Ciara Sidell, Randall’s Island Park Alliance Urban Farm

Call Caryn’s personal archive number to hear the most recent five episodes of It’s All About Food: 1-701-719-0885

Part I: Caryn Hartglass, Long Term Vegan with High Cholesterol.
Caryn gives a 1-year update on her journey to lower her cholesterol. As a long time vegan, this is challenging. She has been doing an SOS-free (salt, oil, sugar free) diet for one year.

Part II: Ciara Sidell, Randall’s Island Park Alliance Urban Farm

Born and raised in Queens, Ciara (known to many as “Farmer C”) is a lifelong New Yorker passionate about growing food in educational spaces in NYC. They have farmed at the Queens County Farm Museum, taught with Farm School NYC, facilitated field trips with City Growers on Brooklyn Grange’s rooftop farms, managed Harlem Grown’s network of growing spaces, and currently stewards the Randall’s Island Park Alliance’s Urban Farm — an educational farm, designed completely with teaching and learning in mind. In all these roles, Ciara has forged partnerships with community gardeners and farmers throughout Western Queens, the South Bronx, and Harlem to distribute wood chips, pavers, and culturally relevant seedlings free of charge to those with more limited access. Collaboration, equity, and community-building are at the crux of Ciara’s work on and off the farm. Ciara is a co-founding member of Share Shed NYC, a volunteer-led project dedicated to helping New York City urban growers share and access resources and sits as the Queens Representative on the NYC Urban County Committee. In their spare time, Ciara can be found exploring the city by bike and admiring the green spaces throughout.

Ciara Sidell is the Urban Farm Manager at Randall’s Island Park Alliance in NYC.

The Randall’s Island Park Alliance (RIPA) is the proud steward of the beautiful Randall’s Island Park, which is uniquely situation between three boroughs – Manhattan, the Bronx and Queens. For over 30 years, RIPA has worked in partnership with the City and the Parks Department to restore, maintain, sustain, develop, manage and program Randall’s Island Park as a place for all New Yorkers to enjoy. Since its inception in 2006 the Urban Farm has grown in size and scope, featuring over 100 raised beds, two greenhouses, four rice paddies and a small fruit orchard.

With education at the forefront of its design, the Urban Farm embodies the core belief that plants and children can grow side by side. With over 200 varieties of fruits and vegetables from around the world, the Urban Farm allows visitors to deepen their understanding of where food comes from. Strolling through the farm, you’ll discover fruits and vegetables you’ve never seen in grocery stores and crops that are culturally relevant to our nearby communities. Through free hands-on classes and public events focused on sustainability, cooking, planting, and composting, farm visitors of all ages can explore locally-grown food in an urban environment.

School groups can visit through our Edible Education Program, and we invite the public to explore during weekend open hours and many program offerings. The Urban Farm is located at the island’s southern end, adjacent to the park’s playground, a picnic area, playing fields, and a public restroom.

The Randall’s Island Park Alliance is proud to program and maintain the Urban Farm and greatly appreciates donations to help continue to make these events possible

Links mentioned in the podcast:

Leave a Reply Cancel reply