Raising food, hope, community at historic Hobbs Farm

Off the commercial strip that is Nicolls Road in Centereach sits an 11-acre piece of nondescript farmland, rich in soil, history and significance.

Hobbs Farm is the only remaining farm in Centereach and the last Long Island farm to be owned by a black family. The James Hobbs family moved from Georgia to New York City in 1906 and later to Long Island, laboring on farms as they purchased their own land, which Hobbs' son, Alfred, took over upon his father's death.

When Alfred, the last surviving Hobbs, died in 1996, he had no kin to leave the land to, so he bequeathed it to his church, Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Setauket, hoping it would remain a functioning farm.

"Right from the beginning, lots of people were telling us to sell it, but we wanted to keep the heritage of the farm and Hobbs' memory alive," said the Rev. Gregory Leonard, who has been pastor of Bethel AME for the past 15 years.

Maintaining that vision proved difficult. During the 11 years following Hobbs' death, the once produce-rich property at 178 Oxhead Rd. became a dumping ground: Old stoves, refrigerators, carpeting and tile remnants from ripped-up bathrooms filled the barn and the pizza slice-shaped land on which it sat.

To this day, scraps and garbage still appear against the property's wooden fence, but the cleanup and resurrection that began in earnest four years ago have brought Hobbs' legacy back to life. The process has united a community and provided hope and nourishment to those in need.

The farm's prospects began to brighten in 2007 through volunteer efforts led by Ann Jimenez-Pellegrino, who lives just a few blocks from the farm and would often pass by it, always wondering why it fell into decline. She tracked down the property's owner, Bethel AME, and spoke with the pastor about her vision to restore it.

"Ann felt this is what God told her to do," said Mary Ann Degenhart, a Hobbs Farm volunteer who met Jimenez-Pellegrino while walking in the neighborhood and encouraged her to follow her passion. "There are a lot of people out there with nothing to eat, and her goal is to help them."

In 2008, the Town of Brookhaven purchased development rights to the property, ensuring the land could never be developed."Two years have passed since the town purchase of Hobbs Farm, and it has proven to be a valuable acquisition," said Supervisor Mark Lesko. "Hobbs Farm has hosted a number of community events, which have provided educational opportunities to local schoolchildren." 

Volunteers drive progress
Through word-of-mouth, Jimenez-Pellegrino and a small team of local residents gathered and volunteered to clean up the garbage-strewn barn, house and farm. In July 2007, a 50-by-100-foot plot housing tomatoes, eggplants and assorted vegetables flourished, and the transformation has evolved over the past four years.

"We had this little patch that first year, and half an acre the following year," said Degenhart, who said her main motivation for participating in this nonprofit effort is to feed and help the hungry.

The mission is threefold, says Elizabeth Takakjian, the farm's neighborhood gardens coordinator: to build a sense of community, to help promote healthy eating and lessen obesity, and to help those in need by feeding the poor.

Takakjian, who has been involved with the farm since its rebirth and volunteers there at least 10 hours per week, works full-time as community garden educator for Cornell Cooperative Extension. At the farm she heads the Roots Community Garden, one of the farm's three main sections. The others are the education garden and the farm field, where most of the production takes place.

Produce grown in the education garden and farm field is donated to Long Island food pantries and soup kitchens from June through October. Participants include Calvary Chapel Island of Grace, the Centereach Selden Youth, God's Provision, Island Heart, Lighthouse Mission, Our Daily Bread, Our Savior Lutheran, Pronto, St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church, Thee Inn and Welcome Inn.

Volunteers, including the disabled and home-school groups, aid in the farm field operation, which is primarily run by Jimenez-Pellegrino, Peter Castellano and Degenhart. Last season, 30,000 pounds of vegetables ranging from garlic and onions to eggplant, squash and sweet potatoes were harvested and distributed mostly to food pantries, said Castellano, who has been the farm's caretaker for the past 18 months.

"Working with people like Ann and Mary Ann, who give so much of their lives to the cause of helping others, working with a handful of people that you get along with so well, and having the caretaker authority and responsibility that makes me feel like I'm an information center helping everybody -- this is all my motivation for getting up every morning to do this," said Castellano, who turns 72 in August. "And I thank God that I'm healthy enough to do it."

Other volunteers share his sentiment.

