organic farming on Long Island's North Fork

Volunteering at Long Island’s Newest Organic Farm




Mark Unger is a man with a vision – at the mid century point in his life he still sees all the possibilities and his enthusiasm and energy is contagious. His vision is to create a network of volunteers and patrons who will support and enable all of Long Island farmers to convert to organics - He’s starting by creating his own organic farm.

Last year he and a patron started a farm on Long Island’s North fork in Mannituck. The heirloom tomatoes and garlic where sold to local restaurants and other local farmstands. This year Mark is partnering with another farm owner to grow all organic vegetables: heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, Chinese long beans, eggplants, garlic and more... on the farm on Oregon avenue.

Mark works full time as an aviation instructor in NJ to support the farm and his vision. He and other dedicated volunteers post on various boards such as Craigslist, LI Organic Farm Volunteers, Earth Watch to recruit others to join in the fun while “saving the planet” or at least reducing the intake of pesticides and getting city and suburban folks out of their homes and off their couches to commune with the earth and each other.

Since Mark has a full time job, New York Natural is a weekend farm. For the past few weekends volunteers have been helping to transplant over 2,500 organic tomato plants that Mark’s mom, artist Irene grew in her greenhouse in New Jersey. It’s a labor of love and certain with a limited budget may not always be the most efficient way, but all in all it has been great fun and amazing amounts of work are accomplished by the volunteers. You leave at the end of the day feeling that you have accomplished something worthwhile and spent a fun day outdoors getting to know other kewl folks!

Using both hand shovels and electric drills to make long rows of holes 2 feet apart (so that later plastic water tubing can be installed and the plants can be watered daily on a timer without having to have someone at the farm during the week) volunteers from NJ, Manhattan, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk have made the holes, shoveled compost in, transplanted the tomato plants, and even hand watered then dragging 5 gallon water cans up and down the long rows. All the while chatting and getting to know each other.



In our busy society community is often lacking from our lives. The farm is creating a new community of individuals – some who come and go and some who have to be practically dragged off at the end of the day. All fantastic people of different ages, races, nationalities and talents.

Jake, a student at Stony Brook is working on building and installing a bio diesel fuel system. Once in place, used cooking oil will be collected from restaurants and institutions to be recycled into bio diesel to power farm vehicles, to grow algae for..., further reducing the carbon imprint of the farm and enhancing the Mark’s natural vision.

Jessie, a vibrant young mother, student and entrepreneur of baby accessories including cloth diapers and baby carriers, worked side by side with other volunteers as her 12 month old daughter Amaris happily babbled and entertained the others, sometimes sitting among the trays of plants but often cuddled next to her mom in a cloth sling in the field.

Jessie and Amaris helped to re- plant over 250 tomato into the fields – young tomatoes reigned on Long Island and the adults were reduced to cooey sounds and giggling baby talk. – Instant bonding for all.

Who could resist this smile!

Other volunteers include Anne, an young immigrant from Russia and now a recently laid off accountant on Long Island (actually in the process of looking for a new job, so anyone who could use her talents please let us know)

Mike, who works in one of Long Island’s libraries

Anson, from Queens

a promotional marketing professional and free lance artist.

view some of his art work here





College Students from NYU, Boston U, and Catholic University (DC) joined in on Sunday. Twins Liz and Jenn are also music reporters,







Jeannie, a social worker in Port Jeff but a local Mattituck resident for the past 23 years came to the farm via Mark’s connection with the local Suffolk Earth Watch group. We enjoyed her stories of the various interesting properties and houses she has been lucky enough in the area. Especially intriguing was the 2 story converted barn with one wall floor to ceiling windows over looking the fabulous natural scenery of the North fork

Caterers, Andrew Crossan and Lisa Teiger of CuisinEtc,
www.cuisinetc.net came out to volunteer and after the first weekend lunch of ho hum pizza offered to provide vibrant delicious vegetarian lunches to both feed the body and soul. Lisa and Andrew are looking forward to when the crops start coming in and being able to create yummy communal meals with produce they helped to plant and nature. Hopefully we can plant an in house herb garden to compliment the vegetables.

