Unforeseeable weather challenges have always been an inevitable part of the farmer's job.
When Sandy hit BK Farmyards' youth farm site at a school in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, it was especially frustrating for the site's farmers. The foursome of young women are committed to providing fresh food alternatives in an under-resourced community, and they had already weathered what they'd thought to be their toughest obstacle: a Department of Education-mandated freeze on selling the produce they'd been growing all season long, right at the height of the harvest.
According to BK Farmyards' co-manager Bee Ayer, the sales freeze had wiped out the majority of their proceeds for the year, and might force them to cut positions. But they had worked with the Department of Education on new standards for school garden food, and managed to pickle and preserve some of the produce, hoping for a better year ahead. So when Hurricane Sandy blew over the kale and collard beds in their school garden, it was yet another strike to bear.
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