Finding 'Tranquility' in Bed-Stuy

Community gardens play a vital role in the five boroughs. They provide a space to grow food and strengthen neighborhood ties.

WNYC is garden-hopping to meet some of the volunteers committed to making sure urban agriculture remains a part of New York City’s future.

Ena K. McPherson is the founder of Tranquility Farm located in the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. For her, the community garden is a celebration of the efforts of Black women in the neighborhood. McPherson said she’s one of four Black women who reclaimed vacant spaces in the community – “with no money, and we did it,” she said. 

McPherson, who is originally from Kingston, Jamaica, said the lot on which Tranquility Farm sits was owned by the city’s Department of Housing Preservation & Development and sat underutilized for years, until she and her gardening colleagues worked with GreenThumb to gain access to utilize it. 

Today the roughly 5,200 square foot space grows a variety of vegetables, including African greens, and has chickens for eggs. 

But, even after they transformed the space in 2010, they were up against an uncertain future. 

“After four years, the city decided they wanted to take the land back for housing development," said McPherson, "We fought and we were successful.” 

“We're just ordinary people," said McPherson. “Our legacy will be that we worked hard, we created something that's tangible and that will go on and give hope to others.” 

McPherson, now 73, said her goal is to ensure the garden thrives long after she hangs up her pruning shears. 

“We can’t go on forever, so you have to build the next generation.”