New Farm Fence Makes Better Neighbors

Invasive species were taking over a chain link fence at the Ferry Street Farm and creating a barrier with the neighborhood, so a group of teen ​“growing entrepreneurs” got to work on a new mesh wire wooden replacement.

A crowd celebrated the completion of the job Saturday at the communal farm which is run by the nonprofit Gather New Haven.

“You couldn’t see what was going on from the street. Not only did it look awful, it felt very closed off, and we really wanted to open this space up, make it more welcoming, have more engagement with our neighbors,” Gather New Haven’s garden education coordinator, Esther Rose-Wilen, said at the celebration.

The demise of the chain link, and replacement by a new mesh wire wooden fence, was the work of the GNH’s growing entrepreneurs, a select group of New Haven high school students who work on projects at community gardens and farm sites.

“We’re here to celebrate their achievements, and their contributions to the community, and, in particular, their recent completion of the Ferry Street Farm fence project,” said GNH Board Chair Tyra Pendergrass-Boomer. 

GNH expressed gratitude to Susan Holahan, the New Alliance Foundation, and the Greater New Haven Green Fund, among others, who make the Growing Entrepreneurs (GE) program possible.

GNH Executive Director Brent Peterkin said he and his colleagues, through a canvass of the neighborhood, learned that the overgrown neglect of the chain-link left people feeling disconnected from the farm

“In order for this property to be more inviting, it has to be more appealing. You have to be able to see in.”

“This is a resource, this is a landmark in their neighborhood and we wanted them to feel that this is somewhere you can come, and get local, organically grown produce or grow your own,” he said.

Rose-Wilen said the GEs, as they’re called, worked on the fence project over three summers for one month at a time, with funding from New Haven’s Youth at Work program, and the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection paying for the materials.

“The GEs built everything, including a section where they had to set new posts in concrete,” she said. ​“There were so many cool skills that we’ve all learned during this project.” 

There was also critical support from EMERGE CT, a nonprofit that provides training and employment opportunities for formerly incarcerated men and women.

“They helped us remove the chain link fence and also the overgrowth, and that gave us space to install the fencing you see along the perimeter,” Rose-Wilen said.

The positive effects of the new wooden fence, with its wire mesh providing unobstructed visibility, are already being felt. 

GE Lisette Chamba, a senior at Career High School, works the farm stand, which is open on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“Just by being able to look in, people say they are seeing the improvements. They’re seeing where their vegetables are coming from,” she said. ​“That’s pretty cool.”

“There’s a house on the corner, and they have tons of flowers, vegetables, and chickens. We never really talked to them before. Now we’ll shout across the street, ​‘Hey, you want some old squash for your chickens to eat?’” Rose-Wilem said. ​“A lot more people are approaching the property and asking questions and wandering in if we’re open.”

Mary Ann Moran, who coordinates eight community gardens in Fair Haven, has five garden beds at the Ferry Street Farm. Along with Sally Esposito, she delivers 60 pounds of produce every Monday to the Fair Haven Library, with signs and recipes for each vegetable in Spanish and English.

“Whenever we’re here picking food, we see through the fence the neighbors going by, and we welcome them to come in if they want,” she said.

“This is our neighborhood,” said Esposito, seated beside her. ​“Sometimes you can’t influence the whole city, but you can do things where you live. You can help feed your neighbors with good and nutritious food from the earth. And you can help them learn how to grow that food themselves.”

Former District Coordinator Maria Tupper called the new fence a gateway ​“to the impact of improved diet and how that can affect things like diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic diseases, and also the exercise you get from working in the garden, and that’s thanks to the growing entrepreneurs and Gather New Haven.”

Just before the ribbon cutting to mark the completion of the wooden fence, Peterkin highlighted one growing entrepreneur among ​“the impressive group of young people.”

“Every other week, when Juan Marroquin comes to the office to pick up his paycheck, the smile on his face is from ear to ear because he’s seeing the immediate rewards for his hard work,” he said.

“The fencing project is an artifact of the work of Juan and the other growing entrepreneurs,” he said. ​“It’s something they’ll be able to come back to and show their peers and their family members and say ​‘I did this, I played a role in improving the green space in my neighborhood and I’ve contributed to beautifying this city.’”

For former GE Kenny Delgado, making that kind of tangible difference is part of being a citizen.

“If you have the opportunity to do something like this in your neighborhood, why not do it,” he said. ​“If you think you’re going to live in the City of New Haven for a long time like I am, why not go out to different gardens, why not take care of where you’re living?

“I love my neighborhood and I love this city,” he said. ​“And I’m going to keep trying to make it better.”