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.
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 was 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 was accessible to residents 24 hours a day, although the majority of it was 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”. This site is still open and is also the location of our community compost pile. The Farm Without Borders has closed due to development.
The gardens are supervised and managed by participants of our job training program and act 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.
The Rainbow Garden
In the fall of 2018 Kula Farm 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 is donated to the food pantry for Wednesday distribution every week. Every fall we build up the soil with compost and local mulching materials.
