OLD STONE HOUSE
2nd FLOOR GALLERY AND WASHINGTON PARK
336 Third Street (Inside the Park!)
Fifth Avenue between 3rd & 4th Street, Park Slope
F/R to 4th Avenue/9th Street or R to Union Street
What would a Brooklyn Utopia look like?
Brooklyn Utopias: Farm City invites artists to respond to urban agriculture as a “utopian” solution for Brooklyn, considering the borough as a case study for future “farm cities”.
Brooklyn already is home to a fertile cross section of both traditional and experimental urban farming methods. Home-grown food and a DIY culture are on the rise. Brooklyn has a rich agricultural history settled by Dutch farmers who created the Nation’s most productive farms until 1920s. Now, its soil is presumed toxic waste.
How can the real or imagined Farm City catalyze new visions for social and environmental change that may bring about a “Brooklyn Utopia?”
ARTWORK
Artists are increasingly incorporating farming, landscaping, and ecology into their practice. The predominance of environmentally concerned exhibitions at contemporary art institutions is one mark of the shift of environmentalism from a marginalized grassroots and activist effort to a more institutionalized and popularized subject that infiltrates every sector of society.
The artworks range from symbolic and visionary to living and earthy. Christina Kelly’s process-work, Maize Field, re-fertilizes Brooklyn neighborhoods once tilled by Native Americans. Jess Levey and Katherine Gressel also ponder the connection to Brooklyn’s agrarian past juxtaposing colonial, present, and future imagery of the Old Stone House and creating a site-specific and localized entry point to contemplate “Utopia.”
A futuristic video by Work.AC and never-before shown plans and drawings by Mary Mattingly predict more sustainable futures for land, water, and air use in the context of Brooklyn’s fate as sea levels steadily rise around it. Eric Sanderson is also focused on the future — contrasting imaginary and actual digital maps of Brooklyn drawn from his 2009 bestseller Manahatta , combining the present with an idealized agrarian aerial view of the borough in 2409.
Mimi Oka and Doug Fitch’s satirical Land of Cockaigne depicts a sybaritic depiction of heaven of effortless consumption that eerily tracks our own current dystopian abundance of cheap, fattening and false foods.
Scott Nyerges, Kate Glicksberg, and Dan Sagarin use photopgrahy and blogging to capture existing newly-green farm oases hidden in unusual places throughout Brooklyn’s endless hardscape — from fire escapes to rooftops.
L-A-W-N by Tattfoo Tan
Kim Holleman and Tattfoo Tan explore the edible and educational potential of mobile farms, joined by Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis presenting Truck Farm at our Opening Party on 09.16.10 — on display throughout the weekend.
In another amazing temporary installation on 09.18.10, The Greenhorns (a collective of Young Farmers and Artists) erect FARM FORT, an interactive multi-media camp that will show films and hold discussions in a 10 x 10 tent.
Eve Mosher’s mini plant “modules” demonstrate her use of social networking to link and multiply Brooklyn’s smallest farms while Hernani Dias employs technology to link Brooklyn to urban farms overseas, displaying the vital signs of new potatoes to a shared website interface — like a Facebook stauts update for plants.
Andrew Casner and Hugh Hayden demonstrate how art itself can be made from Brooklyn’s rejuvenated organic material, including compost and live insects. Outside, Mathilde Roussel-Giraudy’s human body sculptures of growing edible plants, Ça Pousse!, bring new meaning to the phrase “You are what you eat!”
SUMMARY
Not-to be missed temporary outdoor installations opening weekend, Sept 16, 18-19:
Ian Cheney & Curt Ellis (Truck Farm) (on view Sept. 16, 18-19)
The Greenhorns (FARM FORT, an outdoor farm information tent) (Sept 18-19 ONLY!)
Kim Holleman (Trailer Park) (Artist talks Sept. 16, 6-8pm; Sept. 18 & 19, 1-2pm and 5-6pm)
Tattfoo Tan (S.O.S. Mobile Classroom): (Artist presentation Thurs, Sept. 16 6-8pm; and SUNDAY ONLY, Sept. 19, 10-2pm)
SPECIAL! OPENING NIGHT ONLY:
Video projections by Jess Levey
Live musical performance by the People’s Champs
Featuring artwork by:
Andrew Casner, Hernani Dias, Kate Glicksberg, Katherine Gressel, Hugh Hayden, Kim Holleman, Christina Kelly, Jess Levey, Mary Mattingly, Eve Mosher, Scott Nyerges, ORPH, Mathilde Roussel-Giraudy , Dan Sagarin, Eric Sanderson, Tattfoo Tan, Work.AC
PARTNERSHIPS
Brooklyn Utopias: Farm City will correspond with Crossing the Line: Farm City, a comprehensive 3-week exploration of urban agriculture through markets, workshops, tours, films and discussions running from September 12-25, 2010 at the French Institute Alliance Francais, and Open House New York Weekend, a citywide architecture and design tour October 9-10, 2010 organized by Openhousenewyork, Inc.
ABOUT THE CURATORS
Brooklyn Utopias: Farm City is a mash up of two curators’ related projects devoted to exploring the relationship between art and place. Last year, Katherine Gressel launched Brooklyn Utopias as an annual exhibit in which artists consider differing visions of an ideal city through the “concrete” example of Brooklyn. This year, Derek Denckla initiated FarmCity.US, a broad-based, long-term action-research project that aims to engage public enthusiasm for environmental change through transformative collaborations between arts and urban agriculture.
GALLERY INFORMATION:
The Old Stone House is symbolic of Brooklyn’s gradual return to its agricultural “roots.” Originally a Dutch colonial farmhouse, OSH now boasts five community gardens and corresponding arts and environ mental education programming — providing food for artists’ boldest thoughts of an entire future city that can again help feed itself.
