Red Hook Farm survives Sandy and presents 2014 Festival, by Diehl Edwards

The youth empowerment organization Added Value is preparing for the Red Hook Community Farm’s 11th annual Harvest Festival on Saturday, October 25th from 10:00am until 4:00pm.

The event, which will be held at the farm itself, located on the corner of Beard St and Ostego St, will feature the musical styling of the Brooklyn band City Billies, catering by the local restaurants Kevin’s and Baked, sushi made on site from the farm’s vegetables, pumpkin carving and decorating, and a few Alpine goats prime for the petting.

This year’s Festival is a way for Added Value to showcase the progress the Red Hook Community Farm has made in the two years since being completely devastated by hurricane Sandy. Along with major structural overhauls thanks to private and public donations and a committed youth involvement, the Farm has been able to reinstate its weekly Farmer’s Market, where people can purchase the Farm’s produce. It began early this fall and has happened each subsequent Saturday and will be held during the Harvest Festival. The Farm’s overall production has risen so much that they no longer have to supplement their Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) with vegetables from other farms, packing nearly every box with Red Hook-sourced food.
The weekly Farmer’s Market will continue to be held each Saturday until the weekend before Thanksgiving. Thecomposting portion of the Farm (the largest community compost program run on renewable resources in the city) is operational all year round, with donation times of 9:00 am-12:00 pm Fridays and 10:00 am-1:00 pm Saturdays. They will begin next year’s crops in their greenhouse around February/March of next year.

The Harvest Festival is open to the public and families are encouraged to come spend the day.
For more information about the Farm, check out their website www.added-value.org