Results tagged “farm”

While the NY Times' story on a Harlem charter school's kindergarten visit to the Queens County Farm Museum might just seem like a human interest story, there's actually a serious reason behind it: The state's English and math tests seem biased towards kids with knowledge of farms. There are "several questions each year about livestock, crops and the other staples of the rural experience that some educators say flummox city children, whose knowledge of nature might begin and end at Central Park. On the state English test this year, for instance, third graders were asked questions relating to chickens and eggs. In math, they had to count sheep and horses." Oh no!!!

With rooftop farms all the rage right now, it's nice to see the eco-trend has even made it over to the South Bronx. We're told "a new state of the art affordable housing complex planned for the South Bronx will feature a 10,000 square feet (930 sq meters) fully integrated rooftop farm. The greenhouse will use left-over heat from the residential portion of the building and water harvested from the greenhouse roof. The farm will be used to provide fresh, perishable vegetables to a local non-profit food cooperative." All in all, the farm will supply enough produce to meet the annual veggie needs of up to 450 people! A great thing in any neighborhood, but particularly the South Bronx, which we're told "suffers from food deserts, where residents lack access to fresh vegetables at affordable prices." Learn more about the urban farm here; that's one step closer to becoming the urban farming capital of the world!

Red Hook residents held a demonstration Saturday to protest a concrete factory poised to open between a park and the Red Hook Community Farm, one of the city's largest urban farms. The protesters are worried air near the plant will be polluted, and the organic produce will be coated with concrete dust. But the site, located by the Beard Street Ikea, is zoned for heavy industry, and the owner of the company assures the Daily News his plant will have "a lower carbon footprint than most of the concrete being made today." That doesn't placate pint-sized protester Matilda Armstrong, 11, who volunteers at the farm. She tells Brooklyn Paper, "Putting a cement plant right next to a park — how stupid can they be? They should put it in the desert so it doesn’t affect anyone." An aide to state Sen. Velmanette Montgomery is less cute: "I don’t think they appreciate the density of this area and how litigious New Yorkers can be. If you’re opening a cement plant in an area with a 40-percent asthma rate, you’d better open your pocket book, because you’re going to be spending a lot of time in court."

       

It's been a couple months since we last checked in on the Waterpod, "a sustainable, sculptural art and technology habitat, with 4 artists living on and off it, generating food, water, and power in a contained and self-sufficient environment." The floating experiment is currently in Brooklyn Heights, so if you're nearby check it out on Pier 5 (where it will be docked through August 17th). Visitors are welcome Fridays from 3 to 7 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. While on the shore, you can track the Pod here.

When the city demolished a Coast Guard housing complex on Governors Island last October, one official promised it wouldn't "sit vacant waiting for future park funding." And believe it or not, it's true! The Brooklyn nonprofit Added Value is already using the space for a three-acre organic farm. There's a nice story on City Room today about the project, which brings teenagers to the island to teach them about sustainable and local food. The farm is expected to rake in as much as $25,000 this year through sales at a farm stand and the island's new Water Taxi Beach, which opens July 4th weekend. Squash, tomatoes, sunflowers, eggplants and groundcherries are expected by the end of July, and the proceeds could fund stipends of $1,400 for as many as 25 teens who work at the farm. Ian Marvy of Added Value says, "The average household income in Red Hook is around $14,000. You're increasing a family’s income by 9 percent by growing tomatoes." Volunteers of all ages are also welcome to get their thumbs green every day Governors Island is open to the public: Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Gowanus Lounge points out the upside-down school bus roaming the streets of Brooklyn lately, and Brooklynians are abuzz about it. The White House Organic Farm Project explains--the group just purchased the Topsy Turvy bus from Ben & Jerry's own Ben Cohen, and tonight they invite one and all to "come support our version of Community Supported Agriculture." A little late notice, but if you can't make it you could still buy a share in TheWhoFarm ("the bounty of course is an organic farm at our shared house, The White House"). Tonight they offer up local food and drink, as well as gorgeous views of Central Park, the zoo, and live entertainment. They'll be in town through the 15th before heading to other cities, festivals and of course Burning Man.

For decades, residents of low-income neighborhoods under-served by supermarket chains have been getting their hands on produce the old fashioned way: By growing it in their own gardens. In recent years, outer-borough farmers have taken urban agriculture a step further by selling their mostly organic haul at well-organized community markets.

       

Last year a farm floated into the city on a barge and this coming summer a farm will sprout at PS1, but will a sustainable urban farm ever take root in New York for good?

Tie-dye is making a comeback in the fashion world (though most higher end shops are calling it "dip dye"), and it's not uncommon to hear Phish or The Grateful Dead playing at a coffee shop on Bedford Avenue...but are all of these signs that hipsters are becoming hippies? It seems the proof is in the homegrown pudding, as The NY Times reports on many young city slickers trading in their tight-jeans for some overalls (making their thrift store 4-H t-shirts no longer ironic). That's right, hipster librarians are so over, all the cool kids are taking up farming now -- and even current city-dwellers are cheering them on. One commented on the winds of change a-blowin', saying, "our rock stars are ricotta makers.”