Boswyck Farms » Brooklyn farms

Farm Report: The Death of a Sunflower

Joanna — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 11:50:22 +0000

September 4, 2010
By Joanna

The title pretty much says it all so I’ll start off this report with the obvious: our last sunflower has died. I’m sort of sad as I love sunflowers. At least we’ve learned that 2 giant sunflowers in one pot on a very hot roof = a bad ending. On to happy news.

Round 2 of radishes has begun. We had a great harvest 2 weeks ago and are excited to taste this batch (except for me because I don’t like radishes).

Out with the old, in with the new. Bye to our tomatoes in the aeroponic system. We’ve replaced that whole system with a bucket flood and drain. Lee planted a new batch of tomatoes, which I am very excited to eat.

Our outdoor NFT system is looking fabulous with sage, Swiss chard, kale and more. Lee snapped some very pretty pictures of them after a rainfall.

Thanks to LunchNYC for shooting at the farm last week. We’ll be on an upcoming show. Details to follow.

[[Show as slideshow] click on an image to watch in the dark using arrow keys]

Enjoy your Labor Day weekend!

Farm report

Joanna — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 14:52:41 +0000

July 24, 2010

By Joanna

We’ve had a very busy week at the farm. The heat wave a few weeks back took its toll on our rooftop installation but thanks to Lee’s quick thinking and ability to lug pounds of ice up some steep stairs, everything is back on track. I’m loving the sunflowers which are now enormous. Our cumbers are kicking right along and the Fine Verde basil is busting up out of the NFT system. We also had our first lady bug sighting. Win!

New to the farm this week are our carrots which have just sprouted. Our pea shoots are back. There was a sad turn of events for the peas when it hit 103 degrees on the roof so we’re happy to see them again.

[[Show as slideshow] click on an image to watch in the dark using arrow keys]

Our habanero peppers are going to be famous

Joanna — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 11:21:55 +0000

July 20, 2010
by Joanna

We met husband and wife team Jason Hait and Ayelet Prizant a few weeks back at the Crown Heights Health Fair. Jason is the owner and Executive Chef at The Pour Gourmet. They were selling some of their amazingly hot sauces, marinades and mustards. Lee and Jason got to talking about peppers and viola! he offered to take the plethora of Habaneros we recently grew off our hands. Jason will be concocting something most delicious with them. We’re desperate for a taste and we’ll let you know as soon as it’s whiped it up. In the meantime, don’t miss out on other Pour Gourmet treats. I’ve got my eye on the Beer-B-Q sauce. I’m betting it’s fabulous on veggie burgers.

[[Show as slideshow] click on an image to watch in the dark using arrow keys]

Swing by for a visit

Joanna — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 14:25:03 +0000

Summer is here and we know you’re looking for a fun morning or afternoon trip. We’re open for visits year-round but why not schedule one now? You can see our indoor R&D lab and we’ll also take you to our rooftop installation at the Bushwick Starr. Email lee@boswyckfarms.org to set up a time. Hope to see you soon!

WCBS swings by for a visit

Joanna — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 00:47:32 +0000

June 2, 2010

We had another great visit from a local news outlet. This time WCBS stopped by the farm to check out what we’re growing. They also took a visit to our rooftop installation over at The Bushwick Starr (which is coming along quite nicely despite the secret lettuce nibblers). Many thanks to Mary for the interview. Click here to watch.

P.S. We’ve just updated our photo gallery.

Woot! We’re on CNN

Joanna — Sat, 22 May 2010 19:02:57 +0000

May 22, 2010

We think it proper to give ourselves a big pat on the back. In fact, we’re giving ourselves the World of Warcraft leveling “woot” because we’re part of CNN’s story on hydroponic farming.

The CNN crew took great footage of what’s happening at Boswyck Farms (the latest pictures can be seen in our gallery), on our rooftop installation at the Bushwick Starr, and of Lee, the self-named spice wimp, sampling a homegrown hot pepper. Check out the video–we’re the third segment in the story.

A tip of our hat to Britta Riley over at Window Farms who pointed CNN in our direction. Thank you!

For your listening pleasure, our interview with The Naturalist has been posted

Joanna — Tue, 18 May 2010 12:03:15 +0000

In case you were stuck on the train or stuffed in your cubicle or trapped somewhere else far from your computer, the interview Lee and Chloë did with Bernie Wides from The Naturalist radio show has been posted on Heritage Radio Network.

Boswyck Farms Talks to The Naturalist

Joanna — Mon, 10 May 2010 12:05:28 +0000

5/10/2010

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.

Boswyck Farms Rocks NYC Grows

Joanna — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 17:40:04 +0000

We like to give a big thanks to NYC Grows for inviting us to participate in this year’s festival. A huge event that marked the end of Earth Week celebrations in the city, it drew urban farmers, community gardeners, eco-crafters, sustainable technology creators, chickens(!) and more.

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.