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Rooftop Farm Delights Seniors While Feeding Hundreds

By Emily Frost | October 22, 2014 2:19pm
 The hydroponic farm allows seniors to use the roof of their senior housing for the first time. 
Hargrave House Rooftop Garden
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UPPER WEST SIDE — For 40 years, the rooftop of the Hargrave House has been closed to tenants, its views of Central Park and the neighborhood's mosaic of buildings unappreciated by the low- to middle-income seniors who live there.

But an infusion of city funding help usher in a new purpose for the roof at West 71st Street and Columbus Avenue: a rooftop farm that recently yielded a bounty of vegetables.

A hydroponic farming system now sits atop Hargrave House's 13th-floor rooftop, and at the height of the summer it produced 700 vegetable plants, said David Gillcrist, executive director of Project Find, the nonprofit that runs the senior residence and farm. 

Project Find received $28,500 from the Department for the Aging for the farm's construction this spring, as well as for classes that taught seniors how to tend the vegetables and cook with them, said Gillcrist. The nonprofit paid the other $9,500 needed for the farm out of its own budget. 

A group of roughly a dozen devoted seniors in their 60s, 70s and 80s became the farm's caretakers, harvesting the plants throughout the growing season and into the fall. 

"There's a great satisfaction in working with your hands," and the seniors "take a lot of pride in it," Gillcrist explained. 

Back in June, germinated seeds were placed into plastic trays that staff members assembled with the guidance of Boswyck Farms, which specializes in hydroponic farming.

The rows of 3-foot high trays sitting atop legs made of PVC pipes are connected to an irrigation system that delivers nutrient-rich water so they can flourish without soil. 

A natural with the tomato crop, Ruth Ku, 69, said she loved tending to the farm. It was a chance to engage in the issues of the day — caring for the earth, healthy eating — and also get involved in an activity. 

"We cannot just stay in our apartments," she said. "It gives us something to do."

The experience built a sense of camaraderie, said Louise Hendrick, 83, who lives at Hamilton House, another local senior residence run by Project FIND on West 73rd Street near Amsterdam Avenue.

Through trial and error, her group learned that their peppers didn't grow so well, while the lettuce they planted flourished, she said.

There were also cucumbers, peas and herbs, all makings for a summer salad that ended up on the menu at the nonprofit's senior centers.

Over four months, from June to September, about 1,500 salads were served at Project FIND's centers with vegetables from the rooftop, supplemented here and there by boxed romaine, said Aaron DeBroux, who heads the senior centers.

The hip-level planters and lack of soil meant the seniors weren't bending down and straining their backs pulling and weeding, said Edna Ross, 89, a Hamilton House resident.

"It was gorgeous, just being up here with the buildings was amazing," she said of the sweeping 360 degree views.

For Dolores Raghelli, 79, the experience was almost otherworldly. 

"It takes my breath away when I come in the morning and I see all the vegetation and the sky," she said. "I just get this very full feeling."

While the garden is emptying out now, new plants will begin sprouting again in May, Gillcrest said.