This Friday's Bill Moyer's Journal (Nov 28) included a great conversation with Michael Pollan about food systems and the way we eat. It also featured the East New York Farmers Market, our new urban farm, Hands and Heart Garden, and market gardeners James and Jeanette Ware. The link is here, http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/11282008/watch2.html. The segment about East New York Farms! starts in the second minute of Part II, and continues til about 8min30sec. Watch til the end for some footage of our team of youth leaders harvest for the market!
On Tuesday October 21, 2008, we had the honor of accepting the Citizen’s Committee for the Children of New York City’s Samuel P. Peabody Award for Community Activism. We were presented with this award for our work through the East New York Farms! Project “to assure and expand access to healthy and sustainable food for East New York children and families.”
This award is so meaningful to us because it is truly a shared accomplishment
– the sum of the amazing efforts of more than 50 local gardeners, 100 young leaders, 5 regional farmers, and 100,000 customers. We began in the mid-90’s with an interesting idea – for youth and adults to work together to capitalize on the food-producing potential of community gardens to meet our community’s needs for fresh food, safe public spaces, economic development, and youth empowerment. Ten years later, we have transformed this idea into a viable strategy for working collectively to improve our own health, environment, and local economy.