Lunch this weekend consisted of an extensive buffet of vegetarian & organic dishes such as
white & black garbanzo bean salad with tandoori onion chutney, Thai marinated broccoli with red & yellow peppers, brown rice, grilled pineapple, organic carrots & cilantro salsa vinaigrette, Greek feta & oregano salad, cheese tortellini salad tossed with sundried tomato & fire roasted peppers, loaves of roasted garlic country bread, fresh pita, white bean with kale & roasted pepper bruschetta, homemade banana bread, homemade cookies including orange cranberry oatmeal, chocolate chunk cookies & Mark’s favorite – crunchy gooey coconut meringues.

vegetarian and vegan offerings courtesy of CuisinEtc Catering

After lunch on Sunday, we were regaled with singing and guitar playing as well as Paul's wise-guy Brooklyn jokes.





The work, food and fellowship makes Mark Unger of New York Natural Farming happy. He envisions a place where people work together, play together and participate in life in a visceral way while producing good nutritious food for New Yorkers. The Nork York Natural Farm certainly is on the road to that and more one organic shovel full of dirt at a time!

photos and blog writing courtesy

of Lisa Teiger CuisinEtc Catering and Special Events

some testomonials from farm volunteers

Below is a testimonial from Anson regarding Sunday,June 7th:

On Sunday, June 7th I volunteered for the first time on a farm and learned everything from how deep the roots have to be planted in the ground to what a scape is and what can be done with it.

I learned how to measure the distance between where each tomato plant needs to be set in the ground, how to dig the hole with the electric power machine, inserted the compost, watered the plant, and the term "Heirloom Tomatoes" that these plants were specially brought in from New Jersey to be grown on this farm.

It was a great experience and I encourage others to try it.

It was a peculiar hot day and I thought to myself "wow this is a huge farm".

I did mostly planting of "Heirloom Tomatoes" and put compost in the ground to setup the plants to be seeded.

I thought that the air quality was good. The rain water wets the leaves and that is no good. I wish there was a way to add a water well on the land.

Some of the volunteers and I spoke about our particular situations of being unemployed. One just got out of a long marriage and is going through the motions. I like the variety of the others professions.

Not everyday you get to farm tomatoes with a lawyer, chef, accountant, and airplane mechanic.

Good overall experience!
Sincerely, Anson

And one from Michael Bermudez below



Hey Mark, here's a write up for the blog...

Last Saturday, June 6, I found myself muddy, sweaty and tired,
and unable to get the smile off my face.

The weather was perfect for working outside, and there was plenty of work to be done!

I spent most of the day digging new homes for tomato plants, while the rest of the team took care of things like laying down stakes, distributing soil and actually planting the tomato plants.

I had lots of time to talk and get to know the people there, everyone seemed extremely knowledgeable.

One topic in particular was about the company Monsanto and what they are doing to our foods. Soy is a big part of a vegan diet, so this was pretty startling! I absolutely loved hearing Mark talk about bio-diesel, and it's something i have been telling everyone.

I'm looking forward to learning more about it. I know very little about farming, outside of growing some vegetables at home, but I never felt at a disadvantage, everyone is happy to share tips and tricks with you.

One the ride home all I could think about was how fulfilling the work I did that day was !!!!
Working with my hands to help create food with a group of great people, you can't beat that. Now the wait for the weekend is just that much harder.

I think this weekend its just going to be me, Justin has work on saturday. I sent out an email to my friends, hopefully I'll get a response.

See you soon!

Michael Bermudez

organic farming on Long Island's North Fork

Volunteering at Long Island’s Newest Organic Farm




Mark Unger is a man with a vision – at the mid century point in his life he still sees all the possibilities and his enthusiasm and energy is contagious. His vision is to create a network of volunteers and patrons who will support and enable all of Long Island farmers to convert to organics - He’s starting by creating his own organic farm.

Last year he and a patron started a farm on Long Island’s North fork in Mannituck. The heirloom tomatoes and garlic where sold to local restaurants and other local farmstands. This year Mark is partnering with another farm owner to grow all organic vegetables: heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, Chinese long beans, eggplants, garlic and more... on the farm on Oregon avenue.

Mark works full time as an aviation instructor in NJ to support the farm and his vision. He and other dedicated volunteers post on various boards such as Craigslist, LI Organic Farm Volunteers, Earth Watch to recruit others to join in the fun while “saving the planet” or at least reducing the intake of pesticides and getting city and suburban folks out of their homes and off their couches to commune with the earth and each other.

