MacArthur genius grant winner Will Allen will be in town for the National Black Farmers conference here at BC nov 17-19th, but below is an article about the first farmer ever to win the genius award, cheryl rogowski who runs a family farm in the hudson valley. Interestingly, that farm, which is seemingly worlds away (i.e. across mountains and rivers and such from brooklyn) is only about 70 miles as the crow flies (straight shot, not driving) and thus well within what many would consider the NYC "foodshed." Would be great to take a crew from BC to this spot and not only check out the farm and their farmstore but also the surrounding area which is beautiful forest and wilderness and adjacent nyc's watershed-reservoir system. this is a really good article, praise BLACK DIRT!On September 20, just after the Black Dirt Country—the strip of rich soil on the Orange County-New Jersey border—had been hit with heavy rains, Pine Island farmer Cheryl Rogowski was wondering what to do. Not only were many crops underwater and possibly not harvestable, but she was expecting a visit from Joan Gussow, director of Just Food, a nonprofit organization that supports sustainable farming and equitable produce distribution to impoverished families. "Everything was wet, and I didn't know what I was going to show her," Rogowski recalls. Then the phone rang, and W. Rogowski Farm changed forever.
