Skip to content
Grist home
All donations doubled!

Want to see Peregrine falcons living in skyscrapers and forage for edible plants in Central Park? Gabriel Willow is your guy. Not only is he an attractive cartoon, Gabriel is a real person. He gives “wilderness tours” in New York City for a living.

He makes his home in an urban collective in Brooklyn, where everyone tries to live more sustainably. They keep chickens in the backyard and grow their own food and raise bees on the roof. Gabriel shares an apartment with his real-life friends Josh, Hunny, and Tracie. Sometimes they make things better and other times they make a mess trying. Come visit their intentional world.

Meet the Characters
  • Gabriel


    Gabriel Willow leads wilderness tours of NYC by day and is a DJ by night. Having grown up on a farm in Maine, he’s happiest in Brooklyn. “Farming isn’t for everybody, but we can all be part of an ethical, sustainable community.”

    Hobbies include: Elaborate origami making, painting birds, and throwing big parties.

  • Josh


    Josh is Gabriel’s best friend and roommate. Hailing from a bedroom community just north of New York City, he is an urban agrarian. With bravery and a shaved head, Josh raises bees on the roof and grows his own food in a community garden down the street.

    Hobbies: Sewing at night, pickling, and explaining complex scientific things in simple terms.

  • Hunny


    Hunny runs an urban farm. Her farm has the largest flock of chickens in Brooklyn: 48, to be exact. She also has an underground cocktail club where she infuses spirits and hosts a homemade booze party each month. Hunny is from Michigan, outside Detroit. She has a degree from one of the most prestigious farm schools in the country.

    Hobbies include: Radical movement history, making herbal hooch, and dancing in hot pants in the living room.

  • Tracie


    Tracie is 25, the youngest in the house. She has a fancy office job at an environmental grant-making institution. Tracie also hosts a music show on a pirate radio station. She sounds sexy on-air. She’s from rural Vermont.

    Hobbies: Hanging out with her many hipster friends, spending time in cool bookstores, and a clandestine love affair with the downstairs neighbor.

  • Benny


    Benny is the friendly neighbor. He feeds the birds on the sidewalk. He encourages people not to lock their bikes to the signpost outside the building, because he thinks they’ll get tickets.

    Hobbies: Always being around and listening in, feeding birds on the sidewalk, and wearing a bathrobe outdoors.