The Old Stone House of Brooklyn is a modern reconstruction of the Vechte-Cortelyou House, a 1699 Dutch stone farmhouse that was the site of the largest battle of the Revolutionary War and the original home of the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Old Stone House is dedicated to creating a strong sense of community through history, environmental education and the arts.
Brooklyn Utopias: Farm City
EXHIBITION DATES: SEPTEMBER 16-DECEMBER 12, 2010
GALLERY HOURS: SATURDAY & SUNDAY, 11am-4pm OR BY APPOINTMENT
On July 29, 2010 at 6:30 pm, One Prize will host an awards ceremony and cocktail reception that launches an on-going exhibition of the winning designs at Trespa/Arpa Design Centre, 62 Greene Street in SOHO. Please RSVP to info.ny@trespa.com or register here.
The winning team, consisting of Derek Denckla from TheGreenest.Net and Gita Nandan and Elliott Maltby from thread collective, came together to respond to the call for proposals on the theme “Mowing to Growing: A Design Competition for Creating Productive Green Spaces in Cities.”
The competition drew 202 teams and 850 team members from more than 20 countries and five continents.
“We were really excited when it was announced that we made the list of 30 semi-finalists earlier this year.” said Nandan, “Looking at the other semi-finalists –and the quality of their projects — I was really honored. Our proposal was in some seriously accomplished company. That’s why it’s all-the-more thrilling that we were selected as the model project.”
Our team hashed out a few prototype designs together until we settled on Naturally Occurring Retirement Community (NORC) Farms. The concept of the NORC is simple: to connect aging New Yorkers with inaccessible lawns that surround public housing complexes in order to create and cultivate farm plots and social spaces. NORC FARMS would use urban agriculture to transform grass into a socially, ecologically, economically productive space; activate older New Yorkers, and transforming public housing into local agriculture; where the Corbusier “tower in the park” becomes the sustainable tower in the farm.
“We took a bit of a risk when we submitted the NORC Farms proposal.” said Elliott Maltby. “Let’s face it, aging is a critical social issue but not usually the subject of high-concept design. Furthermore, the traditional entry in a design competition emphasizes strong forms that depict a robust design sensibility. Instead, we decided to focus our proposal more on investigating the nature of spatial relationships and how slight but significant changes in use can radically transform community.”
“Originally, the prize was to be $10,000 for one winner,” said organizer Maria Aiolova of Terreform, “but we quickly began to see that there was two stand-out proposals: one that emphasized community planning and another that was more design-driven. So, in the end, we decided to split the $10,000 prize to honor both of these impulses that initially motivated the competition.”
“NORC Farms obviously was our choice for the community proposal.” Aiolova added. “We really feel that NORC Farms addresses a serious community need with an elegant and creative solution. It made us really pleased that a few days before we announced the winners, the NY Times ran a front page story about cities (including NYC) launching design accommodations for their aging populations.” (See“NY Aims to Improve the Lives of the Elderly,” Anemona Hartocollis, 7/18/10, NY Times).
The ONE Prize competition called for technical, urbanistic, and architectural strategies not simply for the food production required to feed the cities and suburbs, but the possibilities of diet, agriculture, and retrofitted facilities that could achieve that level within the constraints of the local climate and conditions. The entries ranged from vertical farms, neighborhood farms, farming on vacant lots and buildings, abandoned infrastructure, front lawns, strip malls, roof tops, river barges and inside trailers.
As Terreform ONE cofounder Mitchell Joachim puts it: “We want to break the American love affair with the suburban lawn.” In a country that today squanders some seven billion gallons of water every day watering its 40,000 acres of suburban lawns—and in which only two percent of food is grown locally—Mowing to Growing challenged architects to devise workable means for growing more of America’s food closer to more of America’s communities, and to do so at less expense to our economy and our environment.
Terreform ONE [Open Network Ecology] is a non-profit design group that promotes green design in cities. Since 2006, the group has been a pioneer in ecological design and sustainable construction technology. With visionary proposals in the fields of public transit, waste reuse and community development, as well as lectures, workshops and exhibitions, the Terreform ONE team has pushed the conceptual envelope for ecological architecture and urban design. The One Prize is the group’s latest initiative to advance the burgeoning environmental movement by encouraging designers to imagine new solutions for conservation and renewability, and then giving those designers a platform for their ideas.
The design team that shared the winning award of the One Prize was AGENCY architecture LLC, USA (Ersela Kripa, Stephen Mueller). This project proposes a global system of levees, serving also as a new brand of urban farms at the city’s edge, preserving local ecologies while protecting cities from emerging dangers. Each stage of the levee supports the next. Clippings, compost, and surplus crops from farming levels are used as nutrients and food for a series of fish farms, marshes, and restorative dune ecologies. Waste from marine life and nutrients from algal habitats are then used to fertilized farm levels, making the levee a complete ecology.
The Jury consisted of a distinguished panel of thinkers and designers, including: • Cameron Sinclair, Founder, Architecture for Humanity
• Adrian Benepe, Commissioner, NYC Department of Parks and Recreation
• Ben Schwegler, Jr., Ph.D., Chief Scientist of Walt Disney Imagineering
• DJ Spooky, AKA Paul D. Miller, electronic and experimental musician, producer and author
• Dickson Despommier, Ph.D., Professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia University and Director of the Vertical Farm Project
• Carol Coletta, president and CEO of CEOs for Cities, Host and Producer of the nationally syndicated public radio show Smart City
• William J. Mitchell, Professor of Architecture and Media Arts and Sciences at MIT, Director, Media Lab’s Smart Cities research group at MIT
This article has been copied in its entirety from www.foodnews.org as it provides an excellent resource to explain why buying organic justifies the extra costs that may prevent future costs arising from poor health.
