Brooklyn Grange Farm & Farmstand

Attended the Veggiepalooza event as I first time visitor. The rooftop garden is awesome and the long length of dining table was spectacular. Serving freshly grown veggies from the garden the local chef’s delivered amazingly fresh and delicious food. {I wanna do that thing you do when you kiss your fingers and then release them in a bursting scrumptious gesture]. They really served it up. Garden fresh cocktails, hooch with pickle backs and 5 courses served by some of the finest chefs from Faro, Marlow and Sons Lafayette, The Pickle shack and Tipsy Parson. They were especially accommodating to my friends food allergies and we shared our table and meal with some terrific folks. The service, view, food, company, music and vibe was really something special.

Buying at the Brooklyn Grange farmstand (Wednesdays, May 15^th to October 30^th, 12 to 5 pm) isn’t cheap ($ 26 to fill a shopping bag) but it was a fun and feel-​good experience. I got some small beets with greens plus an enthusiastic description of how best to prepare them. I got «ground cherries» which are sweet mini-​tomatillos. I got mild little jalapenos, Japanese eggplants, and ordinary garlic which is noteworthy because garlic seems always to come from China nowadays. I didn’t buy the expensive tiny jars of honey, or the tomatoes since we have so many from our own garden and theirs were just as imperfect-​looking if not more so than ours.
I went up to see the rooftop farm with permission from the salesgirl. You need directions since it’s actually on the roof of Building 3. It’s what I would expect a farm to look like… straight neat green rows. There’s a lot of variety, with each row growing something different, or at least alternating, and edged here and there with marigolds or a sunflower. The views of Brooklyn, the bridges and the Manhattan skyline are amazing. I was told that the farm stays open to visitors up until 6:00 pm, and that later in the year when dusk falls earlier and the city lights come on you can get great photos.
Also at Building 92 is the Brooklyn Navy Yard Center museum and a cafeteria-​style restaurant called Ted & Honey that serves locally-​grown produce, some from the Brooklyn Grange.