Since Mark has a full time job, New York Natural is a weekend farm. For the past few weekends volunteers have been helping to transplant over 2,500 organic tomato plants that Mark’s mom, artist Irene grew in her greenhouse in New Jersey. It’s a labor of love and certain with a limited budget may not always be the most efficient way, but all in all it has been great fun and amazing amounts of work are accomplished by the volunteers. You leave at the end of the day feeling that you have accomplished something worthwhile and spent a fun day outdoors getting to know other kewl folks!

Using both hand shovels and electric drills to make long rows of holes 2 feet apart (so that later plastic water tubing can be installed and the plants can be watered daily on a timer without having to have someone at the farm during the week) volunteers from NJ, Manhattan, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk have made the holes, shoveled compost in, transplanted the tomato plants, and even hand watered then dragging 5 gallon water cans up and down the long rows. All the while chatting and getting to know each other.



In our busy society community is often lacking from our lives. The farm is creating a new community of individuals – some who come and go and some who have to be practically dragged off at the end of the day. All fantastic people of different ages, races, nationalities and talents.

Jake, a student at Stony Brook is working on building and installing a bio diesel fuel system. Once in place, used cooking oil will be collected from restaurants and institutions to be recycled into bio diesel to power farm vehicles, to grow algae for..., further reducing the carbon imprint of the farm and enhancing the Mark’s natural vision.

Jessie, a vibrant young mother, student and entrepreneur of baby accessories including cloth diapers and baby carriers, worked side by side with other volunteers as her 12 month old daughter Amaris happily babbled and entertained the others, sometimes sitting among the trays of plants but often cuddled next to her mom in a cloth sling in the field.

Jessie and Amaris helped to re- plant over 250 tomato into the fields – young tomatoes reigned on Long Island and the adults were reduced to cooey sounds and giggling baby talk. – Instant bonding for all.

Who could resist this smile!

Other volunteers include Anne, an young immigrant from Russia and now a recently laid off accountant on Long Island (actually in the process of looking for a new job, so anyone who could use her talents please let us know)

Mike, who works in one of Long Island’s libraries

Anson, from Queens

a promotional marketing professional and free lance artist.

view some of his art work here





College Students from NYU, Boston U, and Catholic University (DC) joined in on Sunday. Twins Liz and Jenn are also music reporters,







Jeannie, a social worker in Port Jeff but a local Mattituck resident for the past 23 years came to the farm via Mark’s connection with the local Suffolk Earth Watch group. We enjoyed her stories of the various interesting properties and houses she has been lucky enough in the area. Especially intriguing was the 2 story converted barn with one wall floor to ceiling windows over looking the fabulous natural scenery of the North fork

Caterers, Andrew Crossan and Lisa Teiger of CuisinEtc,
www.cuisinetc.net came out to volunteer and after the first weekend lunch of ho hum pizza offered to provide vibrant delicious vegetarian lunches to both feed the body and soul. Lisa and Andrew are looking forward to when the crops start coming in and being able to create yummy communal meals with produce they helped to plant and nature. Hopefully we can plant an in house herb garden to compliment the vegetables.

Lunch this weekend consisted of an extensive buffet of vegetarian & organic dishes such as
white & black garbanzo bean salad with tandoori onion chutney, Thai marinated broccoli with red & yellow peppers, brown rice, grilled pineapple, organic carrots & cilantro salsa vinaigrette, Greek feta & oregano salad, cheese tortellini salad tossed with sundried tomato & fire roasted peppers, loaves of roasted garlic country bread, fresh pita, white bean with kale & roasted pepper bruschetta, homemade banana bread, homemade cookies including orange cranberry oatmeal, chocolate chunk cookies & Mark’s favorite – crunchy gooey coconut meringues.

vegetarian and vegan offerings courtesy of CuisinEtc Catering

After lunch on Sunday, we were regaled with singing and guitar playing as well as Paul's wise-guy Brooklyn jokes.





The work, food and fellowship makes Mark Unger of New York Natural Farming happy. He envisions a place where people work together, play together and participate in life in a visceral way while producing good nutritious food for New Yorkers. The Nork York Natural Farm certainly is on the road to that and more one organic shovel full of dirt at a time!

photos and blog writing courtesy

of Lisa Teiger CuisinEtc Catering and Special Events