"With all the relationships you build and good people that you meet, you get more than you give, that's for sure," said newly retired Mary Ann Hart, 62, of Stony Brook, who has been volunteering at Hobbs since 2007. "Just to know that your work will feed somebody is almost meditative and gives you an outlet for your frustrations."

Food pantries are just as grateful for the farm's existence.

"Hobbs Farm is always concerned with touching as many hearts as possible," said Dennis Masone, director of the food pantry and soup kitchen at Calvary Chapel Island of Grace in Holbrook. "It's such a blessing because it saves us the expense of going out and getting produce.

"The lines are getting longer," he added. "There are 350,000 people on Long Island that need a meal every day, with nearly 100,000 of them being children."

The food pantry is open Fridays from 5 to 7 p.m., and the soup kitchen serves hot meals from 6 to 7 p.m. They feed about 100 to 150 people, who go home not only with a hot meal but also with bags of food, says Masone. 

Garden plots for rent
Near the front of the Hobbs property is Roots Community Garden, which began its development with Takakjian in 2009 and which she says produced more than 1,000 pounds of vegetables last year. It consists of 28 5-by-20-foot plots owned by individuals and families, primarily renters who lack their own private gardens. Cost is determined on a sliding scale, ranging from $20 to $75 per season.

On a recent hot afternoon, the sun beat down on Katie Cohen of Port Jefferson Station and her three children -- ages 5, 3 and 22 months -- as they alternated between spraying the hose and planting radishes and tomatoes in their patch, with basil, carrot and potato plants already having a head start.

"We started this garden a month ago, after hearing about it through a friend and rushing over here before all the plots were taken," said Cohen, 40, who rents a house. "It looks like we got here just in time. I thought it'd be great for the kids to be outside, be in nature to better appreciate it, learn something about gardening and like their vegetables a little more since they'd be growing them," she added.

The Cohens are on the right track, said Iman Marghood, the Stony Brook University garden coordinator for the grant that helped Hobbs Farm establish its community garden.

"The idea is that each family gets their own plot and grows their own organic vegetables," she said. "Gardeners are responsible for the watering, planting, growing and, of course, eating of their own garden [produce]. The idea is to improve people's diets and give them access to affordable organic food."

Marghood also cites the "social activity" aspect of the community garden because, after all, "we want it to be a community," she added.

"Elizabeth tries to keep planting days and arrange planting sessions, while I do cooking demonstrations to teach people how to use the vegetables they are growing and how to cook them in healthy ways," noted Marghood, who is also a registered dietitian. 

Students get a taste
While the community garden focuses on individuals and families, the education garden, led by Melissa Kurtz, the farm's garden educator, is maintained by school groups ranging from prekindergarten to college. Students from Oxhead Elementary School, which is just up the road, usually visit weekly and participate in planting, turning, weeding and taste-testing the broccoli and assortment of edible flowers, including marigolds, pansies and chia flowers.

"It's a shame if the children don't know where their food is coming from," said Kurtz, who is volunteering for the third year at the farm. "They don't realize that half the things they eat are plants and that the insects hovering everywhere are necessary."

Growth, an important element of the farm's heritage, isn't confined to what springs from the soil.

"The more people do, the more we can grow," said Takakjian, "not simply in terms of vegetables, but to grow as an organization and as a community." 

Volunteers wanted

 People of all ages are involved with Hobbs Farm, from Boy and Girl Scout troops to students on class field trips to retirees from nearby communities. The farm is always seeking volunteers, especially during July and August harvesting.

"To participate, all you need to do is show up, whether you stay for 15 minutes or an hour," said Cindy Gallo of Centereach, a volunteer for the past year. "You're doing something big; you're feeding the hungry. It pained me to see that vegetables were rotting on the plants last year because we couldn't get enough volunteers."

Hobbs Farm is at 178 Oxhead Rd. in Centereach. From July to September, it is open Monday to Saturday, from 7 a.m. to sunset.

A liability form, available online, must be filled out to volunteer, and children must be accompanied by an adult.

In addition, Hobbs Farm coordinators and volunteers urge anyone with photos or memories of Alfred Hobbs and the farm to pass the information along to them.

For more information, visit hobbsfarm.info or contact:

Mary Ann Degenhart, 631-766-7433

Elizabeth Takakjian, 631-928-7375