NYC Farming
In the early 1990s, I video-taped my grand uncle, Tim Anagnostis, working on the Decker Farm in Staten Island, New York. Tim had been able to rent the entire Decker Farm in 1959, and continued farming it until his death in 2000. At that time, Tim, who was already in his late 70s, was the last full-time commercial farmer operating within the boundaries of New York City, but I didn’t know it then. To me, he was simply the last of an era, doing full time farming with low tech methods that had otherwise disappeared from New York City. During those years, when I could, I helped him do basic farm tasks, seeking not only to cement this moment in my memory, but to learn something.
In this documentary, you will visit the last full time commercial farm in New York City as it was in the 1990s, when Tim Anagnostis, a farmer using old style methods, was working the Decker Farm. You will meet Augustine, the new part-time farmer who is working the land today. Then get a glimpse of NYC farming history and hear about the transition from family farming to modern urban agriculture. This full length documentary is also available in several short chapters so you can enjoy at your leisure.