Brooklyn Grange » Uncategorized

New Farm!

bkgadmin — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:45:51 +0000

We are so excited to announce that we’ve just signed a lease for a new 45,000 square foot rooftop farm in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The new farm will be installed this spring, more than doubling the size of our total growing area. With over two acres of urban growing space, we’re getting one giant step closer to realizing our vision of covering New York City with productive, edible green roofs.

With our current farm in Long Island City, we’ve already proven that urban agriculture can be a viable, fiscally sustainable green business. We’re creating jobs, generating economic activity, and bringing more fresh, organically-grown local produce into the community. We are so proud of what we’ve accomplished so far and we can’t wait to plant seeds at both of our farms this spring.

Thanks to the NYC Department of Environmental Protection, whose Green Infrastructure Grant Program paid for the bulk of the cost of our new farm. Thanks also to our partners and investors at Brooklyn Grange – without your support we would never have been able to accomplish so much in just two years. We will continue to seek capital as we grow, so please feel free to contact us at info@brooklyngrangefarm.com if you are interested in coming along for the ride and investing in our farm.

Rooftop Research

bkgadmin — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 16:05:35 +0000

Last season our buddy and colleague Alec Baxt from Farming Up did some research to look at the nutritional density and contamination levels of rooftop-grown veggies in NYC. Not all of the results are in yet, but there is some interesting info available already on the Farming Up Website here. Check it out – you’ll see that our roof-grown veggies are nutritious (higher than the USDA average!).

Next year we’re going to put Alec’s findings to work to improve our soil even more. As of now we use compost that we collect from the public, as well as organic fertilizers like fish emulsion, Pro Gro and Potassium Sulfate to enhance our soil. This spring we plan on adding some composted chicken manure (from our own birds!) and even some fresh bunny manure from our friend Meg Paska’s furry friends. We’ll let you know how it goes!

Congratulations Snow Leopard!

bkgadmin — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:23:39 +0000

Thanks to all of you who voted for us as part of this year’s BBC World Challenge competition. Although we didn’t win, we were truly honored to be a part of the competition and we are so grateful for all of the votes and support we received throughout.

The Brooklyn Grange team sends their heartiest congrats and warmest wishes to 2011 BBC World Challenge winners, Snow Leopard Enterprises! This awesome non-profit based in Mongolia provides women in Central Asia the training, equipment and sales outlets needed to create and sell hand-made woolen goods from their families’ herds. This augments their income so that communities need not turn to poaching endangered snow leopards!

A big kudos to the two runners up, as well: Recycla and Hand in Hand are two of our favorite projects. Recycla hails from Chile, where they recycle electronic waste such as cell phones and computers, safely disposing of their toxic components. Hand in Hand converts food waste from residences and commercial enterprises in India into biogas and electricity. Both projects prevent a huge amount of reusable materials from entering the waste stream and ending up in landfills, something we at the farm can definitely get behind!

We are so proud to have been chosen as finalists in this year’s BBC World Challenge and to have stood among such amazing and enterprising projects. Thanks again to all of you who voted for us!

Vampire-proofing

bkgadmin — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 00:22:10 +0000

This year we’re putting in a new crop – Garlic! The way you plant garlic is by putting individual cloves in the ground (pointy-side-up) spaced about 6 inches apart, cover them with soil, and dust of your hands and walk away. It’s really that simple. The coolest thing about garlic is that we plant it now (October), and then it comes up in the spring. We’ll have green garlic in April, scapes in July, and garlic heads in August.

Here’s a photo of Michael and Randee planting the cloves. Nice work guys! Big thanks to Lynne Loflin at Newton Farm for giving us the seed garlic – we can’t wait to watch it sprout next spring!

Fresh Mushrooms are on the way…

bkgadmin — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 16:28:21 +0000

A couple weekends ago we brought in mushroom expert Nick Laskovski from Dana Forest Farm in Vermont to teach a mushroom workshop here at the farm. It was a lot of fun, and aside from learning all about growing Shiitake mushrooms in fresh-cut logs, we ended up with about 30 inoculated logs of our own.

It will take almost a year for the mushrooms to get established and start blooming, but once they do we’ll have a whole new vegetable on the Brooklyn Grange menu, and fresh mushrooms will grow from these logs for up to five years! We can’t wait till next season when we get our first crop… there’s nothing better than fresh fungus!

Harvesting a load of honey!

bkgadmin — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 19:30:08 +0000

Just a quick update on the hives. So far this season we’ve harvested about 175 pounds of honey. Almost all of it has sold. We’re doing a final extraction in another few weeks and it looks like we’ll get another 150 pounds or so. All the hives are in stellar condition and things look good for going into the winter. Our goal is to make sure all of our hives make it through to the spring. That’s a lofty one, but just you watch!

Roberta’s Market is Back!

bkgadmin — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 14:12:43 +0000

For the month of August we’ll be setting up our Sunday farm stand at Roberta’s in Bushwick. Come on down to pick up a bag of vegetables, have a beer at the tiki bar, and say hi to the good folks broadcasting live at the Heritage Radio Network. It’s like 2010 all over again.

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Sunday Market (September only)

261 Moore St. Brooklyn NY 11206 (map)

11am-3pm Sundays

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Sweet new stuff

bkgadmin — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 00:52:44 +0000

So many things to report up at the farm! We’ve got some sweet murals that illustrator and farm friend Max Bode painted for us. They’re up there not only for decoration but also to educate the many kids who visit the farm through our City Growers program about important plant science concepts, like pollination, compost and the plant cycle.

We’re also putting in a big ol’ banquet table and our buddy Cody just finished the benches for it. The whole thing is made of reclaimed cedar and redwood from old water towers (from one roof to another!). The wood is naturally rot-resistant so we don’t have to treat it with paint or stain or anything – it’s just raw and fabulous.
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And last but not least, farm partner and beekeeper extraordinaire Chase Emmons has just harvested our first ever batch of rooftop honey. It’s sweet and golden and ABUNDANT – we’ve got over 10 gallons already and there’s more to come. Pick some up at our next market and get it quick because this stuff is not going to last.

Come visit and check it all out! There’s always a lot going on at our rooftop farm and this is the best time of year to see it. Visit us on Wednesday afternoons during our open visitor hours from 1pm-6pm. See you up on the roof!

Farms and Films

bkgadmin — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 19:39:59 +0000

On August 7th we’ll be hosting a screening on the roof as part of the Rural Route Film Festival. It is sure to be a great night and we’re thrilled to be working with the festival and Rooftop Films on the event, and we hope that you’ll come out for the screening and also support the film fest, which is on its way to reaching its $5,000 goal on Kickstarter.

Worms for sale!

bkgadmin — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 13:37:59 +0000

We’re rich in worms these days and we’d love to share the wealth with the good people of NYC. Send us an email or call and we’ll pack up a 1 lb bag of red wigglers for you to pick up at our next market. These little guys can eat and digest half their weight each day and will turn your food scraps into rich loamy soil in no time!

Call or write to get your worms! info@brooklyngrangefarm.com 718-404-2023