Order now.

Dig this helpful guide from the folks at GrowNYC, the non-profit group behind city Greenmarkets. It’s a list of which of their farmers citywide are selling turkeys, plus how to order them and where you can pick them up. Don’t forget the butchers at Dickson’s Farmstead Meats in Chelsea Market or your mail-order friends at Fleisher’s and Heritage Foods USA. (The latter will probably let you order from their new Heritage Meat Shop in Essex Market, too.)

When you think of farmers markets — which we do, often — you probably don’t think of wireless technology. The timeless trade under the tents is typically “cash only” and anyone looking to pay for their cauliflower with anything other than cash needs a reality check. Unless, that is, they’re paying with Food Stamps.

The decades-old federal assistance program (it’s now called SNAP!) itself got a twenty-first century makeover a decade ago when the paper slips were replaced with debit-style plastic cards known as EBT, or Electronic Benefits Transfer. The paperless system reduced both fraud and stigma, but it inadvertently left farmers markets on the wrong side of the digital divide. Selling out in the open air at places like Union Square or Washington Market, they lacked the phone lines and credit card machines necessary to process sales with those new cards.

So in the neighborhoods with highest EBT enrollment—where fresh produce can be a rare find—customers could spend their monthly benefit at the bodega, but not at farmstands. Markets nationwide grappled with the technology hurdle, trialing handheld devices and cell phone technology with spotty success.

While New York’s Greenmarket network, a program of GrowNYC, is well-known for its specialty produce and chefly devotees, its busy locations in low-income neighborhoods have become the biggest market EBT success story in the country, and electronic sales have skyrocketed like a stand of sweet corn in the summer sun. The project — where customers use their cards at a Greenmarket Info Table to get tokens they can use at farm stands — began at three markets in 2005 (with annual Food Stamp sales of $1,000); this year Greenmarket expects EBT sales to pass the half-million mark and EBT clients can now redeem their benefits at 40 Greenmarkets city wide. (Here’s the list.)

The most recent to come online? Union Square, which was outfitted with the terminals this month and is already processing $4,000 a week in EBT sales.

One secret weapon behind these impressive numbers has been a “Health Bucks” initiative. Greenmarket collaborates with the City Department of Health and the Farmers Market Federation to operate the initiative, which provides EBT shoppers in Bed-Stuy, Harlem, and the South Bronx with a $2 coupon for every $5 in EBT spent at the market (while funds last), effectively discounting produce purchases by 40% and delivering fresh local food to the people who need it most. Sound like good stuff? It is indeed, and we suggest to show your support you consider buying a ticket to the annual (and always amazing) Taste of Greenmarket event on October 6th.

Eat Drink Local week is a celebration of the local food chain—a restaurant week with a mission.

It runs statewide from September 26-October 6, 2010, with the collaboration of all Edible magazines in the Empire State, and involves partners from the entire food chain—including restaurants, wine shops and wineries, breweries and beer bars, farms and food artisans, and cultural institutions that celebrate food.

Co-produced by Edible magazines and the GrowNYC Greenmarket, the aim is threefold:
1. to raise awareness about the bounty of products grown in the region
2. to drive customers to the restaurants and other businesses that support local food
and drink
3. to raise funds for a charitable partner dedicated to promoting regional agriculture

To give the week more definition, and create demand for regional food and drink, each day of the week is defined by a specific local ingredient (cheese on Monday, vegetables on Tuesday, wine on Wednesday, etc.), offering partners and sponsors an ideal hook for promoting their industry.

In addition, there are some other major events planned during the week, including:

• September 23. An Amish style heirloom vegetable auction to be held at Sotheby’s

• September 25. A Long Island wine auction.

• September 27. The Edible Institute at the New School, a public discourse on urban food issues.

• September 29. A public discourse at the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture. (The center’s Harvest Fest is October 2.)

• Throughout the week. Edible programming at the New York Botanical Gardens.

• Throughout the summer, the Union Square and Grand Army Plaza Greenmarkets will feature cooking demos from partner chefs, New York wine pourings and other happenings.

To receive updates on the week, check back at ediblemanhattan.com, or sign up for Edible’s enews list.

(Click here to read about last year’s week, and see the map of partner restaurants, which will give you a sense of what’s shaping up for this fall.)

Click here for Sponsorship Opportunities

Just in time for harvest season–and the breaking of the Yom Kippur fast, to boot–the New York City Greenmarket and the city’s Edible magazines have launched the first Edible Eat • Drink • Local Week to celebrate the farmers, artisans, chefs and cooks who fill our bellies, green our cityscape and, heck, enrich our Edible lives. Okay, we also want to celebrate good eating, natch: So all week long, some of the best restaurants in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island’s East End will be showcasing local food and drink–as a prix fixe, an extra-special entrée, a super-sweet dessert, or a perfect pairing with a wine, beer, or spirit made in New York State. At the end of the week, they’ll make voluntary contributions to Greenmarket to benefit its Youth Education Project, which works to teach and nurture the eaters of tomorrow. We’ll also be donating revenue from any subscription sales from now through the end of the year. So check out participating restaurants (we’ve made nifty neighborhood Google maps!) and make your reservations now. And then find us on Facebook and tell us: Where are you eating for Edible Week?

Listen to this week’s Edible mixdown from 1010 WINS, sponsored by Eat • Drink • Local Week:

{audio}http://www.ediblecommunities.com/manhattan/Edible Week mixdown.mp3{/audio}

SUPPORT RESTAURANTS THAT SUPPORT THE GREENMARKET
(Click here for map of restaurant locations)

We thank the restaurants–and diners–who made the first annual Edible Eat • Drink • Local Week a success.

In case you missed it, at the end of September, partner restaurants in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and on the East End showcased the mouthwatering bounty of local food and drink. At the end of the week, they made voluntary contributions to Greenmarket, a program of the Council on the Environment of New York City, to benefit its Youth Education Project, which works to teach and nurture the eaters of tomorrow. (Edible will also be donating revenue from any subscription sales from now through the end of the year to Greenmarket. Subscribe to Edible Manhattan, Brooklyn and East End here; subscribe to Edible Queens here.)

And you can still help by dining out and digging in at one of these great eateries.

Edible Eat Drink Local Week is co-produced by Edible magazines and Greenmarket, and thanks the following sponsors: Brooklyn Brewery, the Long Island Wine Council, Manhattan Beer, and OpenTable.

SUPPORT RESTAURANTS THAT SUPPORT THE GREENMARKET
(Click here for map of restaurant locations)

Upper East Side partners map
Upper West Side partners map
Midtown partners map
West of 34th-14th Street partners map
East of 34th-14th Street partners map
West Village partners map
East Village partners map
South of Houston Street partners map
Brooklyn partners map
Queens partners map
East End partners map

View Edible Eat Drink Local Week in a larger map