Homestead Harvest

"An Agricultural Revitalization of Middle Village, Queens"

My home neighborhood of Middle Village, Queens has a vast agricultural history but unfortunately a lot of it has either been lost or miss-communicated. I created Homestead Harvest, a conceptually based farmers market, community garden and historic photographic exhibition, as a way to show residents their neighborhoods history while giving them a current way to celebrate it.

The market will take place in Juniper Valley Park, the center of the neighborhood. The park is split in two by a street with the larger half containing baseball fields, a hockey rink, etc. and the smaller half being primarily empty except for a farm burial ground, one of the oldest farm burial grounds in NYC. The burial ground is home to the Pullis family, a once farming family of the neighborhood and the main inspiration for the market. Many residents either are unaware of the burial ground or incorrectly believe it to be an ancient Indian burial ground. Homestead Harvest was purposely placed within this park to celebrate families such as the Pullis' on the very soil they are buried within.

The design of the market is bold and colorful, it's meant to stand out while drawing the community in. The main design element is Sonotubes. Sonotubes are cardboard tubes that are usually filled with concrete to create concrete pillars. There use was inspired from a trip to a farmers market where barrels where used to display produce. They are light weight, eye-catching and functional. The tubes will be used as a wall around the entire market, as produce holders, as part of the community garden, as seating and as image displays. The wall around the market is different heights creating a wavy pattern which was inspired by the rolling hills of farm land and vineyards. The colors of the wall tubes were inspired by the various hues, shades and tints of produce usually found at a market. The colors also act as a way finding system with each color representing different category of produce such as: solely organic produce, meats & poultry, non-organic fruits & vegetables, neighborhood stores and wine & vineyards.

Survey and post card. 80 survey's were distributed within local public schools as well as 100 postcards were handed out door to door which included a link to the online version of the survey. The survey containing 6 questions asking its receiver what they know about MV history as well as the potential of farmers market in the neighborhood.

Park double lamppost banners.

Posters

Compostable mailer. The neighborhood mailer will be sent out prior to Homestead Harvest's opening. The tube will contain a small version of the poster as well as a information card informing the receiver that the tube has a second use as a planter. Seeds are included as well.