The availability of fresh food in the Bronx has been a major concern of the residents for a long time. Projects like “GrowNYC” or the “Green Bronx Machine” try to provide people with fresh food grown in upstate New York and the Bronx.
“Our food is grown by students in hub houses or green houses,” said project manager Steven Ritz on an education conference on Saturday. The city introduced food stamps to support underprivileged people eating fresh food. New Yorkers can get online help for their food stamp application.
The Harvest Home Mt. Eden Farmers Market is one of 18 farmer markets in the Bronx. Every Thursday from May to November, people from the neighborhood come to the market to get fruits, vegetables and – the most popular product – corn. The corn is grown by farmers from upstate New York and the seeds they are using turn into very sweet corn costumers don’t find in the rest of the city, said market manager Rob Lahr. “But now the corn season has ended,” he said.
David Frye, 47, and his colleague Raymond Hare, 53 came all the way from West Virginia, to sell their apples to the Bronxites. It’s their second year at the market. “We did not want to come this year, but the market owner she kept calling us asking if we could come, because there was no fresh food.”
