’s sometimes harder to give space to patently unpopular issues.

This is one case, however, where I hope Goliath doesn’t back down. A large group of Newsday’s readers may not want to hear it, but the truth still has to be told.

To read the story, click here

This past weekend my husband, daughter and I drove “out East” to load up on fresh berries for the purpose of making ice cream. Driving out we hit all of our usual pit stops: Briermere Farms for an apple turnover snack, Garden of Eve farm to see what was in season, and took a little cruise down Love Lane in Mattituck to peek into the window of the new café that opened there in the place of the bakery.

While our trips are, for the most part, food-oriented, we also stopped here and there to admire the natural beauty of the Island which never fails to surprise or leave us breathless. Sadly, we also often stopped to lament the latest uber-development of giant houses on tiny lots or strip mall build out.

Another thing that we like to do on these drives is to explore the little byways and inlets around the North Fork. Every time we think we’ve seen all there is to see on Long Island, we are surprised to find yet another little enclave that, blissfully, seems untouched by the march of “progress.”

Read the rest of this entry »

For years, I’ve had a love/hate relationship with local fish stores. It seems that every time I find a good one, the honeymoon only lasts a few months before things start to stink. When the air starts to smell, well, fishy and the whole fish in the case look like they have cataracts (a sure sign of being well past prime.) I know it’s time to move on.

A few weeks ago, though, I found a fish market near my home that I thought might be “the one.” Lots of locals had recommended it, but I kept passing it by, nonplussed by its locale sharing a parking lot with a busy beer store and cigar hut. But one day, a few weeks ago, I decided to try it after a particularly aggravating experience at the Wild By Nature fish counter where I waited for someone to show up for 10 minutes after being repeatedly promised he was on his way. Eventually I just walked out, but driving home I passed the fish market and decided to give it a go. After all, I had planned on fish for dinner and had no fish in hand.

Read the rest of this entry »