Why Should You Care About Pesticides?
The growing consensus among scientists is that small doses of pesticides and other chemicals can cause lasting damage to human health, especially during fetal development and early childhood. Scientists now know enough about the long-term consequences of ingesting these powerful chemicals to advise that we minimize ourconsumption of pesticides.
What’s the Difference?
EWG research has found that people who eat five fruits and vegetables a day from the Dirty Dozen list consume an average of 10 pesticides a day. Those who eat from the 15 least contaminated conventionally-grown fruits and vegetables ingest fewer than 2 pesticides daily. The Guide helps consumers make informed choices to lower their dietary pesticide load.
Will Washing and Peeling Help?
The data used to create these lists is based on produce tested as it is typically eaten (meaning washed, rinsed or peeled, depending on the type of produce). Rinsing reduces but does not eliminate pesticides. Peeling helps, but valuable nutrients often go down the drain with the skin. The best approach: eat a varied diet, rinse all produce and buy organic when possible.
How Was This Guide Developed?
EWG analysts have developed the Guide based on data from nearly 96,000 tests for pesticide residues in produce conducted between 2000 and 2008 and collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. You can find a detailed description of the criteria EWG used to develop these rankings and the complete list of fruits and vegetables tested at our dedicated website, www.foodnews.org.
Slow Money Alliance has developed support for its idea to foster entrepreneurial finance supporting soil fertility, carrying capacity, sense of place, diversity and nonviolence. It has issued six “Slow Money Principles” that set out a vision of the destructive world of Fast Money and how Slow Money responds and restores balance and peace. First Principle: “We must bring money down to earth.”
At this gathering in Vermont, Tasch has set a course for action to enact the Slow Money Principles across the US. His goal is to have 1 million people invest 1% of their income in soil fertility in the next ten years. He announced the creation of the Soil Trust as a first step in this goal, aiming to collect $25 from 1 million people. The money from the Soil Trust would fund local funds that would invest directly into land conservation and businesses that practice sustainable agriculture.
The conference began with remarks from Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, who framed the urgency of the need to invest in a restorative model for agriculture that would address disastrous climate impacts caused by industrial agriculture over the last 50 years. Repeatedly, he and other speakers emphasized the ways in which industrialized farming harms the air, water and soil as well as our bodies.
Tasch introduced the next two speakers with a reference to the contrasting views on how to grow sustainable food businesses. ”On the one hand, Joel Salatin, owner of Polyface Farm, told me that ‘We are not part of an industry, we are a part of a movement. On the other hand, Gary Hirschberg, CEO of Stonyfield Farms, told me ‘I hate using that word ‘Movement’ for our business. We are trying to make sustainable businesses that make change on a massive scale which can only be achieved by industrial means.”
“As far as I see it,” Tasch continued, “I agree with them both and see them as the separate halves of the whole discussion here about how to grow sustainable food business.”
Throughout the amazing day, the speakers represented the luminaries from the sustainable food movement who emphasized the need for investment in differing strategies for changing business as usual.
Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm
Joel Salatin, author, farmer central character in Michael Pollan’s book, Omnivore’s Dilemma, spoke about sticking to your principles as a way to deal with scaling your enterprise. He said that scale was not a problem if you stay true to your beliefs and set goals with your soul not your sales target. He emphasized that the quality of his product and relationships with customers made his success.
Gary Hirschberg described his beginings as director of New Alchemy, an experimental self-sustaining agricultural center in the 1970s. ”It was a perfect agricultural system with solar heated greenhouses and aquaponics in a closed loop. But it was not a good business and it failed.”
“I set out to start Stonyfield to correct what New Alchemy lacked: a business. However, it took nine years of struggle before Stoneyfield made a nickel. 297 courageous patient capitalists gave me the funds to start. Many of them have done very well, as a result. Today, Stonyfield Farms is a $355 million company.”
Hirschberg went on to say that our economy is based on myths that sustainable business seeks to dispel by facing the real consequences and costs of ignoring the impact of traditional business practices. Hirschberg described how Stonyfield has adopted changes in doing business step-by-step, incrementally becoming more environmentally sensitive.
“Industrial food businesses make their product as cheaply as possible to get the widest margin in order to outspend the competition on advertising. We spend more on the product, spend close to nothing on ads, and make a better return than most traditional food businesses, like those in our corporate parent, Danone.” (Stonyfield was bought in 2001 by the Danone Group, a $25 billion food company, although Hirschberg retains a controling interest.) Hirschberg agreed with Salatin that quality and loyalty were his best assets.
Gary Hirshberg, CEO, Stonyfield Farms
“This is a critical moment for the food movement. We are charged with nothing less than saving the world.” Hirschberg said. He closed with a Gandhi quote: “Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference has never been in bed with a mosquito.”
All of the speakers conveyed an abiding passion for their work. Will Rapp from Gardener’s Supply pioneered composting techniques and greened the Intervale in Burlington, VT. Rapp also described his pioneering subdivision design, South Village, which includes investing a 1/2% of proceeds from sales in the start-up costs for a physically linked farm enterprise.
Tom Stearns, founder of organic High Mowing Seeds (a business he started in college!), spoke about all the sustainable businesses in his town of Hardwick, VT who meet to discuss issues and how to support each others work. Over the last four years, this monthly informal gathering — with no rules and no name — has yielded loans back and forth to each other of $750,000 and given rise to the Center for an Agricultural Economy.
