Formerly homeless, mentally ill adults have rooftop farm

Transforming a 3000sq ft. roof into an Urban Rooftop Farm. Georgia’s Place is permanent supportive housing for formerly homeless, mentally ill adults.

Seeds to Feed Rooftop farm in Brooklyn, NY

Seeds to Feed Rooftop farm is a community rooftop garden located at 691 Prospect Place, Brooklyn, NY. The Crown Heights CSA teamed up with Georgia’s Place, a supportive housing facility for formerly homeless adults. Through the expansion of our current rooftop farm this spring we aim to teach residents of Georgia’s Place and the Crown Heights community the art of food cultivation – from seed to harvest.

From their website:

The Power of the Farm

Today two of our residents most devoted to tending the farm pursued Yemi and I during the day because they felt the urge to water, (see preceding picture). With all the glorious sunlight, there was a definite need. As we were heading up to the roof, I was stopped by another resident who wanted to complain about something. She accompanied us in the elevator to the roof, moaning about some perceived slight. Once we got to the roof, she followed us out to the farm, continuing to blither.

Mind you, this resident is an older woman, on crutches, long history of mental illness, drug use, and homelessness. She has asthma that is so severe that she cannot tolerate any strong smell, (perfume, detergent, grass clippings, etc.), And cannot walk even to the bodega across the street without taking a break.

Once on the roof, under the spectacular azure brooklyn skies, with a slight breeze easing the sun’s rays, she began watching the other resident water, and bravely made her way farther out onto the roof. She quickly forgot about her issues and spoke about a memory of her grandmother, with a watering can and a salt shaker (?), chasing her and her siblings out of her garden, chastising them for picking the fresh tomatoes before they were ready. In her eyes I could see her travel back in time.

She stayed on the roof for about a half hour and raved about the view and how her asthma was better for her time spent there. The resident watering invited her to come back. When she left she said, “thank you david, and have a blessed day.” Yemi encouraged her to make it a part of her day from now on. I imagine she will…

See their website here.