In Bedford-Stuyvesant, an increasingly hip but historically low-income Brooklyn neighborhood, one food pantry is also an indoor farm. The New York Daily News visited the Child Development Support Corporation, where every Thursday morning clients harvest lettuce, bok choy, and collard greens that help feed hundreds of families.
Right now the greens are all grown hydroponically indoors, but the farm has plans to expand, adding a rooftop garden with cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers. It will also be offering hydroponics workshops and cooking demos.
The idea’s spreading to other social service agencies in the city, too. Providing basic fresh veggies isn’t too complicated; staffers simply hadn’t considered it before.
It was news to Los Sures pantry manager Robin Sirota that the windowless basement housing the South 3rd St. pantry was a suitable setting for growing salad greens.
“I’m not a farm kind of girl,” said Sirota. “I’m a social worker.”
Turns out the two are not mutually exclusive.
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