Visiting Added Value's Urban Farm in Red Hook

For the most part, our stay in New York has included the typical urban pleasures: spending time in the subway, and in cafes, bars, nightclubs, and parks. But on Friday we took a break from all of that and headed out to Red Hook, which is located on the southern tip of Brooklyn, to check out a large urban farm that's operated by a non-profit called Added Value. 

Added Value also recently set up another urban farm on Governors Island, and they operate a farmers market in Red Hook. In addition to revitilizing and farming unused land, they work with teenagers, training them and putting them to work on urban farms.

In Chicago, I'm used to seeing urban farms and gardens that are limited to one, or maybe two city lots, but this nearly three-acre farm fills an entire city block. It's located right accross the street from the large Ikea store in Brooklyn, so we took the Ikea-operated water taxi from the Financial District in Manhattan directly to Red Hook.

When we got there, Added Value co-founder Ian Marvy was busy meeting with someone from the parks department, so we showed ourselves around the massive farm and shot a short video. Below are a few photos I took at the farm, as well as a panoramic shot from the Ikea boat.

-Mark