Program Menu

Kula Urban Farm
Operated by Interfaith Neighbors, Asbury Park, NJ

 

Please help us grow by donating to the SeedMoney Challenge.

We have 30 days to collect donations to the SeedMoney challenge, from November 15 until December 15. The more we raise with your help, the more SeedMoney.org will donate to our cause.

https://donate.seedmoney.org/10471/kula-urban-farm

 

Kula Farm’s market is open on Fridays between 11am – 4pm, customers should place orders in advance through our online store.

Please visit our calendar to see and register for all upcoming events.

Rooted in Community

The Kula Farm opened on Atkins Avenue in Asbury Park in 2015. We’re a social enterprise that provides on-site job training, educational programs, farm to table dinners and free fresh produce to neighbors in need. We also transform vacant lots into community gardens and manage a hydroponic greenhouse. Produce is sold to the public as well as to local restaurants.

The Kula Farm Experience

The Kula Farm Experience is a short term job program designed to reinforce basic workplace skills for local members of the community who have been in between jobs for a while. We hope to take away barriers to future employment by offering a positive work environment with room for personal goal achievement. Participants can obtain a certificate and/or a reference letter upon completion of the program.

We welcome candidates to come fill out a job application at the farm.

During the outdoor growing season, when more work is available, some enthusiastic participants will be offered a seasonal part-time position.

There are also a few year round long term promotion options for excellent participants to become managers. We hope to empower these participants with management experience and bigger responsibilities.

Farm Design

Inside our greenhouse, vegetables are grown hydroponically, allowing us to create a year-round high volume growing environment. Outside, produce is grown organically in raised beds with a focus on annual vegetables, medicinal and culinary herbs and edible flowers. In our gardens, we strive to create a biodiverse and ecologically balanced growing environment. We cultivate plants for pollinators, beneficial insects and birds whilst applying concepts such as permaculture and succession planting. We recycle and compost all of our waste, including compostable waste from the public and local establishments.

Commercial Growing Space

This is the source of revenue that sustains the whole operation. A 20′ by 84′ fully automated greenhouse. The produce in the greenhouse is grown using several different hydroponic techniques in a year-round growing environment. We use organic methods to control pests such as hand removal, rinsing, neem oil, and biological control. What we grow is sold to the public as well as to restaurants. Inside the greenhouse we grow several varieties of lettuce, kale, endive, mustard, Asian greens, chard, basil, edible flowers, cucumbers and tomatoes. Many varieties of Microgreens are seeded and cut weekly for our customers.

Please contact us if you are a local restaurateur and would like to use our locally grown produce and/or Microgreens and have it delivered on day of harvest.

Some of our past and current customers:

 

The Farm Without Borders

The Farm Without Borders was started in the spring of 2017 on a vacant lot on Springwood Avenue. By hiring local residents, we converted an open space that was used as a parking lot into a large garden by sheet mulching (a method of “No-Till” gardening). The produce from the farm is given away to local residents. In 2018 we were granted access to even more land on the same block, expanding the garden 3 fold. The produce on the is accessible to residents 24 hours a day, although the majority of it is distributed during working hours. We estimate over 4,000 pounds of produce was grown in 2018. In 2019 we expanded again to cover the entire city block. In late 2020 we were granted access across the street to cultivate another vacant lot owned by the City of Asbury Park. Here we grow flowers that help remediate the soil, we called it: ” A ‘Lot’ of Flowers”.

The Farm Without Borders is supervised and managed by participants of our job training program and acts as the site for our volunteer force to dig in! The beauty of this garden and its proximity to the street helps Kula to engage with community members. It generates interest in by-passers and opens a dialogue about urban farming. This garden space is also used during our educational programs and is open to community residents. This section of the farm focuses on vegetables that can be easily harvested by local residents. A wide variety of greens and root crops are grown as well as hot peppers, squash, okra, garlic, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, beans, calaloo, herbs, raspberries and strawberries. Ten varieties of fruit trees are growing on the site. The farm is also the site of our compost operation that includes food waste from our friends at Pulp Juice bar as well as an ever growing group of local residents and other businesses. 

The Rainbow Garden

In the fall of 2018 we began mulching and building raised beds on the vacant lot next door to the greenhouse on Atkins Ave. The lot, owned by the Bethel AME Church, manages a food pantry on the site (open Wednesday mornings). Working alongside the Bethel YPD (Young Persons Department) in the Spring of 2019 we cultivated and planted the garden establishing apple trees and strawberries along with annual vegetables such as collard greens, tomatoes, calaloo, peppers, garlic, root crops, melons, beans and herbs. The produce grown here as well as the Farm Without Borders is donated to the food pantry for Wednesday distribution every week. Every fall we build up the soil with compost and local mulching materials. 

Community

One of the most rewarding aspects of helping to grow the Kula Urban Farm is the sense of community. Participants have the opportunity to take this project and make it their own. From job training, to visiting a workshop or dinner, it can feel very rewarding to be a part of this amazing community.

 

 

The Kula Urban Farm is a certified Wildlife Habitat.

 

 

The Kula Urban Farm is a registered Pollinator Garden.

 

The Kula Urban Farm is a certified Monarch Waystation.


The Interfaith Neighbors Network