Big Apple Greeter | Secret Gardens of New York (Farming Profile III) 1

Here are four ways to enjoy agriculture today inNew York City:

ROOF-TOP HONEYA recent — and very successful — NYC agriculturalproduct is honey. David Graves, a Massachusetts

farmer, keeps beehives on rooftops in Manhattan, Brooklyn,and the Bronx and sells the honey under the catchy name“Roof-top Magic” at the Union Square Greenmarket.

For many years, David raised bees in Massachusetts and soldthe honey in NY along with his wife’s homemade jams andjellies. One year, after black bears raided his hives, he movedthe hives up high to protect them. He realized NYC has lotsof roof tops where the hives wouldn’t be disturbed oraccidentally knocked over. Also, NYC has no bears; theanimals we do have (rats, pigeons, and humans) all avoidbees. This original idea has turned into a thriving business.

In 2007 he keeps about 12 active beehives on roof tops, inlocked locations. The hives are housed in wooden boxesholding several rectangular wooden frames, each enclosing ahoneycomb. David constantly monitors the hives at eachlocation, and harvests the honey when it’s ready. The hivesare closed all winter, when the bees hibernate. Each hive canproduce between 60 and 140 pounds of honey, depending onthe weather.

Many customers who suffer from allergies believe that eating local honey willhelp them build up immunity to indigenous pollen. Others just like the taste, orare intrigued by the image of bees leaving their rooftop homes to pollinate streettrees. Skeptics may be concerned that urban honey might taste sooty. In fact,bees sip from deep inside blossoms, beneath any grime. David finds that hishoney varies in character seasonally and from hive to hive. The honey fromHarlem and the Upper West Side tends to be golden in color and tastes flowery.When the bees have been feeding near the linden trees on the lower East Side,the honey has a minty taste.

Graves and his bees have been invited to city schools for educationaldemonstrations. Most children ask right away about getting stung. Mr. Gravesalways assures them that honey bees are “predictable, beneficial and docile,” andnot aggressive like hornets and yellow jackets.

To buy the honey and meet Mr. Graves, go to the Union SquareGreenmarket on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays year-round, or you

can order from his web site at www.berkshireberries.com.

David sells Roof-top Honey and Maple Syrup athis stand in Union Square

A GUIDE TO SECRETGARDENS OF NEW YORK

* Wheelchair accessible

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VEGETABLES ON THEHUDSON

Madelon Holder learned organic farmingtechniques during the years when she lived in

Wisconsin. She now lives on the Upper West Side andalthough she loves NYC, she missed the ability to growvegetables. Now she feels she has the best of both worldsbecause she has a small farming plot at Riverbank StatePark on West 145th Street on the Hudson River.

Riverbank State Park, inspired by urban rooftop designsin Japan, has many amenities, including an Olympic-sizepool, a covered skating rink, and a great view of thePalisades and the George Washington Bridge. Adjacentto the playing fields is an area with about 50 small plots,about 6’ x 10’, each carefully tended by individualgardeners. (The parks department supplies a compostpile, watering hose, and gardening tools.)

Every spring Madelon puts in long hours, laying out thecrops and weeding. She has long practiced biodynamictechniques, a method to create health and balance in thesoil and the surrounding environment. She sees her smallgarden as a microcosm of the city and she has planted avariety of different crops of different heights and colors.Her small plot includes peppers, tomatoes, corn, basil,lettuce, green beans and broccoli; every inch is utilized.Marigolds add color and are good companions to thetomatoes — a technique she learned in her biodynamictraining. She uses no pesticides, but she does add fishemulsion. She hasn’t seen any bugs this year and isn’tsure if that’s good or bad.

By August she usually visits the park twice aweek, to water the plot and take home thosevegetables that are ripe. Madelon regrets thatshe rarely sees the other gardeners, perhapsbecause she tends to go after work. Sheknows that there’s a long waiting list of peoplewho want to be assigned a plot.

The plots must be cleaned out by November.Madelon hopes she’ll be assigned the sameplot next spring.

Riverbank State Park, 679 Riverside Drive, 212-694-3600 is open yearround 6:00 AM to 11:00 PM.

Riverside State Park, alongthe Hudson River, has about50 small individual gardens.Madelon grows corn,eggplant and othervegetables on hers.

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A FLOATING FARMThe Science Barge is asustainable urban farm,

growing tomatoes, cucumbers,peppers and lettuce. The 50-footlong barge has been at severallocations at waterfront parks in NewYork, including W. 44th Street and W. 70th Street on the Hudson River.The fact that it’s on a barge gives thefarm publicity and encouragesvisitors. It is open to the public,including many school groups whoget hands-on class demonstrations.

The Science Barge grows vegetablesin a greenhouse, using a system calledhydroponics. Rather than using soil,the plants are kept in pots filled witha blend of rocks and straw that soaksup the water and passes along thenutrients. This system allows theplants to produce seven times morefood than traditional farmland, usingone fourth the water.

The crops are irrigated by rainwaterwhich is collected off the slantedrooftop. All the water is caught andre-circulated through a series of pipes.

The greenhouse is powered by solarpanels, wind turbines and biofuels,including used cooking oil. Theseenergy sources result in greatlyreduced emissions of carbon dioxideso they don’t contribute to globalwarming.

