Urban Farming Sinks Roots in East New York

By Matthew Kelly

Standing over her garden, Joyce Dixon leaned down to weed the soil, tending to her patch of young tomato plants. The summer air was thick and sticky with 90-degree heat. Dixon stood up to wipe the dark skin of her brow, she shook the dirt off her t-shirt and gave a smile.

“I grew up on a farm as a little one,” she said, “and this brings me back.”

Dixon’s farm was on the island of Jamaica, but now it is in the East New York section of Brooklyn. She’s 65 years old and is a volunteer gardener at East New York Farms!, which is a program of the United Community Center. On Saturdays, she tends her patch at the youth farm behind the center, where interns help volunteer gardeners. The farm is a half-acre of land on New Lots Avenue, across the street from New Lots Community Church and its cemetery. The other cross street is Schenck Avenue, with the aptly named Schenck Playground east of the farm. Every few minutes, a couple blocks north, the elevated Number 3 subway pulls into its final stop.

“This garden teaches us to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables,” Dixon said. “In this neighborhood and around the city.”

Since moving to New York in 1964, Dixon has lived in the Bronx and Queens, but for the past 19 years she’s lived in East New York. Lately, Dixon has been eating more greens, like Swiss chard, spinach, and lettuce; omitting starchy vegetables, like carrots, beats, and potatoes from her diet. “I have to watch out for the vegetables that are sweet, because they turn into sugar. I’m supposed to be losing weight,” Dixon said, “and I have bad arthritis in my knees. This is not only a hobby, I need it, to improve my lifestyle.”

The farm is more than an urban experiment; it is a calculated effort to combat the established health calamities of East New York. The neighborhood has the highest rates of heart disease, obesity, and diabetes in New York City, according to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. As of 2000, of the approximate 173,700 residents in East New York, 50 percent were African American and 39 percent were Hispanics. In 2004, adults here were hospitalized for heart disease at rate nearly 35 percent greater than New York City overall, and were nearly twice as likely to be diabetic. Nearly one in three adults in the neighborhood were obese, compared to one in five for the city overall. These are all symptoms of poor nutrition.

The Dr. Betty Shabazz Health Center deals with the epidemic first-hand. The center is an extension of the Community Health Network of New York City, and provides treatment to a sicker population, compared to the rest of the city, said Daryl Johnson, the center director. He grew up in neighboring Brownsville and is also a proponent of urban farming. “It’s great that they bring this type of food into the community, because, like the saying goes, you are what you eat,” Johnson said. “If you eat garbage, what do you expect will happen?”

He says the food supply is dominated by bodegas and fast food, like Chinese restaurants. “Would you eat vegetables that have been sitting in a bodega?” Johnson said. According to him, finding healthy vegetables can be a challenge, and so “you have to go outside East New York to find them.”

“I lived on this block for 30 some years,” said Sandra Breaker, the community liaison for the East New York Diagnostic and Treatment Center, part of New York City’s Health and Hospital Corporation, providing neighborhood residents with medical care. “I know everything there is to eat. If you want something healthy, you won’t find it.”

Breaker said that while grocery stores such as C-Town and Key Food are making real improvements to their produce sections, there is still much work to be done. “There are a lot of young men, in their 30s and 40s, walking around with diabetes,” Breaker said. “That just shouldn’t be.”

Since 1998, East New York Farms! has been turning desolate, vacant lots into vibrant and plush gardens. The ideals of healthy living, sustainable agriculture, and economic development, are what drive the initiative.

East New York Farms! is composed of two urban farms and more than 65 community gardens. This is all supported by Green Thumb, a community gardening program of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, which has more than 600 member-gardens throughout the city.

Farmer’s markets are held from June to October, offering a bounty of fresh and affordable produce, accepting food stamps and electronic benefit transfer cards. More than a third of the residents in East New York live below the poverty line and nearly half of the residents receive some form of income support.

Additionally, East New York Farms! sponsors community-supported agriculture. Customers buy shares of a farm, in exchange for a weekly supply of produce at reduced prices. Mike Rogowski, a farmer from Pine Island, N.Y., is the sole contributor of produce to the program. “It’s designed to be a win-win situation, for the consumer and the farmer,” he said. A full share costs $355 for the whole season, a half share costs $183.

Despite the affordability, community-supported agriculture has been a tough sell in East New York, Rogowski said that only eight people are participating in the program this year, compared to 25 when he first started ten years ago. “Where we sell, over by the Verrazano Bridge, in Brooklyn, we sell for $500 a share, we even have a waiting list,” he said. “I don’t know why people aren’t buying around there.”

Back at Dixon’s patch, Aaron Leon, a second-year intern from Queens, helped Dixon with the tomatoes. Leon said he has always eaten his vegatables and has even tried some of Dixon’s Jamaican favorites. He started this internship because he saw the plight of the East New York community and wanted to help, he said, but also saw the opportunity for profit. “I wanted to make some money, so my dad wouldn’t have to pay for things,” he said. “It’s funny, my friends are jealous of my job.”

Many of the vegetables on the farm have already been harvested and sold at the farmer’s markets. In coming days, Dixon is going to plant beets and cilantro, which will be fully grown by late fall.

As Dixon watered her tomato patch, she listed some of her favorite vegetables, and started with callaloo. “It is very nutritious and you can use it as breakfast, lunch, or dinner; and it cooks easily,” she said. When you eat vegetables like these she said, “you feel healthier, you have more energy when you wake up in the morning, you sleep better, you think better.”