Heirloom vegetables grown locally will hit Sotheby’s auction block
Published in the Register Star: May 17, 2010
KINDERHOOK — Finding the perfect heirloom tomato or other vegetable used to be limited to trolling farmers markets or growing your own, but on September 23 they will be found on the auction block, once reserved for priceless antiques and art.
Sotheby’s New York is hosting a Tri-State Heirloom Vegetable auction that night “to celebrate edible heirlooms and the art involved in their creation,” according to the auction house.
Heirloom vegetables are vintage varieties that pre-date factory farming in which plants are bred for travel, shelf life and uniformity. Many heirloom varieties are selected for flavor over looks.
According to Liz Neumark, owner of Katchkie Farm in Kinderhook, the idea for the auction began with a discussion between Brent Ridge of Beekman Farm in Connecticut and Amy Todd Middleton, Sotheby's worldwide director of marketing, on the disappearance of many heirloom vegetable varieties.
“Amy brought up the idea to me,” said Neumark, “and we were off to the races.”
Neumark is also the founder and CEO of Great Performances, the New York City based catering and events company she founded in 1979.
Great Performances is the exclusive caterer to Sotheby’s.
More than 50 farms from New York, Connecticut and New Jersey are participating.
Robert Walker, the farm manager for Katchkie Farm, said a number of farmers in Columbia County are involved in the event.
Heirloom seeds from Landrith and Seed Savers were donated to the farmers.
“The vegetables are being grown now,” said Neumark.
According to the auction house, the revenue from the event goes to support GrowNYC New Farmer Development Project, which identifies, educates and supports immigrants with agricultural experience to become local producers and establish farms in the region, and The Sylvia Center at Katchie Farm, which educates schoolchildren about farming, healthy eating and the local food supply.
Neumark said that the auction is timed to coincide with the 2010 Eat Drink Local week in New York City, co-produced by Edible magazines and GrowNYC, so that much of the auctioned produce will be showing up in restaurants in the city as well as at the city’s Green Markets.
Some of the vegetables in the auction, she said, will be donated to local soup kitchens.
“We want to make them available for everyone,” she said.
For every group of people who are plugged into the local food movement, said Neumark, there are others who are just beginning to discover it.
“We’re really opening it up to new people,” she said.
Walker finds the idea of having his vegetables in Sotheby’s interesting.
“People will be buying vegetables instead of paintings,” he remarked with a grin.
