City Growers Looks to Expand its Student Programs

Local students at the Brooklyn Grange Rooftop Farm as part of a City Growers program. Brooklyn Grange has two rooftop farms, one on Northern Boulevard in Long Island City, and a second, smaller farm in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. (Photo courtesy of City Growers)

City Growers, the non-profit arm of the Brooklyn Grange Rooftop Farm, was founded two years ago with the aim of teaching farming and nutrition classes to kids throughout the city. Its first real problem was convincing local adults of the importance of bringing young people to the rooftop farm. But with its popularity rising exponentially, it’s never been more evident that the organization needs to grow in size.

“At first it was us doing a lot of outreach and convincing teachers to bring their classes to the farm,” said Nicole Sherman, program manager at City Growers. “Now we’re at the point of having to turn people away because so many people want to come. I think we’ve almost served 10,000 kids since we started in 2011.”

With each success, City Growers’ goals continue to evolve. The non-profit is now looking to open three new programs focused on urban farming, honeybee education and nutrition, all funded through its Kickstarter campaign.

The urban farming course will meet once a week for six weeks after school, Sherman said, and at each session students will be introduced to a different concern for urban farmers.

“One class might all be about composting, the next week might be all about seed saving and the next about harvesting,” Sherman said. “They’ll really get to learn all about the farm.”

The honeybee course, designed as a class trip that happens during school hours, was created in response to students saying they wanted to see more than the farm’s two hives from afar. The students would plead, Sherman said, asking, “When are we going to get to see the bees?”

Money raised would go to buying an observation hive – basically a glass box – through which students could observe honey bees from a close, but safe, distance, Sherman said.

City Growers tested out these programs this summer. At the beginning of the course, Sherman said, they had the kids fill out surveys, documenting their eating habits before the farm. Soon, those who said they ate only one vegetable a day were making whole meals out of nutritional produce.

“By the end every kid was wanting to make salads on the farm for lunch,” Sherman said. “And they would bring their food scraps from home to compost. It really changed their whole lives. The way they eat and the way they throw out their trash – just becoming more conscious about how they live their daily lives.”