Regenerative agriculture in the East Village

Photos and text by Donald Davis 

Earth-friendly growing techniques can be applied to any size land plot. 

At Asher Levy School on First Avenue (between 11th and 12th), the DOE gardeners have left the remnants of the 2024 garden to cover the soil for the winter. The ground will be planted in the spring but not tilled (the soil will not be turned over). This allows the below-ground ecosystem, including the mycorrhizal fungi around the plant roots, to continue functioning. 

As with organic farming techniques, commercial fertilizers are not used. Pictured just inside the fence are the stems of the two sunflowers that bloomed in 2024. The famous sparrow community tree is directly behind.

 
The tree plot in front of 97 St. Mark's Place is an even smaller example of regenerative agriculture. It shows the winter rye planted in late October to cover the soil. The growth of this food grass will stop for the winter and resume in the spring. 

With regenerative acreage in farm country, the farmers often allow cattle to graze the cover crop during the winter. The land is then replanted for the spring, usually with a different cereal or other commodity crop. 97 St. Mark's will be planted with sunflowers, lettuce, bulbs, and perhaps a warm-season grass of sorts.

The asterisk here is that the street was torn up in 2024 for gas line replacement. The rats burrowed among the tree plots and destroyed the surrounding seedlings. 

As a preventative measure, this plot was covered with chicken wire, and winter rye was planted in the hexagonal lattice holes of the mesh. 

The tree sign is a poem, "Ode To the Winter Grass," by Johnny H., the East Village Books poetry window poet. The poem is dedicated to Gabe Brown, a North Dakota farmer who has toured the country over the last decade and a half, speaking to large groups about regenerative agriculture, which makes the world a better place.