Farming for our Community!

The Wyckoff House Museum’s Farming for Our Community project will support our farm team as they work to meet our community's growing demand for fresh produce in response to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, and will help us share that greater harvest with our neighbors.

This project will allow us to not only grow and maintain our farm team, but also to expand on our roughly 3,000 square feet of productive growing space and meet our goal of cultivating over 40 varieties of fruits, herbs and vegetables in the coming months, with nearly 100 pounds to harvest and distribute each week. We will share this harvest with our neighbors through programs such as the Brownsville Community Culinary Center’s Collective Fare program, which has been preparing over 700 daily meals for first responders and for the Brownsville community’s most vulnerable. We will also be partnering with the Brooklyn Center for Quality of Life, Mt. Zion Church of God in East Flatbush, and other local churches and food pantries. 

1. Plant, Plant Plant: Our first goal is to get seeds and starts in the ground as soon as possible. 
2. Helping Hands: We hope to start working with our seasonal farmers starting in the middle of April.
3. Harvest: Our first harvest will take place in late April.
4. Get Moving: We hope to purchase an electric cargo bike to deliver our produce to Collective Faresoon after the first harvest.
5. Keep It Moving: We will make weekly deliveries to Brownsville from May through October.
6. More Helping Hands: Pending approval from the Department of Health,  our Senior GAPs (Garden Apprentices) will begin working up to 25 hours per week from July through the fall, learning essential job and farming skills.
7. Cultivate and Maintain: Throughout the growing season we will be working to keep the farm in good shape -- sow, reap, and repeat!

One of the things that gives us hope during this pandemic is witnessing the extraordinary networks of care and support cultivated by our neighbors. While there is a great deal of uncertainty about the coming weeks and months, these community-based networks have helped communities across New York and beyond deal with more daily necessities like food, medecine, or simply keeping in touch with neighbors. We hope to join these inspiring efforts by utilizing our productive growing space and our dedicated and knowledgeable farm team to provide food for our community. 

Beyond the burden placed on our health and well-being, this crisis has also produced a great shock in our economy, with many families struggling to find income. On top of this, many supply chains have been disrupted, making it difficult for the farms which normally feed our city to distribute their food. As a result there is an growing need for food assistance, and we hope to respond to that need by producing as much as we can, and working to share it with our neighbors.