Battery Park City is one of Manhattan’s most picturesque locations. It’s also one of the most synthetic. The carefully crafted promenade, parks, and plazas comprise an area of New York that’s undeniably gorgeous. Yet, somehow, the well-groomed gardens and lawns remind me that centuries ago Manhattan was untouched- its flora and fauna chaotic and beautiful in their original habitat. Today BPC represents the antithesis of that ideal. It is man-made nature, and still there is no denying that it’s beautiful in its artificiality.

In New York City, agriculture takes on a whole new meaning in the urban landscape. Agriculture is not found in fields, but in apartments in the form of plants and food. The roots of co-op’s and community gardens lie in the kitchens of the city’s elders, who feed us and raise us and preserve memory of simpler times past. When I think of urban agriculture, I think of my grandmother who never runs out of things to say and would never turn down a hungry mouth to feed.

(Shot by Alexandra Stergiou)

East Village NYC. Created by Tristan Nash

Park Slope Food Coop

The food co-op ! what wonderful place
The food co-op! It ain’t no passing craze
IT MEANS FREASH FOOD FOR THE REST OF YOUR DAYS
ITS OUR PROBLEM FREE
SUPERMARKET
The food co-op

FOOD CO-OP! FOOD CO-OP!
FOOD CO-OP! FOOD CO-OP!
FOOD CO-OP! FOOD CO-OP!
FOOD CO-OP! FOOD-

IT MEAN ORGANIC FROM THE LOCAL FARMS
Its our chemical free
Established in 1973….

The food co-op
I say “food”
I say “co-op”

FOOD COOP FOOD COOP FOOD COOP… APPLES, YOGURT, WHOLE GRAINS, CATFISH, COTTAGE CHEESE, ASPARAGUS, FIGS, LEGUMES, AND BRUSSEL SPROUTS….

THE FOOD CO-OP!

I never really liked flowers that much
The daisies always seeming too happy
The fragile roses poisoning my touch
All much too big or yet too small to see
But in Park Slope there seems another lot
All pink and white and growing in their crowds
And even dying I see that they’ve got
A sort of charm as petals fall in clouds
Colours against the sky are shocking still
In contrast yet in perfect harmony
Growing when it’s warm yet there’s still a chill
Their beauty comes from their simplicity
Dying and floating down to where we stand
Make a wish on the petal in your hand