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Urban Gardeners Sprouting in East New York Community
Residents of East New York sometimes prefer to travel outside their neighborhood for fresh food. A local Farmers’ Market is scheduled to open soon that will make home-grown fruits and vegetables readily available to the entire community. East New York Farms presented a free training session for urban gardeners last Saturday at the United Community Center garden, at New Lots and Schenck avenues. It was one of the actively budding efforts made to offer the East New York district a healthier and more convenient way of acquiring produce. Linda Ameroso, an extension educator with Cornell University, spoke to new gardeners. Her mission is to help potential neighborhood gardeners learn about farming and rebuilding East New York on a common force. "The whole idea is to work with the community so that they’re stronger. There’s a building that occurs where everyone is working together," Ameroso said. "We have small New York State farmers that are going out of business...Why are we shipping in from places like California? If we network together here, we’ll become stronger." Her husband, John, was also on hand tending to the thriving land. He helped locals harvest fruit and vegetables for the East New York Farms Farmers’ Market, which is expected to be in full swing by June 26, at New Lots Avenue and Barbey Street. John Ameroso, who is also an educator with Cornell University, said it took a while to devise the gardens since land in East New York wasn’t being used. "There’s a square foot of ground here that has a value of $10 to $40," he said. "People looked at the gardens and said ‘Hey, why can’t we use this land?’" He performed a PH-testing demonstration, which helps determine if soil contains acid. Ameroso also distributed a planting guide that lists helpful suggestions for the best times of year to plant certain produce. The most important aspect of farming, said Ameroso, is timing, location and following a plan. Catherine Grant, an East New York resident, sells the produce she grows in the garden at the Farmers’ Market, which began operating in 1999. She has been making contributions for a year and is looking to expand her output. "This year I want to grow collard greens and tomatoes," said Grant, who sold barbeque chicken, cold drinks and vegetable shish kabobs at last year’s market. Gardening at the United Community Center is not limited to adults. The East New York Farms internship is a project introducing youth in grades 7 through 9 to the educational and work ethics involved in gardening. Georgine Yorgey, who coordinated Saturday’s free training session with East New York Farms, said one of the main reasons for generating the garden was to offer young people positive ways of becoming involved with their community. "We work with them and they learn about gardening," said Yorgey. "They’re learning about nutrition, why we do this in the community and why it’s helpful...It’s an educational and work piece. They are also selling what they produce here." For 13-year-old Warren Ottey of East New York, the gardening process has been a very positive and enjoyable experience. While the youth program began planting only three weeks ago, Ottey says, he enjoys meeting new people and learning interesting aspects of the gardening process. "We work with wheel barrels in the garden and we split up," says Ottey, who is just one of the 18 youths participating in this productive movement. "We learn about different elements like clay. I also do it because later in life I want to be a chef, so I like to learn about different vegetables." For more information about community gardening contact Georgine Yorgey at 1-718-649-7979 ext. 14.
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