You can visit this garden at the Lefferts House in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. The corn and beans we are growing -- Iroquois Short Nose White corn and Mohawk Vermont bean -- are traditional Native American crops native to the north east. Varieties of Iroquois squash seem to be extinct for the most part but the yellow crookneck, which we have planted, may be derived at least in part from their varieties.
Artist Project
This garden is part of a larger work-in-progress by the artist Christina Kelly to plant native, North Eastern varieties of corn in areas of Brooklyn that were historically Native American planting grounds. These areas include what are now parts of Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill, Bensonhurst and Canarsie. This project, titled “Maize Field”, aims to draw attention to and participate in the continual changes that define the city by highlighting a historical past and integrating that history into the present landscape.
