Eat Drink Local Profile #28: Cheryl Rogowski, Certified Genius
One fantastic farmer.The Farmer:
Cheryl Rogowski, of the W. Rogowski Farm in Orange County, NY, who was recently honored at Just Food’s “Let Us Eat Local” annual fundraiser for her excellent achievements in supporting sustainable agriculture in New York State. She’s also the first farmer to ever receive a McArthur Fellowship, aka a “Genius Award.”
What She Does:
Her upstate farm grows over 250 varieties of produce in the famous New York State Black Dirt soil each year — it was one of the first to switch from large scale to more sustainably grown diversified crops — in ways that are kind and caring to people and earth. She gets the freshly-picked items swiftly into the hands of city and country folk, and is known for her ability to make this healthy food available to people of all incomes. The Rogowski Farm is a pioneer in the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) movement, and has been credited with starting the first low income CSA in the State of New York.
Why We Love Her:
Ms. Rogowski links country to city, farm to marketplace, and people to people — for the benefit of all. There’s also that Genius Award, plus she says great things like, “We are truly all about the community and the community is as big or small as you chose to define it. We put no boundaries on our community…we need to make the path wider…with more seeds…more fertile ground to spread across this countryside.”
Where to Find Her Produce:
Manhattan: Cheryl has just announced to Edible Manhattan that her fresh farm food will now be available at New Amsterdam Market in early October. It’s also in Brooklyn at Carroll Gardens Greenmarket (Carroll St. & Smith Street, April – Dec, 8am – 4pm) and in Queens at the Sunnyside Greenmarket (Skillman Ave btw 41 and 43rd Streets, June – Dec, 8am – 3pm). And you can always visit the farm, just a short drive north in Warwick, NY.
