Wink & Flip designer and founder Natasha Spedalle has beautiful, sparkly baubles under her tent at the Hester Street Fair. She handmakes many of her designs, and she sells carefully selected commercial items as well. The collections include beads, crystals, metals of all colors, and headbands made from ribbons and fabrics. Earlier this year, a Wink & Flip necklace appeared on the cover of Teen Vogue.
Wink & Flip’s merchandise and pricing appeal to an audience of all ages and styles, and Natasha chooses every piece with care and flair. This level of attention to detail explains why Wink & Flip has been in business for over six years and the accolades Natasha has received as a young entrepreneur. She also started the Pearl Project, which provides beautiful faux pearl necklaces for Dress for Success Worldwide. “Since its inception, The Pearl Project has donated more than 6,000 pearl necklace sets to needy women across the country,” says Natasha on her website. A portion of every purchase goes towards the Pearl Project.
You can come try on Wink & Flip’s treasures on Saturdays at the Hester Street Fair. She also holds trunk shows on college campuses during the school year. Check her website and her Twitter feed to see where she’ll be next.
I spent the morning at the Poe Park Greenmarket in the Bronx last Tuesday, where I met the farmers from Muddy River Farm in New Hampton, NY. I liked the looks of their fresh herbs, as well as the variety on their tables, from fat purple eggplants and cippolini onions to Jerusalem artichokes and garlic. I used their carrots and leeks in my split pea soup this weekend. The flavors were deep and delicious, clearly fresh from the farm.
The Poe Park Greenmarket is large and bustling, especially for a weekday market, and it is full of fresh produce and local products. Representatives from the Department of Health’s Stellar Farmers’ Markets conduct cooking demos going on all day, as well as nutrition and health sessions that attract a lively crowd of 25 or more shoppers. Muddy River Farm sets up there on Tuesdays, and you can also find them at the Union Square Market on Fridays.
I grew up with that plastic honeybear bottle filled with indifferent grocery store honey. So I didn’t get the magic of honey (other than the cute bottle) until much later. Now that I have access to the Greenmarkets all over the city, I have become addicted to the wonderful local honey available from numerous farms and apiaries in the region.
Tremblay Apiaries produces raw, unpasteurized honey on a farm in the Fingerlakes region of Upstate New York. The variety of honeys that they produce is remarkable. They have light ones, amber ones, dark amber ones, and more, flavored with the nectar from a dozen or more species of flowering trees and plants. The Springflower honey pictured is a light amber in color with a sweet, rich flavor and a silky smooth texture. I spoon it into my tea or simply straight into my mouth. It is a great value at $5 for a 1 lb. jar.
Tremblay’s Summerflower Honey received the highest score among Greenmarket honeys in a recent NY Magazine taste test. I recommend that you to come to the Union Square Greenmarket on Fridays and Saturdays for a sample or two and pick your own favorite kind. And they even sell the cute 12 oz. honeybears of my youth. Tremblay also sells other bee-related products, including beeswax candles, pollen, royal jelly, and even skin creams and lip balms. Is there anything bees can’t do?
You may have noticed my project on IndieGoGo.com to add video to this site. The project is starting to gain momentum, and so I wanted to give you a preview of the kinds of video features we are planning to do a lot more of with the video equipment. So last weekend, we took the ferry to Governor’s Island to see The {NewNew}’s Treasure Chest boutique one last time. We shot this bit of video with our regular still-photography camera (Panasonic GF1). It was great fun, and I can’t wait to see what we can do with an actual video camera!
The {NewNew}’s Treasure Chest was held in an historical home on Governor’s Island transformed into a handmade wonderland. I wanted to document this shop and show it to you in case you didn’t get a chance to visit in person. We were fortunate to find the talented Karina Glaser, the artisan behind Windows of Agate, a line of soft and fun children’s toys. She agreed to be our first video story, and I’m so happy she did. Have a look!
The {NewNew]’s Treasure Chest boutique is closed for the season. Hopefully they’ll be back next summer. The great news is that you can find these artisans and their treasures at the markets and other events all during the year. The {NewNew} is an association of 250 artisans from the New York area who sell their work in the markets, on Etsy.com, and in other related events during the year. Check out their website for events and updates.
Please support our IndieGoGo.com project so that we can start having even more fun with our videos! And please share the link!
I write a monthly column for The Three Tomatoes, and this month’s piece is about the wonderful fashion designers who sell their unique clothing at the markets every weekend.
The article features five designers:
Roxi Suger of Angelrox Designs – St. Anthony’s Market
Nina Valenti of Nature vs. Future – Young Designers Market/The MarketNYC
Karin Persan of Better Than Jam – Brooklyn Indie Market and the Better Than Jam Coop
Kathy Malone of Fofolle – Brooklyn Indie Market
Grace Napoleon of Folk Couture – Brooklyn Flea
Read all about them on The Three Tomatoes! Even if you do have tickets to the Fashion Week runways, visit the heart of fashion innovation at the markets every weekend.
Remember that glorious, perfect day last Saturday? I had the great good fortune to spend it doing a book signing at the Greenpoint Greenmarket in McCarren Park. One of the larger markets, it has been fully embraced by the community, and it is also the perfect destination for people exploring the Williamsburg and Greenpoint neighborhoods. I met many nice families and dogs shopping at the market, with Hillary Hawke and the Flipsides playing the perfect plucky market soundtrack on a banjo, a washboard, and a suitcase for a drum. As usual, the most beautiful things at the market were those that were in peak season.
That day the peppers from S.&S.O. Produce Farms were Best in Show. They came in all shades of greens, purples, reds, oranges, yellows, and every combination thereof. The flavors ranged from tasty school lunchy bell peppers to tiny ones that blow steam out of your ears. I couldn’t pick just one photo to represent the beauty of these peppers or that day itself, so I have posted 4 bonus images from the market. Bully for you if this is your market. If it isn’t, then definitely stroll over to McCarren Park on a Saturday very soon.
Thank you to Market Manager Chelsa and GrowNYC for all you do for the neighborhoods of our fair city!
about
