Light refreshments will be served, and those attending can pick the final harvest of the summer

NYU Urban Farm Lab Hosts its First Harvest Celebration, Thursday, September 26th at 12p.

Light refreshments will be served, and those attending can pick the final harvest of the summer

New York University’s Urban Farm Lab Project, a joint venture between the NYU Food Studies Program at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development and the Silver Towers Tenant Association (STTA), is celebrating its first summer harvest on Thursday, September 26, 2013 at 12pm.  Those attending will be able to pick the final harvest of the summer’s crops; light refreshments will also be served.  The NYU Urban Farm, made possible through a Green Grant from NYU’s Office of Sustainability, is located behind the Silver Towers residences on the corner of Wooster and West Houston Streets in NYC.

The NYU Urban Farm Lab came to fruition under the guidance of Professor Jennifer Schiff Berg, director of the NYU Steinhardt Graduate Food Studies Program, and Professor Amy Bentley, associate professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at NYU Steinhardt.  Berg and Bentley envisioned the space serving as a hub to coordinate and facilitate opportunities for learning, research, community building, and environmental stewardship on NYU’s Washington Square campus.

“We wanted to create an urban farm lab that serves as an outdoor farm classroom to allow for and promote research in urban agriculture and food systems on the undergraduate, graduate and doctoral levels,” said Berg.  “We also wanted to partner with University Plaza Nursery School and local elementary schools to offer hands-on workshops in the lab,” added Bentley.  “We are also working with NYU student groups and clubs interested in urban agriculture, food systems and environmental issues.”

“The farm just finished up a short but successful summer season,” said Steinhardt Food Studies Professor Laurel Greyson, one of the facilitators of the Urban Farm.  “The summer produce included various varieties of tomatoes, eggplant, sweet and hot peppers, beets, arugula, mixed lettuces, and herbs.”

In the next week, the students from the “Intro to Urban Agriculture” course in Steinhardt’s Food Studies Program will be turning over the original ten beds for fall and winter crops.  The redesigned course is a hands-on experiential learning class which utilizes both theoretical and applied approaches to learning about food and farming within the context of the city.

“We will be using season extension techniques to grow the food,” said Greyson.  “The students will be planting various types of beets, carrots, brassicas (kale, collards etc.), mixed greens from spinach to baby gems, radishes and several other cold hearty crops.”

“Whenever we're out in the garden, multiple passers-by want to know what's going on:  who is sponsoring the garden, what are we growing, etc.,” said Bentley.  “It has been a unanimous approval by all.”

 

About the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development (@NYUSteinhardt)

Located in the heart of Greenwich Village, NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development prepares students for careers in the arts, education, health, media, and psychology. Since its founding in 1890, the Steinhardt School's mission has been to expand human capacity through public service, global collaboration, research, scholarship, and practice. To learn more about NYU Steinhardt, visit: http://steinhardt.nyu.edu.

The NYU Urban Farm is sponsored by the NYU Office of Sustainability’s Green Grants Program.  Both Amy Bentley and Jennifer Berg serve as Food Studies faculty members who engage in urban agriculture projects, curriculum development, campus engagement and scholarly inquiry regarding urban agriculture and food systems.

NYU Green Grants are awarded to improve the university’s operational environmental performance, foster environmental literacy and community engagement, advance applied research and social entrepreneurship, and demonstrate the viability of best practices and technologies for sustainability. Since 2007, over $500,000 has been awarded to NYU students, faculty, and staff in support of seventy projects. More information about supported projects and applying is online at http://www.nyu.edu/sustainability/campus.projects/greengrants/

 


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