Environment

Planting seeds: Rooftop farm provides fresh crops to Boston area

Boston Medical Center created their second rooftop garden. Both will provide fresh produce to the local community with an emphasis on culturally relevant crops.

The rooftop garden of Newmarket Farm, where culturally significant crops are grown to serve a diverse community in need. Photos by Adora Brown

By Adora Brown

2 minutes to read

Boston Medical Center’s rooftop garden, the second of its kind, provides culturally relevant foods to a community in need.

An example of one of the crops grown at Newmarket Farm. Others, like bok choy, were planted to provide for the cultural identities in the community.

Newmarket Farm adds thousands of square footage to the medical center’s garden repertoire. Back in 2017, Power Plant Farm opened as a food source for local pantries, cafeterias, kitchens, and in-patient facilities. The idea expanded in June of this year with Newmarket Farm. Between the two rooftop farms, Boston Medical Center hosts around 8,000 square feet of growing space. 

Sarah Hastings and Olivia Grieco arrive at the farm before the sun rises too high over the three-story roof, sometimes as early as 6 a.m. Hastings is the manager of Newmarket Farm, all 4,915 square feet. Early mornings are spent sewing seeds to germinate, planting seedlings, and raising crops. 

Seedlings are lined up until they are strong enough to be replanted and, eventually, harvested.

Once a week, the team has a big harvest day on both farms. Greens are triple-washed before being packaged and delivered to nearby kitchens and pantries. Their most recent partner is Rosie’s Place, the first women’s shelter in the U.S.  

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Grieco is the farm education and community outreach coordinator. Some of the harvestable crops are used on-site for cooking classes. The goal is to teach learners of any age how to use fresh produce in their kitchen. 

“Kids can harvest, prepare their meals, and eat it right here on the farm. So it’s really hyperlocal, directly from ground to mouth,” said Grieco. She continued, “It’s so beneficial for people to see this green space in the city, let alone watch how your food is grown.”

A few things separate Newmarket Farm from its predecessor. Newmarket sits on a rooftop of Boston Medical Center. The space not only includes the farm, but a covered seating area where experts like Grieco can teach a variety of classes and hold space for medical staff. 

Newmarket Farm. In the background, the covered back deck where Boston Medical Center hosts events, classes, and tours.

Hastings considers Power Plant Farm to be a more replicable system, with crops planted in over 2,000 milk crates the farmers can move and shift as needed. Newmarket follows an open bed system, meaning the soil runs uninterrupted throughout the farm.

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But those soil beds also hold unique plant life, such as Aji Dulce peppers and bok choy. 

“We’re trying to expand our culturally appropriate crops, so crops that are non-native to America that our patients that come to the pantry or BMC ask us to grow,” said David Maffeo, senior director of support services for BMC. 

With the introduction of Newmarket Farm, BMC hopes to expand their learning opportunities and better provide for the community. 

“What success looks like for me, is we don’t have 5,000 patients going to our pantry every month. That our patients are food secure,” said Maffeo. Previously, the pantry served around 7,000 people. 

Hastings hopes people begin to replicate the systems embedded in these rooftops. 

“When you do come and visit, and you feel inspired, take some of that back with you and plant a seed in your own community,” said Hastings. “Not to be too cheesy,” she added.

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