Brooklyn Grange Navy Yards Rooftop Farm

City-Kid Review:

“Munch-munch,
wiggle-wiggle
Poop-poop
COMPOST!
…Again.”
Me: Thanks, Brooklyn Grange 🙂

I’m a born New Yorker. A Manhattanite. I have spent almost half of my life in this influential city. I am profoundly lucky to call NYC my home. The brainpower, imagination and innovation of New Yorkers never ceases to amaze and delight me:

New York’s ability to get things done, to make things happen.

The idea of turning the rooftop of a former navy yard into a farm including compost and chickens – yes, egg-laying hens on a city rooftop – is one of those moments.

If you live anywhere but nearby Brooklyn and don’t have a car, this is a haul to get to, but it is worth it. If only for the view. But it is worth so much more than that. There are bees. There are chickens. There are worms. There are plants. There is compost. There is fresh air. There is contrast (with the building site below). There is a most spectacular 360º view.

We spent a wonderful morning at this farm. I stroked a hen for the first time in my life. I have watched City Kid, with complete comfort, hold and play with hens many times. I suddenly realized I have never touched one myself. They are surprisingly soft. Not so surprising, I suppose, given that they are covered with FEATHERS. However, it was a to surprise me. Here in NYC. Stroking a chicken.

When we first moved into our apartment, almost two decades ago, I was awoken by the ‘cock-a-doodle-doo’ of an enterprising urban farmer with a cockerel in a nearby garden plot. That has since been flattened and filled by  condominiums. This particular urban farm has no cockerel, however, as they do not want fertilized eggs. Same with the Earth Matter Compost Learning Site on governor’s island, although there the chickens are an essential part of the compost process. The eggs are a natural, additional bonus.

We were at the Navy Yard on a grey, overcast day with a slight drizzle and still, it was completely fun and completely fascinating. Plus, we learned the wonderful chant above linking worms to the life-enhancing compost they poop out.

City Kid highly recommends.

Need to Knows:

There are two Rooftop farms under Brooklyn Grange, one in Long Island City and the other at the Brooklyn Navy Yards. We only know about the latter but you can find out about the former on the website (until we make a visit, of course! You can be the first to find out about it, by signing up for the free newsletter)

Tours, per person: $10. They are Wednesday mornings in BNY and Saturday mornings at LIC.

Every Saturday morning, from May to October, from 11am-4pm the LIC rooftop farm is open to the public, for free. They have tons of events at both sites. You can check out their event calendar, here.

Location: Brooklyn Navy Yard, 63 Flushing Avenue, 11205. We got the train to Jay street and the B57 took us right to the door. Actually, it was the other way around as we got hopelessly lost on the way there  (see note below)

They have a cafeteria at the main entrance of the Brooklyn Navy Yard farm site.

Top-Tip

Okay, don’t make the same mistake I did and put ’63 Flushing Avenue’ into your GPS. I recommend putting in ‘Brooklyn Navy Yard’. 63 Flushing Ave took us blocks away from where we needed to be and we were quite late for our tour.

Their directions site seems to have you enter at Clinton Avenue and walk through the massive building site which is the Navy Yard. Nope. Walk further down the road (or get off the bus earlier from Jay Street) and you will see a lovely tree-line entrance with a cafe and funky writing, welcoming you to the Yard. THAT is the preferred entrance, particularly with children! It is marked as ‘passenger drop-off entrance’ on the map, here.

Have fun!

Any questions, thoughts? Feel free to post in the comments below.

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