Forest Hills Tuv Ha'Aretz CSA

Farms in Queens?
by Judy Trupin Forest Hills Tuv Ha’Aretz Co-chair
I’ve known for a long time about the Queens Farm museum, and although I’ve never visited, it is absolutely on my to-do list. But this past Sunday while dropping off my compost at the Farmers’ Market in Forest Hills, I found out about Queens’ newest farm –at the Queens Botanical Gardens. Who knew? In existence since 2013, the farm welcomes visitors to tour on Wednesday afternoons as well as volunteers to plant, week or compost on Wednesday and Saturday mornings. I’m planning to sign up to volunteer on a Wednesday in July. Anyone interested in going along? Please be in touch.

You can find out more on the Queens Botanical Gardens Website And I’ll write again after my visit!

Finding out about the QB farm, also had me wondering, what was the last privately owned farm in Queens? I found out that it was the Klein Farm in Fresh Meadows. Once a thriving, 200 acre farm, by the time it was sold to a developer in 2004, it had shrunk to 2 acres. Still, it’s pretty amazing it lasted that long. Many were sad to see it go, and there were some efforts to find the funds to preserve it. Unfortunately, the attempts were unsuccessful.

According to the New York Times, when the Kleins began their family farm in the 1890’s, there were 2,800 farms in Queens. That number had dwindled to 308 by 1950. And today? As far as I can tell, there are two: Queens Farm Museum and now, the Botanical Gardens. Let me know of others, if you hear of any!

–Judy Trupin