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Revamp and rebuild!

We're expanding to grow more food and include more of our neighbors!

Leader

Kristen Bonardi Rapp

Location

462 Halsey St. Brooklyn, NY 11233

Impact areas

About the project

We're tearing down and rebuilding all of our member plots, adding more member beds and decreasing the number of members on our waiting list. The garden will also become more accessible to all by creating wide alleys on either side of our member bed area, allowing everyone easier access to the entire garden.

More importantly, we're overhauling and expanding our communal plot area, and improving our outreach to the community. Our current communal plots consist of long, mounded beds which are often difficult to reach. We plan to replace these with ten 8’ by 4’ raised beds, adding much needed extra space while being also  easier to tend.

Once these new beds are built, we will host a number of planting days, during which we invite the community in to plant seeds and seedlings, and introducing our neighbors to a number of new fruits and vegetables in the process. When this produce is ready to be picked, we plan to have a series of demonstrations and tastings, using the vegetables from these beds.

Finally, all new beds — member and communal — will be fitted with row covers, effectively creating mini-greenhouses and greatly extending our growing season!

The Steps

We'll begin demolition and rebuilding of current beds by the end of February, at which point we'll also decide on communal bed plantings. Extra topsoil and compost will be delivered in March. We hope to complete rebuilding of all beds by mid-April. We'll host the first planting day event in late April or early May, host weeding and watering days from May to September, and begin cooking demonstrations in June. 

Why we‘re doing it

At least a quarter of Bed-Stuy residents are overweight or obese — more than the rest of NYC on average. Nearly 17% of residents surveyed by the NYC Department of Health said they did not eat a single serving of fruits or vegetables in a day, the highest percentage of any neighborhood in Brooklyn! Since our inception, we’ve been working to change that. We believe increasing the amount of vegetables in our neighborhood for members and non-members alike is integral to improving the overall health of our neighborhood!

$4,960.00 / $4,960.00