Eliot Coleman of Four Season Farm
Eliot Coleman, founder of Four Season Farm and author of The New Organic Grower, outlined his “Feast Philosophy” imbued with a common sense approach to growing good food that delights and nourishes the person and the soil. He explained how he continually refined his methods to reduce cost and improve quality.
Each enterprise presented a different facet of how business might express environmental goals and personal ethics. The ideas were filled with joy of creativity and life yet the moral task we face was seen in sober terms of war.
It was no accident then, that one of the speakers quoted a war-time President, Franklin Delanor Roosevelt, who warned: “A nation that destroys its soil, destroys itself.”
It was a day of innovation and exploration that was both sobering and inspiring in equal measure. Today, I will endeavor to engage with more ideas and convey them here.
(Please note that this post is paralleled on the food revolution blog Groundswell.)
“No, I’m not growing pot.” says Lee Mandel. “Let’s just get that out of the way before we talk about anything else. Everyone wants to know that.” Looking the part of the mad scientist, Mandel introduced me and Adriana Young to the inner workings of his indoor farm and hydroponic education and consulting business earlier this year. “I call the project, ‘Boswyck Farms,” harking back the Dutch settlers name for this formerly fertile area, which means ‘Wooded District.’ Sort of ironic considering how industrial Bushwick is today.”
“Hydroponic” means that I am growing plants with water rather than traditional soil.” Mandel is cultivating jalapeno peppers, basil, chard, kale and tomatoes in his loft in Bushwick using hydroponic technology that he designed himself (as well as some off-the-shelf systems). The room is aglow with the daylight spectrum of grow lamps and there are tidy rows of plants and planters in almost every free space.
Pictured Above: Mandel's design inserting under-sprayed pots into a PVC pipe that allows recycling of water.
“I am experimenting with a variety of hydroponic methods. Dutch boxes. Upward sprays. Drip lines. I am using various soil media, fertilizers and different types of lamps.”
“The great thing about hydroponics is that you can grow your own fresh food in small spaces. I’ve eaten everything and it all tastes great. Growing plants in this manner uses about one tenth of the water used with conventional farming methods because the water is recycled for about 30 days before it has to be dumped.”
Pictured Above: Ecogrower Drip Hydroponic System with air driven spider drip system with hexagonal reservoir, available at East Coast Hydroponics (see "Resources" below).
“I did have a little problem with White Fly. In Bushwick! So I sent away for ‘micro wasps‘ a predator insect that is no bigger than a pencil point which lays its eggs into other insect’s larvae. It’s a proven organic gardening strategy. That did the trick with no chemical sprays. I live with these plants. If I use an incesticide on the plant, I am going to make myself sick too. Now, that’s a simple way to understand ecology. The earth is like this apartment — just a whole lot bigger.”
Pictured Above: This little card attached to the plant stalk contains "micro wasps" that help control indoor insect pests, like white fly.
“If you want to get started with your own hydroponic gardening, you should visit East Coast Hydroponics in Queens. Those guys know everything about hydroponic gardening and sell all sorts of equipment for serious gardeners and hobbyists. If you really want to grow your own food, the products sold in hydroponic stores are quite expensive. So I began making my own systems using less expense equipment available from any hardware store.”
Pictured Above: Mandel's home-grown hydroponic planter design using off-the-shelf products such as a lidded Rubbermaid storage container and PVC tubing.
“People ask me all the time why I do this. I had really bright windows in my old loft in Boston. I had amazing plants there. Taking care of them made me really happy. When I moved to Bushwick, I didn’t have such great light but I missed gardening so I decided to try hydroponics. Friends suggested that I grow food and I thought it would be interesting to have an indoor farm.”
Pictured Above: Starting seeds in a Germination Station or Hot House Plus.
“I start all the plants from organic seeds. Most farmers start their seedlings inside in Winter too. People don’t realize that all they need is heat — not light — when they are sprouting. Once the green shoots come up, I have to add grow lights.”
“Hyroponics requires the use of growing mediums that are lightweight, support the plant structure, allow oxygen flow around roots, retain little moisture and permit rapid drainage because water and nutrients are delivered to the plant roots, not the growing medium.”
Mandel uses several different growing media instead of potting soil, like an ordinary houseplant. He prefers “grow rocks” derived from clay — often known by the name LECA — Lightweight Expanded Clay Aggregate . The clay is formed into pellets and fired in rotary kilns at 1200C, causing it to expand inside and become porous. Expanded clay is light in weight, will not compact, and can be cleaned & sterilized for reuse. ”The same growing media can be used for rooftop gardening if properly irrigated.” Mandel added. “We used the same growing media for the rooftop farm at Bushwick Starr Theatre, opened this May.”
“I also use coco mats cut into discs for the pot with a hole in the center for the plant, instead of mulch, which prevents excessive evaporation.”
Pictured Above: "Hydroton" Hydroponic Grow Rocks. In the background, Rockwell Formed Media from coconut leaves acts as mulch above the "grow rocks".
“I would really love to do this on a larger scale, like 10,000 square feet to see if I could grow food on a commercial scale.”
Mandel’s idea is not so outlandish. In the last decade, Flora Nurseries, operating greenhouses in the North Fork of Long Island, shifted production from exclusively flowers and herbs to tomatoes. Initially, Flora Nurseries grew a Dutch hydroponic breed of tomato following Dutch techniques in glass greenhouses that have expanded to 78,000 square feet. Now, the operation harvests heirloom varieties of tomatoes year round including Green Zebras, Evergreen and Sunset Purple. (I have found Flora tomatoes to be quite good, purchasing them at Union Markets in Brooklyn).
Pictured Above: Aerial photograph of Flora Nurseries in Mattituck, NY located in the North Fork of Long Island with 78,000 square feet of space growing hydroponic tomatoes.
