If you’d prefer to forage for food on a converted barge rather than wait in one more hellish line at Trader Joe’s, you’re in luck: Swale, the floating food forest founded by Mary Mattingly, will land at the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park this summer from May through July.
Residents hang out at Umbrella House’s new rooftop garden (Photo: Nicole Disser)
After a visit last year to ABC No Rio, a former squat building turned community space still very much awaiting its day for the ambitious makeover plans to get underway, I didn’t know what to expect from Umbrella House. The latter is a former East Village squat that, after years of push and pull with the city over legalization, became a fully legal, limited-equity affordable housing co-op. But then I caught up with Steven Englander, who now works at his former residence ABC No Rio and has lived at Umbrella House for about 16 years.
It was more than a little depressing to see the first North Brooklyn Farms get clobbered by bulldozers last fall, even if everybody knew it was coming. But as of this weekend, the farm is back and better than ever with Sunday night dinner parties, a fireworks viewing, and a host of other community events extending through the tolerable months. But best of all is that North Brooklyn Farms, now the Farm on Kent, will be an accessible plot of nature for the neighborhood’s residents.
North Brooklyn Farms, an urban farm and community park just across the street from the former Domino Sugar Factory in Williamsburg, announced plans this week to begin a Kickstarter campaign. More →