By Joanna

Who doesn’t love a good radish? (Actually I don’t but that’s a whole other story.) We’ve had our first radish harvest! Some are sweet, some pungent and some right in the middle. Planted a little over a month ago, they grew up to be quite healthy and happy in our flood & drain system. Lee decided the radishes are so good that he’s done another round of planting. These new ones are slated to be part of our hydroponic systems demonstrations and will make their premiere Sunday, September 12, 2010 at Farm City Fair.

By Joanna

We just wanted to say many thanks to everyone who attended this past Sunday’s workshop, Getting Started With Hydroponics. We had people from all walks of life including teachers, architects and even a lactation specialist. Our participants asked great questions and were pros at building drip systems.

If you were at the workshop (or attended earlier ones), please take pictures of the plants growing in your systems and send them to us!

Bushwick Open Studios was this past weekend. Hot and humid as it was we threw open the doors to the farm, inviting people in to see our seven different hydroponic systems. Those who came got to eat a little of our arugula, watercress and lettuce, not to mention Lee’s homemade and perfectly salted popcorn. (Our peppers and tomatoes were not quite ripe enough to sample but should be there momentairly so make arrangements to visit if you want a taste.) The recently planted strawberries have taken to their new vertical system and we were happy so many people admired how pretty they looked. Several people made hydroponic planters out of recycled soda bottles, seeded them with the basil of their choice and took them home to start a windowsill garden.

A tip of our hat to the peeps over at Arts in Bushwick for organizing another fabulous event. We’re looking forward to next year’s open studios!

Today Lee and Chloë will be interviewed by Bernie Wides on his show, The Naturalist. They’ll be talking about hydroponics, the work we do at the farm and our upcoming programs. The show airs between 12:00 and 12:30. Tune in if you can. It will also be available as a podcast.

The Naturalist is a daily radio program on Heritage Radio Network.

The workshops will be held at Boswyck Farms in Bushwick, Brooklyn. The fee for the workshop is $40; the fee for materials is $55. Register for the 9/7 workshop or Register for the 9/16 workshop

Note: If you’re interested in learning about hydroponics but aren’t ready to build a system, the materials fee will be waived.

The day dawned with a torrential downpour–the gutters ran with deep streams of water, Union Square was a giant puddle. Nevertheless, Lee and Chloë packed up the clown car with our mobile kitchen cart, tubes, buckets, pumps and plants. With a table strapped to the roof they drove from Bushwick to meet Joanna for what turned out to be a great day, despite the deluge.

To be honest, the weather about killed our excitement. With rain pouring off the roof of our tent, we wondered–with the slightest hint of irony–if it was necessary to find water to fill our hydroponic systems. We decided it was and as Joanna went off with buckets she heard it remarked more than once, “Why is that woman looking for water?”

Late morning brought a surprising twist of fate. The sky became less ominous and the rains let up. By noon we had people swinging by our tent to see what was happening. We had several homemade demo systems on display. We set up our large NFT system in the front of the tent. Our aeroponics system was going strong and a huge, hot pepper plant was growing in our drip system. (We grow all our plants from heirloom seeds.) People were psyched as Lee and Chloë explained the beauty and relative simplicity of home hydroponics. We’re pretty confident we won some converts.

The other big seller was our free “build your own passive hydroponic system” workshops run by Joanna. Made from recycled soda bottles, gaffers tape and cotton rope these systems are a perfect way to introduce hydroponics. (We often use them in our school programs.) We originally envisioned the workshop to be for kids but it turned out that lots of adults wanted in on the action. Approximately 30 soda bottle systems were built and planted with basil. People also left with a package of nutrients and Chloë’s Boswyck Farms pesto recipe.

The only downside of the day was that we weren’t able to break out our one-of-a-kind mobile kitchen cart. It was just too wet to have people kneeling on the ground to make farm fresh pesto.

All in all we had a fabulous time. We hope to get the chance to participate in next year’s NYC Grows. In the meantime, keep checking back to see what we’re up to.

Boswyck Farms took the two-pronged approach: stationary, and mobile. Lee and Joanna set up a hydroponic teaching table inside Eyebeam, where they demonstrated four of our systems: an aeroponic system, a drip system, a nutrient film technique system, and a passive system. In addition to the showcase of set-ups, they also handed out information about Boswyck Farms’ educational programs and general mission.

UWAC Day was also the premiere of our Mobile Kitchen Unit (MKU): a Radio Flyer wagon retrofitted to be a semi-autonomous picnic kitchen. Currently, the MKU is equipped with (almost) all of the materials necessary to make pesto — a Boswyck Farms specialty. This time around, we made pesto with our own arugula and spinach. Special thanks to Travis Tench of Band of Bicycles (bandofbicycles.com) for lending us the bike-powered blender.

Chloë and Robert led interactive demonstrations of the MKU on the sidewalk outside Eyebeam, in the West Side Highway Park, and in a public green space near the Chelsea Market. In total, we worked with about twenty people (age four and a half to adult) to make and eat pesto. We hope that the MKU will help teach folks that making healthy, locally-sourced food can be easy and fun.

Eyebeam’s Stephanie Pereira took more pictures of the MKU and our other activities (including a couple short videos). Click here to see the photos and videos.

Images courtesy of Stephanie Pereira

UWAC was initiated by artist Jon Cohrs, in collaboration with the Eyebeam Student Residents, Eyebeam education coordinator Stephanie Pereira, and UK-based artist Kai-Oi Jay Yung. We look forward to partnering with Eyebeam again.

Stay tuned for a number of upcoming events and presentations, including an appearance at The Bushwick Starr (thebushwickstarr.org), and a festival with the New York Restoration Project (nyrp.org).

1. Sunday August 16th at 1 p.m. at Pier 5, Brooklyn Bridge Park (BBPDC).
   

   Subway directions: Take 4/5 to Borough Hall Station. Head west on Joralemon Street toward Clinton Street to Furman Street. Take M/R to Court Street, 2/3 to Borough Hall Sation Head west on Montague Street toward Cadman Plaza West. Turn left at Henry Street Turn right at Joralemon Street towards the river. Click here for a map

2. Saturday August 22nd at 6 p.m. at Staten Island (Atlantic Salt – this overlaps with the Atlantic Salt Festival). Preserving the Tidal Wetlands and Ecosystems through studies of the original flora and fauna of New York. Click here for a map
3. Sunday August 30th at 6 p.m. at Staten Island (Atlantic Salt – this overlaps with the Atlantic Salt Festival). Preserving the Tidal Wetlands and Ecosystems through studies of the original flora and fauna of New York. Click here for a map

The presentation will be an introduction to Hydroponics including a brief history of Hydorponics, an overview of common Hydroponic methods and hands on examples of some of these methods. For any questions or more information email info@boswyckfarms.org

The Waterpod is is a floating, sculptural, eco-habitat designed for the rising tides.

Times are subject to change check back for the latest updates