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After an epic fifteen-year run, I am leaving my post at Brooklyn Grange. As the member of our team who’s had the honor of running our communications–including penning many of these newsletters–I’ve put countless words on paper over a decade and a half, so you’d think I wouldn’t have much left to say that hasn’t been said before. Still, in these last weeks of my tenure, I’ve been able to step back and parse out the value of our word from the value of our work. One point that stands out: after spending our early years messaging this business as a proof of concept for profitably producing food in cities, I’m proud that we evolved our model into one that centers equity, figuring out how to pay farmers to grow produce and then give it away. Equitable food distribution is merely one facet of Brooklyn Grange’s impact. While food initially connected me with my co-founders when we created this beautiful place, it was the place itself that moved me to keep working as hard as I did. It was the pure privilege of feeling soft ground underfoot, catching a cool breeze on the hottest summer day, watching a storm gather strength as it rolled across the Upper Bay. I’ve been loyal not to the vegetables we grew and ate, but to the ecosystem we shared between us: the blue-winged wasps shimmering in the sunlight, the shrill kestrel diving between trellised sungolds to pluck a plump hornworm from the branches. And, of course, the dominant species of our urban ecosystem: people. We say it so often that it has become cliché, but the reason so many Brooklyn Grangers hang around for as long as we do is really and truly these people. I have worked as hard as I have at this business because, despite the cynicism that comes with being a lifelong New Yorker (or simply a human in the year 2024), I love people. And this fragile and fraught and brilliant species cannot survive the rapid warming of our planet that we ourselves have caused. But I believe we have the capacity to adapt and regenerate. I believe if we were universally privileged with the deep connection to Earth that I have been so lucky to forge over my decade and a half learning and loving our ecosystem, we would put our collective mind to the task of sustaining it. Brooklyn Grange has given me the ultimate gifts: the belief that addressing climate change is not only our greatest challenge, but the greatest honor to which humanity can rise; and a community of inspiring people who’ve made me optimistic that we can and will indeed rise to this momentous occasion. In turn, I have given Brooklyn Grange my all–and now, I step back with the confidence that it will thrive through the fresh eyes and deep experience of our new CEO, Sam; the steady hand of my co-Founder, Ben, in a role that fully leverages his curiosity and industriousness, and the hard work, generosity, and joyous spirit of the team at Brooklyn Grange, who continue to build a living vision of a beautiful, resilient, climate adaptive New York. Just as Brooklyn Grange has given me the hope and resolve to continue working towards climate solutions, so too can it inspire everyone reading this newsletter. After fifteen years of issuing calls, and responding to the queries of our community, I will make one last ask: help us extend the privilege I’ve enjoyed to others around the city–yourself among them–by sowing seeds anywhere we have access. Help us transform our iconic skyline by greening roofs across New York. After all, nature belongs everywhere, and everyone belongs in nature. So let this moment, as I close out my time at Brooklyn Grange, be a beginning for you. Read on for ways you can connect with Brooklyn Grange and find your inspiration. With love, determination, and gratitude for fifteen impactful years, Anastasia
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