“Really though,” Mandel emphasized, “I would like to bring in kids from schools and show them how to grow indoors. It’s a natural for schools with limited growing space and a desire to keep the materials close at hand in the classroom. We are already doing demonstrations for several schools in the area. It started with me and now there are four or five volunteers helping me get out the message about home hydroponics.”
“Now, we’ve got a pretty thriving education and consulting business. This March, I and Chloe Bass teamed up to make apartment-fresh pesto (using zero carbon “blender bike” donated by Band of Bicycles) at the Urban Wilderness Action Center event at Eyebeam Atelier. That was a lot of fun.”
Mandel gave me some of his hydroponic kale to take home and try out. ”The vegetables have the same nutritional value as a plant grown in the ground. I don’t detect any difference in flavor. And you can’t beat the freshness.” I cooked up the “Mandel Kale” for my family that night and I found it to be quite pleasant but not as flavorful as the kale from Green Thumb Organic Farm from my CSA.
The issue of flavor may have deeper roots in concerns about phyto-nutritients and the proper place of hydroponics in the sustainable food movement. Bion Bartning, founder of Basis Foods told me “I am leary about hydroponic produce because I believe that sustainable, good food is all about encouraging and improving stewardship of fertile soil and the known and unknown health benefits of the most natural growing processes.”
Since 2008, USDA’s National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), which certifies products as “organic,” has been debating whether hydroponics and aquaponics could be included in the program. Echoing Bartning’s logic, food not grown in soil cannot be labeled “organic” — even if no pesticides, herbicides or hormones are used. According to aquaponic advocate, Bevan Suits, writing for The Daily Green: “Vegetables grown in recirculating systems are proven to have exactly the same nutritional value as any other and are perfectly healthy.”
To be fair, Mandel gave me fresh-cut kale in the middle of freezing February. So, no matter how much better local, organic tastes, I could not have gotten it any fresher (or any more local).
Recently, Mandel was interviewed by CNN about his hydroponic practice as part of a feature on the Plastikki, a boat made of recycled plastic bottles making an ocean voyage to highlight environmental issues. If you want to skip the fluff, Mandel’s segment starts at 4:14 into the report. Anyone who is interested in having Mandel build a hydroponic system for your home or your school, should contact him and his team to get started right away.
RESOURCES
For the Aspiring Hydroponic Gardner:
You could try to start with a simple system for growing herbs, called the Aero Garden:
Or, you could design your own customized home farm at one of the following local stores that cater to hydroponic gardeners:
Earth Day kind of confuses me. Events seem to involve celebrities, big banners, corporate sponsors and slogan swag that gets thrown away. All that noise and waste does not really inspire me to think of redefining my relationship to the environment.
That’s why today was my favorite Earth Day ever.
I woke up at 5:15 at the “blue moment” before night is over and day has begun. The nightbirds were silent and the daybirds had yet to sing at the sun. I was told to meet for breakfast at the The Secret Garden at 6:07 a.m. to watch the sunrise.
As I pulled my gear together and hopped on my bike, the dawn began to break. Brooklyn’s streets were virtually deserted. The few cars that I encountered engaged in a fluid right-of-way dance that seemed choreographed. The air was clear, clean and sweet with scents of flowering trees, dewy from last night’s sprinkling.
My ride from Carroll Gardens to Bushwick was an urban cyclist’s futuristic dream: courteous, calm and almost car-free. What a fitting way start to Earth Day, right?
I spotted the garden, located at Linden Street and Broadway, by the telltale black iron fence. Entering the gate on Linden, I pushed my bike along a path of fresh wood chips — moist and still smelling of sap. There was no one around. At a bike rack just beyond the entrance, I saw a young women loosening a screw that affixed a tambourine to a rig’s handlebar.
“Am I too late?” I asked, noting that it was 6:17 a.m., ten minutes later than planned.
“No,” she said, “they’ve barely even started, they’re all up there.” Facing me, she motioned with her head to the right. I looked up in that direction and saw a break in the chain link fence at the rear corner of the garden. A ramp of fresh wood chips lead into what appeared to be a vacant lot.
The Secret Garden Farm and Nature Preserve is adjacent to the Linden-Bushwick Community Garden, located in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, in an interior land lot, not visible from Broadway.
As I ascended a ramp of wood chips and passed through an opening in the fence, the huge lot spread out before me, looking like a small farm. It was a breathtaking moment of discovery.
Wheelbarrows were stacked neatly to the side. A green metal shed. Several aisles of raised wooden-sided planters, spaced at regular intervals. Windrows. I had left the hubbub of the city street corner and entered an agrarian haven.
The garden fills a huge space — more than an acre — wedged in between two parallel blocks of row houses where yards would usually stand. The far end looked like wild woodlands with trees and rocks: The Nature Preserve. There, at the edge of the trees, was a small group gathered around two tables. I walked up and introduced myself to all present.
I met Kendall Q. Morrisson first. “If you want pancakes, we’re waiting on eggs.” He said, standing in front of a camp stove topped with a cast iron skillet.
Recently, Kendall was called “The Mushroom Man” by the NY Times in an article about home-growing tasty fungi.
“Actually, I wonder if he would prefer ‘Mycoman’ –not quite as catchy as Mushroom Man– but more accurate,” said joked Travis Tench, manager for Bushwick Farmer’s Market held in the adjacent Linden-Bushwick Community Garden on Wednesdays from April May 26 through Christmas November 24, 2010 (Memorial Day through Thanksgiving). Originally, the market ran through Christmas but “those days were a bit rough” said Tench.
