Urban Farming in New York City

The Brooklyn Rescue Mission, Just Food and the Garden of Happiness
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The Bed-Stuy Farm of the Brooklyn Rescue Mission

Below: Karen Washington of La Familia Verde and the Garden of Happiness between Reverend Robert Jackson and Reverend DeVanie Jackson of the Brooklyn Rescue Mission and the Bed-Stuy Farm

When the Jacksons started the Brooklyn Rescue Mission they felt that there was a fundamental lack of quality in the canned vegetables that were available to the mission's recipients, many of whom are elderly. The garden was created behind the mission to provide fresh produce to the mission's recipients and is tended by a community youth program. The creation of the youth program made possible the passing of lost gardening knowledge from older generations to today's younger generation. Reverend DeVanie says that the secret to getting young people to eat vegetables is by getting them to grow them.

Today everyone in the Bed-Stuy community has access to the fresh produce from the garden that is sold through the mission's farmers market. In the middle of the garden there is a large fig tree and each year Reverend DeVanie makes fig preserves. Last year the program grew 11 different lettuces.

Below: Jane Hodge, program manager for Just Food and the City Farms Program

Just Food
Jane Hodge is the program manager for Just Food and the City Farms Program. Just Food provides a training program to those who are new to the community garden experience. The program has implemented an innovative training approach called Training of Trainers, which involves training gardeners to become future trainers themselves.
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Below: Karen Washington at The Garden of Happiness

The Garden of Happiness
Karen Washington was trained through the Training of Trainers program of Just Food and is now a trainer herself. She also spent six months gaining new knowledge and experience as she worked on the organic farm at the University of Santa Cruz in California. As a member of La Familia Verde she started the Garden of Happiness in an empty lot near her house. It took three years to establish the garden. Along the way she had to learn the ins and outs of local politics, specifically how to take legal action to preserve empty lots for garden use instead of building development.

Many gardens use rain barrels to collect water for irrigation needs

Below: Raising chickens for eggs is legal in an urban setting. Its illegal to keep roosters because of the potential noise from crowing

Below: Compost bins at the Garden of Happiness

The Garden of Happiness sells produce to the bodega across the street from the garden

The Queens County Farm Museum and Added Value

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Below: Michael Robertson, Agricultural Supervisor at the Queens County Farm Museum with Ian Marvey of Added Value in Red Hook

The Queens County Farm Museum

Michael Robertson (left) is a former apprentice of Hawthorne Valley Farm and has brought his knowledge and experience with biodynamics to the Queens County Farm Museum which also happens to be a working farm. Along with vegetables and plants, the farm raises pigs, goats, chickens and guinea hens.

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Each year more than 300,000 students visit the Queens County Farm Museum. In addition to the regularly scheduled school visits, Michael hopes to create new programs that will provide longer visits with more educational depth. Michael's goal for the farm is is to increase the biodynamic sustainability and biodiversity and to share that model with others.

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Added Value

When Ian Marvey noticed an empty parking lot in the Red Hook district, he negotiated an agreement with the city to use the abandoned space. After dumping compost on the surface of the parking lot he created an urban farm project called Added Value that is close to three acres in size. The Added Value Youth Program works on the farm and sells produce to six restaurants, through a farmers market and to 25 CSA members. Ian hopes to expand the CSA membership to include 100 members this year and has just negotiated another agreement to farm three acres on Governor's Island.

Above: Ian Marvey of Added Value

Below: Added Value operates a farmers market and CSA during the growing season

Below: The Queens County Farm Museum

Below: there are six cold frames for growing seedlings at the Queens County Farm Museum

Below: Arugula is growing in one of the cold frames in early February

East NY Farms

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Deborah Greig, Urban Agriculture Coordinator at East NY Farms

There are three large gardens in East NY Farms. The youth program of East NY Farms grows and sells produce from the gardens through a community organized farmers market that also includes 23 neighborhood gardeners. The program assists community members in developing their own gardens to sell produce at the farmers market. The cultural make-up of the community around East NY Farms is extremely diverse including descendants of Bangladeshi, Caribbean and African American backgrounds. Many of the vegetables that are grown in the gardens of East NY Farms, like callaloo (also known as water spinach and amaranth) karela, bora, and bitter Melon, reflect the culinary preferences of the cultural diversity.

Department of Agriculture and Markets
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Christina Grace, Manager, Urban Food Systems Program
Division of Agricultural Protection and Development Services

Chris Grace advocates for the community gardeners and urban farmers of New York City by helping them to establish and maintain agricultural spaces and to resolve political issues related to existing and future garden spaces and urban farming. She has initiated and overseen several projects with garden programs and urban farms like the recent Garden to School Cafe Pilot Project where food was grown by 21 different gardens and urban farms and implemented into the cafeterias of several public schools throughout New York City.
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Learn more about GreenThumb, the largest urban gardening program in the nation, and the 25th Annual Grow Together Conference

“What we have we should take pride in and that’s what we’re trying to instill throughout the neighborhood”
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- Karen Washington, The Garden of Happiness