Schantz gets growing at Brooklyn Grange |
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Top: Ben Flanner, urban farmer Will Allen and Gwen Schantz at Brooklyn Grange.
Reminder Publications submitted photos
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May 7, 2012
By Chris Maza
chrism@thereminder.com
NEW YORK — After spending a good part of her childhood in Monson and in the Berkshires, areas rich in rural history and opportunity, not many would think that New York City would be the place where Gwen Schantz found an opportunity to get her hands dirty in the farming industry.
But that's exactly what happened for the Wilbraham & Monson Academy graduate, who moved to Brooklyn in 2005 and is now the chief operating officer of Brooklyn Grange.
Brooklyn Grange is not your typical farm. In fact, it is a self-sustaining organic farm located on a 40,000-square-foot rooftop in Long Island City, Queens, which produces a substantial amount of food that is sold locally.
"We produce over 15,000 pounds of vegetables per farm per year, and we sell the food to restaurants and the general public," Schantz told Reminder Publications. "We have a farm stand twice a week, and also a CSA [Community Supported Agriculture] program where members get a weekly share of fresh produce throughout the season. Our crop mix is pretty diverse, with over 100 different varieties of vegetables, herbs and flowers being grown, but our big 'cash crops' are mixed greens and tomatoes."
Brooklyn Grange got its start from modest roots.
In the summer of 2009, Schantz, was employed at a Brooklyn restaurant, called Roberta's, which was run by Brandon Hoy and Chris Parachini. While she was turning a vacant lot next to Roberta's into a garden for the restaurant, she met Ben Flanner, who would come by the restaurant to sell tomatoes he produced on a nearby rooftop.
"The work Ben was doing impressed us all and Chris had the idea of expanding the rooftop farm project to a commercial scale business," Schantz said.
Schantz, Flanner, Parachini and Hoy, along with a fifth business partner, Anastasia Plakias, got to work and by the spring of 2010, they were in the midst of their first planting.
The growth of the business has been rapid and Brooklyn Grange is less than a month away from opening its second rooftop location, a 45,000 square-foot plot, in Brooklyn.
"One of our primary goals is to boost the urban farming industry and generate economic activity and jobs in this blossoming new sector," Schantz said. "Most urban farms thus far are non-profits, which is great, but we want to establish a fiscally sustainable commercial farm in the city. So far it's working, and the business has been growing steadily since we launched in 2010."
While the plants are grown on rooftops, Schantz said the practice of producing food isn't all that much different from planting anywhere else.
"The plants are grown organically, and there's really no difference between farming on the roof and farming on the ground with the exception of the soil depth. Our soil is only eight to 12 inches deep in the planting beds," she said. "And under the soil there's a green roof system, which protects the roof from the roots of the plants and helps with drainage."
In addition to producing fresh, organically-grown local produce, Schantz said the farm offers several environmental benefits, including improved air quality, storm water retention, and the prevention of garbage hitting the waste stream by turning it into compost.
Brooklyn Grange also started a non-profit educational program called City Growers, which educates children about food and the environment at the farm.
In addition to growing, Schantz has quite a few responsibilities with Brooklyn Grange.
"My partners and I all wear a lot of different hats, and we do pretty much everything ourselves," she said. "I've almost always got dirt under my fingernails, but I'm also on my iPhone and computer quite a bit. I do our bookkeeping and take care of a lot of administrative and design work for the business, coordinate with investors and clients, look at new roofs where we can potentially build, and run vegetable deliveries to restaurants.
"On an ideal day I'm on the roof working with the plants and the soil without interruption, but those days are few and far between," Schantz continued.
For more information on Brooklyn Grange and rooftop farming, visit www.brooklyngrangefarm.com.
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