Help Teens Promote Healthy Food Access in NYC

“My favorite part about gardening is watching the transformation the plant goes though. You get feelings of satisfaction and accomplishment when a plant you tend to reaches maturity and is able to bring life to another living being.” -- Alyssa Vazquez

Alyssa volunteered with Teens for Food Justice last year as a senior in high-school and is now employed in our new Greenhouse Manager position at the New Beginnings Classroom Farm.

Teen volunteers and the 550 K - 7 students at New Beginnings Charter School have already experienced the excitement of this transformation from seed to harvest: last weekend teen volunteers harvested the farm's first crop of the year, a harvest of 300 strong and healthy lettuce plants!

Thanks to a big new farm refridgerator (thank you!), we stored the crops to keep them fresh, and Green Team students prepared baggies of lettuce to distribute to families at dismissal. Tasty, homegrown salads were savored all-around this weekend in Bed-Stuy.

Big News: Your support in June funded the build of three new hydroponic growing systems at the New Beginnings Farm, which have doubled our growing capacity in the classroom! These systems were born through the innovative design of a hydroponics enthusiasst and engineer and built from scratch by teen volunteers and mentors using basic, affordable materials sourced from local hardware stores and Amazon.

We now expect our total crop production for the year to exceed 5,000 heads of leafy greens, plus a big selection of herbs, and 12 cucumber and tomato plants yielding harvests throughout the winter (not to mention 150 strawberry plants!). The school's students are thrilled to be eating fresh food they have grown themselves, and the school community is proud to be able to provide a source of fresh produce for its families.

Links:

• Meet Alyssa, Our New Classroom Farm Manager!
• TFFJ in Designer Reed Krakoff's Fall Charity Benefit