Student Farm Project

Spinach growing under the protection of our cold frame.

We are getting ready for Spring at the Student Farm Project!  

The chickens have been snuggling together all winter, and a peek inside our cold frame bed reveals that our spinach seeds have grown into a lush and vibrant crop!  Meanwhile we’ve ordered all our seeds, so when the beds are ready for planting the spinach will have many other veggies and flowers to keep it company.

We have also cultivated some great donations to help us do even more growing and educating this year.  Recent donors include: Annie’s foods, Slow Food NYC, The Cartwheel Foundation, and several Generous Individuals.  More grants and donations are in the works, and as always, we can use YOUR support!

See you soon at the farm!

It has been an amazing (and busy!) Autumn here at the farm.  We were lucky to make it through Superstorm Sandy pretty much unharmed, and our chickens stayed safe and protected in their coop.  Now we’re getting ready for winter, but we’re not going into total hibernation!  We built a winter cold frame, where we will grow spinach all winter long.  In early spring we will use the cold frame to get a headstart on growing seedlings of all kinds of crops for our other beds.

Our winter cold frame.

Our beautiful and sturdy weatherized chicken coop — it withstood Superstorm Sandy!

Don’t worry, the chickens will be cozy all winter long!

One of our happy chickens.

Check out this great video!

Click here to see it on You Tube!

We will be taking Memorial Day weekend off but will be there every weekend in June and likely into July.

WHEN: 10 am – 5 pm.

Where: 514 Rockaway Ave at Sutter.

Bring: Safety goggles (sunglasses are ok), gloves, water, lunch, sturdy shoes.

Drop a line to npainten@gmail.com with the subject line “Brownsville Build” if you plan on joining us.

Made possible by generous donations from Build it Green, Slow Food NYC, and Dept. of Sanitation and Burpee’s Home Gardens.  Special thanks to HPD,  GrowNYC and Green Thumb.

The build continues- we are having so much fun!

Garden work at this point is mostly of the construction/preparation variety – some weeding, mostly hauling wood, sanding, painting, things of this nature.  Once the farm is built we will do much more Gardening – but no playing with plants just yet.  It’s still super fun! And you get a tan and a mini workout!

April 28, 29 and MAY: 5, 6, 12, 13, 19, 20.

Time: 10 – 5

Where: 514 Rockaway Ave at Sutter.

Bring: Safety goggles (sunglasses are ok), gloves, water, lunch, sturdy shoes.

Drop a line to npainten@gmail.com with the subject line “Brownsville Build” if you plan on joining us.

Made possible by generous donations from Build it Green, Slow Food NYC, and Dept. of Sanitation and Burpee’s Home Gardens.  Special thanks to HPD,  GrowNYC and Green Thumb.

Join us! We’ll be out there building every weekend in April!!

This weekend: March 31 and April 1…

Then April  7, 8, 14, 15, 21, 22, 28, 29.

Time: 10 – 5

Where: 514 Rockaway Ave at Sutter.

Bring: Safety goggles, gloves, water, lunch, sturdy shoes.

Drop a line to npainten@gmail.com with the subject line “Brownsville Build” if you plan on joining us. Also contact me if you think you have a power tool that might be useful.

Made possible by generous donations from Build it Green, Slow Food NYC, and Dept. of Sanitation and Burpee’s Home Gardens.  Special thanks to HPD,  GrowNYC and Green Thumb.

Prototype Bench Planter

After a long “winter” of planning we are finally ready to start construction on our Brownsville Farm site.  Above is a prototype of the gorgeous multi-functional bench planters designed by GrowingCities. We built this in a small backyard in Greenpoint, but will be building beds over three times this size on the lot.  And we need help!

VOLUNTEER DAYS:

March 4, 10, 11, 17, 24, 25 and 31.

April 1, 7, 8, 14, 15, 21 and 22.

Time: 10 – 5

Where: 514 Rockaway Ave at Sutter.

Bring: Safety goggles, gloves, water, lunch, sturdy shoes.

Drop a line to npainten@gmail.com with the subject line “Brownsville Build” if you plan on joining us. Also contact me if you think you have a power tool that might be useful.

Made possible by generous donations from Build it Green, Slow Food NYC, and Dept. of Sanitation and Burpee’s Home Gardens.  Special thanks to HPD,  GrowNYC and Green Thumb.