The Harlem Garden
(2011)
A series of interviews about food access and environmental sustainability in Central Harlem.
In 2011, Central Harlem was a ‘food desert,’ but despite this problem some people managed to eat healthy food and do environmentally sustainable projects on a local level.
I made this series of videos in collaboration with producer Michelle Jackson to help people in the neighborhood learn what others were doing: being involved in the community garden, maintaining a beehive, planting trees in the neighborhood, being a member of the CSA, or creating a rooftop garden.
In October 2011, we hosted an end-of-season barbecue in the Carrie McCracken TRUCE Community Garden to share the videos with interviewees and our friends from the neighborhood.
Nobu - The Rooftop Farmer
“You have to be... I learned that... I’m such a perfectionist when it comes to creation. And you have to give up being a perfectionist in gardening, especially the amateur gardening, the urban gardening. You have to sacrifice or you have to take a portion of crop for damage. For birds and stuff like that.
When you grow a fruit, just about the time it’s ready to be picked up, birds know too. And the birds, they didn’t eat the fruit until the very right moment. As soon as right moment hits, the birds come right in and eat it. So it’s you and birds’ competition. Which one gets up early in the morning that day, the perfect day to pick up. Usually birds win, so you have to give a certain portion of the crop to birds.”
Vivian - The Holistic Healer
“The movement is people wanting to work together. I got motivated because I lost an aunt that I loved very much to health problems that could have been prevented. So for my family, and then I also consider my Harlem community a greater part of my family. Wanting to give life, and to share what I know about having a vibrant quality of life.
The relationship between environmental and sustainability and health are interconnected, and there’s no way to compartmentalize them. If you’re talking about nutrition, you have to be concerned with the soil. You have to be concerned with what’s in the water and the rain and the air and the environment. If you’re talking about health and you’re interested in people building their cardiovascular system but they’re breathing in polluted air, it’s not gonna work. All of the moving parts have to fit and work together and we can’t isolate it [sic] because we’re trying to be whole human beings.
There really is a lot of energy in Harlem around this topic. Being part of that is an honor for me.”
The Garden Party
Person 1:
“Within this particular spot, we’ve learned from each other, and taken it back and incorporated it in our own homes. It’s changed us all. You know it’s really a collective effort now. And different things that we’re learning about each other, every little event we have, it brings us closer and closer together.”
Person 2:
“As I’ve talked to people tonight, and elsewhere, there’s a lot of excitement, people care about it, there’s a lot of passion. The beauty of a community garden is that it’s of the community, for the community, and the community makes all the decisions.”
Person 3:
“It’s already done a lot for me. I see that a lot of people are getting interested because they look at us and see us put our time into it. Many people see, because I’m always here most of the time and people come and they ask, “How can I be a part of this garden?” and I explain to them. I tell them when we are scheduled here for meetings. This Saturday encouraged a lot of people. People are very interested. Just seeing us doing it encouraged a lot of people.”