By growing food in the city with nocarbon emissions, no water use, andno waste stream, the science bargehopes to be a model for sustainableurban agriculture. The engineersand scientists who run the bargeplan to design their system forrooftop use. They hope to partnerwith schools that could grow thefresh vegetables their students eat atlunch, and could use the greenhouseas a great science lab.

For information on locations of thebarge and times for free tours andclass demonstrations, check theirwebsite at www.nysunworks.org

Big Apple Greeter | Secret Gardens of New York (Farming Profile III) 3

You can find the Science Barge atvarious waterfront parks

The Science Barge is a model forsustainable urban agriculture.

Learn about the benefits of hydroponics.

* Wheelchair accessible

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4 Big Apple Greeter | Secret Gardens of New York (Farming Profile III)

SECRET GARDENS of theEAST VILLAGE

New York City has over 640 community gardens inthe five boroughs, part of a world wide movement.

These gardens enhance the quality of life in the city bycreating beautiful green public spaces for all to enjoy. Manyalso provide a space for local artists and musicians, andmeeting places for environmental and gardening groups.

One surprising neighborhood with a great number ofgardens is the East Village, a neighborhood better knownfor its 19th century immigrants and, later, itscounterculture. During the 1970’s the neighborhood hadmany vacant lots that were neglected, and real estatevalues were low. Local residents began to create gardenson many of these empty lots. Some of these lots were sold toprivate developers, but other gardens were preserved and nowoperate as part of the city parks department.

The area east of Avenue A between Houston Street and E. 14thStreet has an astonishing 40 gardens, all beautiful and uniquespaces. They are open to the public, mostly on week-ends (hoursare posted on their gates), but even when they’re closed, peeking through thegates is like glimpsing a land of enchantment.

For example, the 6BC Botanical Garden (located on East 6th Street betweenAvenues B and C) is Manhattan’s only botanical garden. The garden’s site was atidal saltwater marsh until the 1830’s. In 1981, two abandoned lots were clearedby residents. The garden now contains sections highlighting different plantenvironments such as shade garden, desert, small ponds, a cactus garden and arock garden. It also has an Asian teahouse and a solar-powered waterfall. Thecommunity volunteers who run the garden have set up a botanical lending libraryand they hold garden talks every summer. These volunteer gardeners use organicgardening methods with no chemical pesticides or herbicides.

The scenes in the movie “Godfather II” that were set in the early 20th centurywere filmed on East 6th Street between Avenue A and B. The producers paidthe residents of the block for the inconvenience of filming, and a group ofresidents used this money to clean up a debris filled lot. Today the garden, calledthe Creative Little Garden, has an elegant winding gravel path and rock gardens,and some sculptures.

La Plaza Cultural on East 9th Street and Avenue C has enormous willow treeswhich are fed by the same underground springs that once made the area a swamp.The 24 volunteer gardeners grow peppers, tomatoes and eggplants, plus manyflowers.

Some of the gardens have constructed rainwater harvesting systems, using simplepiping and barrels to collect water from adjacent rooftops or garden structures, sogardeners are less dependent on fire hydrants or adjacent buildings as water sources.

The Council on the Environment works with many of these gardens,providing technical assistance for design, construction and plantings.

They also run the Greenmarket,the country’s largest outdoorfarmer’s market program, whichsells fresh produce at over 40locations in the five boroughs.Their web site is www.cenyc.org

There are a number of public andprivate organizations that provide avariety of services to communitygardeners: www.greenthumbnyc.org,www.greenguerillas.org, Trust forpublic land is at www.tpl.org. NY restoration project is atwww.nyrp.org.

The closest subway stops to theLower East Side gardens are the Ftrain to 2nd Ave., and the 6 Trainat Astor Place.

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Big Apple Greeter | Secret Gardens of New York (Farming Profile III) 5

About theGlobal GreeterNetworkBig Apple Greeter isproud to be part of the GlobalGreeter Network, a voluntary association ofwelcoming programs around the world, allbased on the Big Apple Greeter model: freeand open to all visitors; offer greeter servicesas an individual or very small groupexperience (no more than 6 visitors); and arecharacterized by enthusiastic, local residentswho love their home city, love to meetpeople from around the world, andvolunteer to conduct these visits.

The Global Greeter Network currentlyspans seven countries on five continents andincludes the following members: Ciceronesde Buenos Aires in Argentina; AdelaideGreeters and Melbourne Greeter Service inAustralia; Tap in TO! (Toronto) in Canada;ShenZhen Greeter in China; ThanetGreeters in Kent, England; Paris Greeterand Les Greeters de Nantes in France; TheHague Greeter in the Netherlands; BigApple Greeter (New York City), ChicagoGreeter, Houston Greeters and GoldenHeart Greeter (Fairbanks, Alaska) in theUnited States.

Big Apple Greeter welcomes all visitorswithout regard to race, color, creed, gender,age, sexual orientation, marital status ordisability.

Big Apple Greeter wishes to acknowledgethe generous support of New York StateDepartment of Agriculture and Markets.

Text by Deborah Freeman. Graphic Design byJennifer Chiu. Photographs by Karen Bell.

© 2008 Big Apple Greeter 7/2008

Big Apple Greeter1 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007Phone: 212-669-8159 Web: www.bigapplegreeter.org

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ScienceBarge

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97th St.

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57th St.59th St.

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