0:00Project Eats is a network of community-based food systems in New York City that provide

0:06food in communities that don't have access to fresh, organically grown food. It provides jobs and it provides programs so that they can live healthy lives and thrive.

0:22In 45 to 60 days we can transform a lot into a farm that's growing food. It's a food system, with farms that are the lead.

0:40I've always been interested in art, and after I came to New York, I started a gallery. It was the first gallery to show the work of African American, and other artists of color,

0:50in a major gallery district. Then I started making films. I was doing going to do this web series and started pulling news footage down from Port-Au-Prince, in Haiti. And the footage showed

1:01women making mud pies, and people were buying those to stave off their sense of starvation. And as I'm editing this footage I'm sobbing and going, "What kind of world do we live in?" And

1:11at that point I said, everybody should be able to grow their own food—even if you live on concrete.

1:18In that moment I realized this might have more purpose and be more effective than documentary films, so I said, let's grow food!

1:27All of us have how many voices in our head. Sometimes you can't even count them. The two dominant voices were, "Are you out of your mind? You don't know anything about farming?

1:36What in the world are you doing!" The other voice said, "Where are you going to get land? You don't have a dime! How are you going to buy land in New York City?" And so the way that we have access to

1:46land is that we create partnerships with people who have either long-term license agreements for the land, or own the land, and we develop farms on land that's really prime land in New York City.

2:06Currently project eats has farms in four boroughs of new york city's five barrels

2:14This location here on Wards Island is the largest in our network,

2:19which is about two acres. We are working in communities which tend to be more diverse

2:26than I think high-end markets that a lot of small market farmers are used to working in.

2:33We price at income appropriate prices and also offer options like pay what you think

2:38it's worth. We believe in making good nutritious food available to everybody, regardless of income.

2:50The main kind of summer crops are tomatoes, a lot of our markets tend to like the beef steak type tomatoes, as well as green tomatoes,

3:00eggplants all kinds of peppers, both sweet and hot peppers, collard greens, kale, swiss chard,

3:08bok choy, turnips, beets, carrots are all favorites at the farm stands. A lot of herbs.

3:19And then here we are cultivating winter squash, melons, leeks, and onions in our back field here.

3:29We have a Farmacy program with an "F" where we partner with medical providers whose doctors prescribe fresh vegetables as part of their patient treatment plan,

3:39and we fill those prescriptions. They come get produce at an even further subsidized rate in order to improve their health outlook.

3:55One of the farmers who's been with us for five years now is Johnny Vickers. "Fresh Vegetables. We

4:02grow 'em. We pick 'em. You buy 'em. You eat 'em!" This is Johnny Vickers coming to you from Project

4:08Eats, where we love to feed you. He came over and initially started volunteering and before

4:15we knew it he was learning the skills that our farmers had and we hired him to work with us.

4:22I harvest, I plant, I basically do everything that a farmer does. I never knew about different types

4:30of vegetables like we grow here. It's a whole new experience, but like I said, I love it. A change in life for me, that's what it was, it was just basically a change in life.

4:43Part of our mission is to take youth from the communities and integrate them into the farms

4:49and develop their skills. Most youth stay with us about four and a half to five years.

4:55Basically I am a farm apprentice. We plant, harvest, transplant, weed... It's amazing

5:02to work in the city on a farm. There's so many people that just walk by and are just like, What is this? like you're growing food here? I didn't know this was possible!

5:14Not many people know how or where the food is coming from. If it wasn't for Project Eats I don't really know what I would be doing right now at the moment.

5:24We market our products to our farm stand and Farmacy patients from April to November,

5:30and then it cuts off. Every year we have to re-engage those relationships again

5:36in the spring. Bringing in the Caterpillar Tunnels was part of an initiative to bring our farms

5:43towards four season production. They just fit into our plans really well here.

5:58When Covid hit we made a strategic decision to distribute all our produce for free to the most at-risk communities in New York City.

6:10While it was a time of crisis, that was exactly the reason why this organization was born to begin

6:19with. I feel like we rose to the challenge and and thrived under those circumstances.

6:29It was quite the summer. It was crazy, absolutely crazy.

6:37The thing that brings me the most satisfaction in working for Project Eats is the individuals I get to work with on a day-to-day basis

6:46Being able to share that time on the farm with them is more rewarding than you could imagine.

6:54One of the reasons farms are essential to Project Eats is that we farm in communities

7:02where "can't" is the prevalent word. What the farms do is provide "can" in a very tangible way.

7:12The farm is the first "can" that becomes the foundation on which we can

7:17build strong relationships with the residents in the community.

7:32Everything that is inefficient about the industrial food model is only going to be fixed by more people producing quality food for communities.

7:47I truly believe that food should be grown in communities, and I think that people around

7:54this world should start doing that—to start focusing on creating small plot, high-yield

7:59farms in their communities, that support having fresh vegetables—having essential food—where

8:08people live. I think it's one of the greatest things you can do especially now.

8:34Hi guys, I'm Jonathan with Farmers Friend. If you enjoyed this video hit the like button and subscribe to see more inspiring stories like this.

8:40To learn more about our innovative small farm tools and supplies like easy-to-assemble greenhouse kits, flame weeders, and a lot more, check out our website at FarmersFriend.com.