King Farm| Urban Farm Training Program|Farm Archive

Apply to the Youth Farm’s 2014 Urban Farming Apprenticeship!

Join us for an Info Session w/ Farm Manager Molly Culver

Thursday Dec 12th at61 Local , 6:30-8:30 pm 61 Bergen St. Brooklyn, 11201

Whether you are a teacher looking to increase your gardening skills or an urbanite looking to enter the field of agriculture and food justice, this training will bring your skills to the next level and connect you to further opportunities.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM:

Our program offers adults the chance to experience what it takes to farm and explore a career in organic agriculture through hands-on training on a 1 acre diversified farm. As an apprentice at the Youth Farm you will gain many valuable growing skills necessary for cultivating a wide variety of vegetables and flowers appropriate to our region. Through this intensive 20-hr per week commitment, you will gain the invaluable experience of nurturing crops and soil day to day and gain a sense for the physical and mental energy required to run a small farming operation that produces high quality vegetables, beautiful flowers, and a rich and harmonious community space. As in a rural farm apprenticeship, we view time spent doing hands-on farm work as the most important component of becoming skilled in organic agriculture. In order to farm, you have to farm!

WHO ARE THE INSTRUCTORS?

HOURS & TIME COMMITMENT

The Urban Farming Apprenticeship is a serious commitment: You will train with us for 30 weeks, 20 hours per week, from late April through mid November. The program meets for three days a week. Each apprentice will also commit to irrigating the farm two weekends out of the season.

COST

Our mission on the farm is to support our community by training you to be self-sufficient in growing healthy and rich local produce and flowers.  Our program breaks down to a $30/week commitment so that you can learn alongside experienced farmers, while also living an affordable and sustainable life yourself. We encourage our apprentices to harvest plenty of fresh veggies and flowers to nourish you throughout the season!

TRAINING PROGRAM COMPONENTS:

• Hands-on farm work on a 1 acre diversified farm
• Formal workshops in Botany, Soil Science, Crop Planning, Record Keeping, and more...
• Rotations in Propagation, Irrigation, Composting, Flower Production, CSA/Farmers Market management and Farm Management
• Field trips to other urban farms
• Weekly Farm Walks to develop observational skills
• Working with youth

What can you do with your Certificate?

Our past apprentices have gone on to do great things, such as:

•   Manage the 1 acre Youth Farm at the Chicago Botanical Garden

•   Co-Manage 2-acre Cut Flower operations

•   Accept jobs as gardening coordinators at NYC schools

•   Manage NYC Greenmarkets

•   Manage their own urban agriculture and landscaping businesses

•   Work in floral design, and more...

Where are our past apprentices now?

PAST PARTICIPANTS SAY:

"This training provided me with an opportunity to learn side by side with experienced farmers."

"There was so much opportunity for hands on work and the farmers were all very patient, kind and knowledgeable about the work."

“I thought the schedule was a really perfect balance of feeling like you were consistently on the farm, while also being able to work on the side to support myself.”

Applications coming soon: applications will be due February 1st, 2014!

 email molly@bkfarmyards.com for more information

King Farm| Sweet Potatoes!|Farm Archive

Apprentice Melissa LaFontaine harvests the candy potatoes growing on the farm!

Amazing to get such exquisite tubers from those plants after harvesting their veggies all summer time.

King Farm| Looking for Part-Time Youth Farm Director|Farm Archive

The Youth Farm is a unique partnership between the High School for Public Service and Green Guerillas. It is a one acre diversified production farm engaging the school community and surrounding neighborhood in farm-based experiential learning. Farm products are sold at a weekly farmers market increasing community access to fresh affordable food.

We are seeking applicants with experience in non-profit development, fundraising, leadership and familiarity with urban agriculture and the NYC and/or national food justice movement.

The Youth Farm operates as a collective, with all staff working together to make important decisions. The Director is responsible for meeting with Youth Farm staff and community to set goals and program plans for the Youth Farm, and most importantly, fundraising for these programs. This person is responsible for staff and farm sale invoicing, tracking accomplishments, staff reviews and organizing strategic planning sessions.

The applicant should be an enthusiastic self-starter with experience in collective work environments. The ideal candidate should be equally comfortable taking initiative and working collaboratively in a close-knit team environment. Experience with grant writing and grassroots fundraising is a must for this position, as is knowledge of the current funding environment. Gardening and horticulture knowledge and familiarity with the food justice movement a plus.

We are committed to creating a workplace that respects and values diversity – we strongly welcome candidates from all backgrounds as we are committed to hiring staff that reflect the cultural and ethnic diversity of our community.

