Sunday, September 03, 2006

Organic Farm in Industrial Area of BKLYN

...I needed it. I don't know why exactly, or I may not need to know why, but I needed to work with soil and the people who love to work outside with soil, sun and seasons...

Theoretically, there is a hope. A hope of those who seek moderations for seemingly excessive current conditions of our commercially imperialistic social system the capitalism. For us as the transition generation, an awareness of and an actual practice about sustainable social development and urban agriculture has been rapidly increasing. More attentions are paid to healthy, environmentally friendly and safe consumer productions such as locally grown organic foods and high-tech solar panels. (Yet the ironic part of the reality is, for the most part, that one has to be able to afford these trends.)

A community based educational urban youth organization, Added Value has an urban organic farm in the middle of Red Hook, a heavy duty industrial area of Brooklyn. The physical space of the farm is huge, measured by my eyes, that it is the same as a full-sized soccer field. From a third to a half of this concrete paved field is covered by dark-colored rich top soil. On top of the soil, of course, there are a lot of seasonal vegetables, leafy veggies, and herbs the natural medicinal plants.

It was my third time to stop by this farm to contribute by me volunteering for them. In return, I get to continue learning about this specific culture. I am excited because I am no longer doing Hippie thing, I am actually supporting those who embody what I think cool and important. And how cool it is to farm organically in urban setting... means it may not be an attractive activity to farm in countryside.

Anyway, my jobs there so far are all physical works- wood work to build wooden compost piles boxes, setting up those boxes, and filling up one of the boxes with actual organic wastes. And I am enjoying these tasks.