Bushwick City Farm

The Scratch

May 14, 2012

And finally, without further ado, we offer you our inaugural City Farm profile…where we introduce you to one member of our community. And since we’re big on remembering that animals and plants are part of our system, we also like to include them as part of our community.

Therefore, let us introduce you to Mama.

Portrait of a Lady

Occupation: Senior Ratter, Agent of Symbiosis

Age: 2ish

Languages: Catonese, a little bit of Spanish

Hours: Nocturnal

Aliases: Miss Mama, Gray Cat

Mama hails from the streets of Bushwick. She and her sister were rescued by Masha and Vinny roughly two years ago when they were found in a sorry state hanging around the neighborhood bodegas looking for food. After a full vet check that included neutering services, vaccines and hydration, they were placed in the newly constructed cat house at the back of the Broadway farm. Though her sister went off to live her own life, Mama took to farm living where in exchange for food, shelter and freedom she protects our birds from the large and aggressive rats that roam the streets. Sometimes, the birds let her drink their water. Commensalism at its finest. Many a time we’ve had the pleasure of collecting Mama’s form of rent after an evening on the prowl…usually after tripping over it. Fantastic!

Though feral and much happier outside than in the confines of an apartment, Mama is partial to positive attention and can sometimes be found during work days, balled up in someone’s lap.

Lion King realness in front of the Compost Bin!

Giving it up to nature…giving it up to Julie Taymor.

EARTH DAY CELEBRATION POSTPONED UNTIL APRIL 29

April 22, 2012

More info to come – but it’s raining outside. Get some rest! We’ll see you next Sunday….!

That’s APRIL 29. 1-4. Stockton.

Oh Beehive!

April 20, 2012

This past weekend, the Stockton lot welcomed its newest edition…or what looks to bee 400+ of its newest editions…our haute hymenoptera. Check ‘em out.

A formation of Apiformes

These trusty critters come fully equipped with proboscises and electromagnetic charges, courtesy of Beekeeper Jeff Polley, seen posing below with his hive and his assistant.

Beehiving appropriately

Those of you who had planned to eventually use the Stockton lot as a quiet refuge from the hard-knock life of the streets of Bushwick should not be worried that your dreams are being attacked by a cloud of angry bees. These guys are pretty domesticated, and pretty friendly, as bees go, and are mostly interested in our plants and not your company. Refuge away.

This is, of course, a second generation of bees as Bushwick City Farm’s initial foray into taming the buzz was cut short by the mystery plague that has been overtaking so very many bees. (Click HERE for information on Colony Collapse Disorder.)

Here’s to a season of honey and pollination! We’ll be rooting for our new flowerbedfellows, while we’re rooting around our garden beds. Speaking of which…

More props to more volunteers who used the amazing weather as an excuse to promote your mom’s healthy vegetable agenda. In addition to fruit trees, we’ve now got radishes…

…beans…

…and greens. And look at the beautiful end result:

Now just imagine it post-growth with actual leaves…!

So things are abuzz (that’s sort of the last awful pun of this entry) and more is to come. Up next, our first profile and a more in-depth piece on the Egyptian-like wall formation east of Stockton.

A final shout-out to our hard-working bee experts:

Jeff Polley and B Man (Bee Man?)

We will see you all at our Earth Day Celebration on Sunday…April 22…1-4…Stockton Lot! Peace.

All photos courtesy of BCF volunteer Jason Reis.

City Transplants

April 13, 2012

Ah Spring! Season of Birth…

Also, season of Earth Day. That’s right. In a little over a week (SUNDAY, APRIL 22nd), we’re going to publicly acknowledge our appreciation for Earth. So whether you’re personally planning to worship at the altar of Rachel Carson, or official Earth Day father Senator Gaylord Nelson, or absorb the nature that surrounds you, you should plan to come to our Earth Day celebration. We will be at the Stockton Lot from 1-4, accompanied by these little transplanted newborns:

Those are 21 little cherry tomato seedlings up for (free!) grabs. That’s 21 pots of YES! for you to pick from so that you can start your own little green corner in our concrete jungle. Remember last spring when hanging tomato plants were all the rage? They aren’t out of style yet…

Speaking of mmmeeemmmmorrrriiiieeeessss,

Organic soil-covered meeeemmmmmorrrrriiiieeeeessss….

