SHARING OUR SEEDLINGS
In 2020, our greenhouse crew began growing vegetable and flower seedlings for urban gardeners across New York City. While our seedlings program is amongst our youngest, it has quickly grown quite close to our hearts. Sharing our seedlings has allowed us to connect with our community of local growers on a deeper level and has further inspired us to reimagine the potential of a climate resilient and food sovereign New York City. Read on to learn about our program!
SOWING THE SEEDS
“Our greenhouse is well equipped compared to what most urban growers have to work with. The automated irrigation, shade cloth, and ventilation – all this tech helps our seedlings grow hardy and strong. I didn’t realize how powerful of a resource it was until talking to some of our community partners, who sometimes struggle to grow enough seedlings. I think that growing food for yourself is fundamental to food sovereignty, and so often people can’t do that for lack of resources. In an imperfect food and land system, sending plants to our neighbors for them to grow and eat is like sending them seedling-shaped wishes for resilience.”
Prior to COVID, we grew 26 different varieties of microgreens in our 4,800 sq ft Sunset Park greenhouse for restaurant clients around the city. When the pandemic hit however, our microgreens program essentially shut down overnight. The patchwork of colors that filled our greenhouse turned into empty benchtops. As we brainstormed other ways we could activate our greenhouse, victory gardens began to sprout all over the city on windowsills, backyards, fire escapes, and tree pits.
This renewed energy for guerilla gardening and backyard gardening inspired us to join in and support our local growers by growing vegetable and flower seedlings for gardeners stewarding their own spaces. Our seedlings program allowed us to keep our operations running and seize an opportunity to respond to one of the many needs New Yorkers were exhibiting.
In several weeks, our greenhouse was once again bursting at the seams, but instead of pea shoots, nasturtiums, and amaranth microgreens, it housed a jungle of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, basil, cosmos, pansies, and sunflowers that would soon be shared with urban gardeners all over New York City.
Photos: nasturtium microgreens growing (L), maya holding a tray of peashoot and cilantro microgreens (M), trays of peashoot and amaranth microgreens growing
DEEPENING OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH URBAN GROWERS
Shoutout to Blundstone for funding thousands of seedlings for our community partners (and for making extremely versatile boots!).
Since 2020, our seedlings have traveled far and wide to community gardens throughout New York City via GrowNYC’s spring sale, NYRP, and our community partners including: Bed-Stuy Farm, Myrtle Village Green, Wyckoff Farm, Playground Youth, Riders 4 Rights, Farragut Food Club, and City Growers. With the support of mission-aligned strategic partners like Blundstone, we have been able to grow and distribute thousands of these seedlings at no-cost to community growers.
Does your community garden need seedlings for the 2023 growing season? Reach out to: info@brooklyngrangefarm.com!
Dropping off seedlings to Reverend Robert Jackson (L) at Bed-Stuy Farm.
Without a doubt, the most beautiful fruits born from the program have been the relationships we’ve cultivated with other urban gardeners through this vast distribution.
In giving away our seedlings, we’ve in turn had the incredible opportunity to connect with veteran urban growers who have ingeniously (and tirelessly) worked to transform an array of urban spaces, many abandoned and deeply polluted, into lush oases with few or little resources. The decades-long stewardship and work of NYC’s urban growers who have (un)paved the way for a greener city, have allowed businesses like us to thrive. Last year, we began our partnership with urban farmers Reverends Robert and DeVanie Jackson of Brooklyn Rescue Mission who in 2005, converted a neighborhood trash lot into Bed-Stuy Farm – an impressive sanctuary lush with figs, grapes and an array of vegetables. Despite threats from developers to raze down the space and funding issues, the Jacksons have cultivated the space for nearly two decades, growing thousands of pounds of fresh vegetables for neighbors.
This year, we began our partnership with Myrtle Village Green – an 11-year-old volunteer-run community garden in Clinton Hill. Myrtle Village Green is the product of volunteer-led organizing starting in 2002 to convert the once abandoned lot into a greenspace for the community. Through the seedling distributions, we’ve had the privilege of meeting gardeners like Laboni, who entrusted us to grow seeds she and her fellow Bangladeshi neighbors have saved. It has been a gratifying experience learning how to grow new crops, pumpkins, bittermelons, chilis, and beans, from seed in our greenhouse for fellow gardeners. We’ve also been able to reach folks in the community who may have never had the opportunity to grow crops on their own. Through our partnership with Riders 4 Rights, we’ve been able to give away our seedlings at their Community Giveback Day, reaching out to first-time growers trying something new on their fire escape or backyard.
Distributing our seedlings to New Yorkers has been such a treat for our greenhouse team. We can’t wait to see how this program blossoms, and to reach more growers in our community.
“People are what drew me to the city. When the pandemic hit, it was jarring to be so isolated from the community. One of the many reasons I was grateful for our seedling program is that, funny enough, it felt like we got some of that connection back. We may not have been able to share space in the early parts of the pandemic, but we could share seedlings.”
Photos: (1) Laboni holding up saved seeds at Myrtle Village Green. (2) Catalogue of Laboni’s saved seeds. (3) Rainbow chard distributed at Riders4Rights Community Giveback Day. (4 + 5 by Valery Rizzo) Seedlings at our annual plant sale.
LOOKING TO GROW BROOKLYN GRANGE SEEDLINGS?
If you’re looking for a seedling or two to grow in your urban garden, stop by our friends at Crest Hardware in Williamsburg!