Roles and responsibilities include:

• Fundraise to support Youth Farm programs through grant writing, crowd sourcing, special events and other dynamic methods
• Build and sustain relationships with foundations, cultivate private donors, manage grassroots fundraising campaigns
• Maintain partnerships with the Wingate Schools that support the goal of enhancing youth engagement and learning on the Farm
• Facilitate staff meetings and strategic planning sessions
• Track staff hours and accomplishment for accountability and reporting purposes
• Responsible for bookkeeping and accounting, including staff invoicing, spending, and accounting for farm sales
• Work with Green Guerillas on fundraising, events and organizational development
• Work with and hire interns to help with special events, outreach and office work
• Work with Wingate administration to evaluate how the school’s objectives are being met

Qualifications:

• Excellent writing and communication skills
• Grassroots fundraising and non-profit development experience required
• Detail-oriented and highly organized
• Commitment to expanding food justice and knowledge about urban farming
• Experience in leadership, meeting facilitation and collective decision making processes
• Farm/gardening experience or horticultural training a plus
• Manage work hours and duties efficiently
• Excellent computer and communication skills, including Microsoft Office (Excel and Word); knowledge and experience using accounting software such as Quickbooks a plus

Please send a cover letter and resume to Bee Ayer at Bee(at)bkfarmyards (dot)com. The letter should include details of your availability, as well as details about your relevant experience and training.

Applicants must be available on weekdays during the day, and occasional evenings and weekends. This position is a paid part-time position and also includes fresh harvested vegetables, flower and herbs. Applications due September 26^th, position starts November 11^th.

King Farm| WEEK 17 of CSA!|Farm Archive

Wow we are already on week 17 of our CSA this season! I cant believe it!

King Farm| What is that Beautiful Purple Bean?!|Farm Archive

Hyacinth Bean or Lablab pureus, or as more commonly known in Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago as the SIEM BEAN!

The next year Molly planted them for the fantastic orchid searching flowers! I had forgotten about them as a culinary delight until certainly one of our awesome instructors Nirvani Bissessar became strolling round someday and requested for some, commenting that they have been a staple in Guyana.

... And so now we percentage them with you.

Make certain you cook dinner the beans nicely, and trade the water too. If they're below-cooked they can be toxic. The whole plant is fit for human consumption, the leaves may be cooked like spinach or eaten uncooked, and the roots can also be chopped up or pureed.

King Farm| FARMRAISER! This Thursday Nov 7th|Farm Archive

BK Farmyards Annual Fall Benefit

BK Farmyards celebrates The Youth Farm at the High School for Public Service.

Good Enough to Eat!

Food, Music and Drinks

November seventh 2013

7:30-10pm

Delicious liquids and meals from the quality neighborhood and sustainable restaurants, breweries and vineyards, raffles of vast delights, stay acoustic music, wonderful hobnobbing and real farmers in clean clothes!

The chandeliers will be flickering kindly, the last of the fall flowers adorning, the warmth of history held by the old Mansion's walls as the air grows crisp...  It will be a Brooklyn night to remember.

at the beautiful 375 Stuyvesant Mansion home of the Freebrook Academy  in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn

Food & Desserts from:

Blue Marble,Seersucker, SCRATCH bread,Bread Love,Nightengale 9,Communal Table...

Drinks from:

Jimmys No. 43. 61 Local,Kombucha Brooklyn,Industry City....

All funds will support the Youth Farm at the High School for Public Service.

BUY TICKETS HERE

Thanks to the many restaurants and businesses partnering to make this event amazing, more to come!

King Farm| Donate and Help Spread the Love! |Farm Archive

Support farm based education in Brooklyn! Spread the Word!

DONATE TODAY!

The Youth Farm serves as an outdoor classroom for students at the High School for Public Service. We want to provide this opportunity to all 5 schools at Wingate Campus. The Farm provides a welcoming space for hands on and interdisciplinary education. Classes on the farm engage students who struggle with the methods and structure of classroom education, and specifically serves to help those students who most need extra support to be engaged and interested in school. On the Youth Farm students engage their brains and bodies in completely different ways then indoor lessons. With such a diverse range of topics and styles of engagement possible, the sky is the limit.

With such a diverse range of topics and styles of engagement possible, the sky is the limit. Here are some examples of classes:

·         Gym classes that engage the mind as well as the body through soil preparation, compost turning and incorporation

·         Science lessons that are hands on and bring science to life through plant and ecological observation

·         Nutrition lessons involving picking, preparing and eating where students can taste, see and discuss the value of nutritious food choices

·         Art classes that beautify the neighborhood through outdoor sign and mural painting

The Youth Farm’s School Liaison will meet with teachers from all Wingate schools and help them to alter their current curriculum to incorporate hands on, farm-based learning to meet academic goals.

As a result of your support,  hundreds of new students from 6th to 12th grade will have classes on the farm. Our goal is for these lessons to make the learning process joyful and eye-opening for students, showing them meaningful learning can happen outside the classroom through direct experience.