Fire Strikes Conuco Farm; $12,000 in Agricultural Supplies Destroyed

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On Sunday, October 17, 2010 a hay fire struck the barn at Conuco Farm and burned the barn, walk-in cooler and storage unit to the ground. Hector Tejada, who began the Bed-Stuy Farm Share 5 years ago and has delivered fresh produce to Bed-Stuy every week since then, lost all of his stored crops, tools, containers, organic fertilizers, garlic seed and other equipment. He also lost many of his own personal belongings - family photos, records, musical instruments, screen printing supplies - that he was storing in the space.

He has calculated that he lost $12,000 worth of agricultural products, supplies and equipment in addition to his personal belongings, which he has not even started to calculate. Additionally, he cannot find any seed supplier or fellow farmer in the entire Northeast region to sell him garlic seed to plant at this time. Garlic is planted late fall and harvested the following summer. He has located garlic seed in Colorado at an astronomical price and is going to do what he can to buy some so that you can have farm fresh garlic next year.

The timing of this fire and its impact is devastating. This is the end of the harvest period when Hector was digging his potatoes and picking winter squash which he had stored in this barn. Not only has he lost much of his equipment but much of the bounty of his harvest which he was storing to sell over the next couple of months as the market season slows down for the winter. We want to make sure that Conuco Farm can survive the winter, and we need your financial support to guarantee that.

Please help Conuco Farm and Hector Tejada recoved what they’ve lost. There are four things you can do today:

1. Make a financial donation here.

2. If you cannot make a financial donation, please make an in-kind donation. See the wish list below for some of the items the farm and Hector needs.

3. Join our fundraising committee. Help us organize events and activities here in Brooklyn to raise money to cover the farm’s $12,000 lost.

4. Shop at Conuco Farm’s stand at Ft. Greene Greenmarket this Saturday. Go buy all of your vegetables for this week from Conuco Farm. They are at the Ft. Greene Greenmarket from 8am to 3pm each Saturday.

Wish List:
1 acoustic guitar
400 lbs. of organic garlic seed
1 Planet Jr. Seeder
silk screen supplies (screens, ink, etc.)
1 drawing table
1 food dehydrator
1 car stereo
old jazz and blues CDs (anything from the 1930s to the 1970s)
700 lbs. of pea seeds
1 walk-in cooler