About | Youth Education | Community Outreach | Get Involved | FAQ’s | Press

Battery Urban Farm offers a number of ways to engage our community.

With volunteer hours, adult workshops, and special events to celebrate the seasons (and our student farmer’s progress), we encourage members of our immediate and extended community — of all ages — to get their hands in soil.

 

Battery Urban Farm Saturdays

Help with harvest and shop the farmstand at this family-friendly monthly volunteer event.

On the third Saturday of every month from May-September, Battery Urban Farm opens for a day of volunteer projects, workshops, and farmstand fun. Dig into the soil during family-friendly volunteer hours–including a rare opportunity to get some behind-the-scenes, hands-on experience harvesting processing produce for market! Stay for a “cook together” and a workshop with different special guests each month, and go home with an armful of super-local, student-grown produce from the community farmstand.

Harvest and volunteer hours are from 10am to 1pm. The farmstand is open from 12pm to 4pm. Each Saturday will feature a different workshop. View the flyer for a list of 2012 workshops, or mark your calendar for the following 2013 dates:

• May 18
  
• June 15
  
• July 20
  
• August 17
  
• September 21

The 2013 Saturday Workshop Schedule will be announced at EARTH FEST on Saturday April 20. If you have any ideas for a workshop you would like to see or one you would like to lead, please email Lauren Kaplan at lkaplan@thebattery.org.

 

Weekly Wednesdays

 

Get your hands dirty every Wednesday from 4pm to 6pm. 

It’s happy hour at the farm! Roll up your sleeves and get a little dirty with a wide range of seasonal projects, ranging from general farm maintenance to special projects such as transplanting starts, turning compost, or building new gardens or farm features. Wednesday volunteer hours run April –  October. These events are open to all but generally best suited to adults and youth 15 and older.

For weather-related cancellations, check our Facebook or Twitter pages for updates.

 

Garden to School Café

We get student-grown produce into school cafeterias.

During the school months, we’re proud to be able to supply school cafeterias with fresh, student-grown vegetables as part of the Garden to School Cafe Program. We currently deliver produce to two of our downtown public school cafeterias: PS 3 John Melser Charrette School and PS 397 Spruce Street School.

A key educational component of offering our produce in schools isn’t just getting it there — it’s making sure the students know where it came from. Students participate in the harvest as part of their weekly lesson, and then bring the produce back to school themselves. When it shows up in the cafeteria the next day, students are encouraged by the school’s Wellness Committee to “Eat What You Grow”, both with signage in the cafeteria and emails to parents. We also partner with parents, cafeteria managers and school staff to put together special Harvest Event lunches as part of the Garden to School Cafe program. Most recently, PS 3′s Harvest Lunch featured an herb tasting, a senses exploration table, and a salad sampling station for the entire student body of 800 kids.

All of this allows students to make the important connection between the food they grow and the food they eat.

Visit Grow to Learn NYC for more information on the Garden to School Café program or to register your school garden!

 

Seasonal Festivals

The Battery Conservancy hosts two seasonal festivals at Battery Urban Farm at the start and close of the growing season. Festivals are  free and open to the public, and generally include a variety of educational and sustainable-focused arts and crafts, games, workshops, and other activities, as well as refreshments and live music. These family-friendly events cultivate a broader awareness of the role that food, farming, and public green space play in sustainable communities — and they’re fun. Please join us!

 

Earth Fest

Kick off the start of the season and celebrate Earth Day at EARTH FEST.

The Battery Conservancy will hold EARTH FEST on Saturday, April 20 at Battery Urban Farm. This family-friendly event will bring student farmers, farm friends, and like-minded organizations together to raise awareness about food and farming and the roles that both play in sustainable communities. Join us for a day of service on the farm, including demonstrations, arts and crafts, workshops and games! We’ll unveil our brand new educational display garden, host a “Roof to Table” photography exhibit and co-host a community clothing and kitchen swap, offer site tours, get you planting, and gather a panel of urban farmers to answer all of your most pressing questions.

Through these activities, we hope to inspire all communities to eat more thoughtfully, reduce waste and feel empowered create more green space in neighborhoods across New York City.

This event is free and open to the public, and will run 11am to 3pm on Saturday April 20th on-site at Battery Urban Farm. To volunteer for the event, please sign up for our mailing list or email Project Coordinator Lauren Kaplan at lkaplan@thebattery.org.

 

Harvest Festival

 

Celebrate the bounty of the farm at Harvest Festival.

Harvest Festival allows student farmers to celebrate all that they have learned and accomplished throughout the season, and provides a great opportunity for them to show off the fruits of their labors to parents and fellow farmers. In 2011, Battery Urban Farm celebrated the culmination of our very first harvest with a Harvest Festival featuring farm tours; scavenger hunts; arts and crafts; and games for children including potato sack races, bobbing for apples, “Name That Veggie!” and “Pin the Feather on Zelda”. In 2012, the Harvest Festival celebrated our second year of growing with our 1,800+ student farmers and included our very own “Who Wants to Be a Vegetabillionaire” (new this year) as well as food demos; arts and crafts; live music; and some wonderful local and artisanal vendors.

Click to view photos of the first event in 2011, or click here to view photos of last year’s event in 2012!

 

Battery Urban Farm Share

Enjoy student-grown produce and support the farm as a Farm Share member.

During the summer months, when school is no longer in session, we continue to supply our downtown community with fresh vegetables through our Summer Farm Share. Members receive a weekly, seasonal selection of the freshest vegetables, herbs and flowers in exchange for a suggested donation. Participation in our Farm Share provides a steady and reliable market for our produce and helps to support our many educational programs.

For more information or to become a Farm Share member for the 2013 season, contact Camilla Hammer at chammer@thebattery.org. Please note that space is limited.

For more updates on our Community Outreach and other programs, join our mailing list!