Ben will be presenting on the Brooklyn Grange’s business growing food on roofs – past, present, and future.  We’re nearing the home stretch in the process of capitalizing for the farm’s expansion to the Brooklyn Navy Yard this spring, so the event will be a great place to spread the word and meet some like-minded people.

Get ready to grow some more Food!

Stop by and visit! Hayseed’s is at 218 India St in Greenpoint.

Our CSA members get a weekly bag of fresh seasonal produce from one or both of our two rooftop farms. From one week to the next you’ll get a variety of vegetables including greens, herbs, carrots, radishes, scallions, peppers, and of course our world-famous rooftop tomatoes.

This year, our CSA distribution will begin in mid-May and continue through October, bringing you 24 weeks of fresh, seasonal produce! The cost of a subscription is $540, which breaks down to $22.50 per week. We are offering two locations for pickup of your share and ask that you choose one or the other and commit to that location for the season.

2012 Pickup locations and dates:

LONG ISLAND CITY
Wednesdays, May 16th through October 24th
1pm – 6pm
Long Island City farm building lobby
37-18 Northern Blvd at 38th St

WILLIAMSBURG
Saturdays, May 19th through October 27th
10am – 4pm
Smorgasburg Market
N. 6th st at the waterfront

Membership slots will be filled on a first come, first served basis for these two locations. Please email Anastasia with your location preference to confirm your spot before they all fill up:  anastasia@brooklyngrangefarm.com.

Last fall, FDNY Capt. Charlie Lamberta stopped by the farm and just happened to run into me.  At the time there was a film crew up there too, so when he approached me holding my bee gear he asked if those were props or if I was really a beekeeper.  Of course my first thought was that the smoker was somehow not allowed on the roof or something.  But turns out he had a hive in his back yard in Bayside Queens.  He and his son had set it up three years ago and now his son had just gone off to college.  Charlie figured that the bees should go to a good home, and he knew we had them at the Grange.  But better yet, his hive had never needed new bees in all three years.  Talk about good genetics!  I told him of course we’d take them, but probably best to let them stay put for the winter and move them in early spring.

Well, with this nutty non-winter, I figured it was probably a good idea to get them over to the Grange so I could feed them if necessary.  With the warm winter, many hives in NYC are eating through their stored honey way too fast as the bees have been too active.  Since there is nothing around for them to eat, there is a distinct possibility of many hives starving before spring.  Most beeks I know in NYC have been supplementing their hives with feed: syrup in feeders, granulated sugar, bee candy, or spare frames of honey.  Yup, climate change is a bitch.

So I shanghaied Tim O’Neal of Boroughbees to give me a hand.  Like my first ever hive move of last spring, my minivan with no seats was the perfect vehicle.  We drove out to Charlie’s house and met him and his 2 year old Golden Retriever; Pyro, in his back yard.  Yes, that was the dog’s name, how totally perfect!  The day was a warm one, the bees at the Grange were flying, so we were worried we might have to hang around until they were all back inside.  But the hive was in the shade, so no activity at the entrance.  Cracked the lid and found lots of healthy bees!  You can see in the pic that they were none too happy to be disturbed.  See their butts pointing up?  You can also see their stingers extended if you look close.  Kind of like swords drawn and ready for battle, but they were not flying…yet.  Closed up the lid and while I cut a section of screen to staple to the entrance in order to seal them in, Tim decided to ratchet strap the hive.  Umn, yea, weird vibrating noises on the hive after already putting them on guard?  Yup, they started flying, and tagged Tim on the finger.  Serves him right!  Me and Charlie and Pyro all backed off quick and watched Tim hop about for a minute.  Kinda funny, but not like I don’t make dopey mistakes myself now and again.  To Tim’s credit, his bees are so docile that he didn’t think these would care about the strapping.  Tim also knows plenty more about beekeeping than I do, so I kinda had the guilty pleasure of goofing on him for a bit.

After the bees relaxed and mostly went back inside, I donned my jacket/headgear/gloves and got to stapling.  Yup, they got pissed

again real quick, but we got the screen on before they could get out.  Ha ha!  Into the van, bid farewell to Charlie and Pyro, and back into traffic.  Pretty much uneventful drive back to the Grange.  Got the hive onto a hand truck, into elevator, up last two flights of stairs, across the roof, and plunked down in their new neighborhood.  One funny bit: there was this guy who rode the elevator with us.  He was going to 6 while we get off at 5.  Of course he had no idea what the hive was.  When we were getting off, I told him he just rode the elevator with a hive full of bees.  He looked at the screen, saw them all, and was like “Oh snap, serious?”   He laughed and thanked me for waiting until we got off to tell him.

