The Rooftop Beekeeper

I just received my advance copy of 'The Rooftop Beekeeper: A Scrappy Guide to Keeping Urban Honeybees' which features my photographs. I started working on this project with my beekeeper and author friend Meg Paska back in 2011. It has been a long and enjoyable journey during which I have made many new friends and I am proud to finally see it in print. It is is published by Chronicle Books and now available to buy on Amazon.com. 

Organic Heirloom Tomatoes

These late season organic heirloom tomatoes were grown in Brooklyn. On the left and right are examples of the Purple Calabash (Solanum lycopersicum). An open pollinated variety which is believed to have originated in Mexico and has a rich, almost wine-like flavor. In the middle is the Green Zebra tomato. It was developed in the 1980s by tomato breeder Tom Wagner in Everett, Washington and is actually the result of combining four different heirloom varieties.

Ground Cherry

Indigo Rose

Chocolate Stripes

                                                      

Chocolate Stripes organic, heirloom tomato grown in Brooklyn, 2012.

Reisetomate aus Siebenburgen

Reisetomate aus Siebenburgen, organic heirloom tomato grown in Brooklyn 2012

Reisetomate aus Siebenburgen, which translates from German as "travel tomato from Transylvania" actually has roots in Central America. Native Indians would take this unusual variety on trips and break off the individual lobes to eat without the use of a knife.

Indigo Rose

Indigo Rose tomato, grown in Brooklyn, 2012

The Indigo Rose, developed by Jim Meyers at Oregon State University using traditional plant breeding techniques, is the first variety of tomato that contains anthocyanins. These are powerful antioxidants that only develop where the fruit comes into direct contact with sunlight giving it a distinctive purple color. Parts that are shaded remain green.

First Tomato Harvest

A beautiful organic Ananas Noire tomato developed by the Belgian horticulturist Pascal Moreau.

Grown in Brooklyn, 2012

Physalis

Dried Physalis (groundcherry) husk. Grown in Brooklyn, 2011

The fruit inside has been left to decompose so that only the seeds remain contained within the delicate, skeletonized husk.

Moon and Stars

Citrullus lanatus, grown in Brooklyn, October 2011

Watermelons has been cultivated for at least 4000 years and there are more than 1200 varieties. Citrullus lanatus or "Moon and Stars" is an open pollinated Amish heirloom variety that was once thought to be extinct.

Black Krim

Organic Black Krim tomatoes grown in Brooklyn, NY 2011