The annual Bronx Urban Farms Trolley Tours are a great way to see Bronx community gardens and urban farms! Full schedule and registration information is below.
All tours will depart from and return to 810 Seventh Avenue, corner of West 52nd Street, in Manhattan.
DEPARTURE: 10 a.m. (Please arrive between 9:30 and 10 a.m.)
RETURN: 3 p.m.
There is an option to meet at the first stop in the Bronx, at 10:30 a.m. Please call for details.
Wheelchair-accessible transportation is available. Children 12 & under ride free!
Registration required. To reserve your place, please contact us at The Bronx Tourism Council 718.590.3518 or by e-mail at bronxfoodsummit@gmail.com
Tickets are $30, cash or check payable to Green Thumb Community Fund. Proceeds go directly to support the Bronx community gardens you visit.
Schedule at a Glance:
May 11 City of Immigrants
August 3 The Youth Tour
July 13 African-American Culture
June 8 Caribbean Culture
September 7 Italian Culinary Tour
October 12 Healthy Community
Tour Descriptions:
May 11: City of Immigrants
Our first tour of the season will feature the horticultural and culinary delights of the Bronx’s diverse immigrant population. Participants will visit La Finca del Sur Urban Farm, a women-led, non-profit farm and community resource for food, family, gardening, and fun. We will have lunch at Drew Gar-dens, a community garden nestled along the Bronx River. The group will tour the grounds, where more than 40 families grow food in community plots. Finally, we will visit Little Green/Rock Garden and Melrose New Generation Garden, enjoying local entertain-ment among the plants and people.
Lunch is included.
Tour Guide: Nancy Ortiz-Surun, Co-Founder of La Finca del Sur Urban Farm
August 3: The Youth Tour
Join in the festivities of NYC’s annual Puerto Rican Day Parade. First, partici-pants will do some garden-ing, helping out the folks at Roberto Clemente Com-munity Garden, which has vegetables, fruit trees, and beauty, permanently pro-tected by The Bronx Land Trust. Next, we will see folks build a float for the parade, right in their own community, at El Flamboy-an Community Garden in the South Bronx. Finally, participants will hear the drum sounds coming from the Casita, live at Rincon Criollo Cultural Center and Community Garden with Jose Chema Soto. Lunch is included.
Tour Guide: Bobby Gonzalez, Bronx Storyteller
July 13: African-American Culture
This tour will feature the rich food and cultural land-scape of the Bronx’s African Americans. Our first stop is Padre Plaza Success Community Garden, where gardeners grow food, cook healthy, and sell produce at their seasonal farmers mar-ket. Next stop, Taqwa Community Farm, an urban farm with chickens, bees, gardeners, and plants for food and medicine. Partici-pants will round off the day at River Garden. Walk among the oversized vege-table plots and smell the flowers on a hot summer’s day. We will feature a gar-dening mini-workshop in the cool shade of the rain-water harvesting roof and shed. Lunch is included.
Tour Guide: Dior Doward, Agtivist
June 8: Caribbean Culture
Ray Figueroa and youth gardeners from Brook Park will take us on a tour of the Bronx, as seen through the eyes of our next generation. Participants will dig right in and garden at New York Restoration Project’s Target Bronx Community Garden. We will visit the Children’s Garden at Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum, a Na-tional Landmark located in Pelham Bay Park. At the year-old Children’s Garden, they use historically based methods like composting and companion planting. Our final stop is Brook Park, where youth and fam-ilies garden and a wealth of arts and indigenous cultural events take place. Lunch is included.
Tour Guide: Ray Figueroa and youth gardeners from Brook Park
September 7: Italian Culinary Tour
Our Culinary Tour of the Bronx will begin at the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden at The New York Botanical Garden, where longtime volunteer and Bronxite Frank Russo will guide us through the Global Gardens, and vegetable plots with cultural themes. You may be able to spy a bunny or scarecrow amid edible gardens tended by visiting children! Next up, historic Arthur Avenue, an Italian culinary gem, where participants will visit the market to learn about cheese-making at Mike’s Deli. Finally, participants will drop in on the Annual Bronx Green-Up and GreenThumb Harvest Fes-tival for community garden-ers citywide. You’ll have the opportunity to mingle with gardeners from all over the city and visit a community garden in all its harvest glory.
Tour Guide: Frank Russo, and Sara Katz, Bronx Green-Up of The New York Botanical Garden
October 12: Healthy Community
Our fall tour will feature all things wellness: get outside, eat well, and exercise! First, participants will visit the Garden of Happiness, where chickens roam among a plethora of Mexi-can herbs and garden vege-tables, all which contribute to a community-run market. Participants will do some Zumba to energize them for the day. Then, we will have lunch at Tremont Community Garden, a Bronx Land Trust (BLT) garden where seniors grow food. Our last stop will be Jacquline Denise Davis (JDD) Garden, which fea-tures a rainwater harvesting roof that provides shade and water to gardeners, courtesy of GrowNYC, who also use the space for their Learn It, Grow It, Eat It youth program. Lunch is included.
Tour Guide: Regina Ginyard, Bronx Food and Sustainability Coalition, Gotham Cooks, Co-Founder and Urban Farmer, La Finca Del Sur
