Late harvests, seasonal greenery and herb
wreaths highlight Union Square Greenmarket
Farmer Ron Binaghi and his aromatic wreath of rosemary and lavender.
BY TEQUILA MINSKY
A December low brilliant sun casts
long shadows on the pavements.
It warms what could have been
a chilly Saturday afternoon. The Union
Square Greenmarket is bustling on the fi rst
weekend of this holiday month.
Local farmers are selling in-season root
crops, greens, and squash of all sorts as
well as a slew of varieties of apples, and
cider and donuts, and pears, too. Baked
goods and other locally produced foodstuffs
are also sought and shopped.
On this particular Saturday, Christine
Wong is at a booth with her book, which
she co-authored with Brigette Allen, Breaking
Up with Plastic.
The atmosphere is festive. Pine boughs and
wreaths, fl owers and plant embellishments
convey the holiday season.
At the northeastern end of Union Square,
the Stokes Farms’ booth is set up. Next to a
crate of lavender, Ron Binaghi is assembling
onto a wire base a wreath of lavender and
rosemary—by early afternoon they’ve already
sold the ones they had of that combination
of herbs.
All totally aromatic, Stokes Farms offers
three herb combos of their wreaths with
other choices of savory and rosemary or sage
and rosemary. Admiring the herb wreath
selections, one shopper piped up, “I’ve been
cooking off my wreath for a year.”
The herbs for the holiday wreaths along
with seasonal squashes and root crops are
grown on the Stokes 17-acre New Jersey
farm, in the northeast corner of the state,
south of the Tappan Zee Bridge.
Grouping the sprigs of rosemary together,
PHOTOS BY TEQUILA MINSKY
Binaghi speaks, “I’ve been making these herb
wreaths for about 25 years.”
Some years back, highlighted on a morning
talk show, the wreaths got national coverage.
Fifth generation farmer, Ron Binaghi and his harvest of lavender
Overnight, Binaghi began to get orders
from all over the country and in one season
he went from selling 100 to 1500. Now, the
Stokes Farms’ website offers the opportunity
to order wreaths.
About Stokes Farms
This seven generation single-family farm
started in 1873. “Ulysses S. Grant was
President,” Binaghi informs, in case your
command of history is a little rusty. “I’m fi fth
generation, there are two more generations
after me working on the farm.”
Stokes Farms is one of the two original 13
farmers that started Saturday’s Union Square
Greenmarket in 1976, the second of the
City’s Greenmarkets. (Locust Grove Fruit
Farm from Milton, NY is the other farm).
Binaghi shares a little family/farm history,
“That year my dad started (uptown) and I
was with him. I was 16.” Union Square
opened some months later.
“My dad said, ‘Why don’t you run that
Union Square thing. Keep all the money
whatever you want.’”
“I’m sixteen in 1976, I’m making $500 a
week net, in the 70s. My dad knew that was
a great motivation. I didn’t go to college, by
choice. I’ve been here every scheduled Saturday
since then.”
On the day of Binaghi’s high school graduation,
Ron was at the market. “It was June, I
sold strawberries in the morning, went home
and graduated high school,” he remembers.
“I was here the day I got married—set up
the truck, my friend drove the pickup. I drove
the big truck in about 9, he threw me the keys
to the pickup, I threw him the key to the big
truck, I was home by 10:30-11, took a nap,
got up, got married 3 o’clock. I was back for
Wednesday market.”
Now, Stokes Farms sells at two Greenmarkets,
Union Square and Tucker’s Square—
65th and Broadway, in front of Alice Tully
Hall.
What has Greenmarket meant to his farm
and family? Without hesitation, Binaghi
replies, “The farmer’s market has kept our
farm alive for 45 years.”
Will he be back in the upcoming Saturdays?
“If the weather is over 35 degrees,” he
says, “I’ll be back.”
Apples can be purchased in any quantities.
4 DDeecceembbeerr 99,, 22002211 Schneps Mediia