Tim and I decided to leave the screen on for the night, so I returned in the morning to remove it and put in a feeder of syrup.  Now it’s on them to re-orient and get settled.  I’m certain I’ll be splitting this colony into several more based on how well they’ve done.  I bet in another 2 seasons we’ll have a whole bunch of hives that can all be considered New York’s Bravest.

WHERE: The Brooklyn Kitchen, 100 Frost St. Brooklyn NY (map)
WHEN: March 2nd 2012, 7pm-10pm
TICKETS: $50   Click Here

This is a fundraiser and proceeds will be split between our education program, City Growers, which brings children and young adults to our rooftop farm to learn about food and farming, as well as Classrooms in the Kitchen, a program run by The Brooklyn Kitchen that teaches kids about cooking and nutrition. It’s an amazing event for two great causes, so come join us and feast on some meatballs!

A couple of weeks ago we spent two-and-a-half hours in a conference call to plan our seed order for the spring.  Seed selection isn’t the easiest task but it’s one of our favorites: reviewing what we loved growing last year and what didn’t work out; assessing the pros and cons of different varietals and cultivars, and getting excited for new crops and experiments makes me feel like spring is right around the corner.   As head farmers Ben and Gwen marked up our seed spreadsheet, I perused the websites of some of our favorite vendors, like FedCo, Franchi and Baker’s Creek, and searched for sources for some of the more hard-to-find crops.  Michael is expanding our flower program this season and working with Chase to create a pollinator’s paradise of native blooms for our bees.  It might seem early to be picking out crops for spring, but we need to get our orders in by February before all the good seeds get snapped up by other eager growers.  Things we’re particularly excited to try this year: nepitella mint, cumin, spigarello (a wild, Italian broccoli rabe) and stella (the next agretti)!

We also spend a lot of time in the off season responding to emails from people who want to start their own urban and rooftop farms.  We are always happy to hear of likeminded folks working on great projects around the globe and impart any advice we can, but I also warn newcomers that farming is hard work and advise that they apprentice somewhere before jumping into their own endeavor.  Ben often quotes the old adage “a farmer’s work is never done,” and he’s right — it’s January and we’re in high gear!  Our “off season” is packed with consulting projects, board meetings for our non-profit, City Growers, as well as a very exciting project of our own: a second farm!  We couldn’t be more excited to welcome a second location to the farmily!  To request a press release or hear more about how to invest in our growing business, email us at info@brooklyngrangefarm.com.  

Chase is also working on plans to build a hoophouse big enough to propagate seedlings for not one but two acres of rooftop.  We’ll also have to throw together a mobile run for the rabbits we’re borrowing to help us clear the cover crops and fertilize the soil.  We have a feeling they’re going to love their visit to our farm, hopping around the clover and vetch, munching on all those sweet overwintered legumes!  Meanwhile, our hens will be returning from their winter home soon, and man have we missed them and their delicious, bright orange-yoked eggs!

Another big project we’re working on is an upgrade to our events space at the farm.  We had some truly amazing dinners up there last season, including a jaw-dropping spread from ABC Kitchen during Outstanding in the Field’s visit and a super fun celebration of local craft beers at our collaboration with Manchester Pub.  This year, we’ll be hosting our very first wedding, as well as brunches, lunches and dinners galore!  To inquire about booking the farm for an event, email events@brooklyngrangefarm.com.  

But as we head into our third season, I’m most excited about reconnecting with our farmily.  Last season brought us closer together than ever.  Chase Emmons, who we met at the end of 2010, has become an intrinsic player in our operations.  He will lead the charge as we build NYC’s largest commercial apiary and has assembled the world’s coolest crack team of beeks (read: bee geeks, and hey, that’s how they refer to themselves!) to begin the awesome project of breeding NYC-native bees!  We also found our newest farmer this season in apprentice Michael Meier, for whom we are immensely grateful.  His dedication and initiative energize us every day and we are so excited to see what he cooks up during his first full season with us.  Meanwhile, Gwen’s son Otto, who was born during our first big work session last February, is coming up on his first birthday.  It feels like just yesterday that he was swaddled in a blanket and snoozing in a harvest bin in the shade — I can’t believe he’s already starting to walk and talk!  We all think his first word will be “farm,” or maybe “kale,” but perhaps he’ll surprise us all and break out “soluble potash” or “nutrient bioavailability!”

2012 promises to be a great year, full of exciting developments and new projects.  We can’t wait to share our expansion news with the world and get growing!  Till then, stay warm and eat well.

Best,
Anastasia

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.

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!

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!