my first farming experience was on a rooftop in queens
a week ago today, i volunteered for the first time at brooklyn grange, which is a one-acre rooftop farm that grows all kinds of vegetables, flowers, chickens, bees. actually, the chickens and bees are probably all one kind. anyway. i tried to get some friends to go, but jeff was stuck working all day on a saturday (woof), alex was out of town, and no one from brunch club particularly wanted to go. so i went alone, and i think it was for the best that my first time was by myself, because i really got everything i could out of the experience: i met new people, i learned the ropes of cultivating crops, i participated in back-breaking manual labor without the distractions of conversation.
when i first got there, i: transplanted lettuce; weeded a mustard green patch; planted, manured and watered some oats, turnips, bokchoy and beets; cleared out a dead lettuce patch that was being turned into an onion patch; picked (and ate) tomatoes; and carried a bunch of logs that were being used in a shitake-growing workshop. it was offered that the volunteers could stay and learn about shitake growing, and even take home a half-log for $10, but the idea of growing mushrooms in my closet for a year freaked me the fuck out. besides, i don’t even really like mushrooms.
i was also interviewed by a swiss journalist named patrick (i thought this was strange), who asked me about my thoughts on the ecological crisis and organic eating while his partner shot some candid photos of me talking. i have strong thoughts on these things; after reading the jungle effect by daphne miller, MD, and recommending it to everyone i know, i’ve become a convert to the organic, locavore way of life—i talk about this in the commentary for my photograph of rainbow chard sprouts. mostly, though, i’ve been reading an increasing number of articles on the ecological crisis, such as this blog post in fast company, as well as ones in food & wine magazine, which i subscribe to. not to mention that mayan elder article thing i link to on my rainbow chard sprouts page…spooky.
back to the rooftop farm, though. i’ve decided that i’ll volunteer twice a month from now on. simply because i need something in my life that makes me feel enriched and like i’m giving back to the earth in some way, which i don’t often feel in my day job. not to say i don’t love my day job (in advertising), because i do, it’s just that i’m not directly affecting change in any way through it—at least not the kind of change i care about. but also, it was really beautiful up there on that roof. see photographic evidence as follows:
and now let me conclude with a chipotle music video featuring willie nelson covering coldplay’s “the scientist”. it’s about putting an end to factory farms and “going back to the start”. of course, i loved chipotle fanatically before because, as chris says, chipotle is “the food of angels”. however, this video makes me love them even more, if that’s even possible. so cute! so environmentally conscious! good job, er…mcdonald’s corporation.