Tanya Denise Fields, founder of Black Joy Farm in the Longwood neighborhood of The Bronx…
Tag: Community Gardens
The Melrose community of The Bronx has the highest concentration of community gardens in our borough with 18 (and growing) and in all of NYC.
Tomorrow, Saturday August 22nd from 10:00AM to 3:30PM you’ll be able to go on a guided tour of 3 of these gardens with entertainment and cooking demonstrations along the way.
Out of the hundreds of “casitas” or little houses that dot community gardens across New York City, there is one that is known by folks all over—considered the oldest and largest one in NYC—and it is Rincon Criollo aka Casa de Chema named by locals for its founder, Jose “Chema” Soto who passed away Thursday at the age of 70.
When residents of the South Bronx were left to their own devices among rubble and ruin, Don Chema took it upon himself to clean up an abandoned lot on Brook Avenue and 158th Street 40 years ago back in 1975.
For two years now, Bronx resident Victor Maldonado of Melrose and his fellow residents have been organizing to create a community garden on 159th Street between St Ann’s and Eagle Avenues.
Currently known as Hill Street Community Garden, “The lot has been sitting there as an eyesore for years now, ” said Maldonado who is now petitioning NYC Department of Transportation, Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo, and State Senator Ruben Diaz to push for this dream to become a reality.
Bronx Hero Karen Young-Washington, who’s on the board of the New York Botanical Garden and a member La Familia Verde (among many other organizations), is featured in the Huffington Post in the Female Farmer Project. The project is the latest endeavor by Audra Gaines Mulkern who’s documenting the proliferation of women in farming. Karen has also been featured on PBS and is on the board of Just Food.
One of the things I love about living in Melrose, besides its convenient location to Manhattan as well as a small town feel in what is considered the borough’s downtown area, is the plethora of community gardens.
Although we don’t have much as far as parks go in Melrose proper (that’s another story that we’ll expand upon shortly), we have approximately a whopping 17 community gardens (by my count at least, could be more).
One of the many great things about living in Melrose is our abundance of community gardens which are a substitute for the lack of actual parks in the neighborhood.
You must be logged in to post a comment.