| Greenpoint, Brooklyn earned its name from the rich, | | | | to me, and showed me how their first season was |
| river-front land that made it a natural site for | | | | shaping up. Scanning row after row of thriving |
| colonial-era farms. Of course, that same location | | | | tomatoes, kale, parsley, pea plants and more, she |
| made it a perfect location for heavy industry and | | | | said "We planted a really wide variety of crops to |
| these days the name seems like more of a joke as | | | | see what did best in this environment, but so far, |
| the area is better known for its warehouses and | | | | everything is growing really well." The rooftop |
| defunct factories. A new development, though, | | | | location provides a certain amount of natural pest |
| unites both parts of neighborhood history and has | | | | control for the organic greens, their biggest problem |
| brought the green back to the point. Rooftop Farms | | | | being NYC pigeons that kept pecking out not seeds, |
| has covered a warehouse roof on the East River | | | | but gravel. The rest of the farm's needs are taken |
| with over 200,000 pounds of soil and 30 varieties of | | | | care of by rainwater, its own beehive, and, on the |
| crops, backed by an improbably great view of the | | | | day I visited, a group of visiting kids who gleefully |
| Manhattan skyline. | | | | pulled monarch and emperor caterpillars from the |
| While the five boroughs are short on ground-level real | | | | parsley beds to take home and grow into butterflies. |
| estate suitable for farming (as evidenced by the | | | | In keeping with their extremely local vision, Rooftop |
| constant struggles of our community gardens), the | | | | Farms delivers produce to several Greenpoint |
| city also has acres of underutilized roof space. The | | | | Williamsburg restaurants, including Anella, Marlow |
| idea behind Rooftop Farms was to demonstrate, on | | | | & Sons, and the soon-to-open Blue Ribbon |
| a fairly large scale, that urban farming doesn't have | | | | eatery at Brooklyn Bowl. Taking it a step beyond |
| to be limited to fire escapes and window boxes. The | | | | that, starting on Sunday, July 12th, Greenpoint |
| project is the combined effort of Ben Flanner, a | | | | residents and others willing to make the trek will be |
| former E*Trader with a vision of a rooftop farm; | | | | able to purchase veggies at the farm itself. When I |
| Annie Novak, a farmer who teaches city children how | | | | moved into post-industrial Greenpoint, I never |
| to grow their own vegetables at the NY Botanical | | | | imagined that I would be able to walk to the local |
| Garden's Family Garden; and Goode Green, a design | | | | farm and buy produce pulled straight from the |
| firm specializing in green roofs and urban gardens. I | | | | ground (as it were). Talk about closing the loop. |
| spoke with Novak, who explained the farm's history | | | | |