Along with Morrisson and Sean-Michael Fleming, Tench is also one of the directors of volunteers inEcostation: NY, a non-profit dedicated to environmental practices. He and other volunteers helped clear the land and intends to grow food at the farm that will be sold at several area farmer’s markets.
The Secret Garden Project was started by Bushwick resident Sean-Michael Fleming, who also manages the nearby Woodbine Garden. The land is owned by the Adipietro family, who operates the Krown Hardware store on Broadway. You can see the rear of the store as you look back towards Broadway from the Secret Garden. According to Fleming, the land is designated to remain open space based on a deed restriction. ”It’s supposed to be preserved as green space forever,” he added.
I was told that the garden area was once used as a horse paddock by the children of the Schaefer family, owners of a namesake brewery nearby. In its present improved state, I could have almost seen that quaint image if I had squinted.
Right about when the eggs arrived, I met Charlie Bayrer and Marisa DeDominicis. Last year, along with Morrison, the three founded Earth Matter NY, Inc. (not to be confused with Earth Matters, the LES restaurant) in order to encourage neighborhood composting that will reduce the organic waste misdirected into the garbage stream.
Almost everyone, including me, had a delicious pancake whipped up from scratch in a plastic pitcher by Morrison. I talked to Andre, who played the digiridoo accompanied by Travis on guitar and Ms. Tambourine Thief on drums. And I met Natasha who will be managing the garden. Everyone was excited to be part of this new and bold greening experiment.
After we had our fill of vittles, Sean called to us to gather around the four large compost bins for a brief dedication of the extensive soil-building program established here. Fleming gave a brief thank you, including a shout out to councilmember Diana Reyna, who is a big supporter of the garden, sending her representative Alejandro Echevarri to the event. Then, Charlie gave a quick presentation about the composting operation. He proudly told the assembled crowd that the pile was about 135 degrees, “an ideal temperature for destroying unwanted pathogens but not too hot for beneficial bacteria.”
He held up a pitchfork and asked, almost like it was one of the four questions at Passover, “Why do we turn the compost? In order to introduce more air. The aerobic bacteria are beneficial. They keep the compost smelling sweet and maintain the quality of the soil. Anaerobic bacteria are what we try to avoid. We call them “septic.” And we all know what that means. Septic bacteria produce harmful pathogens and foul smells that we associate with rotting garbage.”
When it came to be my turn to “turn the pile,” steam rose from the heated humus, but I was surprised with how sweet and woody it smelled. There was no aroma of garbage. “We use about 50% ‘browns’” said Marisa, “That proportion neutralizes the putrid smells created by pathogens from having too much ‘greens.’” FYI – Browns are items like wood chips, leaves and newspapers. Greens are any plant matter from leaves or fruits.
I had expected to stay fifteen minutes and say some quick “hellos.” Two hours after I arrived, I realized that I was running late for my next appointment. Time had seemed to flow quickly — once I stepped into enchanted space of the Secret Garden.
If you want to help this truly extraordinary farm grow, you can attend two upcoming events that will help raise awareness and resources for the Secret Garden. Anyone who would like to make their own “Earth Day” at anytime during the year, I would highly recommend a visit to the Secret Garden soon.
INFORMATION: VISITING AND VOLUNTEERING
The Secret Garden is open Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from Noon – 4 pm. Volunteers are welcome to come by and check out the Center, join in the making of compost, and participate in the ongoing creation of this environmental center. Classroom groups are also welcome to visit the Secret Garden.
For information regarding EcoClassroom or Nature Preserve, please contact: Sean-Michael 646-393-9305. For information about composting or mushroom workshops call Kendall 718-285-8150. To volunteer at the Secret Garden Farm or Bushwick Farmers’ Market call Travis Tench, 502-494-0628. For general garden inquiries, please call the Garden Manager, Mr. Joseph 917-442-2713.
SUNDAY APRIL 25 –
UGOB (UNITED GARDENS OF BUSHWICK) POT LUCK & SEED SWAP Our inaugural meeting! Bring a dish & some seed packets to share.
Come socialize with other neighborhood gardeners and help plan a summer garden tour.2:00pm – 6:00pm @ Woodbine Street Garden, 146 Woodbine St.
SATURDAY MAY 8 –
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY!
MOVE MOUNTAINS W/ SLOW FOOD NYC @ THE SECRET GARDEN Slow Food NYC and its supporters descend upon the Linden-Bushwick Community Garden
(home of the Secret Garden Farm & Nature Preserve) for a rockin’ day of wheelbarrows and dirt!
Cookout & refreshments for volunteers
10:00am – 6:00pm
Corner of Linden St & Broadway in Bushwick, Brooklyn
Last night, I attended a fundraiser for Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. I started out skeptical and left impressed.
Senator Gillibrand’s big challenge will be to show the voters that she should be elected despite being appointed under the cloud of Governor David Patterson, whose judgment has not been so highly esteemed. (As an aside, many government reform advocates thought that Governor Patterson should have called a special election rather than make an interim appointment. Better luck next time. . . .).
Senator Gillibrand did not give a long stump speech. She introduced herself and immediately asked for questions. She answered everyone in a personal and direct manner with no hint of a bogus politicking tone. On each answer, Senator Gillibrand was quick, smart and well-informed.
I had the honor of posing the last question of the event:
“People are deeply concerned about energy independence and our dwindling energy resources. However, the energy problem is dwarfed when compared to the rapid depletion of our nation’s soil resources.
For the last fifty years, big agriculture’s modes of production have been destroying our country’s richest resource with the support of subsidies from the federal government.
Agriculture is one of America’s largest exports. So the health of the soil is linked to the well-being of the country’s economy.
Accordingly, as a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, what do you think needs to be done to change government priorities in the 2012 Farm Bill to address this impending crisis for American soil?”
