Waste Hater is a monthly series where we interview friends in the industry doing interesting and awesome work to reduce all kinds of waste, food or otherwise. This February, we spoke with Nysialisa Santiago, School Educator of Harlem Grown, an collective of urban farms and educational kitchens revitalizing the famed New York City community.

When people think of Harlem, agriculture may not be the first thing that comes to mind, but that’s changing.

This legendary enclave in uptown Manhattan has a treasured history of jazz music, art and literature, being once the scene for a resurgence of African American creative work in the 1920s and ‘30s. From Langston Huges and Zora Neale Hurston to Duke Ellington and Jelly Roll Morton, Harlem Renaissance artists illustrated the fashion, intellect and narratives of what it meant to be Black in America, legitimizing their experiences and empowering the voices of their community. They also set the stage for future generations of innovators, including Harlem Grown, a nonprofit organization following suit with such tradition. 

This time however, the revolution begins with seeds, water and Earth.

Founded in 2011 by Tony Hillery, Harlem Grown consists of a series of urban farms spread across Central Harlem, where agriculturists, chefs, and community leaders work with local families and youth to grow a variety of produce and cook with their harvest. Hillery previously observed a lack of access to nutritious foods, to grocery and produce options, along with an abundance of abandoned lots ripe for renovation.

So, he got to work making changes. 

“The idea was to have this farm as the entryway to other things,” Nysialisa Santiago, School Educator at Harlem Grown told Replate. “To help youth reconnect with the land, getting back in tune with nature and what that means to us as a people, and how we can help ourselves and find resources for ourselves.”

It was a physical transformation as much as a new way of life focused on sustainability and regeneration. Within the community, the organization erected urban agriculture facilities including soil-based farms, hydroponic greenhouses and school gardens. 

On their three main farms, the group grows herbs, collard greens, kale, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, cabbage, strawberries, and melons. The idea is to be both culturally-relevant - producing food that’s in tune with the taste and history of residents - and seasonal. There’s also sensory installations for younger children to engage with the environment through sight, sounds and smell.

From the soil beds to countertops, youth, their parents and workers harvest the food and bring it to schools, where they learn to cook. Their menu includes everything from tacos to okra stew. 

With scraps, they compost.

“We grow things on the farm or in our school gardens to teach the kids how to grow it, and to familiarize them with food and how food can affect their life,” explains Santiago. “And then we go into the classroom to make meals out of the things we grow. So they’re learning from seed to plate the importance of food and how it can connect us not only to each other but to our community.”

She adds, “Food addresses both the physical and mental well being of our community. If you don’t have food, you can become depressed and unfocused, and that leads to other problems.”

The results so far have been spectacular. Santiago recalls many occasions when children could identify varieties of vegetables - tomatoes and kale for example - and what dishes they could concoct with them. She often sees youth giving tips to parents or grandparents. 

“To go from a community that had no idea what kale was to then knowing all the different kinds of kale, and what’s related and what family it belongs to and how to eat it - that’s our main goal,” Santiago says. “You would never think that by growing food, how that affects you and how it makes you feel.”

All of Harlem reaps the rewards of what is sown. The organization hosts farmer’s markets and stands where produce is distributed free to those in the community. There are on-site yoga classes and summer camp; for Halloween, kids trick-or-treat for fruits and vegetables instead of candy.

And during COVID, Harlem Grown partnered with a local chef to deliver meals around the area.

Like the jazzmakers and beat artists of the ‘30s, Harlem Grown prides itself on the strength and ingenuity of its people. Where there’s a gap, they fill the hole; a need, they provide it.

“The point is for us to say, here is a problem that we have, let’s learn more about it so that we can fix it,” Santiago points out. “We want to create revolutionists and innovators. Seeing all those beautiful creations coming out of Harlem, this is exactly what I think we’re doing.”

To learn more about Harlem Grown, visit their website.