The Youth Farm is an educational production farm in central Brooklyn
that offers New Yorkers opportunities to increase their knowledge of the food
system and build high level organic growing skills to share with their
communities. The Youth Farm grows organic food and flowers on one acre for the
community and beyond, and offers advanced farm training and leadership
opportunities for youth and adults.
The Youth Farm as an Outdoor Classroom
As an "outdoor classroom" for all Wingate Campus students, the Youth Farm is a space for hands-on, experiential learning across all learning disciplines. Students participate on the farm through various means, from our customized year-round "Go Green" elective class, to after-school Farm Club, to Wrestling Team "practices," to Summer Youth Employment. In Go Green, students analyze and do hands-on projects about their food system -- from labor issues to corporate control by media to industrialized agriculture. After-school Farm Club is a voluntary club, in which students come out to the Farm and do hands-on work, from soil preparation to planting to carpentry and painting. Through our Summer Youth program, 12 Student farmers are hired to help manage the farm, harvest for our market, perform community outreach, run market cooking demonstrations, lead public tours, and more.
Education and Job Training
The Youth Farm seeks to provide educational experiences and job training opportunities for youth and adults. In addition to our student/youth education, we offer a variety of educational workshops for people of all ages as well as our Urban Farm Training Program from April-November, for adults interested in taking their interest in sustainable agriculture to the next level. This intensive seven month program involves a commitment of 20 hours a week on the farm, practicing a wide range of farming skills through hands-on training, weekly workshops on all aspects of urban agriculture, and focused 'rotations' in Propagation, Irrigation, Farm Management, CSA, Farmers Market, Compost, and Flowers.
Youth Farm Food and Flowers
The Youth Farm produces fresh, organic and affordable food and flowers for the Wingate community and our neighbors! In 2013, Youth Farm grew 15,000 pounds of fresh produce and over 25,000 stems of fresh flowers. We grow over 80 varieties of vegetable crops and over 60 varieties of cut flowers. We follow sustainable farming practices and do not use any synthetic pest or pathogen controls, or genetically modified seed. We sell our delicious vegetables and beautiful flowers at affordable prices through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program and a weekly farmers market. We also deliver to several Brooklyn restaurants.
- Molly Culver Farm Manager
- Erin Mercier Assistant Farm Manager
- Liz Dowd Head Crew Leader
- Patricia Noto Farm to School Liaison and Field Trip Coordinator
The Youth Farm is a partnership between the High School for Public Service, Green Guerillas, bk farmyards, all our dedicated volunteers & customers, the amazing youth of Wingate Campus and so many others...