Here is Senator Gillibrand’s answer to me:
We need to end crop subsidies now. They are destructive, unfair and create more harm than good.
The reality is that we will have to phase out the subsidies to ween the agribusiness off of this outdated system.
On the positive side, we need to provide support for small, sustainable farmers and programs that encourage organic farming. I sponsored legislation that would have given farmer’s $20,000 per year to help them move towards organic certification and farming practices.
Supporting this type of positive alternative will create change and move us away from the huge commodity crops that distort the market. It is also up to us to demand food from small farms. I am not saying that Congress does not play an important role in changing the law. However, consumer demand is and always will be the real route to change.
Now, I am not a big fan of big candidate politics. Like our current President, I think change is made one conversation at a time at the grassroots.
Regardless of the weight that we give to federal officials, we all have a responsibility to exercise our votes for elected officials with care. Hence, I now feel a whole lot better knowing that I will be able to cast my vote for one candidate for the Senate who knows one very decent answer to the question that I posed above.
Now, you will note that Senator Gillibrand did not expressly acknowledge my premise that American soil is our Nation’s largest and most precious natural resource under pressure from the practices of agribusiness. However, Senator Gillibrand did connect my question about depleted soil with the solution of ending crop subsidies. To me, that’s a step in the right direction for the debate.
As Will Allen (a hero of mine and founder of Growing Power in Milwaukee, WI) said to me last week when I met him for the first time : “It’s all about the soil, the soil, the soil.” It’s up to all of us to drive home that point whenever we can.
I am traveling on the Pacific Coast Highway with my two daughters on their Spring Break. We are driving from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara on California Highway No. 1 which passes through some of the most fertile and productive farmland in the United States. If you have ever eaten a strawberry back East in January, chances are you have tasted the fruit of Central Coast soil.
As we drove, a turbulent Santa Ana wind gusted over the fields, kicking up dust. The strong wind gave us a whiff of what each field was growing. When we passed an onion field, we all grimaced. Accompanied by this odd sensory assault, we all felt close to the land, even as we sped by in our car. After some time, we had to drive north, moving away from the coastal plain in order to connect with the 101 Freeway in Camarillo.
It was with great surprise that our vista changed to include two highrise towers rearing up on the horizon above the fertile floor of this rich agricultural plateau. All along the 101 Freeway in Camarillo, massive hardscape stretches outward to accommodate the spread of the Camarillo Outlet Mall and the bright stuccoed condo developments that spring up alongside. The parking lots abut the massive growing fields in an almost surreal way.
Seeing the landscape in evolution from rural to suburban reminded me that my native Brooklyn was once mostly farms and fields until about 1850. Similar to the Central Coast of California, New York’s Long Island contains some of the flattest and most fertile land in the United States formed by glacial till deposited on top of well-drained sand. Not all places have such good soil or such magnificent growing potential.
In Camarillo, we can still see the transformation of land from planting rows to subdivisions. In Brooklyn, the land transformation is so complete that the soil is almost hidden and, more likely than not, poisoned by longtime deposits left by dense human habitation.
To witness the abrupt change in land use in Camarillo was startling. The imminent process of altering fertile soil into pavement for parking seemed, quite viscerally, totally wrong. Obscene, even. The deep contrast of incompatible land uses marks a historic clash of priorities in our American Society that runs deep and roils at these crossroads.
For the last two hundred years, Americans have treated all land — like so many other natural resources — as fungible, interchangeable. Developers have sought to sell lots, homes and commercial strips close to urban centers. Under the lure of development, the value of agrarian land is almost never valued enough to compete with its use for development. Farmers sell their fields to subdividers. Arable land disappears in waves.
In the march of market pressures, we all lose our share of public wealth when fertile farm land is developed for hardscaped sprawl. Most people would agree that cutting down the rainforests –lungs of the world — should be slowed or stopped. Yet we hesitate when we witness similarly important natural resources eliminated right in front of our eyes.
Camarillo provides a stark view of the transformation of fertile earth to suburban turf when we see the process partly accomplished in a moment of transition.
Where will our strawberries grow when the shopping mall and the condominiums spread from the 101 Freeway all the way south to the Pacific? I hope that the public raises their voices now to stop further development in places like Camarillo, so that we never have to find out the answer to the question.
As I walked home from work this past week, I saw a man in crisp, business attire stop before a magnolia tree. He gazed deeply at its branches and then raised his hand slowly to touch, even caress, the fuzzy tumescent buds. He paused to admire the tree and I to contemplate his action.
The man did not appear to be a stereotypical treehugger, though that would be no sin. Rather, he appeared to be moved spontaneously, ceasing his scurry homeward to wonder at the manifestation of nature stirring beneath the hardscaped concrete surfaces of our City. He seemed transfixed momentarily, viewing the enchanted scheme that Dylan Thomas named “the force that through the green fuse drives the flower.”
What I glimpsed in this moment was a sample of humankind’s innate and collective spiritual love for growing things, suppressed by our culture of hard facts and slick surface materialism.
It is so easy to forget that human beings are wired to be caretakers of the earth and the things it makes. We long for the purpose that comes from being needed to maintain our share of a cosmic balance. Yet this yearning is diverted into other empty endeavors and spiritual dead-ends. We concoct elaborate justice systems dedicated to pouring out excuses for our failing to uphold our end of the bargain with nature. To what end? We hustle to buy more things we don’t need that foul our function and that disconnect us from fulfillment.
Certainly, a vision of humans as the custodians of growing things can be seen as hubris. Anyone who has been trapped in a tornado does not think himself a caretaker of the wind. We are certainly more like leaves on the breeze, even insofar as we steer some course in our descent.