Remember way back two weeks ago when the earth moved? After a brief asylum on the inside of our gates, our soil has found its permanent home in our fruit tree boxes, thanks to the hard work of neighborhood volunteers. Look at ‘em go!

So(il) VERY impressive!

It now decorates the fruit tree boxes with its earthy goodness:

We are one step closer to getting our garden expansion to a level of actual functionality! Spring is in the air and in the fruit tree boxes!

Check back soon for our first City Farm Profile!

All photos courtesy of volunteer Jason Reis.

Earth Day Event! And a retraction…

March 28, 2012

Dear loyal readers…two items of importance today.

First of all, on Sunday, April 22, 2012, we will be telling Mother Nature how much she means to us and how much we hope she doesn’t buy into all this talk of the 2012 apocalypse in the form of a potluck! There are more details listed on our Events page, but here are the most important logistics…

Time: 1pm-4pm

Location: Stockton Farm

As we say, the more the merrier, so come on out and sit in the shade of our fruit tree!

(It’s got potential!)

Secondly, it has been brought to our attention by one of our faithful readers that there is quite a difference between “dirt” and “soil”, as used to discuss The Great Dirt Pile of 2012. Apparently, it should now be known as The Great Soil Pile of 2012. For those interested enough to wonder why, our reader Bob gives us the dirt on soil:

“Dirt refers to any general displaced particles…of anything, really. Soil is the appropriate term to describe material in various states of decomposition that is being recycled into the environment.” So soil it is. Our apologies to the soil, for associating it with the wrong crowd, though it leads one to wonder if the dirt to soil transition occurred when it was moved from its non-functional pile on the sidewalk to an actual part of the living, breathing Stockton Farm inside the gates. See how when you volunteer here, you actually become a part of nature’s process?

Now THAT is some soil...

All photos courtesy of BCF Volunteer Jason Reis.

The Great Dirt Pile of 2012

March 27, 2012

Big shout-outs to Long Island Compost this week as they delivered a humongous pile of healthy, beautiful dirt to the Stockton Street expansion on Saturday morning! And what? All for the price of….delivery! This is amazing, considering soil acquisition is normally one of the most expensive undertakings when farming in the city. It seems counter-intuitive since you’re probably all looking at your entryways wondering “if it’s so hard to come by, what did I just track in?”

Chemicals. Well, actually, who knows…you’ll have to take the sample to a lab. But in empty lots around the city, what looks like soil is usually generations of chemical pollution layered upon other generations of chemical pollution. Which is why it’s so important, now that we’re in the process of planting our fruit trees (!!!), that we have access to good, clean, compost-generated building material! Did we say thank you, Long Island Compost?

Just look at all 7 feet of it:

Get crack-a-lackin’!

And here it is enjoying its new home…(within the gates)…

…with the social graces of its Welcoming Committee, a handful of trusty BCF volunteers (this, too, could be YOU).

Speaking of…did we mention those fruit trees? We’ve been chiseling away at the ongoing Fruit Tree Box Project all winter long in our woodshop and things are coming together!!

We now have several boxes set up in the confines of the Stockton lot, and most exciting of all, we have a couple of pioneering fruit trees putting down roots! Check out this baby!

You can’t see it from here but this is a Fruit Cocktail tree. Short of growing aluminum cans when it starts to produce, it will actually be providing peaches, nectarines, plums and apricots; a one-stop shop for (not) all of your needs and ever so much better than those pre-fabricated urban-sprawl buildings!

And thus, assuming we’re on the path to warmer weather, we will be having another work weekend this weekend, March 31/April 1, so come by the Broadway and/or Stockton lots after about 12:30 pm if you want to set our soil up on a date with our fruit trees…or spread wood chips…or chisel…or…..

Speaking of Broadway, the chickens say hi.

All photos, except the last, are courtesy of BCF Volunteer Jason Reis.