Maybe I have seen too many Hiyao Miyazaki films. But now even the dystopian director James Cameron seems to have been moved to make a multi-million dollar blockbuster film, Avatar, grappling with humans’ need to connect deeply with the workings of the natural world. Caring for nature seems to provide us with answers to so many questions about our lives.
In closing, I think the beauty of the anonymous man’s gentle gesture toward the magnolia bud was embodied in his reaching for an engagement so often missed. The private moment I witnessed reminds me to seek ways to take care of growing things or risk drying out a powerful and beneficent force within me — within all of us.
On Saturday, February 27, 2010, I attended the first Foodprint NYC, “a series of international conversations about food and the city,” organized by Nicola Twilley and Sarah Rich. The event was held in a large commercial space, Studio X, and the attendees (including me) were spilling into the corridors.
The afternoon of discussion was divided into four different panels: Zoning Diet, Culinary Cartography, Edible Archaelogy and Feast, Famine and Other Scenarios. Each panel included a great diversity of perspectives and disciplines, including designers, scientists, advocates, and business operators.
Regardless of background, each panelist emphasized that everyone must organize to influence food politics in order to bring about change on your plate. In each discussion, participants repeatedly drew attention to the curious and significant impact created by government policy and regulation upon the food system.
Joel Berg, Executive Director of NYC Coalition Against Hunger, spoke about NYC as the only place in the country where applicants for Food Stamps must be fingerprinted. ”At a time when there are record numbers of people going hungry, does it really make sense to add more hurdles to accessing food security?”
Founder and Director of the Street Vendor Project, Sean Basinski, pointed to the maze of regulations that apply to vendors. He described how the government announced the creation of the Green Carts program, intending to promote the sale of fresh fruits and vegetables in neighborhoods without wide access to markets. Fearing competition, operators of bodegas and supermarkets lobbied against the Green Carts program, successfully limiting the number of licenses to only 1000 and imposing strict regulations. Addressing the limitations imposed by the NYC Department of Health on Green Carts, Basinski asked:
“Is it really necessary to have a stainless steel cart to sell fruits and vegetables when a plain folding table would protect the public just as much from supposed contamination? How much protection is given to the public when this same cart is inspected every two years in a Health Department approved facility in Maspeth, Queens? Should it really be necessary to have a license to sell fresh food where anyone can detect any contamination with their own eyes?”
As a result of the regulation, Basinski said the Green Cart program has not had wide ranging impact. Lobbying and special interests strike again.
Bodegas as a special interest? Jonathan Bogarín, a teaching artist from the Center for Urban Pedagogy, told the story of the foods carried in the bodegas themselves, recorded in a film he made with local youth entitled: Bodega Down Bronx. Bogarín observed that bodegas were far from villains in the food system. Bodegas have tight profit margins, facing high rents and high risk. For many neighborhoods, bodegas provide the only source of food available around the clock in a culturally appropriate form. Almost always, bodegas are business operated for and by immigrants.
Stanley Fleishman, President and CEO of Jetro Cash and Carry, who sells wholesale to the foodservice industry, described how bodega owners struggle to provide fresh food to their customers, often strapping goods to the roofs of their cars for the return trip to the store.
On a different note, Fleishman has endeavored to increase the amount of local and regional foods that he stocks. “Regional food is not cost competitive. Until the price of regional food becomes competitive with food produced in Chile and California, businesses are not going to be able to afford regional products. Government can intervene on behalf of its local farmers and help them reduce costs.”
Fleishman also stated that the government should achieve its health aims with more taxation and less regulation. ”Taxation changes individual behavior. Regulation just makes it harder to do business. If the government can reduce smoking through a huge tax, why not tax the hell out of fried foods, bottled water or other unhealthy, environmentally damaging products?”
Naa Oyo A. Kwate, assistant professor of Sociomedical Sciences at Mailman School of Public Health, studied the incidencence and impact of alcohol street advertising in Harlem. She found that 25% of all street ads were related to alcohol. Significantly, almost half of these ads were within 500 feet of schools, churches and playgrounds. Kwate compared the incidence of problem drinking in the areas near the ads to other areas without ads.
Not surprisingly, she found a 13% increase in problem drinking that appeared to be linked to the ads. “The ads are placed in areas where advertisers can rely on a lack of political will to oppose them.” Contrary to the example of the street vendors above, government regulation of these alcohol ads would seem to help protect public health by curtailing problem drinking.
And speaking of alcohol, David Haskell, co-founder of Kings County Distillery, a new producers of spirits in Williamsburg, Brooklyn spoke up about the absurdity of the regulations affecting his business:
“The laws that regulate alcohol distillation are concerned with things that seem only remotely related to public health and food safety. Is there a lock on my door? Am I within X number of feet from a school or church? How many proof is my beverage, so it can be taxed accordingly. However, nowhere along the line is anyone checking to make sure that what I am making is not poisonous. I guess it is assumed that selling poison to the public is the food business as usual.”
All of these case studies reveal the power of government policy and regulation to make a positive or negative impact on the quality of the food system. Expecting the government to take action on these issues is not the whole answer. On the contrary, all of the panelists at Foodprint NYC suggested that ordinary people — consumers and businesses alike — should band together to request the government agencies and legislatures review all of its diverse regulations of the food system in order create the conditions necessary for a healthier and more sustainable world.
Nevin Cohen from the Food Systems Network NYC, reported that City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has invited him and other advisors from the community to help her develop the details of her ambitious FoodWorks initiative. If we all make our voices heard, perhaps FoodWorks can reflect the collective wisdom of the all the diverse and impressive perspectives assembled for Food Print NYC.
Twitter
